The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-11-25
TALKING FOR EFFECT.
St. Cloud JOurnal-PreSs CIeyerlv Dis.
Sects Gov. Eberhart's Recent
Pretentious Speech.
That the Governor Was Talking fol
Effect Is Clearly Demonstrated
by His Suggestions.

Effect Is Clearly Demonstrated
by His Suggestions.
Gov. Eberhart promulgates a few
propositions on state government.
They are reasonably good, but are
not new, and some of them are rather
impracticable.
Take the proposition Of the state
conserving its water power, for
instance. Unless the water powers
happened to be on sections 16 or SO,
or on some of it's swamp land selec-
tions, the state never had any water
powers, and if possible would have
even less now. The state could of
course acquire water powers the same
as any other corporation, but it has
nothing to conserve.
And it is a pretty big question
whether the state wants to 60 into the
business of acquiring and developing
water powers and selling the product.
To do this on state wide scale would
require many millions of dollars-and
then when Gov. Eberhart talks about
furnishing this power to the farmers,
he is talking rank foolishness. In
coming years there may be some way
of bottling the power from our rivers
and sending it out to the farmer
along with his mail, but that is a
problem for the future. When the
question is seriously considered it re-
.quires no diagram to show that the
governor has not thought out the
matter, but it sounded good and he
let it go at that. The national
government has some water powers to
conserve, and it is a good business
proposition to hold them until they
can be used. If the state has any
water powers it would also be good
judgment to keep them. If the power
of the Minnesota river was developed
it would be used in the cities and vii
lagos, which would tend to further
concentrate the population, and rob
the farms of their boys and girls.
And yet one of Gov. Eberhart's
recipes for the future prosperity of the
country is to keep the country popu-
lation from flooding the cities.
He gives as a reason why the people
are leaving the farms is because farm
work "has become drudgery. -
HAS become' means that farm work
did not use to be a "drudgery." This
will make the farmer smile, when he
remembers the pioneer days, and con-
trasts it with present conditions, when
about 80 per cent of the work is done
by machinery-and when one man can
cultivate several times as many acres
as he could forty years ago, and with
less labor.
Conditions on the farm are growing
better year by year. The creamery
has eliminated a large part of the
"drudgery" that formerly burdened
the housewife. The gang pillow, the
manure spreader, the moving
machine, hay rake, the self binder, the
potato digger and the corn shredder
have revolutionized the farm work,
and the telephone and the rural free
delivery have brought the farm in
closer contact with the world, and
made life more pleasant. The farmer
will soon be riding in his automobile,
and then will come the era of good
roads. The boys and girls are going
to the cities, not because of the in
creasing farm "drudgery," but be-
cause they think they can do better
for themselves. The few can, but the
many cannot. Our agricultural
schools are helping in the right direc-
ton, and if the governor really wants
to assist he should advocate the
establishment of county training
schools to prepare teachers for the
country districts and to teach the
practical things that the farmer boys
and girls should know.
We are not sure that the abolish
ment of the oil inspector would be a
good thing. The fees now go to the
state, and the fee is so small that if it
we're taken off there would be no re-
duction in price to the consumer.
What tax is gathered in comes from
the oil companies and the dealers
and the inspection may be some pro-
lection against cheap and dangerous
2 oil IF IL is nOt-than tho oouorpor
as the chief executive officer of the
state, should see that it is effective
ST. Cloud Journal-Press.
Tnneh on Sharhurna G0untx