The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1898-12-15
ADDRESS TO FARMERS
w. o, HOARD TALKS TO Ma
TIONAL CONGRESS.
Wfsconsin's Ex-Governor, in His An
nua1 Address, DwelIs on the Intel
1ectual and Business Sides of Apri-
culture-Farm Education Necessity.


OF the Farmers National Congress in his
annual address to that body at Fort
Worth, said:
our agriculture is becoming nationalstic
This farmers congress is one of the proofs
OF this assertion. We are no longer Il loosely
Joined band of States. "discordant, bellig
erent. Thank God. we are coming to see
each other face to face" We are becoming
cemented by railroads, navigable rivers, in
terehangeable products and a more general
commingling of our people National legis-
iation Is taking on thought of this kind in
the establishing of experiment stations, the
enactment of laws for the better protection
OIL agricultural products against the dlsbon-
est greed of men who would adulterate aud
counterfeit
We are just beginning to feel as a people
that agriculture Is an intellectual as well as
manual pursuit; that from the humblest
tenant to the lordlest rancbman progress
ana proht depend on mental comprehen-
zion of the principles involved. and an ener-
| getic obedience to that knowledge. Comprc-
| hension means Intellect, obedience means
| BUSINESS. Some men are all intellect and no
WORK; others all work and no Intellect The
true farmer unites both. He is both a stu
dent and ''doer OF the word
| Some of the questions for this farmers
congress to ask itself are: What can we
1
| OF this continent to see the necessity of
more intellect on the farm: In other words
| what can we do to promote farm education?
| What can this congress do to promote wise
| legislation in the State and national legis-
latures to this end: What can this congress
| 40 as great force to arrest the tendency
| Of the American farmer to destroy the natu-
| raj fertility Of his farm? What can we do to
arouse public opinion and the great educa-
tonal forces Of the country to the import
| ance Of teaching the elements of agricul-
! ture in the primary schools of the land?
Our present system of agricultural educa-
| lion is an image with a head of brass, a
body of iron and feet of clay. We are d.
recting all our energies to the head and not
the feet. Our common schools recruit the
academy, the college and the university,
and they. in turn. recruit every profession
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 efforts
TO stop this tendency by teaching the ele-
ments Of scientific agriculture In the public
schools. 1t can be done as easily as the
teaching of the elements of scientific arith-
netic, or chemistry, or philosophy. A great
host of farmers who were deprived of such
teaching now find themselves barred from
an understanding of much agricultural liter
ature. AS consequence they turn from
the agricultural college, the bulletin of the
experiment station and the farm paper,
which is really worth everything to them.
Like all other lines of human thought and
action, the American farmer and his farm
are going through process Of evolution.
The manufacturer feels it, and his capital
and enterprise can hardly keep pace with
coming changes; craftsmanship feels it. for
new and difficult problems of government
constantly present themselves, and how to
keep center and circumference In harmon
tzing growth Is the problem of the day. The
railroad maguate feels It and must bow to
II. What is the subtle power that is so
mysteriously leavening the whole lump? 1t
Is growth of knowledge among the people.
Heretofore our vision has been directed al
most wholly to the price We were to receive
Tor our products. The present tide of evou-
tion bears us in another direction. We can
not control prices; the market end of the
question is beyond the individual reach or
modification of any farmer. WHAT can he
do, what must he do. to increase his profit
Tor on that hangs his prosperity? This must
ne do: He must realize that he is TO longer
a crude producer; he is a manufacturer. He
must invoke science, invention, better sys-
tenn, more thorough organization among his |
fellow farmers, more exhaustive study of |
the underlying principles of his business. |
Improved methods. everything he can lay !
uoiu Oh, 10 contribute 10 Il REDUCTION OF the |
cost of production.
He Is subject to the same economic laws |
Us is every other manufactured. The world |
declares 1t will have cheap food and cloth |
ing, for this is the humane order of our civ |
liZation. The American farmer Is in the |
forefront OF merciess competition. for |
from the soil must come primarily all the |
food and clothing. He must furnish as good |
as the best or he will lose the market He
mn do as lttin, audi
the fertility of the soil, or he and his farm
will both perish by the way. The demands
Of modern civilization are expensive. 1t |
costs more to live. educate his children and |
he man among men than il did his father
dfty years ago. There Is but one road out
Of the difficulty as l can see. He must put
more thought into this question of the cost
Of production. Heretofore the cry has been
more land, until the farm has become bigger
than the farmer. This makes expensive
farming. The necessities of the hour say
make the farmer bigger than the farm.
The Farmers National Congress is needed
as an organized body of opinion to promote
is best it can national legislation in support
If the Department of Agriculture. Our
present Secretary of Agriculture is doing
what he can to introduce American food
products into foreign markets and promote
heir consumption. That department should
have the authority and means 10 employ
under its own direction. commercial agents
IN every food market in the world Den
mark sends its agents to England to receive
guard and look after Its shipments of butter
and bacon. Canada is doing the same
There Is no reason better than traditional
abstraction why the United States shorld
not show the same good business sense. Be
sides, there is 8 great trade awaiting u at
our very doors in the sister republics of the
southern part of this continent. Can we say |
DR. do anything here which will move our
legislature into work of 4 practical
In the way Of mall subsidies 10 Il
line of American ships sailing direct from
southern ports to South American ports? |
nope we can. 1t is reproach to the practi-
,al craftsmanship Of the American people
that something has not been done of this
character.
This congress can do something in the
way of aiding the greater efficiency of the
State experimental stations, some of which
ire hardly more than lodging houses for
politicians. 1t can stand up and rebuke. in
10 measured tones, the prostitution of agri-
cultural necessities and progress to political |
'avoritlsnl. 1t can and should demand of
he national government the taxation to
extinction of all counterfeit food products |
IN imita ton Is q counterfeit. and a counter |
cit Is a fraud, and should have no rights |
before the law as against an honest pro duct |
# the farm. No matter how many hired | :
assert to the contrary, counterfeit !
ocd products are a menace TO the health of | ,
he public and the prosperity of ;hc farmer
Ind the nation.
Te1egraphic Brevities.
Jesse J. Jones, postmaster at Morgan [
eld, Ky, expired of heart trouble.
Gen. Bu;terficld ard Capt. Mahan IA
or military system of government for
'Ort0 Rico and the Philippines.
The worlds corn crop apprOXimates ,
ZOO. .0O0, 600 bushels annually, of which
America produces 81 per cent. I
The United States collier Abarondo. af-
er coaling the Oregon and Iowa at Bahia.
Brazil. has gone TO st. Thomas.
~ 4 I, |