East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-10-28

Billings, Mont, Oct. 2S.--The fea-
ture OF the fourth and fifth sessions
OF the fourth Dry Farming congress
was the speech of Louis w. Hill, pres
ident of the Great Northern railway.
His talk was devoted TO a showing of
the results of the dry farming move
ment in Montana and he proved by
his figures. shown upon charts that
Montana is now to be classed as an
agricultural state.
Mr.. Hill said in an interview that
the people of Montana were not alive
to their opportunities and urged the
pushing Of the movement from which
the congress had originated.
Land Drawings Huge Fake.
Mr.. Hill characterized the govern
ment opening of the Flathead reser-
vation as huge fake" enticing peo-
Pile from all over the United States to
draw land while only three per cent
got farms. He said the people spent
not less than twelve millions of dol
lars in railroad fares and while the
Great Northern got its share, he said
that the money was not what 1t
wanted.
" Mr. Hill said the government was
making a mistake in setting aside n
million acres Of land for the Cree In
dams He said that these Indians
are not American Indians and that
they do not speak the language of any
other United States tribe. He re-
garded this as a particularly bad piece
Of management on the part of the
government in view of the fact that
the land could be well used by peo-
pie employing dry farming methods.
Father of Farming Talks.
At the afternoons session. II. w.
Campbell. known as the father of
dry farming" delivered an address,
in which he attacked Secretary Will
son Of the department of agriculture.
He repeated the warning he had giv-
en- at previous congresses against go
ing too fast and insisted that the new
settlers Of the dry lands must be edu-
Gated to their work. or failure will
come to them.
1T will not be disputed by any one
who knows" said Mr.. Campbell. that
by and through scientific soil tillage
more is being accomplished for the
betterment OF all crops I'm all sea-
sons and under all conditions than
in any other way The one thing es-
sentlal in scientific soil culture is
such n condition of the soil as will
secure in available form the greatest
amount of fertility. This can be
brought about by mechanical pro-
eesses But you cannot lay down a
fixed rule for this size. The only
thing to do is to. help the farmer ed
ucate himself in the true principles
Of soil fertility that he will UNDER
stand just what he is aiming at in NIL
field work He must know why
things arc done. He must ever be
alert to the changes taking place" 4
Answers Wilson'S Attack. K
Mr.. Campbell, whose experimental
farm operations have covered rs
wears. took accession to answer Secre- (
tary of Agriculture Wilson, who was !
quoted recently as saying that the /
Campbell system of dry land farm
ing Is wrong and harmful" and the |
methods followed by the dry farmers
will destroy the fertility Of the soil.
81 regard 1t as exceedingly unfor-
innate" said Mr.. Campbell, that en-
couragement from official sources
should be given those who are crying
down and belittllng the work you
and and all of us have been doing
in recent years in relation to dry land
ullage." IL
Referring to Secretary Wilson's
plan to change the character of the