The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-02-24

/ times Of great depression sach as xii
certainly come, our unemployed vii
lse numbered not BY The hundreds Q.
thousands but by the million.
Is il not time 10 take thought Of
! the morrow, and 70 make such pre-
paEation as NAY be possible against
/ the day OF stress and test predfcaed b.
Macaulaye
In this direction desire 70 briefly
suggest two plans having a common
purpose and perhaps equal in import
ance
First. The broadening and, IN q
way, the specializing OF cur methods
Of education in ali our schools and col
/ Ieges- / would give no less attention
10 graduating lawyers and PHYSICIANS
but would give great deal more to
arning on. of our public schools young
men with good common school edu
cation plus a years practical training
at some uGefui trade
| would hare frstcIass manual
training school attached to every high
school and to every college and uni
yersity, where Young men could be
turned out good. practical, cabinet
makers, plumbers, or skilled workmen
at some other useful trade
| would increase ...e capacity Of
these school to accommodate every
child in the community and then
would make attendance compulsory.
Z have discussed this question with
officials Of public school boards and
with the president of our colleges. and
, in a majority Of cases have been me;
with the suggestion that course oil
, this kind would be likely TO antago
nize labor. / am glad that the doubt
as to the advisability OF course OF
this kind on that account can be def
nitely set at rest. Last year, at the an
nual convention OF the American Fed
Grafton of Labor special committee
on Industrial education, appointed &c
make a study OF this subject, sub
| mitted their report. from which the
! following is an extract:
! "Orgamized labor fayors that plan Of
/ industrial training which viii give oui
boys and girls such training as vii
! help them to advance after they are
| in industry We believe that as much
attention should be given TO the prop
err education of those who work at oul
i industry as is now given to those who
prepare to enter Professional and man
agerial careers"
| Az to Agricultural Colleges.
! would make our agricultural col
leges in fact what they are in name
/ by limiting admission to young mel
| who want to study and school them
selves in scientific agriculture to the
end that graduates of these college:
should be first-class farmers thorough
! " equipped for and vitality interested
/ in that most honorable profession.
| realize that a policy of this kint
will cost millions on millions OF mon
/ ey, but no man can estimate the cos
4 in treasure and possibly in blood o
a contrary policy.
/ Second: / would postpone the da.
of test forshadowed by Lord Macaule.
by doubling our rural population, ant
would do this by more than doublin;
the product per acre of the nation
! farms.
Some illustrations.
The United States with the mos
fertile soil and favorable climate Il
the world, but with it's careless. un
/ informed methods of seed selection
fertilization and cultivation, produce
an annual average yield of less thai
Il fourteen bushels OF wheat per acre
while England produces more tina
4 thirty-two; Germany, about twent,
nine; the Netherlands, more tina
thirtyfonr, and France. approximate
3 ~, twenty.
or oats. the United states produce
an average annual yield of twent,
nine bushels per acre, England forty
| FIVE; Germany, fifty, and the Neither
lands, fifty-three.
The average yield or potatoes in tn
United States is eighty-nine bushel
per acre, while that of Germany, Be
GUM and Great Britain is more tina
two hundred bushels.
Potatoes, like wheat corn and bread
are the food staple OF the poor mar
Germany with an arabic area n
greater than some of our larges
states, produces approximately on
and threequarter billion bushels G
potatoes annually, while the aggregat
crop of the United States average
barely three hundred million bushel
per annum; and, In the year ende
June 80. 1909, we imported eight mi
lion three hundred and eightyfou
thousand bushels.
4 Exports Declining.
i For half century We have proud
plumed ourselves as the granary of til
world and our annual exports of foo
cfuffo bava fprunad tho bagfa for