The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-19
EDITORIAL WORK
IS Reds REMEDY.
He Offers Solution for the Cry
ing Problem OF Cost OF
Living
FARMERS ARE PROSPEROUS
Would Have Young Men Seek
the West and Till the
Soil.
FARMERS ARE PROSPEROUS

Especial TO Inc IlncSsDlspatcHsJ
New York, January 1S.--Danlel u.
Reid, who went to work thirty-nine
years ago for So a week, and at fifty
two finds himself afraid to compute
his wealth. says that IL more Amer
leans went back to real work there
would not be so much talk about the
advanced cost of living.
Mr.. Reid ought to know something
about real work. When he was thir-
teen he applied for position as
messenger boy in the Second National
Bank. OF Richmond, Ind. It was not
point but in few months young
Daniel proposed his first consolida-
ton. He wished to have added to his
labors the position of night Watch-
man at 81 a week. His consolidation
was accepted. and he moved his PED
down to the bank.
Later lie worked his way through
every position until he became the
vice-president of the Institution. me
.tin-plate industry appealed to the
ton to devote his attention to the
manufacturing of tin-plate. Two
failures did not deter him and the
little tin-plate mill at Elwood grew
into mighty plant.
In 1898 the 27o tin-plate mills OF
the country consolidated, and the two
Moores, of Chicago William a. and
~. H., dropped into the tin-plate game.
Mr.. Reid helped them to organize the
National Steel Company In order that
might be assured. other companies
followed fast. and when the United
States Steel Corporation was formed
the Reid and Moore properties went
into the great consolidation.
Reid-.D. c. his friends call him
is one of the big men in United States
Steel. the chairman of the board of
directors of great railway system.
a power in the National Biscuit Com
pany and so many other things thar
he finds 1t difficult to keep track OF
them all.
A Very Rich Man.
The man who began on So a Week
and effected his first consolidation
while stu in his early teens, us, Is now
millionaire eNcites no comment, and
he has the further reputation Of being
able to lay his hands on more ready
cash than any man in the country
except j. Pierpont Morgan.
AT his home on Fifth Avenue. sur.
a great fortune. Mr.; Reid discussed
the question which Is now asitatinS
the wage-earners of this country-the
advanced cost of living and It's remedy.
The trouble with this country" said
he, offering himself n specially made
Havana cigar from. a stand made or
an elephants leg bound about with
silver and finished In ebony is that q
lot more people In this country ought
| to so back to real work-they ought
to go to farming.
Now, the farmer is the man we
have. to go back to every time He IS
| the fellow who is responsible for the
real wealth of the country. 1t is not
the the railroads have not been getting all
the money.
Take the case e the h IA. farm 81 toI He
! hog--if its good hog; $50 a ton for
hay; barley and corn in proportion.
| and egss-you know what eggs are
worth Just now? We'll, ten or fifteen
| years ago the farmers in the Middle
/ West were all carrying mortgages on
| their property. To-day, the same men
are riding around the country in auto-
4 mobiles. They have paid off the mort
cages and they have money In the
bank.
More men ought to go back to the
soll-back to the real work. Take
y these little towns in the Middle West:
you will find they have fifteen. or
twenty churches to support. when four
or five would do every bit as we'll. and
in plenty OF cases you will find that
those preachers would make out better
as far ,nna ,, ..pro,...,on,,.,
q 1.-THE same thing is true In most
= of the professions. It's a sort of !
4 family pride to train boy TO b.
a lawyer or a preacher when he ouGh
4 to be trained to work. The great idei
& seems to be to leave the West an,
come on over here to the East, whel
it is in the West that the real oppor
tunities are waiting for the averag
man OF no capital to speak of.
There is plenty of land still in TIL
West. and every foot of good farmin
4 land should he made to bear its cror
4 Out In my country--in Indiana--wher
the farmers are thickly settled, hav
4 noticed that there is always Il stri
of land near the fences which ism
4 even ploushed. That is a mistake.
4 1t would be an object lesson I
some OF our farmers II they woul
Z take a trip to Europe and see the wa
II they make every inch of the land bea
Hits crop.
1.-THE farmer is prosperous There i
! one class which has not been bettere
by the advance Of recent years, Nh
Z clerks used to get $50 to $50 month
Y Sometimes Vne of them would reacl
1 $1,000 year. These salaries hay,
!. not been raised, They are about Nher
they were tenor fifteen years ago.
i "This country Is not bounded on on,
4 side by the East River and on anothe,
! by Jersey City, The West offers the
chances to young men who want Il
go to real work, and the men who are
doing that work are making the
i .,,tta r M n