At Whitmore Lake

The farmers' picnic at Whitmore Lake, Saturday, was a very success ful one. About 3,000 people were in attendance, nearly all of whom had come in carriages or wagons All the available stable room was taken and carriages lined the roads in all directions. In fact the number of carriages and wagons exceeded those of former years, though not so many carne by the trains. The day was a beautiful one and those present all voted to turn out again next year. There were the usual accompaniments of all picnics. A merry-go-around did a heavy business, carrying grey headed men and women with no children as excuses for riding, as well as the young people. A side show took in quite a number of dimes, while there were the usual concomitants of pop corn, water meions, snide games, shooting galleries, etc. Various games whiled away the forenoon. It was a basket picnic and baskets were numerous. Over 3,000 people gathered on the grounds and never did a larger or more appreciative audience gather around the speakers stand at any of :he former picnics held at the lake. After a song by the Whitmore Lake choir, "Merrily Goes Our Bark," Mr. Shannon, of Salem, delivered the prayer. The choir then sang a slumber song, but the audience waked up to hear the president of the day, Hon. William 3a!l, of Hamburg, who said that :or the last twenty years the farmers' iicnic had been a pleasure day where after thearvest was gathered he farmers met to talk together and lave a social time. For fifteen 'ears Whitmore Lake had had an annual picnic gathering. That there was now no lack of interest was proven by the people gathered together. It was a good thing to eave the burdens and cares athome 'or one day. It was beneficial to est and there was soraething to be earned. He had been here for a number of years and had never een a larger audience gathered. íe introduced Rev. Mr. Morgan a Methodist minister, of Howell. Mr. Morgan made a very pleasant nd witty speech saying that he abored under two or three slight mbarrassments, one of which was o know which was the front of the tand but be consoled himself by he fact that whichever way he faced ie could f urnish a forehead the other way. After a couple of witty stories ie cohtinued, I ara to speak on the aimer his position and duty. Some one Pray(ed) me to come down ïere. I am like the Carolina Conressman jwho met an old colored man coming back from church who said he wasn't a Baptist, Methodist or Campellite but was a Presbyterian. He beliaved in predestination. The congressman said tohim "well, am I one of the elected" - 'Tve lived a long time is this world Massa Vanee, but I neber seed anybody 'lectëd who wajsn't a candidate." How can we teil the position of the farmer. We might define the toundaries of Whitmore Lake as its being so far north of the equator and so far west of a line passing through Greenwich and so I draw my first line, the farmer industrially. When the earth was first peopled it supported in its primitive condition about five million people by gathering nuts and fruits of trees. Then carne the hunters age, which supported five million people by the bow and arrow. Then succeeded the shepherd age, for it was found to be a good deal easier to raise animáis than to hunt them. This age supported from fifty to a hundred million people. Then carne a time when the earth must bring forth more abundantly and man began to raise grain and so began the agricultural age. We now have itjo,000,000 people who all have, as a basis, the farmer. All this grand superstructure is reared on wha the has done. All is built üp on the work of the farmer. What is the farmer to do for the future. Some men have tried to figure out how many_people can be supported by agriculture, developed to its utmost and they figure oui that the earth will sustain four times as many people as we now have. They have said that in 200 years we shall come to the largest limit of agriculture. What is beyond? Some one has said the chemical age, when the elements will be brought together and electricity flashed through them. All food is made up of the simple elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There we won't have people clamoring for work or for bread. Now, a few words about the farmer intellectually. There has been a kind of a feeling that farming hasanarrowing influence on the intellect. It is time that this feeling should pass away. Intellectual forces are being developed all about about us. More brains are being put in farm work. Farm works develops the mind as it did not fifty years ago. Science brings its richest fruits and lays it down at the foot of the farmer. We are just on the verge of the great study of atmosphere and climate. Man's intellect develops by contact with tiis fellows, drawn out by contact with his fellows. The grandest step las been the organization ofgranges and such gatherings as to-day. The farmer politically. I believe that a larger plañe is coming into politics, and politics will be better vhen farmers come into that plane. Lawyers monopolize politics too ■nuch. Peter the Great said he had jnly two lawyers in his whole king3om and he was going to hang one )f those when he got home. The armers voice should be heard in )olitics as it had not in the past. The farmers wives are going to be n it for we are going to put the allot in their hands. I feel in ympathy with that very keen little tornan, Mrs. Anna Shaw, who .nswered the argument that we lon't want women contaminated in he dirty pool of politics, by saying ome of us don't enjoy the com)any on the pedestal on which you lave placed us, with fools, lunatics nd crimináis. Out in Wyoming woman's suffrage has had this result, liat there isnot a woman criminal nd it has made such a good imression on men's minds that there re only five lunatics. The farmer socially.' A great ocial problem is facing us. The Czar of Russia said he could no more change the movement of the reat body of the people than he ould say to the glacier of the Alps, top. All are bound up in the inerests of each other. Our Conress has met, the president has iven us his message. However wise the legislation, there needs to e the thoughtful action of our peo)le before our life will move on in tie way in which it was intended. could not presume to decide anyling today on the financial quesion, but the time will come when our medium of exchange will be jased in some way on the great staple production of the people. We will have a currency in some measure by which we can exchange. !t will be a credit system representng the production of the people. Possibly it will be by great postal janks of the government through which certificates will be issued to the people. The one thing needed today is to restore the confidence of the people. I know of no remedy today except to go to the standard recognized by the people the world over. I believe in the mingling of the )eople more and more, and I reoice that we meet here today with all distinctions wiped out. Let us try to cultívate the things which make the ideal homes of the people. [ think we tend to make the homes too complex. We think too much of the way it looks outside. We ought not to feel as if we should copy our neighbors. We should symplify things. Let us give our time to better things than the little finicy things. I have heard a good deal about reciprocity. I think it must be for true home life. There should be a great deal of reciprocity between the parties. There ought to be in a measure, reciprocity about the Docketbook. One party ought not :o be the banker and never honor any drafts from the other party unless they go to protest. In the course of his remarks Rev. Mr. Morgan took occasion humorously to refer to Fr. Goldrick's lack of personal knowledge of the reciprocity needed in home life, so that when Fr. Goldrick carne fonvard he said that although he was not a very old man, his hair had become gray. Of course he was not married, but he preferred to have his hair gray rather than to have his head like CoutinueU on 4th Page. AT WHITMORE LAKE. Continued from lst Page. Mr. Morgan's (referring to Mr. Morgan 's bald head). His topic was "The Special Perogative and Rights of American Citizens." The new is preferable to the old except ia the case of new shoes. Man's judgment is made up from his experience and that of others and from history and reading. From these we find out the special perogatives we enjoy in this country. We look back on the old countries and see the yokeof thralldom there. After telling three or four rattling good stories which brought out rousing cheers and laughter, he said tbese blessings we enjoy were bought not by us but by our forefathers. One of the grandest features of popular sovereignty is that in a certain way, each man is a ruler. Another grand blessing is that the state is not subject to any church. The state will never dare to díctate to the churches or the churches to the state. All men shall be shielded and treated equally. We, in this country, have not only a free body but a free soul. The constitution declares that there shall be no favor shown so far as religión is concerned. We are also spared the pain of seeing a woman as the head of the church as in some of the old countries. He went part way with Mr. Morgan in regard to woman's suffrage, but then he didn't want woman entirely to boss the roost unless she had an old grandmother of a husband. No man has to hold his head down in this country for what his father or grandfather did in the old country. Every man has a chance here. Here mimons rule the one, not the one the millions. Our rulers are not masters, but servants. The people of the old world are longing for the freedom of American institutions. France has joined hands with us. Germany would if the chance were offered. England is becomingmore enlightened to home rule and is gradually drifting from the rocks of royalty. It will not be long before Canada will throw away the yoke of conservatism and jump the fence. Our freedom does not mean license. License is the excess of liberty. He spoke against the breaking up of the American home by divorce and closed with a glowing peroration. The quartette sang a humorous song, "Away, Away, I can not stay any longeit," but the crowd didn't go away for they had a treat coming and county treasurer Paul G. Sukey was introduced and spoke as follows. "Agriculture, as a Factor of our National Developement" is the subject which I have chosen to speak upon today. Without doubt, this topic has often been selected by more capable speakers, but in my opinión we cannot too often analyze this sort of national, economical questions. Allow me to discuss this important, if not the most important factor of our young and yet soglorious history of development, in my own way. Should I here or there touch upon political questions, pardon me, for it is to the non-political (and to these will I reckon myself to-day) hardly possible while speaking on national economical questions to be able to avoid the dangerous paths of politics. Without civilization no agriculture is conceivable and without agriculture, civilization could have made no progress. The beginning of zation is certainly connected with the use of the first plow and the use of agricultural implements, the increase of cultivated acres and the producís therefrom desígnate the permanent settlement of nomadic tribes. The settlement of those who formerly lived by hunting and fishing only was made the commencement of the forming of homes upon which followed the building of ham - Iets, villages and cities. Empires arose and those who made the most rapid progress in the cultivation of the ground were reckoned the most advanced and could thus exert a civilizing influence on their less advanced neighbors. The history of all times teaches us that those empires were of short durationin which agriculture was not the most important or at least reckoned of. equal importance with other occupations. All civilized states were at first exclusively agricultural states. Agricnlture is the kernel from which Industry and with it Art and Science are developed. The farmer is the most important of the population of any land, and upon his weal and woe depends the success and welfare of the land. If the farmer has rhoney, the rest of the population has money. The better the cultivation of the soil, the richer the yield and the more capable of civilization the land. The wealthier the farming community, the more independent, - and the mote independent the freer. Ours is to-day the most independent land on the face of the earth because our farmers have been the wealthiest and are yet to some extent. They are the most independent. They pride themselves upon having the most elbow room and the land which they cultívate is the richest and the best. They are the freest of the world. SaysGeorge Washington, the farmer, general and statesman, the great father of our country, "agriculture is the healthiest, most useful and noblest pursuit of a free man" and truly our first president was right. Where on the face of the earth are there people nearerto God than those who from sunshine or rain derive their benefit or injury, joy or sorrow, wealth or desperation? When the fields of golden cereals raoistened with the refreshing pearly dew wave in the morning sunshine, then the prospects for a rich harvest are favorable. When well-fed cattle and snowy fleeced herds of sheep play on green meadows, then we live in good times. The barns await the rich harvest, the granaries will be filled and the country safe from famine. Trades and commerce flourish and all our needs are satisfied. But when unfavorable seasons, drought and hail storms, insects and diseases have injured the crops and the herds, then trade and commerce succomb, want and sorrow fill the land. Upon the healthy development of Agriculture, the weal and woe of the nation, upon the proportion in which Agriculture and Industries are developed depend the wealth and happiness of the land. Hon J. M. Rusk, Minister of Adriculture, said in his last annual report: "The great nations of Europe make every effort to place science at the service of Warfare. May it be the honor of the American people to make science serviceable to Agriculture. " Those who have visited the World's Fair at Chicago must certainly have carried away the impression, the idea, that in Europe science is pressea into the service o Industries and Arts rather than tha of Warfare.' Although the first par of Mr. Rusk's opinión is somewha misleading; yet it is my earnest hope that the second part of his sentence may be happily realized. Science should in this country be more em ployed in. the cultivation of the farm. A great deal has been done by the Agricultural Department at Washington. The agricultura! colleges in the several States can be compared with the best schools in the country, but those for whose benefit and profit these schools are kept do not seem to properly apprepreciate their great advantages. Our farmers take altogether too little interest in these agricultural schools. Farming is not yet ducted according to scientific principies. The sons of farmers, instead of attending the agricultura! schools and learning how to improve the farms, go to the cities and exchange the freest, healthiest and best employment of a man for that of a day laborer or a clerk. They exchange freedom for dependence. In no other country is there so great a nuraber of farmers who own their farms and yet leave them to live in the cities. The towns which are the centers of industries is the desire, and the farms and lands are forsaken, and with every year the farm population becomes less, and it is every year harder for the farmer to obtain the necessary help on the farm. These are facts that cannot be denied by anybody. What has caused these troubles in the greatest and richest agricultural country in :he world, which, raise through its 'avorable position, the products of all zones? For our country can and must be regarded the agricultural country par excellence. During the ast thirty years our industries have Deen advanced at the cost of agriculture; through our legislation the ndustnes developed grandly, while the progress in farming has scarcely been more than natural. Through the policy of high tariffs, the government undertook the development and advancement of the industries, whilst at the same time excluding the industrial products of other lands, it was made difficult for the farmer to bring the surplus of his production into the market of the The chief principie of all commerce, which is trade, secured by this policy a severe blow which we now, as it seems, feel so heavy. However, as it is not my intention to impress on the present assembly any political aspects, as has formerly been done in similar meetings of the Farmers' Club, I will not dweil any longer on the subject of protective tariffs. But I cannot desist from comparing our national económica] condition with that of a young man who had received in his youth a too one-sided nourishment. The parents wished to see the young lad thick and fat, with rosy cheeks well and rounded, and as the boy ate heartily sügar, especially candy, bread, potatoes, and above all pies, and as this kind of food ágreed with the parents' views of a proper nutrition, everything went 'well for a time. But the time came, to the sorrow of the parents and also of the child, when the consequences of this senseless feeding became apparent. No care had been taken for the formation and development of a strojpg framework, capable of supporting the body which had been artificially developed to abnormal proportions. The nourishment had been too one-sided; it was wanting in those salts, those substances contained in meats and vegetables which are so essential for the formation and proper growth of the bony framework. Although the body was rounded, its frame was in comparison only poorly developed. The rosy cheeks were misleading and the weight of the body was too great for the framework to support, and consequently it broke down. Ofcourse you understand well what I mean by this picture. It is the condition in which we lived for twenty-five years, and eight years ago we discovered to our sorrow that the farming community, the backbone of our nation, under the artificially quickly developed body - the industries - was beginning to break down. Agriculture was and must remain the chief factor in the development of our country - we want no onesided development for our resources. This can be accomplished by opening markets through treaties of commerce for the superfluous products of our land, - or at least the industrial productions ought not to be protected at the expense of the farm producís. Commerce is trade of wares and producís and the farmer who gives our country its character and forms the chief factor in our population should have the most extensive opportunity to sell the products of his land unrestricted in the market of the world. We have sufficient agricultural schools but they should be more attended by the sons of farmers. As all industries and professions have made higher demands on their votaries on account of the progress that has taken place in the last half-ended century, so also has the work of the I farms laid claims to more scientific qualifications in those who perform it. In our day only that farmer who works with his head as well as with his hands can expect the fullest result of his labor. Yes, I hold the opinión that the successful farmer is using his brains more than his muscles. Let it be impressed upon the' coming generation of our rural districts that farming is the noblest calling and demands the most manifold knowledge in order to be performed correctly and profitably. A further factor to improve farming in accordance with the demand of our times is that it should become more varied. Our farming should be more based on a systematic rotation of crops. The cultivating of root crops and especially of the sugar beet should be one of the chief sources of revenue. With the regular cultivation of these roots more cattle can be kept. This yields better fertilization of the soil, and the fertilizer is what our farms most need at present. The rational fertilization of the land should be accompanied by systematic drainage. As the cultivation of wheat, which has hitherto been the chief staple, should be diminished, his erop, which has been the easiest o produce and became a drug upon he markets, the raising of all kinds of fodder crops should be increased. The farmers should insist upon better roads, in order to reach their local markets with great facility and at all seasons of the year. In order to reduce the freights which have hitherto rested so heavily on the farmer, he should insist on the development of our waterways. Our land needs navigable canals. Congress should be earnestly petitioned to establish regular delivery of mails in the more thickly populated farm districts. The farmer, who forms the greatest portion of our populalation, should have the same means of keeping in daily accord with the market prices as is offered to other producers. A distribution of the mail two oí three times a week from house to house should be established. Now, my friends, you see that the farmer has hitherto been treated in a rather step-motherly way in comparison with bis fellow citizens dwelling in the towns. Much, very inuch is yet to be done in order to improve the condition of the farmer. But first of all he should himself put his shoulder to the wheel. Let him work more with his brains and depend less upon his machines. In the manufacture of machinery we are far in advance of the nations of the World, but in the ways and means' of agriculture in order to reach the best and most profitable results of our land we can yet learn much from other nations. Our glorious and mighty country is yet young. Four hundred years form only a short span in the history of the world. Great and mighty and cutting deeply into the culture of the world are the results which our country has achieved, but in the future our results must become still greater and mightier and cut deeper if we are to fulfill completely our noble mission of culture. And in this work, my fellow farmers, we have to play a most important role. Agriculture and the conditions of the farmer must be elevated to a much higher Standard. It must be impressed upon the nation that the farmer is the marrow of the population and that agriculture is the back bone of our national development in accordance with the view of the noblest American, George Washington, "4griculture is the healthiest, most useful and noblest pursuit of a free man." a tree man. " Now, fellow citizens, let me conclude with the most earnest hope that the future centuries may bestow on our beautiful country just as much of the good and beautiful as the first four have done, the closing of which we are now celebratingwith such grandeur in Chicago. May the beautiful words of Milton prove true in the future, may theybecome more and more realistic from century to century. "Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation: methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, the rays of her endazzling eyes arousing us from sleep." This clósed the programme bu; Cyrus G. Starks, of Webster, was called for and said he knew that the audience wouldn't rest comfortably until they had heard from Starks. He spoke as a plain old farmer an oíd hay seed's getting up after learned divines. What a beautiful halo they throw around the life of us who live out in God's country. Turning to the ' ministers he said. Our life is something different from what you see. You see us in the pulpits on Sunday and see the sisters at prayer meetings. You meet our wives under the most favorable cumstances. Ours is not altogether a Ufe of poetry. Let us get out of this everlasting habit of grumbling. Times are hard because we cry up hard times. There is too much lecturing on what we farmers ought to do. You don't need to teil a man to look out for his own business. It has been a part of our education, to edúcate ourselves away from the farm. We have been accustomed to decry our occupation. We don't, need a classical education. What matters it if we acquire four or five languages or not. Plain old Anglo Saxon is enough. It is not education alone of booksthat's education. In talking on this subject he told how a classical education taught man to pronounce boulevard strivin to give it a dudish pronounciation and greatly overstepping the mark Fr. Goldrick stepped to the fron and said that Mr. Starks had just shown the need of a classical education. in his pronounciation of the word boulevard. Mr. Starks said "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," and the reverend Father retorted that that rose was pretty stale by this time. This ending the speaking. In the evening dances were held at both hotels.