El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-01-01
The Farm Is Freedom
Men Who TIL the Soil Are the
Real Lords of Creation; No
Dignity is Lost In Going
Back TO the Farm.
BY MADISON C. PETERS.


1.-THE man with the hoe and the
scythe is the real lord Of erea-
- ton The most independent man
alive is the owner Of a few fertile
acres There is liberty and a living
on five acres farmed scientifically.
The call Of the farm never loses its
appeal The city man seems to have a
restless desire to get back to the land.
The city man realizes that the coming
profession is agriculture and the new
discovery the riches Of the soil. In
draining swamps and creating fertile
land from worthless boys; in develop
ing the good points of animals. in
planting vines and pruning fruit trees.
city men are now finding a pleasure
which neither the factory nor the
store could ever supply. While the
city men are thus coming TO their
senses the young men on the farms
flock to the city until today So percent
Of our population is congested into
cities.
Young men from the country think
it so much nicer to work in a store
or an office or even to drive a city
team. The threat of starvation does
not drive the poor from the city, they
stay and starve. sicken and sink, while
the farms are becoming larger and
wider and the rural population more
degraded IN quality.
Does Not Lose Dignity.
No matter what dignity a man may
attain to ne never loses cast when ne
goes back to the soil We should be
sorry TO see a president reduced To a
clerkship or even q merchant. but we
are almost as proud Of Washington as
a farmer as We were Of Washington the
president
John Adams on his farm at Quincy.
Thomas Jefferson at Monticello: An
drew Jackson at the HERMITAGE and
Martin Van Buren, in his cabbage patch
at klnderhook, were Just as dignified
as when in the presidential chair
Henry Clay was as much noblenlsn
among his short horned cattle at Ash
land, Kentucky, and Daniel Webster
IN managing his Massachusetts farm
at Marchfield as when they held
listening world in rapt attention.
When the sons of the soil stop their
laDOrs the Whlrling spindles and fly
ing shuttles Of our factories viii
cease, our ships rot at the yyharves ana
Without the farm Wall Street would
figure no more in the nations affairs
than Chinatown.
Go to Farms for Leaders.
When the Romans needed a dictator
they found Cincinnatus at the pIow
The strongest man England ever pro-
duced was the Huntingdon farmer,
Oliver Cromwell When the call 10 :
arms aroused the COlonists Putnam :
forsOok the furroW for the front When .
the American union needed a saviour /
and four million slaves an emancipation
he was found in son Of the soil. /
James J. Hill, the creator of the
great northwest. learned his first /
need of transportation while following ]
an OK team on his fathers farm in /
Canada He who prepares the compost.
determines whether IL shall fertilize
q head Of lettuce or OF cabbage. sows
The seed and cultivates the planting. is
4 cOWOrker with God, and shares with
Him the pleasure Of creation as the
worker in no other industry can
Happy Is the man who has a farm (
10 go to and many a man today fitted
% guide a state and govern men is
lreaming OF this new pursuit in the
,pen air.
Agriculture must be kept in the fore
ront of our industrial procession-it
s the basic industry state and ma
ional giving to agriculture is distrib-
lting benefits to other industries
Greece HOnored Farmers.
In the palmy days OF Greece aSri-
ulture attained TO its highest per-
ection. The culture Of the soil was
fundamental idea in the Roman CIV
lizatiOn- The merchant was inferior
o the farmer and Pliny asefloed the
exceeding fertility of Italy to the
act that the earth took delight in
eing titled by the hands OF men
rOwned with laurels and decorated
With triumphal hOnors
Distinguished generals and learned
tatesnen alike We'd with the citizens
n their skill in agriculture The
arlzness of the Middle Ages was I
lrgely due to the decline OF agri-
ulture
In spite of the shiftless manner IN
Th1ch many farms are conducted
armers rarely ever ask their creators
D take less than one hundred cents on
he dollar. There may be no mllilon-
Tres among the farmers. but mere
2 no paupers. and charity organize
ons among the farmers have YET 10
g heard NJ ]