Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-09-03
LAUDs THE FARMER.
President Declares the Rural Districts
Produce Truest Americans.


mense crowd at the State fair grounds at
Bangor Me The tenor of his rtmarks
was that the farmer is the mainstay of
the republic, and that the truest Ameri-
canism and the greatest Americans have
come from the rural districts. The Pres
ident said:
Conditions have changed in the country
far less than they have changed In the city
and in consequence there has been little
breaking away from the methods of life
which have produced the great majority of
the leaders Of the republic in the past. Al
most all Of our great Presidents have been
( brought up in the country and most of them
Worked hard on the farms in their youth
and got their early mental training In the
healthy democracy OF farm life.
The forces which made these farm bred
boys leaders of men when they had come
TO their full manhood are still at work in
our country districts Self-helD and indi-
vidual initiative remain to a peculiar de-
gree typical of life in the country, life on
farm, in numbering camp, on ranch.
Neither the farmers nor their hired hands
can work through combinations as readily
as the capitalist or wage workers Of cities
can work
1t must not be understood from this that
there has been no change In farming and
farm life The contrary is the case. There
has been much change, much progress. The
granger and similar organizations, the farm
ers' Institutes. and all the alliances which
promote intelligent cooperation and give
opportunity for social and intellectual in
tercourse among the farmers, have played
large part in raising the level OF life and
work In the country districts.
In the domain Of government the Depart
ment of Agriculture since its foundation,
has accomplished results as striking as those
obtained under any other branch Of the ma
tional administration. BY scientific study Of
all matters connected with the advancement
of farm life; by experimental stations; by
the use of trained agents. sent to the utter
ri 1F 10 OH IA hN ha mr. aaTt len
application Of anything which in the
binary has been demonstrated TO be eff
Client; in these ways and in many Others
great good has been accomplished in rails
ing the standard OF productiveness in farm
work throughout the country.
We live In an era when the best results
can only be achieved, If to individual self
help we add the mutual self-help which
comes by combination. both of citizens in
their individual capacity and OF citizens
working through the state as an instru-
ment. The farmers % the country have grown
more and more To realize this. and farming
has tended more and more to take its
place as an applied science-though, as with
everything else, the theory must be tested
in practical work, and can avail only when
applied in practical fashion.
But after all this has been said, 1t re-
mains true that the countryInan, the man
on the farm, more than any other of our
citizens to-day is called upon continually
to exercise the qualities which we like to
think of as typical of the United States
ged independence, masterful resolution, and
! individual energy and resOurcefulness. He
works hard, for which no man is to be
pitied. and often he lived hard, which may
not be pleasant: but his life is passed in
healthy surroundings, surroundings which
tend to develop a fine type of citizenship.
In the country, moreover, the conditions
are fortunately such to allow a closer
touch between man and man than. too Of
ten lind to be the case in the city.
Men feel more wildly the underlying sense
F1t,HH nit
/ do not mean by his that there are not
plenty Of problems connected with life on
the farm and In our rural districts. There
are many problems. and great wisdom and
earnest disinterested effort are needed for
their solution.
After all. we are one people with the
same fundamental characteristics whether
We live in the city or in the country; the
" est, EfSt. North, South Each of us,
unless he is contentcd to be slumberer on
the earths surface, must strive to do his
life work with his whole heait Each must
remember that while he viii be noxious TO
every one unless he first do his duty by him
self, he must also strive ever 10 do this by
his fellow.
Every one of as sitps on some occasion.
and shame to his fellow who then refuses
to stretch out the hand that should always
be ready TO help the man who siumbles. 1t
is our duty To lift him up; but IL Is also our
duty to remember that there is no earthly
use I'm trying 10 carry him If man will
submit to being carried, that Is sufficient to
n
In the long run, the only kind Of help
that really avails Is the help which teaches
a man to help himself. Such help every
man who has been blessed in life should
try to give to those who are less fortunate
and such help can be accepted with entire
self respect.
The aim to set before ourselves in trying
to aid one another l. to give that aid un-
der conditions which will harm no mans
sef-respect and will teach the less for
tunate how to help themselves rs their
strongest brothers do. 70 give such aid IL
is necessary not only to possess the right
kind of heart bur also the right kind of
head. Hardness Of heart is a dreadful
quality. but II Is doubtful whether in the
long run II works more damage than - IL
ness of head. At any rate both are uLne-
srahle.
The true line Of cleavage Hes between the
good citizen and the bad citizen, and the
line of cleavage may, and often does. run at
right angles to thar which divides the rich
and the poor. The signs Of virtue lie in
mans capacity to care for what is outside
himself
The man who gives himself up to the
service of his appetite the nan who, the
more goods he has the NOR" ne wants, has
surrendered himself to destruction. Ii
makes little difference with him whether
he achieves bis purpose ar not. If his
point Of view Is all wrong, he Is a bad
citizen. whether be he rich or poor.
II Is small matter to the community
whether. In arrogance ard insoience he has
misused great wealth, or whether. though
poor. he Is possessed by Ill" mean and herce
desire 10 seize morSei. the biggest pos
sibe. of that prey which the fortunate Of
earth consumes. The man who liyes sim
ply aud Justly and hpuorahly. whether rich
or poor. X Il good citizen. Those who dream
only Of idleness aud pleasure, who hate
others and fail 10 recognize the duty OF
each man TO his brother, these, be they rich
or poor. are the enemies pf tho STATE
The worth of civilization is the worth
Of the men at its center. WHpa this man
lacks moral rectitude. material progress only
makes bad worse, and social problems still
darker and more complex.