Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-12-05
FARMING A PROFESSION.
Agriculture Mast Have Chance to De.
vel0p Property.


fare Is as vital to the welfare Of the
| whole country as is the welfare Of the
! wageworkers are the tillers of the soil,
the farmers. 1t Is q mere truism to
say that no growth Of cities, no growth
| of wealth, no industrial development,
can atone for any falling or in the
character and standing of the farming
| population. During the last few dec
| AIDES this fact has been recognized
with ever increasing clcarncss. There
! Is no longer any failure 10 realize that
| farming, al least in certain branches,
must become a technical and scientific
| profession. This means that there
must be open 10 farmers the chance
for technical and scientific training, not
theoretical merely, but of the most Sc
verely practical type. The farmer rep
resents peculiarly high type of Amer
| lean citizenship. and he must have the
same chance to rise and develop as
| other American citizens have. More
over, it IS exactly rs true of the farm
err as it is of the business man and the
wageworkcr that the ultimate success
~
must be founded not alone on material
prosperity, but upon high moral, men-
| tai and physical development. This
education Of the farmer-self educa-
ton by preference, but also education
from the outside, as with all other
mems peculiarly necessary here in
the United States, where the frontier
| md in, hn tot
have now nearly vanished, where
there must be 4 substitution Of a more
intensive system of cultivation for the
old wastetul farm management and
where there must be q better business
organization among the farmers them
selves.
Several factors must cooperate In
the Improvement of the farmers
condition. He must have the chance
to be educated in the widest possible
senSe-in the sense which keeps ever
in view the intimate relationship be-
tween 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
education superintendent by the state
must seek rather to produce 4 hundred
good citizens than merely one scholar.
and it must be turned now and then
from the class book TO the study Of the
great book of nature itself This is
especially true of the farmer, as has
! been pointed out again and again by
all observers most competent to pass
practical 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 sig
nlficance upon the phrase dignity of
labor and to prepare the pupils so
that. In addition to each developing in
the highest degree his individual ca
pacity for work, they may together
help create 4 right public opinion and
show In many ways social and CO.
operative spirit. Organization has be-
come necessary in the business world.
and it has accomplished much for good
! in the world Of labor. 1t Is no less nee
rs the grange movement Is good In
itself and is capable of n well nigh
! infinite further extension for good so
long as it is kept to its own legitimate
business. The benefits to be derived
by the association Of farmers for mu-
tual advantage are partly economic
and partly sociological
Agricultural Education.
Moreover, while in the long run vol
untary effort will prove more effica-
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 its
methods and develop fresh usefulness.
Its constant effort Is to give the gov
ernmental assistance in the most effec-
tive way-that Is, through associations
of farmers rather than to or through
individual farmers. 1t Is. also striv-
Ing to coordinate Its work with the
agricultural departments of the sew
eral states and, so far as its own work
! Is educational, to co coordinate 1t with