Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-01-30


as 1t Is. we are confronted with the neces-
sity of doing something to check and
regulate this constant movement from
country to cty-the depletion Of much 10
the best blood OF our rural connmun,ties
or within ten years. perhaps within five.
we shall not only cease to be a food ey
porting nation, but shall be actually i'm
porting no inconsiderable portion Of our
foodstuffs. The great question now no
fore the country. therefore, is: Can tbeso
conditions be changed, and. If so. how?
We have been hugging the delusion That
we we're getting wealthy from farming. |
whereas, as matter OF fact we have
been taking the nitrogen. the phosphoric
acid, the potash and the vegetable matter
or humus. from our virgin soil, and sell
Ing them in the form of cereals and fbers:
and before we can become PROSPEROUS
farmers we must learn to restore to the
soil those ingredients of which we have
been so prodigal.
The question OF practical farming to-
day has come to be largely a matter OF
the rotation of crops, Of fertilization Of
better seeds, and of better breeds of stock
We have no more lands to exploit unless
II be land the cultivation of which will
have to be made profitable by the clearing
Of needed forests. by irrigation, or by
drainage. We must Increase the produce
tlvty OF the acreage We have or become
a food importing nation.
We have for more than century been
, stump We have been wont to boast of our
boundless natural resources; but students
are now coming to see that, unless we
"a
sources will be largely exhausted within
| n period that to the farsighted statesman
| is but day.
| We have been exporting millions upon
millions OF bushels of wheat and corn.
supposedly at a profit, but those experts
who have been making the question of soil
fertility a study for the past decade are
now able to say to us, as the result of
their research that every bushel OF wheat
carries with it 81 cents worth of phos-
phorus. every bushel Of corn 10 cents
worth and our friends from the South
now know, they did not know 20 years
ago. that every pound Of cotton takes
from the soil cents worth of Phosphorus
When we consider the hundreds of mil
lions of bushels OF wheat and corn and
the millions upon millions of pounds of
II
extent of soil depletion is something fear
full to contemplate.
AS President Wallace recently express
ed 1t: The 10Th century farmer was no
farmer at all; he was miner, mining
the fertility Of the soil and selling it for
the bare cost OF mining"
! Two hundred and fifty-two counties in
the United States-and they are mostly
the country--shows less population
than they did 80 years ago. The picture
is not pleasant to contemplate. but we
may as well voluntarily face the facts now,
as we shall be compelled. at no distant
day. to apply heroic remedies.
We have exploited all our virgin soils,
and the demand still is for more corn,
more wheat, more foodstuffs Of all kinds
With which to feed the American people.
u In the process of time-aud l believe
that time will arrive within the next 10
years-the slipshod, unscientfc methods
Of farming which we are now practic!ng
must be superseded by more progressive
and more intelligent methods, or the bur-
den Of the high cost of living will con-
tinue to grow more and more heavy I'M
til It become unbearable.
In my judgment the remedy for this
condition must come through those more
Intelligent methods of farming which will
inevitably result from the passage of this
bill.
Proceeding from the question of agri-
culture to a consideration OF that of home
economies it may be said that no greater
problem confronts us to-day than the
health of our people and especially the
health of the young. There must be a
better knowledge of sanitation, hygiene
ventilation, cooking, and home keeping
generally, and 1t is a cause for grat!fca-
ton that home economics IL rapidly as
Stunning the prominent place which it de-
serves in all schools which girls attend
from the elementary to the collegiate
This bill. If It passes, will generally ac
celerate this much-needed movement
q toward better home-making, better wives
better mothers. Thousands OF homes are
, wrecked and tens of thousands of lives
are ruined because those who kept th'
homes in our country have had no train
i ing In that greatest OF all professions
the profession of home making and moth
erhood.
4 All must live in some sort of home
1t Is there that character Is developed
= No great advance, spiritual or mental. I
. possible which does not begin within tn
: home. Every girl Is a potential mother
Every mother should be a homemaker
e Every girl should have the best of health
= some knowledge OF her peculiar functions
some specific preparation for playing he
Il part In the best possible home.
r The foregoing reasons are sufficient an,
: alone justify the passage of the Page vo
= cational education bill, but after all tn
Igreat problem now before the American
n people as II seems to me, is: What w
e shall do with that vast army of boys
q most OF them only IA years OF age-anC
I many OF them less-who leave thei
a homes. unsuccessful aimless most o
i them having learned little else than tn.
q possessed only Of the rudiments whereb,
O real education may be acquired. They
. have been SO schooled that there is bu
\ one possible result as to the great ma
v ioIity Of them, and that result Is failure
a From one end of this country to tn
other we are discussing the great ques
v ton of conservation-conserv Of oul
LANDS, conservation of our water powers
!, lconseryation Of our timber-forgettinl
II that the most valuable of all our resources
a Is the American boy, and that we are
n other He Is being cast on to the dunn
r. like SO much waste from the mine.
a Judge William NcAdoo, the chief mag
NJ Istrate of the city of New York. in max
a ing his annual report says: