Report of- Missouri Farmers' Week. 329 



much of this high-falutin' book idea of rotation of crops, but we 

 do think that corn ought to follow wheat sometimes." 



The editor who would be of benefit to his farming constitu- 

 ency must have an intelligent acquaintance with the great move- 

 ments that are revolutionizing the world. Probably no business 

 today is surrounded by more perplexing problems than farming. 

 The great economic movement which has brought a frightful dis- 

 parity between the consumer and the producer gives promise of 

 serious results. I am no prophet, but I can see, in the next few 

 years, at least, nothing but an increase in the proportion of con- 

 sumers to producers. This, with its collateral problems, places 

 still greater responsibilities on the farmer. There must be farmers 

 or the world will starve. The farmer must stay on the farm. The 

 farmer, in order to meet these increased responsibilities must be 

 surrounded by the greatest and best influences of our civilization. 

 He cannot have them with antiquated and inefficient schools, with 

 meager community advantages, with a dearth of the influences 

 that give a vision to the man that solves a world problem. The 

 farmer is becoming more and more a business man, yea, more, a 

 professional man. Three years' work confers the title "Doctor" 

 on a high school graduate. Three years will not give the farmer — 

 the professional man I take him to be — all the science he needs for 

 his equipment. More than that, he must be a student of markets, 

 political conditions and world movements. 



The clientele of the newspaper of the future will be men of 

 this type, a clientele, to properly serve which will demand a 

 thorough understanding of its life and problems. Perhaps this is 

 far-fetched, but I do not think so. Lowell said, "All thoughts that 

 mold the age begin deep down within the primitive mind." No 

 great problem is solved without the "movement of the mass." 

 The country newspaper can be a great factor in the problem, not 

 as a teacher, but as a disseminator. Through its faithful record 

 of the news encouragement will be gleaned from the successes, 

 while the failures reveal the pitfalls that may be avoided in. future. 

 With its columns always open to the discussion of the everyday 

 vital problems of its own field, the people may be brought to a 

 clearer understanding of them. The country editor must have a 

 profound admiration for the profession of farming. Otherwise, 

 every item may have but one object, to coax the dollar from the 

 farmer's pocket. Compliments, often, not deserved, will be sown 

 broadcast, and in the end will reap a "haryegt of barren regrets." 



