TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 477 



out. We must not allow any more of that brand to come in if we can 

 avoid it, and we ought to be able to do that. For the foreigners who 

 are within our borders we should have a course of Americanism. Teach 

 them the principles of democracy and good government, school them in the 

 English language and make good citizens of them instead of bolsheviks. 



It can be done to a very large extent by that system. And if there 

 is anything which we, not the foreign element, not the "red" element, but 

 we, all of us, need In this country today it is a continuance of that 

 spirit of" patriotism which we had during the war. I fear we are allowing 

 it to slacken up just a little. We ought not to do it. Patriotism ought to 

 Be just as vital a part of our existence today as it was when we were 

 fighting the Huns. Patriotism should be taught in the public schools of 

 the country and the American Flag should float over every public school 

 in the land now just as it did two or three years ago. 



Now, just a word or two about American agriculture. I wonder if th^re 

 is any danger of America ever becoming a non-agricultural country? 

 There is a disposition on the part of certain interests and elements to 

 make It such. The idea is that we are to be the great commercial nation 

 of the world. That is the feeling in some of the large cities of the East. 



They say, "We care nothing about the soil of the Mississippi Valley; 

 we care nothing about your agricultural program. There is Brazil, bigger 

 than the whole United States, which produces more hogs than Nebraska 

 and Illinois and Iowa combined. There is capital to build railroads and 

 highways in Brazil. They can raise foodstuffs and ship to us. We can 

 build ships cheaper than any other nation can, and in return we can sell 

 them the products of our factories. When the soil of South America 

 gets on a par with the soil of the Mississippi Valley and the New England 

 states then, and not until then, will we have time to think about this 

 question of agriculture, and that will be generations ahead." 



I asked, "How are you going to handle that thing? The labor isn't 

 there." 



And they replied: "If it is not there it is ready to go there. There are 

 the stricken hordes of Europe. They are ready to go into South America 

 and they are going — the people of Spain and Italy, of France and Germany 

 and Scandanavia. They are seeking a harbor somewhere and they are 

 the people we are going to take into South America to biiild up an agri- 

 culture which Is going to compete with the Mississippi Valley states." 



Now, I don't take that view seriously. I am giving it to you as it was 

 presented to me, but It is worthy of serious thought. It shows the attitude 

 of many eastern people concerning the future of American agriculture. 



Now, just a word about the attitude of some other institutions toward 

 agriculture. First consider union labor. I take this ground: That as a 

 farmer my best customer Is the working man in town, the organized 

 laborer who Is well-paid, working full time on a useful job. If he is not 

 well-paid then I do not have a good market for my products. Well em- 

 ployed labor Is essential in the promotion and prosperity of agriculture. 

 It must be protected. 



There are other things to consider. There is collective bargaining, 



