Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-06-12
An Axricultural Revixal.

The desirability Of maintaining q
prosperous and intelligent rural popula-
tion in this country is generally recoguiz-
ed. The condition of the nation would
be neither politically nor economically
sound II the population were 90 cougest-
ed in the cities as 70 destroy the reason
able balance Of conservatism and radi-
caiism, put our government to the mercy
Of the restless, unrooted native and for
eign elements which congregate in in
dustrial centres, and leave those centres
without the adequate agricultural back
ground on which their healthy life must
depend. There 10 much misplaced sor-
row over the drift from the farm. We
want drift from the farm in just the
measure that the farm overfiows with
men and women needed elsewhere.
But we also want the farm to continue
to develop strong, intelligent people and
TO hold its own as an attractive field for
a fair proportion of them. How it can
be made to do this is the problem.
Some have thought to do it by rural
free delivery, telephones and other ap-
pliances to make the farmer contented
with an approach to the convenience of
life in the cities. The true solution is
not, however, palliation. 1t does not
consist in making young men and women
think they are having as good time as
people in the city, but in making it
possible for them to earn more than they
could in the city. Professor Knapp,
who has done so much to convert the
boil weevil from curse to blessing in
some southern states, put the point
squarely in his address the other day be-
fore the Southern Educational Con-
ference at Lexington, KY, when he said
that rural depopulation would continue
as long as the mechanics productive
power was five times that of the farm
laborer.
There is the problem. The old fash
ioned farmer may think the solution
hopeless, but Professor Knapp shows
that it is perfectly easy If our people will
only wake up to the possibilities Of in
telligent and progressive cultivation Of
the soil. He declares that agriculture
Yields each farm laborer in Vermont
SAT-, in Iowa s1OSS, in South Carolina
STAT, in North Carolina $3.50, in Alabama
$3.50. Only in Iowa is the farm laborer's
productive power equal to that OF the
mechanic and that is not because Of
superior natural productiveness Of the
soil-for, in spite of its richness, great
care must be given to drainage in Iowa
but because of more intelligent cul-
tiyation. In Iowa there are four horses
to one man working on the farm; In
South Carolina one mule to every two
workers. The Iowan's livestock 10
worth 81 ,2l4 and his farm implements
S253. The Carolinan's livestock Is worth
slS4 and Ills i'm Dplements ss3. The profit
of farming is in the large crop secured
by the extra labor beyond what will pro
duce an average crop. II Is the first
bale of cotton or the first twenty bush
els Of wheat IA the acre which costs,
lust as IL IL the first chair from the fac
tory. Statistics show that with cotton
at seven cents the man who raises half a
bale actually loses, while he makes an
increasing profit as be pushes his crop
from one 10 t~o bales, ~ he can easily
do by getting good seed and giving good
tillage. The Iowa farmer puts i've
times as much power on his plow as the
Carolinian. aud he gets, not i've, but
eight times the result.
Dr. Knapp says that, with due allow
ance Cor short crops and failures, ''the
south can make gain Of 800 per cent
In produetiveness In the next ten years.
What is true Of the south is true In only
a less degree Of the whole country.
Good seed, more power and less hand
work. more thorough culture, more care
10 nee, markets In the selection OF
crops and the packing of products-in
short, the bringing to the farm OF the
spirit and intelligence OF the alert manu-
fac;urer-would at least double the re-
turns from farming, even In our most
advanced states. Denmark in Europe
and Canada on this side Of the water
have set US an example in revolution
izing their agriculture and substituting
prosperity for depression. We can do
as much, and the educational confer.
ences and the General Education Board
can perform no more worthy service
than to promote campaign for better
farming in every state OF the union. IL
would be an educational and patriotic,
as well as an economic campaign, for
fat land with a wealthy agricultural
population means an Intelligent COM
mnnity, able and willing to support good
schools, conservative and faithful to the
duties of citizenship, because it has
much to lose from bad government.
New York, with its educational forces,
should be a leader in this movement;
1t has too many half titled fields and
too many farmers who wonder If farm
ing is worth while, simply because they
do not really know how to farm.-Trio-
una Farmer