The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-08-23

iCdu III DiIuSluS ILLS dUOul. CcIl-
fury and quarter ago the wise
English farmer, Arthur Young, wrote
of the efforts to improve French
wool: A cultivator at the head of
a sheep farm of 5000 or 1000 acres
would in a few years do more for
their woods than all the academicians
and philosophers will effect in ten
centuries 1t is absurd to think
that any man who has studied the
subject only theoretically is fit to
direct those who practically work at
the matter. But, friends, 1 wish to
insist to you hereto you practical
men, who own and work your farms
that it is a pernicious absurdity
for the practical man to refuse to
benefit by the work of the student.
The English farmer / have quoted,
Young, was a practical farmer, but
he was also scientific farmer. One
reason why the great business men
of today-the great industrial lead
ers-have gone ahead, while the
farmer has tended to lag behind the
others, is that they are for more
willing, and indeed eager, to profit
by expert and technical knowledge
the knowledge that can only come
as a result of the highest education.
From railways to factories no great
industrial concern can nowadays be
carried on save by the aid of a
swarm of men who have received a
high technical education in chemis-
try, in engineering, in electricity, in
one or more of scores of special sub
jects. The big business man, the
big railway man, does not ask col
lege-trained experts to tell him how
to run his business; but he does ask
numbers of them each to give him
expert advice and aid on some one
point indispensable to his business.
He finds this man usually is some
graduate of technical school or
college in which he has been train
ed for his life work.
The farmer, however, must not
only make his land pay, but he
must make country life interesting
for himself and for his wife and his
sons and daughters. Our people as
whole should realize the infinite
possibilities of life in the country;
and every effort should be made 10
make these possibilities more pos
sible. From the beginning 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. Turning
to the list of American statesmen, 1t
is extraordinary to see how large a
proportion 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.
Should Learn to Combine.
Farmers should learn how to-
combine effectively, as has been
done in industry. | am particular
ly glad to speak to the Grange, for
| heartily believe in farmers organl-
cations; and we should all welcome
every step taken towards an increas-
ing cooperation among farmers. Inc
inheritance of such movement cannot
be overestimated; and through sucn
intelligent joint action it Will pc
possible to improve the market just
as much as the farm.
Country life should be as at
tractive as city life, and the country
people should insist upon having
their full representation when II
comes to dealing with all great pub
lie questions. In other words, coun-
try folks should demand that they
work on equal terms with city folks
in all such matters. They should
have their share in the memberships
of commissions and councils; IN
short, of all the organized bodies for
laying plans for great enterprises
affecting all the people. l am glad
to see on such bodies the names that
represent financial interests, but
those interests should not have the
right-of-way, and in all enterprises
and movements in which the social
condition of the country is involved.
the agricultural country-the open
country-should be as we'll repre-
scented as the city The man in the
open country is apt to have certain
qualities which the city man has
lost. These qualities offset those
which the city man and he himself
has not. The two should be put on
equal terms, and the country talent
be given the same opportunity as
the city talent to express itself and
to contribute to the welfare of the
world in which we live.
Welfare of Farmers Wife.
above all, the conditions Of farm