Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-09-30
|bRY AN SPEAKS
ION CONSERVATION
SUBJECT ONE WHICH GROWS,
DECLARES NE1RAskAN At
KANSAS CITY.
LETTER IS READ.
Colonel Expresses Himself az Heart
lily In sympathy With the Move
mont; Other Speakers are
Heard.

4 v
Bryan spoke last night In convention
hall just before the third National
Conservation congress adjourned.
/ Conservation" said Mr.. Bryan, sis
a subject that grows. Begin, for In.
stance with the conservation Of for.
estry and you are confronted with the
soil question. Agricultural colleges
as the panacea for farm ills then come
before you. But at last you come to
the matter Of official conditions. This
is the question of man himself. His
health, his hopes, his character are
the great controlling principles that
govern life and conduct. These be-
come primary subjects and all other
forms Of conservation become methods
] through which he works out the prob
lem Of advancement"
Letter From Roosevelt Read.
At the afternoon session letter
from Theodore Roosevelt to President
! Wallace expressing regret at being un-
able to be present, was read.
| The colonel wrote he believes with
all his heart In conservation, in the
movements against child labor and the
white slave traffic in every rational
movement to promote the cause OF
temperance" in industrial and agri-
| cultural education, In the movement
for Fairgrounds. and for the better
ment Of rural life conditions; In the
movement to secure wOrkmen's COM
pensation acts; to better tenement
house conditions, and most emphatical
ly in something being done carefully
to investigate the increased cost of
| living
He had, he said, received requests
to speak for each Of these movements,
as we'll as others, but he could not
speak for one unless he spoke for the
others and he was too busy to speak
for all Of them.
Highway Engineer on Good Roads.
That the maintenance of good roads
is one of the most potent factors lead
ing to prosperity and the social happi-
ness of the country, is the statement
made today in a speech before the ma
tional conservation congress by Curtis
Hill, state highway engineer OF Mis-
souri,
Transportation charges have en-
couraged more the increased cost of
living than any other item," said Mr..
Hill. Where there are good roads,
churches and schools are we'll attend
ed; social intercourse reaches a, high
standard Where the roads are poor,
there are times in the year when many
a farm house is virtually isolated.
"a large part Of the best brains and
energy Of the country has been try
ing to get away from farm life. A fair
percentage Of capable men and women
and boys should be kept on the farm,
this can be done by making farm life
worth living. Good roads will help to
do It,"
Crop Yield Too Low.
"The average crop yields In this
country are too low, and it Is possible
to double the production Of staple
crops per acre by adopting better
farming methods" was the declaration
made today in speech before the
National Conservation congress, by A.
M. Ten Eyck, professor of farm man.
agement at the Kansas State Agricul-
tural college.
"There are three principal factors
which have to do with increasing the
crop YIELD" said the speaker.
Increasing the productive power Of
the land by fertilizing the soil; planting
seed Of high breed and better pro-
ducinC varieties and practicing proper
and more thorough cultivation Of the
soil.
ut Is possible by the proper use OF
barn yard fertilizer to double the yield
of corn and increase the yield of wheat
SO per cent.
"But most important Of all is prac-
ticing the proper and more thorough
cultivation Of the soil.
'The trend Of the conservation
movement" was the subject of an adj
dress by DIR. w. ]. MCGEE Of the
bureau Of soils of the United States de-
partment Of agriculture. "Fertilizing
with brains was DR.. McGee's sugges-
tions as a solution for the great prob
lem Of making the fields more produc-
tive.
During the ten years ending in
$780, he said, the farm area in
creased only AZ per cent, and the acre
age of improved farms only 1872 per
cent, while the acre value of farm
lands increased 1887 per cent, and the
aggregate value no less than 117.4 per
cent. This increase is connected with
the high cost OF living, especially in
cities, though the advance in prices has
thus far benefited transportation and
trade rather than the primary pro-
ducers; in 1900, we paid our railways
81 $50 .0OO. 900. and In 1910. about ST.