The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1907-11-18
uRTIPr0 ro N0 MODE
AA@AsA 49 AVU ilAVANl
FARMER FULLY THE EQUAL or
THE CITY NAN.
March Of Progress Has Done Great
Things III Broadening Out the
Dweller II the Count ~
Is Now a Leader.

Our comic papers win continue for
8 time 10 represent the conntrymen as
q person with hay in his hair, a double
handful Of beard on his chin. clothing
With many patches and boots Of cow
hide This blithering pumpkin Is de.
picted as buying green goods Of city
men, whose wickedness lis supposed to
count as wisdom. But the truth is
that the country man Of to-day has cut
his eye teeth upon, experience and
keeps them sharpened on books and
newspapers, for which he has more
use and reverence than those who have
hourly editions thrust upon them
The rustic can no longer remain the
clodhopper Of comedy. even if he
would Those material changes that
we fondly count as progress are as in.
escapable among the hills as they are
In the tenement. The village now has
Its telephone, it's electric light-some
times as many as two-its free library
Its hign school. its improvement asso
citation, its health officer and its occa
sional lecturer on COWS and agrlcul
ture; whereas the sole center of au
thority intellectual endeayor and SO
cial activity was formerly the church
Nor Is the farmer distinguishable by
his recent acquisition Of hand-me-down
clothes, for they are shaped after re-
cent patterns and are made Of as good
materials as are other folks. Indeed.
II he lives near one Of those New Eng.
land mills, where they weave wooden
cloth that is three-fourths shoddy the
chances are that he. knows better than
the city man what to avoid and gets
better clothes for less money. He
drives shiny carriage, has a melo.
deon-if not a piano-in the house,
takes a daily paper as well as coun.
try weekly and has been to Boston or
New York Oh Chicago.
Differences between the farmer and
the city man are even less in respect
Of ways Of life and modes Of thought
than in these matters Of clothing and
custom. The farmer has broadened
out Of late He has a concern in the
business Of the nation. although he
does not view problems and complexi
ties at close range, having in his farm
enough for his needs and fewer ex
penses than the person who is deer
IN society and whose station or calling
demands a large and constant outgo.
It Is the farmer who for years has
been receiving the least for his prod
uct and paying most for his bought
/ en- necessities, and it Is the farmer
who has been systematically over
looked by the politicians he has helped
to Office. The material gains which
have been forced from capital by trade
4 unions have reused his interest, per
/ haps his envy, and as he hroadens AMI
/ becomes increasingly worldly minded
his demands and his needs must b
needed.
i The sons Of this ruddy-facea ant
hearty citizen fill the pulpit and thl
bench. and they are known on chang
and they head companies. When he i
i chosen to congress, as men of smengt
and merit always risk being chosen
the once pumpkin will have voie
in the conduct OF affairs.
And this Is ais it should be. Mel
must be grounded firmly in nature 0
| they decay. individually and socially
All that will lead men back to th
soil, to places of strength and health
to calm, to readiness in selfresourc
makes for the endurance Of the stat
and Of the institutes of civilization
Crime and discomfort do not pertain t
the tillage Of our fields; envy is not
trait Of villages; small places hay
small vices, 1t is true. Of which tipplin
and gossip are the worst but they al
nurseries OF men who take the plac
Of those weakened BY the life Of town
Aud it is for these men Of red bloc
nd free speech that place must f
made. The outward marks that pr
claimed them country men being los
we shall the more freely concede thos
merits that qualify them for statio'
/ The bumpkin has passed because h
age and his country have called to hi
to be not . man among cattle, but
i man annnne -Rrnaklxn -Eaela-