The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-10-20

! interests OF those engaged in the dis
tribution OF wealth and neglecting
! education that has a bearing upon the
production of wealth while states,
cities and individuals have contributed
scores of millions OF dollars i'm the past
decade or two to the creation of gem
eral schools and colleges and to the
establishment OF libraries, only tri-
vial amount has been expended on
those hands and eyes which have con-
! tributed larger portion of the coun-
trys growth and general prosperity
Herbert Spencer said truly: THE
4 increasing acquaintance with the laws
OF phenomenon which has, through
4. successive ages, enabled 1t to subju-
4 gate nature to our needs and in these
days gives the common laborer COM
forts which few centuries ago kings
i could not purchase, is scarcely in any
4 degree owed to the appointed means
II of instructing our youth. The vital
4 kncwledge-that by which we have
i grown as a nation to what we are.
and which under1ies our whole exist
ence, is knowledge that has got
itself taught in hooks and corners
while the ordained agencies for teach
have been mumbling little else than
dead formulas"
A Statesman's View.
4 The vital necessity for emancipating
the great business of farming from it's
lack of comprehension led ex-Govern-
or Hoard Of wisconsin to ask: 'What
can we do to get the farmers of this
continent to see the necessity of more
intellect on the farm? How can we
contribute as a force to help in the
| emancipation of the farm from the
wasteful effects of ignorance, and help
| put in it's place the energising in
| fluences of knowledge? In other
words, what can we do to promote
wise legislation to this end? What
can we do to arouse public opinion
and the great education forces of this
country to the Importance of teach
ing the elements of agriculture in the
primary schools of the land?
"Our common shoots recruit the
academy, the college, and the univer-
sity, and they in turn recruit every
profession but farming. Our young
men flee to the towns and cities be-
cause we have educated them to do
so. Nearly every European country
is putting forth strenuous efforts to
this tendency by teaching the elements
of scientific agriculture in the common
schools. 1t can be done as easily as
the teaching of the elements of scien-
tifc arithmetic, or chemistry, or phil
osophy. A great host of farmers who
were deprived of such teaching find
themselves barred from an under
standing of much agricultural litera-
ture. AS consequence, they turn
away from the agricultural college |
the experiment station bulletin, and
the farm paper, that is really worth |
any thing to them.
Had these men been taught in the |
common schools the meaning of the |
terms used in agricultural chemistry |
something of the principles of animal |
husbandry, something of the princi- !
pies that underlie the preservation of |
fertility, they would be today in much |
more harmonious relation with all that |
constitutes agricultural progress"
These are not utterances of a Wis |
ionary, but of a sensible, practical, |
statesman. They are replete with |
patriotic sentiment.
The Country Life Problem.
One of the most vital and perplex-
ing problems that confront our ma
tion today is that of country life The /
soil in most states, and particularly !
in North Dakota, is the chief source
of wealth. Its productivity and the
conservation of it's productive power
must concern every citizen regardless
of his place in society. If we would
perpetuate our unexampled prosper
ity, and at the same time, conserve
instead of waste our one great natural
resource, such subjects as soils, fer
tility, plant life, animal husbandry,
and farm management must be studied
in the public schools along side of
language, geography and arithmetic,
and under instructors equally skillful
and enthusiastic in their presentation |
When required to do so, teachers will
cheerfully qualify for this work They
have never yet failed us.
A large element Of our most intel
lectual citizenship must take perma-
nently to the soil from choice rather
than from necessity or as a temporary ,
exploiting expediency, and the coun- {
try home must and can be made as
attractive and desirable as the urban :
home. 1t would signify a verv low
would aim at less, in view of the re-
ation which agriculture sustains to
all other state interests.
Our general welfare demands, there !
lore, that the public schools contributed !
lirectly and indirectly and concretely ,
20 the end that agriculture be popular
zed by being placed upon a sounder ,
basis. In other words, ed /
Ication by means of agriculture .
should be part of our regular public ]
school work: not even education in /
agriculture will suffice. An agency of !
such tremendous directing and mould :
ng power as the public schools must !
lot be overlooked or neglected but
must be invoked for the purpose of
and energizing our dominant
Industry; certainly they must not b
xert an influence against it. In the U
anguage of Dean Bailey of Cornell: $
n an agricultural state. agriculture
hould be as much a part of it's edu- v
alton as oxygen is part of the air. Q
Naturally this involves the problem 9
T consolidation of rural schools and s
he enactment of suitable laws to {
organize the work. Are we a
repaired to make the venture? IL not.
fhy not? a
10 one will attempt to deny that up s
n the economic prosperity and social Z
nd intellectual progress of the farms p
n this state largely depends the flu s
ure greatness of North Dakota. 8
The desire to become enthusiastic g
nd slxillful farmers or scientific home j.