The Grit-advocate., 1907-10-04
|60 ACRES IS
NOT ENOUGH
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT DELIv-
ERs NOTABLE ADDRESS ON
HOMESTEAD LAWS.
OPEN FOR SUGGESTION
WANTS TO PROTECT MEN WHO
"PLoW AND PITCH HAY
THEMSELVES"

keokuk. Iowa.-In a notable speech
delivered by President Roosevelt just
before embarking on his voyage down
the Mississippi. the CHEF executive
again announced his intention of en-
forcing the laws. criminal and other
wise. against all. high and low, who
broke or evaded them. Passing from
this. he paid tribute to the sturd,
yecmanry of Iowa and then advanced
TO the main topic Of his address, which
had to do with the land laws OF the
nation. These, he said, needed amend.
ment in the interest OF those who had
gone into the semi.arid regions of the
West and were struggling against al.
verse circumstances. He believed that
in these regions the limitations OF
homesteads to 160 acres was an alb
surdity. He also declared that in the
enforcement of the statute against the
fencing of public lands much injustice
hal been done, and he urged that the
law in this respect should be changed,
but just how he was not prepared 10
say. In part he said:
AT present the ordinary farmer
holds his own in the land as against
any possible representative of the land
lord class of farmer-that is, of the
men who would own vast estates
because the ordinary farmer unites his
capital, his labor and his brains with
the making of permanent family
home, and thus can afford to hold his
land at value at which it can not be
held by the capitalist, who would have
10 run it by leasing it or by cultivating
it at arms lelsth with hired labor In
other words, the typical American
farmer of today. gets his remuneration
in part in the shape Of an independent
home for his family and thus gives
him an advantage over an absentee
landlord Now, from the standpoint of
the nation as a whole it is preeml-
nently desirable to keep as one Of our
chief American types the farmer, the
farm home maker of the medium-sized
farm. This type of farm home is one
OF our strongest political and social
bulwarks. Such farm worked by the
owner has proved by experience the
best place in which to breed vigorous
leaders alike for country and city. 1t
is matter Of prime economic and civic
Importance to encourage this type of
home owning farmer.
Therefore We should strive in every
way to aid in the education of the farm.
er for the farm ard should shape our
school system with this end in view;
and SO vitality important is this that. in
my opinion, the federal government
should cooperate with the state gov
ernments to secure the needed change
and improvement In our schools. 1t is
significant that both from Minnesota
and Georgia there have come proposals
in this direction and in the appearance
Of bills introduced into the national
Congress. The congressional land
grant act of 1852 accomplished much
in establishing the agricultural col
leges in the several states and there.
fore in preparing In turn the system of
educational training for the young into
channels at once broader and more
practicable-and what | am saying
about agricultural training really ap
plies to all industrial training But
the colleges can not reach the masses.
and it IL essential that the masses
should be reached. Such agricultural
high schools as those in Minnesota
and Nebraska for farm boys and girls,
such technical high schools as are 10
be found, for instance, in both st. Louis
and Washington. have by their success
shown that it is entirely feasible to
carry in practical fashion the funda-
mentals Of industrial training into the
realms Of our secondary schools. Al
present there is gap between our pri-
mary schools in the country and city
and the industrial collegiate courses.
which must be closed and II necessary
the nation must help the state to close
It, Too often our present schools tend
to put altogether too great premium
upon mere literary education, AMI
therefore to train away from the farm
and the shop.
I'VE should reverse this process
Specific training Of a practical kind
should be given to the boys and girls
who when men and women are to make
up the backbone OF this nation by
working in agriculture, in the mechan.
ical industries, in arts and trades: in
short, who are to do the duty that
should always come first with all of
us, the duty of home making and home
tion is, for most men and women. not
a real education at all; for real ed.
ucation should fit people primarily for
the Industrial and home-making EN-.
ployments In which they must employ
the bulk OF their activities. Our coun
try offers unparalleled opportunities
for domestic and social advancement
for social and economic leadership in
the world. Our greatest natioual as
set Is to be found in the children. They
need to be trained to high ideals of
everyday living, and to high efficienc,
in their respective vacations; we can
not afford to have them trainel other
wise, and the nation should help the
states to achieve this end.
Now, men of Iowa, | want to say
lust a word on a matter that concerns
not the states Of the Mississippi valley
itself, but the states west of them, the
state Of the great plain and the Rocky
\ mountains Unfortunately, am not
able on this present trip to visit those
states, or I should speak to their own
people on the point to which now in