The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1906-06-01
WASTE LANDS AND WASTE OF
POWER.

Fast sunday has avery strong letter by
Andrew VI Soule, OF Blacksburg, and
a very strong editorial commenting on
this letter
Say, Prof S0ule. There are two
crops raised on the farm; those utilized
for the maintenance Of the human
race directly and indirectly, and the
crop of boys and girls. Much thought
and labor have been expended on the
raising of the former and still only a
little has been achieved, but in the
strife TO establish dominion over vast
acres of pnmeval territory, the true
education of the crop Of boys and girls
has sometimes been overlooked
I'm commenting Oh this, the Times
Dispatch says. "The best way to re-
hablitate our lands and improve az
ucultural conditions IN Virginia is to
give scientific and practical instruc-
ton al school To young men who pro-
pose To make farming an occupation
Waste lands are produced by lack Of
education Wasted lands mean vast
ed power uudevel0ped power. What
q, 10 that harnesses the mighty power
of our rivers and turns it to the bene-
fir of mankind? The educated brain.
" hat is il that turns waste land into
land Of great productive power? The
educated brain. The greatest crop we
have iu Virginia is our crop Of boys
and girls In their brains is undevel-
Oped power that will. when trained,
develop all other power No indus
trial power can he developed without
brain-power Whose brain power is
To develop Virginia? We seek inn
migration 10y writing articles about I
IT, by sending out tens Of thousands I
Of pamphlets; by sending our Commits /
,ioner of Agriculture to England to /
seek immigrants All this is good /
work, provided we secure the right .
kind Of immigrants. But why do we
continue 10 neglect the riches at our
doors, ON our farms, and in our
homes the untold riches in the brains
jf as fine auatiye stock Of children as
may be found in the world? We have
a problem more serious than immigra-
ton, and that is the prevention Of en-
grafton Our children are growing
Ip and leaving not only the farms, but
he State. iu drOyes Enterprising
antilles are seeking communities with
good schools. communities that know
hat the development Of all other pow
.r depends on the development Of the
greatest Of all powers boy power and
girl power.
When will we awake from our sleep
md learn this truth? When will we
earn that the education we now give
he children even in the most pro-
,ressiye communities does not always
IL life the life that is most tit for
most OF the children? Our schools
hould be the social and economic
enters Of the communities in which
hey are located Education dissatis-
les, and II ought to. II makes the
0y aud girl long for better things
makes him eager for improvement
I makes the boy and girl dissatisfied
I unsatisiied with his environment:
nd it ought 10 do so. But does it
AXE the next necessary step and give
hem the capacity and desire to i'm :
rove their present environment !
'oes il not rather lead them out of i
with the present environ c
tent and give them no power to i'm o
rove it? And what is the result? \
80 that both from a lack c
any kind Of development and from G
lack Of the proper development our -
lildren emigrate or stay at home and n
, 20 waste Il
over 100000 native Nirginaus have
# her borders, while less than 10000 -
ave in the same time come into the h
ate Have we gained by this? DO h
e gain when We swap a native boy u
girl for Bohemian or for any 9TH u
migrant 1.-THE proposition were n,
ade To as 20 swap $1,000 native stock re
t 5000 foreigners, would we he bet IN
{ of 10y the exchange? ~
II takes money 10 develop indus n,
al power Why not be willing to al
end money freely To develop boy VI
wer and girl power We are well
are of the cry that this kind of ed SIC
alton would lead 10 materialism and ne
iterial views of life "NOte the diff ~
ence weare told, between Athens -
Z Carthage. Carthage was built 4
Oh the hands. Athens had soul i'm Il
And, pray, what was Athens built 0
.nt 10 took as much handwork II
build Athens as to build Carthage.
hens was not built with the soul
me-. 10 was built with soul guiding
hands, while Carthage was the
duct of the hands guided by sOrdid
tives and ideals. Could Michael
gelo have created his wonderful
rks out Of crude stone II his hands
not been trained? There are all
ds Of powers On our boys and girls.
%, give all Of these power, "A
nee. We are not doing So now. Il
Il let us hurry. for this is the X iug's
iness, and the Kings business re- II
re-, haste