The Syracuse Journal, Volume 4, Number 17, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 24 August 1911 — Page 7

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_ ‘W’- Tis difficult for those > ho are Hj 5} concerned more with enjoying the luxuries and pleasures of (life than M X they are in securing its necessities W* )to understand the feelings of those f £ Jjjl, J to whom hunger is not ar unusual 'C ) experience. And, yet, we are told J that one-tenth of the Amer ican peopie do not get enough to eat: that four-fifths of our wage et.rners do not earn in excess of SSOO a year. Living on such an Income is like--4 wise more or less incomprehensible to those to whose the expenditure of such a year’s earnings in 9. brief outing in the mountains, the northern woods or at the! seashore Is not an unusual experience. The problem of achievement of ambition and of success tnat confront the business or the professional man is radically different from that prob-

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lem of existence that daily demands a solu tion from 75,000,000 of people in the United States alone. This prob lem is, of course, most acute in those centers of population and industry where great wealth and great poverty exist side by side in striking contrast. While poverty and misfortune are not unknown in the country districts, they exist there generally as a result of accident, misfortune or disease, and

not from the lack of opportunities or th? discrimination and injustice apparently incident to our present industrial system. While the problem of the poor has always been, and doubtless will always be, with us, that is no reason why We should accept with complacency conditions which, if not capable of being completely reforhied, are, at least, capable of considerable correction. The increase in the cost of living in recent years has given a new interest to attempted explanations of existing conditions, and various theories are offered. We are told that th? increase In the amount of gold or rather the decrease in the cost of gold production, "has lowered its value, and, therefore, enlarged our measure of value, with a consequent increase in the cost of necessities as well as the luxuries of life without a corresponding increase in w|ages and salaries; that combinations and trusts have increaseQ the price of their products by arbitrarily fixing the price of the raw material to the producer and the price of the finished product to the consumer; that labor unions have increased the cost of the necessaries of life by the increase that they have brought about in wa|ges; and finally, the explanation is offered that supply has not kept pace with demand; that consumption has Increased more rapidly than has production. It is unusual that a general condition is to be attributed -to any one cause. That all of these influences are more or less responsibly for the present conditions is probably true. Tnat a permanent correction of the tendency of th|e price of the necessities of life to increase must be based upon a proper relation between supply and demand, is at once apparent. A demand increasing out of proportion to the available, supply is sufficient in and of itself to cause an increase in prices. And any correction of the other Conditions ■which may have helped to bring about the increase in the cost of living must necessarily fail unless there is maintained a proper relation between consumption and production. The fact that in 1909 the value of our exports of food-stuffs decreased, as compared with 1908, eighty-seven millions of dollars, while the value of the food-stuffs imported into the country increased thirty-seven millions of dollars, making a charge of one hundred and twenty-four millions of dollars upon the wrong side of our national ledger, shows that the consumption of that which we produce has been increasing more than has the production. To bring about a correction of these conditions it is apparent at once that there must be an increase in production, and the question! is how is this to be accomplished. We must either use to better advantage the soil that is already in cultivation, or cultivate that which is now uncultivated. The truth is, we must do both. Production in this country, as compared with other countries, shows that we are not using to the best advantage the great resources with which nature has endowed us. The average production of wheat in the Netherlands is 34 bushels to the acre; in England, 32; in Germany, 28; in Franck, 20, while in the United States it is only 14. The same disparity is found in'flelds of corn properly cultivated compared with those not properly cultivated. In a recent report it was stated that approximately 40 per cent, of the soil ths,t was cultivated was used in such away as to rather than increase, its productivity. The correction of this condition of inadequate production, due to lack of scientific methods of cultivation, must come from the agricultural department of the United States and the agricultural colleges of the different states. From these sources the farmers must get the scientific information which will enable them to adopt not only effective methods of agriculture, but effective methods for conserving the productivity of the soil. The! other correction must be accomplished by inducing a larger portion of our population to engage In the cultivation of the soil. We can all agree as to the advisability of the “Back to the Soil” movement. But how to make it effective and successful is another and far more difficult problem. Some time ago George Ade, the

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great American humorist, said in a speech before the representatpres of the Associated Press that everybody thought they could “write a play, run a hotel or edit a newspaper.” He might have enlarged his list by adding “become a successful farmed.” To put seed in the ground and see it grow seems sb easy that almost every one imagines himself capable of doing it successfully. But we know that farming, that is, successful farming, is both a science and a business. One can make just as complete a failure of farming as he can of practicing law’, running a hotel or editing a newspaper. It would be worse than useless to encourage the “Back to the Soil” movement if it is not planned and executed in away that is likely to be successful. The natural yearning to “get back to the soil” that comes to most people catises such a movement to appeal to those who are well qualified, as well as to those who are poorly qualified successfully to do their part as cultivators of the soil. To go back to the soil is to the man of ordinary means and under ordinary circumstances something like pioneering, and not every maji, by any means, is capable of becoming a successful pioneer. To undertake indiscriminately, unscientifically and without proper method and organization, to get people back to the soil will result in more of failures than successes; in more of injury than of good. But this work can be accomplished in away that will be both effective arid successful and which will increase the proportion of producers as compared with consumers. All that is necessary for the accomplishment of this result is that the same foresight and organization should be adopted in starting the business of farming as is adopted in the inauguration of any other business enterprise. If men of means, who also have the disposition to help their fellow men ( would realize that they could make a good paying investment, as well as relieve distress and suffering by helping others to return to the soil in the right way, the “back to the soil” movement would then give promise of accomplishing all that its enthusiasts have claimed for it. Such a movement must, of course, be under taken on a busines basis; upon a plan which will promise not only a profitable. return on the investment, but result in giving good homes and steady employment to many people who nped both. It is easy enough to say to the poor of the large cities that they should “go back to the soil;” but for the successful accomplishment of such a result money, and considerable money, is required. One cannot expect to make a living on a few hundred dollars Invested in a farm and the machinery necessary for its cultivation, any more than one can expect to make a living on the same amount invested in any other business. So, in the first place, it requires money or credit to buy a farm, and money or credit to secure necessary Implements, machinery, horses, cows, etc., to successfully conduct it. It will take froin five to one hundred and-sixty acres, according to the character of the soil and the methods of its cultivation, to support a family. You cannot expect large returns from a poor farm, or from a good farm, poorly cultivated. You cannot expect to receive a return from a farming investment out of all proportion to the value of the investment and the labor expended thereon. The difficulty in this proposition begins at once. Many of those whom

we all be Drought back to the soil have neither the money nor the credit necessary to accomplish it. It is as to the method by which this difficulty can be overcome and this deficiency supplied that this articl? is written. There have been successfully established in Missouri and other states in recent years a number of farm home colonies, which seem to offer the best method for bringing people back to the soil in away which is likely to make the experiment a successful one. The general plan of these farm home colonies Is for some individual or association to divide a tract of land available for fanning and fruit raising into a number of small farms, which are sold on easy terms or rented to persons who desire to go back to the soil, with a central or home farm conducted in away and .with the appliances necessary not only to encourage and to instruct, but also to assist those liivitf upon the other farms; the idea being that the central farm, under the control of an experienced farmer, will be a source of example, and with the establishment at some central place of a church, schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, creamery, silos, milk separators and other modern conveniences and necessities of the farm, the chances of succes swill be increased and the chances of failure

resulted a marked benefit to- the settlers, as well as to the people of the surrounding coun ry w have ught many things in the use of t e soil by these foreign farmers that they had not knowm before. « One of the farm colonies that promises the most successful results is a Swiss colony recently established in Howell county, Missouri. Another settlement of similar character hds been established by Col. J. L. Torrey, who was the organizer of one of the “Rough Rider Regiments”, in the war with Spain, and whose regiment through the unfortunate accident of a railroad wreck was perhaps deprived of the opportunity for actual service. Col. Torrey purchased a tract of 10,000 acres upon the southern slope of the Ozarks, which he is selling to deserving people upon terms which practically place it within the reach of all who are looking for an opportunity to engage in farm life who have not the means available to do so. That Col. Torrey is interested in developing good citizens, as well as good farmers, is manifest from the fact, that he insists that every one of his tenants, or*those to whom he sells a farm, shall own an American flag which they shall, on proper occasion, display from their homes. These farm home colonies are all established-on the same general plan. A tract of land is divided up into different farms with a central farm and village. The land is sold or rented on such terms as puts the opportunity to become a farmer within the reach of any deserving man. The profits or returns to be realized from such an investment will, of course, vary according to the size of the farm purchased and the character of the soil. Horace Greeley said that a man could make a living for himself and his family upon five acres of land. This is true x)f some land and not true of other land. But at is true that with a small acreage properly cultivated, with cows, hogs and chickens well managed, a good living can be made on a comparatively small investment if the enterprise is conducted with industry and intelligence. It is, however, always dangerous to “count your chickens before they are hatched.” The results in farming enterprises, as in other enterprises, will usually fall short of expectation. Bad luck, accidents and other misfortunes will, of course, confront the farmer. But if he has “the right stuff in him,” the land will yield him a liberal return if he will use good judgment, work hard and stick to IL He can then be independent of the beef trusts and other trusts; enjoy luxuries that the city man of means cannot secure, and view with complacency an increase in the cost of living when he realizes that fie is a producer as well as a consumer. When President Roosevelt’s Country Life commission, after an extended investigation of conditions of country life throughout the country, made its report to the effect that improvement in the social life of the farmer was one of our most important problems, many regarded this statement as a mere academic or theoretical utterance. But any one really familiar with the conditions of country life knows full well that the limited social life of the country is one of the greatest disadvantages that now exists in connection with the cultivation of the soil. To provide a proper social life is an essential If the "Baek to the Soil” movement is to be made generally successful

correspondingly lessened. The isolation and lonesomeness incident to individual effort in getting back to the soil is thus, of course, avoided, with a consequent improvement of conditions of social life. Under the auspices of the Catholic church. . and particularly under the direction of Archbishop John J. Glennon of the St. Louis dipcese, there have been established in Missouri a number of such farm home settlements which have proven both interesting and beneficial. One was established some years ago at Knobview as an Italian colony, which has enjoyed a most successful career. There has

New News of Yesterday

Would Have Changed History

Thurlow Weed’s Chat About the Effort to Nominate Daniel S. Dickinson for Vice President With Lincoln. “How different would have been the course of American history right after the close of the civil war,” said Thurlow Weed to me a year or two before his death, which occurred in 1882. “had we been able to accomplish what a good many of us thought would be a very wise thing to do at the time of the convention in 1864 which nominated Abraham Lincoln for president.” The famous old Whig ahd Republican political leader paused for an instant and reached out his hand towards me so that he might feel my hand, since he was then almost blind. “Did you ever see Daniell S. Dickinson?” he asked. “Did yob ever hear him speak? If you did. you were fortunate. I believe he came from a little town on the site of a mountain in northwestern ConnectitcuL called Goshen, and that in his early life he expected to be a tailor. But he was a born orator. Did you ever hear him?” I told M?. Weed that I had seen and heard Daniel S. Dickinson in the summer of 1863. and that he greatly resembled physically Henry Ward Beecher, excepting that he was a talldf man. “Yes, that is so,” Mr. Weed replied. “He wore bls ifhir long, as Beecher did; he was also* smooth shaven and he had the same projecting or full eyes which I long ago learned are one of the best physical evidences of the power of oratory. You heard him make a political speech. I presume?” 1 replied that Mr. Dickinson had come to Connecticut not to make political speeches, but Instead to speak for the cause of the Union and so to speak as to encourage men to enlist “Oh, I remember that time very well,” Mr. Weed replied. “It was just after the draft riots in 1863 and enlistments were slow’. It was necessary to fill up depleted regiments. Mr. Dickinson was sent for to make speeches in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. These speeches rekindled the excitement and enthusiasm which prevailed in New’ England during the first year of the war.”

Wrong That Ingalls Righted

How the Brilliant Kansan Took Back His Caustic Remark About Senator Logan “Thinking He & Was Thinking.” In 1882 General Grant published an article in which he, frankly admitted that he had been in gross error in imputing to Major General Fitzjohn Per ter conduct at the second battle of Bull Run, in August, 1862, which justified the verdict of a court-martial by which General Porter was cashiered, dismissed from the army and forever prohibited from holding any office under the United States government. As a result of General Grant’s magnanimous action, which he called a simple act of justice, congress passed a bill removing some of the penalties prescribed by the court-martial. There were, however, some technical defects to this bill, and General Arthur w’as compelled to veto it But in the first administration of President Cleveland another bill became a law by which the sentence of ex-General Porter was expunged, and he was restored to the United States army with the rank of colonel. At the time the so-called Fitzjohn Porter bill came before the senate in the administration of President Arthur, public interest was greatly aroused: there were many senators who accepted General Grant’s view that General Porter had been unjustly sentenced, while others were sincerely convinced that the verdict of the court-martial was fully justified by General Porter’s conduct at the second Bull Run. It was observed by a number of senators about this time that Gen. John A. Logan, one of the senators from Illinois, contracted the habit of spending an hour or two every afternoon pacing back and forth before the screen which concealed the cloakroom from the senate chamber. General Logan always wore a frock coat which carried coat-tails of unusual length, reaching below his knee. He presented a striking picture as he slowly paced back and forth along the rear aisle. His head, covered as it was with thick masses of very black hair, locks of which strayed frequently over his forehead and were tossed back with an impatient jerk of the head, was bent forward, as though he were studying the outlines of the floor Occasionally he would thrust his hands beneath his coat-tails and cause them to flap 1 violently. He seemed absorbed In deep thought, but there were senators who thought he was posing. “Ingalls,” said a colleague to the brillian’t senator from Kansas, "Ingalls, have you noticed Logan pacing medi tatiVely back an<forth at the rear of the senate -

By E. J. EDWARDS

“That be certainly did in my town,” I replied. “Mr. Dickinson spoke in the public square. There was a great crowd around the platform. After he finished, some twenty-five or thirty young men stepped out of that crowd, went to the platform, and gave their names to the enlisting officer, who sat at a table there.” “Now,” continued Mr. Weed, “you will understand why so many Repute licans thought that it would be the w’isest step to take to nominate Daniel S. Dickinson for vice president with Lincoln at the Republican national convention in the spring of 1864. Dickinson was universally recognized as one of the greatest living orators of the United States. He had been United States from New’ York. He had been a Defnocrat all along and a warm friend Os President Franklin Pierce, but when war began he was one of the first tq put /party behind him. “I never knew exactly why the plan to nominate Daniel S. Dickinson for

First Colonel of Negroes

How Robert G. Shaw, Though Citizen of Massachusetts, First Enlisted With the Seventh New York Regiment. Fifty years ago one of the most famous of the many regiments that fought on the Union side in the Civil war marched down Broadway, New York, for the front, in response to Lincoln’s first call for volunteers — the Seventh New’ York. Marching with it to war as a private went that scion of a Massachusetts family which had been prominent from Revolution-' ary days who was destined to become the leader of the first regiment of negro soldiers formed under state authority in the north-—Robert G. Shaw. This fact is so little known that most bf the biographies of Colonel Sfiaw state that at the outbreak of the war he entered the service with the Second Massachusetts as a second lieutenant; yet there is the roster of the Seventh regiment with Shaw’s name upon it, to prove that Shaw saw his first service in the Civil war with the

ing this now for several days, each afternoon. What do you suppose it means? Is he posing to the galleries?” “Yes', I have observed this new departure of John Logan’s,” said Ingalls. “1 am persuaded, however, that he is not doing this spectacular pacing back and forth with intent to catch the eye of the gallery; he does not need to do that, for the eye of the gallery is always fixed more or less upon him. I am satisfied that Logan thinks he is thinking.” Two days later Logan began a speech which afterwards became traditional in the senate. It was in opposition to the bill which, if passed, would relieve General Porter from the stigma and penalties consequent upon the finding of the court-martial. The speech occupied several days in Its delivery. Logan was never more effective; never did his rude and yet powerful oratory so command the senate. One of his most attentive listeners after the first day was Senator Ingalls of Kansas. When Logan’s speech was finished, Ingalls was the first to congratulate him, and having done that, he sought out and faced the senator to whom he had said that Logan thought he was thinking. “I was mistaken in what I said to you the other day about Logan.” Ingalls confessed. “John Logan was really thinking. And what he thought he has now told us in this great speech.” (Copyright. 1911, by E. J. Edwards. All Rights Reserved.) Measuring Raindrops. Mr. Spencer C. Russell at a meeting of the British Royal Meteorological society described how he obtained records of the actual size of raindrops. He said the experiments had led him to conclude that the most satisfactory results were given by the use of plaster or paris or fine flour placed in three-inch shallow trays to a depth of one and one-half, inches. Raindrops during six thunder storms had been registered, yielding a total of 164 drops, divided up into the following sizes: Twenty-five of five millimeters, 40 of four millimeters, 48 of three millimiters, 35 of two millimeters and 15 of one millimeter. The largest drops occurred at the commencement of the storm,, grading off as the storm progressed. Before a fall of hail a marked Increase in drop size was apparent. t ■ ‘ *j. Hard on the Lawyers. “A New York man recently had his will written by his twelve-year old son.’’ “Well?” “The lawyers can’t see any way to break it.” i

vice president with Lincoln in 1864 miscarried. We knew that he would receive anywhere from a hundred and sixty to two hundred votes in the convention. We thought that strength of that kind, and the fact that his name on the ticket would strengthen the ticket in New York state, then as now the critical state in presidential elections, would in •all probability bring the nomination to him. We had good reason to believe [ that Lincoln would be if Dicjkinson were nominated, and that belief was confirmed when, after the convention had done its work, we learned that Lincoln, although he did ijiot complain, was disposed to regret the nomina tion of Andrew Johnsori. I have always been convinced that the real history of Johnson’s nomination is known to only one or two men. But suppose a man of the energy, the brilliancy, the .fine record and the oratorical power of Daniel S. Dickin son had been nominated with Lincoln in 1864. Then, 1 am convinced, our history would have been different, for the four years immediately following the close of the war ” (Copyright, 1911. by E. J. Edwards. Al! Rights Reserved.)

famous New York city regiment which furnished 660 officers to the Union out of the men who marched tc the front with it on April 19>1861. 1 have heard George William Curi tis explain in this fashion how it was that Colonel Shaw happened to begin bis military service with the New York regiment. “It was due to a chance visit that Robert Shaw made to my house on Staten Island. *My wife was his sis ter, and though he was of Massachusetts citizenship, he was in the habit of speaking of our Staten Island home as his other home. “In the winter of 1861 he was with us. From day to day he followed closely the development of the relations between the north and the south. He was sure that was war inevitable; he believed that it would be j his duty’ to enlist for it, and with that I idea in mind he became a member ot i the Seventh regiment. Well, in the j spring the war that he had looked for | came, and he went to the front as a I private, and wb were all proud of his handsome appearance, the patriotic ! earnestness shining in his face, and i his soldierly bearing as he marched , away with his musket upon his shoul der. I “The Seventh enlisted rst as a three ! months' regiment. At the end of that ■ period Robert went bdck to his own : state and was given his first commis- • sion in the Second Massachusetts. ' Then, in 1863, when he was a cdptain. ! came the incident of which all of bis family, and especially his father, was very proud. “Massachusetts was the first state of the north to raise a regiment of negro soldiers; Robert was asked- by Governor Andrew if he would accept the colonelcy. Many persons thought he would decline it. His family was o rich, they were members of the most cultivated circles of Boston, and he was himself a Harvard man. Butane told us that he regarded it as a high duty and opportunity to accept tne offer, for he believed that the moral effect produced by the leading ot the first negro regiment to the front by a man who was no adventurer would be of great value. At the head of the regiment he again went to the front with his father’s blessing and the approval of all who were near him, and with many members of his regiment at the assault upon Fort Wagner. in South Carolina, on July 18 of the same year. “When the news of his death was received by his father, and the father was asked what disposition should be made of his boy’s body, he remained quiet for a, few moments. His head was bowed with sorrow that his son should have died, and yet he was sustained by the feeling of- honorable pride for the brief career of this bril liant and handsome son. At last be raised his head and said: “ ‘I have only one answer to make when you ask what disposition shall be made of my sons body, and that is this: Let him be buried with the soldiers who perished with him. That, I am sure, would have been his wish.’ ” (Copyright. 1911. by E. J. Edwards. AU Rights Reserved.) Life Rings on Mountains. An extraordinary example of the way in which a mountain may afford on a small scale an image of the earth’s climates, arranged In succes sively higher circles, has been found In the San Francisco peaks. These ancient volcanoes rise out of a plateau having a mean elevation of 7,000 feet above sea level. The peaks are encircled with zones of vegetation, which run almost like contour lines around them. Between 6,500 and 8,500 feet the yellow pine is tire dominant tree From 8,500 tc 10,300 feet the Douglas fir, the silver (fir, the cork fir and the aspen share tljfe available ground. Between 10,300 afid 11,500 feet the Engelmann spruce and the foxtail pine take possession, and ascend to the tree limit.—Scien I tlfic American.