The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-08-23

4
er. One reason why the great busi-
ness men of today-the great indus
trial leaders-have gone ahead, while
the farmer has tended to lag behind
the others. is that ther are far mole
willing. and indeed eager, to profit
by expert and technical knowledge
the knowledge that can only come as
a result of the highest education.
From railways to factories no great
Industrial concern can nowadays be
carried on save by the aid Of a swarm
Of men who have received high tech
nical education in chemistry, in en-
cheering, in electricity, in one or
more of scores Of special subjects.
The big business man, the big railway
man, does not ask college-trained ex-
perts to tell him how to run his busi-
ness; but he does ask numbers of
them each to give him expert advice
and aid on some point indispensable
to his business. He finds this man
usually in some graduate of a tech
nlcal school or college in which he
has been trained for his life work.
Technical Training Needed
"Just the same way the farmers
should benefit by the advice of the
technical men who have been trained
IN phases OF the very work the farm
er does. l am not now speaking Of
the man who has had an ordinary
general training, whether in school
or college. While there should un-
doubtedly be such a training as a
foundation (the extent differing ac-
cording to the kind of work each boy
intends to do as NAM; it is never
theless true that our educational sys-
tenn should more and more be turned
in the direction of educating men to-
wards. and not away from, the farm
and the shop. During the last half
century We have begun to develop a
system of agricultural education at
once practical and scientific, and we
must go on developing it. But, after
developing 1t. it must be used. The
rich man who spends a fortune upon
a fancy farm, with entire indifference
to cost, does not do much good to
farming; but, on the other hand, just
'as little is done by the working farm
er who stolidly refuses to profit by
the knowledge Of the day; who treats
any effort at improvement as absurd
on its face, refuses to countenance
what he regards as newfangled ideas
and contrivances. and jeers at all
book farming 1 wish 1 could take
representatives of this type of farmer
down to Long Island, whereI live, to
have them see what has been done,
not as philanthropy, but as plain
business proposition; by men connect
ed with the Long Island railroad, who
believe it pays to encourage the de-
velopment of farms along the line of
that railway. They have put practic-
al men in charge of experimental
farms, cultivating them intensively.
and using the best modern methods.
not only in raising crops. but in Sc
curing the best market for the crops
when raised The growth has been
astounding. and land only fifty miles
from New York. which during our en-
tire national lifetime has been treated
as worthless. has within the last three
Of four years been proved to possess
rally high value.
Make Life Interesting
"The farmer, however. must not
only make his land pay, but he must
make country life interesting for him
self and for his wife and his sons and
daughters. Our people as a whole
shuold realize the infinite possibilities
of life in the country; and every eff
fort should be made to make these
possibilities more possible. From the
beginning Of time it has been the man
raised in the country-and usually
the man born in the country-who has
been most apt to render the services
which every nation most needs. Turn
ing to the list of American statesmen,
1t is extraordinary to see how large
proportion started as farm boys.
But is rather sad to see that in re-
have ended their lives as men living
in cities.
at often happens that the good con-
ditions of the past can be regained.
not by going back, but by going for
ward. We cannot recreate what Is
dead; we cannot stop the march of
events. but we can direct this march,
and out of the new conditions develop
something better than the past knew.
Henry Clay was a farmer who lived
all his life in the country: Washing
ton was farmer who lived and died
in the country; and We Of this nation
ought to make 1t our business to see
that the conditions are made such
that farm life in the future shall not
only develop men of the stamp Of
Washington and Henry Clay, but shall
be so attractive that these men may
continue as farmers: for remember
that Washington and Henry Clay were
successful farmers. l hope that these
things will so shape themselves that
the farmer can have a great career
and vet end his life as farmer; so
that the city man will look forward
to living in the country rather than
the country man living in the city.
Farmers should learn how to COM
bine effectively. as has been done in
industry. I am particularly glad to
speak to the Grange. for heartily !
believe in farmers organizations: and
we should all welcome every step
taken towards an increasing coopera-
tion among farmers. The importance
of such movements cannot be over
estimated; and through such intelli-
gent Joint action it will be possible to |