Semi-weekly herald., 1907-10-03

j holds his. own in the land as agaIns
any possible representatives of tn,
. landlord class of farmer-that is. o
: the men who would own vast estate,
-because the ordinary farmer unite,
his capital. his labor. and his brain,
: with the making of permanent fam
lily home, and thus can afford TO hole
his land at a value at which II cal
not he held by the capitalist. who
would have to run 1t by leasing 1t o,
by cultivating 1t at arms length with
hired labor. In other words, the typl
cal American farmer of today gets his
remuneration in part in the shape OF
an independent home for his family
and this gives him an advantage over
an absentee landlord Now. from the
standpoint of the nation as a whole IL
is pre-eminently desirable to keep as
one of our chief American types the
farmer. the farm home maker, of the
medium-sized farm. This type Of farm
home is one of our strongest political
and social bulwarks. Such farm
worked by the owner has proved by
experience the best place in which
to breed vigorous leaders alike for
| country and city. 1t Is a matter of
| prime economic and civic importance
to encourage this type of homecoming
| farmer.
Therefore, We should strive In everv
way to aid in the education of the
farmer for the farm. and should shape
our school system with this end In
view; and so vitally important is this
chat in my opinion. the federal gov
ernment should cooperate with the
state governments to secure the need.
ed change and improvement in our
schools. 1t is significant that both
rom Minnesota and Georgia there
have come proposals In this direction
IN the appearance of bills introduced
into the national congress The con
gressional land grant act of 1852 ac-
complished much In establishing the
"SiiNuitHld NoueSes III several states,
and therefore in preparing to turn
the system of educational training for
the young into channels at once broad.
ar and more practicable-and what
am saying about agricultural train
ing really applies to all industrial
training. But the colleges can not
1A Il l.. II
that the masses should be reached.
Such agricultural high schools as
those In Minnesota and Nebraska for
arm boys and girls. such technical
high schools as are to be found. for
instance, in both st. Louis and Wash
ington. have by their success shown
that 1T is entirely feasible to carry in
practical fashion the fundamentals of
Industrial training into the realms OF
our secondary schools. At present
there is a gap between our primary
schools in country and city ana the
Industrial collegiate courses, which
must be closed, and If necessary the
nation must help the state to close it.
Too often our present schools tend
to put altogether too great premium
upon mere literary education, and
therefore to train away from the farm
and the shop.
We should reverse this process
Specific training of a practical kind
ghnnln ha pfVpu fn ha hpv rtvIc
who when men and women are to
lnake up the backbone OF this nation
by working in agriculture, in the me
chanical industries, In arts and trades;
in short who are to do the duty that
should always come first with all
oI us, the duty of home-making and
education is, for most men and won.
en-, not real education at all, for a
real education should fit people pri-
marily for the industrial and home
making employments In which they
must employ the bulk of their actiyi-
ties. Our country offers unparalleled
oBpoi ioi uoihtbtit SOeIai
Advancement for social and economic
leadership in the world Our great
est national asset is to be found in
the children. They need to be train
ed to high ideals of everyday living,
and to high efficiency In their respec.
tive vocations; we can not afford to
have them trained otherwise, and the
nation should help the states to
achieve this end.
Now. men of Iowa want to say
just a word on a matter that concerns
not the states of the Mississippi val
ley itself but the states west of them,
the states of the great plains and the
Rocky mountains. Unfortunately,
am not able on this present trip TO
visit those states. or | should speak
to their own people on the point to
which / now intend to allude; but aft
er all anything that affects a consid-
| cradle number of Americans who live
| under one set of conditions. must be
nj moment to all other Americans for