Arizona republican., 1906-03-13
Copyright 1906, Nath1 c. Fowler. JrJ

city ana 1TlnIlllS, GumDtlOn,' etc.
 Copyright 1906, Nathl c. Fowler, Jr ,
 In the worlds dictionary the farmer is defined as a plain tiIler of the soil and the agTiculturist or planter as one who has lifted the farm on to the plane of business The term farmer,
 ever. covers that vast company of workers who, by the planting of the seed raise any kind of a harvest, or who breed and raise cattle and other stock. The planter of the South and the agricuIturist of the West are both farmers, but by right of courtesy are described by other titles, because they carry farming into business, or rather apply the methods of business to planting and harvesting.
 The railroad may cease running, and things will continue to live. The stock board may board up its doors. and the world will continue to move as i. has been moving for centuries. sub ject only to transient financial cloud mess Most business may go out of business. and the professional may no longer continue to practice. yet people will continue to live and propagate But when there is no longer any far mer there will be no longer any peo- pie, for the world will be starved to death.
 The farm. with what the farm stands for, is the essential factor of human maintenance. The farm. then is an indispensable necessity. without which the nations would never have begun their existence. The wealth of the world is not in it's business, Is not even in its mineral resources, but consists in the cultivation of the earths surface-in the farm. The far mer is the original producer of that which makes life possible. and with out which no life can be maintained.
 The fundamental corner stone of all physical progress was originally plac- ed upon the farm, and there it will remain so long as we have physical natures and require material food.
 Farming is our greatest industry, the industry preservative of all industries Notwithstanding the existence of hun dreds of abandoned farms, and the constant exodus from the farm to the city. the farm is in it's numerical and financial strength is today the great est power in the whole civilized world. The farmer is not recognized as he should be, because he seeks neither nO- toriety nor prominence, but quietly does his work, allowing others to play at society and to receive it's shallow reward. Here, however, has been made a grevious mistake. The farmer. like the lawyer, should be proud of his pro- fessiOn, sufficiently appreciative of it to contribute to it the full measure Of his self respect. Because he does not do so he has lost both the social and business prominence which really be- longs to his calling. To be in love mn frrI1 Gf1fFir4 It is necessary to have the love for the work so appear before men that they may honor us, and by respecting us be more willing to become of us. or to help us.
 There are many classes of farms. aI- together too many to allow for com plete enumeration. They range from the rocky eastern farm to that of the fertile western prairie.
 Some farms do not pay, partly be- cause some farms cannot be made to pay. The totally barren farm is a worthless piece of property. The soon CT it is abandoned the better. Proba bly, not more than one-half of our fer tile farms pay as well as they would pay if the right effort was made to make them pay. It is but common remark that a great majority Of farms are unprofitable because of the indif- ference and lack of cultivation on the part of the owners. Altogether too many farmers. instead of working their farms, allow their farms to work them. The situation. or rather the farm. is their master. instead of their being master of the situation. The principles of business. the laws of pro- gressive economy, are not applied to the farm as they are to other trades htfcf ba is not always financially weIl-to-do; and usually. through no fault of the farm, but because he does not exact what he should from it.
 The tendency today is unmstakably away from the farm. The farmer's s boy, partly because he wants a change, but largely because the great un- known shines with a light apparently brighter than all the lights he has ever seen, desires to leave the farm and to earn his living under entirely different conditions, away from nature as he has experienced it. where he may lead q life diametrically different from that of his childhood But the farmers boy is not altogether to blame for leaving the farm. The fault, in more than half the cases is due to the farmer himself and to the way the farm is conducted. The boy. brought up upon the farm which is not properly cultivated, and where most of the work is drudgery, or is made to be drudgery, where intelIec- tual growth is stunted, naturally in the ignorance of his youth. assumes that all farms are like the farm of his child hood and that the opportunities ol life must be elsewhere. Therefore he gravitates to the city, not so much be- cause he loves the city, but because he feels that that which he knows nothing about, although he may think he does, is better than that which he does know about from actual boyhood experience.