The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-12-07
FARMER IS NOW
THE HEAD STONE
Of THE C0RN[R
DECLARES SECRETARY WILSON
AS HE REVIEWS WORK OF
PAST SIXTEEN YEARS.

teen years, recOTO VI ScINiSc III e"O
Cabinet, Secretary OF Agriculture
Wilson submitted yesterday to Pres
ident Taft the last annual report he
will make as head Of the United
States Department of Agriculture.
The report is more than a review OF
the past years work; it contains
summary OF the agricultural ad-
vance of the country during the ven-
cradle Sccrctary's term Of public SER
wee.
Tho record Of sixteen years has
90 written he says. II begins
With Il yearly farm production OF
S. 900, 10000 and ends With $9,-
~ 200, 900. Sixteen years aGo, the
farmcr was Il joke Of the caricatur-
III. now he Is like the stone that was
rejected by the builder and has be-
,ullc the head stene OF the corner
/ 10 oilers of the soil We're burdcned
wi,h debts he adds, hut .rot pcri,y
followed and ercw With tneAamplci
Hl,cd BEGINNINGS aayr been made
4 production prr atfc Decreasing
faster lhan the naiEr'i "a scas" OF
population Ihe.r has bers an up
lift of asrlenil,Irc and If country
life
"llnrih@ ih, ....i ...t1rn years the
farmer has leadi,h increased tho
wealth production year hy year,
with the exception OF l?ll During
tie sixteen years the farmers wealth
production increased III per cent
Most productive OF all agricul-
tural years in the country has been
1912. The earth has produced its
greatest annual dividend. The sun
and the rain and the fertility Of the
coil needed not the human controver-
sics, but kept on working il cooper
alton with the farmers efforts to
utilize them. The prices ut the
farm are generally profitable and
will continue the prosperity that
farmers have enjoyed in recent
years. The total production of farm
wealth is the highest yet reached by
half a billion dollars. The grand
total for 1912 is estimated to be So
5S2, ,0O0, 900. This is more than
twice the value of the farm wealth
in 1899"
More than $lO5, 900 900 900 is the
grand total of farm wealth produc-
tiOn, the report says, during the past
sixteen years, an amount equal to
about three quarters OF the presen.
national wealth.
The most effective move toward
reduced cost of living is the pro-
ductiOn of greater crops, says the
Secretary. and this move he declares
is due to the work of the Department
of Agricultural colleges and expert
ment stations and to the help of the
press in publishing every movement
to help the farmers. The nation,
he adds, forgot its farmers in the
general scheme of education of past
years and few philanthropis, $
thought of them when giving for
education, but they are waking up
and thinking for themselves and
Congress has been good to them.
The Secretary first takes up the
work of the various bureaus of his
department in the past year and
then tells of the growth in some in
stances from their foundation, OF
these bureaus during the time he has
been head of the department He
praises highly the experts who have
worked under him.
"The great and growing move
nent carried on by the department
for agricultural betterment,' he de
olares, has not been sustained SOLE
ly by one man. not by few men. A
choice corps of scholarly experts in
their special lines of endeavor ha:
been growing in membership, in
P breadth of view. and in the praeti-
I ca! application of their efforts.
"The department is prepared Il
continue and increase its public ser.
a vice. During sixteen years it has
: progressed from the kindergarten
Y through the primary, middle and up
d per grades of development until now
j, it has a thousand tongues that speak
J. with authority"
e From a department with 2,444
<0.-A..-.l Dn