The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-10-30


served public men that Mr.. James J..
Hill Is not only a great railway ope-
rator but Is also forceful writer and
while his utterances sometimes have
taken on the appearance Of undue
pessimism, there was usually the feel
Ing that there was much truth in his
statements. whatever they were and
however distasteful they were to nat
ional self-esteem. In an article in the
current Worlds Work, Mr.. Hill re-
turns to a favorite subject of his, the
question Of agricultural progress, and
writes an article that will repay read
Ing, and If needed will do much to
help along the gospel of conservation
OF national agricultural resources.
Mr.. Hills article is at once a ma
tional indictment and an exhortation
to repentance and reform, and fortu-
nately for his views of the wasteful
character of American agriculture Of
the present day. the course of econo-
mic events Is with him in his agita-
tion for reform. In other words, it
will pay the American farmer to heed
the warnings given because he
can profit financially thereby.
In fact, 1t may be said that the Amer
lean farmer has not been wasteful,
extravagant and shiftless entirely from
choice. His early environment lent
itself to lack Of care, and the prices
paid for his products often led to rob-
bing the soil to make both ends meet
II the present high level Of prices
lasts this latter policy will not be
necessary, because there will be profit
In the farmer or his successors doing
things right instead of as in the past
doing them rapidly.
Mr.. Hills indictment of the Ameri-
can system of farming. which, has
SKINNED the. cream from the fertile
acres and virgin soil of a score of the
States Of the Union. is powerfully aid
ed by a series Of pictures which i'm
press eye and mind where mere let
terpress would fail Of its object. The
contrast In appearance of an Ameri-
can and a German wheat field, the
first with a yield Of fourteen and the
latter with an output Of twenty-eight
bushels per acre. does not need long
columns Of writing to explain. Nor
does the picture of harvesting wheat
on the American plan which allows
OF the cultivation of large areas with
out. however. enriching the soil, need
words to point moral. In his in
dictment Of American methods, Mr..
Hill points out that this country has
for years unduly assisted manufac-
ture. commerce and the activities that
centre In the cities, shutting its eyes
to the fact that the farm is the basis of
all industry. and that a prosperous
agricultural industry is to a nation
what good digestion is to q man. The
result is decline in agriculture, neg
lect. and. In many sections. dechy.
And the agriculturist has himself aid
ed In the work of sapping his own
strength. He has spent all his ener-
giles in the direction of taking things
off and out of the land and putting
little or nothing back. Reading Mr..
Hill's article, one Is naturally forcibly
reminded Of tie old-time boastfulness
of the American who proclaimed that
America was the granary Of the
world; that We need not go to war
with foreigners; we need simply re-
fuse to feed them, and similar light
and airy remarks. 1t is probably well
for the country that this sort of talk
and ideas shall be dissipated, and that
the country be taught that our cheap
wheat and corn and meal leaving the
country have left the country's soil
poorer for it,
At the same time, Mr.. Hill, unlike
those who praise all centuries but
this, and every country but their
own" points out that other nations
have their defects. He has a speak
ing picture Of a harvest scene in
France, a contrast with the American
scene, in which he shows that while
the land Is utilized In that country la
Dor is wasted. reversing the American
plan Of saving labor and impoverish-
ing the soil.
AS already intimated, his article is
not entirely an indictment. He points
out the way for rejuvenating exhaust
ed soils and restoring fertility, many
Of them not new, it is true. but GER
tainly losing nothing by Mr.. Hills
telling them. He believes in the