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pend upon the way our farmers use it. It is, I believe, the duty 

 of every farmer to make the greatest possible use of this service. 



We can make it grow and develop as we did rural free de- 

 livery, if we will patronize it and make it pay from the start. 

 There is more at stake in this thing than you imagine. It means 

 the beginning of a revolution in transportation and business putting 

 both back nearer to the people. I do not see how we can help 

 following the English system of gradually putting railroads, tele- 

 graphs, telephones and similar utilities more or less under govern- 

 ment control. I think that is the universal tendency of the times. 

 In England the result of this has been to give the small freeholder 

 and the tenant a fairer share. While fifteen or twenty years ago 

 it was openly stated that English agriculture was ruined, to-day the 

 English farmer is, on the whole, better off than ever before. This 

 is true even in the face of the fact that imports of food into Eng- 

 land are greater than ever before. It is not due so much to the 

 increased production, or better farming, as to the fact that through 

 fairer transportation and co-operation English farmers get more 

 of the dollar than they did before. I think the same thing is to 

 follow here, and that Parcels Post is the beginning of the use of 

 public utilities for the direct service of the people. We as farmers 

 have it in our power to bring this about, or to make a failure of 

 the system. 



Pure Food and Honest Packing. 



I think it is the duty of every citizen to support all laws to 

 prevent deception of any sort. Guaranteed food and packing is 

 the foundation of direct trade to the consumer. He has been 

 deceived so often that he will gladly give his money to the man 

 who hands him a square deal and a fair bargain. Pure food and 

 package legislation with Parcels Post are the connecting links to 

 bring producer and consumer together. When you can do that 

 you have the whole thing in your hands. I could name other spe- 

 cific things which all good citizens should support, no matter what 

 party they think they belong to. These are not party questions, 

 but patriotic questions, because they get down to the root of things, 

 the rights of the small freeholder to live and prosper. 



The old soldier I mentioned, and others of us could not make 

 the boys understand because we kept on talking party to them, 

 instead of patriotism. For years you and I voted for the shell of 

 an old party name, while our boys wanted the heart and soul of 

 something which we could not give them. Let me tell you what 

 we have been doing by this illustration. Suppose one party made 

 a wise "resolve" that fruit diseases are a menace to prosperity. 

 They resolve that lime and sulphur is the remedy, and they pledge 

 themselves to use it. Along comes a sulphur manufacturer and 

 puts up $25,000 to pay campaign expenses. After election that 

 man feels that he has bought and paid for the right to demand that 



