58 



DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



to this war, was a most densely populated and civilized country. It was 

 and is yet, despite the war, a land of happy homes. In Belgium there is- 

 nothing wasted. Every back yard contains a garden, some flowers, or 

 .some poultry. There is no such thing in Belgium, they tell me, as wasted 

 land or wasted people, and that Belgian visiting us and looking upon us as 

 friends, was forcibly struck with the waste of people we have here — unem- 

 ployed people, poorly employed people, — and the vast untenanted areas of 

 land in this country. A farmer trying to farm too big a farm, the rancher 

 trying to ranch too big a ranch, too many of us trying to cover too much 

 territory. 



If the State of Kansas and the State of Oklahoma were managed by 

 the same methods and the same plan as are followed in Belgium and 

 California, if the farmer who cultivates an apple orchard would cultivate 

 it as well as they do in Oregon and California, I believe they would get 

 as many and as good apples as they do in those states. In other words, I 

 think we need to learn the lesson of thrift, and if this European war can 

 teach us Americans to wake up, then the war in Europe, terrible though 

 it is, will be a boon to this country. If this memorable war will cultivate in 

 us the spirit of thrift and make out of Americans the same kind of thrifty 

 people as are found in Belgium, it is the best thing in the world for this 

 country. 



Governor Cruce knows how to make a speech. He has a head on him 

 as long as a tool chest and he has good grey matter in it and it is in fine 

 working order, and I wish he were here to make a speech on this occasion. 

 While I cannot take his place — I would not undertake to do that, in view of 

 the grey matter, — still it is a pleasure to me to try to represent him here. 



This is a great work, this is a great business, and I think the man who 

 is getting something out of the soil is the true producer, and we lawyers 

 and doctors and printers are parasites. You people who are farming are 

 the sturdy oaks, and we other folks are just simply the clinging vines. 



TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1914 

 MORNING SESSION. 

 Livestock Session 



PRESIDENT WATERS: 



This is the Livestock Session of the Congress. 



It will be an important session, dealing with a feature of agriculture, 

 and especially of dry-farming, that is becoming more and more recog- 

 nized. 



We are peculiarly fortunate in having as presiding officer this morn- 

 ing an authority in the Midwest on this important subject, Dean E. A. Bur- 

 nett of the College of Agriculture, Lincoln, Nebraska. 



Before I present him, however, I wish to call attention to the fact that 

 the afternoon program, a continuation of these Livestock Sessions, will 

 be held at the Livestock Exchange, Wichita Union Stockyards, in conjunc- 



