The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-02

strength. I have a hearty sympathy
 with those who believe in doing all
 that can be done for peace; but I 1 have no sympathy at all with those | who believe that in the world as it
 now is we can afford to see the average American citizen lose the qualities that 1 In their sum make up @ good fighting
 man. You men must be workers who
 work with all your heart and strength l and mind at your several tasks in life; :, and you must also be able to fight at l need. You women have even higher and more difficult duties; for I honor 1 no man, not even the soldier who l fights for righteousness, quite as much IS l honor the good woman who does 1 her full duty as wife and mother. But l if she shirks her duty as wife and mother then she stands on par with E, the man who refuses to work for him
 self and his family, for those dependent
 upon him, and who in time of the
 nations need refuses to fight. The man
 or woman who shirks his or her duty
 occupies contemptible position. You
 here are the sons and daughters of the l pioneers. I preach to you no life of
 ease I preach to you the life of eff l fort, the life that finds it's high est
 satisfaction in doing well some work
 that Is well worth doing
 Peculiar Needs.
 So much for what concerns every man l and every woman in this country. Now, 1 word or two as to matters which are l of peculiar interest to this region of our country
 Since I have been president l have i travelled in every state of this union, but 1 my travelling has been almost entirely
 on railroads, save now and then by I wagon or on horseback. Now l have | I;,,sr t.xr ..itr To
 go down the greaters of our rivers the
 father of waters. A good many years l ago when l lived in the northwest l l travelled occasionally on the Upper Mis- l souri and it's tributaries; but then we 1 went in hatboat and did our own | rowing and padding and polling. Now
 am to try a steamboat I am great be- 1 liever in our railway system; and the
 fact that l am very firm in my belief as l to the necessity of the government exer- ] cising a proper supervision and control over the railroads does not In the least l interfere with the other fact that I great l ly admire the large majority of the men l in all positions, from the top to the
 bottom, who build and run them. Yet. ] while of course l am anxious to see these
 men, and therefore the corporations they
 represent or serve, achieve the fullest l measure of legitimate prosperity, never | theless this country grows l feel hat l we can not have too many highroads, and that In addition to the iron highroads
 of our railway system we should also | utilize the great river highways which | have been given us by nature. From a l variety of causes these highways have in | many parts of the country been almost l abandoned. This is not healthy. Our ] people, and especially the representatives of the people in the national Congress, 1 should give their most careful attention
 to this subject. We should be prepared l to put the nation collectively back of the movement to improve them for the na-
 tons use. Our knowledge at this time 1 Is not such as to permit me to go into ] details. or to say definitely just what the
 nation should do: but most assuredly our l great navigable rivers are national assets | just as much as our great seacoast har- | bors Exactly as it is for the interest of | all the country that our great harbors
 should be fitted to receive in safety the
 largest vessels of the merchant fleets of l the world. so by deepening and other ! wise our rivers should be fitted to bear their part in the movement of our mer-
 chandise; and this is especially true Of l the Mississippi and it's tributaries, which | drain the immense and prosperous region | which makes in very fact the heart of l our nation; the basin of the Great Lakes 1 being already united with the basin Of
 the Mississippi and both regions being
 identical in their products and interests.
 Waterways are peculiarly fitted for the | transportation of the bulky commodities | which come from the soil or under the | soil and no other part of our country Is
 as fruitful as is this in such commodities.
 Manufacturing Centers.
 You in IowF have many manufacturing
 centers, but Sou remain, and l hope you
 will always remain, a great agricultural | state. l hope that the means of trans | porting your commodities to market will
 be steadily improved: but this will be of
 no use unless you keep producing the l commodities, and in the long run this will
 largely depend upon your being able to
 keep on the farm a high type of citizen-
 ship. The effort must be to make farm | life not only remuneratve but attractive, l so that the best young men and girls will | feel inclined to stay on the farm and not , go to the city. Nothing is more important
 to this country than the perpetuation of ! oru system of medium sized farms worked | by their owners We do not want to
 see our farmers sink to the condition of
 the peasants of the old World, barely | able to live on their small holdings, nor
 do we want to see their places taken by | wealthy men owning enormous estates
 which they work purely by tenants and
 hired servants.
 At present the ordinary farmer holds | ms own Tn the ldnu dS dSdlilSI dllN pOS- | sble representative of the landlord class l of farmer-that is, of the men who would l own vast estates-because the ordinary
 farmer unites his capital, his labor, and 1 his brains with the making of a perma- | nent family home, and thus can afford to | hold his land at a value at which it can | not be held by the capitalist, who would l have to run it by leasing it or by culti- i vating it at arms length with hired ! Ia Amer 1 ican farmer of today gets his remuner- | ation in part in the shape of an indepen- 1 dent home for his family, and this gives 1 him an advantage over an absentee land | lord. Now, from the standpoint of the | nation as a whole it is pre-eminently de- ] sirable to keep as one of our chief Amer
 can types the farmer, the farm home
 maker, of the medium-sized farm. This l type of farm home is one of our strongest l political and social bulwarks. Such a farm worked by the owner has proved i 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 en- | courage this type of home-owning farmer.
 Aid In Education.
 Therefore we should strive in every | 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 that, in my opin- | ion, the federal government should CO., | onerate with the state governments to