Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-05-10
allow Maine Sees the Farmer"

As tho editor of the Kennebec Journal
lives in Augusta, Me-. town consi9erapy
smaller than those that are conslu 9.sa ~
larger. it may be that he has right to
use. great severity in criticising other edi-
tors who have presumed to tell the 1arm-
ers of the country to work hard TINS yea
and to raise the big crops neeaea T.. ny .,a
hungry world. Anyhow. he does II, anu
So much heat is displayed by him In tne
doing that it almost justifies the Suspicion
that he is himself an ex-farmer, aoout
whom a summer boarder once mace 70
marks as to the relative merits OF slttlng
in a barn door, whiting a STICK anu
those that lie in giving some much needeo
attention to a neglected potato patch:
Such a memory. naturally, would rah .ne
long. and it would explain. too the
amo,,nt of space devoted by the Maine
man TO removing from ignorant editorial
minds elsewhere the delusion that laln
ers as a class lead lives OF leisure. elesant
or inelegant, as the case may pc. Ina
however, is not the whole of his article.
Resides. and rather incidentally, ne tens
all and sundry that what tne Americ .sa
farmer needs is not exhortatlon TO pa
triotic activity. or advice as 10 Wnat crops
to raise and how, but governmental as
sumption of some Of the dreadful risks no
now takes Of having his work brousht 20
naught by climatic eccentrlclties. IN
nther words he wants the Government 10
become the farmers partner and insure
him at least living as the reward OF MS
There are certain elements Of grande Gu
in This suggestion, though just why the
farmer should thus be favored above
ira desmen and manufacturers Is not quite
obvious. But conditions and necessities
are abnormal this year. and they do ae-
.--cc,' rerort to Nvnedinnt~ "r1rOX "a-'"g
+he desperate. One can't help wishing,
IC~cv4r .t,at two wiee i<enrn hooker ra !
been little more suave In reproving ms
rrethren Complete imbecillty does not
always follow residence in . large Guy
New York Times.
The last sentence is true, although
further evidence than the above must
be submitted to prove it. The gambol-
ing Of the editor above quoted Is not
lamb-like, but facts are always hot"
for such writer's. We are not even an
"ex"-farmer, but the real thing, on the
active list, and our summer boarders
will get busy" with the hoe. the
manure spreader and the bug poison
or get out
! Covering that part Of the above re-
lating to government partnership with
the farmer, we would suggest that II
the money wasted in compiling ad-
vice and the using up Of ink and wood
pulp in educating the inexperienced in
agriculture, we're expended in aid of
competent farmers who have peen
farmed by spectators under govern
ment permit, this years crop would
be larger
The Times editor sneeringly men,
tons the dreadful risks" Of the farm
er ard. obviously, thinks there is no
heat" in the reference: but in it he
has emphasized his complete imbecil-
ity," agriculturally, in the minds of
millions OF this country's pro-
ducers. If our utterances have
shown the heat of facts it is
because Of this line Of superiority stuff
uttered by those who think that intel
ligence is required only in their own
business. and that any imbecile can be
a farmer as last resort.
When the government DOES en-
courage the farmer as it encourages
munitions makers. railway unions and
others too numerous for listing here,
even the editors Of large city papers
will pay less for their full dinner pals,
their paper supply and their postage
And If the farmer had been granted "a