tion from Japan has not yet been
learned, uud when President House.
volt falls to see lt.iind demands only
more imttle snips, as tlie lesson of the
Ki'oat sea light which lias just been
fought, he unfortunately diverts the
minus ot tlie people or this country
from facts of supreme and overshad
owing importance, widen should be
burned into tlie public mind as by a
stroke of lightning from every victory
won by tlie Japanese.
That lesson is tlie profoundly Im
portant fact that the Japanese man,
the unit of her national strength, is
the product of a mode of life and aa
environment which combines tlie
physical strength which eomes only
from the rural life from living next
to nature with the mental activity
and keenness which come from con
stant contact with his fellowrueu the
community life.
A Nation of Gardeners.
The Japanese are not a nation of
fanners, as we understand the word.
They are a nation of gardeners.
There Is neither Isolation nor conges
tion in their life. They dwell, the
great majority of them, not in great
cities, but in closely settled rural com
munities. The ranch and the tene
ment are alike foreign to the life of
the Japanese.
The greatprlnclple that mustcontrol
our own national development hence
forth ia that the land shall be subdl-l
vlded Into the smallest tracts from
which one man's labor will sustain a
family in comfort, and that every
child, boy or girl, in the public schools
should be so trained in those schools
that it will know how to till such n
tract of land for n livelihood.
In other words, let us reproduce In
this country the conditions so well
described in an article from the Book
lovers' Magazine for August, 100-1,
from which we quote the following:
"While Japan is cannonadingHs way
to rank with Christian powers us u
nor military omiipmeiit, nor manu
facturing skill. Western nations will
fail full v to grasp the secret of tin
dynamic intensity of Japan today, aud
will dangerously underestimate the
formidable possibilities of the Greater
Japan the Dal JSippon or tomorrow,
until they begin to study seriously the
agricultural triumphs of that empire.
For Japan, more scientifically than
uiiv other nation, past or present, has
perfected the art of sending the roots
of its civilization enaunngly into tue
soil.
"Progressive experts of blgh author
ity throughout the Occident now ad
mit that in till the annals of agri
culture there is nothing that ever ap
proached the scientific skill of Sunrise
husbandry. Patient diligence, with
knowledge of the chemistry of soil aad
the physiology of plants, have yielded
results that have astounded the most
advanced agriculturists iu Western
nations."
The Safe Foundation.
The creation of the conditions above
described under which the people of a
nation are rooted to the soil in homes
of their own on the land, is not only
good statesmanship and the highest
patriotism, but It Is tlie only safe foun
dation for an enduring national
structure.
TP ignore and neglect this founda
tion while we build battleships, equip
.irniiest mid annex islands and dig
Isthmian canals, is as fatal a mistake i
as it would he to build u twenty-story
skyscraper in Chicago without any
foundation but the mud of Lake
Michigan.
We need not muster out our armies,
nor dismantle our battleships nor
evacuate the Philippines, nor stop
work on tlie Isthmian Canal, but the
fact remains, as clear as tlie sun from
an unclouded sky at noonday, that the
attention of our people as n nation Im
riveted on our naval and military af
fairs and scliL'iues of foreign exploltu-
For, iu fact, they are undeveloped.
We have, as yet, hardly more than
tickled the earth over this immense
area.
Our Own Country.
When we compare Japan, with Its
dense population, its wealth, its rev
enues, its trade and commerce, Its
national strength, with any section of
our own country equal to it in area
and natural resources, we are unitized
at the great possibilities of future de
velopment in our own country.
The entire population of Jupan is
about forty-five million, of which
thirty million Is a farming population,
and 'this vast population of thirty mil
Ion farmers and their families Is sus
tained on nineteen thousand square
miles of Irrigated laud. There is no
agriculture in Japan -but irrigated
agriculture. They have learned that
water is the greatest fertilizer known
to nature, and save and utilize it with
the same care that they use every
other uvailable process for the fertili
zation of their fields.
Nineteen thousand square miles is
an area about one hundred and thirty
five miles square, and In a square in a
corner of the State of Illinois, tlie com
parative size of which to the rest of
the State is shown on the accompany
ing map, is susranieu a nation wnich.
to the amazement of all other peoples
on tlie earth, has sprung to the front
as one of the great world powers.
Source of Power,
And the Ilome Aero farms or gar
dons the rural homes of Japan are
the source of Hint national power.
Commenting on this, the author of
tlie article in I lie August 1004 Book
lovers' Magazine, quoted from above,
says In that article:
"From what its advanced agricult
ure has made its plains to yield, Japan
lias fid and clothed and educated its
multiplying masses, fast ncaring the
H T H O A r u p e L
0 W A chicaA JL--ii
x y I B 2 j
--r"r,iNcoiir KBroBSBSEa io H ' n
" X. .Nmto j .wvA (wCSf
tN S A S j tf f r i
i o X U-v 0 c k v J
. llf&--
j M t tU N E S V' .NCR j"
U. J? j ; Yt o R.c
THE MIDDLE WEST. .
The black aquaro la the above map represents the total area ot cultlviitod laud In Japan, supporting thirty millions of egf lcultural people.
lion, to the disregard and neglect of I fifty million figure; it has stacked up
the vastly more important Droblem of irold in lis treasury, has wealed a
first-class fighting nation, It Is not neg
lecting Its tields of rice, gouge, millet
and mujl, its groves of mulberry and
bamboo, its priceless plots of tea and
mitsiiniata shrubs, and its niultl-niil-llou
gardens of berries, vegetables,
fruits and Mowers. The thousands of
patriots that have marched to the
front have not thinned the ranks of
the mightier hosts tilling the soli.
Thirty million farmers are gathering
ample harvests In the diminutive tields
of Japan.
Husbandry Dlenlfled.
"For twenty-live centuries the Sun
rise sovereigns have dlgnilled hus
bandry us the most important and
most honorable industrial calling in
tlie empire, and now more than sixty
per cent of the Mikado's subjects till
with Incomparable skill the limited
soil of bis Islands,
j'The name diligent genius that ena
bles a landscape gardener in Japan to
compass within a few square yards of
laud a forest, a bridge-spanned ntreain,
a water-fall aud lake, a chain of ter
raced hills, gardens and chrysanthe
mums, hyacinths, peonies and pinks, a
lieelling crag crowned with a dwarfed
conifer, and through all tlie dainty
park meandering paths, with here a
shrine and there a dainty summer
bouse, has made it possible for the far
mers of the empire to build up on less
than nineteen thousand square miles
of arable land the most remarkable
agricultural nallou the world lias
known. If all the tillable acres of
Japan were merged into one Held, a
man in an automobile, traveling at the
rate of fifty miles an hour, could skirt
the entire perimeter of arable Japan
in eleven hours. Upon this narrow
freehold Japan has reared a nation of
imperial power, which Is determined
to enlov comrierclal preeminence over
all the world of wealth and opportu
nity from Siberia to Slam and already,
by the force of nrnis. Is driving from
the shores of Asia the greatest mon
archy of Kurope.
Roots In the Soil.
The secret of the success of the lit
tle Uaybreak Kingdom has been a
mysterv to many students of nations.
Patriotism does not explain the riddle
of its strengtli, neither cun commerce,
building men at home, and creating a
citizenship which will b an enduring
national foundation forever, and en
larging our home markets, which will
be unatVected by any foreign complica
tions or trade disturbances.
The attention of our people of late
has been so much absorbed by the
problems of our export trade, that we
overlook the fact that the United
Stales today manufactures annually a
product aggregating in total value the
combined manufactured product of
the three other greatest manufactur
ing nations of the world. England,
France and tierniany, and we con
sume ninety-two per cent of our entire
annually manufactured products at
home.
Create Farm Homes.
And if every farm in tlie United
States were cut in two, and a new
homo created on it so that the number
of farm homes, ami the capital in
vested in. and labor devoted to agri
culture throughout the entire United
States, were thus doubled, the result
would be nu enlargement of our popu
lation, our home market for manu
factures, and our power as a nation,
almost beyond the power of the imag
ination to picture to the mind.
It Is to the development of its vast
agricultural resources aud the creation
of a closely settled population of far
mers aud gardeners, who will culti
vate the soil by the most intensive
methods, that tlie Middle West must
look If it Is to achieve its full destiny
lu wealth, power and population.
The resources of the great territory
extending westward from the crest of
the Alleghany Mountains to the one
hundredth meridian the edge of the
arid region and from the sources of
the Mississippi liiver on the north to
its outlet to the tiulf on tlie south, are
so largely agricultural that It offers
the Ideal section of the earth for the
development of a nation along the
lines of Japanese development, with
ti preponderating rural population.
There is no other section of the
world's surface where latent agricul
tural resources of such Inexhaustible
richness aud extent lie practically undeveloped.
great merchant marine, has captureda
growing share of European commerce,
lias already outmarshaled commercial
America oil the Pacific, has crowded
its cities with roaring factories, and
has given costly and triumphant equip
ment to its aggressive Hoots and regi
ments. And it lias accomplished all
this out of tlie prolit of harvests
gleaned from a farm area scarcely
large enough to afford storage room
for the agricultural machinery iu use
in the United States."
Could there be a more striking proof
of the oft-quoted words of David Starr
Jordan, that:
"Stability of national character goes
with llruiuess of foot-hold on the
soil.''
Comparison of Areas.
Now coinpifre Japan and Its devel
opment with the possibilities of devel
opment in the Middle West.
The area of all the islands compris
ing the F.iupire of Japan is 147,tioo
square miles; of this only 10,000
square miles is available for agricult
ure, for every available acre in that
country Is cultivated.
The total combined area of Wiscon
sin, Illinois and Indiana is 110,300
square miles, and it Is safe to say that
considerably more than half of this
area probably more than two thirds
is capable of as close a cultivation,
and of sustaining as dense a popula
tion per square mile as the cultivated
area of Japan.
The water with which to Irrigate it
now runs to waste. The water which
Chicago turns Into her drainage canal,
instead of producing ngricult"ral
wealth by irrigating the lands of Illi
nois, produces law suits with St. Louis
because It runs to waste past that
city to the Gulf of Mexico.
The time will come when Irrigated
agriculture In the Middle West will
absorb every drop of water falliug
within that territory.
And when the irrigation canals and
thp irrigated farms of the Middle
West will dry up the Ohio and the
Mississippi rivers. Just as irrigation
in the West has dried up Tulare" Lake
lu California, aud is rapidly drying up
the Great Salt Lake lu Utah, the
iioods of the Mississippi aud its tribu
taries will be led out through a net
work of canals, large and small, aud
stored in reservoirs, and every drop
devoted to benellclal use, a use that
will be so valuable that its value for
navigation will count for nothing in
comparison, it may be a great manv
years before this will happen, but it
is certain to come, in no other way
can the vast population with which
this country will teem within a few
hundred years be provided with the
tood to sustain it.
Japan, from her total area of 117,
055 square miles, of which only 10,000
are cultivated, collected an annual
revenue bet ore the war with Itussia
began of $121,433,725, aud her exports
amounted to $124,208,023.
The average population per snuare
mile of Japan is 200.70, but only one-
seveutu or nor territory is actually
under cultivation.
A Thousand Miles Square.
A section of our own country con
tained within a square extending one
thousand miles north from New Or
leans and one thousand miles west
from Pittsburg, and containing one
million square miles, If as densely
populated as Japan, would sustain a
population of 300,000,000; but a much
larger proportion of this great square
in the center of the United States
could be intensely farmed than in
Japan, where only one-seventh of the
total area Is cultivated.
On the'10,000 square miles of land
in Japan that is actually farmed, they
sustain 30,000,000 farmers. It is a
safe estimate that at least one-half of
the thousand mile square central sec
tion of the United States above des
cribed could be as closely cultivated
as the productive fields of Japan.
Those Japanese fields sustain over
fifteen hundred people to the square
mile. At the same ratio of population,
our own thousand mile square central
section would sustain 750,000,000 of
farming population alone.
A population of over fifteen hundred
to the square mile sustained by agri
culture seems to tlie ordinary mind In
credible; but on the Island of Jersey,
off the English coast, a population of
over thirteen hundred to lue square
mile is sustained by out of door agri
culture in a climate by no means best
adapted to intensive farming.
It must be borne in mind that we are
talking now of the possibilities of
future development, and the facts and
figured above given will no doubt be
looked upon as utterly chimerical by
the average reader.
Degeneracy in England.
Bear In mind however, again, that
they are bused only upon the assump
tion that we iu this country should at
tain to a point of development already
reached by the Japanese people, anil
on which rests their national strength.
It is true that our development dur
ing tue last mut-century lias not been
towards the land. We have followed
in the footsteps of England, rather
than Japan; and while, in flftv venrs.
Japan has restored the land to her
people and rooted them to the soil ia
homes of their own, England 1ms
done the contrary. She has driven,
her yeomanry from the farms to the
cities, where they have become fac
tory operatives, and degenerated
physically and mentally to such a de
gree that the degeneracy of her citi
zenship now presents itself to the
statesmen of England as a most ap
palling problem. ,
We are doing the same thing, but
we are not, as yet, feeling the effects
of it so severely because we have still
a larger proportion of our people on
the laud.
Back to the Land.
We hnve much to do' to reverse the
tide of population, aud turn it from
the cities back to the land from the
tenement to the garden. It must not
be imagined that it is necessary, in
order to accomplish this, that the
workers ia our cities or in our fac
tories should quit their present em
ployment and become farmers. All
that is necessary is that the facilities
for rapid transportation afforded by
our trolley system should be availed
of to plant every factory family upon
at least au acre of land.
Let that be done, ond the problem
is practically solved no matter
though the acre be used for nothing
but to raise chickens and keep a goat.
The children of the family will have
fresh air and sunshine and pure milk,
and will grow up to be healthy men
and women.
The lever with which we must
move our population back to the land
must be the public school system.
Gardens and Handicraft.
Every child in the public schools,
boy or girl, must be trained from its
earliest days of school life to culti
vate the ground and make things
grow in a garden, and to raise poul
try, and do all that needs to be done
to provide- the food for a family from
an acre of land.
Add to this a training in simple
sloyd work and home handicraft,
cooking and sewing and making things
for the home, and you Wu, have cre
ated the impulse lu the minds of the
multiplying millions of our children
which will lead them to shun the
bricks and the asphalt, the slums and
the tenements, as they would shun
the plague, and flee from them far
enough Into the country to have an
acre at least for a home and a gar
Create this Impulse in the minds of
our children, tlie millions upon mil1
lions of them who are attending, and
will attend, our public schools, and
they will find a way to solve all the
rest of the problem, how to get the
land, and how to get back and forth
to It, if they continue to work iu the
city or the factory.
Some will say mat school gardens
cannot be provided for city children
That is a mistake. The o-nly ditii-
culty in the way of it Is a mere cus
tom or habit, easily modified.
Tlie terms of school of all city
schools should be changed. There
should be a short winter term, dur
ing which the time should be given to
instruction trom the booi;s auu in
handicraft within doors.
There should be a summer term of
equal length during which the schools
would be transferred to the suburbs,
and work in summer school gardens.
The children should be taken buck
and forth to these summer school gar
dens at public expense, as they are
now taken to and from the consoli
dated rural schools on tlie trolley
lines in some of the xNew Euglund
states.
The vacation, which would not need
lie so long, should bo divided betwen a
spring vacation and a fall vacation,
Intervening between the winter city
erm and the country summer term ot
each school.
Building a Strong Citizenship.
Of course, many will hold up their
hands and say this is impossible.
England finds it impossible, as the
result of her system of great landed
estates, to provide her people with
homes on the land, and In conse
quence her ruin as a nation is only a
question of a comparatively brief
time.
Japan, on the contrary, put forth
her hand and solved the very problem
which, to England, seems impossible,
and behold the results in her strength
and power as a nation.
It is only a question with us, as a
people, whether we will follow the
lead of Japan, and prolit by her les
sons, or follow the lead of England
and share in her eventual ruin.
The inUuences which are destroying
England are at work steadily and in
sidiously in tills nation, and though
it will" take longer for ihem to win-L
our ruin, it is sure to come if we do
not tind a way to root the irreiit-
majority "of our people to the land iu
homes of their own. as .T-m-m line
done, and as we can do, unless we
are as nana ami as impotent in deal
ing with our national problems as
seems to be the fate of England.
In the carrying out of this great
patriotic purpose of building a strong
citizenship by building rural homes
on the land, we are. at the same
time, doing that which will create
the greatest possible commercial
prosperity, and develop to the high-
-iu..u,ic iumii, uoi oniy tne re-
Bouiuus or tue Middle West, but
our entire country.
If A 4
I L TZH I
of
The Olive Ia America,
The annual output of olive oil In
California is about 150,000 gallons; of
pickles 230,000 gallons. The imports
to the country of oil amount to about
1,250,000 gallons per year and of
pickles to 2,116 gallons. The olive was
introduced into California 135 years
ago, which is a bad showing for use
of native olive oil, especially when
it is acknowledged to be the superior
of all foreign oils.
EXCAVATION WORK.
.With Greatest Economy
use the
Western Elevating Grader
and Ditcher.
ll
;"-:'M
ROAD CONSTRUCTION.
Western Wheeled Scraper Co.
AURORA, ILL.
Send for Catalog.
ji 1 1
A Tension
Indicator
IS JUST
WHAT
THE
"WORD
IMPLIES.
It
indicates
j the state
of the tenston at a glance.
Its use means time saving;
and easier sewing-.
It's our own invention
and is found only on the
White
Sewing Machine.
"We have other striking
improvements that appeal to
the careful buyer. Send for
our elegant H. T. catalog.
White Semg Machine Co.
Cleveland, Ohio.
PENSIONS.
Over one Million Dollars
allowed our clients during the last
six years.
Over one Thousand
claimsallowed through us dur
ing the last six months. Dis
ability Age and In
crease pensions obtained
in the shortest possible time.
Widows claims a specialty.
Usually granted within 90
days if placed with us immedi
ately on soldier's death. Fees
fixed by law and payable out of
allowed pension. A successful
experience of 25 years and benefit
of daily calls at Pension Bureau
are at your service. Highest ref
erences furnished. Local Magis
trates pecuniarily
benefited by sending us
claims.
TABER & WHITMAN CO.,
Warder Bld'g, Washington, D. C.
Foster's Ideal
Cribs
Accident Proof
Every reader of this paper should have this book. I
7" 41, r j. .-jt . 0
K,f7 C
1, KFTiik
Illustrated,
by
Ernest
Haskell'
By
Eu&ene P. Lyle, Jr.
Published August 1st
13TH
THOUSAND
ALREADY
All Bookstores,
$1.50
Mlssourian
The romantic adventures of John Dinwiddie Driscoll (nicknamed "The Storm Centre
at the Court o Maximilian in Mexico, where his secret mission comes into conflict
with that of the beautiful Jacqueline. The best romantic American novel of re
cent years.
Hasvhatsofetvofitsclassposecst, the tlementt of rtatittf wrought
uy utjuiiic pums uj aetuii, verisimilitude, suggestion."
St. Louis Republic.
'A remarkable first book, of epic breadth, carried through un-
swervinijlu. A brilliant story." X. Y. Times Saturday Reviiw
"There is no more dramatic period in history, and the
ttory bears every evidence of careful and painstaking A & '
Y. Globe. s, 'JfyM .
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
133-137 East 16th St., New York.
a. v
AT
tt t its'
The Newest and Best
STRAP LOCKS
ra the
LYNCH PERFECTION
YALE PRINCIPLE
TO THE TRAVELER these Locks Are Neces
sitiesNot Mere Luxuries
On straps they atreng then and make saie the trunk, suit or other
traveling case, or lock telescope at any fullness. With chaia fasten
bicycle, horse or automobile or secure umbrella, bag, or coat to car
seat or other permanent object. They are email, simple, durably
unpickable.
LOCKS 3 varieties 50 cents each; with leather trunk strapi
7 ft. 81.00, 8 ft 11.25, 8 ft heavy $L50, 8 to 10 ft double $2.50 with
best li-inch webbing 7 to 10 ft. fLOO with telescope, Bttit case,
traveling case or mail bag strap or with chaia Wo. By mail prepaid
on receipt of price
LYNCH MFG. CO.. Madison. Wis-