ORK

Report of Proceedings of
a Conference at the N.Y.
Produce Exchange. 1910

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KEPOKT OF PROCEEDINGS

OF

A CONFERENCE

(OF VAKIOUS INTERESTS)

Held April 27th, 1910

At the

New York Produce Exchange

f

For the purpose of formu-
lating a definite plan of
action for the improvement
of agricultural conditions in
the State of New York.

ite

JULIUS MOLE

New YOJ

DEFT.

New York, April 27th, 1910.

A CONFERENCE of those interested in the improvement
of agricultural conditions of New York State was
held this day on the Exchange Floor of the New
York Produce Exchange, City of New York, [pur-
suant to the following call :

" Improvement of Agricultural Conditions
of New York State. "

CALL FOR CONFERENCE.

NEW YORK, April 19, 1910.

MY DEAR SIR:

There is a widespread desire among the citizens of the State,
without regard to party or political creed, to assist the constituted
officials in their efforts to increase the productivity of our farming
lands.

A most serious cause of the diminishing supply of food stuffs,
in proportion to the increasing demand, is the scarcity of intelligent
farm labor.

It is conceded that desirable immigration in the person of thrifty
agriculturists would be a blessing to the State in helping to develop
and increase its agricultural output.

The idea has the hearty support of all the commercial bodies of
the State, the officials of the Commonwealth directly interested in this
subject, the cordial co-operation of our entire Congressional delegation,
and the full approval of Secretary Wilson, of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture, and Secretary Nagel, of the Department of Commerce
and Labor.

491488

To the end that some definite plan of action may be devel-
oped, it has been decided to call an inform il conference of all those
interested, to be held in the Board Room of the Produce Exchange,
Broadway and Beaver Street, New York City. 3 P. M., Wednesday,
April 27, 1910.

At this meeting it is proposed to discuss the subject informally,
and to attempt the formation of some permanent organization for
carrying out such plans as this conference may develop.

We are assured of the presence of the New York State Agricul-
tural officials, the New York State Congressional delegation, and also
Secretary Wilson and Secretary Nagel.

The invitation is extended to all individuals, associations and cor-
porations interested. On the part of organizations it is especially
requested that they send representatives, so that an expression of the
sentiment of their body may be obtained, and incorporated into definite
action.

Will you please consider this as intended for any of your associates
interested in this movement, and extend it also to them.

We trust the call meets with your hearty approval, and we hope
for your earnest co-operation.

Will you kindly communicate at once with Mr. Welding Ring,
President of the New York Produce Exchange, Broadway and Beaver
Street, New York City, saying whom we may expect from your locality
or organization.

Respectfully,

Welding Ring, President New York Produce Exchange,

W. C Brown, President New York Central Lines.

John W. Dwight, Member of Congress, Thirtieth District.

F. M. Godfrey, . Master New York State Grange.

W. C. Barry, President Western New York Horticultural Society.

William McCarroll, President New Yoik Board of Trade and Transport-
ation.

George Dietrich, President Rochester Chamber of Commerce.
George A. Frisbie, President Utica Chamber of Commerce."

The following signified their intention of attending the conference,
and practically all of them were present:
W. C. Brown, President New York Central Lines.
Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

2

Hon. Chas. Nagel, Secretary of Commerce & Labor, Washington, D. C.
(Represented by Assistant Secretary Cable.)

E. G. Miner, of the Pfaudler Co., Rochester, N. Y.

Hon. John W. Dwight,

Hon. Chas. L. Knapp,

Hon. Chas. S. Millington,

Hon. M. E. Driscoll,

Hon. Jas. A. Simmons,

Hon. Cyrus Durey,

Hon. Geo. W. Fairchild, Congressmen from New York State.

Hon. Geo. R. Malby,
Hon. Wm. H. Draper,
Hon. E. B. Vreeland,
Hon. Thos. W. Bradley,
Hon. J. Sloat Fassett,

Hon. R. A. Pearson, Commissioner Dep't of Agriculture, State of N. Y.
R. R. Riddell, Chief of Office, of Farm Statistics, do do

Chas. W. L'armon, Chief of Office of Farm Labor, do do

B. D. Caldwell, Vice President Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co.

F. M. Godfrey, Master of New York State Grange, Olean, N. Y.
W. N. Giles, Secretary of New York State Grange, Olean, N. Y.
Hon. Victor M. Allen, State Senator from Troy, N. Y.

Hon. M. Linn Bruce,

Jas. G. Cannon, Vice President Fourth National Bank, New York.

•Geo. T. Powell, President Agricultural Experts' Ass'n, New York.

Chas. H. Plump, Tieasurer Agricultural Experts' Ass'n., New York.

John G. Lipman, N. J. Soil Chemist, N. J. Agricultural College Experiment

Station, New Brunswick, N. J.

Director Webber, of College of Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y.
W. H. Jordan, N. Y. Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y.

Hon. Wm. McCarroll, President, ") ^

•UT £ ri • (Board of Trade and Transportation,

G. Waldo Smith, } New York'

John Mitchell, ) x

R W Easley >• National Civic Federation.

B. H. Gitchell, Secretary, ^

Chas. T. Logan, VBinghamton Chamber of Commerce

Chas. H. Moore, )

Geo. S. Boudinot, Secretary National Association of Manufacturers.

Jas. L. Ewell, Sec'y of Merchant Marine Committee, National Association of

Manufacturers.

John E. Kraft, Master of Ulster County Pomona Grange.
J. D. Frederickson, Pres't N. Y. State Dairymen's Ass'n, Little Falls, N. Y.
Augustin Denniston, Pres't Orange County Agricultural Society, Washing-

tonville, N. Y.
E. A. Crowe, Northport Farmers' Club, Northport, L. I.

E. V. Titus, Long Island Farmers' Club, Glen Cove, L. I.
H. E. Cook, Canton, N. Y., School of Agriculture and Northern New York De-
velopment League.

Farmers' CIub' Quaker Hill> N' Y-

W. C. Barry, President Western New York Horticultural Society.

Mrs. Henry Parsons, President of the Children's School Farm League.

Henry Griscom Parsons, o.f the Children's School Farm League.

Bolton Hall, New York Vacant Lot Gardening Association.

Frank C. Herrick, Albany Chamber of Commerce.

James E. Stille, Gloversville Chamber of Commerce.

Geo. W. Sisson, Jr., President New York State Breeders' Ass'n.

H. S. Manning, Middleburg Industrial Association.

A. J. D. Wedemeyer, Pres't. Liberty Farm & Gardening Club, Liberty, N. Y.

Wm. J. Thompson, Mgr. "The Metropolitan & Rural Home."

Francis B. Mitchell, Prop'r. 'Tost & Express," Rochester, N. Y.

Geo. E. Thayer, Rochester, N. Y.

T. E. Martin, Manager Experimental Farms, N. Y. Central Railroad.

Woodworth Clum, Industrial Commissioner, B. R. & P. Railroad.

Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Fullerton, of Agricultural Development Bureau of Long
Island Railroad Co.

Luis Jackson, Industrial Commissioner, Erie Railroad Co.

Frank Sullivan Smith, Receiver of the Pittsburg, Shawmr.t & Northern Rail-
road Co.

Claude D. Morris, of Borden's Condensed Milk Co.

Joseph Francolini, Acting President) Labor Information Office
G. E. di Palma Castiglione, Mgr. f for Italians.

H. L. Reed, Amsterdam, N. Y.
W. W. Dimmock,
Silas Alden Condict.

Many other guests were present whose names were not recorded.
The officials and a large number of the members of the Exchange
were also present.

Communications were received from many citizens of the State
actively interested in the subject of the conference, who expressed
themselves as heartily in accord with the movement, but were unable
to attend the meeting.

By reason of the unexpectedly large attendance the Board Room
was too small to accommodate the guests and members, and it was
found necessary to throw open the commodious "Floor" of the Ex-
change for their use.

MR. WELDING RING, President of the New York Produce Exchange,
acting as Temporary Chairman, called the meeting to order, and

MR. E. G. MINER moved the nomination of MR. FRANCIS P. MITCHELL,
of the Rochester 'Tost & Express," as Secretary. The motion
having been duly seconded and carried,
MR. FRANCIS P. MITCHELL was declared elected Secretary.
MR. MINER then moved, That the Temporary Officers be made the
Permanent Officers of the meeting; which was duly seconded
and carried, and the Temporary Officers were declared elected
as Permanent Officers of the meeting.

THE CHAIRMAN (Mr. Ring) then addressed the meeting as follows:
"Ladies, gentlemen, members of our Exchange, and all who are
gathered here to-day, I want to welcome you on behalf of the New
York Produce Exchange, and express our appreciation of your
coming here to be with us. We have some very eminent
speakers who will no doubt interest you greatly, and I shall
therefore not claim your attention for myself. I was a farmer when
I was a boy, but I grew out of it. I would like to grow back into it,
I am sure. I think we are all farmers, today at least. We all have
the farmers' interests at heart, and I believe the movement we intend
to start to-day will result in great good to our agricultural sections,
and of course, in turn to the other interests of our State. What we
want to do is to make the farms attractive; make them so that the
young men will remain on the farms and not come to the city to
such great extent as at present; make them attractive so the young
men from the cities will go to the farms. If we can demonstrate
to them that there are opportunities for progress and advancement
as great on the farms as in the cities, I am sure we can get them
there. You all know that we are a great State, nearly eight millions
in population, and yet I am told — and I believe it to be so — that there
are only 225,000 farmers in this State at the present time; and they
are the ones that are feeding the rest of us. Now, we want a larger
element in the country.

"The gentlemen who are with us to-day will speak to you on vari-
ous topics, and I am sure they will all be very interesting. I know you
will all give your close attention. This room is not a very good one
for acoustic properties, and it will be necessary to be as quiet as
possible. I ask those in attendance if they will keep that in mind.

"Our first speaker to-day will be a gentleman who I am sure is
very highly revered throughout these entire United States. I believe
him to be the greatest farmer there is in the country; and that means
the greatest farmer there is in the world. There is no man that has
taken a greater interest in this subject than the one who will first

address you. He has it thoroughly at heart. He knows it all, and
he is with us to tell us how to do it, and honors us by being here.

"It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Secretary Wilson.
of the Department of Agriculture of the United States."

(Prolonged and vigorous applause.)

HON. JAMES WILSON, Secretary of Agriculture, then addressed the
meeting as follows :

"Ladies and gentlemen: I came to New York with a great
deal of hesitation. Naturally, everybody who comes here has that
feeling. We do not see how we can give the people of this place
any information on any subject.

"You have heard incidentally with regard to conservation in late
years ; something with regard to conservation of woods, water powers,
etc. In this day, when conditions are different from those with which
you have been familiar in the past, I came to speak for a few moments
with regard to the conservation of the soil. .

"Singularly enough, history tells us nothing about the soil from
which we have drawn our sustenance, and now when we have ques-
tions with which you are all familiar with regard to the cost of
living, and all that, I regard the discussion of the soil from which
we draw our food as a prime necessity, and have prepared some
brief remarks on that topic.

"I have been in the habit of speaking now and again during
my lifetime to small audiences here and there, but I have never before
spoken in a room as big as an acre lot.

"The cost of living calls for careful inquiry into the causes that
have operated to bring about conditions that are new to us as a
people. We have had great abundance of food at prices that were
lower than most other countries enjoyed; particularly those countries
with which we compete in commerce and manufacturing. Compen-
sation for skill and labor has been comparatively high in our country,
but increased cost of living has become a disturbing factor that cannot
be adjusted at present to the satisfaction of those concerned. There
are many factors that enter into this inquiry.

"It costs more to get anything done in our country than in most
others. Until within recent years new land was abundant and to be
had for the asking. Railways pushed ahead of the homesteader, the
reaper came, and bread and meat were cheap. The farmers, com-
pared with other workers, had low wages. The education of the
schools had done nothing for him, while much was done for other

6

industries. There was no seeming necessity for educating farmers
for their life-work ; food was cheap enough and good enough. A
change has come. Production does not increase as fast as popula-
tion. Prices go up; it costs more to pay carriers, dealers, manufac-
turers, all classes. The farmer gets big prices now, but it costs him
twice as much to grow things as it did ten years ago. The fact the
population increases faster than food sets us thinking. We cannot
afford to buy food from foreign countries. The balances of trade
for goods bought and sold since the Civil War, independent of farm
products, have been heavily against us during that time, and have
been paid by exports from the farm.

"If the factory and the shop are to sell abroad to square accounts
without a farm surplus, they must produce cheap enough to compete
with shop and factory abroad. It will be a new day when we have
to do that, if ever, and we shall have new subjects to talk about
unheard of in our land. Some farseeing men say this condition is
not far distant. I have not yet given up hope of preventing it. The
major part of our people in the East are being fed from the Mis-
sissippi Valley, and the States of the South draw much from the
same source. I am well satisfied that the soils of that valley are
being subjected gradually to the same unwise treatment that so seri-
ously reduced the soils east of the Alleghenies and south of the Ohio
River.

"For the last half century the young people of the farms have
been educated to leave them. No teacher until recently taught a
scholar to make more of his day's work on the farm, nor how to
make the acre respond better — and for a very good1 reason. The
teacher had never learned himself. Education flows downward from
the university regarding everything but agriculture. If applied science
along this line is not understood at the fountainhead there will be no
stream at which to drink. The necessity of educating the farmer is im-
pressed upon our people and steps are being taken in all our States
and Territories to this end. Sciences are being applied and research
made into causes and results. Education is being extended into pri-
mary schools in the principal States. Federal and State governments
are spending money freely for this purpose and students are multi-
plying. The results of research are being printed, and the literature
of the farm is growing. The Department of Agriculture sent out
to the people 18,000,000 pieces of printed matter last year relating
to the farm and the home.

"The States east of the Alleghenies are foremost in commerce,
manufacturing, arts and sciences, wealth and influence. They have
overlooked agriculture, permitting their soils to deteriorate and reach-
ing out to the West for food products. The soil robber began his
baleful practices there, and has gone westward until the light rainfall
regions refused to yield profitably. The deterioration of Eastern soils
would have been prevented long ago had there been no cheap rich
soils in the Mississippi, or had demand been closer up to supply. The
cheap food from the West discouraged soil improvement in the East.
Young people on the Eastern farms saw more prospect of success
in the West on new land that cost nothing than in struggling with
lighter soils in the East. The homestead law revolutionized farming
in the East and South. The full settlement of the humid lands of
the West has brought a new day with new problems; people want
land, people want food. Western lands are dearer and have gone
beyond the reach of poor people. The lands of the East and South
are reduced in productive power, but they are cheap, they are con-
venient to good markets ; they can be improved, and they will be,
but the method by which a farm is improved is quite different from
that by which it was reduced. Ignorance permitted the soil to become
unproductive; the highest intelligence is required to bring back fer-
tility. The Nation grows in wealth, but very little of it has lodged
with the owner of the poor farm; consequently, the first considera-
tion is the introduction of capital when reduced soils are to be im-
proved. Generally speaking, our farms are managed with too little
capital or the farm. is too large for the means of the operator. Help
is dearer than # has been, and it is scarce in all sections of the country.
Higher prices for farm products will justify more pay to the farmhand
and have a tendency to keep workers on the farm.

"When Eastern men of all classes realize that future prosperity
depends on the rejuvenation of soils, it will soon be done. Eastern
soils are well adapted to fruit culture, and no part of the world, either
here or abroad, ever has enough fruit at prices that will justify free
use among all the people.

The Eastern manufacturer never has had occasion to inquire
into the economy of crop production. Until within a few years food
has been abundant and cheap. It is abundant and cheap no longer.
The cheap food of the past has been one of the advantages the manu-
facturer has had. He has it no longer. Neglect of the soil will very
soon impress itself upon all classes. Importation of food will bring
about a change in our economies, a revolution 'in our policies, which

8

may be avoided by better farming and a comprehensive view of the
situation by those who deal in big things, whether carrying commerce,
manufacturing, or finance. If the America we know to-day is to
continue with its opportunities for all classes, high prices for skill
and labor, home ownership for every industrious man, education for
every child, and easily acquired competence for every frugal, indus-
trious family, we must look to the soil and its power of production.
Other nations prosper by commerce and manufacturing, but their
working classes are not as comfortable as ours.

"Our people are not grouped to advantage. Too many grew
crops during the last half of the nineteenth century. Farming was
a poor business during that period, and did not invite people. The
abundance of meats arid grains and the low prices for them gave little
encouragement for the young farmer to devote his life to agriculture.
He sought other occupations, and generally prospered, as the industry
and strict economy necessary to living on the farm had prepared
him for success in other vocations where life is less strenuous.

"People make an ado about eight or ten hours a day. Farmers
who prospered in the past worked sixteen hours a day. I have done
it myself, day after day, year after year.

"The farm went to the renter and poverty, because the renter
rarely had the capital to maintain conditions that would keep up fer-
tility, which includes pastures, grazing and fattening animals, legumes,
rotations, care of and use of fertilizers, purchases of mill feed, drain-
ing, machinery and periodicals for mental growth. The renter grew
grain to sell, hay to sell; anything to sell. He had a short lease
and no inducement to improve. Whoever rents land to be handled
this way abandons his farm then and there. It becomes poorer every
year, until it ceases to yield profitably.

"There are owners who manage as the average renter manages
and some owners sink below the renter, as they are too shiftless to
leave the farm and do other work. There are many good farms in
all the older States, but they do not teach by precept or demonstra-
tion, and their wisdom dies with them. This class of farmers keeps
up fertility. They are they whom we employ in the Southern States
to direct and advise in our demonstration work.

"Every State should organize to conserve the fertility of its soils.
The Department of Agriculture would gladly co-operate with all of
them. This Department has corps of scientists that could be made
useful in this regard. There is no kind of conservation that com-
pares at all in importance with soil conservation, while all are im-
•^

9

portant. We are late in beginning; but high prices are impelling
and insistent from every standpoint.

"Some political economists tell us that boys leave the farm be-
cause the land values are so high ; but land values east of the Alle-
ghenies have gone down because the boys left the farms and renters
without capital got possession to grow grain and hay for sale.

"Let me call your attention to some work that the Department
is doing that we can commend to the Eastern States. The boll weevil
came to the South. The growing of cotton is an exceedingly interest-
ing industry — a necessary one, especially, to the South, and not only
to them, but to the whole country. Congress intervened to produce
cotton in defiance of the boll weevil or to help those- people grow
crops in place of cotton where the boll weevil could not be subdued.
We organized the whole Southern country south of the Ohio River —
all those Southern States. We have had four hundred men — Southern
men — good farmers, in that country, who are teaching by demonstra-
tion their neighbors who are not good farmers. We are working
under the authority of Congress. We conducted last year 30,000
demonstrations on 30,000 Southern farms. (Applause). That is a
hint for you, good, people. Get 30,000 demonstrations on 30,000 farms
up here, and you will strike twelve very quickly with regard to the
products in these grand States east of the Allegheny Mountains and
west of Cape Cod.

"We got 12,500 boys under sixteen years old each to grow an
acre of corn. The object was to reach the father through the child,
and we reached them. Their fathers never grew as much corn. Some
of these boys grew 160 bushels of corn to the acre. Next year we
will have about three times that number growing each an acre of
corn. It might be humorous to know what we did with the boy who
grew the most corn. It would be laughable if I told you. The boy
who grew the most corn in his own State was promised privately
by our instructors down there a free trip to the City of Washington
to see the President of the United States, the Capitol, and those
great Congressmen and Legislators. The humorous thing is that I
gave each of those boys a diploma. They sold the corn — those four
boys — for enough to put them through an agricultural college. Their
fathers never grew as much corn. in their history.

"Now then, corn is dear — is dear now. The next step we built
on top of that was to issue a bulletin telling them how to grow
hogs, so that they would be independent of the Northwest with regard
to their meat, and they are at that now.

10

"Beef is too dear; far too dear. There is something serious
about it. There is no use talking about living on potatoes and cab-
bages. The man who eats meat rules the world, and our people have
got to have beef.

"Well, Congress gave us money to make a beginning. Then
the field cattle tick appeared. It takes two hundred pounds of blood
a season from its host, and that host does not prosper — does not do
much good. And so the beef industry in the South is not in a flourish-
ing condition. For the last three years we have been exterminating
that pest over 50,000 square miles of the Southern States, and that
makes something like 150,000 miles now where people can grow
cattle just as you grow them up here. We sent North and got
specimens down there to improve the breed. And more than that.
The richest fertilizer known to man is the cotton-seed meal, which
comes from the cotton plant. It has been sold to the North, and
it has been sold all over the world. People in European countries
buy their millfeed from the United States, and all the cotton seed
meal they can get. They buy the stuff and ship it. There is no better
fertilizer than that manure pile from these rich mill feeds. I looked
it up and found that Denmark made butter and sold it to the British
people — in one year $35,000,000 worth of butter. And we sold them
the millfeed from which to make the butter. We real Americans —
we all are — have been putting in our time on the farm growing cow-
feed for the Danes. That is what we have been doing. That is why
our soils are going down. There are a great many reasons, but that
is one of them. Now then we will eventually clean up that cattle
feed and go on growing beef, growing cattle, feeding for steers. They
will find their way here. Everything finds its way here. I even
found my way down to see Bowling Green for the first time myself.
"The railroad men are not only anxious to aid in this work,
but they help — they contribute. All the Congressmen are the leaders
in their districts. They arrange to have meetings held in those dis-
tricts to discuss all the interests of the farmers. They get scientists
from wherever they can find them and we send all we can spare to
discuss these subjects. The lawyers of the South are in favor of
the rejuvenation of the South, and the dealers in produce and mer-
chandise are the same.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the section of country between Cape
Cod and the Allegheny Mountains, the way to bring back the soils
of that section, to rejuvinate fertility, is to organize every class of
society here and have them direct it. Whatever intelligent and en-

11

terprising New York wants to do it does, and nothing can stop it.
(Applause).

"If you are tired of these great, big prices, if you are interested
in manufacture and cannot produce as cheaply as you did when you
got food cheaper and your employees are demanding bigger wages
every six months, turn your attention to the soil of this country.
These soils can all be made productive and you can do it. You do not
need to go outside. There is intelligence enough, knowledge enough
here within this State — good farmers enough who know how, but
are not teaching it.

"Now, with regard to food, it is a very, very serious question.
Possibly 2,000,000 are being added to the population every year.
The soils are not producing less every year ; they are producing more,
but we are calling upon virgin soil of the Mississippi Valley for fresh
crops. The Government is turning money into the reclamation of
some of the arid lands of the West, and it will be done, and people
will settle on these lands; and they will grow crops. All that will
come about soon.

"We are losing people to Canada, that is true; but we always
robbed Canada. While they got 60,000 people from us last year,
mostly from the two or three Western States, who took $60,000,000
across the border with them, we got over 50,000 from them. So
that the balance is not so heavy as you might suppose. And the
Canadian has always been an admirable citizen, always desirable.

"Now, we are doing something to create new industries. Some-
thing. We begun by encouraging the making of sugar from beets
some years ago, and this year 570,000 tons of sugar was made from
the beet; and as soon as the dams are all completed and the water
let out on those dry lands of the West under reclamation projects
more and more sugar will be made from the beet every year, because
it is a ready money crop, and the pioneer always needs ready money.
570,000 tons is a great deal of sugar; figure up what the United
States needs and what is made under the flag, and you will find we
are producing one-half of the sugar consumed in the United States.
Just as sure as it is producing one-half it will be possible to produce
the other half and save all that money.

"Now, sugar takes nothing from the soil. The soil to-day is my
subject. Atmosphere makes sugar, and there is plenty of fresh air
in the United States yet to make all the sugar we need. It takes
nothing from the soil; why not make it here. We have a sweet

12

tooth; everybody has. We want sugar and we want sweet-meats;
why not grow it at home.

"We have done something else. We have a region west of the
looth meridian of west longitude where it is dry. It rains around
ten inches a year. We looked over the whole world and found crops
— around the deserts of the Old World — and last year produced 60,-
000,000 bushels of wheat out there, the richest in protein grown in
America. The time is coming when the great city of New York
will be fed from wheat grown out on the desert; and you will not
know it, except that it is a little better wheat than that you have
had before. The miller will not admit that, because the wheat is
more difficult to grind. A few years ago we imported heavily of rice
from the Orient, and now we produce what is about the equivalent
of the consumption of the country. It is the same in all lines. The
Federal Government, through the wisdom of Congress, is getting this
work done. They never hesitate. I have never had a bit of fault
found with me for spending too much, but was roundly scolded in
the Senate of the United States for not asking for more money. The
only trouble with me is that I am too stingy. I am going to take the
hint and ask a little more the next time. We are at work ascertaining
how to grow crops on the arid lands where we cannot get water;
and are having some measure of success. I cannot say much about
it, because we have only recently begun, but we have some thirteen
stations with three or four scientists located at each station, study-
ing what crops will do best under these dry conditions and what
method of cultivation will be best adapted. So that everything is
being done by the encouragement of Congress that can be done.

"We have agricultural colleges in the State, most of which are
applying themselves to the great problems. I am satisfied that your
institution here — your two institutions — are doing decidedly better
work than they did when I first became acquainted with them. But
that is a matter between yourselves. I am speaking generally of the
soils. That is the source from which we get our foods. Ever since
the Civil War the balance of trade between us and foreign countries
for goods bought by us outside of farm goods has been heavily against
us; but the farm came in and paid off the bill and made a heavy!
balance in favor of the United States. Every year we are sending
less and less from the farm to foreign countries because of the demand
at home. That is what we are doing now. When the day comes,
if ever, I hope, we may be able by united effort all along the line
to prevent that day coming, but if the day comes when we are not

13

able to export anything and everything is imported from foreign
countries, all the money spent by our tourists abroad, all the money
we pay the ship-owners for taking our goods abroad, the interest
on obligations to foreigners, all that has to be paid from other sources
than the farm, our people will have new problems to consider, let
me assure you — new troubles to consider. I do not intend to meddle
with or touch on politics here at all. I am discussing the soil.

"The best wish I have is that these great people of this city
shall turn their attention to this one necessity of having the soils
brought back to their original fertility, as they can be, and anything
we can do of course we will willingly do and are anxious to do, and
to say this one word, ladies and gentlemen, brought me here to-day.

"You have given me the. courtesy that is most highly prized by
a stranger — you have listened to me.

"And I thank you and bid you good afternoon."

(Enthusiastic and prolonged applause).

MR. E. G. MINER (of Rochester) :

"Mr. Chairman, in order that the sentiments of this body may
be embodied in some concrete shape, I move that a Committee be
appointed to prepare resolutions and submit them to the meeting for
consideration.

Mr. Miner's motion was seconded and agreed to; whereupon
the Chair appointed the following gentlemen to serve on the Com-
mittee on Resolutions: f

E« G. Miner, of Rochester Chamber of Commerce.

E. Pfarrius, of New York Produce Exchange.

Frank Brainard, of New York Board of Trade and Transportation.

Herman A. Mletz, of the Merchants' Association, of N. Y.

Sereno S. Pratt, of the Chamber of Com'merce of the State of New York.

Geo. A. Frisbie, of the Chamber of Commerce of Utica.

Hon. J. Sloat Fassett, Member of Congress.

John A. Stewart, of Morrisville, N. Y.

BY THE CHAIRMAN :

"Now, gentlemen, we have heard from our Secretary of Agri-
culture, and I am sure that what he has said to us has been intensely
interesting. He comes to us with a thorough knowledge of the subject
on which he has spoken, and I feel that you will take home with
you the thoughts that he has expressed, and that they will be very
beneficial for future action. He has spoken for the country at large ;

14

not for this State particularly, but for the country at large. We
have here with us to-day a gentleman young in years, but old in
experience, who has been looking after the agricultural interests of
this State for quite a number of years. He understands his subject
very thoroughly ; he knows what the needs of the State are, and what
we will have to do in the future to make this State what it always
has been and we hope always will be — the Empire State of the United
States! (Applause). I have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr.
R. A. Pearson, our Commissioner of Agriculture, who will now
address you."

(Vigorous applause as Mr. Pearson approaches the platform).

HON. R. A. PSARSON, Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of

New York, said :

"Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I appreciate the honor
of being asked, even though it is upon very short notice, to say a few
words to you. First, I desire to express the appreciation of the agri-
cultural people of this State of the fact that the great leaders of
the State in commerce and industry are giving such close and useful
attention to the problems of the farmer. I wish to congratulate Presi-
dent Brown upon the thought of getting together those who are
attending this meeting, President Ring, and all those gentlemen who
are associated in the call.

"The agricultural interests of the State are well represented here.
We have in this audience representatives from the State College of
Agriculture, from the State Experiment Station, from the State schools
of Agriculture, the Presidents of the leading agricultural organiza-
tions, the Master and the Executive Committee of the State Grange
which numbers ninety thousand in its membership, and many indi-
vidual, successful farmers. We are glad to feel that we may co-
operate with you in the purposes of this gathering.

"Now^ just in a minute or two I wish to give you a few figures
—a few statistics. Let me remind you that according to the last
Uniied States census, now ten years old, New York State stood fifth
of all the States of the Nation in the value of her agricultural prod-
ucts, turning out a quarter billion dollars of agricultural products
per year; exceeded only by Ohio, Illinois and Iowa. But New York
led these States when it came to a comparison per square mile. New
York State, according to the last census, stood first of all the States
in the number of dairy farms, in the number of cows and the value
of dairy products sold. Again, of all the States, New York State

15

was first in the value of hay and forage, in the value of her potato
crop and miscellaneous vegatables; first in each of these: forest
products, as in flowers and foliage plants, in small fruits, dry beans,
buckwheat, nursery products, hops, and in onions, and in miscellaneous
crops; and stood second of all the States in the value of her orchard
fruits, maple products, and third, fourth and fifth in rank in other
important products.

"Again, we have heard much which might lead us to think
that the productivity of the New York farms has been rapidly de-
creasing. Let me give you just a few figures on that subject. The
average product per acre in New York State during the ten-year
period from 1867 to 1876, of oats, was 32 bushels. In the last decade,
just closed, it was 32 bushels also; practically no change. In the
case of wheat, thirty years ago the average ten-year yield in fields
growing wheat in this State was 14 bushels; the average per acre;
in the decade just closed the average yield of wheat per acre in our
State was 18 bushels ; an increase of four bushels per acre. Barley,
30 years ago, 32 bushels per acre, and in the decade just closed 35
bushels per acre. These figures prove, if anything, that the fertility
of New York farms has not been lost.

"How does New York State stand in comparison with the great
States of the West ? According to the figures published by our friend
whom we love to honor — Secretary Wilson — New York State holds
a high position when compared with other States as to yields per
acre. For example, of oats New York's average yield per acre is
32 bushels; the highest average yield per acre reported in any of
the Mississippi Valley States is 27 bushels per acre; 5 bushels per
acre less than New York. In the case of rye the average in New
York State is i6J bushels per acre, and this is exceeded by only
three of the Mississippi Valley States, the largest being i8J. Barley,
New York 25 bushels per acre, which was exceeded by four Mis-
sissippi Valley States.

"What has been said could be extended at great length and could
be justified on many grounds.

"Now, in spite of these figures, which seem to have a rosy
appearance, agriculture in New York States and in the East has
confronting it to-day some very serious problems.

"We have heard Secretary Wilson in his most able and instructive
address discuss the value of food products, and the rising cost of
living. We hear rumblings of the difficulty of securing labor in agri-
cultural districts, and I can assure you that it is a very general dif-

16

ficulty in some sections and at some times of the year. Now, briefly,
—Secretary Wilson touched on this so clearly that I need not mention
it — what is the cause of cheap farms in New York State, and the
fact that so many persons are not looking with favor upon agriculture
in this State? I believe there are two leading causes: First,
the opening of a great West, when from twenty to forty years
ago it was possible for farmers of the East to find fertile
farms merely for the asking. The result was that large numbers
of our farmers left for those Western regions, even at a sacrifice
of their own home farms. Then again, the industrial activities East
have been going forward by leaps and bounds, and they had to have
labor at any cost ; and many a young man at the farm has felt it to
his advantage to change from the country to the city in order to
secure larger pay. I will not attempt to discuss whether it was in
his interest to do this or not; the fact is that many of them did it.
The farmers of the East have been going to the West and to the cities.
The farmers have made the cities.

"Now, many of the thinking men in agriculture have realized
the changing conditions and the serious problems that have been
cropping slowly upon us. There are to-day in the State of New
York twenty-one different organized agencies working for the ad-
vancement of agriculture. There is our State College of Agriculture ;
and you need go nowhere else if you would find evidence of increasing
interest in our agriculture. That college when established in 1868
enrolled scarcely a hand-full of students, and the number of agricul-
ture students was conspicuous because of its small size year after
year up to 1895, an<^ at the same time entries in the mechanical courses
were increasing in number rapidly. But in 1895 a change was in-
troduced. Then there were 55 students in the State College of Agri-
culture. This year, in round numbers, how many are studying agri-
culture— exclusively agriculture — in our State College of Agriculture?
One thousand, compared with 55 in 1895 • A. thousand young men,
with a few young women, compared with 55 about fifteen years ago!
And our State recently has established free schools of agriculture,
and we find great interest being manifested by the young men in the
localities of these schools. Their classrooms in some instances are
not large enough to hold the students seeking instruction. This is
evidence of a changing condition. We have a State Experiment
Station. We have a State Department of Agriculture, conducted in
the farmers' interests. And within the last few days a new force
has come into the field which bids fair to exercise a strong influence.

17

Governor Hughes has recently signed a bill which provides for putting
agricultural instruction into rural high schools.

"Our honored Secretary told you what is altogether true; too
true! He said that the schools have been taking the youth away
from the farms. Now it looks as though conditions were about to
be restored to where they ought to be. The students from farms
may learn farming in their own schools if they choose to do so.

"Then we have about eight hundred agricultural organizations
in the State. We have a number of splendid agricultural papers which
are finding their way into the farmers' homes every week. Best of
all, we have thousands of farmers who to-day are making splendid
successes. If you could visit the homes of some of these men, steam
heated, containing some of the most modern improvements, and ride
in their automobiles, you would see an encouraging side of farm life
to say the least.

"One of the latest forces is that all the railroads — the New York
Central, Lehigh Valley, Erie, Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg, Dela-
ware, Lackawanna & Western — I am sorry I began naming them ;
I am afraid I will leave one out, and my railroad friends would be
offended. These railroads are taking a great interest, a change in
its way — are taking active steps in attracting attention to the brighter
and better side of agriculture.

"Gentlemen, the conditions are improving. We have started on
the upward grade. The tide has turned. There is no better evidence
of this than a little piece of work I have here. We issue every three
months a bulletin like the one I hold in my hand, with lists of farms
for sale in the State of New York. Within the last three or four
years $4,000,000 worth of those farms have changed hands, and during
that period we have noticed a tendency for the values of farms all
over the State to increase. I wish that Secretary Wilson would come
to Albany to speak to some of the Finance Committees of the Legis-
lature. I assure him I have never been scolded yet because I do
not ask for enough for agriculture. Last year the appropriation was
. $1,600,000, and just to show the interest in the subject I may say
that bills have been introduced this year which, if possible, will carry
appropriations for agricultural purposes of more than double the
amount appropriated last year, coming near to the four million dollar
point.

"The farmers are just beginning to take new hope. Perhaps I
have emphasized the bright side a little too much. I hope not. There

18

are large numbers of them who have been terribly discouraged. There
are large numbers of them who in years past have hardly been able
to see how they could keep their homes on the farms.

"What the farmers to-day want is help, and not charity. What
they want is fair play, (Applause). They want help in connection
with the marketing of their products. Part of the blame is on them-
selves. They need to have faults all along the line to the very doors
of the consumers' houses corrected. They need help to learn the
unused and best methods of farming. Methods of farming have been
almost completely revolutionized, in some branches at least, in the
last decade. Go upon the modern, fruit farm, and you will hardly
see an important branch of work done as it was done ten years ago
They need instruction on unused methods of farming, 225,000 of
them need it.

"Secondly, they want fair prices for their products. They have
to sell a quart of milk for three cents. A cow costs $60, and it costs
$60 a year to keep it, and the product of many a cow in the State
has brought $60 a year. They could get only three cents, or there-
abouts, for their milk. They want a fair price for that milk. With
these things and some few others I might mention, the farmers will
co-operate with all interested in the very rapid settlement of their
problems.

"The farmers of the State want more people on the farms. We
want gentlemen like I see in this audience on the farms of the State
— you, and others like you. We do not want on the farms of this
State shiftless, unsuccessful persons who cannot* make their own way
in this great city. There are very few of that kind who succeed
on farms. We want men who will be able to give a good account
of themselves; men who have a liking for the country, and let the
others who have a liking for the city take your places. So, I say
have the farmers of the city come up into the country. We want
more farmers. We want you to come up where you can take ad-
vantage of the conditions that are now beginning to improve, where
you can enjoy freedom, where every American enjoys it, and nowhere
better than on the farm in New York State."

(Hearty applause).

BY THE CHAIRMAN :

i

"After hearing that address of Commissioner Pearson, I am sure
we all want to be farmers ; New York City possesses no more attrac-

19

tion. We will all leave the 'Great White Way' and migrate to the
farms.

"There is another subject very closely connected with these farm-
ing interests. We need more help. The farmer complains that he
cannot get sufficient help. We want first-class farmers from some
source*. It is a difficult problem. As you know, the laws of the
United States are very strict about making any arrangements for
foreigners to come from their countries to this; but we wish some
of them would come here. We had hoped to have with us Secretary
Nagel, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, at Washington,
but unfortunately he has not been able to come. We have with us,
however, Assistant Secretary Cable, and would appreciate it if he
would say a" few words to us, perhaps along this line."

MR. BENJAMIN S. CABLE, Assistant Secretary of the Department of

Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C., said:
"Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen : I am very thoroughly con-
vinced that it is the duty of the Department of Commerce and Labor,
through the Bureau of Immigration, to properly distribute some of the
thousands of immigrants that are coming to these shores every day.
Up to the present we have devoted most of our time and most of our
energy to trying to determine what immigrants should be excluded
and what immigrants should be admitted. We have, however, come
to the point where we have found that there is one other thing for
us to do, and that is to properly distribute and attempt to assimmilate
those various persons, that come. The immigration into the United
States now runs from 3,000 to 5,000 aliens a day. Most of these
people come in at the port of New York. A great many are farmers
• — have had considerable farm experience in the old country. Thev
would be glad to carry on that work here if they knew where to go
The difficulty has been in the past that they have fallen into the clutche?
of labor agencies who exploit this labor, take away the little money
these men bring in in fees, and get them a poor job, or probably a
job in some sweat shop to end up with. We have a Bureau of
Information in the Bureau of Immigration, and an office here in New
York. We are just beginning to get the work of that division well
under way. We average now probably 100 immigrants for whom
we secure good and permanent positions on farms. Most of these
men are taken to farms in New York State. We expect to have
more every day, as soon as we can do something further toward
perfecting this system of distribution. It seems to me that supplying

20

the proper farm help is a very important part of the object of this
meeting, to restore some farms in New York State that have been
abandoned, as I understand it, and to aid you and aid the farmers
of this State in securing the help that is necessary for this important
work. When you consider that during the year 1910 there probably
will have been more than 1,000,000 people admitted to this country
from the old country, you will have to consider how they are going
to be fed. The only way you can feed them, as I understand the
agricultural situation to-day, is to open up more farms in the West
and to supply farmers in both the East and West with proper, and
competent, and sufficient men to help to properly till and cultivate
their farms. This is one of the incidents that must be considered,
and I am simply here for the Department of Commerce & Labor
and our Secretary, to say that we are glad and ready and willing,
and will do everything in our power to assist in securing the proper
kind and amount of labor through our Immigration Bureau, if this
is possible."

(Applause).

BY THE CHAIRMAN :

"There is one element very closely allied to our farming interests.
The farm depends upon it and could not get along without it. Some
people criticize it ; we all like it and have to have it. We have a
gentleman here to-day who represents one of the large institutions
of this State and extending into other States. We all know what he
is, but I want to tell you that he is one of the leading farmers of
the country. Some may not realize it, but he is a practical, first-
class farmer. He knows what to do and how to do it. It gives me
great pleasure to introduce Mr. W. C. Brown, President of the New
York Central Lines." \

(Vigorous applause as Mr. Brown takes his place on the plat-
form).

MR. W. C. BROWN, President of the New York Central Lines, said:
"Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: Perhaps it is due the
ladies and gentlemen present to say a word in explanation of the
graphic chart, or diagram, that is hung on the blackboard. That was
made up by experts employed by me, and its history is this : In 1860
the New York Central Railroad built in Buffalo four large grain
elevators. They have been repaired from time to time, but during
the last two or three years it became very evident that those elevators

21

would have to be rebuilt within a very short time ; and as this involved
the expenditure of some six or seven millions of dollars, the question
as to the necessity of rebuilding these elevators became a very im-
portant one; and I engaged some experts to look into the question
of production and consumption — the difference between the two rep-
resenting the amount of cereals, of grain, exported from this country.

"The chart began in 1868. The solid line represents production,
the broken line consumption. It is exact up to and including 1908.
From 1908 forward it is as close an approximation as can be made
of the future by what the past has taught us; and if these lines are
correct — and they are absolutely correct — unless production can be
increased or consumption decreased, in 1913 the last bushel of corn,
wheat, oats, barley and rye will have left these shores that this country
will ever sell. The great export elevators in our seaboard cities will
stand idle and empty, and this Nation, like the nations of the old
world, will be looking about for a place to purchase the necessities
of life. There is an absolute demonstration of the question that has
been bothering all of us; the question £hat is right now adding eight
and one-quarter millions of dollars per annum to the pay-rolls of
the New York Central Lines, a like amount to the pay-rolls of the
Pennsylvania Lines, and around $100,000,000 per annum to the pay-
rolls of the railroads of the United States — the question of the high
cost of living.

"Somebody was responsible ^for that unspeakable folly, the meat
boycott. Secretary Wilson's Department tells us that on the first
of January, 1910, there were between ten and eleven million less
food-producing animals on the farms of the Nation than there were
one year before. Secretary Nagel's Department will tell you that on
the first day of January, 1910, there were several millions of men
employed in the United States above the number employed a year
before — men receiving good wages and in a position to buy meat.
Could there be any other result than a tremendous increase in the
cost of meat?

"I want to read perhaps one of the most interesting things I
have ever received — a letter from David M. Dunning, President of
the Auburn Savings Bank, of Auburn, N. Y. It is entitled 'From
Cat-tails to Corn.'

Mr. Brown then read a letter from David M. Dunning, of
Auburn, N. Y., setting forth the advantages of proper drainage and
care of land, and citing instances of vast increases in the value of
lands in his neighborhood so improved.

II

He goes on to give another case where land was bought in the
same country for $2.50 an acre, $7.50 an acre was expended in drain-
ing the land, and it sold at $50 an acre.

"I regret that 1 cannot agree with Secretary Pearson entirely in
his rather rosy view of agricultural conditions in New York State.
I was looking over the statistics for the twenty-year period from
1880 to 1900, the figures for 1900 being the last available.

"Farm acreage in 1880 was 23,780,00x5; in 1900, 22,648,000; a
decrease of nearly five per cent.

"Acres of improved farm land decreased more than twelve per
cent. ; acres of unimproved farm land increased more than sixteen
per cent. — practically abandoned farm land.

"Values, including buildings, decreased more than 19 per cent.

"The average value per acre decreased 11.7 per cent.

"I was looking over some data of farming lands which were not
included in the pamphlet the Department issues.

"In Madison County a farm of 142 acres (this is amazing to
a man from Iowa, like Secretary Wilson, General Clarkson, and my-
self) is offered for $2,200, or about $15.50 per acre. This farm
is three miles from the Village of Morrisville, has 122 acres of tillable
land, 22 acres of wood land, and is equipped with good buildings.

"Another farm in this vicinity of 188 acres is offered for $4,000,
or about $21 per acre. This farm has a seven-room house, barn
with stanchions for thirty cattle, silo granary, ice-house, hog-house,
horse barn, wagon shed and other buildings. The owner offers to
include at this price all his farming tools and impliments. The build-
ings and machinery on his place could not be duplicated for $4,000,
so the land is thrown in with the buildings.

"A farm of 200 acres near Ithaca, almost under the shadow
of the Agricultural College of New York, two miles from the rail-
road, is offered for sale for $4,500, or $22.50 per acre. This farm
has 153 acres of tillable land, 17 acres of wood, and thirty acres of
spring-water pasture. The buildings consist of a ten-room house,
barn with stanchions for twenty cows, silo, wood-house and other
buildings.

"It seems to me, as citizens of New York it is the part of wisdom
to look the situation squarely in the face.

"The government of Canada has just issued a statement that
during the past year 163,798 persons emigrated from the United
States to Canada. This is over one-half the total immigration into
that country, and is double the number of persons that left the United

23

States for Canada in any previous year. I know that something like
2,000 families moved to Canada from the State of Iowa alone. From
personal observation I think a great majority of these families were
young married couples, the family usually consisting of the husband
and wife; but taking the total number, 163,798, and assuming an
average of four in each family, would give 40,950 families that have
emigrated from the United States to Canada in a single year. I
believe that an allowance of $1,000 to each family is too low. I
think $3,000 is too low. As a matter of fact, I think it would con-
siderably exceed that amount. But assuming that each family took
with them $1,000, it shows that in a single year United States has
lost to Canada approximately 41,000 of its best families, and with
them $41,000,000 in money. The money does not count very much,
but the United States cannot afford to lose that kind of families.
(Applause). In the face of these facts, the figures gathered by the
Conservation Commission are surprising. They are alarming. These
statistics show that there are 16,000 square miles of practically aban-
doned farms in New England, New York and the Southeast and
Middle-central States. They show that there are in the United States
at present 10,000,000 acres of practically abandoned farm land, an
area as large as the cultivated part of the Canadian Northwest, or
twice the size of the State of Massachusetts. I am glad to see the
movement for the conservation of our natural resources being gradu-
ally directed to that particular resource which in importance out-
weighs all others — and that is the conservation of our soil. Husband
our coal supply as we will, economize in its use to the last limit,
but the day will come when the last ton will have been mined and
nothing remain but the empty holes in the ground.

"Science has demonstrated the possibility of harnessing our great
water-powers, and gathering from the atmosphere light, heat and
power to such an extent that it seems possible that a complete substitute
may be some time found that will make the use of coal for these
purposes unnecessary.

"No substitute has ever been found for the sustenance which
humanity has drawn from the bosom of Mother Earth since the dawn
of creation; the supply of which must not only be maintained, but
must be continually increased and augmented if the human race is
to continue to exist.

"In 1909, for the first time in our history, the United States
took second place among the great food-exporting nations of the
world. The Republic of Argentine forged to the front, exceeding

24

us in our exports of all kinds of cereals, and exporting 60 per cent,
of all the meat-stuffs imported by Europe. The products of the
Nation's farms in 1909 approximated nine billion dollars, but "not-
withstanding this fact the price of these products in the early months
of 1910 rose to the highest level in the history of the country; and,
at the same time, our exports of these products diminished at a con-
tinuous and alarming rate.

"There is no question whatever that intelligent fertilization and
cultivation of the present acreage in the United States would result
in doubling the production of 1909; and there is no question but
that this result would have enabled the United States to have main-
tained its place as the first exporting, food-producing nation. At the
same time, it would have been possible to keep the price of the neces-
saries of life down to a more reasonable figure.

"It seems to me that the most important subject now pressing
for consideration is this question of improved agricultural conditions
— intelligent farming. In my opinion, it overshadows in importance
the tariff, the regulation of corporations, and all other questions of
public policy. And while these important subjects should not be lost
sight of, this great question of conservation, improvement and in-
telligent cultivation of the soil of the Nation should be given first
place.

"Comparing the year 1909 with 1899, the acreage of land — and
keep these figures in your head now — devoted to agriculture in the
United States increased twenty-three per cent. Production increased
thirty-six per cent. On the face of it, that looks favorable ; but bear
in mind that almost the entire increased production was the product
of irrigated land in the West; land reclaimed by irrigation that will
produce on the average two bushels to one produced by the best land
in the Mississippi Valley. Acreage increased twenty-three (23) per
cent.; production thirty-six (36) per cent.; and consumption sixty
(60) per cent.

"The statistics reveal a most serious present economical problem,
and it seems to me they foreshadow an economic crisis the importance
of which is but faintly appreciated.

"In this important movement I think the State of New York and
this great city should be leaders. The first and most important reason
is that no State in the Union needs this improved agriculture so
badly as the State of New York; and, secondly, because in a great
National movement of this kind the State of New York is and naturally
should be a leader. For this reason I have joined in the call for

this conference, and I am here to pledge, with the other gentlemen
present, the best efforts, the most hearty co-operation and assistance
of the great corporations with which I have the honor to be asso-
ciated, and the best efforts that I can give personally to this most
important of all subjects."

(Long and loud applause).

BY THE CHAIRMAN :

"I think that was a very fine promise that President Brown made
to us just now. We know what the corporations he is connected
with have done and can do, and we believe they will do great
things in future to help this movement. I know President Brown is
thoroughly in earnest in that matter, and that he does not mean,
so far as he is concerned and his corporations are concerned, that
it shall stop here, but that it shall go on and grow.

"We have a gentleman with us to-day, a gentleman from the
western part of the State, who spends most of his time in Washing-
ton making good laws for us. It gives me very great pleasure to
introduce Congressman Dwight, from Ithaca."

HON. JOHN W. DWIGHT, United States Congressman from the Thir-
teenth District of New York, said :

"Mr. President, I will not make a speech. All the gentlemen
who preceded me have made my speech. I believe that every man
present here to-day regrets the necessity of holding this meeting.
In the papers and magazines general discussion has been held — it
has been talked everywhere — on the cost of living, the increased cost
of living, abandoned farms, unusued farms, unoccupied farms — call
them that you will; but all of those conditions have resulted in our
meeting here to-day. You have had all the statistics, have you not?
In a general way. With the greatest crops ever raised in this country
last year, amounting to eight and three-quarter billions of dollars,
the cost of living is the highest ever known. That cannot continue
unless we increase the production. We have here to-day gentlemen
who have told us what the soils of New York would do; that they
were ready to co-operate with the Department of Agriculture of
this State. Secretary Wilson, of the National Bureau, offers his
co-operation. The Bureau of Commerce and Labor, 'with its Immi-
gration Department, offers its services. Every railroad president
in the State of New York is represented here to-day, ready and
willing to take hold of this movement to increase the agricultural

£6

products of this State. The President of the State Grange is here.
The President of the New York Produce Exchange, the Presidents
of the Boards of Trade and Chambers of Commerce all through the
State, ready and willing to take hold of this movement. It seems
to me, gentlemen, that we should all work together. We cannot
work together without organization. We must have perfect organi-
zation, and I therefore move that a committee of five selected from
all the interests, be appointed as a Committee on Permanent Organi-
zation."

(Applause).

Mr. Dwight's motion was seconded and agreed to, whereon the
Chairman appointed the following gentlemen:

John W. Dwight,
E. G. Miner,
Geo. W. Thayer,
William McCarroll,
R. A. Pearson.

BY THE CHAIRMAN :

"We have quite a number of gentlemen here. I am sure some
of them can say some things of wisdom to us. I am going to ask
them to be fairly brief in their remarks, limiting them from five to
ten minutes if they can find it convenient. I hope they will respond
wherever they can. I will call upon Mr. Caldwell, Vice-President
of that grand road that runs from New York to Buffalo, the Dela-
'ware, Lackawanna & Western."

(Applause).

MR. B. D. CALDWEXL, Vice-President of the Delaware, Lackawanna

& Western Railroad Company, said:

"Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: I have no speech to
make. I have the honor to-day to represent our President, who is
absent, and to bring you on his behalf and on behalf of the Lacka-
wanna Company our assurance of a hearty interest and cordial support
in this enterprise. Every great enterprise requires great leaders, and
to me the most encouraging factor in this enterprise is that the rail-
ways of the country are back of it. I believe that the railways of
the company here are to be congratulated on the fact that they have
as their leader the versatile and distinguished President of the New
York Central Company. Until within a comparatively recent time

27

it was considered a doubtful compliment to pay to a railroad man
to refer to him as a farmer; but under the leadership of Mr. Brown
it has become to-day a badge of honor, and it augurs well for the
success of this movement that men of his type are unequivocally
pledged to its support."

MR. W. C. BARRY, President of the Western New York Horticultural
Society, of Rochester, N. Y., said:

"Gentlemen, I hardly think I can add anything of importance
to that which has been said to-day. I come from Western New
York, which, as you know very well, is a region famed the world
over for its products, especially its fruit products. Now, the ques-
tion to-day is how can we increase this production. The question
is how can we restore fertility that has been lost. Criticism has
been made of the present condition of farming in New York State,
and it is proper for us to understand why this condition prevails
to-day. Now, it would take quite a little time to make this explana-
tion, and I know at this late hour you are in no humor to listen to
lengthy remarks ; but I will say briefly that this virgin soil of the
State of New York, which produced such great crops years ago,
is gone. Our people, discovering that there were no means of re-
storing fertility to this soil, emigrated to the West, and established
their farms in the West, deserting New York State. And what is
the result to-day? We have no means of restoring fertility to the
soil. We are up against a big proposition ; and we are very glad
to have help — help of the best kind — to solve this difficult question
with which we are confronted to-day. New York State certainly
should hold first place. It can hold first place, and it will hold first
place in time. But we shall have to be patient; we shall have to
study out this question, and then we shall have to do what is neces-
sary to be done, with the co-operation of everybody. I say with the
co-operation of everybody, because the farmer alone cannot do it.
Now, how to restore the fertility of the soil is the great, big question.
I think that in the course of time, perhaps not many years distant,
we shall be able again to report as large returns as we have in the
past, through the improved methods. What I want to say to-day is
that I believe that everything is being done that can possibly be done
by the farmer himself. He is sending his son to the schools of
agriculture; he is obtaining all the information he can from the ex-
periment stations; and with his limited means and poor help he is
doing fairly well under the circumstances. The help question — the

28

labor question — is another tremendous obstacle in this undertaking.
That is something that perhaps the various organizations can aid in
removing. It is most important to get help to do the work on the
farm. There are other things that can be remedied, but they can only
be remedied by co-operation. Only, think of it! Farming has been
such a discouraging undertaking that our young men — the best men
in the country — have deserted the farm everywhere and rushed into
the cities, leaving the father and mother to take care of the farms.
Now, this is no exaggeration. What has brought that about, that
everybody should rush into the city, to do business in the city ? How
is it going to end, gentlemen, if that thing continues? These are
things we are up against, and it requires co-operation on the part
of the farmer, the businessman, the manufacturer, and everybody
else, to solve it; and I want to say that I am very grateful to those
who are lending their aid to this cause, because it is one of the most
important undertakings of the time. I know that under this proposed
plan most successful results will follow ; and I ask most earnestly
from outsiders the heartiest and most earnest co-operation that it is
possible to give; and I can assure you that the results will be most
satisfactory. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen."

(Applause).

The Chairman then announced that the Committee on Resolu-
tions was prepared to report; and thereupon

MIR. E. G. MINER, for the Committee on 'Resolutions, offered the
following :

WHEREAS, The increasing prices of food products are largely due to
the unequal distribution of our population as between cities
and farms; and

WHEREAS, The correct solution of the problem thus presented is im-
perative for our present and future well-being; and

WHEREAS, There is a widespread desire among the citizens of the
State of New York to assist the constituted officials, National
as well as State, in their efforts to increase the productivity
of our farming lands ; and

WHEREAS, A more serious cause of the diminishing supply, of food-
stuffs in proportion to the increasing demand is the general
lack of interest in agricultural pursuits and the scarcity of
farm labor; and

WHEREAS, Desirable immigration in the persons of thrifty agricul-
turalists would be a blessing to the State in helping to develop
and increase its agricultural output, and it is equally as de-
sirable to encourage a movement of our own people from our
cities and larger towns back to the farm; and

WHEREAS, There are in this State available for more intense cultiva-
tion, hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land obtainable
at lower rates than equally as good land in States farther
West; lands which are near settled communities with the ad-
vantages of easily available church, school and market facilities,
and are conveniences which tend to make country life more
attractive; therefore be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of this Association that some definite
plan of action should be developed, whereby the existing facili-
ties for bringing the people to the land and the land to the
people may be utilized in the most effective manner, and every
method, by legislation or administrative order, tending to that
end, assisting the farmer to a knowledge and practice of the
methods best calculated to improve and conserve the soil and
to market his products, has our cordial approval and will re-
ceive our earnest co-operation.
(A motion to adopt the foregoing resolution was unanimously

carried, and with great enthusiasm).

Resolved, That by a rising vote this assemblage recognize the cour-
tesy of the Secretary of Agriculture in appearing at this con-
ference, and give to him our hearty thanks for that interest
in New York State farming which he has repeatedly in the
past expressed in many helpful ways; and that we also tender
our thanks to Mr. Secretary Cable, of the Department of
Commerce and Labor, for his presence at this conference.
(A motion to adopt the foregoing resolution was unanimously

carried).

BY THE CHAIRMAN :

"We have with us a gentleman from Washington who knows
all about the soil and will say a few words to us on this subject;
and I am sure he will be interesting. Prof. Milton Whitney, Chief
of the Bureau of Soils."

(Applause).

PROF. MILTON WHITNEY, Chief of Bureau of Soils, Washington,
D. C., said :

30

"There is very little for me to say, ladies and gentlemen, after
the able addresses that have been made, except perhaps to add em-
phasis to one feature of the address of the Secretary of Agriculture;
namely, that the soils of New York are as well fitted for occupation
for intensive farming under modern intensive methods as they were
for general agricultude under the pioneer methods of the past.

"It has taken four centuries to settle this country. The settle-
ment has been accomplished in the past decade. All our lands vir-
tually are now under agricultural occupation. The crop yields have
been phenomenally large; prices have been phenomenally high. We
have settled the country; settled the country in four centuries as
much as all of Europe. We have passed one era of pioneer agricul-
ture; we are entering on a new era of intensive agriculture, with
more suitable conditions than have been possible in the past. The
State of New York led in the pioneer movement in agriculture in this
country, with Virginia and the other Eastern States ; it has been a
severe tax to all of those Eastern States, the settling of the country.
With the West now settled and the surplus going into Canada and
into the Southern States, at the beginning of a new, era of intensive
agriculture that is before us] New York, with its magnificent mar-
kets, should certainly take the lead. And I can assure you, gentle-
men, from the investigations of the Department of Agriculture, from
the best knowledge that science has been able to bring to bear upon
the subject, that the soils of New York, although sadly abused in
many ways, as is common with the soils of the Eastern States, is
in as good condition now for this new era of intensive agriculture
as it was when it was first settled for the pioneer methods that to-day
have gone."

MR. W. H. SWITZER, President of the Salisbury Steel & Iron Com-
pany, of Utica, N. Y., said:

"Mr Chairman and gentlemen: I appreciate the honor which
is conferred in asking me to make a few remarks, which was entirely
unexpected on my part until this morning. There is no question
as to the importance of this gathering, and the discussion of ways
and means for greater development of the farm lands of the State
of New York. Neither is there any question as to the result of
crop cultivation, in reclaiming the wild or so-called abandoned lands of
New York State, provided scientific methods of cultivation are adopted.
In my own experience, and that is why I am called to speak to you
this afternoon, I have learned much of great value in reclaiming
several hundred acres of waste or abandoned land in Herkimer

31

County, located in the South foot-hills of the Adirondack section
of the State. Several years ago our company acquired by purchase
two thousand acres, containing several acres of so-called farm land
that had not been worked for agricultural purposes except in a hap-
hazard way for several years because it was unprofitable for farming
purposes. Forty, 50, or 60 years ago this land was the pioneer
dairying section of New York. The first cheese factory built in the
State of New York, as I understand, was in Herkimer County, in
this immediate vicinity; and the largest dairying herds per square
mile fifty, seventy-five or eighty years ago were grazing on this very
land that I refer to now. As our industries developed and trans-
portation was developed, connecting us with the New York Central
Lines, the purchase of farm foods and dairy products became a serious
problem, our base of operations being several miles from a purchas-
ing market. Therefore, of necessity, to supply this demand I de-
termined five years ago in a measure to provide the necessaries of
life in the way of farm, food and dairy products for our operatives,
and made an effort to reclaim the abandoned lands which had grown
over with a wild growth of weeds and brush. There having been no
'stock kept in the barn we were without fertilizer available. I purchased
a carload of so-called commercial fertilizer, engaged the services of
a local farmer, and began to break up this soil. Our first year's
experience was far from satisfactory. A thirty-acre field produced
less than 20 bushels per acre ; a five-acre field of potatoes less than
fifty bushels per acre; a ten-acre field of silo corn, less than ten
tons to the acre; a five-acre field of yellow corn failed to materialize
and was cut and put in with the silo. It was then that we realized
the importance of personally taking up these matters of land culti-
vation. I at once procured State and Government bulletins on special
crop cultivation, subscribed to several agricultural papers, and decided
to stock the farm with live stock to the capacity of the barn build-
ings available. I purchased about 100 head of horses, cows, sheep
and hogs, in order to procure an abundance of barn-yard manure,
purchasing hay and grain to carry this stock through the first winter.
I looked up commercial fertilizers, nitrate of soda, potash, etc., all
of which we purchased in carload lots, and mixed them into our
own, and judiciously and freely spread this mixture on the soil, with
the barn-yard fertilizer that had accumulated during the winter. Mark
the increase in the yield per acre! Oats, 56 bushels per acre, as
against less than 20. Potatoes over 200 bushels to the acre; 25 to
30 tons of silo. Corn, 46 bushels of ear corn to the acre; 50 tons,

32

of sugar beets to the acre, and three tons of hay per acre from three
year seeding ; three tons per acre from old meadow, the sod of which
had not been turned for years. After five years' labor, we have
over three hundred acres of this land under cultivation, the result
of which has enabled us to furnish our operatives with an abundance
of farm food, dairy products, including fresh and salt meats which
were prepared on the farm ; and we feel we have in a measure solved
the question of land reclamation in this particular section, which
to-day we by no means consider as a satisfactory result, having had
previously no experience in farm life, always having lived in the city
and led a strenuous life as a manufacturer and business man. I
do not consider we have achieved the highest success; therefore I
desire to emphasize the suggestion that has been made — that the State
or Federal Government should establish in every agricultural county
a model farm under expert supervision, for purposes of demonstrating
the most modern scientific methods of farming, where the local
farmer can, by personal observation, get reliable in formation, on the
scientific principles of progressive farming, in order to insure greater
yields per acre of the crops adapted to the soil and climatic condi-
tions. Right here, my friends, I want to say from my own personal
observation and experience, with the experience of the Federal Gov-
ernment in the South in raising the corn and increasing the growth
of the food products, or meats, etc., my judgment is that the proper
solution of the problem you have under discussion to-day is that you
must have the farmer with you and you must show him how to do
it. Agricultural colleges are fine. I admire the interest the com-
mercial people have taken. I myself visited Cornell, trying to get
some data and information — I was unable to take a course, and would
not care to send my son there. Very few of the sons of Northern
New York farmers are located there. The young men there are all
right for future generations. What we want are farmers to get
the crops out of the soil this year, 1910. The price of living does
not go down on what is to come a year from now. Had such a
farm been established in Herkimer County five years ago we would
have gained four years' time in arriving at the results achieved in
our personal experience. It would be far better if the farmer could
see for himself the results of soil cultivation and crop harvesting,
rather than depend upon the literature and discussions of these vital
questions. The average farmer, as the old saying goes, is from
Missouri, and he must be shown to impress upon his mind the great
importance of the greatest yield per acre. From my experience

33

of the last five years, it is not more acres to be farmed, but a greater
yield per acre, and in my judgment this cannot be done in a more
effective way than to establish farms that show the best results in
crop yields.

"In referring to the admirable report of Commissioner Pearson
for 1909, it is surprising to note the great discrepancies that exist
in the various crop yields in counties of New York State, but I think
you will agree with me that this is largely due to the lack of knowledge
of scientific methods of soil cultivation and crop harvesting, except
in so far as soil and climatic conditions prevail. In Essex and
Hamilton Counties, as in Monroe, bordering on Herkimer, they had
150 to 200 thousand bushels of potatoes to the square mile, and
Herkimer County had only fifty. There is three times the difference.
The idea is to demonstrate, and show how the crop increase can
be brought per acre. In our earlier experience we were told that
Holsteins were the best. We accordingly gave instructions that a
small herd be purchased, by reason of the short pasturage available.
I do not want to go on record as not knowing the difference between
a horse and mule, but all cows looked alike to me. I knew there
were different grades and classes, and that there was a digerence
between a Holstein and* a Jersey, but I could not have told the
difference. The information I got was that the Holstein was what
we wanted. It was a splendid cow under favorable pasturage con-
ditions. I have learned that she is a magnificent cow. if she is in
fodder up to her knees. We were then advised to try the Jersey.
Conditions were altogether too severe in the winter to carry the
Jersey through profitably. I saw a herd of fine Swiss cattle. I
resolved to have stock suitable for beef consumption after the dairy-
ing properties were exhausted. The cattle buyer does not find any
cattle for sale there. We found this Brown Swiss good for this,
giving a good yield of milk rich in butter fat. Had we been able
to acquire this information at first hand, gentlemen, the saving of
time, expense and experience would have been had, not only in the
solution of our cattle question, but of swine, sheep and poultry. We
ought to have it from the State of New York officials. And I want
to say to you gentlemen that you can get together and form an
organization — co-operation is magnificent — but you have got to have
the farmer with you and show him how, if you want to get the
crops out of the soil and increase the yield per acre. Fortunately, we
have made some progress. And I hope great permanent good may
come out of this meeting to-day for the benefit of all mankind."

34

THE; COMMITTEE ON PERMANENT ORGANIZATION, through its Chair-
man, Hon. John W. Dwight, reported submitting the following
list of seventeen names for a Committee on Permanent Or-
ganization, and the gentlemen named were unanimously elected
members of such Committee; namely,
W. C. Brown, President, New York Central Lines.

E. G. Miner, Rochester, N. Y.

Geo. A. Frisbie, President, Chamber of Commerce, Utica, N. Y.

R. A. Pearson, Commissioner of Agriculture, of the State of New York.

F. M. Godfrey, Master of New York State Grange, Olean, N. Y.

W. C. Barry, President Western New York Horticultural Society, Roches-
ter, N. Y.

F. D. Underwood, President, Erie Railroad Company.

Welding Ring, President New York Produce Exchange, New York.

George W. Thayer, Rochester, N. Y.

Chas. W. Larmon, State Labor Department, Albany, N. Y.

Wm. McCarroll, President, New York Board of Trade and Transporta-
tion.

W. W. Cocks, Member of Congress from Long Island.

W. T. Noonan, President, Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad Com-
pany.

E. B. Thomas, President, Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.

Ralph Peters, President, Long Island Railroad Company.

W. H. Truesdale, President, Delaware, Lackawa-nna & Western Railroad
Company.

John W. Dwight, Member of Congress from Thirteenth District of New
York.

The foregoing Committee to be subject to the call of Mr. W. C.
Brown.

HON. JOHN W. DWIGHT:

"The question of possibly some legislation from the Department
of Agriculture, or the Department of Commerce and Labor, should
be taken up briefly. I should like to hear from Mr. Larmon, of that
Department, as to bills pending, for a few moments."

MR. CHARLES W. LARMON, Chief of Office of Farm Labor, State of

New York, said:

"Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: I regret very much that
the representative of the Department of Commerce and Labor failed
to go a little deeper into the great importance of the immigrant in
this movement for conserving soil fertility and producing greater
crops in the State of New York. When we consider the vast im-

35

portance that the immigrant can be to the agriculture of the State
it seems to me that it is one of the great questions that ought to
be considered. And that statesmen who have been charged with the
affairs of the State for years should not know more of this question
is astonishing. A bill was introduced two years ago to provide for
the distribution, the protection, and general assimmilation and utili-
zation of the immigrant in New York State. I talked with the
President pro tern of the Senate, who had been a Senator for twenty
years. He said: 'I must confess, Mr. Larmon, that I know nothing
whatever of this question.' The Chairman of the Finance Committee
made practically the same remark. And yet when we figure up the
number of people who come to our shores in five years and take
up their residence for the time being in the State of New York it
ceases to be a wonder. Now, the number that came here in five
years was 4,596,000. We expect a million this year; last year it
was 782,000; the year before 752,000. They were lean years, the
time of depression. The one before that it was 1,100,000, and so
on down to a million, 812,000 and 857,000 in different years. Those
people in their home countries were skilled farmers to the extent
of 85 or 90 per cent. They had learned the necessity of soil con-
. servation and intensive farming; and yet, they come here and are
allowed to congregate in this city and become the prey of the libertine.
They do not understand our ideals, the ideals of American institu-
tions, and they are segregated here and their value largely is lost.
You see the agriculturist of the old country working in the sweat-
shop ; you see his family being raised in one of the 200,000 dark
rooms that have no ventilation, in this city. Think of the environ-
ment for the American citizen. It is a question that ought to sink
home in the very vitals of everyone interested in the future of this
country. The Committee on Agriculture have learned that the amount
of money carried out, or sent out, by immigrants was $275,000,000,
besides the amount that was carried out by some 700,000 in their
pockets. That sum, if the work amongst the immigrants was properly
directed, would, to the extent of 50 per cent., be invested in this
country. If the proper work was developed, 50 per cent, of those
segregated in New York City and other cities would remove to the
country. Our lands are cheap in comparison to the lands in other
sections of this country. The immigrant cannot believe the price at
which he can purchase lands in this State. It is as cheap as in
his native country, in Hungary or in Germany. In connection with .
this work I have been following for four or five years in the Depart-

ment of Agriculture, we have sent out several thousand farm hands
in each year. They are migratory birds. There is no society for
them out in the country, nobody to speak their language. They drift
back to the cities. If they are very good and stay a while, the rail-
road companies catch on to them; they are the kind they want for
train-men. They are responsible as much as anything for depleting
the rural population of its thrifty young man, and it is up to them
now to help to solve this question (laughter); but I guess they are
going to do it, by what President Brown and the others say. The
Commission of Immigration .appointed by the Governor reported al-
most unanimously a bill introduced by Assemblyman Parker, of Wash-
ington County, as they believed it would assist greatly in the distri-
bution of immigration, and not only that, but in their protection and
education. It was considered seriously as to whether this could be
placed in another department, but it was believed by the Commission
that it would only disorganize and hamper the work, both of that
department and the Commission. (Mr. Larmon here read the pur-
poses of the bill referred to). That was the object of the bill in
the main. It covers several features for the protection, education
and distribution of the immigrant in other ways.

"This cost of living, of the class of people of whom I am speak-
ing, is appalling. The cheapening of the conditions of life in any
way entail upon the father of a family a poorer habitation, less whole-
some food ; and that simply leads to degeneracy, want, privation, crime
and insanity. The records show an increase of 35 per cent, in cases
of insanity and these have increased for years. Our expenses for
caring for the insane have been one million dollars in the last two
years; in twenty years that has risen to more than seven millions.
The population of the State has grown 30 per cent., and the care
of the insane has increased 700 per cent. Where is it going to end?
Isn't it up to the State, and the great interests of the State to get up
and do something?

"This question of forming a central organization around which
all other organizations can center and co-operate, is afforded by that
measure, and I firmly believe that it ought to pass. I do not know
of anything further that I can say on the subejct without taking too
much time. I thank you for your attention."

HON. JOHN W. DWIGHT:

"If Congressman Bennet of New York would tell us something
about immigration, he is well acquainted with that subject."

!•!•''!! 37

HON. WM. S. BENNET, Member of Congress from New York City,
said:

"Immigration, so far as this meeting is concerned, I presume is
very largely confined to the question of how many immigrants are
going on the farms. Twenty-one per cent, of the immigrants who
come to us from foreign lands go to the farms ; but twenty-six of
their children go on the farms. In other words, there is an increase
of from one-fifth of the immigrants on the farms to one-fourth of
the immigrants' children.

"I was struck by one of the statements a gentleman made here
—that we could not restore the fertility of the land in New York
State. Possibly, he did not mean it in such a broad way, because
in Europe they are reaping to-day crops which support a much larger
population per acre, per mile, from the lands which fed Caesar's
Legions. I have no doubt all of you have read the Bible — most of
you have — and will recall the fields of Jezreel which were mentioned
as field, of production, and you will be pleased to know that these
fields are waving wheat fields to-day, after these thousands of years.

"There is no reason at all why the lands of New York State
should not be made productive. We are just at the beginning, so
far as agriculture is concerned. Over in Asia Minor they are utilizing
again land which has been laying fallow over two thousand years,
and utilizing it — it will be interesting to know — because with Ameri-
can machinery and modern methods they can utilize it with greater
profit than years ago. There is another thing: Many people say
what is the use of trying to do anything alongside of the irrigated
land of the West. Only four per cent, of the land of this country
is subject to irrigation; forty per cent, is agricultural land. There-
fore thirty-six per cent, must be cultivated by some kind of dry farm-
ing, as distinct from irrigation, these being the two somewhat tech-
nical terms. So, we have just as good a right to succeed on the
farms of New York State as have the farmers on thirty-six of the
forty per cent, of the area of this country that can be utilized for
agricultural purposes. Now, it is possibly rather strange for a man
whose business is confined entirely to Manhattan Island to be talking
of agricultural subjects. It is much more important to those of us
who live in the city than to those who live on the farm. The man
who lives on the farm gets a bare living at least, and is sure of it.
His conditions are not as hard as the city man's. What does it mean
to us, the decadence of the farms? It means as this is a commercial

38

center the soil brought customers, those who take the product of
our business; it means, consequently, that as products decrease in
bulk prices naturally rise; and we lose the customer for our industry
on the one hand, while paying higher prices for his product on the
other. We lose both ways, as far as the farmer is concerned. We
cannot blame the farmer for high prices. Magazines talk about the
high production in Germany. The reason is that she has the labor to
produce it there. When I was in Poland in 1907 and in Germany
I found they were bringing north from Italy to Germany 90,000
Italians a year to harvest their crops. They told me — I do not vouch
for the figures — they were bringing 250,000 people from Poland to
harvest their crop. I do know that the farmers of Poland were
thinking of bringing Chinese coolies across the trans-Siberian rail-
roads to harvest the crops in Poland. Other people have their
troubles just as we have. The farmer of the West who produces
half as much as the farmer of Germany is doing it as best he can
on an economical basis. The more men he has the deeper he can
plow and the better he can cultivate. And with the labor he has,
agricultural experts will tell you that he is doing as well as the
farmers in Germany. So, don't blame the farmer. Let us do some-
thing for the man living on the farm. The telephone has done much ;
also rural free delivery. Let us give him a parcels post on strictly
rural routes. (Applause). And when we Congressmen from New
York City districts vote for increased appropriations for agriculture
do. not make fun of us. For five years in Congress I have voted
for the maximum that the Secretary has asked for any year and
the Committee has reported. I am going to do it for the remaining
year of my term, no matter what you think about it. That old
gentleman who sat down there, in his twelve years of service to this
country has done more good than most generals and admirals have
done, and done more good in his department than the head of any
other department of the Government. I am glad that he got the
recognition, the attention and the applause, and the resolutions that
he did here, because he deserves, that old Scotch gentleman (cries
of 'American, American!') deserves everything American people can
give him. (Applause). His department has kept down the cost of
living. He is at the head of scientific research to-day, bringing on
to our farms new food crops, and by the tens and dozens intro-
ducing every year new food crops ; and not only new but better kinds
of the crops we are familiar with. The whole crop of the West
has been benefitted and increased by the better seed that the Depart-

ment of Agriculture has produced there, as has the cotton crop of
the South as well.

"I will not keep you further on this line. I am glad that this
movement has started, and started in the way it has — with men of
serious purposes — big business men that can afford to come out in
the open and say ' We are for this; we want more people on the
farms ; more raised ;" not afraid to face the facts ; who .can hang
up a map like that which shows a situation which if it is not changed
means in this country riot, bloodshed, turmoil, and everything that
goes with it, before three years are past; and all of that we may
come to see, because the moment we commence to import breadstuff's
into the United States we have to change the method of our living.
All those present know what that means, to change the standard
of living.

"Mr. Brown says they have had to raise the wages one hundred
millions on the railroads. When it gets so that we cannot raise these
wages, and start to reduce them fifty millions a year, we ought to
tremble to think what the consequences will be. This is no light
subject. This is a serious gathering, and may mark an epoch in the
history not only of this State but of this Nation."

(Applause).

BY THE CHAIRMAN :

"I think we have heard much to-day that will be of very great
benefit to us in the future. I want to thank you all for your atten-
dance, and those who have remained for their courtesy in waiting
and listening to these admirable addresses. I thank you on behalf
of the New York Produce Exchange for the favor of your com-
pany to-day."

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY