Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-08-09
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Between 1900 and 1906 the average
Increase in the value OF the farm land
in the United States was 80 per cent.
Between 1900 and 1910 much Of the
land In the western part Of the Missis-
sippi valley doubled in value. With
system Of farming that keeps up the
fertility prices will go higher rather
than lower
The man who owns farm has con-
tinual opportunities to put his money
into better fences. better stock and
better buildings. He has opportunities
to invest in more land at home or far
Their west.
From a financial standpoint farming
offers opportunities to young men that
are duplicated in few other callings.
Farming as profession is new. and
its ranks are still far from full. The
young farmer Is not entering an over
crowded calling where he must COM
bine with his fellows and boost prices
unnaturally in order to make bare
living. In agriculture there are room
and opportunity for all. The country
is throbbing with the vitality Of new
awakened life. The password is ambf-
ton. and the reward Is success.
1t is not the call Of money alone that
Is turning the ambitious young man
to the farm. calling that can offer
no reward but financial one is scarce;
" worthy Of the name. The chief call
Of the city has been the call of the dol
lar combined with the call of the
crowd. Better roads and denser pop
ulation have enabled the country to
offer a social life which is superior to
that Of the city. Higher prices and
scientific methods have enabled it to
duplicate the financial rewards Of the
city. In addition, 1t offers to the young
man the opportunity to live the broad
est. fullest life Of which he is capable.
1t offers him business he can call his
own and an independence which he
could gain in the city only after life
time Of toll. The greatest need of
most rural communities just now is
leaders-men who can demonstrate on
their own farms the possibilities of
scientific agriculture: men who under
stand the possibilities and the need of
a broader community life.
The stories of some of the young
men who needed the call Of the coun-
try and gave themselves to the devel-
opment Of their community read like
romances. A dozen years or so ago a
little Massachusetts community was on
the downhill road. The nearby cities
had sapped 1t of its strength and Wig
Or. Injudicious cropping had taken
away much of the fertility of the
soil. and the people had lost all ambi-
ion and were content to let things
lrift from bad to worse. About this
inc young man. son Of one of the
armers, graduated from an agricul-
ural college. He received a tempting
,ffer from the department OF agricul-
ure to take up work at Washington.
\ brother in Iowa wrote him a glow
ng invitation to come to the fertile
ands of the middle west. He rejected
both offers and went home
The most optimistic resident would
nave laughed at the idea of there be-
ng any opportunity there. But the
Toung man went to work. He did not
ecture to the neighbors or advise
hem. He merely set out to show them
What the impoverished land was ca
,able of. He made the old farm pay.
md its dilapidation changed to an air
+ prosperity. His neighbors gradually
,egan to follow his methods and to
'atch some Of his spirit. The commu-
lity started to so forward instead Of
backward. AS soon as he could spare
he time from his farm the young
armer set about recognizing the vii
age school. He gave one corner Of