Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-08-25

such training as a foundation-the
extent differing according to the 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 from,
the farm and the shop. During the
last half century we have begun to
develop system of agricultural
education at once practical and scien-
tiflc, and we must go on developing it,
But after developing 1t, it must be
used.
Cites Long Island Experiment.
"The rich man who spends a
fortune upon fancy farm, with en-
tire indifference 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 re-
fuses to profit by the knowledge OF
the day: who treats any effore at i'm
provement as absurd on its face, re-
fuses to countenance what he re-
CARDS as new tangled ideas and con-
trivances, and jeers at all book farm
ing I wish ! could take representa-
tives Of this type of farmer down to
Long Island, where l live, to 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
it pays to encourage the development
of farms along the line Of that rail
way. They have put practical men In
oh ~ to1 20
waiting them intensively and using the
best modern methods, not only in rails
ing 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 life
time has been treated as worthless
has within the last three or four years
been proved to possess a really high
value
Must Improve Country Life.
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
should realize the infinite possibilities
Of life in the country; and every eff
fort should be made to make these
possibilities more possible. From the
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,
it is extraordinary to see how large
started as farm boys. But
it is rather sad to see that in recent |
years most of these same boys have
ended their lives as men living in
cities.
at often happens that the good con-
1ition of the past can be regained,
not by going back, but by going for
ward. We cannot recreate what is |
lead; we cannot stop the march of
events; but we can direct this march,
and out Of the new conditions develop |
better than the past knew.
Henry Clay was farmer who lived |!
all his life in the country; Washington
was farmer who lived and died in
the country; and we Of this nation
ought to make 1t our BUSINESS to see>t
that the conditions are made such that
farm life in the future shall not only
develop men Of the stamp of Wash
ngton and Henry Clay, but shall be |
so attractive that these men may con-
.inue as farmers: for remember that |
and Henry Clay were sue
,essful farmers. hope that things |
will so shape themselves that the far
ner can have great career and yet |
end his life IS a farmer: so that the
city man will look forward to living |
n the country rather than the country |
nan living in the city.
The Farm Laborer.
"One feature of the problem should |
1e recognized by the farmers at once,
md an effort made to deal with it, It |
S our duty and our business to con-
slider the farm laborer exactly as we !
consider the farmer. No country life !
IAN be satisfactory where the owners
# farms tend. for whatever reason, to
70 away to live in cities instead Of |
working their farms; and, moreover.
t cannot be really satisfactory when
he labor system is so managed that
here is for part Of the year demand
or labor which cannot be met. and
Turing another part Of the year no de-
nand for labor at ALL so that the
armers tend to rely on migratory
aborers who come out to work
n it and with no prospect of
teady employment. 1t is exceedingly
Iifficult to make good citizen out of
man who can't count upon some /
readiness and continuity in the work |
which means to him his livelihood.
Economic conditions on the farm-in |
ariety and kind Of crop growing, es-
'ecially as distributed in time, and in
lousing for the men-must be so
haped as to render it possible for the
nan who labors for the farmer to be
teadily employed under conditions
Which foster his elf-respect and tend
or his development.
above all, the conditions Of farm
fe must always be shaped with
lew to the welfare of the farmers
wife and the farm laborer's wife. quite
s much as to the welfare of the
armer and the farm laborer. To have
he woman a mere drudge is at least
s bad as to have the man mere
4 ,,-1,. |