Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 254, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1917 — Men Have Been Blind to Opportunities to Be Found in Agricultural Pursuits [ARTICLE]

Men Have Been Blind to Opportunities to Be Found in Agricultural Pursuits

By Warner M. Van Nordea,

New York Banker

Eyes have been blinded to the magnitude of the opportunities afforded by the development of agricultural pursuits, due in great part to modern inventions having made easily possible the accumulation of wealth which has been gathered with but little heed as to how long the supply would last It has been done in our skimming way as we do many things — sip the froth without tasting the substantial. But the roots of humanity strike deep into the -earth and it is only now when the question of our very existence is automatically forced on us that we reflect upon the pos--Abilities of this endeavor. From time immemorial the farmer has been the vertebrae of all nations, and the countries who possess the wisdom of foresight have accorded him his rightful place. Countries which have turned their minds and attention to other pursuits are becoming cognizant that their life will be at stake if more effort is not directed toward agricultural development. The pendulum is swinging backward once more and farming will come into its own. Farming unlocks a thousand doors of opportunity. The days of pioneering are over. Trails have become roads; facilities for the transmission of intelligence are innumerable. »The development awaits the keen awakening to the modern necessities of sustenance. To the homeseeker, the man who wants a paradise, his own vine and fig tree, farming is replete with suggestions and there is no country better prepared to promote these suggestions and individual dreams than the United States. Millions of acres are going practically to waste, but the enormity of this available land should in no wise create an infamous reflection upon the quality and condition of the land, but rather construed as a derogation of the man who has been content to look afar for verdant fields without inspecting those about him.