Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-05

but little OF direct Importance Tor MS
welfare save where he Is engaged In
work which permits it to act under
the interstate commerce clause Of the
constitution; and this is one reason
why I so earnestly hope that both the
legislative and judicial brahches Of the
government will construe this clause
of the constitution I'm the broadest pos
sible manner. We can, however, in such
a matter as Industrial training, In such
a matter as child labor and factory
laws, set an example to the states by
enacting the most advanced legisla-
tion that can wisely be enacted for the
District of Columbia.
Agriculture
The only other persons whose welfare
is as vital to the welfare of the whole
country as is the welfare of the wage
workers are the tillers of the soil, the
farmers. 1t is a mere truism to say
that no growth of cities, no growth of
wealth, no Industrial development can
atone for any falling off in the char
aoter and standing of the farming pop
ulation. During the last few decades
this fact has been recognized with
ever-increasing clearness. There Is no
longer any failure to realize that
farming, at least in certain branches,
must become a technical and scientific
must be open to farmers the chance
for technical training, not theoretical
merely but of the most severely prac-
teal type. The farmer represents a
peculiarly high type of American citi-
zenshlp, and he must have the same
chance to rise and develop as other
American citizens have. Moreover, 1t
is exactly as true of the farmer as 1t
is of the business man and the wage
q - II.
nation of which he forms a part must
be founded not alone on material pros
perity but upon high moral, mental
and physical development. This edu-
cation of the farmer-self- education by
preference, but also education from
the outside as with all other men-s
peculiarly necessary here in the United
States, where the frontier conditions
even in the newest states have now
nearly vanished where there must be
q substitution of a more intensive
system of cultivation for the old waste
full farm management, and where there
must be better business organization
among the farmers themselves.
Education and Organization
Several factors must cooperate in
the Improvement of the farmers condi-
tion. He must have the chance to be
in the sense which keeps ever in
view the intimate relationship between
the theory of education and the facts
of life In all education we should
widen our aims. 1t is a good thing
to produce a certain number of trained
scholars and students, but the educa-
tion superintended by the state must
seek rather to produce a hundred good
citizens than merely one scholar, and
| . l1A f,,r on
the class book to the study of the great
book of nature itself. This is especial
ly true of the farmer, as has been
pointed out again and again by all OBJ
servers most competent to pass practi-
cal 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 Significance upon
the phrase dignity of labor" and to
prepare the pupils so that in addition
to each developing in the highest de-
gree his individual capacity for work,
| they may together help create a right
public opinion, and show in many ways
social and cooperative spirit. Organf-
| zation has become necessary in the
business world: and it has accom-
| plished much for good in the world of
labor. 1t is no less necessary for farm
ers. Such a movement as the grange
movement is good in itself and is ca
pable of a well-night infinite further
extension for good so long as 1t Is kept
to it's own legitimate business. The
benefits to be derived by the associa-
tion of farmers for mutual advantage
are partly economic and partly socio-
logical.
Government Can Aid
Moreover, while in the long run vol
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 it can improve
it's methods and develop fresh useful
ness It's constant effort is to give the
governmental assistance in the most
effective way; that it, through associa-
tions of farmers rather than to or
through individual farmers. 1t is also
striving to coordinate it's work with
the agricultural departments of the
several states and so far as it's own
work Is educational, to coordinate 1t
with the work of other educational au-
thorities. Agricultural education is
necessarily based upon general edu-
cation, but our agricultural education
al lnSllIuIlOnS are wisely Spec1allZlnS
themselves, making. their courses relate
to the actual teaching of the agricul-
tural and 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 farmers institutes, of dairy associa-
tions, of breeders associations, horti-
cultural associations and the like A
striking example of how the govern
ment 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 weevil The department is doing
allft can to organize the farmers in the
threatened districts just as 1t has been
doing all it can to organize them in aid
of its work to eradicate the cattle
fever tick in the south. The depart
ment can and will cooperate with all
such associations and 1t must have
their help If 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 mountain and great
plains through the development of the
national policy OF irrigation and forest