The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-10-07


and she thanked the Lord, because
she said it would probably have ruined
them to have SO much wealth. She
| had&a fine set of teeth and lost the
most of them; she thanked the Lord
that she had two, and they hit The
molasses mill hit. I had some letters
just the other day telling in glowing
terms of the success of this practical
WSrk to those people. Get down to
Where people can understand, touch
the bottom, and lift.
You might think the object of our
work is to increase farmers income,
to teach him to double his crop; but
! if you stop there and think that Is the
sole object of our work you have not
seen the whole there is in it. There
| is a higher mission than than in con-
| nection with the demonstration work.
We begin with the increase OF the
| crop because that is the basis for all
| possible future prosperity. The farm
er must be made Independent. You
must keep a mans nose away from
the grindstone, for If it is constantly
at the grindstone he can't see any
thing else, can't be elevated; and so
we take up the question in the south
of cotton and corn We try to teach
the farmer greater thrift, to raise his
own provisions, to can his vegetables,
SO that he may have them the year
round; that he must put his money
into better home, and SO percolating
and drifting through his home there
will be broadening element and
there will be q gradual uplift of con-
ditions, and as there is an uplift and
improvement of conditions the men
themselves will became {" little broad
er and little straighter and a little
frmer, till by and by this home So
ciety where he must live, this rural
society will be a great dominating
force in the land, and we shall become
pattern not to our own country,
but to all countries, showing how a
great and free people were able to
readjust their conditions.
I believe when the common people
come to their own they will be able to
hold their own. Every man should
be so stalwart that he Is O model of
defense and defiance to the world. Our
project would have been sufficiently
ambitious If we had said: I'VE would
increase the wealth and give the peo-
pie greater earning power" But other
things we teach incidentally are that
we must improve the moral tone, the
condition, and the whole prosperity
OF the people, to try to turn all av-
enues Of the wealth that we create
into the proper channels SO as to.
create a better people. But even this
is not quite enough. We may have
wealth and social prosperity and home
comforts and not be a high-mfnded
stalWart, courageous, an. brave poo
pie. We must teach that. We have
nearly 500 agents travelling in the
United States. Take this same high
standard and begin at the bottom to
teach things that will be helpful to the
people. We 60 out and help people
and especially help the man on the
farm. The moment you begin to help
begin to prove up and pretty soon he
becomes a disciple and he breaches to
another man, and SO the doctrine
spreads.
l want you feel today that you have
hold of one of the greatest lines of
social uplift and development and
greatness that exists. You may have
conceived that something else was
greater; that if you could use facile
pen like Washington Irving or some of
the great writer's of the age, that
would be the acme OF your ambition;
or you may have thought that If you
were able to speak with the wonderful
expression Of Demosthenes, or Burke,
or Henry, that would be the summit
Of your hopes. But you are beginning
at the bottom to influence the masses
of mankind, and ultimately those
masses always control the destinies of
a country. II you allow their practice
to sink lower and lower the country
must ultimately drop to lower level
in its moral, political, and religious
tone, and we go down to degradation
and infamy as nation; but i. we be
gin at the bottom and plant human
action upon the rock of high princi-
pies, with right cultivation of the soil,
right living for the common people,
and comforts everywhere, and make
wealth and prosperity all through
the rural districts, the people will lend
their support and all civilization will
rise higher and higher, and we shall
climb to the summit of human excele
lence and become beacon light to all
nations Of the world / do not glory
in the wealth of a few, but rejoice in
the general distribution of wealth and
prosperity for the common people.
1t will require great deal of stern,
earnest effort when you are out alone
on your way. It is going to require
a good deal of patience, but demon
will do it. If you prove up on
your own farm and on your neighbors'
farms they will accept It. They can't
roc;p< 70 ots Another thine ,3on,t ,,,,h