Omaha daily bee., 1910-08-24
ROOSEVELT ON WAY WEST
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edge--the knowledge that can only come as
result Of the highest education. From
railways to factories no great Industrial
concern can nowaiays be carried on save by
the aid of a swarm of men who have re-
ceived high technical education in chem
istry, in engineering, in electricity, in one
or more of scores Of special subjects. The
big business man, the big railway man,
does not ask college-trained experts to tell
him how to run his business; but he does
ask numbers of them each to give him ex-
pert advice and aid on some one point in
dispensable to his business. He finds this
man usually in some graduate of a techni-
cal school or college In which he has been
trained for his life work.
Real Function of Experts,
In 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 farmer does. l am not now
speaking OF the man who has had an
ordinary general training, whether in
school or college. While there should I'M
doubtedly be such training as a founda-
ton Uhe extent differing according to tho
kind of work each boy intends to do as a
man, it is nevertheless true that our
! educational system should more and more
be turned in the direction of educating men
| towards, and not away from, the farm and
the shop During the lass half century
we have begun to develop system Of
agricultural education at once practical and
| scientific, and we must go on developil az
1t. But after developing it, 1t must be
used. The rich man who spends a fortune
upon a fancy farm with entire indiffer-
| ence to cost does not do much good to
| farming; but, on the other. hand, Just as
| little is done by the working farmer who
stolidly refuses to profit by the knowledge
| OF the day; who treats any effort ut int
| provement as absurd on its face, refuses
to countenance what he regards as new
| tangled ideas and contrvances, and jeers
at all book farming 1 wish l could take
representatives of this type of farmer
dov n to Long Island where live, 10 have
them see what has been done, not as
philanthropy, but as a plain business
proposition, by men connected with the
| Long Island railroad, who believe II pays
to encourage the development of farms
along the line of that railway. They have
put practical men in charge of expert
smental farms, cultivating them intensively
and using the best modern methods, not
only In raising crops, but in securing the
best market for the crops when raised
The growth has been astounding and land
only fifty miles from New York, which
during our entire national lifetime has
been treated as worthless, has within the
last three or four years been proved to
possess a really high value
Two Successful Farmers.
THE farmer, however, must not only
make his land pay, but he must make
country life interesting for himself and for
his wife and his sons and daughters. Our
people as a whole should realize the in.
finite possibilities OF life in the country
and every effort should be made to make
these possibilities more possible. From the
beginning of time 1t has been the mar
raised in the country-and usually the mar
born in the countrywide has been mos
apt to render the services which every ma.
ton most needs. Turning to the list OF
American statesmen, 1t is extraordinary L
see how large a proportion started a,
farm boys. But 1t is rather sad to Sc,
, that an recent years most OF these sam,
! boys nave ended their lives as men uvinl
in cities.
, 1T often happens that the good condition.
Of the past can be regained, not by goinl
back but by going forward We canno
recreate what is dead; we cannot stop tn
, march Of events, but we can direct thi
march. and out of the new conditions de
velop something better than the past knew
: Henry Clay was q farmer who lived an
died in the country; Washington was
y farmer, who lived and died In the country
and we OF this nation ought 10 make
@ our business TO see that the conditions al
: made such that farm life in the futur
IS shall not only develop men OF the STAN
k OF Washington and Henry Cloy. but sha
+. be so attractive that these men may cor
l. tinue as farmers; for remember that Wasl
W inston and Henry Clay were suecessfl
n fatmers. l hope that things will so shaI
themselves that the farmer can have
E. great career and yet end his life as
farmer; so that the city man will look FOL
le ward 10 living in the country rather tina
Of the country man living in the city.
ID Organizations for Farmers.
al Farmers should learn how to combir
effectively. as has been done In industr
"a / am particularly glad to speak 10 Il
az Grange, for / heartily believe in farmer
n organizations; and we should all WELDON
IN every step taken towards an increasir
u cooperation among farmers. The impo
re lance Of such movements cannot be owe
estimated; and through such intellige
joint action II viii be possible to impro
4 the market just much as the farm.
u Country life should be as attractive
III city life. and the country people should 4
sist. upon having their full representa-,