Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1911-10-06

that hath wrought this great destruc-
ton until today vast stretches Of
territory are hardly able to produce
enough i'm an ordinary season to pay
the cost of production.
The commissioner Of agriculture of
the state of New York asserts that
that state alone has lost Il hundred
ard sixty-eisht millions of dollars in
thirty years in the decline of farm
values In my native county of Mad
ison i'm that state / can buy farms
today for $50 to $50 an acre that
once sold for 500 an acre. The same
is true of the famous old Western
Reserve in Ohio. Of many sections in
Indiana and proportionately SO in the
southern portion of Illinois. Who hath
wrought this fearful destruction Of
the original productive power of the
state and nation. The farmer Why"
because Of his ignorance of the prin-
ciplcs Of fertility and of the methods
that belong to intelligent agricul-
turc.
Until very recently the forces Of
education. all under the control Of
the states have done nothing To odu
@atc the farmer to q better under
Outstanding of his duty to himself
his calling as a farmer. and the mill
lions who must depend upon him for
food. The people have gone mad, so
To- speak. IN the pursuit and worship
If sO-callcd higher education, ami
neglected the basic subsidiary schools
where the main body Of farmers must
be trained. if trained at all. into an
understanding of what they are about
You know. as every man knows. that
the county district school is Tho only
school where 80 per cent of all Of
the farmers Of the land have received
or Will receive for many years to
come the schooling they will get The
teachers of the state and the political
forces of the state are solely respou-
sIblc for the character Of the country
school. There has been but little vital
pushing force among the teachers for
the uplift of the country schools The
politicians have given it the go-by
because as act there are no votes in
it IS AS an issue. The farmers do
not believe in it as vital encrgizing
principle in their midst for their own
enlightment and that Of their children
concerning the things that make for
the bettermcnt of agriculture
Do YOU for n moment suppose that
all of this appalling waste of fertility
that exists and consequent destruction
Of farm values. would have taken
place if the country district school
had been organized to teach the farm
children the elements of fertility as
scince. and common sense knew them
t" exist? We must then charge upon
the past and present system of edu-
cation. the responsibility for this ig-
nOrance that has wasted the pro-
ductive power OF the nation. And the
processes Of ignorance and indiffer-
ence are going on today with but lit
tie, if any. check. our schools of
agriculture reach but a thousandth
part OF the farm children with their
corrective knowledge. The agricul-
tural press is doing what it can but
not more than fifty per cent of the
farmers are readers and students of
this vital question.
We flatter ourselves that we of the
middle west are to be saved from this
tide of destruction because God has
given us soil of such marvellous
fertility. But our farmers are Just as
great spcndthrifts of this God given
heritage as were the eastern farmers
The trouble lies in our lack of
knowledge, real helpful knowledge
Think of the millions of acres of corr
stalks in the great corn producing
states of Illinois. Missouri. Kansas.
Nebraska and Iowa that will stand
next winter unharvested, and in mute
reproach of the lack of n little con-
serving intelligence sufficient to store
them in silos where the contents
might be fed to cattle and sheep and
So produce an abundance OF meat
cheaply for the people. An average
acre of that corn in an average sea-