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day area of cultivated land. For when you remember that we, on prac- 

 tically virgin soil, are raising crops les^ than one-third the volume raised 

 in Europe on land tilled for more than a thousand years, a faint idea is 

 obtained of the development ahead of us if we do our duty. 



When, also, it is recalled that in many sections product per acre 

 has been raised, in certain crops, from 30 bushels to 300 bushels to the 

 acre, there comes a vision of a new America, and a new area of prosperity, 

 alongside of which all other eras will seem practical failures. 



We must look at this question on all sides, and that is the great 

 advantage of just such a convention as this, where men who are scientific- 

 ally trained to approach great economical questions, who are accustomed 

 in their daily business life to measure probabilities underlying various 

 kinds of projects, put their whole attention for a time on this one great 

 question of producing and marketing agricultural products. 



As I have already said, it is dangerous to regard a question from 

 only one point of view and to believe that this point is the only point. 

 That lesson was driven home to me recently when driving a car along a 

 New Jersey road. Rounding a corner I found my progress blocked by 

 an overturned load of hay. The driver of the team was slowly endeavoring 

 to clear the roadway. He seemed so hot and tired that I suggested that 

 he take a rest for a few moments. *'No!" he answered sharply. ''I 

 cannot stop; father wouldn't like it." His manner, as well as his words, 

 rebuffed me, and I lit a cigar, paced up and down for five minutes, then 

 the fellow's evident exhaustion made me feel it my duty to again warn him. 

 Putting my hand on his shoulder I said, ''My dear fellow, you must rest 

 for a few minutes; you are getting dangerously hot." *'No!" he again 

 replied, '' I cannot stop; father wouldn't like it." Annoyed at this seeming 

 excess of meekness, I exclaimed, "Where is your father?" "Under the 

 hay," was his terse answer. 



In this case I had misjudged the whole situation, blaming the man's 

 risk of his life to a fear of a scolding from a father safely resting at home, 

 whereas the case did justify active effort on the part of my new acquaint- 

 ance. This, as I say, suggests the necessity of looking at this question 

 from all points of view, and I believe if that course is followed one of the 

 first points that will impress itself deeply on the fair-minded student is a 

 fact which has given me cause for serious thought. I had noted, as you 

 all have noted, the tremendous amount of space occupied in the press with 

 record of speeches and articles charging excessive freight rates on the 

 railroads, and ascribing many of our ills to this condition. What a new 

 light is thrown on this whole subject when, studying a little deeper, we 

 come to realize that all this agitation has to do with freight rates which 

 figure at less than one cent a ton a mile. Meanwhile, nothing, hardly, 

 is said of our foolishness in following a policy in road development which 

 places upon our moving crops an excess cost of certainly not less than 

 fifteen cents a ton a mile. 



