The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1915-09-09
THE MAN AGAINST 4 NATION

garden patches. it has been HUNGER
the first law of nature; self preserva
ton, that has been working out al
these years. and has found exrres
sion in the structures man is 81
proud of.
1t is the SOIL AND THE MAN
that are at the base of all human
activity. Look across the whea,
field with its standing grain; with
its armies of men, with their field
artiIlery-the mower and the binder.
then look across the field desolated
by war-then you will agree with
the man who knew both war and
peace, DIR first great general and
president who said "How much more
valuable to the undebauched mind
is the task of making the most of
the earth than any vain glory that
can be acquired by ravaging It,"
For every opportunity in the in
dustrial and commercial life there
are today in the United States, there
are two in farming. In forty years
or less, our population will nearly
double-this will call for more food
supplies, and the land that is now
waste will, of necessity, be brought
under cultivation. AS business it
is promising. AS a science farming
is making rapid strides; it is being
applied more widely and with more
profit than any other branch of the
applied science. Look at the aired
deserts Of the west which science
has made to bloom and bring forth
great increase; for what is irrigation
and the transportation of dry fields
iato fertile plains, but the applica
ton of science. There is nothing
to equal the sturdy independence of
the man on the soil. There are
some things that cannot be sold;
there are some things you can not
buy; and THIS INDEPENDENCE is
ONE OF THEM. The American far
mer is the REAL TRUE ASSET OF |
THE NATION. 1t is at once to his
disadvantage and also to his advan-
tage that he is disorganized and un-
organizable;also individualistic to the
extreme. sometimes to his personal
oss. He yet finds in his individu-
alism that originality of thought and
Dersistency of purpose that makes
him the nations backbone. The man
n the field behind the plow where
ne can see the broad acres, has the
lime for reflection that is denied to
he jostled cog in the industrial mill.
They talk about sending a lot of
men from the cities back to the soil
where they can become independent
as farmers. They might as we'll
save their car fare you can no
more make farmer by turning him
Dose with hoe than you can make
him financier by putting him in
a bank presidents chair. 1t is not
all manual labor--it is not all as
many assert, putting certain ele-
nents into the earth and taking out
certain products.
Farming is not all business, neither
S it all manufacturing, nor all
science. These things all enter il
o it. Science shows what can be
accomplished when men get in har-
nony with the eternil. SCIENCE
AND BUSINESS CAN NOT MAKE
THINGS GROW. Science can not
top the rain from falling nor start
t when there is drouth. Science
AN not ward off an early frost; bust
less can not make farmers of men
Tor can dollars make things grow
Dollars and business methods are
helpful but you can never run a
arm like you would furniture
actory. But On the soil you are I'D
lgainst eternal forces and man has
mighty little to say about them, but
n these eternal forces, the seed-i
ime and the harvest, man is utterly