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About The Coos Bay times. (Marshfield, Or.) 1906-1957 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1915)
iiummmss: H0M13 AND FARM AIAQAZINE SECTION Editorial Page of Home and Farm Magazine Section Timely, rcriincnt Lommeiu upon juen anu .vnuiis, ruiiuwiiig me .nu nuuu news. Suggestions of Interest to Readers; Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought, TO ADVERTISERS Advertisers In this locality who wish to fully cmcr all sections of Oregon and Washington and a portion of Idaho will apply to local pub lishers for rates. General advertisers may address C. L. Bur ton, Advertising Manager of Orcgon-WaBhing-ton-Idnho Farmer, Orcgonlan Building, Tort land, Oregon, for rates and Information. TO READERS Headers arc requested to send letters and articles for publication to The Editor, Orcgon-Washington-Idaho Farmer, Orcgonlan Build ing, Portland, Oregon. Discussions on questions and problems that bear directly on the agricultural, livestock and poultry interests of the Northwest and on the uplift and comfort of the farm home always arc welcomed. No letters treating of religion, polities or the European war are solicited, for the .Oregon-SVashington-Idaho .Farmer .pro claims neutrality on these matters. Comparatively brief contributions are pre ferred to long ones. Send us also photographs of your livestock and farm scenes that you think would be of general interest. Wc wish to make this magazine of value to jou. Help us do it. WARRING AGAINST WAR. HG. "WELLS, one of the foremost writers of the present day, recently contributed to the press of America an article crying for peace, though war be made against war to secure peace. Peace is something ardently desired, hut, as the novelist aptly points out, though 99 out of 100 men are vigorously opposed to war, tho 100th man may be sufficient to incite pas sions and make strife. Another vital factor that must be reckoned with in peace move ments is the jnnate love of tho "glory of war," that thrills in man as ho listens to blood-stirring tales of wondrous charges, of gallant defenses, of thrilling sorties. The tinsel with which war Is embellished may he rubbed off by contact with the reali ties that are pictured by th pens of men who have been to the rear as well as tho front of the battlefields of Europe. By bringing to light the sordid usolessness of the heart breaking struggle, a victory Is gained for peace. To conquer the 100th man, II. O. "Wells proposes two weapons knowledge and ridi cule. Of the two, ridicule is perhaps the stronger. Ho desires to see tho indignation of peace-loving peoples aroused to such n pitch Hint tho warriors will sec themselves in the light of public condemnation. And further, ho believes in poking fun at ihe man who would risk bis life, aye, give his life, for something lie knows nothing of. Patriot ism is worthy, indeed, but it 'is so often misguided. The author wants, "as far as possible, to end war altogether, and contrive things so that when any unavoidable outbreak does occur, it may be as little, cruel and mis chievous as it can bo." It is a mueh-lo-be-desired condition, and tho dream of pro ponents of peaeo over tho world. "Will it ever he realized? A year ago and thousands would have been willing to enthusiastically answer this question in tho affirmative. Today they shako their heads in doubt. Universal peace is still a dream. CRITICISING THE COUNTY AGENT. AN ITEM bus recently been going the rounds of tho popular press in a cer tain section of tho country to the e fleet that the county agent is merely another means for tho agricultural college student to make an easy living off the farmers. Anyone who can put forth such a theory miul be either short-sighted or dyspeptic. There is no question as to tho efficiency of the real agricultural expert and the assist ance they have rendered in the various counties where they have been established. The work is heralded with highest applause from everyone who has been willing to co operate with these men for tho solution of problems which have puzzled, for tho up building of a higher class of farm industry, for increasing profits and the improvement of farm conditions generally. There is no reason why the men on tho farms should not have such a counselor as tins to whom they may go in case of ques tions or difficulties that inevitably arise in the carrying on of farm work. The farm agent or the fawn expert, as the case rimy be, is a man who brings the' indorsement of his state college because of tho efficiency he has shown in scholarship, because of tho waj in which he has mastered and handled the subjects that have been presented to him in his college course. Men of this stamp arc thoroughly in line with the best progress of farm work and they are entitled to the support and co-operation of tho progressive formers in their community. There should be no criticism, there should be co-operation if the best results are to be obtained. A STEP IN ADVANCE. (IMItorln! in Mcdford Mall Tribune.) FOLLOWING the Taeoma convention, where preliminary steps were taken to place tho marketing of Northwestern fruit upon a co-operative business basis, another move in the evolution of the indus try is announced by tho Rogue Rivo"r Fruit & Produce Association, whereby it is pro posed to standardize the pack of all orchards and relieve the individual of the collecting, grading, packing and boxing of the fruit. All the orehnrdist has to do is to pick his fruit and assemble it in lug boxes- for tho auto truck, which takes it to central storage and packing house, where it is graded, packed, refrigerated, shipped and marketed for him, relieving him of much unnecessary labor and responsibility. This is another step towards placing tho fruit industry upon a staple manufacturing basis. Next will come, as it has come in tho California districts, the picking of the fruit by the co-operative association, and in some of the districts, pruning and spraying by tho common agency. PROVING IT WITH FIGURES. A GENTLEMAN who is posted on finan cial matters, who has looked tho situa tion over carefully and thoroughly, has this to sny relative to the importance of the dairy industry from the financial stand point in a community. One county in Iowa, the one where tho first co-operative creamery was established, has in two hanks deposits to tho value of $2,070,000 and undivided profits, capital and surplus, to the value of $500,000. This county has more creameries than any other in the state, it is pre-eminently a successful dairy community and tho improved breeds of dairy cattle ore being introduced rapidly. Another county, one that lias not a creamery and where dairying is abhorred because it represents too much work, has in its three banks $178,000 as capital and surplus and undivided profits, and $840,000 on deposit. Here is the difference between the com iinmity where dairying flourishes and tho one where it does not. In the former tho deposits aro $2,070,000, while in -the latter, where there are no creameries, the deposits are $840,000. In thn ni,,w ,...- cries flourish tho capital, surplus and i divided profits in two banks is ttOOttw' while in the three banks of the other cJ it represents $178,000. This shows peS that the dairy farmer has money, ifo ul man who is able to patronize banks becam! ho has money to deposit. SOME USEFUL LESSONS. -? TnE war has already done much to teaeK Americans many valuable lessons which' they might have been years and yean in learning but for its coming. "We see now for example, with a clearness that was never before vouchsafed to us just why our trade with South America has notand still doe? not go forward faster. When tlio War opened wc were going to do great tilings and immediately and completely capture from Europe the immenso South American trade. uui wo came aurupuy to n halt. It TO discovered to our dismay that the rich South' American trade would not fall into our lap like a ripened apple, but had to be labored for, with tho foundations laid secure and deep. We have learned the three or four things needful to divert Latin American commerce toward this country. ,.v What aro these? ij We must send capital to South America invest American -money there and give our customers long and amplo credit facilities. This wo are in a fair way of doing through' tho establishment of branch banks in the principal cities of South America. The next requisite is an American mer chant marine to carry ou goods to the Southern republics and transport their products back. Hero the United States lap grievously. Third, and perhaps most important, the United States must send to Latin America trained young men to mingle with the peo ple of those countries, learn their ways, their likes and dislikes and how to enter to their tastes. Tho personal touch is just as essen tial in foreign trado as in domestic, nhd to tho South American means more than any, other thing. Recognition of tho great obstacles which' must bo overcomo gives the quietus to the hope of Americans to obtain a monopoly of South American trade in one fell swoop. But, on the other hand, tho very fact that we aw beginning to realize just what steps must be taken to accomplish our ends is a long for ward movement toward the winning of new victories in the field of foreign commerce. , . i The highest price ever received for any, farm product, pound for pound, is butter. When sold it takes tho least fertility from the farm. Now tho thing to do is to produce that pound at the lowest possible cost. One of tho main things to observe in keep- .ing Winter apples is to have them placed in n cold ploco where tho temperature is about stable. Handle carefully so ns to keep theal sound. The foundation of tho American prosperity is in the soil. Wo are still mi agriculturil nation and wiso men assert that we most remain as such. ' The secret of growing a good first-cliU calf is to never let it become stunted, in fact, this applies to all live stock on tho farm. Habit is second nature but not second i nature. It rifles or ruins both. 3k mwm