The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-21

pounded in-the onderfu West for
those who have courage and who for
see the future; and these opportunities
are probably not less today than they
were in years gone by. The very
democracy Of the pioneer cabin and
the "proVe-up"= shack, that Levels ac-
cldental distinctions between men, al
lows the latent qualities to develop
the lure Of the new opportunities
takes men on, n away from their
limitations.
Against this compelling opportunity
OF the West, all the old states must
set forth the opportunities tina lie also
in their acres. n put before the i'm
ag,nation of the young people the I'M
developed agricultural of
the Eastern regions, for these states
must have a thrifty rural population
il they are to develop the best kinds OF
Institutions. In the end, there will be
much less un~prOductiVe or waste land
in the thirteen first states than in
those Of the Rocky Mountains and the
Western coast. The agricultural West
is better known to persons born in the
East than is h agricultural East to
one into the Astounding West. many
persons born in the West
Out Of the multitudes who have
gone into the Astounding West, many
have found the rainbOw and lave
builded at it's end. Many. also. have
found it not. and have had no power
and no volition to make a farther
Journey. SO the vast West has been
settled by good folk and Indifferent.
by the far-seeing, the adventurous,
but always by the courageous. We
hear the reports of all those who have
found the pot OF gold, but no word OF
those who saw the rainbow only when
they left the old acme
I nave seen the bow of promise all
over and across the continent: and J
am sure that the pot OF treasure is
at it's end, whether in the abundant
cottc} lands Of the South. the
sweeping prairies Of the regions be-
|vond the middle l~Onoitudes, or in the
homeful lands Of New England. I
have seer men digging for this treas
IRE under burning skies. on sweeping
|sand-plains OF the deserts. and in the
quiet reaches along far Northeastern
streams; and whenever the acre OF
land was dug. they have found the pot
Of gold.
I once asked an old gardner how
much land he had, and he said with
pride that he owned one acre; and
he added, ut is q wonderful acre; it
reaches to the center Of the earth
in one direction, and it takes in the
s -ars in the other This mans farm
included not only the pot Of gold at
the end Of the rainbow, but it con-
tanned the entire rainbow.
I would not send n person to the
land who does not by instinct belong
there, blu I would drop a suggestion
into the minds OF those who have
reason to think that they would make
~cultivatOrs Of the land.
Our civilization oscillates between
two poles. One pole is the syndi-
Gated and corporate interests. The
other pole is the laboring class. BY
:hoA1, n1oorS1 %o~4 20 ~ o-,
less. one. class by having laws made
in it's own interests, the other by
a king the law into it w hands.
Heroic efforts are being made to bring
these poh Of experience together
and to weld them into one harmony.
Between these two stands the great
jland-oWning and land-working class.
steady, conservative. abiding by the
laws as they are made, and constitut-
ling the sustaining force or balance
wheel Of society and OF all the con-
fident nations. These men and women
on the land are needed in every part
Of our country, as well in one
geographical region IS in another.
A good part Of our people should
establish their families on the land:
for city properties come and go, and
stocks pass on and away, but on the
land one may found a dynasty. Some
| persons will prefer to found their
ldynasties under n sky and some I'M
der another. Speaking broadly. one
great region is not better than an
! other. Blu a dynasty is founded only
when the famil- settles and abides,
and not when it moves forever on
ward.
Men pay one thousand dollars and
more an acre for land in some parts
of the irrigated West. These are
very large acres, for the man dream
Iabout them. And this is why the
acres are SO very large-because they
attract the type of mind that will give
lone thousand dollars for them. But
if one were to put one hundred dol
lars Of his thousand into an acre in
the older regions. and then put the
remaining nine hundred ollar into
the same acre. his results would prob
ably be as great in one case as in the