104 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



know of to get that information is to try it and see ; and the 

 people that are best equipped to get reliable information of this 

 kind are people that have no land to sell, that have no personal 

 interest in the results that are to come from those experiments, 

 so that they can be uninfluenced as to whether the results are 

 favorable or unfavorable ; and there will be no temptation to 

 look to the good results with a magnifying eye, and the bad re- 

 sults in a diminished estimate, so that the whole truth, by an 

 unprejudiced, disinterested party, can go into things of this 

 Federal and kind ; and that means somebody maintained either by the Fed- 

 State Co-oper- ^^^^ ^^ state funds, or by funds that may be subscribed to by 

 interested people; but the best way, I think, is the basis on which 

 we have worked it out for other experiments, by Federal and 

 state support — so that these men will not be under obligations 

 to anybody. They should not be censored as to what they shall 

 say or can keep from saying about their results. 



I believe there is a great future for these lands. This is the 

 first effort I know of where we have had represented in confer- 

 ence so much talent, men that are deeply interested in the out- 

 come ; where the Government representatives of the Department 

 of Agriculture, the Colleges of Agriculture, the State Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture, the land owners and the railroads and the 

 bankers, all of these people who would be materially affected, 

 both in a material way and in the advancement of the public 

 welfare, have tried to put their heads together. 



Now, let us not be deceived by trying to take short-cut 

 methods. Let us be candid with one another, and with the 

 prospective farm owners, and let them see that we are going 

 to solve these questions. Enough has been tried to make the 

 outlook very encouraging. Enough information has been 

 brought out to show that there is a lot more to do ; that this 

 is not plain sailing ; and that if everything was known that the 

 men want to know you would not be here today. The fact 

 that some of your lands have been offered and have not been 

 taken is an indication that you are not able to tell the pros- 

 pective purchasers what they want to know. They are not 

 going to listen to you very well until you are able to tell 

 them, and then be able to stand by your statements. Until 

 we have the information that will enable us to look a man square 

 in the eye and tell him with a clear conscience that he can do 

 this, and he can expect so and so, and here are the difficulties 



