The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-10-21

Tim was when only the great and
powerful had the enjoyment of a car
riagc, but now there are few farmers
who can not go to church or to The coun-
ty seat In a spring wagon or a buggy.
The farmers boys have lheir %si9e-bars,
and the ount~ correspondent OF the
local paper D. y chronicles it and warns
the girls tc 90 < out and see IL they can
not get a VI 1e, The iarnier takes all
these things = atu.al tight, and is
not yet happ. ecaGse ne does nct re-
alize what h las avolGc,t,, but only
secs what he uas not recei. ed.
Time was ana a"l SC long ago. when
1t was common remark that the audi
ences in the agricultural districts were
to be identified by their clothes. The
countryman was dressed as a laborer,
and had no 'best suit" That time has
past. The political lecturers who go
out in all sorts of weather to instruct
the people find hat the farmer is likely
to come to the meetings a good dea bet
ter dressed than the dweller in the
smaller towns. The farmer takes a
pride in looking well, and he dresses ac-
cordingly, and has his wife and daugh-
tiers to do the same. He is no more a
creature of h caricaturists' pictures,
and has more the appearance of a we'll
TODD merchant than of a toiler among
the n of the bottom lands. He has
the presence to preside over the meet
ing If called Upon, and it has not beer
unknown that the farmer delegate was
the victor in a tussel for supremacy be-
tween the smart lawyer and the repre-
sentative of Wayback Township. The
lyceum that the teacher of the district
school as so eager to organize has be-
come a fixed educational feature of the
country, and 1T often happens that the
farmer is SO we'll grounded in the prin-
ciples of parliamentary practice that
he is the superior of many of the city
Inhabitants. He is thus informed on
many matters Of usage that are not to
be picked up in the field, and he re-
members to practice them when he
comes to the city for business and pleas
ure. To be sure, the green goods man
and the bunco steerer are not yet out of
jobs. but they are shorter and shorter
on victims every year, and when they
do get a victim it is usually one from
the very backwoods, and who has o
read the apers. The chances for MAX
ing a living out of the farmer by selling
him lightning rods and taking his note
for a patent right are getting less each
season, and there will soon be none so
poor as TO do reverence to these old
standbys. The early promoters of
these tricks We're good livers. They
found that the farmer could be
"worked' in the easiets possible man
ner. They took his money with an ease
that was the envy of the business man,
and showed that there was nothing SO
simple as h~umbugging. But they find
cold comfort now, and the papers are
frequently ~chroniclers of the speedy de
parture of some sharper from a farm
ing community to avoid the avenging
arm of the awakened people.
The cause of education is a favorite
one with the farmer, and here is seen
the most startling progress. There is
an advance that ought to be convincing
as to his forward march in the worlds
graces. The days when the boy on the
farm was considered sufficiently edu-
Gated if he had the three Rs at his fin
ger ends-or fairly Within reach, which
was the more likely-are no more. The
schools of the country DISTRICTS all over
the west are fully equal to those of the
cities, compared with the respective
needs Of the communities. The coun-
try districts that nave only three
Z 11OlInS StllOol, DIS prov Atltu DS ne IAN )
of most of The states, are few and far
between. Nearly every western state
has at least six months school in every
district, and many have eight and nine.
Then there are county high schools for
the benefit Of the country boys and girls
that We're unknown in the old times.
Then the boys who went to the town
school got along very we'll because they
could whip those who We're not civil,
but the girls had many a crying spell
before they were able to get on the right
side of their school friends. The line of
clothes and bearing was drawn, in spite
of the best efforts of the teachers, and
the country girl had to suffer. Now they
have their own schools inc are making
the same progress as their city cousins
and a good deaf larger number of
them are doing it. too.
The advent of the newspaper into the
farm house has been the entering wedge
to widen the view and make a better life
for all. There is a better understanding OF
the events of the world. and the measures
that are at the bottom of them. 1t is
through this influence that there is such q
power in the farmer vote today. 1t is not
only not unusual for the farmer delegate
to carry off the honors of the conven-
lloIl, u Nllt - oAh'h w ~ III ASAA,N
respect for the united stand of the farming
communities when the campaign is in
progress. The advance that has been made
in the transportation of freighthasa all beer
on account Of the farmer and for his bet
terment The pioneer, who once a year
drove fifty miles With his grain to the mil
l or the market, now grumbles if he has tc
( take the grain six mites, and has in his
head we'll natuged plans for the improve.
} ment of the roads that seem so long t.
him. He rails at the freight rates thai
subtract so much from the price of his
, grain, and yet does not think how grea,
, is the advance for him over the time wher
, he had hard work to sell the grain at all
, The farmer who is more than six miles
from a station, in the western states even
:. is far better off thar was his grandfather
, who perhaps had to drive ten times a.
: far. Inspect the MAJ of Illinois or Indi
4 ana and see what has been dom in railroad
2 building for the farmers benefit. He is {
3 prince to whom all cater.
v And the farmers wife! Does not sh,
share the advancement? She is no NOR,
{ the Gowncast woman that she appears il
l the pages of the old novelist. She has he
: own magazine and her own departments
y in the columns of the county papers. Reae