The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1912-01-20
A FARMER PROTESTS AGAINST
commissions"

WHEN Governor Goldsborough or for
mer Governor Crothers, or going higher
in the scale of officialdom, ii not at phil
anthropy, eX-Presdent Roosevelt, when
these statesmen and publicists project
Commissions" and other animate or
inanimate plans, for the Improvement OF
the farmers lot and life, they must be
and are, credited with acting from the
very best of motives; they mean well';
but |, for one, resent their meaning
however honest and weil-intentloned it
may be, and doubtless is. / speak as
farmer and AS A FARMER | protest
against this patroni ing attitude toward
the very best of avocations. stand
and call upon my fellow fair ers to stand,
upon the dignity of our station in life.
To say that that station cannot be i'm
proved would be to write oneself down
as self-satisied and opinionated beyond
suferance. But the improvement can
come and will come, nay has come and
Is coming, from the farmers themselves;
and is not dependent upon governmental
patronage or the well-meant help of pro-
fessional statesmen. Why not appoint
commission" on the Improvement of
the doctors? Why single out the farmer
for such patroniaing projects? Is the
farmers life in so much deeper need of
Improvement? | deny it. And | speak
as farmer, as one whose forbears were
farmers; as one whose children q trust)
will be farmers; as one who believes in
the dignity and decency and beauty and
comfort and independence of the farm
er's life. | have no word of disparage-
ment for the various callings of my
fellow men. Let every man be content
with his own. But if you go to institute
Ing comparisons, the farmer asks no
odds. l shall not detain you with argu-
ment | simply undertake an assertion.
After somewhat extended acquain-
lance with lifes work in it's varied
forms and phases, | dare assert that, for
dignified and Independent occupation, for
an assured competence, for interest of
mind and heart as well as for health of
body, for entire freedom from the little
meannesses of life, as well as from it's
fiercer unfraternal rivalries, the farmers
life can be counted a "blest estate"
which calls for no mans pity and should
tolerate no patroni1ing purposes ] am
HUI iuedilZiHS. am speaking words OF
soberness and truth. ! am therefore
sensible that the farmers life, like any
other, can be "improved". But why not
intrust the farmer to improve it? Is his
intelligence or his industry, or his ambi-
tion, less than that of another? Has the
tradesman, or the mechanic, or the pro-
fessional man outstripped him in the
highway of progress? Come, now, where
is your ground for patronizing commits
sions on the farmers behalf? You law
yer-statesmen, have you so far perfect
ed the machinery of your own profess
sion as that you can afford to be con-
sumed with anxiety for that of the far
mer? You gentlemen who measure
things over the counter or cast up ac-
counts forever and ever, who told you
the farmer must go haltingly and I'M
happy unless you could help him to
strength and joy? If the farmer him
self is responsible in any degree land
] am afraid he isl for any such attitude
toward his occupation then that farmer
dshonors his calling, just as "shyster'
lawyers and "quack' doctors a"a -"Ilick"
tradesmen dshonor theirs. LIZ e so
Judged. Let the work itself be by
the man who honors it and It..