The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-14

grand list of agricultural states, should
have its wants recognized in the legis-
lature. to further the continuance Of
that noble work. The farmers pay the
bulk of the taxes of this state, and they
| demand this recognition"
PROF. DAVENPORT'S SPEECH.
| One of the foremost men in develop
| Ing the new ideas in Sc1ent1rc agrlcul-
| ture, which are now reVOluCioniiag the
! business of farming, is Prof. E. DaVen-'
port, dean of the Illinois College of
Agriculture. Few people realize what
| this new development in agriculture
means-this work that is being accom-
| plished by the agricultural colleges and
| experiment stations of the country.
There has been more development in this
matter in the past ten years than in
the so years preceding, and there was
more in the last so years than in the
| so centuries of the worlds history be-
fore that.
This is readily illustrated by the i'm
provements in farm machinery. Fifty
] years ago grain was cut with a cradle,
| which was only a slight advance over
| the little hand sickle that was in use
| 5000 years ago. Threshing was done
! with a fail, almost as primitive a
method as that in vogue among the
children of Israel a thousand years be-
| fore the beginning of the Christian era.
| Today the grain is harvested with
| self binder, and six or eight men, with
| an up-to-date threShing machine, Will
| threSh a thousand bushels in a few
hours. There are machines, even that
cut and thresh the grain at the same
| time.
! Still greater things are being ac-
complished in science in farming that
| the advancement which has been made
| in farm machinery, and such develop
ment is only in its infancy. Something
of this was told in the address by
Prof. Davenport last night before the
state board of agriculture. He said:
The last half of the last century wit
messed more real progress in agricul-
| ture than all the generations that have
passed since Adam titled the garden
or since our primitive ancestor gnawed
! his bone in the shelter of the cave
The findings of chemical physical and
| biological science have been applied to
! the business of farming until it rests
| upon firm basis of known fact; and
While much yet remains to be done and
| learned yet sufficient has been &C
complished to establish the hope and
cherish the belief that in time agricul-
| ture will be conducted according to the
principles of exact science.
| The effect of all this has been. first.
to make agriculture profitable, and this
| has created new object in the Occupa-
/ ton. Whereas our fOrefatherS farmed
| for maintenance, we farm for money.
| Their aim was to raise enough TO feed
! themselves and their animals until an
| other harvest ours is to raise all that
| the land will produce and sell 1t in the
| markets of the world for cash to in
! crease our capital. The object in agrl-
culture has therefore become the same
as that of any other business, and in
this way a primitive occupation has be-
| come a skilled profession, calling for
| high attachments in scientific and prac-
teal knowledge, together with a con-
sidera BILE degree of financial ability.
A second effect of recent agricultural
| development is therefore to make farm
ing more difficult than formerly, and to
exactly that extent it has become I'M
| suited to the extremely ignorant and to
! the grossly incompetent. 1t now chal-
lenges the best of intenects and re-
wards the finest training and the keen
est study, and to this extent it is en-
+ gaging the attention of the best men.
/ There is no longer farming class, =
and we have passed the point at which
/ there was danger of our developing a
/ peasantry on American lands.
If agricultural advancement has been
. rapid in the immediate past it will not
be less rapid in the immediate future.
We are in the midst of the movement
I and a thousand new questions and read
justments are up for settlement simply
because agriculture is assuming new
proportions on the earth and entering
into new relations among the affairs of
man.
Observation shows that great move
ments such as this are periodic and ex-
perience teaches that everything de-
ponds upon the trend that is given af-
fairs while the movement is on. Great
steps in the evolution of human affairs
do not arise and proceed successfully
of themselves. They must have direc-
, ton and guidance at every step, else
the movement will die out and the wave
! subside without any real progress hav-
l ing been accomplished.
Conditions are unusually favorable
just now for extreme DEVELOPMENT in
agriculture. There is great public in
terest in the matter; governments, state
and national, are committed to the
policy of public aid to this end; the
educational spirit of the times is in
training. Learn to do by doing is
the American motto, and there has new
er been time, and may never be an
other so favorable for developing
American agriculture to its highest pos
sible estate
1 have said that great movements do
; not arise spontaneously and conduct
themselves to successful conclusions.
There must be leadership and rational
uirectlOn, or the issue is abOrtive or at
best uncertain, and the practical ques-
ton before US all just now is the proper
management of this wave of energy and
spirit of progress in such a way that it
snail not spend itself without accom-
plishing its full and perfect work. It is
none too soon to put all that is best
into this movement. A similar wave of
pubic interest in agriculture swept
over the country an hundred wears ago
but conditions were unfavera BILE and
1t came to little beyond the founding of
agricultural associations. 1t is to be
hoped that with our superior conditions
and advantages this recurrence of pop
ular interest in agriculture will be even
more fruitful of permanent results, and
such will be the case if it can be well
directed along rational lines
With the present popular interest in
agriculture, champions will not be
wanting. The more important question
is who shall be allowed to serve. A
dozen years ago nobody willingly con-
tessed to being q farmer. Now the
business is fashionable, indeed there is
some danger of it becoming a fad. How
ever that may be, it is recognized today
that no avenue of influence appeals
more directly and successfully to the
public than does that of agriculture.
me professional politician outside the