The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-08-30

through the greatly ircrt sed crop Yields
which must neccssarilv Jesuit from the
application of correct methods.
No better demonstration of the great
and Immediate Improvement arising
from practical demo istration work need
be looked for thar the growth of the
beet sugar industry in recent years from
nothing to a point where 1t now supplies
more than half The sugar grown in the
United States. Every one of the seventy
one beet sugar factories distributed
| throughout seventeen states owes its
successful existence to the fact that Il
| is virtually Il center for instruction in
the best ag icultural practices. Sugar
beet growing cannot be made profitable
otherwise than upon scientific lines. The
/ crop requires more than ordinary care
and skill, but because of its profitable
ness farmers have been keen to take
advantage of the instruction afforded
them by the expert agricuiturists eri-
lployed by Il, beet sugar factories to
show them Low to get the best results
from their cops.
| Nor is ibis instruction confined to
methods of raising the beets since the
best results for both the factory and the
farmer a,e achieved by growing them in
a iour-vear rotation with other crops
The indirect benefits of sugar beet grow
ling through the comprehensive instr,ict-
| ion in all around scientific farming which
| is an economic necessity of this industry,
| have led both Secretary Wilson and DR..
Wiley to champion the sugar beet In
| dustry of the country and to oppose
vigorously its threatened destruction by
/ the remoyal of the tariff duty on sugar.
| The farmer in the beet sugar territory
who sees his neighbor's profits increase
on very kind OF crop through the appli-
cation of correct farming taught by the
| factory experts is not slow to follow suit.
| Tie lesson has been brought directly to
His door and the same would be true IN
he case of the establishment or an
| adequate number of vocational schools.
But in order to make the best use
iof the knowledge which has been ac-
CURED there must be also a proper dis
itribution of the population upon the
| farms and in the cities and even more
| important is the character of the work.
ers to be distributed II is in this con-
Injection that eugenics bear a close and
vital relation to the science of agricul-
lture. The best blood of the race has
ALWAYS been contributed by the country
to the city and must always be. Con-
jsideration OF that fact reveals the failacy
of the so-called back-to-the-farnl move
rnent in so Tar as il means the return
to the farm from the cities of those who
have proven failures. Charity is mis-
guided which seeks to send the derelicts
OF the city to rural communities since it
| is but weakening the future yigor and
efficiency of the race at its source, No
survey Of the future having for its pur-
pose increased efficiency of the race is
complete without full recognition of the
intimate relation of eugentcs TO agricui-
ture in a practical sense. BY making
farm life as attractive as possible through
such dissemination of knowledge as viii
bring TO rural communities the greatest
possible financial reward and through
the expenditure of such public funds as
may be necessary, more of the most
write element will be kept in the environ
ment which will enable it naturally to
lfulfill its function of increasing the pre-
ponderance OF the best blood. Every
influence which would have natural
tendency to encourage result such as
this deserves energetic encouragement
and perpctuation.'