The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1907-09-19
ARMERs SHOULD COOPERATE

In his recent speech delivered az
AT Lansing. Michigan, President Roose-
welt gave utterancs TO facts tina.
are far reaching and should be- earnest
~ con .dered by the farmers through
out y l4ngth and breadth Of the land.
He said in part:
Farmers must learn the vital need
Of co-operation with one another. Next
/ 20 this comes cooperation with the
/ government and the government can
| hest give its aid through associations
of farmers rather than through the in
dividual farmers: for there is no erea,
or agricultural problem than that OF de-
Iliyering TO the farmer the large body OF
! agricultural knowledge which has been
accumulated by the national and state
governments and by the agricultural
| colleges and schools. Nowhere has the
| government worked to better advaD-
tage than in the south, where the WorE
| done by the department OF agriculture
|
of the southwestern states has been
| phenomenal in its value. The FARMERS
! in the region affected by the boil wee
| vii in the course of the efforts to
| fight il have succeeded in developing
| a most scientific husbaBdry, 50 that
in MANY places the boil weevii b. cane
| a blessing in disguise. Not only 90
the industry of farming become %,
! very much greater econonli" Value III
it's direct results but it became i'm
mcnsely more interesting TO thousands
of families The meetings at when
the new subjects of interest were dls-
cussed grew to have a distinct social
value. Ii is needless 70 say that every
successful effort 10 organize the lar
mer gives a great stimulus TO the ad-
mirable educational work which IS be
ing done in the southern states, as else
where, to prepare young people lot
an agricultural life. 1t is greatly 10
be wished that the communities from
whence these students are drawn and
10 which they either return or should
return could be comparatively organ
led that is, that associations of far
mers could be organized primarily Tor
business purposes, but also with social
ends in view. This would mean that
the returning students from the insti.
tutions of learning would find their
environment prepared to profit TO the
Utmost bv the Improvements in technl
cal methods which they had learned
The people OF our farming regions
must be able to combine among them
selves. as the most efficient means Of
promoting their industry from the
highly organized interests which now
surround them on every side. A vast
field is open for work h. cooperative
associations OF farmers III N-alins with
the relations of the farm tfansporta
ton and TO the distribution and manu-
facture of raw materials Il is only
through such combination that Ameri-
can farmers can develop TO the full
their economic and social power Com
bination of this kind has, in Denmark,
for instance, resulted in bringing the
people back to the land, and has enabl-
ed the Danish peasant to compete III
4 extraordinary fashion, not only at
home but in foreign countries, with all
rivals.
Agricultural colleges and farmers
institutes have done much in instuc-
ton and inspiration; they have stood
for the nobility of labor and the neces-
sity of keeping the muscles and the
brain in training for industry. They
have developed technical departments
of high practical value. They seek TO
provide for the people on the farm an
equipment so broad and thorough as 70
n, them for the highest requirements
of our citizenship so that they can es-
tablish and maintain country homes of
the best type, and create and sustain
a country civilization more than equal
to that of the city. The men they train
must be able to meet the strongest
business competition, at home or
abroad, and they can do this only ~
they are trained not alone in the vari-
Gus lines of husbandry but in success
full economic management I-ese col
leges, like the state experiment sta
tons, should carefully study and make
known the needs of each section, and
should try to provide remedies for
what is wrong.
THE education to be obtained in
these colleges should create as init
mate relationship as is possible be-
tween the theory Of learning and the
facts of actual life. Educational estab-
lishments should produce highly train
ed scholars, of course. but in a country
like ours, where the educational estab-
lishments are so numerous, it is folly
/ to think that their main purpose is to