1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4 121 



things which they are handling every day in their lives. If 

 they go to the cities, they will make better lawyers, better 

 manufacturers, and thope who have a love for agriculture 

 will make better farmers. 



Mr. Fitch. Is the competition of the farm products of 

 the West an injury rather than a benefit to the New England 

 farmer who is obliged to compete with his neighbors? 



Dr. Twitchell. I say it is a benefit, because, unless 

 pressure is brought to bear on a man, he will never be 

 developed. 



Mr. Fitch. I find I neglected to answer one question 

 suggested by the lecturer. He asked whether the farmers 

 were giving up, or whether it was by their neglect that the 

 Union was not doing all it might do. The point is this. A 

 great many farmers are folding their arms, and crying out 

 to the grange, to this Board, to every place in creation, 

 "Help us!" They are willing to be helped. It is time 

 they were willing to help themselves. Perhaps a quarter 

 of the members of the Milk Producers' Union, which 

 numbers ab >ut fifteen hundred men, have not during the 

 last year and a half paid their dues. Why? Many of 

 them have said, "The Union will fix the price of milk, 

 whether I pay my dues or not." They were willing to be 

 helped, but were not willing to do anything themselves. 

 Others have stayed outside, have not joined the Union, 

 because, as they have said, they could conduct their own 

 business. 



Governor Hoard. I would like to say a word or two, if 

 you will allow me. Dr. Loring has spoken of the abandon- 

 ment of New England farms. I want to assure you that 

 this problem is just as serious in Wisconsin as it is in New 

 England The difficulty with us all through the United 

 States is the abandonment of the farmer, not the abandon- 

 ment of the farm. Why, we have some men in Wisconsin 

 who are absolutely committed to the abandonment of all that 

 is intelligent and sensible. I have a hundred and twenty- 

 four patrons in one of my creameries, and I have studied 

 those men as I never studied anything in my life. I want 

 to give you, in just a moment, a sharp, clear-cut object 

 lesson. We take in that creamery the milk from a hundred 



