El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-09-26
TAFT TALKS ABOUT
CONSERVATION
and FARMS
Wallace Urges Scientific
Farming as Remedy For
High Living Cost

Kansas City, No, Sept. 26.-Presi-
dent Tafts speech to the conservation
congress was devoted almost excIu-
sively to the conservation of the soil
The president explained that at last
years session Of the congress in St
Paul he had expressed at length his
views with regard to other phases of
conservation and added that since con-
gress up to date had not deemed Il
necessary to pass conservation leg1s-
latiOn, he would Confine himself to the
one branch of the subject
Mr.. Taft reviewed the history of
farming and farm production in this
country for the last Sc years and de-
cIared that while he does not agree
with those men who say that In 90
years the United States will be unable
to feed itself, there is need for intell1-
gent understanding among farmers OF
the trend of events The president
said that if the population OF the ma
ton increases proporuonately IN the
next so years, the United states VIII
have doubled the number Of its people
Mr.. Taft said that the states should
take up the question OF increasing the
production of farms Much mas Deen
done he said, through the education IN
COLLEGES and schools of trained and
scientific farmers and the improve
ment through such institutions Is
bound to continue .-
Following his conservation ADDRESS
the president left again for Kansas
and viii spend Wednesday IN InaI
state.
Declaring that many farmers OF the
present day have more faith In moon
signs than in agricultural colleges ana
experiment stations; more IalIn In Orul-
nary politicians than in college proIes-
sors and scientists, more 1aiUh IN ye4-
low journals than in the best agrIcul-
tural papers, and that the nineteenth
century farmer was no farmer at all,
but a robber Of the soil Henry Wal
lace, president Of the third Nauonai
Conservation congress, delivered an al
dress before that bcdy today strongly
urging scientific farming as the only
means by which the cost Of living can
be reduced.
Land Hunger.
Even before the daily press had be-
geu the crusade back to the land the
movement toward the land had already
begun" said Mr.. Wallace
THE land hunger is not peculiar TO
any class Of people nor to any state.
official Of New York and Boston each
longs for farm, possibly only as
summer home, but Is willing to pay Tor
1t in investment, in impTOveme and
cost Of management more than it is
worth in dollars or ever viii be. He,
too is bitten with land hunger. Many
small business men Of our cities, who
cannot hope to secure a farm and live
suburbs. The workman in the factory
aims to secure two or three acres on
which he can build himself a home
1.-THE growth of large cities has ceased
to be in the business or even in the
old residence sections, and IS entirely
in the suburbs. The same holds true
abroad If men cannot have country
life in the country, they are constantly
aiming 70 get as much as possible OF
the country in the city. While the
steam railroads tend to concentrate
ginning, the trolley lines tend to lure
the people back toward the country.
Latent in the heart Of nearly every
man, be he man Of business, clerk or
other emplOye, or laboring with his
hands there IS yearning desire TO
have piece Of land to call his own.
The Counter Movement
Alongside Of this movement back to-
ward II not always to the farm, the
counter movement from the farm to the
town, which has been going on for so
years, continues with Increasing and ac-
CELEBRATED force. Farmers all over the
older west move in great numbers or
retire to the country towns. and not
withstanding all this constant influx
Of population from the farms. these
towns, as the late census reveals, have
barely held their own and often have
lost in population, the natural in
crease OF the towns themselves pouring
into the larger towns and cities in
which the majority live with less com
tort than the farmers who remain on
the farms. Vast numbers Of boys and
girls fail a prey to alluriSg vices OF
the city, and many Of them eventually
take their places with the down and