536 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



in experiments than the average breeder. It is evident that there is 

 more than mere dollars involved. 



Our government is doing much for agriculture, but it could do more. 

 A great stress is laid upon our gigantic totals of production. Govern 

 ment oflEicials confer with the leading bankers and manufacturers in re- 

 gard to proposed legislation, but the mass of farmers has no recognized 

 standing. They do not support a lobby. 



When the Roman citizen was a farmer in time of peace and a soldier 

 in time of war that nation was prosperous and triumphant, but when 

 captive slaves became tillers of the soil farming lost its dignity and that 

 great nation began to decline. 



It is from the half mythical history of this ancient republic that we 

 get the story of Cincinnatus. The. story seems almost too good to be 

 true, but in these days of political ambition it is refreshing to hear any- 

 thing that rebukes the spirit of the times. 



The barbarians from the North had attempted an invasion and had 

 entrapped the Roman army in a narrow mountain pass. A courier made 

 his way back to Rome and informed the senate that help must be sent 

 at once or the army would be lost. Terror reigned in the city. In the 

 crisis the Fathers appealed to Cincinnatus, who hastily gathered the old 

 men and boys together and, marching at their head, defeated the enemy. 

 When he returned triumphant to Rome the grateful people wished to 

 make him director, but the noble Cincinnatus declined all honors and 

 went quietly back to his plow. Whether true or not, the story has placed 

 the mantle of immortality upon the Roman farmer. Against the dark 

 background of perverted political ambition the ideal Cincinnatus will 

 stand out as a shiniog contrast for all time. Where and when will 

 appear the modern Cincinnatus? 



A new ideal of farm life is needed. One that will draw the farmer 

 away from the past and set new standards for the future. An idea that 

 will tend to cultivate the brain as well as to increase the bank account. 

 The farmer must learn to measure life, not only by its length but also 

 by its breadth. He must make a pleasant home and surround himself 

 with intelligent companions. His ambitions must not be as the witty 

 and eloquent Ingersoll said, "to raise more corn to feed more hogs, to 

 get more money, to buy more land to raise more corn to feed more 

 hogs," and so on adinfinittim. Instead, he should conduct his affairs of 

 life and business so that when his days of activity are over he could 

 look back over a life of usefulness with the satisfaction not of owning 

 broad acres of land and possessing great riches, but with that serene 

 satisfaction that comes of a knowledge of having spent an honest useful 

 life, conscious of leaving the world better than he found it. Such a 

 man, when summoned by death, can, as the poet says, 



"Wrap the draperies of his couch about him. 

 And lie down to pleasant dreams." 



Such we hope will be the farmer of the future." 



