FARMERS' CONGRESS. 



211 



the hillsides, deep gullies are cut in the sloping 

 fields. A moderate proportion of forest land, prop- 

 erly distributed, would remedy this great evil, or 

 at least moderate it, by holding back in the 

 spongy soil and leaf mold a portion of the water 

 to a time of need. Trees maintain an even tem- 

 perature, modifying the cold of winter and the 

 heat of summer. Evaporation is rapid where the 

 wind blows strongly over a field. Often the crops 

 are ruined by hot winds, which absorb their mois- 

 ture more rapidly than their roots can draw it 

 from the earth. Belts of timber, by guiding the 

 air currents upward, overcome this rapid evapora- 

 tion. Without the shade and shelter of forests the 

 snow melts more quickly, flowing rapidly away in 

 early spring, leaving little for the later and dryer 

 season. The State which protects its forests and 

 encourages tree culture, although the present out- 

 lay may seem burdensome, will be a prosperous 

 commonwealth in the years to come. The farmers 

 of America can in no way serve their country 

 better than by perpetuating the noble trees of 

 American forests, securing to posterity a country 

 not devastated by avaricious spoilers, but adorned 

 with the trees so necessary to the comfort and 

 well-being of all people." 



Mr. J. G. Springer, of Colorado, president of the 

 National Live Stock Breeders' Association, made 

 a short address, in which he took the ground that 

 the farmer did not know his power or did not care 

 to exercise it, and that he spent too much time in 

 idle grumbling when he should be correcting the 

 injustice under which he is suffering. Mr. 

 Springer made a strong argument in favor of 

 giving the Interstate Commerce Commission 

 greater powers. In his opinion the commission 

 did not have enough powers at the beginning, 

 and it had been shorn of what it had until it 

 had become only a very expensive means of col- 

 lecting some statistics. He attacked the Grout 

 bill, and took the ground that neither State Legis- 

 latures nor Congress had the right to ruin an 

 established industry by enacting effective -anti - 

 oleomargarine legislation: and he asserted that 

 such legislation would inflict on the stock growers 

 of the country a loss much greater than any loss 

 that oleomargarine would inflict on the butter- 

 makers. 



At the evening session a paper on agriculture as 

 a branch of public education was read by Mr. 

 Ethan Brooks, of Massachusetts, who said : " Boys 

 are now taught, under public instruction, the use 

 of mechanical tools. Since the object of public 

 instruction is to enable the rising generation the 

 better to earn a living and to become good citi- 

 zens; since there is nothing better than home- 

 holding to induce the average man to interest 

 himself in good government ; since the uncertain- 

 ties as to constant employment and as to success 

 in business undertakings arc so great; since a 

 permanent abiding place is all essential, and a 

 home and a living business can be had most 

 economically in the country; and since we have 

 the promise that ' while the earth remaineth, seed- 

 time and harvest shall not cease,' is it not a great 

 mistake to neglect instruction in agriculture? 

 We have our agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations, all doing noble work. Has not the time 

 come when it would be well to adopt the kinder- 

 garten idea in these lines of instruction? Let 

 us encourage an education that shall engender a 

 desire for a home where the family may engage 

 in tilling their own ground: beginning, if neces- 

 sary, in a small way; growing largely their own 

 food supply, including the luxury of a full line 

 of fruits and vegetables known in perfection only 

 by those who gather them from their own grounds 



and place them fresh upon their tables, and mak- 

 ing year after year improvements which shall so 

 increase the productiveness ot the farm that as 

 strength declines the labor of former years may 

 bring its return." 



Seilor Jose Romero, of the Mexican legation, 

 Washington, a duly accredited delegate from 

 Mexico, was the first speaker of the morning 

 session, Aug. 23. His subject was General Agri- 

 culture in Mexico. A motion for a vote of thanks 

 for his able address was adopted unanimously. 



Mr. W. W. Bates, formerly United States Com- 

 missioner of Navigation, read a paper on the pol- 

 icy and measures for shipping restoration. He 

 advocated the policy of the early days of the 

 republic toward our shipping and opposed sub- 

 sidies. He said: "It will take only a few mo- 

 ments of time to prove, presumptively, the inca- 

 pacity and inefficiency of state aid largely to in- 

 crease a marine. For this we need not go beyond 

 our own trade. France has been aiding her marine 

 with building and sailing bounties for nineteen 

 years, and Italy has been employing this system 

 for fifteen years. The vessels of both nations run 

 freely in our foreign trade. I Avill put this ques- 

 tion : If the prescription of state aid is as powerful 

 a remedy for shipping decay and as potential in 

 causing growth and development of shipowning 

 and shipbuilding as we are told that it is by the 

 advocates of the pending subsidy bill, how hap- 

 pens it that the commerce of our principal ports 

 has not, in the smallest degree, yet felt effects 

 from the French and Italian policies?" 



At the afternoon session was read a paper on 

 Natural Irrigation, by Prof. H. W. Campbell, of 

 Nebraska. " Natural irrigation is secured by a 

 complete rearrangement and pulverizing of the 

 top G or 7 inches of soil, and turning it as 

 nearly bottom upward as possible each year. Be- 

 fore plowing the top 4 inches should be thor- 

 oughly pulverized. Then this finely fitted sur- 

 face soil must be turned down into the bottom 

 of a furrow 6 or 7 inches deep. Immediately 

 after plowing, the lower 4 inches of the furrow 

 slice roust be packed as firmly as possible with 

 the subsurface packer. The next important step 

 is to go over the ground to pulverize all surface 

 lumps, thus forming a mulch of loose, dry soil. 

 Water can not pass up through loose, dry soil by 

 capillary attraction. Therefore the soil mulch 

 protects the moisture in the root bed from evap- 

 oration and saves all the natural rainfall for the 

 use of the plant." 



The rest of this day's session was occupied with 

 the report of the Finance Committee, the Com- 

 mittee on Resolutions, and the Committee on 

 New Constitution. 



A long series of resolutions was adopted, to 

 this effect: Favoring appropriations for river and 

 harbor improvements; urging the establishment 

 of a direct mail service, in American steamers, 

 between the United States and South America; 

 favoring the construction and control by the 

 United States of the Nicaragua Canal; favoring 

 the Grout bill in regard to oleomargarine; favor- 

 ing congressional action to restore the American 

 merchant marine; commending the Secretary of 

 Agriculture for his work in collecting and dis- 

 tributing seeds; approving free mail delivery in 

 rural districts; disapproving the proposal to lease 

 public lands for grazing; asking for legislation 

 to reduce the rates charged for use of sleeping 

 cars; declaring that the water of all streams 

 should forever remain public property, and that 

 the right to its use should inhere not in the indi- 

 vidual but in the land reclaimed: pledging every 

 effort to make the exposition at Buffalo in 1901 



