The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-07-24
JEST A-WHITTLIN' AM A.
THINKIN'
A State Farmer Section Feature
BY PETE GETTYs

Us country folks imagine we have
heck of a hard time tryin' to make
a livin'-and it is tough-all kinds
of pests and bugs and beetles an
things after us-an' drought to
blister an burn things up, or rain
to ruin the hay, sprout the wheat in
the shock-just one thing after an
other to worry an harass an bedevil
Teller.
But if t'other side-the city mans
side-was known-hes long shot
from being free of worries an trials
and cares. 1t sounds fine to talk an
think about "big bankers he
has his miseries too. He worries
cause he can't make loans, an then
frets an bothers cause he can't col
lect what he loans.
Surely a man is born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward"-but If
he'll Just stop to think how short it
all is, he'd try to make the best of it.
Put down your age-substract 40
from it-then multiply the result by
decimal 8, an that's your expectancy
how long the insurance companies
figger you're goin' to stay around
here Say you're $40 from that
is II g, figures out Is and three
tenths years. You'll be asleep half
of that time, which gives you about
71s years-and it looks as if Teller
has worried with things for 81 years
he ought to make out some way to
get along the next or years.
Now, what trip it was for the
All Club young folks! From 40
states they journeyed to Washing
ton for their 10th National Club En-
campment-were shown through the
White House-then four of the
members made short talks over the
radio about some of their activities
that led to their bein' picked for the
trip to the capital. The farm boys
an girls visited the National Agricul-
tural Research Center of the Depart
ment of Agriculture at Beltsviile,
Md. A tour of buildings, labora
tories, greenhouses, fields, an orch
ards was arranged to give as good a
picture as possible of the research
there by the department Tor US
farmers. An Secretary Wallace
made 'em speech too.
about 80 years ago. the Secre-
tary said, "some people began to see
that, through lack of national fore
sight, much of the country's soil fer
tility was being lost forever. Now
people in the United States are thor
oughly soil conscious and soil con-
servation measures are among the
most popular measures passed by
Congress. Cities, however, still
drain away human, as we'll as soil,
fertility from the farms and human
erosion involves thousands of things
no one knows very much about.
With present population trends, 100
years hence two-thirds of the people
in this country will be descended
from the fifth of the population now
on farms. Any one interested in the
longtime welfare of the nation-not
merely in the profits of a particular
business in 1886 or 1937-must be
gravely concerned with the condi-
lions under which those farm chill
dren-the ancestors of the great
majority of the future race-are
going to be brought up. 1t is exceed
ingly important that those children
know what the very basis of our
civilization is, and that they be fully
informed on soil problems, and, as
they grow older, on other problems
having to do with making a joyous
civilization.
There are now nearly million of
these All young Head,
Heart, Hands, Health (which they
pledge to better life on the farm.
-O