ADVENTURES IN PHILANTHROPY 



concluded that "Better Farming" did not 

 teach much agriculture to the farmer of the 

 Northwest, but it taught him other things 

 not less valuable. 



The last attempt of this kind to divert his 

 mind from his complaints came in the fall of 

 1915, when the governor of North Dakota 

 set apart one week to be known as "Appre- 

 ciation Week," the time to be utilized in 

 spreading the glad tidings of the many ad- 

 vantages, great happiness, and abounding 

 resources of the state. The newspapers, prac- 

 tically all of which warmly applauded this 

 idea, explained that unprincipled persons had 

 been retailing slanders about North Dakota. 

 These libelers had said that it was a state 

 ridden by corporations and controlled by the 

 railroads, that the farmer there was syste- 

 matically plundered, that abnormal conditions 

 forced upon him by these influences had made 

 farming an unprofitable business. The state 

 was suffering injury by these loathsome false- 

 hoods. Many persons that might otherwise 

 come there to buy farms and town lots were 

 being kept away by such reports, and conse- 

 quently the farmers were enduring heavy 

 losses in the value of their farms. \Vhat was 

 needed was plenty of boosting for North 

 Dakota, the grandest state in the Union. 

 "Boost, don't knock," was the favorite if 

 slangy motto of these publications through- 



13 ' 179 



