Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-06

must become a technical and scientific
profession. This means that there
must be open to farmers the chance
for technical and scientific training, not
theoretical merely, but of the most Sc
lverely practical type. The farmer rep
resents peculiarly high type of Amer
lean citizenship, and he must have the
same chance to rise and develop as
other American citizens have. More
over, it Is exactly as true of the farm
er as 1t is of the business man and the
wageworker that the ultimate SUCCESS
of the nation of which he forms part
must be founded not alone on material
prosperity, but upon high moral, men
tai and physical development This
education of the farmer-self educa-
ton by preference, but also education
| from the outside, as with all other
men-is peculiarly necessary here in
the United States, where the frontier
conditions even in the newest states
have now nearly vanished, where
there must be substitution of more
intensive system OF cultivation for the
old wasteful farm management and
where there must be better business
Organization among the farmers them
selves.
| Several factors must cooperate in
/ the Improvement of the farmers
condition. He must have the chance
to be educated in the widest possible
sense-in the sense which keeps ever
in view the intimate relationship be-
tween the theory Of education and the
facts OF life. In all education we
should widen our aims. 1t is good
thing to produce certain number OF
trained scholars and students, but the
education superintendent by the state
must seek rather to produce hundred
good citizens than merely one scholar
and 1t must be turned now and then
from the class book to the study Of the
great book of nature itself. This is
especially true of the farmer, as has
been pointed out again and again by
all observers most competent to pass
practical judgment on the problems Of
our country life. All students now
realize that education must seek to
train the executive powers Of young
people and to confer more real sig
nihcance upon the phrase dignity Of
labor" and to prepare the pupils so
that in addition to each developing In
the highest degree his individual ca
pacity for work, they may together
help create right public opinion and
show IN many ways social and CO.
operative spirit. Organization has be-
come necessary In the business world,
and 1t has accomplished much for good
in the world Of labor. 1t is no less nee
essary for farmers. Such movement
as the grange movement is good in
itself and is capable of a we'll nigh
Infinite further extension for good so
long as 1t Is kept to it's own legitimate
business. The benefits to be derived
by the association Of farmers for mu-
tual advantage are partly economic
and partly sociological.
i Agricultural Education.
Moreover. while in the long run vol
untary effort will prove more effica-
cious than government assistance,
while the farmers must primarily do
most for themselves, yet the govern
ment can also do much. The depart
ment of agriculture has broken new
ground in many directions, and year
by year it finds how 1t can improve it's
methods and develop fresh usefulness.
Its constant effort is to give the gov
ernmental assistance in the most effec-
tive way-that is, through associations
of farmers rather than to or through.
individual farmers. 1t is also striv-
ing to coordinate it's work with the
agricultural departments of the sew
eral states and, so far as its own work
is educational, to coordinate it with
the work of other educational author
tiles. Agricultural education is neces-
sarily based upon general education,
but our agricultural educational insti-
buttons are wisely specializing them
selves, making their courses relate to
the actual teaching of the agricultural
land kindred sciences to young country
people or young city people who wish
to live in the country
Great progress has already been made
among farmers by the creation of farm
ers' Institutes, of dairy associations, of
breeders associations, horticultural as
sociatiOns and the like. A striking ex-
ample of how the government and the
farmers can cooperate is shown in
connection with the menace offered to
the cotton growers of the southern
states by the advance Of the boil vice.
vii. The department is doing all it
can to organize the farmers in the
threatened districts, just as it has
been doing all it can to organize them
in aid of It's work to eradicate the
cattle fever tick in the south. The de-
partment can and will cooperate with
all such associations, and 1t must have
| their help il it's own work is to be
done in the most efficient style.
| Irrigation and Forest Preservation.
| Much is now being done for the
states Of the Rocky mountains and