The Washington herald., 1910-11-27
Department of Agriculture
Educates Farmers.
HIGH COST OF LIVING REASON
Bureau Of Farm Industry Place
Where Letters Pour In-Aid Read
lily Given-WiIsOB ON Food Prob
Iem-Maryland and Virginia Offer
Opportunities-soutl to the Fore.

ed that farming as profession is pass
ing out of fashion. A majority Of these
letters are from city men who want to
get back to the soil" Most city men
have been brought up on a farm. The
development OF our city life has not yet
grown old enough that the man of mid
die age is forced to acknowledge that all
his life has been spent on streets and
pavements
These hundreds who write the officials
here at Washingt@n for information are
sincere in their requests To them the
Department OF Agriculture is a great
specializing school, made up of experts
And such is the case. There is one man
at the department who is the especial
friend OF the would-be farmer. This man
is w. ]. Spillman. head of the Bureau Of
Farm Management. He is the expert Of
experts Any question, from one on
, preparation OF soil for crops to the prop
er feed for lambs, can be answered from
his desk without a moments delay. His
problem is 10 tell the farmer how 10
make 81 where only one was made before.
Wilson on Food Cost.
In consideration OF the great national
| problem of food supply which this coun-
try. as wen as every other. now faces.
the work OF this man and his department.
becomes Of paramount Importance. A
few days ago Secretary Wilson, speak
/ ing before the annual convention OF the
| Association of American Agricultural
Colleges and Experiment Stations, con-
vened in this city, declared that more
men must go back 20 the farm.
THE high cost OF fOodstuffs is not alb
normal" said the Secretary 1T Is really
modern readjustment OF the old supply
, to an increased population and an in
I creased demand. We can look for no
| radical change until there are more
farmers and until the farmers Learn 10
get an increased yield Of crops per acre. -
| At this time OF the year. when the
| frost is on the pumpkin and the corn is
in the shock" the farmer who has fer
tile farm and who cultivated It industri-
ousIy is again reaping his reward In coin
/ OF the realm. His golden harvest is not
seant. as Ia the days when farm products
| brought low prices. The farmer OF to
day is not the farmer OF those days.
Now he is an autocrat
Wealth is coming mis- way, and ne Is
enjoying life He is free of a great deal
Of the o1d-time drudEery and is able 10
| live much the same life as mis- city broth
er. He is in every case his own master,
and he knows that by constant effort he
can bring each acre OF his productive
/ land 10 higher plane OF productive
profit. He knows that the coming year
/ will bring him as great profit as the
/ present one, for he is the producer Of
/ the worlds supply and despite the inter-
vening ''middleman. he viii get a fair
| price for the result Of his labor
/ II used 10 be that city men, and even
farm-reared men, only turnedSto farming
/ or stuck 10 it because all other channels
/ of making ends meet seemed closed TO
| them To own and operate a farm
/ brought UP pictures akin TO slavery, and
| he who could sidestep farming or escape
It counted himself among the lucky ones.
All who could made for the cities, and
reaching them, made good.
Many Are Going Back.
And yet of these men who have re-
mained in the city TO make good" fully
| 70 per cent are now inclined to get back
/ 10 the farm: not all Of them from a mon
ey-making standpoint. but for the old
| desire to be near the soil There is a
good deal OF freedom about the farm
| house set among acres of erop-producing
| land that cannot be obtained by short
| sojourns during summer vacations And
| this is the real reason why those 900 let
| ters are turned over to Spillman at the
| Department OF Agriculture every morn
ing.
| As to the other classes who long for the
simplicity Of farm life and who at pres
| ent reside in cities. they know from try
| ing experiences hsw expensive 1t is to
/ feed and rear a family In the city They
| see that farm products are not sufficient
TO reach around and are, therefore. costly
and these city dwellers naturally long TO
| be not only consumers, but producers OF
commodities that bring such fancy prices
! To the average city man existence is as
much drudgery as farm life used TO be
20 the farmer But change Of times and
| conditions have reversed the old order of
/ things, and the farmer is the one who
| has the best Of life now. AS city folks
have come TO realize this fact more and
more they have more and more turned to
| farming as a relief from the constant
strain of city existence, and they have
/ found that to aid them in the accom-
plishment Of their aim man and nature
| have worked Jointly and have opened to
| the weary city dweller hundreds of thou
sands of fertile acres that were not ac-
| cessible by rail in the days Of old.
Had IL not been for the railroads it is
well-nigh certain that farming in Amer
| lea would still be restrici5f TO the States
wherein agriculture horticulture, and
cattle raising fiourished away back in the
early days when the Northwest. far
West. and South and Southwest were in
virgin condition and so remote from
| transportation facilities other than the
! Conestoga wagon and prairie schooner
/ that only the hardest Of pioneers ven
/ tured into them. Railroad construction
has, therefore. proved a life-sayer TO the
! people of this continent The railroad
| has made possible the development of all
natural resources from the Atlantic 10
/ the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico
/ to the frigid zone. and had this develop
ment not opened new lands for cultiva-
| tion the raising of foodstuffs would have
! been so curtafled that the cost of living
would have been many time what it is
/ to-day.
City Men Succeed.
This growing tendency of city folks 10
/ take up farming is the natural result of
the opening up of heretofore inaccessible
sections which have proved productive
/ beyond the fondest hopes of those who
/ first experimental in them The wonder
] full results obtained have created a coun-
! try-wide desire TO participate in so profit
able an occupation as fresent-day farm
/ ing and cattle and fruit raising, just as
people everywhere long 10 rush TO new
gold fields and new oil fields. The growth
of big industries in large cities and towns
has been counter attraction. and has