320 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc 



where, not long ago, manure and straw were considered as an en- 

 cumbrance, it is now found a valuable asset. Even commercial fer- 

 tilizers are found useful. Nearly all the states use more or less 

 commercial fertilizer, and the entire country, as shown by the latest 

 statistics, uses to the value of |137,3G0,000 worth in one year. Penn- 

 sylvania reports 340,000 tons used in 1913, which, if valued at |20 

 per ton, amounts to $6,800,000. It costs the farmers about half the 

 value of the potato crop, at fifty cents a bushel, or the value of all 

 the apples for the fertilizer used. Adding to the fertilizer account 

 the cost of manure and lime increase the expense very materially 

 to maintain the fertility of the soil which naturally reflects upon the 

 high cost of living. To transport the fertilizer used in this State, 

 in 1913, required 34,000 cars of 20 tons each, and the average freight 

 rate is |2 per ton, the railroad collects $680,000 for transportation, 

 aside from other material and the increased crops produced by its 

 use. 



The railroads found the promotion of agriculture a bonanza and 

 encourage it by running instruction trains over their lines, even en 

 gaging experts to promote the industry which is, however, not done 

 out of charity or benevolence. If instead of appealing to the Inter 

 state Commerce Commission for permission to increase freight and 

 passenger rates to and from the farms, it would benefit the general 

 public and save the companies the expense of operating expensive 

 outfits on their lines to teach their employees and town folks agri- 

 culture. It is really surprising the interest manifested in agricul- 

 ture by merchants, politicians, lawyers, doctors, bankers, railroad 

 officials, ])romoters, organizers, demonstrators, rural up-lifters, ex- 

 perts, surveyors, engineers, economists, instructors, theorists, road 

 cranks, magazine scribblers, even daily newspapers from the office 

 on the top of sky-scrapers, fulminate full page editorials ridiculing 

 farmers and their methods because the farm products are not equal 

 to those of England, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and other 

 countries that are densely populated and whose farmers are poor. 

 The pitiful conditions now existing in those foreign countries appear 

 to indicate that civilizaton is reverting into savagery. Belgium was 

 one vast market garden without fences, boundaries being marked by 

 little trenches. Now it is practically ruined. The women and chil- 

 dren perform much of the labor on the fields in foreign countries; a 

 condition not to be envied, but coming here as sure as fate under pre- 

 vailing political and economic conditions. 



FARMING THE FARMERS 



The woods are full of self-sacrificing patriots, and more are con- 

 stantly incubating to gain a place on the State or National pay roll 

 to avoid the drudgery of farm life and draw salaries from two to six 

 thousand dollars a year and expenses. Some of the economists, see- 

 ing a worn out piece of machinery in a field, from a palace car 

 window, or an auto car. get the inspiration for a topic to preach a 

 sermon from the platform on the shiftlessness of farmers, their in- 

 dolence and ignorance. Because of the limited income of $1,500 

 average farm, a farm out of which to meet all expenses, the farmer 

 has less for himself than a common laborer; vet thev are chastized 

 for having unpainted buildings, no lawns, no bathrooms, and none 

 of the modern conveniences of the millionaire agriculturist. The 



