210 



FARMERS' CONGRESS. 



ion of those best informed that the present 

 haphazard development ought not to continue. 

 There are many million acres of irrigable lands 

 yet to be reclaimed. In order to know how much 

 of this can safely be offered to settlers we must 

 know how much water each stream will supply 

 and how many acres of land it will serve. Irri- 

 gation laws must be studied. And before devel- 

 opment proceeds much further there should be 

 some common agreement regarding the character 

 of a water right." 



At the morning session of Aug. 22 the Com- 

 mittee on Resolutions made a partial report, and a 

 memorial on the death of the Hon. A. V. Stout, 

 of Iowa, a member of the congress, was adopted. 

 Col. iL B. Killebrew, of Tennessee, read a paper 

 on the natural resources of the South. He said: 

 " Considered in reference to its capabilities for 

 supplying those products most coveted by civi- 

 lized nations, this belt may be regarded as the 

 fairest domain in Christendom. No other region 

 of the globe has such a diversity of valuable farm 

 products. It produces 75 field crops and about 

 as many garden and orchard products. Among 

 these are cotton, of which an average of nearly 

 5,000,000,000 pounds are produced annually. The 

 amount of wheat grown in the South is in- 

 creasing with satisfactory regularity. The to- 

 bacco interests of the South are in a most pros- 

 perous condition. A most favorable indication in 

 the agricultural development of the South is seen 

 in the larger number of forage crops that are now 

 produced. Nothing else, however, in the develop- 

 ment of the South is so striking as the rapid in- 

 crease in the growing of fruits and vegetables 

 for the Northern markets. In the 14 Southern 

 States there are 55,279 square miles underlaid by 

 coal seams. In 1899 the South produced 2,500,000 

 long tons of pig iron. It now makes more iron 

 than the United 'Kingdom made in 1847, and 

 more than the United States made in 1871. The 

 phosphate beds of Tennessee are the greatest 

 known to mankind." 



The hall in which the congress met had not 

 been decorated. Mr. Amos F. Moore, of Illinois, 

 called attention to the fact that the American 

 flag was not to be seen by the congress while in 

 session, which was contrary to its traditions, cus- 

 tom, and spirit; and in an earnest and eloquent 

 address, in which he called attention to the fact 

 that our flag was being attacked in foreign lands, 

 and that our brave soldiers and marines defending 

 it were in danger, he moved that at least one large 

 American flag be provided for the stage. The 

 motion was greeted with prolonged cheers, and 

 the flag was. soon placed in position. 



Mr. George M. Whitaker, dairy commissioner of 

 Massachusetts, read a paper on dairying. He 

 said: "The particular line of thought which I 

 wish to develop is that the dairyman is a manu- 

 facturer, and that the ordinary laws of business 

 apply to him as well as to the manufacturer of 

 cloth or jackknives. The primary essentials in 

 manufacturing are three: First, technical, the 

 know-how in the matter of production; second, 

 executive, the ability to produce at the lowest 

 l-*ihle cost; third, commercial, the ability to sell 

 at a profit. I desire to enter a protest against a 

 tendency to treat practice and science as if they 

 \\cie separate and to some extent competing. To 

 my mind they are almost synonymous. If a the- 

 ory is correct, the practice must be. Correct 

 theory and intelligent practice always agree. Too 

 much idle or unprofitable capital is frequently 

 found in dairying. Cost of production is greatly 

 enhanced in many cases because cows are kept 

 that produce less than good cows are capable of 



producing. How shall we restrict the sale of 

 oleomargarine? It seems to me that the most 

 logical and defensible way is to attack the root 

 of the evil to forbid the introduction of that 

 element which constitutes the fraud, to wit, the 

 color. There is just as much food value in white 

 oleomargarine as in yellow. It is extremely es- 

 sential that we put all the push we can into 

 enacting section 1 of the Grout bill. Cheese 

 seems to be as near the bottom of the ladder as 

 it can get, and an improvement must come as a 

 consequence. And as the world advances fraud 

 will be less rampant and aggressive." 



At this point the Committee on the President's 

 Address reported, strongly commending what 

 President Candage had said on transportation on 

 land, on opening direct mail communication and 

 the establishment of direct ocean freight lines be- 

 tween the United States and South American 

 countries, on an interoceanic canal, on the de- 

 velopment of our merchant marine, on agricul- 

 tural education, and on taxation. The report 

 added to President Candage's discussion of these 

 topics, and it was adopted unanimously. 



At the afternoon session Mr. A. J. Lockridge, of 

 Indiana, read a paper on the mission of the farmer. 

 He said : " The mission of the farmer is by no 

 means of an optional character. It belongs, like 

 the sober duties of the churchman, to the need 

 of our common humanity. It is literally an every- 

 day question of bread to the eater. The old 

 wooden mold-board plow, sphinxlike on its perch 

 in the museum, offers suggestive thoughts to the 

 twentieth century farmer. It silently reminds the 

 beholder, as the roar of a great city floats up to 

 his ears, that competition along agricultural lines, 

 glowing just as fiercely as in any part of the 

 business world, must now have the best labor- 

 saving devices with which to work the crops. So, 

 too, its toil-worn parts readily recall the old-time 

 farmer with his meager knowledge of agriculture, 

 and quietly force the conviction of how hopelessly 

 his ways would be handicapped in this swift- 

 moving age. In voiceless but needful emphasis it 

 tells the spectators that the very best designs in 

 machinery, electric energies, and the keenest in- 

 sight into commercial labyrinths must surely pre- 

 vail in the farm management if the farmer is suc- 

 cessful and the world properly fed. . . . Such 

 achievements will call unquestionably for their 

 best efforts not only on the farm, but also at the 

 student's desk. When the day is done the glori- 

 ous task of a student awaits the energetic farmer 

 of the evening lamp. Here he can diligently com- 

 pare the experiments and observations of the day 

 with the course pursued by expert agriculturists, 

 coupled with his own discoveries, and draw bene- 

 ficial conclusions therefrom. Such is the farnic - 

 mission: To grasp right motives on the farm: !> 

 learn every detail of his business: to answer ac- 

 curately the grave question why he should know 

 that business to the end that he may follow his 

 mission faithfully, intelligently, successfully.'' 



This was followed by an address by Mr. John P. 

 Brown, of Indiana, upon Agriculture Dependent 

 upon Forests. He said: "The intimate relation- 

 ship existing between the agriculture of a nation 

 and her forests is but little understood by a larjre 

 class of citizens. The value of woodlands i^ 

 grently underestimated by farmers who are so 

 largely dependent upon their influences. The 

 rainfall upon which we depend for every farm 

 crop has become irregular since the denudation 

 of vast timber areas. Kach summer we see pro- 

 tracted droughts with their many and diverse in- 

 juries to fanners. After a season the rains come 

 in torrents and cease not, the soil is washed fr 



