196 



DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



mentioned, I think that next to Australia we are probably the biggest sheep 

 country, and although we are much smaller than is the United States, we 

 have about as many sheep as you have in this country. You can realize that 

 it means quite a large number. 



We are introducing better stock. One of the steamship companies go- 

 ing between London and Capetown is carrying stock free of charge, and 

 a large number of farmers are getting a purer breed. I must say that 

 the people there have not gone in for pure-bred stock as they have in this* 

 country, but as I say, we are young yet but are making fast progress. As 

 to the business side, I will say that the government is giving all the aid it 

 can to the country. Any farmer can get money from the bank at 3 per- 

 cent, and I think that the only stipulation is that the farmer must pay it 

 back in 30 years, which gives him plenty of time. Since the war, four agri- 

 cultural colleges have made great progress. The government also sent away 

 a large number of students to different countries. About sixteen students 

 were sent shortly after the war to the United States and Australia. Most 

 of these men are back now and are doing good work. We feel that the 

 United States and Europe are our father and mother, but we hope some 

 time to grow big just as you are growing big and bigger. What are our 

 needs ? 



Our needs can be summed up very easily in three words that begin with 

 I. The first, instruction; second, irrigation; third, immigration. A great 

 deal is being done in the line of instruction in agricultural colleges. The 

 schools have no agrcultural teachers, and there is no development in that 

 line. A good deal of the country is under irrigation, or dry-farming. The 

 farmers must come to use the best methods of conserving the moisture in 

 the best way. As to immigration, here we have this big stretch of coun- 

 try, almost one-fifth of the United States. You have 100 million population, 

 and we have only 1 1-4 million white people, and about 8 million black, so 

 you can see what a vast difference this makes. What we need there is 

 more people. We want education, the best use of the land, and wo want 

 more people so we can develop our industries and our farms. Then, just 

 as you did forty or fifty years ago, you looked to the west, so our people 

 are locking to the north. I hope that we at least will be helpful in a little 

 way in trying to develop our people. Don't just think merely of Africa; 

 think of South Africa, the second largest continent in the world, and how 

 very, very little of that country is developed. Why should it not be good 

 for people who live there? What is the matter with the place? Why, 

 you say, the big Sahara desert. All the provinces of South Africa can be 

 cultivated if better methods are used. 



We are trying to get what we can from you, and we hope you will give 

 us what you can, and we hope that we in our generation will help to pro- 

 mote civilization as well as we can. 



I thank you. 



MR. MANTLE: 



That was an interesting glimpse of the southern part of a great conti- 



