Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-09-05

upon the best possible utilization of
the one unfailing national resource,
there would be produced all necessary
food for the wants of in round num-
bersr $4,000, 900. y
Failing to understand the needs of
the hour or to appreciate the, moral
to which they point, what fortune
must await us Within twenty years
125, 900, 900 people and before the mid
die of the century over 200,0O0,00O
must find room and food and employ
ment within the United States. Where
are they to live? What are they to
do? By that time our mineral re-
sources will have been so nearly ex-
hausted that the industries related to
| them must fall into a minor place. BY
| that time it is apparent that. our
dream of conquest of world markets
will be bursted bubble
| Harold Bolce has demonstrated that
the peoples of the Orient-the hun,
| dreds of millions of Japan and China
with their initiative quality, their
proved ability to operate modern ma
| chinery and to create it in their own
workshops after once using it, their
enormous supply of coal and iron,
their limitless cheap labor and their
patience like that of Fate, are pre-
pared to control the markets of the
future. They must control as against
the policy which has established
| domestic conditions in manufacturing
business, on lines which makes prod
uction SO expensive an affair that we
could not hope to meet the mechanic
OF Germany on even terms, and must
retire before the despised Chinaman. =
1t is mathematical fact that with
in 20 years. under present conditions,
our wheat crop will not be sufficient
for home consumption and seed, with
out leaving bushel for export. Will
these coming millions go into the
factories? But where can they expect
to sell shop products in a world of
comp petition, and who will furnish the
pay rolls All industry stops When
these are not forthcoming. That is
the dead wall against which England
stands dismayed. ~ ....s'.e., -. .. I
Let us be- warned in time. On
|every side there is menace if our ma
tional activity be not recognized on
the basis of the old-fashioned common
sense. The safety valve for older
peoples has been found in emigration
Their very belief has contributed to
our danger. The United, States can
not follow their example. It is
against the genius of our people; and,
besides, the circle of the Northern
hemisphere" is closed. AT home the
problem must be worked out, and its
terms have been clearly stated
The conclusion reached points out
and emphasizes a national duty so
imminent and $50 imperative chat it
should take precedence Of all else. It
is the foe that has overthrow civil
izations as proud, as prosperous and
far more strongly fortified than our
own Nothing can stop the onward
march of natures laws or close the
iron jaws of her necessities when
they open to crush their victims.
Either we shall understand our situa-
ton and make such provision as her
benignancy affords to meet it, or we
/ shall meet conditions of overcrowding
land artificial standards and food and
employment inadequate to the ma
Etional needs and SO be in danger of
destroying the stately temple once
reared with the highest hopes that
ever animated humanity. Which is
lit to be? :5ss Al
# we are to walk safely in the way
| of wisdom there is much to be done.
| It is time to begin. There must be,
first, a return to conservative and
economic methods, readjustment Of
| national ideas such as to place agTa-
culture, and its claims to best inteIli-I
Egence and the highest skill that. the
country affords in the very foremost.
There must be ] Il national revolt
against the worship Of manufacture
and trade as the only form Of progress
siVe activity and the false notion that
wealth built upon these at the sacri-
fice of the fundamental form Of
wealth production can endure. ~
q clear recognition on the part Of
the whole people, from the highest
down to the lowest. that the tillage Of
the soil is the natural and most desfr-
able occupation for man. to which
every other is subsidiary and to
which all else must in the end yield,
Is the first requisite. Then there will
be a check administered to the city
movement that lowered the per-
centage Of agricultural labor to the
whole body OF persons engaged Id
- r. 20 z. 8 u ~