Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-12-04
AGRICULTURE.
Farmers Must Have Chance for Tech
meal and Scientific Training.

Tho only other persons whose well
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. II Is a mere tru-
ism to say that no growth OF citles,
no growth no industrial development
can atone for any falling off In the
character and standing of the farm
ing population. During the last few
decades this fact has been recognized
with ever-increaslng clearness. There
Is no longer any failure TO realize
that farming, at least in certain
branches, must become a technical
and scientific profession This means
that there must be open TO farmers
the chance for technical and scientiiic
training not theoretical merely but of
the most severely practical type. The
faramer represents a peculiarly high
type of American citizenship, and he
must nave the same chance TO rise and
develop as other American citizens
have. Moreover, IL is exactly as true
OF the farmer as ii is of the business
man and the wageworker, that the
ultimate success of the nation OF
which he forms part must be found
ed not alone on material prosperity
but upon high moral, mental ana
physical development This education
Of the farmer--self-edu education by pref
ercnce, but also education from the
outside, as with all other map--is
peculiarly necessary here in the
United states where the frontier con-
ditions even in the newest states have
now nearly vanished, where there
must be a substitution of q more in
tensiVe system of cultivation for the
old wasteful farm management, ana
where there must be q better busi-
ness organization among the farm
ers themselves.
Several factors must cooperate in
the improvement of the farmers con-
dition. 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 al education we
should widen our aims. 1t is q good
thing 10 produce certain number
of trained scholars and students: but
the education superintendent by the
state must seek rather to produce a
hundred good citizens than merely
one scholar. ana II must be turned
now and then from the class book TO
the study of tho general book of ma
ture 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 pow
ers of young people and to confer
more real significance upon the phrase
dignity Of labor" and to prepare
N 80, ncl,
developing in the highest degree his
individual capacity for work, they
may together help create a right pub
Tic opinion. ana show In many ways
social and cooperative spirit. Organ
l2ation has become necessary in the
business world; and il has accom-
plished much for good in the world of
labor II is no less necessary for farm
crs, Such a movement as the grange
movement Is good in itself aud Is
capable OF well-nieh infinite further
extension for good so long as Il Is
Kept to It's own legitimate business.
the benefits 10 he derived by tho as
ISOLATION of farmers for mutual adj
vantage are partly economic and part
" sociological.
Moreover, while in the long run vol.
untary effort will prove more offlca-
clous than government assistance,
while tho farmers must pri-
manly do most for themselves.
YET the government can also do
much. The department Of agricul-
ture has broken new ground In
many directions, and year by year II
fnds how II can improve It's methods
and develop fresh usefulness. Its con-
slant effort is to give the governmental
assistance in the most effective way:
that Is through associations OF farm
ers rather than to or through Individual
farmers. II is also striving to co-or-
dinate its wrok with the agricultural
departments Of the several states, and