CHAPTER XVII. 



THE PRODUCER THE HERO AND SAVIOR OF THE WAR-MAD 



WORLD 



NEVER before in the history of the world was there such a dire need 

 of soldiers. In this critical time that tries men's souls we need a huge 

 multitude of soldiers, strong, sturdy and staunch, scientifically trained. 

 A hungry, starving world is crying out for soldiers. Our schools have 

 not produced enough of them. We have neglected to provide soldiers 

 to look after the bread baskets and larders of the world. Hungry 

 mothers and babies are crying for bread all over the land, while broad, 

 fertile acres lie barren and unconquered. We need soldiers of the soil 

 that will conquer the barren wastes and wring from the earth food for 

 the widows and orphans who have been stricken in this horrible 

 tragedy. In this terrible hour when the business of the world is war 

 we need big, broad-minded soldiers, soldiers to make war on famine 

 and who can realize that their first and highest sense of duty is to feed 

 the women and babies dependent upon them. It takes courage of the 

 highest type to stand by the plow and the reaper in these war-mad 

 times. A courage that foresees the greatest needs of a hungry world 

 and dares to do in spite of the whirlwind of patriotism. Our public 

 schools should teach our boys and girls that the noblest calling their 

 country has for them is to till the soil and be a producer. Health and 

 strength and peace of mind and plenty would then be the common 

 possession of every individual. Our schools should teach our boys and 

 girls to be producers, not parasites. Busy, healthy, contented people 

 would never fight over boundary lines. It is only when they are pinched 

 and ground down and discontented with their daily lot that they can 

 be led into war. There is enough fertile land in the world to place 

 every family in a cottage out under the blue sky, surrounded by flowers 

 and vegetables and domestic animals and choice fruits and berries. We 

 need more universities that can teach humanity to produce the luxuries 

 of a good generous living from the soil. This is the natural life for man 

 that brings him close to nature and instills the noblest qualities in 

 peace of mind and love for the beautiful. 



Famine, gaunt, hungry, desperate, follows in the wake of war. 

 While the best brawn and muscle of the nations of the world are drill- 

 ing, drilling, drilling, or living in trenches like moles and rats, or lie 

 rotting upon torn battlefields, while the choicest manhood of the 

 nations are bent upon destruction, who is there to join the army of 

 producers and wage war upon the high cost of living and feed the 

 hungry world? 



When humanity has to spend long, weary hours in gaining the bare 

 necessities of life, there is little joy in living and no hope of economical 

 independence, then comes despair, and discontent, and revolutions, 

 and the grossest tragedy, war. The safest education that the schools 

 of the nation can bestow upon its boys and girls is that education that 

 teaches them to produce their own food with their own hands from 

 the mother earth. It is the natural instinct of every child to want to 

 grow things in the soil. Every child should be brought up in a garden. 



9S 



