The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-06
TUESDAY. FEB. 6. 1912.
THE CORN AND CLOVER con-
VENTION.

&O1AS
VENTION.
The opening of the Corn and Clo-
yer convention in this city Today is
"A matter of more than passing in
tcrcst. The plan was formulated TWO
wears ago by n number OF Hrmcr
and business men who We're ueSlrouS
of pushing the cultivation oil corn
and clover. With their corailarN M
dustrics. more extensively than thcS
had been pushed before. While the
primary plan was to utilize the adj
van1agcs of the farmers Institutes
before they were killed by Governor
Rurkc-thc original scheme proVld-
ed for its development into the inn
mcnse enterprise which opened TO
the public today. Like all Grand
Forks enterprises. the Corn and Clo-
Yer convention has expanded into an
institution of statewide Importance.
Corn and clover mean more than
these two crops to h farmer. Ihcy
mean practical and profitable diver
si1cation and a restoration to the
soil of the elements which a quarter
OF a century of continuous grain
growing has removed. They mean
cattle and hogs n sheep, and these
mean money irrespective of weather
conditions. They mean steady in
comes the year round and a whole
year of profitable labor on the farm
rather than a hundred days of rush.
high priced and often worthless help.
These things are what make North
Dakot.. tho clearing house of pros
-.:S Hrl,a kl;~.,,~;n,, 90 for,,, fcN1N-
lens along the lines indicated has
passed beyond the editorial of the
newspaper except in this general
way. Farming has become a science.
The discussion must be to the class
rather than to the mass. Tho work
is special rather than general, and
for this reason any attempt to dis
cuss the specific details of the pres
cnt convention would carry us far
beyond the limit of newspaper space.
1t should not be forgotten, how
ever. that this is an agricultural
country aNd that while other indus
tries are needed and wanted, our
primary wealth is in the soil. 1t
would be as impossible to dig the
wealth of the coal mines of Pennsyl-
vlnia from the Red river valley as
it would be to form the perpendicu-
lar hillsides of Pennsylvania with
h farm machinery used in the Red
river valley. We need factories and
industrial enterprises to make IL mar
ket at home for the pcrishable prod
ucts of the farm. but we must not
forget that in the development of
the farm lies II greatest prosperity
and our assured future.
1t would be impossible to bring
the millions that are fed on the prod
ucts of North Dakota farms to our
doors. Nature has fixed the locations
of the mines which employ their mill
lions. Manufactures must remain
near the source of raw material sup
ply n fuel. Water power is a mat
ter which man can not transport
from the source Except in electric
current. and even in this form dis
lance becomes Il controlling element.
SO that in all industrial enterprises
of such magnitude as to become
large consumers of the products of
u farms, the location is set within
bounds. ON the other hand, the
source of food supply is likewise fin
cd within certain geographical lines.
20 Red river valley can never hc
transported elsewhere. 1t will lie
here a thousand years from now and
producing food for the teeming mill
lions of the earth as ahundantly as il
does today.
With these limitations on location
it becomes North Dakota to devote
her primary energies to the develop
ment of her farms. We will never
have great manufacturing cities in
the Rcd river valley like Pittsburg.
birmingham. Patterson or Lowell,
nor will We hav great mining CEN
tres like Connellsville, Pocahontas
II Georges Creek. Neither will
these ever have q great plain Of food
producing soil like the Red river val
ley. The two diverse conditions
must be brought together by tran
sportation. We produce but do not
consume; they consume hut do not
produce. Each is essential to the
other. But u products must be in
such condition that the fullest value
will be contained in the quantity
shipped. else transportation of the
valueless will consume the profit on
the valuable. 1t would be foolish to
transport our wheat to the consum-
ing centres without being threshed.
What is needed on the farm is the
greatest amount Of value in the
smallest package. Hence when our
abundant crops of corn and clover
are converted into butter fat, into
prime young beef and into heavy
manned and thick sided hogs, we
can feed the people Of the industrial
and mining centres at a minimum
loss with a maximum of efficiency.
Those are the things which the
Corn and Glover convention is maxi
ing possible. Those who founded it
builded better than they knew.