Mower County transcript., 1909-10-13
FARMER BEN'S
COLUMN

l see the Bankers association is tryin
to solve the problem of tryin' to keep
the boys and girls on the farms and CIV
out the followin' which will pass for
what they're worth: Quit holdin' up
city people to 'em as ideals, get the idee
ont of country school pupils that
they're to be only lawyers, merchants
or doctors, teach agriculture in the
country deertrick schools, create pleas
anter home surroundings and build
better roads. There's no use denyln'
that the young folks on the farms are
gettin' lots of 'em discontented IN this
hurry time. They want to get rich
quick and liv easier and fly higher and
they can't stand for the steady chores
on the farm. It's big mistake for
most of the farmers youngsters to
leave the farm. There amt many OF
'em who go into the cities that ever get
above bein' common clerks and 1 tell
YOU that ties 'em down hundred times
tighter than farm life. City life looks
rosy to the country boy and girl but
it's hardscrabble in actuality.
know as much about farm life as
any of 'em and 1 tell you there's
whole lot to think of before qulttin'
for town. My wife and 1 stuck to the
old farm until we got too old to work
it and we've still got the farm for our
livin' in our last days. We've got health
and conte ntment and peace with the
world and friends and we amt goin' to
worry ourselves into our graves. I
reckon we take more real solid comfort
than the bunch of high flyers in the big
cities who never know where they're at.
Hardly a week passes in the year when
weather and roads allow that wife and
l amt down to the old farm lookin'
round. We know every tree for we
planted 'em. Some of the big fellows
we're lumberin' now. We get lots OF
fruit for there amt a spring that we
don't stick out few young trees. l
tell you it's a JOY to us to ride out with
the old horse and see everything at the
farm and know that it's there to stay
amidst the ups and downs of high
finance.
l'm nifty interested in this water
navigation in this country. Over to
Winona last week they had a Mississip
pi river Improvement. convention with
lots of big ones there and there's no
doubt interest is growin'.. 1t alwus
looked to Farmer Ben like when the
Lord made the material water ways and
you didn't hav. to lay down rails and
ties and buy right of way and maintain
a expensiv road bed, there ought to be
something doin'allithe time. That's what
we're doin' on the great lakes and that's
what we ought to do on the Mississippi
and all other streams. My paper says
that the big steel trust will build six
barges to carry 6,000-ton bridge in
sections from Pittsburg to Kansas City
by river. They are plannin' regular
line Of barges to ply betwixt Pittsburg,
st.. Louis and New Orleans and if they
didn't calkerlate that the river high
ways offered economical way Of
transportation for their products, they
certainly wouldn't go into it. I tell
you modern invention will yet get us
big river steamers with light draft.
The ship subsidy steal is comm to
the front agen and it looks like the
pushers would try harder than ever to
work the next congress to let the ship
builders and owners hav chance to
put their hands in the national treasury
to loot. Ship subsidy is a chestnut.
We have lots of ships built without
subsidy where they pay good returns
and nothin' is said about it. Experts