The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1907-05-31
Roosevelt Laqds the Man Who Works With His Hands

| therefor of the centralized commercial
land manufacturing industries Of tn,
cities. Il
/ s'The chief offset to the various ten.
denotes which have told against tin,
farm has hitherto come in the rise o
the physical sciences and their appli.
cation to agricultural practices or Il
the rendering Of country condition,
more easy and pleasant. But thes,
countervailing forces are as vet In
their infancy AS compared with {
few decades ago, the social or com.
amunity life of country people In this
east compares less well than Ii for
imerly did with that of the dweIiers II
cities. Many country communities have
lost their social coherenee, their sense
iof community interest. In such com.
lmunities the country church, for in
lstance, has gone backward both as q
social and q religious factor Now we
cannot too strongly insist upon the
fact that it is quite as unfortunate tc
have any social as any economic fall
ling off. 1t would be a calamity tc
have our farms occupied by a lower
TYPE of people than the hard working
lself-respecting, independent and es-
Isentially manly and womanly men and
women who have hitherto constituted
| the most typically American, and or
the whole the most valuable, element
| in our entire nation Ambitious ma
tive born young men and women who
now tend away from the farm must
be brought back to it, and therefore
| they must have social as well as econ
an nykr Nxynr- e1Ns
be done to encourage the growth in
the open farming country Of such in
lstitutional and social movements as
win meet the demand OF the best type
OF farmers. There should be Libraries
Eassembly halls, social organizations OF
all kinds. The school building and the
teacher in the school building should
throughout the country districts, be OF
the very highest type, able to fit the
boys and girls not merely to live In,
but thoroughly enjoy and to make the
most of the country The country
church must be revived. All kinds OF
agencies, from rural free delivery to
/ the bicycle and the telephone, should
be utilized to the utmost; good roads
should be favored; everything should
be done to make it easier for the
farmer to lead the most active and
effective intellectual, political and
economic life.
There are regions of large extent
where all this, or most of this. has al
ready been realized; and while this is
perhaps especially true Of great tracts
Of farming country west of the Mis-
sissippi, with some of which have a
%< ;,.Ixv l.Y1nvyl aa o IL io ,,r, Ia
true of other great tracts of country
east of the Mississippi. In these re-
gions the church and the school -four
Iish as never before there is more
successful and more varied farming
Industry; the social advantages and
opportunities are greater than ever
before; life is fuller, happier, more
useful; and though the work is more
effective than ever and In way quite
as hard, 1t is carried on so as to give
more scope for well-used leisure. My
plea is that we shah all try to make
more nearly universal the conditions
that now obtain in the most favored
localities.
Nothing in the way of scientific
work can ever take the place Of busi-
ness management on the farm. We
ought all of us to teach ourselves as
much as possible; but we can also all
OF us learn from others; and the farm
er can best learn how to manage his
farm even better than he now does
by practice, under intelligent super
vision, on his own soil In such way
as to Increase his income. This is the
kind of teaching which has been car
ssr 49, I s.sn
kansas by DIR. Knapp of the national
department of agriculture. But much
has been accomplished by the growth
OF what is broadly designated as agri-
cultural science. This has been de-
veloped with remarkable rapidity dur
ing the last quarter of century, and
the benefit to agriculture has been
great AS was inevitable, there was
much error and much repetition Of
work in the early application Of money
to the needs of agricultural colleges
and experiment stations alike by the
nation and the several states Much
has been accomplished; but much
more can be accomplished in the fu-
ture. The prime need must always be
for real research, resulting in scien-l
tific conclusions of proved soundness.
Both the farmer and the legislature
must beware OF invariably demanding
returns from investments In research
efforts. It Is probably one Of our
faults as a nation that we are too inn
patient to wait sufficient length Of
time TO accomplish the best results;
and in agriculture effective research
often, although not always, involves
slow and long-continued effort IL the
results are to be trustworthy While
applied science in agriculture as else
where must be judged largely from the
standpoint Of its return Id dollars, yet
the farmers, no more than anyone else,
can afford to ignore the large results
that can be enjoyed because of broader
The farmer must prepare
for using the knowledge that can be
through agricultural colleges
by insisting upon i constantly more
practical Curriculum in the schools in
which his children are taught. He |
must not lose his Independence, his |
initiative, his rugged self sufIiciency; |
and yet he must learn to work In the |
neartiest cooperation with his fell |
lows.
The corner stones OF our unexam- |
oled nrOsperity are on fha nua hand /