German Agricultural Investigators
M
ISS OMAHA, being a western girl
and full of spirit. la partial to
"good fellows." She Is too well
bred to tolerate spurs In the front
parlor or cigarettes on the ver
anda steps, but a certain degree of famil
iarity In her men callers Is much to her
liking and the sooner they "get acquainted"
the sooner she feels that the occasion Is
really what It should be. She likes then)
to be alive, to call her by her first name,
to show an Interest In what Is being done
about the place, and to ask questions that
Indicate a desire to learn rather than a
desire to make conversation. ' Romantic
Ronald makes htr weary, yvery weary.
Angelio Arthur reminds her of petticoats
and curls. Dignified Daniel creates a
certain degree of embarrassed restraint.
Chappie Chahlle disgusts her. But Stren- ,
uous Sammy and Sunny Jim ah, there's
the pair that gladdens her heart every
time she sights them. When they np
pear she knows there will be "doings"
and Miss Omaha delights In "doings"
above all things else. She Is no Invalid
and she doesn't want to be.
And how does all this bear on the visit
of the forty-four eminent Germans who
came to call on her the other day? It
bears- very directly and very pointedly.
For, with no disrespect for the gentlemen,
their rank or their prominence, it may be
said that the whole group was made up of
Strenuous Sammies and Sunny Jimmies
or,' more properly, perhaps. Willing Wll
helms and Frownless Frltzes!
They had life and ginger and good
health and good looks and get-up, and an
eagerness to be shown that made the
process of showing a positive delight in
stead of the drag that It sometimes is.
They were out to see things and they
didn't have to have a second Invitation
to look closely. They were ready for any
thing worth while, and they dld't care
whether that thing was In the garret or
down collar. Neither did they care who
else was looking. While maintaining a
certain gentlemanly dignity, they "mixed"
In a manner most democratic, and they
"Jollied" In a manner most Americanatic.
They made themselves at home, took what
was offered, toasted the giver and went
away leaving Miss Omaha regretting that
they cannot drop In every week or two.'
Be It understood, however, that M'ss
Omaha claims no monopoly nor prides her
self on having given the visitors the only
good time they have had. She realizes
that they have been having nothing but
good tlmC3 since they stepped from the
steamer Pretoria at Hoboken pier Msy 1
and were taken in hand by the Arlan
society of the city of Dutch founding.
The Arion society had arranged a grand
reception. The visitors, due April 27, were
late and the reception was held without
the received being present, but that didn't .
affect the warmth of their welcome when
they, did come, and, so long as they re
mained In New York, New .York left the
key to the wine cellar hanging on an out
side nail and the corkscrew lying In plain
view.
From New York they started on a tour
that is to occupy two months and take
them 10,480 miles on twenty-three different
lines of railroad to say nothing of the
several hundred miles they will cover In
carriages and on the so!e3 of their feet.
Their first stop was at the Walker Jordan
dairy farms at Plalnsboro, N. J whore,
because of the magnitude of the estab
lishment and the scientific mothods em
ployed, they made observations that they
considered of much benefit.
From Flainsboro they went to the na
tional capital, where they were taken in
tow by Secretary James Wilson of the
Agricultural department and led about
from one branch to another for nearly a
full day, finding their recreation afterward
In a visit at Mount Vernon and in viewing
Washington from an observation car. It
was there, too, that Mr. John I. Schulte,
assistant chief of the experimental division
of the Agricultural department, . joined
them as Uncle Sam's representative, to be
with them when they visited his old train
ing ground, the Iowa Agricultural college
at Ames.
At Marti nsburg, W. Va., they inspected
large orchards and at Lexington, Ky.,
they made the closer acquaintance of the
American racer and the blue grass on which
he pastures. There, too, they began acquir
ing knowledge of the Shorthorn, in which
they were particularly interested because
of its contribution to the German platter.
First impressions were very pleasing enl
the acquaintance then formed appears to
bid fair to ripen into an admiring friend
ship. At St. Louts they saw the exposition
Bite, and were entertained in a way that
would have made anyone but a German see
three or four exposition sites. At Kansas
City they explored the stock yards and
several of the packing plants.
Then on Tuesday, the 12th, they
reached Iowa's great school at Ames and
began one of the most practical parts of
their Investigation. Prof. Curtiss per
sonally conducted them on a drive over
the experimental plots In the forenoon,
and In the afternoon they roamed where
each individual fancy led, some to the
tables, soma to the pastures, and many
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COMMITTER FROM THf. SOUTH OMAHA LIVE STOCK EXCHANGE WHICH
WELCOMED THE GERMANS AT MISSOURI VALLEY. Photo by a 8taff Artist.
to the hog yards. The Germans breed
Yorkshires almost exclusively, believing
that the meat of a white hog Is more pal
atable than that of a black. Because of
this, the college people were called. upon
to answer questions covering the whole
life and treatment and advantages of each
of the several breeds on the farm. The
sheep and horses also received careful In
spection. Samples of all the farm ma
chinery had been drawn up In line and
these were of special Interest to the for
eigners, there being some of the Imple
ments whose purposes were unknown to
them. ' These had to be' operated to make
their working more comprehensive.
After a drill by the collego 'cadets the
visitors were banqueted at the institu
tion, and addressed by a number of prom
inent Iowans. The party was unanimous
In its admiration of the college and sent
Secretary Wilson a most complimentary
telegram.
The minuteness and thoroughness of the
Inquiry there was due In large measuro '
to tho fact that Germany has no Institu
tion conducted along such lines, and In all
probability the school will be one of the
topics most elaborately reported on when
the visitors have returned to their homes.
That this will be beneficial to the school
and the state is not to be doubted. Four
of the visitors are traveling on commis
sions of Emperor William to investigate
American agricultural and stock raising
methods for him, and the other forty are
interested In agriculture In Germany and
have come along at their own expense,
though by Invitation of their emperor. All
are members of the German Agricultural
society, an association of land owners
numbering 17,000, scattered over many prov
inces of the German empire. The char
acter of this organization is much more
largely educational than are those of the
United States. Each year a fair or ex
position is held in some of the German
provinces so that from time to time each
profits from Its lessons. The society each
year sends a delegation from its mem-,
bership to investigate the crops, conditions
and methods of some foreign country. An
annual bulletin or year book gives the
results or conclusions of their investiga
tion. All the trips are made purely in the
capacity of private citizens, each gentle
man, except the emperor's commissioners,
bearing his own expense and each con
tributing a personal expression to the pub
lication above referred to.
From Ames the visitors went to Odebolt,
la., there to visit the Brookmont farm. The
Agricultural department had selected this
place for them because it is there that
there Is now In progress a series of co
operative experiments in feeding and field
work, under the direction of the Experi
ment station of the Agricultural college.
These experiments which now sem destined
to be chronicled In a German book, circu
lating widely through the German empire.
were begun a year ago with the Intention
of being continued five years. . In the feed
ing experiment the farm furnishes tho ani
mals, feed and labor and builds the yards,
sheds and water tanks according to plans
furnished by the Experiment station. Tho
station ' determines the different lines of
feeding to be followed, divides the cattle
Into suitable lots and details a representa
tive to take control of the work. At the
completion of the experiment the data ob
tained Is to bo arranged by the station for
publication and the cattle returned to the
control of . the farm. Similarly, the data
secured in experimenting in field work will
bo compiled and published.
It quite dumfounded the kaiser's men to
learn that the farm includes 7,300 acres,
divided Into subfarms of 320 acres each.
They were intensely Interested, not only In
the character of the 600 steers and 400 hogs
now fattening, but' In the methods of
production," the objects of the tests now
being made, the feeds used and in every
other point about which there might ap
pear some mystery. The three tests now
in progress have to do with acclimatiza
tion, light and heavy rationing, and supple
mentary feeding, and about these the Ger
mans asked so many questions that A. E.
Cook, the head of the ranch, had to call
three managers to his assistance in order
to keep up with the fuBllade. Later Mrs.
Cook distinguished herself by serving a
genuine American farm dinner In a mam
moth granary In which arduous task she
had tho assistance of the Ladles' Aid so
ciety. From Odebolt the Germans went directly
to South Omaha, there to be entertained
most ' royally by the packers and others
personally Interested In showing the per
fection of American industrial methods,
under the leadership of Manager W. J. C.
Kenyon and other officials of . the Stock
Yards company. Prominent citizens of
South Omaha and of Omaha spread a bit
of oratorical dressing on the meats and
viands served in the Exchange building,
and a careful inspection of the packing
plants wrs made by divisions of the visit
ing delegation.
Coming over to Omaha late In the after
noon the visitors were first shown through
the W. R. Bennett store, then through the
Bee building and then through the city
hall, at which latter place they received
civic recognition by Mayor Moores.
And then to the brewery! Gottlieb Stors
had early extended an Invitation to visit
his great plant on Sherman avenue and it
was while there that the local German
Americans had their best visit with the
late corners from the Fatherland. After a
lunch, for which the brew flowed most
freely, a spigot was driven In th oratory
vat, also, and the merriest of merry toasts
were given, the dearest of dear old German
songs sung and the pleaaantest of German
pleasantries exchanged. The visitors were
to have left at 1:30, but it was 1X&) before
they quit thta most hospitable city fo
Amea and Kearney to view Nebraska'!
alfalfa fields and orchards. Its beet sugar
plants and Its dozen other Interesting evi
dences of versatile productiveness.
The emperor of Germany draws approxi
mately $4,000,000 per year and spends It all.
But those who know, affirm that he spends
It wisely and prudently for the betterment
of his empire. He la anxious that his peo
ple should be at a disadvantage with no
other people and that they should have the
benefit of what others have found out by
experimenting. Very rapidly this spirit la
spreading. He has Influenced the trend of
thought In Germany quite aa effectively as
has President Roosovelt, In many respects
William's counterpart. Influenced the trend
f thought, or rather of action and ambi
tion. In this country. The agriculturalist
undertook the trip to America with not
only thoir monarch's approval, but with hla
cordial encouragement, for he saw another
opportunity for a better understanding In
Germany of a nation conceded to have
eclipsed all others in the rapidity of Its ad
vancement In material and industrial un
dertakings. Germany has something to
teach, but It has also something to learn,
lind its emperor la willing that what Is to
be learned shall be learned by frank In
quiry of a reliable source.
The visitors made the trip a buslnesa
proposition and carried cameras, note books
and keen eyes. But they carried, also,
liearts most responsive to friendly over
tures and there was no laugh In which
they did not join. Those who traveled with
them on the train or rode about with
them In the carriages found them ex
tremely companionable, even when their
' language was not Intelligible and no In
terpreter near.
For the German-Americans serving on
the Omaha committee of escort the visit
was an occasion long to remain in mind
as one of the pleasantest in the city's his
tory. The visitors were from so many
parts of the empire that those Omahans
who were born within the empire's bord
ers Could scarcely fall to find someone In
the deputation who was from the same
place, or who, perhaps, had a friend who
was a friend of the entertainer. The free
exchange of remarks on personal matters
began almost before the visitors wera off
the cars here and grew freer still before
tho day was ended. The mustache that Is
the kaiser's hides the same sort of Up,
after all, aa does the mustache that haa
been given a permanently American twirl
or twist or droop.
But It Isn't fair to speak of mustaches
as the adornment of all who came. The
most conspicuous man In the party had
none at all. This was the Austrian count
who made such a decided Impression on
susceptible young women because he waa
stalwart. If not handsome, and who made
an almost equally decided Impression on
men because he was jovial. .- He was Im
mensely tall, but when,' upon leaving the
Schlits cafe, he saw ' a sign carrier on
stilts that exalted his head to a point
nearly even with second story windows, the
count promptly marched out Into the
street and shook hands with the acrobat
as one who had distanced him in gaining
height. It was so remarkable a pair that
several hundred people looking on cheered
bravely and the count's own friends hur
ried a photographer to tho scene that It
might be pictured and bo preserved aa a
souvenir of the trip.
Omaha and South Omaha are loft no
souvenirs, but are left a very pleasant
memory of the visit and the sweet sat
isfaction of having so successfully en-'
tertalncd the visitors that the latter were
free to repeatedly remark that never since
they landed In New York had they been
better cared for and never shown so good
a time. For this success no small credit
must be accorded the German committee
In charge. Its members abandoned busi
ness for the day and simply placed them
selves at the command of the guests. As
hosts, there was practically nothing they
would not do and evening found them
quite exhausted by the strenuous activity
of the long day.
, The strenuously active day, by the way,
concluded with an Incident that made
strenuosity grow still more strenuous. The
Union Pacific had set aside two cars for
the use of the Germans on their trip to
Kearney at 6:30. At that hour a train
coupled onto those two cars and hauled
them to the destination as per original
plans. But meantime the major portion
of the delegation had elected to stay In
Omaha until the train pulled out at 11:50.
The consequence was that a half dozen
stragglers who had quit the crowd dur
ing the afternoon and gone on the cara
to rest were the only occupants of the two
special coaches that left at the earlier
hour mentioned. The local committee,
learning of this, had to hustle about while
their visitors were attending a play at a
theater, and persuade the railroad com
pany to provide more accommodations on
the later train. There was a deal of talk
ing and telegraphing for a while, but the
railroad's advertising department, deter
mined not to be the only one to mar the
pleasure of the day, bowed Its acqulesence
and the farewell of the visitors was as
merry aa any other part of their mexxv
orable call In Omaha,