Arizona republican., 1907-12-04

the trained body. Our school system
 is graveIy defective in so far as II puts premium upon mere literary training
 and tends therefore to train the boy
 away from the farm and the workshop.
 Nothing is more needed than the best
 type of industrial school. the school for
 mechanical industries in the city. the
 calling of the skilled tiller of the soil.
 the calling of the skilled mechanic,
 should alike be recognized as profess
 sions. just as emphatically as the call
 iDgs os lawyer. doctor. merchant. or
 clerk. The schools should recognize
 this fact and it should equally be rec
 ognized in popular opinion. The young
 man who has the farsightedness and courage to recognize il and to get over
 the idea that it makes a difference
 whether what he earns is called sal ary or wages. and who refuses to en- ter the crowded field of the so-called 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. It should be one os our prime objects to put both
 the farmer and the mechanic on a so as to increase their effectiveness in
 the economic world, and therefore the dignity. the remuneration. and the power of their positions in the social world.
 NO growth of cities. no growth of wealth, can make uo for any loss in
 either the number or the character of ! the farming population. We of the United States should realize tliis above almost all other peoples. We began
 our existence as a nation of farmers.
 and in every great crisis of the past peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming population;
 and this dependence has hitherto been ! justified. But t can not be justified
 in the future if agriculture is permit ted to sink in the scale as compared with other employments. We can not afford to lose that pre-eminently typ 1 ical American, the farmer who owns 1 his own medium sized farm. To have his place taken b- either class of small peasant proprietors, or by class l of great landlords with tenant Harmed estates would be a veritable calamity. l The growth of our cities is a good
 thing but 8hly in so far as it does not mean a gfowth at the expense of the country farmer. We must welcome the
 rise of physical sciences in their ap- plication to agricultural practices, and we must do all we can to render coun- l 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 Government through the De-
 partment of Agriculture should do all
 it can by joining with the State gov ernments and with independent asso- ciations of farmers to encourage the
 growth in the open farming country
 of such institutional and social move
 ments as will meet the demand of the best type of farmers, both for the inn provement of their farms and for the betterment of the life itself. The De- partment of Agriculture has in many places. perhaps especially '- certain districts of the South. accomplished an extraordinary amount by cooperating
 with and teaching the farmers through
 their associations. on their own soil. how to increase their income by man aging their farms better than they were hitherto managed. The farmer must rot lose his independence. his initiative. his rugged self-reliance. yet he must learn to work in the heartiest i cooperation with his fellows. exactly as the business man has learned to V Ork: and he must prepare to use to constantly better advantage the knowl- edge tat can be obtained from agri- cultural colleges. while he must insist
 upon practical curriculum in the
 schools in which his children are taught The Department of Agricul-
 ture and the Department of Commerce and Labor both deal with the fnnia- r.iertal needs of our people in tho pro- d1ciion Of raw material and it's mann- facture and distribution, and. therefore. with the welfare of those who produce it in the raw state. and of those who lr.Gnufacture and distribute it. The 70 partment of Commerce and Labor
 has b=t recentl-' been founded DLt has ant adv Justified it's existence: while
 the Department of Agriculture yieldr
 to no other in the Government in the practical benefits which 1t produces Ill proportion to the public money ex-
 pended. It must continue in the fu-
 
 has dealt in the past but it must still
 further extend its field of usefulness hereafter by dealing with live men,
 through a far-reaching study and treatment O. the problems of farm life alike from the industrial and economic
 and social standpoint Farmers must cooperate with one another and with
 the Government, and the Government can best give its aid through associa tions of farmers. so as to deliver to the farmer the large body of aericul- tural Knowledge which has been ac- cumulated b. the National and State
 governments and br the agricultural colleges and schools
 The grain producing industry of the country. one of the most importJn: in the United States. deserves sJecial consideration at the hands of the Con- gress. Our grain is sold almost ex- clusively by grades. To secure satis-
 factory results in our home markets and to facilitate our trade abroad. these grades should approximate the