The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-12-12


agriculture is permitted to sink i'm the scale
as compared with other employments We
can not afford To lose that prominently
typical American, the farmer who owns his
own medium-sized farm. To have his place
taken by either class of small peasant
proprietors, or by class of great land
lords with tenant-farmed estates would be
veritabe calamity. The growth of our
cities Is good thing but only in so far
as IL does not mean q growth at the ex-
pense OF the country farmer. We must
welcome the rise of physical sciences In
their application to agricultural practices.
and we must do all we can to render coun-
try conditions more easy and pleasant.
There are forces which now tend to bring
about both these results. but they are as
yet. in their infancy. The national gov
eminent through the department of agri
culture should do all ii can by joining with
the State governments and with independ-
ent associations of farmers to encourage
the growth in the open farming country OF
such Institutional and social movements as
Will meet the demand of the best type of
farmers, both for the improvement of their
farms and for the betterment of the life 1t
self.
The grain producing industry of the coun-
try one of the most important in the
United States, deserves special consideration
at the hhnds of the Congress. | suggest to
the Congress the advisability of n national
system of inspection and grading OF grain
entering into Interstate and foreign COM
merce as a remedy for the present evils.
Inland Waterways.
For the last few years, through several
agencies. the government has been endeav
oring to get our people to look ahead and
TO substitute a planned and orderly devei-
opment OF our resources in place of hap
hazard striving for immediate profit. Our
great river systems should be developed as
national water highways; the Mississippi,
with Its tributaries. standing first In import
ance, and the Columbia second, although
there are many others OF Importance on the
Pacific. the Atlantic and the Gulf slopes.
The national government should undertake
this work. and l hope beginning will be
made In the present Congress; and the
greatest of all our rivers. the Mississippi,
should receive special attention. From the
Great Lakes to the mouth Of the Mississippi
there should be a deep waterway, with
deep waterways leading from it to the east
and west. Such a waterway would prac-
tically mean the extension of our coast
line into the very heart of our country. Ii
would be of incalculable benefit TO our peo-
pie. III begun at once IL can be carried
through In time appreclably to relieve the
congestion of our great freight-carryins
lines of railroads. I have appointed an in
land waterways commission to study and
outline comprehensive scheme of develop
ment along all the lines Indicated Later 1
shall lay its report before the Congress.
Reclamation Work.
Irrigation should be far more extensively
developed than at present, not only in the
States of the great plains and the Rocky
Mountains. but Ia many others, as, for in
stance In large portions of the south Allan
tic and Gulf States. where IL should go
swamp land The Federal Government
should seriously devote itself to this task.
realizing that utilization of waterways and
water power. forestry. irrigation, and the
reclamation of lands threatened with over
inf Of bo
same problem. The work of the reclamation
service In developing the larger opportuni-
ties of the western half of our country for
irrigation is more important than almost
any other movement.
Public Lands.
The effort of the Government to deal with
the public land has been based upon the
same principle as that of the reclamation
service The land law system which was
designed to meet the needs of the fertile
and well-watered regions of the middle
west has largely broken down when ap-
piled to the drier regions Of the great
plains. the mountains, and much of the
Pacific slope, where farm OF 100 acres
Is inadequate for self-support. In these re-
gions the system lent itself to fraud. Three
years ago a public lands commission was
appointed TO scrutinize the law, and de-
fects. and recommend remedy. Their ex-
animation specifically showed the existence
OF great fraud upon the public domain, and
their recommendations for changes In the
law were made with the design OF conserv-
ing the natural resources of every part of
the public lands by putting Ii to its best
use. The recommendations Of the public
lands commission sound; for they are
especially In the interest of the actual
home maker; and where the small home
maker cannot at present utilize the land
they provide that the Government shall
keep control of 1t SO that ii may not he
monop0lized by few men. Some such
legislation as that proposed Is essential
ord 70 fla or nfrba
public grazing land which are unfit for cul-
tiyation under present methods and are
valuable only for the forage which they
supply.
Preservation Of Forests.
Optimism is a good Characteristic. but IL
carried to an excess it becomes foolishness
We are prone 20 speak of the resources of
this country as inexhaustible: this Is not
The mineral wealth of the country, the
coal. iron. OIL. gas. and the like, does not re-
produce itself, and therefore is certain to be
exhausted ultimately; and wastefulness i'm
dealing with 1t to-day means that our de-
scendants will feel the exhaustion a gener-
alton or two before they otherwise would.
But there are certain other forms OF waste
which could be entirely stopped-the waste
of soil by washing. for instance which Is
among the most dangerous Of all wastes
now in progress in the United States is
easily preventable, that this present
enormous loss of fertility is entirely I'M
necessary. The preservation or replacement
of the forests Is one or the most important
means OF preventing this loss. We have
made a beginning in forest preservation,
but it Is only a beginning At present
numbering Is the fourth greatest industry
in the United States and yet, so rapid has
been the rate of exhaustion of timber i'm
the United States i'm the past. and so rap
idly Is the remainder being exhausted that
the country is unquestlonably on the verge
of timber famine which viii be felt i'm
every household I'm the land. There has
already been a rise in the price of lumber
but there is certain to be more rapid
and heavier rise in the future. The present
annual consumption of lumber is certainly
three times as great the annual growth
and If the consumption and growth continue
unchanged, practically all our lumber will
be exhausted in another generation, while
long before the limit to complete exhaus-
ton is reached the growing scarcity will
make itself felt in many bighting ways
Upon national welfare. Forests can be
numbered so as to give to the public the
full use of their mercantile timber without
the slightest detriment to the forest, any
more than 1t Is detriment 10 a farm to
furnish harvest. But forests, IL used as
all our forests have been used in the past
and as most of them still used, will be
either wholly destroyed, or so damaged that
many decades have to pass before elective