Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-08-15
WANTED. A NATIONAL
POLICY IN AGRICULTURE

rollowing is an address delivered
8. davenport dean OF the college
r,oulture, University of Illinois,:
Tho purpose of this paper is to in
attention to the very great need
,na present time of more definite
,icv regarding agriculture; a pol
that shall be national in it's
universal in it's interests, and
nnrehensive in it's procedures.
I rho term national policy is not in
1 .aod TO mean a policy of the Fed
20, government as over against the
| ..oo nor indeed a governmental
l 'uov of any kind as distinct from
/ re convictions and the ideals of the
onle from which and from whom
democratic government proceeds.
4 what is meant is rather such a
4 ,oncensus of intellectual opinion and
4 ,,cb a deliberate judgment about ag-
SEIZURE as shall represent the con-
.,,otiye purpose of the American
noonle whether farmers, laborers or
s.sinoss men, and whether operat-
,,r in their private or their govern
+ mental capacities. What is meant
such a common recognition of
I ,ortain facts and principles to be
Established by investigation and con-
I ,.rence as shall amount to any given
1 ,ma to a national policy about
1 forms and farmers and farming as
! aver against the policy which as
onmes a struggle of each separate
interest to maintain its place in a
constantly shifting balance of power
in which all are frankly antagonistic
+ and each prospcrs or suffers in pro-
nortion to the force it is able to eX-
prt and the advantage it is able to
Il secure.
E This policy is not called pro-
4 gram because programs are made to
Il carry out fixed end predetermined
i purposes, while the thing in the
: mind of the speaker is rather sta
E tus and a procedure under shifting
& conditions, with the intent always to
E promote the prosperity of the farm
4 er, not as a favored class but as q
typical and component part of So
cety, producing the food of the
people and in potential control of
the land policies OF the common
wealth.
My general thesis is this: that con-
sderations of fairness and of public
safety both demand a nigher regard
for the affairs and interests of the
4 open country and for the welfare Of
the farmer and his femily;t that In
real democracy the farmer must
stand higher than hitherto in public
esteem, not because of demands he
may make upon society but by rea-
son of his worth and his service, and
i that he should count for more in the
management OF public affairs, not
admnistratively, in which he has
little skill, but in matters requiring
counsel, in which he is comparative
Il wise and relatively unprecedented.
Agriculture, whether considered as
profession or IS mode of life, has
never figured adequately in world af-
lars, being regarded by publicists
mainly as the source of cheap food
Tor cheap labor and of raw materials
/. god for commerce and for manufac-
ture' both convenient for holding the
balance of trade upon the right side
Oh the ledger The farmer himself
has been generally considered as an
easKllled laborer, humble producer
rather than . typical citizen.
outside the technical journals, the
PUBIC press is almost as silent about
eis ana aSflculture-eXcept Tor
AZ occasional pocr joke, the annual
uop statistics or the market report
as II our farming were done upon
Asfs. The columns are full of the
struggles between labor and capital,
v society notes and of business
~hemes, but in general murder
MAJ with mystery, or the love let
WIS IN triangular divorce suit are
s'ou Tor more space than the great
~ i've stock exposition ir the world
wi magazines and the public mind
w iuil OF modern scientific achieve
@ells and Of art, but how much does
Ae world know or care about the
N'uer and his phenomenal success
y animal and plant improvement or
'Ae pictures he paints every year up
~ - the landscape? Clearly our pub
- press is animated almost exclus-
ny urban interests even in cities
he.