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mountains, and I may add I have no fear that
thin will cause a conflict between stato and
nation.
My observation is that you very soldom havo
a conflict botwoon Btato and nation unless some
private interest is attempting to ignore the
rights of both stato and nation. Back of this
controversy which wo somotimos hear suggested
between the state and the nation, you will find
the interest of tho predatory corporation that
is as much an enemy to the people of the stato
as It is tho enemy of tho people of tho nation;
whenever we roach tho point where tho people
recognize that they aro greator than tho corpora
tion which they create, tho settlement of stato
and national questions will become an easy
matter, for patriots can then agree.
After one has acquainted himself with tho
necessity of preserving tho forests on tho water
sheds, hp naturally comes to tho control of tho
water that comes tumbling down tho mountain
side. It is a little more than two years since my
attention was called to this subject; the facts
wore given me by ono who is in a position to
know, and since that time I havo had a' fixed
opinion that has been freely expressed in regard
to tho control of these mountain torrents, tho
commercialization of these mountain streams.
One who has not visited the old world can
not understand tho landlord system there. If
you ask me what I regard as the greatest bur
don of tho people of Europe I reply "land
lordism." In some of these countries tho
people are so situated that those who till the
soil transmit from generation to generation tho
right to pay rent, with no possibility of owner
ship; while, a few families transmit from child
to child the right to collect rent, with no dis
position to till tho soil. I regard that as tho
greatest burden of Europe, and one of tho bless
ings that we enjoy in this country is freedom
from such landlordism as they have in the old
world. I know of nothing that near approaches
the system of landlordism in Europe than the
proposed giving away of- these mountain streams
in perpetuity to great syndicates that through
years of generations to come could exact their
toll from a tolling people. Therefore, when we
consider the use of these mountain streams, the
first thing we must decide that there shall be no
perpetual grant to a water power. Who can
tell what that right will be worth a hundred
years from now? Look back twenty-five years.
"Who could havo estimated then the value of
water power today? Within the last quarter
of a century we have had a development of
electricity that makes it possible to carry, for
hundreds of miles, power generated by falling
water. If you visit Canada' you will find in the
province of Ontario great towers carrying to the
various cities the power generated at Niagara
Falls. We are now in the very beginning of the
use of electricity. No human being can measure
the value of one of these water falls. What
criminal folly then, for this generation to bar
ter away tho sacred rights of posterity to syndi
cates and corporations? So, it seems to me, that
ono of the important questions to be decided in
the conservation of our natural resources, is
that the principle of monopoly shall not be per
mitted in this country under any guise or in any
form. Let us insist that wherever and when
ever a franchise is granted it shall be granted
for a term of years, and that that term shall
not be so long, but that wo can reasonably esti
mate today the value of it at the end of tho
terra. No other principle is tenable in the dis
cussion of this subject.
But one can not visit tho mountains; one can
not consider these streams that we are trying
to protect without thinking of the reclamation
of the arid lands. And here, I think we havo
a subject too that is only beginning to be
Understood. Go along a road and see on one
gido a desert, and on the other side a garden,
and understand that the only difference is that
one is not watered -.and tho other is, and then
Irrigation becomes a subject of thrilling interest.
Investigate and find how large a per cent of tho
people of the world live upon lands cultivated by
irrigation. Learn. how ancient and honorable
an industry it is. ViBit the communities, where,
by use of the water under systems of irrigation
a man can make a living 'for his family on 20,
30 or 40 acres, or oven less. See how the people
are brought together; how every advantage of
the city is brought to the farm and then you
will understand why the country has at last
yielded to the demand that has come from tho
west, that some money should be spent in tho
reclamation of these lands.
We have next the impounding of water, tho
building of storage reservoirs. It is in its in
fancy. It ought to bo continued until not ono
The Commoner.
drop of wasto water la allowed to run down and
ilood tho valleys in the spring. All of this water
should be conserved. It ought to bo spread out
on tho lands which need it, and then we can
invito people from the crowded cities to avail
thomselves of tho light and liberty and larger
llfo of tho country.
But, ono subject leads on to another. You
begin to reclaim arid lands, and then you ask
yourself, why should wo attempt to bring land
under cultivation at largo expense while wo
wasto the land that wo have, and that brings
us to tho very interesting subject that is pre
sented at all of these congresses, the conserva
tion of tho fertility of tho soil. A farmer this
afternoon spoke of some people as robbers who
robbed tho soil of its fertility. I suppose I am
ono of the guilty ones, although 1 have dono
most of my robbiug of tho soil through agents
rather than directly myself. And yet, I had my
apprenticeship upon the farm, and when I wob
farming, it never occurred to mo that I was
wasting tho soil. I was ono who could claim par
don under the plea, "forgive thom for they know
not what they do." And yet, we can not be
guiltless hereafter now that wo understand of
what we have been guilty.
Here is a subject that must interest every
man who owns an acre of ground. What right
has one to impoverish the soil? As was sug
gested today, we are not owners, we are merely
tenants? The life of tho individual is short.
He lives, he works, he passes away. What right
has the tenant of today to impoverish the estate
upon which generations to come must live? Is
it not worth while to have these experts tell us?
Is it not worth while to havo this fact im
pressed upon our minds and our consciences?
And when we come to tho conservation of tho
soil on tho farms, we then understand the im
portance ttf the agricultural college. I rejoice
that the agricultural college has shown such
wonderful growth and development during the
last twenty-five years. Tho interest which has
been manifested in these schools is wonderful,
and what does it mean? Not merely that our
farms are to be better tended; not merely that
our crops will be increased in quality and in
value; that la not all. To my mind two im
portant influences will grow out of this agri
cultural school in addition to the material ad
vantages. I expect to see moro inventions; I
expect to see a' quickened Interest in improved
machinery; that these men who go out from
college to till the soil will add more and more
of brain to the muscle when they till the soil;
that the character of the work is to be dignified
and elevated just, as In the factories we have
found the character of the work constantly lifted
up as larger and larger intelligence Is brought
into play in our industries. I expect to see this
on the farm. But moro than that, I expect to
see the farmer a larger political factor in this
government with the rising intelligence of the
farmer boy.
The farmer has suffered. If you ask me why
It is that wo have seen tho young men drifting
into the city, why we have seen so many farms
abandoned, or regarded as less desirable, I say
that ono of the reasons Is that our considera
tion has been given to tho things of the city,
and not to the things of the country. Our laws
have been made for the factory, and not for tho
farm. The men who represent industry in the
city have been more numerously represented in
the halls of legislation than the men who repre
sent Industry upon the farm, and one of the
results of this higher education of our farmer
boys will be, in my opinion, an increasing in
fluence of tho 'agricultural classes in all matters
of legislation. I mention these as some of the
subjects that are brought to our attention as we
consider the various phases of this work of
conservation. I am a believer in doing every
thing that can be done to make the farm an
attractive place. It is the nursery of our great
men and great women. It is. the place where
we train men in industry, self reliance, and in
character. Tho man who comes nearest to
nature has a tremendous advantage in the years
of his youth. He deals with the works of the
Almighty, while the boy in tho town deals with
the works of man. Is it strange that from tho
country and from the country life comes the
strength, the purity, the character that help to
make our city strong, and without which our
cities would not bo what they aro today?
The man who lives upon the farm Bees the
miracle wrought about him constantly. The
man in the city puts his eyes upon a man made
machine; tho man upon the farm comes daily
in contact with those Irresistible forces that lie
back of all tho products of the farm and tho
orchard. It hi a splendid training; we can not
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 41
allow it to be destroyed. Tributes from th
farm have como from the poets of every land:
"Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can mak them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, a nation's pride
When onco destroyed, can never be supplied."
Take from any nation its bold peasantry, and
you have impoverished it to an extent that
figures cease to bo valuable.
What will make our farms moro attractive?
It seems to me that just now there are a num
ber of things that conspire to add to the attrac
tiveness of the farm. Invention has already
added largely to the comforts and the con
veniences of the farmer. I live nearly four
miles from the city. The telephone enables me
to send and receive telegrams; it enables me to
call the physician in a moment. I know no one
thing that hung more heavily on the mother
than the fact when sickness comes,' or accident,
it took so long to secure a physician. Today,
with the telephone, we cut half in two, at least,
the time between the accident and the relief.
We find improvements that can be carried to
the farm. Water in the house, light as good
in the country as in the city. The light that I
use in the country is as good as I ever had in
the city, and it can now be furnished in small
quantities, so that even the smallest house may
be supplied. We find the rural free delivery
grown until now in almost every section
of our land the country is supplied as well as
the city. The good roads movement is a' grow
ing movement, and will grow because the farm
ers will not long be content to have a "mud
embargo" upon their liberty, so large a part of
the year. It is not a matter of economy merely.
I believe the good road is a social need as well
as an economic requirement. With the good
road you can have the union school, the com
munity library; you can have a place for the
farmers and their wives to meet other farmers
and their wives; where you can have entertain
ment brought to them, where more light can
be put into the life, and larger opportunity for
social communion be had, electric lines are
bringing the country and city nearer together.
All these things 'are possible. All these things
are coming and with their coming I hope to see
the tide turn and the farm population increase
rather than decrease in proportion to the urban
population.
But, my friends, I have saved for the last
the suggestion that I regard as most important.
I have mentioned some of these things that have
contributed to the desertion of the farm, some
of the things which I hope will accelerate the
return to the farm. I am interested in every
thing that has been said by those of whose
speeches I have only heard, and by others to
whose speeches I have listened. I believe in
all of these things, but I believe there is one
thing that we can not neglect. I am not sure
but it is the most important factor in this whole
discussion, the great need of tho human race, less
in this country than in any other, but a need
here as well, is a proper conception of the
dignity of labor. The struggle of mankind has
been to avoid work. It has been to put the
drudgery of life on somebody else, and Tolstoy
has well said that, as soon as we can make
somebody else do the unpleasant work we do
not want to do, we then look down .upon them
and regard them as of a different class. Lack of
sympathy is the chief cause of human injustice
and of human misery. I repeat that what the
world needs, and we as well as the rest of the
world, though not so much for we have made
more progress here than anywhere else in the
world, is a proper conception of the dignity of
labor. Our education is at fault if it separates
the idea of intellectual progress from tho idea
of moral advancement. Sometimes our children
are taught that they should get an education in
order that they may escape from work that
seems unpleasant. Education will not be a bless
ing to the world, but instead a curse, if it lifts
man above the willingness to toil.
The most important thought that can bo put
into the mind of any child is that his education
is to enlarge his capacity for work, not to re
lieve him from the necessity of toiling. We find
in the cities young men earning small wages
in a store where they can wear good clothes,
keep their hands clean and do a work that is
considered more respectable, when they might
earn larger wage3 if they were willing to bear
a larger share of the manual labor of the world.
Not only do they escape from manual labor, but
they miss the physical development that that
toil brings. We find young men upon tho farms
taught that, if they manifest a little brightness, if
they are a little moro ambitious than thoso
about them, they should look to tho low, t
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