Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-04-27

1htIbkee dlpnlutl ana one OF Phld-
--~-------->---~-~-~~~--
have no reason whatever TO be
ashamed Of oklahoma as a farming
state as a whole There is nothing
that any Of us need be ashamed Of,
, but there are certain things that peo-
pie coming here, especially those
coming from the east, should be fully
Informed about, and II seems to me
that an organization like the Dry
Farming Congress is the place whore
that kind Of information can best be
given. The Exposition, such as is to
be held here, is for the purpose Of
giving the people such definite in
formation as they need about both
sides of this proposition. We used
to think that man who would admit
that any Of Oklahoma was not ideal
corn country was a disgrace TO the
state. Men used to hunt a whole
township over for few nubbins of
corn TO put up in their windows to
! show that this state could produce
corn in years Of comparative drouth.
There Is no country where you can
not find certain localities where corn
will not grow. | do not believe that
investors, prospective settlers, led TO
come here on false grounds, are GO
ing to do the country itself very
much good, and the experience with
the people who have been brought in
that way leads us to the conclusion
that it might after all, be better pol
| icy to give them the absolute facts
in the case and let them decide for
themselves. Statistics are read
greatly in these days. People know
something Of what a country pro-
duces, and they are much more in
clned to listen to you if you tell them
the truth and fall in line with what
they already know of what the coun-
! try has to offer. oklahoma farmers
all over the state, especially In the
, western half, have lost millions OF
dollars in wasted effort and soil fer
! tility in an attempt to convince the
outside world that Oklahoma can
grow corn on thin soil. believe
that Oklahoma is far better off on
account Of the fact that we were able
to boast last year that we grew about
fifty bushels of kaliir corn, than had
we been able to grow ten million
bushels Of corn and been obliged to
cultivate more than twice the amount
of land. When you tell a person it
| is a land to grow COW peas. milo
maize and kaffir-corn, they are just
as well satisfied as when you tell
them you grow some crop like corn
that all are familiar with. ! think in
that respect Oklahoma is far better
off than she was a few years ago.
They say that experience is a mighty
good teacher, though it comes rather
hard. But l sometimes wonder
whether experience really teaches us
much, after all. Some friends of
mine in this state, to my certain
knowledge, have grown corn year
after year, with loss to themselves
almost every year, and ! wonder what
experience has taught them. Did
it really teach them anything? Did
it teach them anything when men,
who seeing what such practice was
leading. to have gone out and talked
and scattered literature in an at
tempt to show them the fallacy Of
their method, and yet they continue
in their way; II seems that after ali
experience has failed to show them
the error OF their way That is the
reason | am glad to see business men
and organizations of various kinds
take up problems of this sort / be-
lieve there Is an element Of strength
in that sort of thing. like to see
men quite conservative until they
are pretty positive they know what
they are talking about. Farmers af
ter long years of successful demon
stration, will adopt a teaching, but
II takes a long time to get them in
terested, and we cannot hope to rev.
olutionize the practices of any farm
ing community in year or two:
there are apt to be some pretty seri-
Gus dsappointments II we do. I
have observed the workings of bus
ness men in some places along agri
cultural lines; that is, those who have
not been actively at work on the
! tafm. IneN are tHutdNoflnp 10 40
| things which. II they are not very
careful. indeed. will only confuse
matters, II they attempt to get too
scientific. There are certain things
they can do that no one else can;
certain things they can undertake in
! the way Of interesting the farmer
in better methods that does a world
| of good and can. after some bond OF
sympathy has been established, be
extended almost indefinitely. ! would
suggest that in work at home and in
efforts that are being made at this
| time by business organizations to get
| behind farmers movements, that you
! be content to proceed a little slowly
and work on the assumption at the
beginning that farmers on the whole
are rather slow to take up new
ideas. They are conservative, and,
after all, lot Of their practices are
pretty nearly right. and you might
suggest practices that would lead
them into difficulties that are just
as bad or worse than those already
practiced. I have often wondered
4