CiturJir. Au rt 17, 1312.
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Wiat's The, News?"
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The Presidential Campaign. .
'1TH : the nomination of Theodore . Roose
velt and Governor Johnson, at California,
for President and Vice President by the "
Progressive-Party.lhe Presidential campaign may
la regarded as lormaUy: begun. Really,, there
lis not likely to beniuch ntore interest or .discus
sion than for the last three. or four months. . : ,
The Progressive convention "was well attended
Tinu very emnusiasuc. mx. ivooseven. wust ot
course, the dominant figure; and his speech, out-
lining; ms views, ;ueuessam, ueuaiuo mo, yiuiAuiu. -
i tions, primaries" and the recall of - judicial decis
ions, also his well-known . policies , in regard to ,
. labor laws, workingmen's compensatory acts, and
Itrust control. On the tariff, hismitterances were
characteristically. vague; his declaration in favor.
-of a protective . tann: wmcn wouia protect xne
,.worJangmen mignt.mean anytnmg. tieaenouncea
both, the oldjparties as tools of the corrupt inter
ests. Woman suffrage is favored, a National".
policies. The' Negro delegates from the South re-
. disagreed with the men -who wished to make '-a
white man's party,"
Both President TafVand Governor Wilson have
been notified of their nominations. Much of Sen
ator Koot s speech jot nouncauon consistea or as
surances to ; the - President"; that the nomination
ijeptance is generally regarded , n's . aligning him
even more definitely with the conservative or
tand:pat element of his party. - ,
. in. inis conueutron it may wo mmreauugi iu iuuw
that Mr, Gilbert Roe has, made what is probably
the most exhaustive and judicial investigation of
. the contested cases before the Chicago convention.,
His 'conclusion is that Mr, Roosevelt was Justly
, entiueu to. tnirty 01 tne aeiegaies awarueu mr;
Tatt," but that the other -contests were fairly de
cided in tavor of the President. - v
Mr. Wilson's speech' of acceptance has been
. tavorahly received. He devoted most of it to the
" - tariff question. and the direct control of the Gov
ernment by the people. We stand face to face,
he says, "with great questions ot right and of jiis
fr riTitpaf ntf tsf National development, of the
action no less than of . a better ' business system,
more free, more equitable, more open to ordinary
men, or a better .fiscal system; whose taxes shall
not come .out ol the pockets of the.many to go into
K nnAlrafa n9 -h . ffiW- and within whosA intrica
cies special privilege may not tsq easily find cov
iert. -The forces of the Nation are asserting them-
1 sselves against every form of special privilege -and
private control, and are seeking bigger things
than .they have ever heretofore; achieved. They
are sweeping away what is unrighteous in order
to vindicate once more the "essential rights of
iuman life." He favors a gradual reduction of
' the tariff so as not to disturb business, but a re-
Auction beginning ''with, the schedules ."most, ob
viously used to kill competition and to raise
prices" and continuing until it reaches every
Jnll mVI.I, HwmntAH mftnnnlv n fairnm ana.
Xiial interests. , ,
'. Mr. Roosevelt'8 supporters won out in the Kan-
. sas Republican primaries and unless, the Supreme
A: Study of Rural Co-operation in Ireland
By CLARENCE FOE
nL THE TWOFOLD PROBLEM OFJJUSINESS ORGANIZATION.
PERHAPS the most notable work that the De- In a large measure, the new interest in the 0So
partment of Agriculture has done for Ireland ; ciety of United Irish" Women,' concerning which
a paragraph by Editor G. W. Russell, of the Irish
Homestead was published last week. It is inspir
ing to read Mr. .Russell's book, ''Co-operation and
Nationality," from which this quotation was
taken, and in which he sets forth in his dream of
the new Ireland. The ideals he has for Ireland
are those we must develop in the South," if we are
JL: has been In subsidizing Dremium DUre-bred
horses, cattle, sheep and swine exhibited at the
county fairs, and thereby enabling . the ' farmers
to improve the quality .'of all lines of livestock.
Mr. Billlnton, of the Department1 of Agriculture
and Technical Instruction, told ma that the im
provement in the stock sold in Ireland each year,
as the result or the better Diooa introaucea, to Dring to our own section the, beauty which he
would amount 0. 1,000,000 (nearly $5,000,000) covets for his. And in the main, his argument is
a year, .the cattle exported to Great Britain being just this: that we must give our thoughts to local
worth from $7 -to $10 per head more than in the
days of scrub stock. .'-'7 :
From all. this it. will be seen that-the progress
the Irish farmer has" been making has been sym
metrical, comprehensive, and well-rounded, Time
was when it was thought that If the Irish farmer
simply owned the land he tilled, the increase in
thrift "and Industry that ownership would inspire
betterment, neighborhood improvement; rather
than , to efforts lor reforming the whole country.:
He says: Howcan you speak of working for all
Ireland,, which you have not seen, if you do not
labor and dream for the Ireland before your eyes,
which you see as you look out of your own door
: in the morning, and on which you walk iip -and
down through the day?" What the English poet
would alone, make him prosperous, but Sir Horace said of England, Mr. Russell says with regard to
Plunkett and his fellows recognized that more Ireland:
than mere land ownership was needed.
; Ireland Becoming "a Land of Home-Owners. . -
It is gratifying to find that of the total farming
area of 18,739644 acres, the-tenants purchased
.2,500,00.0 acres under Land Purchase Acts from
1870 to 1896, while under the vastly more liberal
acts of 1908-1909 they have purchased outright,
nearly , 4,000,000" acres ' and have - proceedings '
pending for the purchase of nearly 5,000,000
"I will not cease from mental fight, . ,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand V
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land."
I cannot better conclude jthis article than by
asking our Progressive Farmer readers to think
of the South instead of Ireland, and the Southern
county instead of the Irish county, in the follow
ing quotation in which Mr.- Russell points .out
more, the total purchased outright or for which what even a small local community may become
purchase proceedings are pending, aggregating
11,421,448 acres as against only 7,318,196 re
maining undisturbed in the hands of land-owners.
In spite of ttfis vast increase in land-ownership,
I repeat, the Irish farmer today, might be dis- ..
couraged instead of buoyant and hopeful If . his ,
leaders had not realized that the land would not
long remain in his possession unless he developed
qualities of initiative, enterprise, and self-help.
Even, as it Is, a considerable number of holdings
purchased by the tenants have come into the pos--sessions
of the village "gombeen men," or credit
sharks. In fact, these "gombeen men" combi
nation merchants and liquor . sellers with their
crass commercialism : have threatened to become . :
the new aristocracy in Ireland: men devoid of. the
culture which , distinguished the old aristocracy
and far more grasping and . covetous. , Editor
Russell, of the Irish Homestead, is continually
" crying out . . against these . vampires of rural
strength, whose political power often appears to
be greater than' that of. the farmers themselves.
For one thing, the' merchants are novr trying
with some prospects of 'success-r to prevent the '
co-operative agricultural banks from being given
thepower to buy and sell farm products.
We MustNCrawl Before" .We Can Walk.
Before leaving Uhe: subject of these Irish co
operative societies, one other thought comes Into
mind that cannot be too strongly emphasized-
by developing all
men and women:
that is best and finest in its
"We must go on Imagining better than the '
5 best we know. Even in their ruins now, ,
Greece and Italy seem 'noble and beautiful,
with broken pillars and temples made ih the ,
day . of their glory. But before ever there
was a white marble temple shining on a . hill,
It shone with a more brilliant beauty in the
mind, of some artist who designed it. Do
many people know how that marvellous
Greek civilization spread along the shores of
the Mediterranean. Little nations owning no
more land than would make up an Irish
barony sent out colony after colony. The'
seed of beautiful life they sowed grew and
blossomed out into great . cities and half-
, divine civilizations. Italy had a later bios- ;
somlng of beauty in theMiddle Ages, and
travellers today go. into, little -Italian towns
and find them filled with 'masterpieces, of. ;."
- painting and architecture and sculpture, wit-
nesses of a time when nations no larger than
an Irish county rolled their thoughts up to
Heaven and mixed their imagination ' with ,;
the angels."
The smallest county in the South is not too
small to develop a life and a civilization, dis
tinctive, notable, far-reaching in its influence, if
its people fired by a common idealism, should
we must learn to crawl before we can walk. We
have had'in the South too many big, high-sounding
schemes for financing the South's billion-dollar
cotton crop, and other such gigantic schemes,
Court interferes, there will be no chance to vote and not enough attention has been given to local
lor Mr.iTaft without having Taft electors placed business organizations wherein the principle of
and that is, that In this matter, as in all others. Join hands in working out its highest expression.
And this should be the supreme aim of the new
movement for rural co-operation.
Dublin, Ireland.
on the ballot by petition. :..-
' - .' - ".' i v" ...in' , V ; i 1j .
-. there Is plenty of time for great changes of public
.sentiment to take place.,, , .If we might presume to
offer a little, advice to our readers, it would be to
etudy,the; claims and the records of ach party
; and each candidate carefully and with s much
freedom trom partisan bias-as possible; to keep
$6ol and good tempered, Temembering that in all
parties the great mass ,of voters is- honest and
- patriotic, and that all parties -are afflicted "with :
':. tinscrupulous men who have achieved positions of
".leadership; and then when election day comes, to
vote with no other consideration than the welfare
nf thts Nation. . '
; For , ourselves, we shall never make The Pro-
gressive armer tne organ oi, any man ur uy
party, but shall continue to present what seems. to
: us to be the truth; commending or condemning, aa,
seems to us just, trying at, the same time to
" realize that our views are Just as fallible as those
of anyone else, and that those who . think differ
ently -are' just as patriotic , and intelligent as
co-operation might be tried out and h way pre
pared for effective "co-operation in larger things.
This-is a fact which Mr. E. E. Miller has fre
quently urged , In The Progressive Farmer.. My
observation In Ireland has convinced me more
strongly than ever before of the correctness of his
teaching; What we need in the South, what we
need in our " Farmers- Union, Is a determine'd
effort to organize local ;: co-operative creameries, :
poultry societies, ' fruit growers' and truck grow-,
ers' societies, co-operative credit societies, etc.,
and through these neighborhood organizations de
velop the business qualities and experience which
will enable us to grapple with the mightier prob-:
lem of financing the South's great staple crop. ,
, .T An Ideal for the South. '.'".
- Last of all, let us not forget the three phrases
in ' Sir Horace Plunkett's brief motto "Better
Farming; Better Business, Better Living.", - Better
farming and better business must be simply the
means for better, living. There Is a new.realiza:
tlon of this fact in Ireland now, and this explains.
T
A Thought for the Week.
HE forbearing use of power does not onlv
form a touchstone, but' the manner in
which an individual eniovs certain ad
vantages over others is a test of a true eentleman.
The power which the strong have over the weak.
the magistrate over the citizen, the employer over
the. employed, the, educated over the unlettered, '
the experienced over the confiding, even the clever
over the silly the forbearlnc: or inoffensive use
of all this power, or authority, or a total abstin-:
. ence from It when the case admits It, will show
the gentleman in a plain light. The gentleman
. does not needlessly, and unnecessarily remind . an
. offender of - a wrong he may have committed
against him. He can not only forgive, he can for
get; and he strives for that nobleness of self and
mildness of character which impart sufficient
strength to let the past be but the past. A true '
man of honor feels humbled himself when he can
not heln humbllner others. Robert E. Io. '
; Continued from last week.
' Next week Mr. Poe will tell about the beauty
of English rural landscapes.