No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 321 



sum total of the value of agricultural in-oducts in this country of 

 vast area seems immense in figures ; but it is all consumed from year 

 to year, and calamity howlers already anticipate starvation in the 

 near future unless farmers can be encouraged to produce more. This 

 little word of four letters has such an attractive, enticing, inviting, 

 tempting, seductive sound that it has become the shibboleth of poli- 

 ticians, lawmakers and office holders by which they thrive and con- 

 quer if accompanied by the dollar mark. More appropriations, more 

 salaries, more crops, more privileges, more power, more boodle, more 

 graft; while the word less is forgotten, appearing only when labor 

 and farming interests are involved. 



The fact that farming is not remunerative commensurate with the 

 investment and labor employed, and it is too strenuous an occupa- 

 tion as an investment is evident. You may sing and shout at the top 

 of your voice, "Stay on the farm boys, stay on the farm:" they get 

 away at the first opportunity and will continue unless conditions are 

 modified. If those who advise other to stick to the farm would seek 

 employment on the land and prove what they preach, it would be an 

 encouragement to those who seek other occupations, crowding into 

 towns and cities to find more congenial employment. Double the 

 crops and give them away, as for instance the cotton, potato and 

 apple crop, at less than cost, it is no incentive to produce more. 

 Were it not for the misfortune of the eastern hemisphere, grain to 

 day would unquestionably be selliug at panic prices. Practical farm- 

 ers understand that the larger the crop removed, the more fertility 

 is lost to the soil; that if one bushel of grain removes 25c. worth, two 

 bushels remove 50c. worth. They also know that much of an article 

 is often worth less than a smaller quantity of the same. This fact 

 was forcibly demonstrated when the controversy about the money 

 standard was an issue, when 420 grs. of silver in a trade dollar was 

 worth about f as much as a standard silver coin with only 412^ 

 grains. In this case government law regulates the value, while the 

 value of crops is regulated by the law of supply and demand. The 

 adoption of the gold standard was the most cruel and damnable law 

 ever inflicted upon the people, which will prove itself by and by. 



Notwithstanding the views expressed in this topic, there never was 

 a time when the opportunities in agriculture in some directions were 

 as favorable as the present, for a young man of good address with a 

 diploma and a title of Prof., Doctor, or an abbreviation such as B. L., 

 B. L. L., A. B., I). F. P., F. E. S., F. B. S. S., F. G. S., F. H. S., 

 F. L. S., E. P. S., M. P. S.. ect., to which sometimes D. F., would be 

 appropriate. Equipped with a diploma, a few strips of litmus paper, 

 a little hydrochloric acid, a few text-books on agriculture, some bulle- 

 tins. Prof. Bailey's cyclopedia of agriculture, a good memory, a little 

 Latin are the passports of remunerative positions under the State 

 or National auspices. 



Not long ago discussions were long and warm about Canadian re- 

 ciprocity, when the farmers' market was to be extended and a re- 

 ciprocal trade established for farmers to obtain cheap lumber, 

 pickets, lath, and toothpicks. Cheap mowers and reapers, cutlery 

 and tropical fruit, and best of all, cheap wire fencing. President 

 Lincoln did not understand the farmer's mentality when he spoke of 

 fooling the people; some all the time, some part of the time, and all 

 the whole time. Since other interests are so much interested in agri- 



21—5—1914 



