American Agriculturist, April 14,1923 
333 
“What Hath God Wrought?” 
Radio—The Latest Phenomenon for Reducing The Curse of Farm Isolation 
I HAVE often thought what fun it would 
be to bring a Yankee farmer who lived, 
say one-hundred years ago, back to earth 
and take a four weeks’ vacation to show 
him the sights. We who are. privileged to 
live in this age are so used to the thousands 
of inventions which help to make modern life 
of interest and worth while that 
we do not realize what a most 
wonderful age it is. But you can 
be assured that our farmer, 
brought to life again after a brief 
hundred years’ rest, would think 
that he had either gone crazy, or 
that all moderns had. Can you 
imagine his face, for instance, 
when he saw for the first time a 
railroad locomotive and train, or 
when you tried to get him to ride 
on one of the strange contrap¬ 
tions? Bear in mind that it was 
less than one-hundred years ago 
when the first locomotive made its 
trial run. What would he think 
when we showed him the modern 
city with its great buildings, its 
manufactories, department stores, 
and all the electrical devices 
that have come since Benjamin 
but it is already developed far enough to give 
promise of .doing more even than anything 
else, which we yet have to reduce the farm¬ 
er’s isolation, to put him in daily touch with 
his markets and with all important news, 
and to bring to him all that is best in 
art, literature and music of the present day. 
Our Radio Service 
/^N Wednesday, April 11, at 7:30 P. M., the address given on this 
page by E. R. Eastman, editor of American Agriculturist, was 
broadcast by radio from the WEAF station of the American Telephone 
and Telegraph Company. Whether you own a radio or not, you 
probably will sometime own one, and you will be interested in Mr. 
Eastman’s outline of the special radio service which the American 
Agricultui’ist is furnishing to farmers through the cooperation of the 
American Telephone Company. 
We are especially interested to have your written suggestions for 
making the radio of more service to farmers. Therefore, if you have 
a radio, will you cooperate by answering the questions suggested 
by Mr. Eastman on this page; and if you do not own a radio, will 
you call these questions to the attention of some friend who does have 
oneP The time is coming when you will use this great invention as 
much as you do the telephone now, or more, and in this development 
that is sure to come, you can have an important part in making it 
especially useful to farmers by cooperating with us and the broadcast¬ 
ing station in developing a real farm-radio service. 
Frank¬ 
lin sent up his kite with a key attached ? 
What would the Yankee farmer say, too, 
when we took him to the farm and showed 
him the grain binder, the milking machine, 
the automobile, the rural-mail delivery, the 
telephone, and the hundred other mechanical 
devices that have changed farming from the 
menial drudgery and lonesome isolation of 
his day to the interesting and worth-while 
business of ours? Comparatively speaking, 
it is only a short time since 1844 
when Samuel Morse, ticked that 
first message by telegraph, “What 
hath God Wrought?” which 
marked the beginning of a new 
day in long-distance communica¬ 
tion. 
“What hath God Wrought?” — 
Those are the words and the sen¬ 
timent that come to me to-night 
as this talk is broadcast into the 
air and carried by radio to thou¬ 
sands of my friends whose farm 
homes dot the hills and valleys 
of what was, before the day of 
modern invention, a lonesome 
and isolated countryside. 
With the possible exception of 
poverty, the greatest curse of 
farm life has been isolation. The 
bitter tears of loneliness that 
have been shed by farm women 
shut off by bad roads and long 
winters from nearly all social in¬ 
tercourse with the outside world, 
have been .nothing less than 
tragedy. Isolation also is largely 
to blame for the fact that the 
farmer, while a good producer, 
has been a poor seller. Until re¬ 
cently he has had no means of 
knowing market conditions nor 
how to meet them, and his isola¬ 
tion has made it difficult to co¬ 
operate with his neighbor. The 
R. F. D., the automobile, good 
roads, the telephone and now this 
last great invention, the radio, 
are bringing about a new day in 
the farmer’s social and economic 
life, and are bringing to country 
homes nearly all of the advantages 
of social and economic intercourse 
that city folks have, with few of 
the disadvantages of city life. 
, The radio is just in its infancy, 
Because Henry Morgenthau, Jr., the pub¬ 
lisher of the* American Agriculturist, and I 
believe this so thoroughly, and because we 
can see the radio has even greater possibili¬ 
ties for farm people, because of their situa¬ 
tion and business than anyone else, we have 
arranged to cooperate for a time at least 
with the American Telephone and Telegraph 
Company, through this station, WEAF,^ to 
giv'e you a special farmer’s radio service, 
and try to find out from you how this means 
of communication can be made of the most 
value to you. This is the first effort that has 
been made in New York State to give farm¬ 
ers a service of this kind. 
The American Agriculturist radio pro¬ 
gram will include the broadcasting of the 
latest news of greatest interest ta farmers, 
_ this news to be written and in¬ 
terpreted entirely from the 
farmer’s standpoint. 
For instance. Lord Robert 
Cecil, England’s best exponent 
of the League of Nations, is 
visiting America to tell our 
people why he believes in the 
League, and to secure from them 
in return suggestions and criti¬ 
cisms which will help to perfect 
a great world organization, 
formed for the purpose of pre¬ 
venting war. Lord Robert’s, 
speech is the clearest and the 
best presentation of the princi¬ 
ples upon which the League of 
Nations is founded. Farm peo¬ 
ple are intensely interested in 
the great problem of preventing 
war; therefore, I think it the 
Radio Questionnaire 
Yes. 
No, 
1. Have you a radio receiving' set? 
2. If so is it (1) A Crystal Set. (2) A Vacuum Tube Set 
3. How many sets in your immediate vicinity?. 
4. What radio broadcasting stations do you hear? 
8 , 
6 . 
5. What day of the week and what time of the day or evening is the 
very best time for broadcasting farm news, market and weather 
reports?. 
6 . How many ordinarily listen in?. 
7. Residfence: City. Town. 
8 . Have you a telephone?. 
9. Is your house wired for electric lights?. 
Boys. 
Male, 
10. How many in' the family: Adults 
Children 
Female. 
Girls 
11. Do you own an automobile.piano.player piano 
phonograph. other musical instruments. 
12. Are you interested in baseball.swimming.... 
boating. camping. photography.... 
hunting. fishing . other sports. 
13. Periodicals or magazines read: 1.... .. . 
4. 
14 
Do you patronize the Public Librax’y... 
circulating Library...'. 
15. Upon what particular subjects would you like to hear interesting, 
instructive .or entertaining talks?. 
duty of a farm paper and of the radio broad¬ 
casting stations to explain and emphasize 
such important news topics as Lord Robert’s 
visit, and to explain what the principles he 
advocates might mean to farm people and to 
the world in general. Perhaps if we cannot 
agree with all of the details of the League, we 
can unite on the fundamental principles that 
will help to prevent other catastrophes such 
as that started by Kaiser Wilhelm in 1914. 
This afternoon at Albany, a great hear¬ 
ing was held by the Joint Educa¬ 
tional Committee in the Legis¬ 
lature on the Rural School Bill, 
which contains the suggestions of 
the Committee of Twenty-one. 
This committee has been work¬ 
ing for three years to get sugges¬ 
tions for improvement of our 
rural schools. Whether or not 
this bill will pass this year is 
problematical, but because of the 
great need of the country chil¬ 
dren for the application of the 
main principle in this bill, it is 
very sure to pass this year or 
next. 
The San Jose Scale, a pest 
which attacks apple and other 
fruit trees, is again becoming 
rampant in eastern orchards. A 
few years ago this scale became 
a serious menace to the fruit pro¬ 
ducing business. Thorough spray¬ 
ing with lime sulphur solution 
held it in check. Such spraying 
should again be resumed and it is 
now time to do it. I mention these 
three different items, general 
news about the League of Na¬ 
tions, the farm news on the Rural 
School Bill and the San Jose Scale, 
to illustrate what I mean of using 
the farm press and the radio to 
express and interpret the news 
from the farmer’s standpoint. 
Would’such a service be valu¬ 
able to you? OuFsuggested agri¬ 
cultural radio program for the 
coming weeks also includes short 
addresses every Wednesday even¬ 
ing at 7/.30, by some of the great¬ 
est farm leaders in the United 
States. The first of these will be 
an address by Professor George 
F. Warren of the New York State 
{Continued on page 338) 
i. 
