The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-08-16

proportion to the energy and worl
he was putting into his business
He knew there was something wrong
but he did not know where 1t was
its cause or its remedy. He had
plenty of time to think over wha,
he had read as he worked, and In
time this constant feeding of hi:
mind on radical literature gave him
the settled conviction that he. was
the goat for all the organized inter.
ests in the country.
His attempt to correct this condi.
ton found expression in his coop.
erative movements, such as farmers
equities and oranges; these usually
failed, by lack of support by the
farmers themselves or through poor
management. to accomplish the ends
for which they were formed, and
the solution the farmer found for
their failure was the manipulati0ns
Of big business generic term ap-
piled by all agitators and radical
thinkers as the cause of all .the
farmers wrongs without anywhere
pinning itself down to anything def
mite.
Counteracting this influence and
doing some wonderful work against
very great odds came the work of
the agricultural colleges and later
the university extension department
and the county agent movement.
Few people realize what these or
CARNATIONS had to overcome before
their work commenced to have an
effect. 1t was mighty hard for a
man who was raised on the farm and
had been there all his life to real
ize that he could learn anything
about the business from a white
skinned, white-cdllared bookworm,
but eventually the educators broke
in, and they cannot be given too
much credit for the great work they
have done and are doing.
Experimentation Profitable
Here and there through the state
they induced farmer to try an ex-
pertinent that he recommended. The
neighbors scoffed and made fun, but
they tried it. For example, I plant
ed the first winter wheat in our
county, and had to buy the seed
and give it to the tenant to get him
to try it.; within six years there
was bigger acreage Of winter wheat
than anything else.
Again, put in the first alfalfa
in the county, five-acre tract
and had to pay the tenant for all
his work on it, BUT in few years
every farm had it's alfalfa field.
Here and there throughout the
state they interested some young
farmer enough to get him to come to
the university for a short time. AL
most always that boy managed,
to go back and finish the
course. The old man objected and|
fought and the neighbors prophe-
sled terrible things but generally the
boy came back home with a new view
Of his life work and made a deal
with the old man to let him handle
he south field in the way he wanted |
%, and talked him into building
;ilo and machine shed.
Improving Conditions
The neighbors watched proceed
ngs, and when the south field pro-
iuced ten bushels more corn per
,cre than any other in the neighbor-
hood and the cream check doubled I
lnder scientific selection of milk
stock and silage, these same neigh
oors built siios and bought pure
,red bulls. These things took years
o work their spell, but with them
,ame improved machinery, where
,ne man could do the work former
y done by two or three by hand
md also came the telephone, the pig
hub, the automobile and the good
Dads.
These things all improved condi-
ions on the farm they made it less
solated from it's neighbors and from
own. 1t brought the farm close to
he town and the farmer and his
amily to town more often; he had
till more leisure to read and think
md he was quicker to adopt labor
aving devices in which he could see
merit. The scientific farming
'rought him into touch with a much
letter class of farm periodicals and
lis mind was more receptive to the
esults of experiments of agricultur-
i stations.
Must Have More Pay