The progressive farmer., 1902-03-18

possession of the Philippine.
ultimately pay US, eoonomioaIIr
only be decided, Mr.. Conant tSi.9 g
after considerable number Of
when it can be seen to what Sa
the islands afford openings fo,S
enterprise and capital of our mas
THE FILIPINO AT school.
Mr.. +. W. Atkinson, in "The n
oational Problem in the PhilipninJ
also published in the Atlantic /
presses the opinion that the per -
age of illiterates of the total Phi
pine population is nearer 50 ne,o
than the 30 whioh has been 4
mated. He says there is real
sire for schools on the part Of !
Filipinos, and an intense eaga,,
to acquire English. The FiGr
child is a child of promise; h.
doolle, quick, and mentally alert
has aptness for acquiring langp,o
and a natural talent for the Is'
mechanical arts he draws and wi,
we'll a majority of the school Il
dren are young-looking and
tractive.
A SKETCH OF BENJAMIN HARRTs,
The March Cosmopolitan oou,
a character sketch of the late IA
min Harrison by Mr.. William An
White. Mr.. White thinks thegs
distinction which Benjamin Harms
had as a statesman was his culh
and knowledge. He was Va
widely read man, something
known in the average Ame1s
politician and Harrison was
fully acquainted with his Amer,
He knew it's literary side as well
it's political side, knew what snn
tions we're moving people, VIA
movements were current in Ina.
can art, what scientists wer tv.
ing for. When he retired to ptNs
life, he merely relinquished %
routine of duty for another. u
White says that Harrison was
little concerned over his politiCsli
feat, which did not change his vie
of life in the least, much less
character.
SOUTHERN COLLEGES.
The Sewanee Review has psl
on "The Problems of the Small 9
1ege in the Southern StRkaa HF
II. Babbitt, who offers suggeB BHr
toward raising the standards Of the
struggling institutions, and increi
ing their practical efficiency. In
dentally it brings out some startll
facts as to the conditions of oOL8
instruction in the South. 1t tappea
that very few of the Southern
leges have more than $20O,OOOa
dowment, while very many h
practically no endowment at
Of forty-four institutions, repress
ing two thirds of the collegeSt
white students, the average nun
of instructors is eight there arenS
teen which have less than that DO
Der, and very few have more h
ten. The standard of the aVeFSl
college for admission seems TO
about a year lower than that Of 81
small colleges in New England
WONDERS OF THE ARID WEST
The Worlds Work contains
elaborate article, with a great nV
Der of illustrations, on "The w
ders of the American Desert,
Mr.. Robert T. Hill. While there
brooks and rivers rising in the la'
of our graat deseES
water ever runs from it into tn0
as the sands swallow up every o
which is not evaporatod by sun
wind. The maximum RAINFALL NT
than fifteen inches per annum,
does not average more than -
ten inches. In such places as D01
Valley and the Yuma DeseEH
less than five inches, these tWoT
being perhaps the driest in the AD,
world. This writer attempts !"
reot an idea suggested by tn0
moters of irrigation schemes
the chief possibility of the Amot
Desert is agricultural, and 'D'
very large proportion of it O'D
cultivated by irrigation. Asa
ter of fact, the desert has been
large extent already reclaimed "
energetic people who have "'J
greater than that of any oth0l
ton of the Union, amounting so'y
two thousand dollars per oapl'S'