New Britain herald., 1924-09-25
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there was nothing whatever to sup- port them, and men who knew noth- ing of farming in countries of rcsu- lar and abundant rainfall started to farm in every direction on every kind of soil.
 ~"Five years later the towns were deserted or had shrunk to house or two each; and the Immense ma jority of the farms had been aban- doned. X decade passed and men who knew the conditions and were willing and able 10. work hard, who knew about dry farming and irriga- ton, came there; and now the land has a solid and lasting prosperity.
 Again, I once saw whole region condemned from the standpoint of the sheep-man, because company without much money, but with more money than experience, had tried various fatuous experiments in sheep-farming. which, in my own immediate neighborhood, included the attempt to run good sized flock with an .ex-telegraph operator as shepherd and two Newfoundland dogs in place of collies. Neverthe- less. sheep are a source of profit in that country at this moment. Don't therefore, geet discouraged if there are some failures; and remember that, on examination. the pessimist will usually be found not to be a very competent creature.
 Let the people here not be dis couraged When John Smith settled in Virginia, for years things were so bad that they started clearing out, and they had to get their provisions from abroad. Mortality occurred sufficient to cause panic in any colony. The history of these colo nies was checkered with disasters, considerably more than this protec- ,torate will ever have to face.
 'The second thing I want 10 say is to the individual settler himself The government can do much, in various directions, but the one all- important factor in the success of each individual settler must be that individuals own character and ca pacity. If there is any point as to which he can make the government better and more responsive to the needs of the settlers, 1t is his duty to work for the achievement of these ends. But he can set it down as an absolute certainty that a pound of complaint won't help him as much as an ounce Of real effort to do his own business we'll What he has to face is the need for genu- inc hard work-work that needs special training and capacity. %
 Tt is the farmer, the man who grows wheat or cotton, breeds sheep or cattle--whichever it may be-the man who makes his profit out of the wool or meat, or a dairy or fruit .or some other product of the soil, upon whose success the permanent success of this country must depend. The discovery of paying mineral de. posits would be a good thing-but with not much stress on the good but it would be of no consequence from the standpoint of your perma- nent well-being when compared to the welfare of the farmer: for a sud- den boom, and few great fortunes, in no shape or way take the place of steady and permanent growth among those who come to take possession of the soil, and to leave it az an ia heritance to their children who are to grow up in this country.
 Now, a farmers business is just as much a science as any others. Nobody would think that farmer could over night turn bookkeeper or lawyer. Yet. in every country, many people drift in who seem, to think that bookkeepers and lawyers, and men who have never done a stroke Of real work for a living at all. can suddenly become successful farmers. A quarter of a century ago l met any number of such men in the west. They were generally young fellows from, the eastern states or from England. who perhaps had never done any work at all, or who had perhaps not been oyer+ successful as clerks or in some other sedentary occupation. .s, ... .I
 They would come out there with a small capital which they would proceed to invest without any knoyl~ edge; they would half-heartedIy and feebly try to work at something totally alien to them; and then, un- less they had exceptional stuff in them, they would sag behind in the race Of life and gradually become what we called remittance mem that is to say, shiftless creatures who lived on whatever their fami. lies were able to send them. ,a.
 Since l have been in this coun- try, l have known more than one young man coming hither with i've hundred or thousand pounds, and no experience whatever in his past which fitted him to become an East African farmer. If any such man consulted me, should tell him that the best thing he could do with his money was to put it safely away somewhere for at least two years: and meanwhile to remember that a social and sporting life must be con sidered purely as play and never al- lowed to interfere with work, and that he had his whole profession to learn. +, @s .r