g! THE LETTER THAT 



PROMPTED THIS BOOK 



WHAT I HAVE DONE. 



Aside from talking in my own circle about 

 the proposition I addressed an open letter to 

 the Secretary of Agriculture early in 1906, and 

 more than 500 newspapers in the country, in- 

 cluding many of the leading ones, noticed it. 

 It elicited editorials from such men as Henry 

 Watterson, Lafayette Young and others. 

 Giants of the press have realized the national 

 importance of the subject. The suggestions I 

 made to the Secretary to promote this move- 

 ment were novel yet feasible. My appeal to 

 have the Government, through the Department 

 of Agriculture, facilitate matters by providing 

 special bureaus and publicity to acquaint city 

 dwellers with the golden opportunities awaiting 

 the worker in agricultural fields has, as yet, been 

 unheeded. Mr. Wilson received the letter, yet 

 nothing has come of it, possibly because the 

 Honorable Secretary realizes the inertia of the 

 public. However, he has given the idea a gen- 

 eral endorsement, for in receiving a delegation 

 which came to interest him in a plan to open 

 lands to the unemployed, he said: " The duty 



