The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-10
WISE ADVICE.

AfcnDlSnop ireland prefaced his adj
dress before the State Agricultural So
ciety by declaring that his knowledge of
farming and farmers was entirely de-
rived from observation. notwithstanding
his lack of actual experience of agricuI-
tural life, it will be readily conceded by
those who have read or heard his ad-
dress that it is one of the most thought
full ard valuable addresses of the kind
that has found its way into print in a
long time
Many of the ablest men that have ap-
peare6 in the United States were raised
on the farm. The ranks of Industrial
society are being daily recruited from
among those who have been brought up
on the farm. In the professions, as well
as in every department of productive eff
fort in the great cities of the country,
men are steadily reaching the top who
have drifted into urban life from the ag-
ricultural regions. American society is
vastly benefited by such accessions and,
no doubt, many young men who give
up farming life to join the great rush
of city life often come nearer realizing
the higher possibilities of their lives
than if they had remained at work on
the farm. But when this is said all is
said that can be.
AS Archbishop Ireland points out, the
man who relinquishes the independent
life of the tiiler Of the soil to make a
career for himself finds late in life. if not
before, that he has made grievous mis-
take. The toiler with hand or brain
who is in the employment of another ap
proaches day by day nearer to a condition
of utter dependence. And life in the
large cities is fast resolving itself into,
the two classes of employer and en-
ploye 1t is hard to endure the monoto
ny of farm life; but it becomes far hard
er, as life advances, to submit to the
restraints individual liberty Of action
and to the an1ieties which are attendant
on making living in a large city.
1t would be good thing if the young
men of the farms could have brought
which Archbishop Ireland gave express
sion to in his address, The only really
free man is the man who owns and
works his farm This truth becomes
more and more apparent as society ad-
vances en- the lines of modern life. And
as that advancement progresses the dis
advantages of country life are being
materially lessened.
1t is true, as Archbishop Ireland ro.ntz
out that the American farmer and the
American farmers wife 90 not know
how to make the most cut of their lives
But it will not remain true long. MANY
forces are working to bring the farmer
that knowledge of the amenities of life
which ore awaited of so generally in
the cities. Increased postal facilities.
the movement working for improved pub
lie highways; the automobile; the bicycle.
increased and increasing railway ac-
Communications; the organization of move
ments in the country looking TIC the es
adjustment of libraries, literary societies
and other bodies designed to promote
closer social intercourse-an these are
forces which will work out in our time
an almost complete amelioration of the
let of the farmers. save only in the most
secluded districts
There are few men who have spent
their lives in the cities toillng day after
day for little more than bare SUBJ
ci-f
lies who nave not had brought home to
them at one time or another with heart
breaking force the great truths which
Archbishop Ireland's address outlines.
and which strangely enough, the man
on the farm chooses to close his eyes to.