New-York tribune., 1907-10-02

home maker, of the medium sized farm. This
type Of farm home is one Of our strongest po-
litical and social hulwarks. Such a farm
worked by the owner has proved by experience
the best place in which to breed vigorous lead
alike for country and city. IT Is a matter
of prime economic and civic Importance 10 en-
courage this type of home owning farmer.
Therefore should strive In every way 10
aid in the education of the farmer for the farm.
and should shape school system with this
end in view; and so vitality important is this
that. in my opinion. the federal government
should cooperate with the state governments
TO the needed change and Improvement
In our schools. L is significant that both from
Minnesota and Georgia there have come propo-
sails in this direction in the appearance or hiliS
introduced into the National Congress. The Con-
gressional land grant act OF 1872 accomplished
much in establishing tho agricultural colleges n
the several states. and therefore in preparing
TO turn the system of educational training for
the Young into channels at once broader and
moro practica be-and what I am saying about
agricultural training really applies 10 all indus
trial training. But the colleges cannot reach
the masses, and IL is essential that the masses
should he reached. Such agricultural high
schools those I'm Minnesota and Nebraska for
farm boys and girls. such technical high schools
are TO be found, for instance, in both St Louis
and Washington, have by their success shown
that II is entirely feasible 70 carry I'm practical
fashion the fundamentals Of Industrial training
into the realms of secondary schools. At
present there is gap between our primary
schools in country and city and tho Industrial
collegiate courses. which must be closed. and, II
necessary, tho nation must help tho state TO
close ii. Too often our present schools tend 10
literary education, and therefore to train away
from the farm and the shop.
We should reverse this process. Specific train
ing of n practical kind should be given 10 the
boys and girls who when men and womeh are
10 make up the backbone OF this nation by
working in agriculture, in the mechanical in
dustries. i'm arts and trades: in short. who
TO do the duty that should always come first
with all Of us. the duty OF home making and
home keeping. Too narrow q literary education
IS, for most men and women. not real eduCa-
tion at all; for real education should 1T people
employments in which they must employ the
bulk OF their activities. Our country offers
unparalleled opportunities for domestic and So
cial advancement. for social and economic lead
ershlp in the world Our greatest national assc.
is to be found in the children. They need 10
be trained 10 high ideals OF everyday living. and
to high efficiency In their respective vocations:
we cannot afford to have them trained other
wise. ard the nation should help the states TO
achieve this end.
NEW LAND LAWS IN NEW STATES.
Now, men Of Iowa I want TO say just a word
on a matter that concerns not the states OF
the Mississippi Valley itself but the states west
OF them, the states OF tho great plains and the
Rocky Mountains Unfortunately, l am not
able on this present trip 10 visit those states,
l should speak to their people on the point
to which / now intend to allude but. after ALL
anything that affects considerable number of
Americans who live under one set OF conditions
must be Of moment to all other Americans. for
never forget friends. that in the long run we
shall all go up or go down together
The states Of the high plains and OF the
mountains have peculiar claim upon me, be-
cause for a number Of years lived and worked
in Them and have that intimate knowledge of
their people that comes under such conditions.
In those states there is need of modification
of the land laws that have worked we'll in
the well watered fertile regions to the eastward,
such as those in which you here dwell. The
one object in all our land laws should always
be to favor the actual settler the actual home
maker. who comes to dwell on the land and
there to bring up his children to inherit il after
him. The government should part with its title
to the land only to the actual home maker
not to the profit maker, who does not care to
make home. The land should be sold out
right only in quantities sufficient for decent
homes-not In huge areas TO be heid for specu-
lative purposes or used as ranches. where those
who do the actual work are merely tenants or
hired hands No temporary prosperity of any
class of men could in the slightest degree atone
for failure part to shape the laws
that they may work for the permanent good
Of the home maker This is fundamental gen.
tlemen, and is simply carrying out the idea
upon which I dwell in speaking to you of your
own farms here in Iowa Now, In many states
where the rainfall is light it is u simple alb
surdity to expect any man to live, still less to
bring up a family, on one hundred and sixty
ton the homestead can be very much less In
size-can, for instance. be forty acres and
there is nothing that Congress has done during
the last six years more important than the en-
actment OF the national irrigation law.
LARGER HoMEsTEADs NECESSARY.
But where irrigation is not applicable and the
land can be used only for grazing, 1t may be
that you cannot run more than one steer 10 ten
acres, ana IL is not necessary " be HioCH VI d
mathematician in order TO see that where such
is the case q homestead Of 16O acres VIII not
so far toward the support OF family. In
consequence of this fact honesteaders do not
take up the lands IN the tracts in question
They are left open for anybody to Craze upon
that wishes to- The result is that the men who
use them moderately and not with view to
exhausting their resources are at the mercy or
those who care nothing for the future and sim
ply intend to skin the land in the present. For
instance, the small sheep farmer who has
home and who wishes that home to pass on TO
his children improved in value will naturally
run his flock so that the land will support it,
not only to-day but ten years hence, but n big
absentee sheep owner. who has no home on the