The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-04-06
IN A SNOW STORM
President Roosevelt Delivers an
Address at Sioux Falls
To the Wage Worker and the
TiIIer Of the Soil.
WHAT STATE CAN Do
Important Work of the Depart
ment of Agriculture.
Much Is Expected From the New
Irrigation Law.

Sioux Falls. S. D., April 6.-President
Roosevelt began the second week of his
tour in strenuous way He rose early
feeling much refreshed from yester-
days rest and at 7:50 started on a
drive with Secretary Loeb, Senator
Kittridge and Mayor Burnside. Despite
the early hour and dreary weather the
streets were lined with people. who
greeted the president enthusiastically,
and at $40 the president arrived at the
big auditorium where he addressed A.
BOO children.
4 believe in work and 1 believe i'll
play" said the president. I would be.
sorry not to see you enjoy yourselves.
but do not let play interfere with work.
Do things quickly and cheerfully. Boys.
remember the manlier you wish to be,
the nicer you can afford to be at home.
/ would be ashamed of a boy who was a
bully to the weak When you play be
fair, but play hard, and then wa1k hard
at your studies. If you get hurt, keep
on playing Work with your whole
heart in all things.
AS the president left the auditorium
4 he was greeted with tremendous ap-
plause. He was driven rapidly to the
stand which had been erected, where d
crowd Of 5000 people had assembled
+ The president spoke on The Wage
worker and the TiIIer of the Soil He
was frequently Interrupted by applause.
During his speech snow began to fall
but the president was clad in a heavy
OVercoat and was weI protected. lie
said he was glad 10 be again in the
banana belt which created laughter
Fellow Citizens-There are many,
many lesser problems which go to make
up in their entirety the huge and COM
PICK problems of our modern industrial
fc +t..- IL.
s over, connected with many of the 9th
ers- Few, indeed, are simple or stand
only by themselves. The most impor-
+ tant are those connected with the rela-
/ tion of the farmers, the stock growers,
and soil tillers, to the community at
large, and those affecting the relations
i between employer and employed. In q
country like ours it is fundamentally
true that the well being of the tiIler of
the soil and the wage worker is the
well being of the state If they ara
we'll off, then we need concern ourselves
but little as to how other classes stand.
for they will inevitably be well off too
and, on the other hand, there can be
no real general prosperity unless based
on the foundation of the prosperity of
the wage worker and the tiller of the
soil.
But the needs of these two classes
are often not the same The tilIer of
the soil has been of all our citizens the
one on the whole least affected in his
ways OF life and methods of industry
by the giant industrial changes OF the
last half century. There has been a
change with him too, of course He
also can work to best advantage il he
/ keeps in close touch with his fellows,
and the success of the national depart
ment of agriculture has shown how
much can be done for him by rational
action of the government. Nor is It
only through the department that the
/ government can act One of the great
est and most beneficent measures
passed by the last congress, or indeed
by any congress in recent years, Is the
irrigation act, which will do for the
states of the great plains and 4ne Rocky
mountain region at least as much as
ever has been done for the states of the
humid region by river and harbor i'm
prOvement. Few measures that have
been put upon the statute books of the
nation have done more for the people
than this law will, firmly believe, di-
Brectly and indirectly accomplish for the
states in question.
WORK FOR FARMERS.
The department OF agriculture de-
votes its whole energy to working for
the welfare of farmers and stock grow
ers. In every section of our country it
aids them in their constantly increasing
search for a better agricultural educa-
ton. 1t helps not only them, but all
the nation, in seeing that our exports
of meats have clean bills of health and
that there is rigid inspection Of all
meats that enter into interstate COM
merce. Thirty-eight million carcasses
were inspected during the fiscal year.
Our stock growers sell S45 600. 900 worth
OF live stock annually, and these ami
mails must be kept healthy or else our
people will lose their trade. Our export
of plant products to foreign countries
amounts to over $500, 100000 year and
there is no. branch of its work to which
the department of agriculturS devotes
more care. Thus the department has
been successfully introducing macaroni
ga, which grows successfully il. ten
inches of rainfall, and by this naea rs
wheat growing has been successfully
extended westward into the semi-arid
region. Two million bushels of this
wheat were grown last year, and. being
suited to dry conditions, it can be used
for forage as we'll as for food for man.
The department of agriculture has
been helping our fruit men to establish
ma rkets abroad by studying methods
of fruit preservation through refrigera-
tion and through methods of handling
and packing. On the Gulf coasts OF
Louisiana and Texas. thanks to ths
department of agriculture, a rice suit
able to the region was imported from
the Orient and the rice crop is now
practically equal to our needs in this
country. whereas a few years ago il
supplied but one-f0urth of them The
most important Of our farm products
is the grass crop; and to show wha'
has been done with grasses. I need only
alIude to the striking change made II
the entire west by the extended use o.
alfalfa.
Moreover. the department has ta,keI
the lead in the effort to prevent ths
deforestation of the country. Wheri
there are forests we seek to preserve
them; and on the once treeless plains
and the prairfes we are doing our bes
Ito foster the habit Of tree planting