The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1917-06-22
FIRST TINE n HISTORY OF the STATE
enoaEl WOMEN HAVE BEEN AP.
POINTED IS FIELD A6ENIs
MMT DEPARTMENT.
ALONG THE FIRING LINE OF
CURRENT EVENTS WITH
THE OTHER FELLOW

tBf RALPH ". WHITE, OFFICIAL
CORRESPONDENT
sp~cial 70 the Mcdowell Times.
CHARLESTON, w. VA, June -
6omssimes conditions make men; some
timss men make conditions. At other
snsa, . Power higher than us all takes
Q hand In the game and makes both
msn spd condition and tits one IN the
othsr. Somehow the latter condition
sssms TO be extans In West Virginia to-
day, - far - agriculture Is concerned.
It has bean the light that has been hid
under . bushel. IL has been as Wendell
Phillips % aptly describes it, -'Acres of
Diamonds" that have laid under our feet
for 10 thess many years We nave been
unable. Notwithstanding al of the urg-
ina and al of the preachments of men
who saw and knew the dire need of Civ
ing it its share Of attention neglected and
.pesssd over in the grest haste. TO get in
. ~ The bosom Of Mother Earth and ex-
xacs uhersfrom the commercial carbon
thas made men rich quickly. But with
~ brsakins Of the war cloud and the
ncrsassd demand for food. we have been
compelled 20 sit down and take an in
ventoFy Of our assets and we md that
We are better off than we thought. In
~ thing We need 70 do is To right about
lace and stick our plows, hoes and spades
In the ground and the soil will do the
nsxs for NJ. When Commissioner Stew
art was taking his text almost daily som
years ago that Nest Virginia Was lar bs =
low hsr possibilities in the line oi ser-
cultural and that the day would me
when she would heark~n hack to tss
coil, but little heed was given his words
of wisdom - q adyice. Again two yesrs
slogan was UTILIZATION OF UNUSED
LANDS, and yet but little attention VA
paid his words of warning. Later, ~ii;.
making his race, during the primary and
the election, lac lifted his campaign far
above the partisan rsbble and cried viii,
. loud voice do not Use the expense OF
shs plow. How true were his prophecle-
bss teen fully and amply demonstr st',i
IN the lest lev months. lie say. there
are thousands upon thousadds of acres OF
cut-oysr land lying unuse'i and going 10
waste in this state, % he had almost for
she skiing, simply becsuse the people
seesdfsstly refused 20 take up the Guilt
vssion Of the same. Now that the bleak
bars days Of distress are just scrrss IA,
hill from ne, unless conditions chang,
With . speed little less than msrveious,
lac again raises the cry Of back TO the
soil 70 NEST the probable emergency
which this worldwide struggle is about
TO bring about.
He is doing better than this. lie is not
only talking it out, but he is working j,
out. He 10 making il possible for Vert
virgininis 70 be fully self-snstsiDing il
her citizens will follow out the pro, "a gan
d hs proposes TO establish in this dir,c-
tion.
IL 10 IN evident fact that the coal will
not last always IL 10 further an evident
fact that practically all OF the timber
bss t,ssn cut and that the virgin forests
ebss we're are no more and therefore, we
noss Of necessity in the next generation
which after ell 10 but short while. turn
20 tszs coil for livelihood. The land i
hsre in West Virsini says Commissioner
Sssvsr and he ought 70 kDo~, rich and
rssdy 10 rscsiye the scientific and systs
msEic cultivation OF the citizens Of the
seses. Think Of it Vest Virgins now
bsine rased - the fourth and possibly
ths third state in the Union IN the pro-
duceion Of apples and possibly that eloss
In peaches and this without sny psrtlcu-
lar sEors on the part OF those Who grow
the same OF any extraordinary stimulus
sivsn them % 80 what might he accom-
piisbed In the direction. II this 10 true
under these conditions, What might no,
b. szpscsed under conditions brought up
10 ssy. even per.
Acrordins % Commissioner Stewart's
easement, there 10 no better state in the
Union for the raising of sheep % the size
of 10 thsn our o~n Wet Virgins. The
only thing 10 that the people have gone
MAD. seaxk MAD, owes the production
- soal. snd while is = true thss thsrs ID