Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-10-05
Farmers National Congress
in Session at Boston.
MANY In ATTENDANCE.
President ". d. Hoard, of Wisconsin,
Delivers an Excellent Address
He Speaks of Agriculture
al schools.

4
city today with large and representa-
tive attendance from all over the Unit
ed States. Hon. w. d. Hoard, of Wis
cons;n. president of the congress, de-
livered an address at the opening of
the session. He said:
Massachusetts with its upwards Of
two and half millions ol people, con-
tains only about 100000 farms. Yet
no state in the union has been more
loyal to agriculture, or more lavish
with it's means for the promotion of ag-
ricul1ural objects. a most healthy SEM
timent pervades this commonw wealth,
for we see here the possessors of its
largest fortunes and highest scholar
ship contributing generously of both
these great forces to the promotion OF
agriculture.
The same sound state of sentiment
prevails i'll regard to legislation for the
protection OF the producer and con-
sumer of food, against adulteration
and counterfeiting. 1t was Massachu-
sets who first enacted an anti-color
law, in regard to pleomargarine, and
She valiantly fought it through to an
established victory in the highest court
in the land. This law has now been
placed on the statute books of thirty
three other states.
These things greatly cheer us. for
| by them we realize that we are among
men and in state where the farm is
honored and its highest evolution hoped
4 for.
| "The principal drawback and hind
rance to agricultural thought, profit
4 and progress. is lack of union and
sympathy between scientific theory
i and the everyday practice of the farm.
4 And yet there is wide gulf between
1 the teacher of agricultural science and
4 working farmer. and our farmers are
especially lacking in appreciation of
! the great value to them of the scientific
/ teacher. There needs to be instituted
a new order of teaching agriculture i'll
! this country, such as is being done in
4 some of the countries of Europe. There
should be established, at various places
4 in each state, experiment and demon
strating farms, carried on by men who
can co-relate both science and prac-
tice.
9Th. average farmer has little SYM
4 pathy for agricultural schools or for
4 organized methods for better agri-
!, cultural education. This is seen in the
( fact that. as class, he spends thous-
; ands of dollar to educate his children
! to be lawyers or doctors. where he
spends one dollar to especially fit them
Z to. be intelligent farmers. But few
farmers believe, that there is such a
thing as science of agriculture. The
great mass do not believe that the
thing we call farming can be taught
l, to their children from books or
\; schools.
!, ''Do you suppose that the farmers
y who swarmed out of New England and
New York into Ohio, Michigan. indiana
I, and the farther west would have re
; duced the fertility of their lands a:
: they have done, if they had been laugh
: in the country schools, when boys, tn,
meaning and methods of conserving
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash
as fertilizing agents? Is there farmel
: here who ever heard those agents O
: all plant growth mentioned in the
studies of his ,boyhood?
!, "The difference between Successful
sland unsuccessful men in all callings j
/, not luck, but rather judgment and en-
y ermv. Good Judgment is an act of tn
mind. and one must have a mind wei
stored with sound knowledge, and wei
! trained to use it. in order to exercis
the best Judgment. The outcome Of TIL
labor of hands will not depend upol
!. the strength of the hands, but upon / h
soundness of the ideas which goverl
the hands.
:, sThe vast extent to which the organ
. Iization of trusts has attained, mean
simply that the men who represen
: these varied interests have learned t
cooperate for mutual benefit. Lk
every other social power and privileg
it can be carried to an extent where
e amounts to conspiracy against the ger
d eral welfare When that time come
e the people will cope with ii successful
n ly. The American people have neye
q been enslaved and they never will b
+ "But there is hint in all this con
# bining that is going on that the farm
!. ers should take to heart. Except j
! dairying, and to small extent in fru
= growing this great lesson is utterl
unheeded. Every creamery and chez.
factory could easily be made the NEAR
g of a larger and more beneficial use
r, cooperative economics. In France ov,
Is 100000 farmers are members of SUI
" ply associations through which the
ar buy fertilizers, implements, bloode
20 stock, and sell their produce. Coo
r, Grafton for the farmer does not NEE
re the formation of some gigantic stot
ic concern which will end in game
e. .freeze-out.' Every instinct of rease
IN and experience bids us avoid SUI
10 schemes as we would the plague. b
I'd in the broader sense and logic of tn {.
e. necessities, and not the necessity
he some promoter, farmers should stut
cooperation.
"As farmers we need TO be constant
lagitated from the standpoint of mai
an tanning the fertility of our soil by t
ar wisest administration of the forces
y. our command 1t has been stated, wi
N how much accuracy | cannot sa
-, -. that the decline in the values OF far
q lands in the last thirty years in t
" state of New York alone has reach
the enormous sum OF over one bill
dollars. The same condition applies
the farming lands, IN greater or <
IN proportion. FROM Indiana eastward
the Atlantic coast. The loss in ag