Evening star., 1897-03-27

1 states, WnlCn are
!; !: :: :: !: :: :: s.:
-, tain John Smiths
| colony went Enough the terrible priva-
| tions of the starving time" at James
town in the first half Of the seventeenth
century. Heretofore the republican ma
| jorities Of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois have
come from the farmers, but at the last
election Mckinley was saved by the vote
of the cities The future Of the present
regime depends upon making things bet
| ter for the farmers They are. in fact. the
ruling class of the United States. There
| are more Of them than of any other pro-
| fession. By the last census forty-four out
of every hundred persons in the United
| States were engaged in agricultural pur-
| suits. We have today in the neighborhood
| of 5OOO0o0 farms. which are worth. all
| told, more than thirteen billion dollars.
We make profit in good years of some
| thing like two billion dollars out of farm
products, and it is upon the farms that
we depend to a large extent for good or
| bad times. If the farmers are doing well
| money flows like water, and the sun Of
prosperity shines. When they are doing Ill
| the dark clouds of discomfort breed an
| archy. socialism and false financial
theories and adversely reigns.
| The Boss Of All the Farmers.
| You will thus see that the Secretary Of
| Agriculture is now very important fac
| tor. Who is the man that Mckinley has
| chosen? What kind Of man is he? What
| is he going to do? / can answer these ques-
| tions In part in the chat which 1 had with
| Secretary James Wilson at the Agricultural
| Department today. ! had letter of intro
duction to the new Secretary from Senator
| w. r. Allison. and as soon as my card was
| sen, in I was admitted. A tall. angular
! plain-looking man of about sixty years Of
| age began to get up as l entered the door,
| By the time l had reached his desk he was
| on his feet His long right arm was stretch
| ed out toward mine and his horny hand
| gave me cordial spld-fashioned shake 1t
was James Wilson, the new Secretary Of
| Agriculture, the man who is known all over
| the west as one Of the best farmers of the
| Mississippi valley, and who is noted among
| agriculturists everywhere as being one of
| the most practical, Up-to-date authorities
| upon everything connected with farming.
| He asked me to be seated and for an hour
| We chatted together about himself, the
| American farmer and what Uncle Sam
| might do for him. Mr.. Wilson is a good
| talker. His voice is slightly metallic and
his words come out at the rate of about
! two hundred per minute He has many
| homeiy expressions had Abraham Lin
coin and his talk Is as full Of ideas as an
egg is full of meat. He Is well-educated
| man. and once or twice in speaking of his
hcme in Scotland he quoted passages from
Burns. giving the broad Scotch as 1T was
used by the poet who composed some OF
| his verses as he followed the plow on his
| farm, not far from that upon which Secre-
tary Wilson was born. From time to time
as we talked the clerks would bring in pa
pers and letters for the Secretary's advice
or signature and 1 could see how rapidly
and how carefully Mr.. Wilson handled las
business. He was not at all disturbed by
the Interruptions and 1 noticed that he
followed each letter line by line with his
| finger hafOre he his sigma II
saw several other instances of his careful
business ways. At one period in the con-
versation a clerk brought in a requisition
for a horse. AS he laid it down before the
Secretary he said that the horse which this
new animal was to displace had been In the
service Of the department twenty-four
years and that this warrant authorized one
OF the clerks to go up TO Virginia and buy
another.
who is the man who Is to do the buy
ing?" asked the Secretary.
| He Is the assistant veterinary professor
| of the department. was the reply.
Well said the Secretary. "send him
in. l want to see what he knows about a
horse before send him out to buy one.'
How He Learned Farming.
During my chat with Secretary Wilson !
asked him how he came to know anything
about farming. He replied:
Il was born a farmer. and was brought
up amid the traditions of the farm. Ny an
|
living by tilling the soil. 1 was born near
Ayr. Scotland. My father wanted to come
to America before he married, but his
parents would not let him. The journey to
America then was about as much of an un.
dertaking as a trip to the moon would bs
| today. So father settled down upon the farm
in Scotland. There 1 was born and there
| lived until | was sixteen. Then We all
came to America. We settled first In Con.
| necticut and farmed near Norwich. About
lpta fath thrv>r
fever, and we moved out to Iowa. Iowa
was at that time far west. We came there
} ten years in advance Of the railroad. Faith
er entered some land, and 1 worked with
{ him three years, when took up some land
of my own. Well. / have been farming
from that day to this.
But. Mr.. Secretary" said I, what kind
of a farmer you? Uncle Jerry Rusk
when he was Secretary of Agriculture told
me that part of his life he had been q
farmer and part of it an agriculturist.
asked him what he meant by that, and hi
said that the farmer was the man who
{ made money by farming, but that the agri
culturist was the man who spent lots OF
money on experiments. but usually came
/ out behind
, YES" replied the Secretary, with
laugh, "and another definition of the tive
terms is: The farmer farms the farm. bu
the agriculturist farms the farmer Well
+ | don't know what you might call me.
|, . believe in practical scientific farming
, | have made money in farming. Al least
| nave uldue MY Hdu nothing Wnel
I started, and 1 have now a farm of ;
| thousand acres and good one"
How much is land worth in Iowa?"
1T depends on the land" was the reply
within the past two years have paid a
high as S62 for land. Plenty Of ou
land is worth $75 an acre, and almos
everywhere in Iowa farm lands are wortl
as high as $40 per acre."
Money In Farming.
But. Mr.. Secretary. can the farmers max
money out of land at such prices? Is ther
any money In farming and would you ad
l. wise a young man to go into it to max
money!"
1.-The most of our farmers in Iowa ar
making money replied Mr.. Wilson. Il
your young man is the right kind of
young man, if he has liking for farmin
and has enough business sense to farr
rightly, he can do well. In buying a farm
however. he should go out to look at tn
land with a spade in his hand, and shoul
know that some kinds of land are hardl
| cheap at any price. He should study tn
! soil and the markets. and become a farm
ing manufacturer instead of a mere raise
j | Of raw al for bar tn a