VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, NOVEMBER 13, 1909.
NO. 45
The New View Point in Agriculture.
[From an address by Mrs. V. C. Meredith  at Purdue Normal  Institute.]
The man, the soil and the crop are
inseparable in the new outlook—formerly the great mass of our people were
concerned only with the crop. That
old sign "Cash for wheat," which used
to be found on mills and warehouses
was the great incentive to one crop
farming—the great cause of the one
crop farmer with his fatal limitations
and his burden of misery.
As has been well said: "Production
is fundamental but it is not final."
The urge of pioneer conditions, however, made the production of wheat almost final. If we have a new view
point it is because we have risen on the
experiences, the knowledge and the
hopes of our fathers.
We have added to our appreciation
of the value of the crop—our appreciation of the fact that we hold the soil
in trust to be passed on, more fertile
than we found it—and to that, our appreciation of the man and woman who
make a home on the farm—and our solicitude for the welfare of their children.
There are three things which stand
out with clearness,—contribute to the
new view and are to be reckoned with
in our consideration of the future of
agriculture. 1. The enclosure of the
public domain which "marks the end of
the most eventful epoch in American
History." The wisest can hardly estimate what this means to National life.
To have removed from the
horizon of the industrious poor
man, the hope of a home
nn the land may mean the coming of
ronditions that make for the wrong
kind of socialism, or the stolid peasantry of older lands. 2. The imperative demand for increased production, a demand made by increasing
population. James.    J.    Hill    says:
'Every State will have to double
its production within the next fifty
years." 3. The education of the children on the farm, so as to insure a physical and intellectual life that places-
the farmer on the level with the best
in other lines of business. In transmitting his report of the Commission
on Country Life, President Roosevelt
said, the purpose of the Commission
was, "Not to help the farmer to raise
better crops, but to call his attention
to opportunities for better business, and
better living on the farm."     *  '  *     *
There never has been a public question it is said, upon which there is so
much oneness of sentiment as that of
agricultural education. It is true that
agriculture binds all interests, that it
fosters  true  democracy. If  in  fifty
years every state.must double its production, then whatever affects that production is of public concern, and is not
a class interest. If production is increasing faster than transportation facilities, then that is a matter of public concern, and improved waterways
'8 properly a subject for a public policy. It has come to pass that the best
minds advocate making agricultural
education a part of our general educational system, and many believe as Dr.
Bailey says that, "State and Federal
government should co-operate, not for
the sake of the Individual farmer, but
because of its bearing on national wel
fare.'' There are two points which
bear strongly on this subject. 1. The
new attitude toward work—actual
work with the hands.      There are those
and a like reduction in the share which
they form of the total crop. The per-
<i■ntage of the corn crop sent out of
the country is always much less than
A PICTURESQUE  ROAD  IN   GREENE   COUNTY.
port record during the past decade. The
exports of fresh beef, which in 1901
amounted to 352 million pounds, and in
1908 to over 200 million pounds, drop-
pa il to 123 millions in 1909; of salted or
pickled beef, which in 1906 were 81
million pounds and in 1908 47 millions,
showed but 44% millions in 1909; of
canned beef, which in 1903 were 76
million pounds and in 1908, 23 millions,
amounted to but 15 millions pounds
in 1909. Tallow exportations fell from
128       million pounds in 1907
to 53 millions in 1909; bacon,
from 562 million pounds in 1899 and
361 millions in 1906 to 245 millions In
1909; exportations of hams show but
a slight decrease, being in 1909 212
million pounds, against 227 millions in
1902, the highest record of the decade.
Exports of pork, salted or pickled,
dropped from 150 million pounds in
1908 to 52 millions in 1909; of lard,
from 742 million pounds in 1906 and
603 million pounds in 1908 to 529 millions in 1909, of oleo oil, from 212 million pounds in  1908  to  180  millions in
| 1909; while the total value of all meat
and dairy products exported fell from
211 million dollars in 1906 and 202 millions in 1907 to 167 millions tn 1909,
despite  the  higher   prices   which   pre-
j vailed in the latter year.
The number of cattle exported, which
totaled 593,000 in 1904, 584,000 in 1906.
and 349,000 in 1908, was in 1909 but
208,000, or less than half the annual
average during the five-year period Immediately preceding.
The bed of this stream is a  public highway in daily use.
who believe that work only is educa- !
tive, and that the farmer's work is most
educative because of its freedom from !
meaningless repetition. The second
point is well expressed by Pres. Sledd,
who says, "education should give to
life a satisfying content. • • « The
farmer be given training that will give
him poise and content." Some one
writing of the North Adams High
School in Michigan says: "Agricultural instruction gives point and value
to all other high school work ln science,
arithmetic and language." So it would
seem that the right plan is coming, and
that we shall have agriculture in all
schools, rather than special schools of
agriculture.
Foodstuff Kxports.
According to a report from the U. S.
Bureau of Statistics, Sept. 25, 1909,
corn   exportations   show   a   falling   off
that of wheat, the bulk of the enormous corn crop of the United States being transformed into meats before exportation. In 1898, 11.14 per cent of
the corn crop was exported, and in
1900, 10.30 per cent; but as a rule, the
percentage exported falls much below
these figures, having been, in the fiscal
year 1906, 4.43 per cent; in 1907, 2.95
per cent; in 1908, 2.12 per cent; while
In the fiscal year 1909 only 1.41 per
cent of the crop of the  calendar year
1908 was exported, although that crop
amounted to 2,668.651,000 bushels, the
quantity exported    in the    fiscal    year
1909 being 37,665,040 bushels, including meal in terms of corn, or less than
in any year since 1895 with the single
exception of the fiscal year 1902 following the short crop of 1901. Meat
exportations also show a marked falling off when compared  with their ex-
Migratlng to Canada.
It is believed that emigrants from
the United States into Western Canada
may number 80,000 this year. Canadian officials are advertising thruout our
northwestern States the virgin farm
lands of their prairie provinces, and
they look for a movement in the immediate future that will overshadow
that in the past. It is reported that
there are 200 firms in Minneapolis
alone dealing in Canadian lands, while
last year the same city had but 50. The
big crop now being harvested
in Manitoba will still further
advertise the country        among
our Western farmers, who can
not visit a State fair or a country cattle show without facing the alluring
Canadian posters and hearing the paid
lecturer grow eloquent over the wonders of the far North, where "Old
Glory" is never seen. The superintendent of Canadian immigration reports that he finds no opposition to hi
efforts in this country. The Washington government shows no unfriendly
feeling, and the only competition encountered is that from the Southern
States. Are the Canadas absorbing tho
people of the United States or are we
gradually annexing Canada?
We do not understand why this migration to Canada should so increase;
Uncle Sam has plenty of good land yet
to spare, and can afford to sell it at as
low rate as the Canadian government
can do. Rut we have little fear of
our people losing their love for the
Stars and Stripes, and the free institutions the old flag represents. In
Canada or anywhere else they may go.
We will be more likely to annex a portion of Canada, than the English government to convert our people who go
there  to  monarchism.