The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-03

indeed is made upon the mind, though
1 am glad to say that the proportion
of men engaged in this kind of worl
is diminishing. But in any commu
nifty with the solid. healthy qualities
which make up a really good natloI
the bulk of the people should do wort
which calls for the exercise OF ootf
body and mind. Progress can no
permanently exist in the abandonment
of physical labor, but in the develop
ment of physical labor, so that Il
shall represent more and more the
work of the trained mind in the
trained body. Our school system i
gravely defective in so far as 1t puts
a premium upon mere literary train
ing and tends therefore to train the
boy away from the farm and the
workshop. Nothing is more neeuec
than the best type of Industrial school,
the school for mechanical industries
in the city, the school for practically
teaching agriculture in the country.
The calling of the skilled t1ller or the
soil the calling of the skilled me-
chanic should alike be recognized as
professions, just as emphat1caIly as
the callings of LAWYER doctor. mer5 ;,
chant, or clerk. The schools should
recognize this fact and 1t should
equally be recognized in popular
opinion The young man who has the
farsightedness and courage TO recog-
nize it and to get over the idea that
makes
he earns is called salary or wages, and
who refuses to enter the crowded field
of the so-calIed professions, and takes
to constructive industry instead is
reasonably sure of an ample reward
in earnings, in health in opportunity
TO marry early. and to establish
home with a fair amount of freedom
from worry 1t should be one of our
prime objects to put both the farmer
and the mechanic on higher plane
of efficiency and reward, so as to IN
crease their effectiveness in the
economic world, and therefore the
dignity, the remun Grafton, and the
power of their positions in the social
world.
No growth of cities. no growth of
wealth, can make up for any loss IN
either the number or the character
of the farming population. We of the
United States should realize this above
almost all other peoples We began
our existence as a nation OF farmers
and in every great crisis of the past
a peculiar dependence has mad 10 be
placed upon the farming population;
and this dependence has hitherto been
justified. But it can not be justified
in the future If agriculture is per-
mitted to sink in the scale as com
pared with other employments. we
can not afford to lose that prominent
" typical American, the farmer who
owns his own medium-sized farm. To
have his place taken by either a class
of small peasant proprietors, or by
a class of great landlords with tenant
farmed estates would be a veritable
calamity. The growth of our cities is
a good thing but only in so far as 1t
does not mean a growth at the ex-
pense of the country farmer we
must welcome the rise of physical
sciences in their application to agri-
cultural practices, and We must do all
we can to render country conditions
more easy and pleasant. There are
forces which now tend to bring about
both these results but they are, asyet,
in their infancy. The national govern
ment through the department OF agri-
culture should do all it can by join
Ing with the state governments and
with independent associations of /
farmers to encourage the growth in
he open farming country of such in
stitutionaI and social movements as
will meet the demand of the best
type of farmers, both for the improve
ment of their farms and for the bet |
erment Of the life itself. The de- |
oartment of agriculture has in many |
places. perhaps especially in certain |
districts of the south, accomplished |
IN extraordinary amount of co-operat-
ng with and teaching the farmers |
through their associations on their |
own soil. how to increase their income |
1y managing their farms better than |
'armer must not lose his independ- |
,nce, his initiative. his rugged self-re-
lance. yet he must learn to work in
he heartiest cooperation with his fell !
ows. exactly as the business man has
earned to work: and he must prepare
o use to constantly better advantage
he knowledge that can be obtained
rom agricultural colleges, while he
must insist upon a practical curri-
ulum in the schools in which his
children are taught The department
4 agriculture and the department of
commerce and labor both deal with
he fundamental needs of our people
n the production of raw material and
is manufacture and distribution, and.
therefore,, with the welfare of those
Who produce 1t in the raw state, and
f those who manufacture and dis
ribute it. The department of COM
nerce and labor has but recently been
ounded but has already justified it's
xistence; while the department of
griculture yields to no other in the
overnment in the practical benefits
hitch 1t produces in proportion to the
ublic money expended. 1t must con-
nue. in the future to deal with grow
lg crops as it has dealt in the past
ut 1t must still further extend it's
cid Of usefulness hereafter BY deal
lg with live men, through a far
eaching study and treatment of the
roblems of farm life alike from the
ldustrial and economic and social
tandpoint. Farmers must cooperate
18th one another and with the gov :
rnment, and the government can best
i've it's aid through associations of
armers, so to deliver to the farmer
ne large body of agricultural know
EDGE which has been accumulated by
ne national and state governments
nd by the agricultural colleges and
chools.
The grain producing industry of the
ountry, ono of the most important
| the United States. deserves special
consideration at the hands of the !
ongress. Our grain is sold almost {
xclusively by grades. To secure
atisfactOrN results in nIr home mar