Polk County itemizer., May 21, 1914, Page 3, Image 13

TTOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page
Suggestions From Our Associate Editors, Allowing for an Interchange of Views, Written by Men of Experience on Topics With
Which They Are Fully Acquainted-Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought.
FACTS FOB FABMEBS.
HE farmer needs a market.
Otherwise he will farm at a
loss. Every consumer is a mar­
ket-maker.
Tho silo is the farmer’s best
friend.
In the country you keep your
cheek close to the breast of nature.
A cultivator under the shed is
worth two left out in open weather.
Let farming become an abandoned
profession and everything would
stop.
Help to organize rural life and
make the country a better place to
live in.
Good cultivation not only helps
growing crops but permanently im­
proves the soil.
The proper preparation of ground
works wonders -in lessened cost of
cultivation..
Wo can best serve our interests
by giving all possible attention to
marketing.
Production without thought to
marketing is like building elabor­
ately on foundation premises that
are not true.
The man that owns the soil on
which he lives is the only man
whose feet do not rest on shifting
sandJ.
As the season advances, the plow
is the farmer's best friend, but
when the season closes the silo
comes in handy.
The commonly accepted theory
that we are short on production is
wrong. We are short on marketing
information.
’ Many wealthy corporations and
individuals have been telling the
farmer how to plow, whfti they
should have been telling him where
and when to market.
The problem o f marketing is the
biggest business proposition of any
age or nation, and one that will de­
mand the combined efforts of all
the agencies o f civilization
to
sdl ve.
T
BEAUTY VERSUS USE.
ERO could enjoy the spec­
tacle of Rome burning. Chil­
dren and fools naively would
delight in a conflagration that
would consume for spectacular pur­
poses a million tons of coal a week.
We let the equivalent waste m
horsepower go on at Niagara and
hear it called saving beauty for the
people.
N
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E L E C T B IC ITY .
0
7T here in the Northwest we are
setting an example to civiliza­
tion.
Farms anywhere within easy
reach of a city or town now can be
lighted, and usually are lighted, by
electricity.
On many farms the hum of the
electric motor is heard.
Sewing
machines are £ iven by electricity.
Silos are filled; water pumped, feed
cut up. It has one hundred and one
uses.
Electricity if so easily controlled
either by the push of a batten or by
automatic apparatus especially de­
signed for that purpoee, that one
oftentimes loeee sight o f the com­
plexity o f the distribution system
and control mechanism between
the lamp and the source of supply.
Indeed, there are as many as a
thousand points between the elec trie
light station and the lamp where
the most trivial fault will result in
fhilore to reoeive light
Trouble in the electric light «t»-
Clos itself is never permitted te in­
terfere with the service to enn*
tomers; it is the trouble in the lines
and house circuits which eausee the
lighting company most concern.
In the great majority of casee
there is only e minute or twe of
^ork between no electricity at all
ta d perfect satisfaction Tho blow*
lag of a fuse will place s house la
entire darkness, yet a new fuse eaa
Ve Installed la a fraetioa ef a mia-
»te.
Hectrie light companies through*
V»t the m ob try make ii a point te
remedy these faults as speedily as
possible, and in order that the elec­
tric light men may reach the seat
of trouble as rapidly as possible, the
companies provide motor cycles for
repair men.
The fact that one o f these men is
able to make an average trip and
arrive at the home of a customer
within a few minutes of the time
when the call is telephoned to the
city or town office gives electric
light companies an advantage and
prestige.
It is usual to have the motorcycle
repair corps on tap at any time o1
day or night.
This course involves heavy ex­
pense, but the lighting companies
are ore than compensated in
fied customers.
A HINT FOR US.
E HAVE just visited C a n a d a -
Western Canada.
And we are still quite torn-
tent to make our home in the North­
west.
Just the same we found a few
ideas of special interest.
Ono in particular seemed worth
while.
It gives an idea to our ow i rail­
roads.
The Canadian Pacific Railroad
has recently added to its staff a
“ scout,” a man unknown except
to a few officials, whose duty it is
U travel over the system and dis­
cover those employes who are es­
pecially worthy of advancement.
Incidentally he will report those
found wanting; but it is significant
that his function primarily is not to
make complaints but to make doubly
sure that fke deserving are recog­
nized.
Undoubtedly this is a step in the
right direction.
There is a feeling among rail­
road men that advancement is slow
and that merit is not recognized.
Very likely if men can be brought
to realizo that the display of initia­
tive will be appreciated and re­
warded their attitude toward their
work will be decidedly changed.
If tho scout idea will bring home
to the employes o f the Canadian
Pacific that their interest in tbs
road will be apreciated and reward­
ed, it will help much in raising the
lin e’s efficiency.
Incidentally, when we see the
courtesy and consideration Simms,
our depot master, uses to everyone;
when we see him wrestle with heavy
trunks and bulky express packages,
in between times rushing to the tel­
egraph ticker or the telephone;
making up voluminous reports, sell­
ing tickets and doing the scores of
duties the railroad requires him to
do cheerfully and well, we hope a
“ spotter” will come along and
send in a report on Simms that will
give him well deserved promotion.
W
FARM LOAN EXAMPLE.
■L|T> STATE in the Union has beoa
P | the subject of more discussion
as to its financial standing and
prospects than Oklahoma.
Opened to settlement oly 25 years,
it has become one of the wonders
o f the nation, but through the pro-
cese of development has been com­
pelled to utilize a great deal of out­
side capital.
Most of the people who went te
the state as farmers were poor.
They have built cities and improved
farms and made all the develop­
ment o f a prosperous commonwealth
and are today standing with a splen­
did showing of their accomplish­
ments.
The farm loan Field o f that state
has «eon its upe and downs
It has gone through a period ef
depreeslon when there came a period
of low prices for real estate and an
overwhelming debt.
Then It has come te the raceaa»
ful point of today.
Oklahoma in all its central pee>
tSoa is capable of almost universal
cultivation. Farms cover the land
and the eLxnate m saofc as te bring
excellent crop production. Cotton
and eorn, wheat and oats, alike are
raised, and the stock interests are
among the foremost in the West.
The success of this field has mani­
fested itself in tho history of in­
vestments made through a period
o f years. One insurance company
has over $7,000,000 in Oklahoma
farm loans and is increasing its in­
vestments in that state. There are
many large loan companies that
handle millions in far loans and
their record is phenomenal for
the slight losses.
Yet interest rates are strong and
the demand for money is active.
Two elements go into the Okla­
homa loan field that make for
strength.
One is the character of the people.
They are among the most energetic
o f the W est’s population. They have
the ability to get the most out of
the soil. The other is the climatic
and soil conditions that bring good
crops and in almost every year give
the farmers a profit.
Labor is eheap, many negroes be­
ing available for bulp. The warm
winters make the expense o f fuel
and clothing lighter than up North
and the long seasons give a ehanee
to diversify crops.
Land values have steadily Tisen
all through tho state, until they are
today standing at a figure that is
likely to remain. Yet there is no
boom value. That has long ago
been squeezed out and the land is
on an income basis.
In the eastern half of the state
is what was, until five years ago,
the Indian Territory. Hero the In­
dian rights are to be considered, but
they are rapidly becoming available
for the owner, and the whites are
taking the place of the redskin.
Fine towns aro growing up and
schools and churches are being built.
Tho loan companies aro making
loans here lees extensively than in
the central sec Jon, but they will
eventually make this one of their
leading fields.
The Oklahoma farm loan is well
established among careful investors
and is gaining prominence as the
state comes to a fuller prosperity.
The present season promises to be
one of the best in the state’s his­
tory, and with a good wheat crop,
it will have a marvelously prosper­
ous year. There is all the time an
increasing population.
----- <$>--
CARING FOR ANIM ALR
S A PEOPLE we are somewhat
short-sighted.
There has just been a capital
example o f this.
— John D. Rockefeller has given an­
other million dollars for the study
of diseases in animals.
Now, we don’t particularly admire
Mr. Rockefeller as a man but that
is no cause for the flippant and
even bitter comment his action has
aroused.
Critics profess to se« more reason
for the million in other quartern
They say that human diseases
should be eliminated before the ills
o f the lower crestures are taken into
consideration.
Anything that Mr. Rockefeller
docs ia. of course, a fair mark for
those Who are not enamored of him
or impressed with hie munificenen.
Our inalieoable right to kick at
all times is granted without argu­
ment.
But It would seem that in the con­
sideration of this particular dona­
tion a certain amount of intellb
genes might be manifested.
Many people incorrectly assume
that lavish governmental and state
appropriations for the prevention
of disease among animals are based
on pity for the animals.
Of course, the practical farmer
knows this is rubbish.
By being careful over our animate
we are acting pnrely selfishly.
Mr. Rook ef «Her Is not bowed wit»
grief over the sufferings of the kef
with cholera.
Nor art our agricultural so 11 age*
A
Their anxiety is to preserve as ]
many hogs as possible for the con»
sumption of humanity.
The feelings of tho hog are not }
considered.
(
Anthrax, cholera, pleuro-pneu- (
m on ia , glanders, tick, fever and
tu b e rcu lo sis among our food and I
working animals play a decided
part in the coBt o f living.
When hog cholera is conquered w t
may look confidently for a drop in
the priee o f pork because the farmer j
will be able to sell hogs at less
money and make more money.
j
Protecting the health o f animals (
upon which we are dependent is
one of the certain methods of benerj
fitting humanity, and the Rockefel l
ior gift will be certainly justifies I
even if its benefits never become
generally known.
11
PHILOSOPHY FROM A
JAILER.
OHN L. Whitman, jailer o f thS
Cook county jail, Chicago, re­
cently made a speech to his
guards and keepera
“ Although jailer, I can accom­
plish little without the united as­
sistance of all my guards; they are
just as necessary to the success of
my ideas In the management o f this
jail as my own acts. » . .
“ Alwaye keep in mind that kind­
ness is the key to all human hearts,
and sympathy the password to good
fellowship. Men imprisoned here
are human, and are entitled to ev*
ery consideration they can consist­
ently receive at our hands. Never
strike a blow, never abuse an in­
mate. Rather give a kind word, a
little sympathy, and the necessity
for harsh treatment will soon van­
ish. Get the men to believe that
you are their friends and not their
natural enemies, and that you art
here merely to do a plain duty as
kindly as it can be done. When
you will have done this you will
have done everything.”
Strikes us some of Whitman’t
ideas might work handling farm
hands, store help and employai
generally.
That about kindness would bt
worth trying at home.
J
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PUT IN A SEPTIC TANK.
O FARM wher. the dm o f a
«Optic tank il possible should
be without one,” says Professor O.
L. Waller, vice-president o f the
Washington State College at Pull­
man.
Farm sanitation is an Important
subject.
What is worth more to yon than
health I
A septic tank is a simple and eto
fective sanitary device.
Put one in.
Any of the sgTlenltnrnl colleges
in the Pacific Northwest will tell
you how.
il
N
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1
A
LOT o f farmer boys fo to the
city looking for trouble and
whan they find it they do not kn o*
what to do with it,
_
----- »
T
UB farmer who takes crop n i »
Ing on faith gets many a hard
Jolt
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For Uniform Bead Lawn.
Through the eo operation ef Q|
American Bar A llocation sad thg
American Highwny Aanoeimtiam tM
work e f revising the road tows to dtft
feront Staten has been endestakm w ill
the object of codifying an
ng them on n uniform harm Many i
the road laws a n a «eatnry old,
colonial Icgi.lattoa and folio
English precedent and are entirety
o f nse In modern truffle and eond
Because ef tham obsolete ton
impossible to give the nation
work of Improved highways, so a dm
must bo mada The committee will
upon the governor* o f tho rario
neeeecity for legislative action
-41 groridg a plan tor sued pro