The Springfield herald., 1907-01-31


proper rotation of crops in which one
kind of crop prepares or enriches the
soil for the following crop.
wish that every reader of this ar
ticle could have heard the various ad-
dresses which were delivered, but as
that was impossible l will give a few
extracts from some of them.
In his address of welcome for Denver,
A. ]. Spengle said:
"That the wonderful possibilities of
scientific dry farming are becoming ap-
preciated is amply testified to by the
presence of SO many eminent and
learned men from all our western
states, and Denver is indeed proud to
add this latest child to her distinguished
list of renowned organizations.
GAN honor to Prof. Campbell and the
other noble men who, seeking neither
wealth nor fame, gave their best
thought and energy to this great and
glorious work.
Gentlemen, bid you God speed in
the great cause in which you have en-
listed
"Welcome to Denver, the Queen city
of the intermountain West. May you
receive heavenly inspiration in your
great work, for its successful consum-
nation will mean the population of our
great plains, the building up of all our
industrial and commercial interests
cities and towns will spring to life and
the blessings of modern civilization
will extend in one unbroken line from
the Missouri to the Pacific; from the
faraway North to the Gulf"
Hon. John w. Springer, of Denver,
speaking on the "Aims and Objects of
the Congress, said in part as follows:
"The modern, twentieth American
believes in all progressive preparations.
He is at all times inclined to hitch his
wagon to star. Twenty years ago
We laughed our sides sore when some
tall, lanky, gangling, cross-eyed coun-
try lad got up in the country school and
recited about Darius Green and his fly
ing machine, We laughed at Darius
|
think of lifting his feet off the earth.
But in these days who laughs at Santos
Dumont?
In the early days the planter Of the
South dumped tons upon tons of cotton
seed into their rivers. Then along came
man with an idea buzzing in his head
and he ground up the seed in a little
hand mill. Today almost as much
money is Invested in the seeds as in the
cotton itself.
'.It used to be thought that the rivers
and canons of the West were as the
Lord made them and it was folly to at
tempt to alter them. Nowadays we
are all familiar with the immense pro-
jects of diversion and the huge reser-
voir systems which have helped to build
up the irrigation districts of the west.
''who, then, has any right to sneer
at the aims and objects of this gather
ing? Friends, venture to predict that
within 10 years this congress initiated
here today will have become national
one"
In his address, "a Reply to the Crit
ics," j. L. Donahue said in part:
Fair, unbiased criticism should al
ways be invited and is always helpful.
But the only person who is ever entitled
to express an opinion upon any subject
is the person who has made serious
study of all phases of that subject.
The freedom with which the average
man among us will express an opinion
upon a question of vital import to the
study of which he never gave one sin
ole hour of concentrated effort is SIM
ply astonishing. And it is not less in
teresting to note the willingness of
manv persons to express themselves
dogmatically upon a particular problem
when all their investigations have been
confined to problems of the exact oppo-
site nature from the one that is up for
solution.
"Now there are two distinct classes
of critics to whom l desire to offer a
brief but forceful reply in the few min
utes that | shall occupy the floor.
There is first of all, the critic who
thinks he also knows what dry farming
can be depended upon to do, because
he knows all about what irrigation can
be depended upon to do; and in the
second place there is the critic who
says that dry farming is the biggest
fake ever foisted upon gullible public,
and he knows it because he never prac-
ticed dry farming in his life, never saw
man who did practice it, never read
A book nor newspaper nor magazine
! article on the subject, never heard the
subject discussed upon its merits by
those who were prepared to discuss it,
but lust naturally knows all about the
subject because he has lived on the
p,ains or in towu upon the plains for
30 wears. This is the type of fellow
who sets out to make the newcomer
wise as soon as he gets within reach
of him.
"The other class of critic though, to
whom l referred in my classification of
two general types. is the more formid-
1 i,