FARMERS' NATIONAL CONGRESS. 



271 



er of Iowa, addressed the congress on Railway 

 Transportation. He said: "As the railway com- 

 pany takes the place and in some sense the obli- 

 gation of the government to see to it that there 

 are public highways for the movement of the 

 commerce and travel of the nation, all patrons of 

 these semigovernment railways should be treated 

 equally. 1 am not yet a convert to the idea of 

 the danger or wrong of the cheap long haul. As 

 long as active competition holds sway between 

 great trunk lines, I do not see how the amount 

 of watered or real stock cuts much of a figure in 

 freight rates. The farmers of the great West, 

 although they have been ridiculed and maligned 

 as favoring drastic granger legislation, know too 

 well the value of railroad transportation to make 

 an unreasonable war on railroads." 



At the afternoon session Dr. E. B. Voorhees, 

 director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, read a paper on Fertilizers and 

 their General Application, in which he emphasized 

 the necessity for and economy of the judicious 

 use of commercial fertilizers and the value and 

 necessity of official inspection, and laid down the 

 scientific principles of the general application of 

 fertilizers. The congress extended a vote of 

 thanks to Dr. Voorhees. 



The Hon. James W. Robertson, Dominion Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture, Ottawa, addressed the 

 congress on the Canadian Department of Agricul- 

 ture. He said : " There are only some kinds of 

 help which a government may with benefit and 

 safety extend to its people those that develop 

 intelligence, skill, and the tendency and powers 

 of organization. The Department of Agriculture 

 believes in the newspaper. It is one of the most 

 taking ways of diffusing information. We have 

 employed traveling dairy instructors. The Gov- 

 ernment has established illustration stations to 

 give object lessons. Farmers have been encour- 

 aged in every practicable way to enlarge the 

 sphere of co-operation with one another." 



JOHN M. STAHL, 

 SECRETARY OF THE FARMERS' CONGRESS. 



Dr. E. L. Furness, of Indiana, presented a paper 

 on Farming as it Influences and is Influenced. 

 He said : " Everywhere man clings to the land. 

 It is the earth that nourishes him, and on the 

 rational and scientific culture of the soil depend 

 not only the existence and power of nations, but 



the perpetuation of the human family. Occupa- 

 tion, with ownership of land, will bring out the 

 best results for the individual arid the community. 

 The difficulties the farmer has always faced has 

 brought out in his character the essential de- 

 structiveness to overcome them, and by oppos- 

 ing he has grown strong in the struggle. To 

 supply his wants and protect himself he has had 

 to plan, devise, and build, thus developing con- 

 structiveness. The necessity to deal with and 

 preserve young and tender plants and animals 

 has cultivated in him a painstaking and foster- 

 ing spirit." 



The evening session was devoted to good roads. 

 The Hon. W. W. Armstrong, of New York, speak- 

 ing of Advantages of State Aid to Farmers, said 

 that the State-aid law should not compel a local- 

 ity to build good roads until the sentiment of 

 the locality itself inaugurated the movement, and 

 that it should provide substantial assistance to 

 those localities desiring good roads, and in such 

 a way that those localities most desiring good 

 roads may get aid first. The Hon. H. T. Budd, 

 Commissioner of Public Works of New Jersey, 

 read a paper on What New Jersey Farmers think 

 of State Aid, which made it clear that they 

 heartily approved it. Mr. William E. McClintock, 

 member of the Massachusetts Highway Commis- 

 sion, gave the history of The Roads built in 

 Massachusetts by State Aid. 



This session was presided over by Sterling Elli- 

 ott, chief consul of the Massachusetts division of 

 the League of American Wheelmen, and the pro- 

 gramme was arranged by Otto Dorner, chairman 

 of the Highway Improvement Committee of that 

 organization. In this way the congress showed 

 its sympathy with the good roads' movement and 

 State aid. 



Friday morning the Hon. H. C. Adams, Dairy 

 and Food Commissioner of Wisconsin, read a 

 paper on The Necessity of Pure-food Legislation. 

 He said : " The people of this country spend at 

 least $300,000,000 for food products that are 

 mixed with cheap or injurious adulterants ^ or 

 sold under misleading names. The food question 

 is a serious one. It concerns the public health. 

 It touches the public pocket. Oleomargarine has 

 its rights. It has a right to be sold under its 

 own name and color if not injurious to the public 

 health. Pure-food legislation should be both 

 State and national. A national pure-food law 

 would give the food products of this country 

 better standing in foreign markets." 

 ' At the afternoon session was read a paper pre- 

 pared by Mr. II . R. Hilton, of Kansas, on The 

 Western Tenant and his Eastern Landlord, in 

 which it was shown that "the tenant farmer 

 should be given a longer lease, and a chance to 

 help himself, help his nonresident landlord, and 

 help his State." 



The evening session was treated to an eloquent 

 address on Improved Farming in the South, by 

 Col. T. C. Slaughter, of Texas. He said : " Cheap 

 cotton is teaching us diversity of crops with a 

 vengeance. The South has been and is still land 

 poor, but new methods are coming into vogue. 

 Booker T. Washington understands fully the true 

 condition of his people, and every Southern citi- 

 zen bids him Godspeed in his noble work. The 

 South is building here and there silos, packeries, 

 sugar refineries, canneries, flouring mills, wool 

 and cotton and oil mills; she is organizing State 

 and county farmers' institutes, horticulture, 

 dairy, cattle, sheep, swine-breeders', and truck- 

 growers' associations; she is agitating the ques- 

 tion of teaching agriculture in her common 

 schools; she is learning to grow early vegetables, 



