Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-27
LURE OF CITY LIFE
NEGLECT of Soil Back of High
Food Prices.
FARM EDyCATI0N NEEDED
Secretary Wilson Tells Manufactur.
ers' Club That People Are Leav-
ing the Farms.

PHILADELPHIA, January 27.-"It
costs more to get the common necessities
of life in the United States today than
in any other country in the world
This statement was made last night by
James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture,
in an address delivered before the Man
ufacturers' Club of this city. Secretary
Wilson discussed THE Present Food
Crisis
"Some people," he said, tell us that
if we repeal the present tariff law to let
in foreign products free of duty the pres
ent difficulty will cease. / do not be-
lieve it. Eggs are 35 cents a dozen in
Canadian cities and 80 cents a dozen in
some American cities. The duty is J
cents a dozen. What difference would it
make whether you took off that ; cents
or not?'
The Secretary further stated that he
believed the American people are suffer-
ing at present not so much from the high
cost of living as from the cost of high
living his statement being:
1T has been said that the American is
the best fed, best clothed, best educated
and best housed man upon earth. we
shall have to add now that he is the most
extensively fed"
Not Enough Raising Crops. >.
Secretary Wilson pointed out that the
Fundamental difficulty was that the peo-
pie are leaving the farms to such an eX-
tent that there are not enough remaining
to produce the food of the increasing
population. The boys and girls of the
farms, he asserted, are being lured away
to the cities, to the factories. and to
the mines, and to too great an extent
the agricultural resources of the country
are being neglected.
He was convinced that the combina-
lions of retailers, wholesalers and the
like were responsible in great measure
for the keeping up of prices, and that
the same influence would be sufpc1ent
to control the prices of products brought
from other countries, even though the
tariff were removed.
Farmer Has Been Forgotten.
1.-THE education of the farmer. how
ever, he said, has been overlooked.
Manufacturing industries have built up
cities, towns and villages, but the growth
Of knowledge Of the soil, the plant and
the animal has not been fostered The
young farmer has been educated away
from the farm and from the production
VI lOOu Lie people, ZIG SCIioOi, lIlC
college and the university which admira-
bly, prepare young men and women for
their life work in all other directions.
have forgotten the farmer
In discussing further the lure from
the farm to the cities, the Secretary con-
tihued:
1T is up to you, gentlemen of the
Manufacturers Club, to look into these
things. Go down to the foundation and
inquire. If you find my statement to be
correct, that the people are leaving the
farms to such an extent that there are
not enough left to produce the food of
our growing population, take steps to
have the young farmer taught regarding
his life work.
Should Educate Food Producers.
you should be giving instruction to
10000 young men and women along these
lines. In the winter time they might be
getting theoretical knowledge and be in
troduced to applied science. In the sum-
mer time they should go into the fields.
''Get farm big enough to educate the
people who are to grow your food in the
future If you are to have food in the
future that can be sold to the people at
reasonable prices. If it Is necessary to
get a five-thOusand-acre farm, get it!
The Secretary closed his plea for the
agricultural education of the young with
the declaration that the worst farming
is being done east of the Allegheny noun