The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-10-10
THE RURAL Y N. c. A
HENRY WALLACE GIVES EXCEL
LENT ADDREss-coMMlTTEES
APPoINTED--NEW MEMBERS.

b
Uncle Henry Wallace, editor of the
well known farm journal, .'Wallace's
Farmer" addressed the young men of
the Y M. G. A. Rural club at their
club rooms on the Y. NJ. c, A. building
Friday evening. The large number of
outsiders present made the club mem
beers feel well repaid for their expense
in securing the speaker of the even
ing. in addition TO the help they de.
rived from his most interesting talk.
Mr.. Wallace being practical farmer
himself. can hold the attention of farm
ers as no one else could do, and while
lack of time prevented him from going
into detail in the methods of advanced
agriculture, yet he succeeded in point
ing out quite clearly the fundamental
principals of the art and showed the
young men the correct system they
should follow in carrying on their
study.
In opening he congratulated the Y.
NJ c. A. members for the substantial
building which they occupy and for the
can always measure the quality of a
town by it's Y. NJ. c. A. better than by
its churches said Uncle Wallace. "A
town with thriving Y. NJ c. A. and
a thriving Y. w. c. A. can't long be
bad He congratulated them further
for organizing a rural club and said
that he considered them as pioneers In
the movement which he believed would
grow, for the nation is Just beginning
to realize the Importance of the study
of agriculture not only in the welfare
of the country, but also its necessity
in general culture.
"The farmer" said Mr. Wallace, sis
a creator of values. The miner ere
ates nothing, the merchant creates
nothing, and the transporter creates
nothing They only deal with those
things which are already stored away
while the farmer deals with raw ma
terials and produces a new creation.
The soil is his machine and the air,
the water, the light and electric spark
are his materials. You can exhaust
the mines and still live; you can de-
stroy the forests and still survive. Ev-
cry gold mine in the world could be
shut down for a year and am not so
sure that it would injure our prosper
ity one bit; but you can't do without
the fertility of the soil" In explaining
the Independence which the farmer
enjoys, he said that they are not, and
never will be, controlled by trust,
for in order to form combine, II is
necessary to secure the control of the
raw materials, and that, he said, will
never be possible on farm, for the
raw materials are the sunshine and
rain.
The depreciation of land values in
some sections of the country he at
tributed to several causes, one OF
which was the robbing OF the soil OF
it's fertility. he man who raiser
everything on his farm to sell is a
robber and not farmer. One must
study the physical condition of the
soil and by the rotation of crops. put
back into it as much vegetable matter
as he takes away so as to maintain its
present fertility that it may continue
Mr.. Wallace's advice TO a farmer
was to first be church member, next
20 to the polls on election day and
vote for the best man on the ballot
and then get a manure spreader. Be
faithful to your God, to your country,
and then be faithful to your farm"
After the brief address, Rev. Wal
lace was given a hearty handshake by
the members of the club and then he
was compelled to leave in order to re-
turn to his home in Des Moines on the
evening train. A short business meet
ing of the organization was then held,
during which plans were perfected for
the corn show which the young men
viii hold December and z. The fol
lowing committees were appointed to
take care OF the details in the arrange
ment: 3
Printing--H. H. Hedge, H. ColyilIe.
Soliciting-F. c. Branson, H. Will
holt.
Correspondence-G. E. Gilchrist, F.
C. Branson.
Rules and Regulations-H. Without
G. Powell
The chairmen of these committees
are to make reports at called meet
ing Of the club ON the evening of octo-
Der is.
The following new members were
also received into the club: Harry
Hedge. Harry Without, Glenn without
and Jas. White.