No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 645 



Some one has well said: "Auxiety iu the Wall Street center ot 

 gambling has not been too seriously received by the world at large. 

 We have ceased to frighten the industrial world abroad as much as 

 we did a year ago, but we are still high on (he top of the tidal wave 

 of prosperity and good luck, and there are no signs of darker for- 

 tune." With these facts patent to-day the blood warms and a 

 genial feeling prevails everywhere making life brighter and bet- 

 ter, plnsically and morally, as well as commercially. 



It is true we have had a bitter clash between capital and labor 

 and mauv, if not all of us, have felt the results of the anthracite 

 coal strike iu our own Commonwealth; yet we are inclined to the 

 opinion that there has been reached an understanding between the 

 employer and the employed that will result in vastly improved 

 conditions in the future. Labor received vastly more money in the 

 last half of 1903 than the most sanguine worker had ever dreamed 

 of, and it had a decidedly beneficial and cheering effect. It brought 

 comfort and plenty to homes that never knew the meaning of these 

 terms and with these conditions came information and knowledge. 

 Labor is prepared to deal more intelligently and fairly, and the 

 chances for strikes and misunderstandings have been reduced to a 

 minimum. 



Perhaps no branch of industry has felt the pulsation of prosperity 

 more than agriculture. Crops have been good, prices have been 

 well maintained, mortgages have been lifted, and the farmer stands 

 to-day independent and justly proud of his position. He is begin- 

 ning to see the world in a new and a brighter light. He has come 

 to have greater confidence in his fellow-man and has decided that 

 his children shall be given an opportunity to know and enjoy more 

 than he. That old saw, "What is good enough for father is good 

 enough for son" has been buried down deep. The light of progress 

 has dawned upon the country home as never before and verified the 

 oft-repeated prophecy that in the rural home is nurtured the brain 

 and brawn that is capable of directing the affairs of commerce and 

 of State, and the fathers have seen the handwriting. They are giv- 

 ing more attention to the education of the sons and daughters. 

 They are studying economics and planning their work as never be- 

 fore. 



They are investigating and making research along lines largely 

 or totally neglected in the past. They are claiming their rights 

 with an assurance bred of knowledge, and their demands are being 

 recognized as w^ell-founded. They are joining hands and putting 

 up a united front that commands attention. They are looking into 

 the future and planning as farmers never planned in the past. Nor 

 are they arrogant or boastful in all this. On the contrary, their 

 demands are made with the feeling that they are asking for only a 



