Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1898-12-06
FARMERS NATIONAL
CONGRESS,
Annual Address by Ex-G vernon
Hoard cf WISCONSIN,.

FORT WORTH, Texas. December c.
The Farmers National Congress be
gan its annual session here rodsy
Several hundred delegates We're pres
ent. Ex-Governor Hoard OF Wiscon
sin delivered the annual address
Among other things he said:
We are Just beginning to feel as /,
people that agriculture is an intellect
ual as veil as manual pursuit; tina
from the humblest tenant to the lordli
est ranchman progress and profit dc
pend on mental comprehension of the
principles involved. aud an energetic
obedience to that compre heusion
Comprehension means intellect, obedi
ence means business. Some men are
all intellect aud no work; others are
all work and no intellect. The true
farmer unites both. He is both q
student and 'doer of the word
Some Of the questions for this
farmers congress to ask of itself are: ::
What can we do in an organized way
to help emancipate this great business
OF farming from lack of comprehen-
siOnf What can we do to get the
farmers of this continent to see The ne
cessity OF more intellect on the farmf
How can we contribute as force, to
the emancipation of the farm from the
wasteful effects of ignorance, and help
pnt in its place the energiziug and en-
riching inhuen ees of knowledge? In
other word, what can we do to pro
mote farm educationf What can this
congress do to promote wise legisa-
tion in the state and national legis-
latine 10 this endf What can this
congress do as a great force to arrest
the tendency of the American
farmer to destroy the natural fertil-
ity of his farmf What can We
do to arouse public opinion and the
great educational forces of the country
to the Importance of teaching the ele-
ments of agriculture in the primary
schools of the landi Our present sys-
tenn of agricultural education is an i'm
age with a hoad of brass, a body of
iron, and feet of clay. We ara disses-
ing all our energies to the head aud
not the feet
.'Our common schools recruit the
academy, the college and university,
and they. in turn, recruit every profess
sion but farming. Our young men
flee to the towns and cities because
we have educated them to do so.
Nearly every European country
is putting forth strenuous ef-
forts to stop this tenden-
CIV by teaching the elements of scien-
tific agriculture in the common sehols
1t can be done as easily as the teach
ing of the elements of scientific
arithmetic, or chemistry. or philosophy
A great host of farmers who were de-
prived of such teaching. now tnd
themselves bavrsd from an understand
ing of much agricultural literature.
As consequence they turn away
from the agricultural college, the bull
letin of the experiment station and the
farm paper. that Is really worth any
thig to them. Had these men been
taught in their youth
in the common schools, the meaning
Of the terms used in agricultural chem
istry, something OF the principles OF
animal husbandry, something of the
true principles which underlie the
preservation of fertility, they would
be, today, in much more harmonious
relation with all that constitutes agri-
cultural progress. May we not hope
that this congress will create senti-
ment that will greatly help along this
needed educational reform.