Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-04
HILL LAT MINNESOTA FAIR.
Prssidsrt Of Great EOsthern Talks to Grain
- 'ssnd Stock Show.
wtsttRS LAND MUST &c DEVELOPED
At Present Little More Than start
Has Been Made in Get
ting wealth Ont of
the soil,

. ST. PAUL, Mimi, Sept. S.--Ninety-seven
thousand people passed through the gates
on the opening day of the Minnesota state
fair, breaking all attendance records.
The dedicatOry service at the live stock
amphltheater TOOK plsces~at II o'clock in
the morning. b. F. Nelson. president Of the
State Fair association. making a brief ad-
dress In burning over the building TO tile
state. Governor John A. johnson accepted
the building and then introduced James ].
HILL president of the Great Northern rail-
road, as the orator of the day. MIR. Hnl
said in part: ~
Notwithstanding the addition of more
than a million people a year from abroad.
nearly all OF them men and women who
must must work for a living, labor outside the
cues was never as scarce or wages as
nigh as at the present time. Immigration
hngers in the great centers and adds to
farms stretch out their hands in vain
Railroads in making extensions have to
get help at the highest market price, and
they employ mere hoboes who desert as
soon as they have succeeded in getting
ira from one part Of the coun-
ployment agencies in vain and offer the
lazy tramp a sum for a days work in the
held unheard of in any other country IN
the world. The situation grows more en-
barassing yearly. Hours Of labor are be-
Ing reduced in some Of the states for farm,
as well as shop hands. Men are scareer
as the movement of population to the
cities grows more pronounced. A con
siderable portion OF this years magnificent
crop will be either reduced in quality or
altogether lost by reason OF the impos-
sibility OF getting labor to handle it prop
erly. = Discouraged small farmers now
are selling their land to larger proprietors
who can profitably substitute machinery
for men. The country needs more work
es on the soil. Not to turn the stranger
away, but 10 direct him to the farm in
stead OF the city. hot to watch with fear
to Use every means near 10 Eeep the boys on
e Rs s snd e ssHs Soq rank. from Of
cultural industry is the necessary task
Of well-advised political economy and an
Intelligent patriotism
y Population is Growing.
Within twenty years. We mus: house s,a and
ADDITIONAL population; and BY the middle
Of this century there will be approxi-
natelyf two and half times as many peo-
day, No nation in history was ever con-
fronten with a sterner question than this
certain prospect sets before US. What are
to 90 provide our Fe eR
dren with. shelter and their daily bread?
Our. arabic pubic lands have almost dis
Our one resource, looking at humanity
as something more than the creature OF
day is the pTegg1Stvity Of the n sS ,a The
its division among ali the greedy who
choose 10 ask for bs6the appropriation of
large Areas for sSne eargGs1s h hsyis sS-
Only one-haif of 4ile, land IN private own.
ership IL now tilted, That tillage does
might be made to yield, without losing an
atom of its fertility. Yet the waste OF
our treasure has proceeded so far that
purposes has already .deteriorsted more
than it should have done in hve centuries
o. ON nse the new lands: ;of .ths west. where
Once the yheatysieldt wss from twenty to
thirtS bushels peg Aegs Il Is ana now wt lro
shame this is attributed to the wearing
OUT of tha-.soi as IL the earth were q
garment that must be destroyed BY wear
ing. II the earth bla mother OF numsIh, =,
Il n. p fset a that a soils properly
treated, ma intain etheN preduet iveness M
a sse, tb nH4eT IKE dRsappes s
pestilence and the discontinnanee Of war
that belong TO the future. all contributins
tive capacity Of the soil must be sustained
at it's highest point, or the world suffers
Dependent Upon the soil.
= -rh. single advance on practical lines
made by public authority within me iast
quarter of a century Is the reclamation law.
Initiated and inspired and paid for by !; a
T provides SeSi for a real addition TO- the
Source of food supply and the oppor-
tunity for employment. But it is only
light breeze blowing in the face or
cyclone. n every project contemplated as
feasible were executed. and II all were
Completed Instantly by the rub OF a magic
Isnp some 6aO0e.e00 acres would be
added TO the arabic national domain. And
n only forty acres of this were assigned TO
each family Ii would supply the needs OF
the actual addition to. population, py
Increase and by Immigration, Tor
less than three years. -
Certain II Is that the time has come Tor
setting our household in order. and create
ing a serious study OF national activity and
according to truer insight ana
a more rational mood
The first step Is to- realize our depfnoance
upon the cultivation Of the soil. The next
will be to concentrate popular interest ana
invention and hope upon that neglected
skirts of a civilization born OF great cities
We at this very moment, use slang
which calls the stupid man "a farmer"
Genius has Stunned the farm and expended
itself upon mechanical appliances and
commerce. and the manifold activities whose
favorable reactions filter back slowly TO the
plot OF ground upon which stand sohdly
The real master OF himself and OF his des-
tiny. II we comprehend our problem Alright,
all this Will change; and larger compre-
hension of agriculture as our main resource
and our most dlgnihed and independent
will for the future direct to
their lust aim, in the Improvement OF
methods and the Increase of yield, the
wisdom and the science and the willing
labor of the millions who thus may trans