Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 19, No. 41, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 16, 1910 Page: 1 of 16
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Vol. XIX.
GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1910.
No. 41.
THE SOUTHWEST NEEDS MORE AGRICULTURISTS
j WOULD ADD MILLIONS
^ : OUR MANY ACRES
OF UNTILLED LANDS!
TO COLTiVATE HER UNDSED TERRITORIES j 10 WORLDS WEALTH j
Imagine you are leaving Chicago,
riding on that wheeled palace, the
••California Limited." Just now they
are telling us that population is in-
creasing at a more rapid rate than pro-
duction. On this trip we will see if
there is room for more people and
more producers. We are hardly out
of Illinois before we pick out, first on
one side of the track and then on the
other, locations for more people. They
inform us that Illinois is well settled.
Land is high in price there, but fancy
takes us ahead fifty years, and we see
thousands of more people living out
on the farms of Illinois than are liv-
ing there now, observes the Farmer
and Stockman.
As we approach Kansas City it is
much the same. The country is what
we call, at this day and age of the
world, fairly well settled, but there is
room for thousands more, and in years
to come thousands more will come.
At Kansas City we enter the great
we need more neighbors, more good
farmers, and then we will have all
the latter-day improvements that go
with a well-settled country. Then,
and not until then, will we have trol-
ley lines, good roads, not a part of the
time, but all of the time, and all the
other improvements that better settled
districts to the northeast of us enjoy
There should be a general movement
to the Southwest. Fourt-flfths of the
farmers that now populate the three
states of the Southwest we have al-
ready named, farm too many acres.
There are too many half-section
farms, with the help available to
farm only a quarter section or less
Years ago it was thought necessary to
have a large acreage in the Southwest
in order to make a living. People,
thought then they had to have the
acres in order to raise the "bushels,
but a better grade of farming has
shown the way towards more corn in
the cribs and wheat in the bins by cut-
food for the world if you wished, and
tiuch or little as you pleased; but to-
day it would seem that the country at
large actually needs all our land can
produce, and as we are the custodians
or owners of the land, it is entrusted
to ns to produce the nation's food,
farming and conserving soil fertility,
lie says that in a lew more decades
the country will be in actual need if
we cannot produce mere per acre than
now.
.Tames J. Hill has \nade many a
speech on the necessity of better
It is a bad thitig for the neighbor-
hood for just one man to get hold of
a section of land and farm it all him-
self, but when a half dozen men in
a neighborhood become farmers to this
extent, it is spare picking for rural
mail delivery and telephone business,
and never, as long as so much is con-
trolled by so few, will the roads be
as they should 'be, while trolley lines
are so far in the future their possi-
prices for his products. IC Is the
most healthy, Independent life in the
world. The representative farmer
really lives, while the majority of us
mortals simply exist. True, it has
its disadvantages and hardships, but
they are not commensurate with the
advantages and genuine pleasures. I
am speak'ng of the farm that is
worthy of the name. The press service
in idealizing the real farm life and
bringing the numerous unkept farms
up to this true standard is beyond
comprehension. The basis of nation-
al and state greatness in the last
analysis must be found on the farm.
Our foodstuffs and clothing must
come from the farm. The farm Is
the real forum for the creation and
preparation of genuine democracy.
It is the cradle of the sterling
dualities and high christian character
that save our nation. Not too large
holdingr, an intelligent grasp of right
principles, a thorough analysis of soil
I .
*
AN OLD TIME ROUND UP.
Southwest, and here is where we strike
opportunities. The bluffs .of the "Big
Muddy" are hardly out of sight from
the rear of the observation car until
we have an answer in our mind to
that question asked a few years ago,
"What's the matter with Kansas?" It
isn't the soil, it isn't the climate—it's
a lack of people, of farmers. The far-
ther we are carried southwest by the
.-•teaming monster the more firmly in
our mind settles this idea. The South-
west is lacking in population. There
is no doubt about it.
In producton of stuff for the world's
table, the Southwest has been doing
soma lively stunts lately. Kansas,
Oklahoma and Missouri have surprised
them all, 'but, lest the uninitiated get
the wrong idea, we want to say that
the agriculture of the Southwest
has not yet been scratched. We who
live here have got so used to what Is
around us that we fail to realize that
ting dMvn the acreage and increas :i.-
the quality of work. Henry Mobbey
in an exchange says "That
with prices on everything the city
folk must buy to eat, soaring sky high
we are reminded of the part the pre -
dttcer of farm products must play front
now on in the life of the nation. Much
has been preached to show the farmer
how he might make more money by
farming better and more scientifically
and less wastefully, on the presump-
tion that the country could use all he
might produce. But it now seems that
the world is coming to the point where
it is not so much a case of more pro-
ducts from the same acreage f.ir the
sake of more money but for the actual
needs for food.
The farmer's occupation and posi-
tion is the most independent and saf-
est of any pursuit of man, yet there
has come to be a duty that goes with
ihis position. Formery lit was, raise
bility is doubted by the most sanguine
optimist.
We talk about political reform help-
ing the country, and try to 'better our
condition with our votes. This we may
do to some extent, but the greatest
good to the greatent number will come
only through a greater rural popula-
tion. The land hog should be forever
banished from the Southwest, for we
have reached the point were a large
farm is not required to pile up a good
hank account. The "small farm, well
tilled," assures its owner a good liv-
ing, a competence for old ags, and a
little leisure while living; it assures
room for a fellow worker and Ills fam-
ily only a little distance up the road,
and in all, a well-settled, well-im-
proved country, having everything and
lacking in nothing. The need of the
Southwest is a greater farm popula-
tion.
Tho agriculturist is receiving good
and understanding of proper seeds; in
short, tilt' scientific, intensive method.
The brilliant young governor of Mis-
sissippi has caught the vision of the
plains. Nature lures him back to his
heath. Governor Hadley has pur-
chased a farm out from Jefferson City
and will move there with his family
at the close of the public schools. He
means to care for his cattle and do
some real farming. Tills should add
to the cry, "Back to the farm."
Henry Clay, standing at the great
Itockies, put his hand to his ear and
said that he heard the tramp of mil-
lions. That was when the west was
wjlj This prophecy must bo fulfilled.
Millions have crossed the plains, and
millions more are yet to come, then
and not till then, will these great un-
used areas be filled with shrewd, en-
crg"tic farmers, who will add wealth
to our nation in the products they
raise, and a force to the country
through, the regions they represent.
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Greer, Frank H. Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 19, No. 41, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 16, 1910, newspaper, March 16, 1910; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc88279/m1/1/: accessed May 6, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.