The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-16
FARMING IS BETTER THAN MANUFAC-
TURE

In this terse aphofism James J.. Hill
begins his article in the November
Worlds Work on What We Must Do
to be Fed" in which he sounds a ma
tional warning that the United States
is face to face with the problem of
providing food for the 200, 900, 900 of
population which will inhabit this
country in 1850.
"A prosperous agricultural interest
is to a nation what good digestion
is to a man." continues Mr.. Hill. de-
claring that the farm is the basis of all
industry. From these simple truisms
Mr.. Hill says that America must digni-
fly agriculture and place the farmer
first among the national producers or
rear disaster, want, and ruin in the
century on which we have entered<
Must Develop Agriculture.
In the following words MI. Hill
states the relation that must maintain
between agriculture and other indus
tries:
The soil is the only resource that
reneWS itself continually after having
produced value. l do not wish to be-
little the Importance of manufacture
or it's relative value in general growth.
But for many years this country has
made the mistake of unduly assisting
manufacture, commerce.. and other ac-
t~ivities that center in cities, at the ex-
pense of the farm.
The result is a neglected system Of
agriculture and the decline of the
farming interest. But all these other
activities are founded upon the agri-
cultural growth of the nation and
must continue to depend upon it.
Every manufacturer every merchant,
every business man, and every good
citizen is deeply interested in main
tanning the growth and development
of our agricultural resources
Ar Nm r,,otoc a 1opcth fro,, tho
writings Of Samuel ohnso to show
that he predicted for England and
Europe what has befallen it, if it
neglected the agricultural interest for
manufacture. Though he wrote $50
years ago DR.. predicted that
France with it's vines and other agri-
cultural activities would be a rich ma
ton when Spain with it's American
possessions and BOAT loads of gold and
silver would be pauperized, because of
it's neglect of the development Of the
basic element of all wealth in the soil.
Mr.. Hill declares the United States
run the danger Of making the same
mistake, though to some extent the
evil is beginning to be remedied. He
describes the condition Of Europe. and
lions are investing away the proud
supremacy Of England, which has
strutted over the seas and terrorized
the world for a century. He designate
Germany, France and Russia as the
real leaders of Europe, because they
have not forgotten the basic element in
all permanent growth-agriculture.
Time Of Economic Irial.
When the United States shall have
100000 to 200, 900, 900 people they
must De Employed; they must earn a
Giving" continues Mr.. Hill. How
will their occupations and products
stand in relation to one another? VIII
there be mutual internal support. or
mutual destruction and decay? Who
will employ these milliOns? Who will
buy the goods they produce? In what
shape will they be to meet the COM
petition that England faces today?
For the sake of our national fu-
ture, for the sake of the coming mil
lions who will be helpless unless each
can be furnished with a piece of tilla-
BILE land as a defense against misfor-
tune, we should see that the Specula-
tive abuses which these laws have fos-
tered are brought to an end. 1t should
not be possible to obtain public land OF
any kind anywhere in the United
States henceforth except after comply
ing with all the terms of the home
stead law. I cannot urge too strongly
upon every man who wishes his coun-
try we'll and who desires all to be pros
porous in order that he may prosper
with them, the Importance and grow
ing necessity of taking such care or
our public domain as shall preserve
the mnan of it for the use Of gener-
atoms yet Unborn.
"Such close and careful cultivation
as will yield the highest profit per
acre can best be given to land when lt
is cultivated in comparatively small
farm. The greater the number Of pros
porous farmers, the greater will be the
prosperity of every business man. Ii
takes more labor to earn the same
profit from q tract too large to be
TILED thoroughly.
Ten armer each cultivating from
forty to $50 acres at the outside, with
the most approved methods, supple
mented where necessary by irrigation,
can each earn a profit equal to that
taken from two to three times inc
aaAo IL clo1rnnl1r till1 oA -IAl