Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-29
FARMERS ARE BUSY
Secretary Wilson Talks to
New Englanders.
HAVE PAID OFF DEBTS
INDIRECTLY FURNISH MONEY
FOR SPECULATION.
What the Department is Doing to Ad-
vance Interests Of Agricul-
turists.

Secretary Wilson of the Department OF
| Agriculture today addressed the Agricui-
tural Society Of New Hampshire at lamp
| ton Beach. n H. Mr.. Wilson referred 10
many interesting phases of the agricultural
DEVELOPMENT of the United States.
He referred to the fact that the farmers
! of the country were never buster than no"
and that e per cent Of the exports OF the
| country come from the farms
Farms Unincumbered.
"rhe farmers in most parts of the coun-
| try at the present time own their lands
| without tncumbrance," said Mr.. Wilson.
| During the last six years many OF them
| have paid Off debts and have been accumu-
lating What to do with these accumula-
tons has been a nice question with many
| farmers They do not like to keep money
about the house, they deposit with the
| local banks. The local banker does not IKE
| to keep a surplus that he cannot loan, SO
| he deposits In the great commercial centers.
and really the farmer has been indirectly
| furnishing the money for speculation dur
| ing late years
ut is a pity that we do not have more
| correct information with regard TO the Ha-
| bility of Investments in which farmers could
| place their money. This condition OF az
| fairs. to my certain knowledge has ex-
| listed for some years back In the MISSISSIPPI
valley. crops nave Deeii Soou' "a 49, iiAe'1'
| farmers have accumulated and did not
know what to do with the money. They
have taken hundreds of millions of dollars
| into the British possessions to buy lands
They have gone into all the western states
| and territories, and, by investments SO ex-
| tensive, have increased the price of lands
| everywhere
Cheap Farms in New England.
az think the cheapest lands in America
| nd far paOnla
Of the west do not look toward the east
for cheap lands, They forget that your
close contiguity to the best markets in the
| country make everything you produce of
| more value than 1t is anywhere else, and
| So while there has been some appreciation
| of value In the east. it has not at all been
| equal to the appreciation in the west where
| wealth is created by farmers. The western
| farmer goes south. He has been helping
| to develop the rice industry along the gulf
| coast. He is going into the truck business
| In Louisiana and Texas, and has been find
| ing cheap lands that are now rapidly ris-
| ing In value.
I'VE have been selling from American
| farms In recent years around $StO1oD0O0
| worth of products to foreign countries. This
| is what has kept the balance of trade in our
| favor so steadily for the last six years,
| enabling us to pay off foreign debts. reduce
| interest and furnish the wherewithal to
bring about the great prosperity we have
! had, and having. and will continue to
have while the present conditions exist.
| But, very singularly, we have been buying
| about half as much farm products from
| foreign fields we have been selling from
our own fields
Imported Products Can Be Grown Here
about half of imported farm pro-
ducts can be grown in the United States,
and toward the growing Of these things
here the Department of Agriculture is ad-
dressing itself. Six years ago we produced
| from the beet 5000 tons of sugar. Last
| year produced 220OOO tons The irriga-
| ton laws enacted by the last Congress will
result In a few years in the production I'M
der our own flag, of all the sugar consumed
| in the United States.
six years ago produced in the United
| States % per cent of the rice consumed.
| We are now producing substantially as
much as we consume. We are still import
| Ing. but we have begun exporting. We i'm
| port certain varieties desired by peo-
| pie that we have not yet produced, but are
| exporting what is not SO desirable to our
| own people. such as red rice. broken rice,
| &c. The Cinnamon in the United States i'm
port certain varieties of rice. and will use
no other. We are now preparing to supply
| them with home grown American rice Of
these varieties.
To Raise HighGrade Tobacco.
while we export s3O.O0o.ooO worth of the
cheapest TOBACCO known. we nave been I'M
| porting s15.OOO.OOO worth of the highest
| priced tobacco known to commerce. The
Department Of Agriculture has been ad-
dressing itself toward the production within
| the United States of these hgh-priced to-
baccOs. You will find Illustration of
| these high-pr1ced tobaccos in the Connect
| cut valley, where we are producing a Su-
matra wrapper. and in Texas. Alabama
South Carolina and some other states,
where we are producing the fine, aromatic
| cigar filler. These are illustrations of the
production Of things at home that have
been imported heretofore amounting to
| considerably over 500 100000 year. that
will be produced eventually in the United
| States.
"Of the things that we buy from foreign
| fields that cannot be produced in the
United States. such coffee, rubber
| spices. tropical fruits. &c. the Department
| Of Agriculture Is taking steps. under the di-
rection Of Congress. to have them produced
by our brown men In our newly acquired
island possessions. so that when they come
to help US celebrate the Fourth of July in
future they will have money in their pock-
cts to buy from us things that they cannot
produce. We are not encouraging these is
landers to produce anything that can be
grown here. for the abundant reason that
when the time would come when they
would enter into competition with our pro-
ducers they would very likely be beaten in
| the enterprise.
Helping Porto Ricans.
"A corps Of scientific experts is at work
in Porto Rico. helping those people to de-
velop their industries. Another corps is
located in the Hawaiian Islands, and the
War Department has called upon US for
men to help develop agriculture in the Phil
ippine Islands. The industries of all those
new possessions are almost altogether agri-
cultural, and those people will reach con-
tentment and enter the paths of progress
most certainly through the development Of
their agricultural industries.
TT is we'll enough to help all of them to-
ward a common school education, but care
full study of the men of all races who work
in the fields with their coats OFF (and that
applies to half the people now under our
nag) leads me to the conclusion that after
a common school education the elements of
the science of agriculture are of more value
to them than anything else they can ac-
qure. and think the time will come when
educators will realize that many of the ele-
ments OF agriculture might be. with great
benefit to the scholars. introduced in the
common schools I find this is being done
successfully at two places in the land at
present. One Is at Tuskegee. for the bene-
At Of the negro race. and the other Is at
Thompson's Island in Boston harbor, for
/ H. hyv