STEWARDSHIP OF THE SOIL WORST _The_STEWARDSHIPOF THE SOIL [Illustration] _Address by_ JOHN HENRY WORST _President of_ NORTH DAKOTAAGRICULTURAL COLLEGE _The Stewardshipof the Soil_ BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS BYJOHN HENRY WORSTPRESIDENT NORTH DAKOTAAGRICULTURAL COLLEGE [Illustration] _Delivered at the Twenty First Annual Commencement of theNorth Dakota Agricultural CollegeFargo, North Dakota, June Sixth, Nineteen Hundred Fifteen_ [Illustration: JOHN HENRY WORST] _The Stewardship of the Soil_ _By_ J. H. WORST Our ambitious young commonwealth, in conjunction with other statescomprising the great Northwest, occupies a commanding position in theindustrial and economic affairs of this nation. Mines of gold and silver or forests primeval North Dakota does not have;but from the millions of fertile acres comprising our vast agriculturalempire, we may reap a golden harvest every year that will exceed inwealth the output of all the golden placers in the western mountains. The harvest of minerals, however, can be gathered but once. Time willnot restore the precious nuggets. The forests once harvested can, at great expense, be renewed in thecourse of a century; but our harvest of domestic plants and animalsrecurs with every passing season to recompense the farmer for his toiland to enrich the farmer's friends. What a precious theme is harvest! The hopes, the well-being, the life ofthe world is fast bound up in the magic of this single word. The soil upon which the harvest depends, moreover, is God's benedictionto humanity. Measured by consequences, Heaven has vouchsafed no form ofstewardship that is fraught with such tremendous responsibilities asthis stewardship of the soil. In the final analysis this stewardshiprepresents the farmer's obligation to society. And yet sacred as is the soil and binding as is the farmer's obligationto society, the means for providing the world's food is nevertheless athis mercy. It is a well-known fact that the soil can readily be depleted of itsfertility and thus robbed of its strength by a system of exploitation, commonly referred to as "extensive farming. " Too much of our land isbeing thus exploited. On the other hand the productiveness of the soilmay be very greatly improved. Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and otherEuropean nations have fully demonstrated, that by the application ofscience to the art of agriculture, the productiveness of the soil can bemultiplied almost to the limit of necessity. _A Progressive Agriculture. _ Fortunately Nature has supplied every meansfor the development of a progressive and permanent agriculture. It isalso obvious that it is man's privilege, if not his mission, to improveupon Nature--to substitute quality for mere physical endurance, inagricultural products. By the grace of Providence the individuals of the animal and vegetablekingdoms were not created inflexible in habit or perfect in form, butthey may be changed in character and quality and intrinsic worth at thewill of the intelligent and observing farmer. To this end agriculturaleducation lends its beneficent influence. Man's dominion over Naturewould be such in name only were it not for the class-room and thelaboratory, for research and investigation; for by these meansscientific knowledge is obtained and diffused and eventually brought tobear upon the solution of the most vital problems that concern the humanfamily. These problems center largely around food and clothing. Tosupply these necessities an industry is created--the business ofagriculture--the most important industry in all the world. An industryof such fundamental importance, moreover, should receive from the statesand from the federal government financial consideration in proportion toits moral and economic importance as well as to the probabilities thatmay be entertained for its continued improvement. For abundant as areearth's natural resources, yet without the aid and direction of humanintelligence they could not supply the world's ever increasingpopulation with food, clothing and shelter. Complying with knownconditions of natural reciprocity, however, the animal and vegetablekingdoms submit to whatever modifications become necessary in order tosupply the needs of the human family. _Nature's Forces Operate Blindly. _ Moved, therefore, partly by necessityand partly by curiosity, the material world has been and is beingcontinually modified by the ingenuity of man. Undirected, however, Nature's forces act blindly; hence, produce mainly such qualities inorganic life as endurance, or adaptation to local soil and climaticconditions. In the animal and vegetable kingdoms the universal demand ofNature is to perpetuate their species--"to produce after their ownkind. " In accordance with this law the humblest plant or animal iscompelled to maintain a perpetual warfare against its fellows for meansof subsistence. This competition for nourishment is usually so sharp and continuous thatmere existence or endurance rather than excellence or quality, seems tobe the end and aim of natural law. Hence, the strong survive and theweak perish. _Beginnings of Agriculture. _ Here agriculture begins. By relievingplants of this intense competition by means of tillage, and by selectingthe most promising for domestication, they are enabled to use all theirenergy for the development of those qualities which add to theirintrinsic value, instead of expending it in the struggle for existence. Given, thus, free access to the soil and sunshine, with needfulnourishment supplied and their fungous or parasitical enemies destroyed, the domesticated plants yield trustful obedience to the protecting handof the husbandman. Freed altogether from the necessity ofself-protection they become prolific and pour into the world's breadbasket in marvelous abundance the seeds--a single one of which wouldsuffice to answer Nature's law for the propagation of species. Thissurplus of yield for which each plant has need of but a single seed, andmore especially this improvement of quality for which the plant has noconcern, is Nature's reciprocal reward for having given her childrengratuitously that protection which otherwise they would have had toprovide for themselves. Nor is animal life less susceptible of improvement. Between the animalwild and the animal domesticated--that is whether Nature-bred orman-bred--the range in quality is as marked as that which separates thesavage from the philosopher. Nature demands only strength, endurance; but man demands quality andexcellence, and he proceeds scientifically to accomplish his purpose. Byconscious design and a sort of mental architecture the animal to be isplanned, and the picture thus conceived in the brain of the breederbecomes incarnated in the form, size and character of the animal. Notonly is the animal created with the desired quality as to its parts andproducts, but its nature is transformed from fear and ferocity to thatof trust and docility. For example the descendants of the wild horse are not only changed fromvicious brutes to trustful beasts of burden, but are also differentiatedinto many different breeds to meet the demands of strength, speed orendurance. Specimens of such breeds as the Belgian, Percheron orHambletonian exist as monuments to the breeder's art no less renownedand for more useful purpose than anything in Nature, the likeness ofwhich the sculptor has wrought in marble or the artist has transferredfrom life to canvass. From the wild buffalo, presumably, the ideal strains of pedigree kine, for beef or dairy products, have been created as surely and even morescientifically than the sculptor has immortalized his ideals in graniteor marble. Thus animal life is to the skillful breeder as clay in the hands of thepotter, and though a supersensitive and artificial generation may lookupon this form of genius as vulgar, it nevertheless is God's work andthe doers thereof are working with God. For without this incarnation ofquality into plant and animal life the world's population could notsupply its fundamental wants nor could civilization rise above theanimal instincts in man. The farmer, therefore, is a most important personage, and his vocationthe most absolutely needful in all the world. The farmer is in verytruth a creator, certainly a co-creator, improving Nature by the aid ofscience, just as the human mind and character are improved by means ofeducation. And when the prejudice of the ages has been rolled away thename "farmer" will rank among the most envied names that enrich ourmother tongue. Here, indeed, may be verified the saving: "The firstshall be last and the last shall be first. " While we honor the sculptor, the painter or the poet whose geniuspartakes of the immortal, and yet satisfies no hungry mouth, some degreeof honor might well be given to this other sort of genius which hasmultiplied human food beyond computation and has otherwise so largelymitigated the burdens of life. _Vocational Education. _ From the foregoing it is little wonder that theeducation of the masses is surely and rapidly gravitating from theclassical to the utilitarian, from the formal to the vocational. Theworld's work must be done, and as those whose stewardship is the soilare compelled to render a combined physical and mental service in orderto discharge their social obligations, they are entitled to education inharmony with the tasks awaiting them, to the end that they may workintelligently, hence joyfully. Agriculture and engineering, therefore, are fundamental vocations whenconsidered either from the view-point of necessity or the country'sprosperity. By many, however, the spiritual well-being of a people isconsidered paramount, and in a sense it is, but a cheerful soul seldominhabits a naked or hungry body. As food, clothing and shelter are absolute necessities, no degree ofculture or religious enthusiasm can render them less needful. Heaven'schoicest physical gift, the soil, provides the means for acquiring theseindispensable necessities, and the vocation that accepts theresponsibility of its stewardship ministers to the physical, aseducators minister to the mental, or the clergy to the spiritual needsof man. Moreover, in the order of Nature the physical takes precedence, being primary and basic, and until legitimate physical wants aresupplied, neither mental nor spiritual food can be satisfactorilyassimilated. A commonwealth, therefore, that educates her children in due proportionto and in harmony with the demands of her principal industry, acts thepart of wisdom. In this the state becomes the servant of both presentand future generations by training her children for the conservation ofNature's gifts, while yet multiplying their use for the comfort andhappiness of all the people. If the clergy would preach occasionallyfrom the book of Nature, they would discover a proximity to anddependence upon God enjoyed by him who sows and reaps, who cultivatesanimals and flowers, who creates things and works miracles as hisordinary life work, which few others can enjoy. Such themes might notonly be expounded with profit to those who work their fellowmen, butshould also be impressed betimes upon those who work the soil for thegood of their fellowmen. _The Paramount Problem. _ The paramount problem, therefore, is to makethe conditions of rural life desirable--to convert farming into anenjoyable vocation; to make farm life and its labors a business to beenvied and not despised. The fact is, planning for beauty and comfort inthe city has progressed far and away beyond the country. It now butremains for the country to catch up and go the city many times better. This is entirely possible, since the great "out doors" is a countryheritage and ample spaces are available for exterior delights such astrees, shrubbery and flowers, and for free access to abundance of pureair and sunshine. Moreover, we should not forget that we are now living in a new world. The old agriculture and its associated rural industries have been shakento their very foundation. This makes the solution of the rural problem, to some extent, speculative. For one thing the country is becoming urbanized. This may prove helpful. Again it may not. Individualism, however, is giving place more and moreto commercialized enterprise. At the same time the evils of transienttenantry follow close upon the heels of successful farming, wherefarmers rent their land and move to town; and also of unsuccessfulfarming, where the mortgage shark eventually becomes possessed of theland. What the state needs to encourage, therefore, is farm ownership bythe many rather than by the few, and farm ownership rather than farmtenantry. We must retain on the farm, as farmers, the best type ofAmerican manhood and womanhood or the nation will fall into decay, justas Rome fell with the decline of her agrarian influence. The consolidated country school, by rendering obsolete the one roomdistrict school house, is a progressive step toward improved educationalfacilities for rural children. The country church, on the other hand, has become more decadent thanaggressive. This among other rural agencies is not organized inproportion to its importance. Some progress, however, is being made bymeans of social organizations, but the ultimate solution of the ruralproblem depends more largely upon education than upon any other singlefactor. _Rural Social Leaders. _ Rural social leaders in full sympathy with thecountry life movement will find here a fruitful field for earnestendeavor. To no class should the state look for such leadership, andwith so much assurance, as to the alumni of its Agricultural College. Educated at public expense and in an institution of higher learning thatstands specifically for all-round rural improvement and ruralpatriotism, the students that go out from this college cannotmisinterpret their duties nor fail to understand the responsibilitiesthey assume as graduates of the North Dakota Agricultural College. Noris their field of labor an unenviable one. It may at times seem irksome, even discouraging, but nevertheless it is the most exalted and dignifiedcalling to which men and women of special training and culture canaspire. To rescue the soil from the indifference and greed and selfishnesswherein this generation unwittingly robs succeeding generations of theirrightful inheritance, and to rescue the very vocation of agriculturefrom mercenary interests is a mission worthy of the best leadership andpatriotism of our day. But it must not stop even at this. The publicwelfare demands that nearly half the population of the entire country, and certainly four-fifths of the population of this state, shallpermanently pursue agriculture for a livelihood. This vocation, therefore, must be made so desirable and satisfying that that numberwill joyfully accept it as a matter of free choice. It must be sodeveloped that it will afford an unsurpassed market for energy andbrains, and so independent of parasitical interests that when twobushels of wheat are grown where one now grows the producer will receivethe benefit. _Increased Production Not Sufficient. _ Hitherto the agencies for ruralimprovement, both state and federal, have directed their energieschiefly toward increased production. And this with but scantconsideration for profits that should be realized by the producer as aresult of the larger yields. Material prosperity, however, is not asufficient motive, except where it assuredly is used to improve themoral and social conditions of the community life. To double the yieldof crops without doubling the enjoyments of living and improving homecomforts accordingly, will avail but little toward developing ruralconditions that will withstand the competition and false allurements ofthe city. _Urban Degeneracy. _ A nation's strength, moreover, is a matter of bloodand brain fiber. Urban degeneracy is an accepted biological fact. Thedissipation, lack of physical exercise in the open air, and highpressure living and working leaves in its trail a progeny diminishing innumbers and decadent in those high qualities essential to goodgovernment. Democracy, as a permanent institution, however, is not yet an assuredfact. The experiment of self-government is still in the making. Itsperpetuity cannot be predicated upon scheming traders, money brokers andpolitical manipulators, but must depend in the last analysis upon thesolid phlegm and conservatism of its rural districts where men are toobusy with productive labor to scheme for political office or unearnedwealth. In other words, and I speak it with sincerity, the ruralpopulation conserves the real dependable life blood of this nation. Itis an accepted fact that in every crisis of our country's history therural population was not only on the side of right, but ready to defendthe nation's honor with their votes or with their blood. When the nation's debt was appalling and money poured into the nationaltreasury in but feeble currents, the tariffs that replenished it againwere borne like a young Hercules by the farming class, though theyreceived but a minimum of its protection. Every influence, therefore, that tends to exalt agriculture as a profession, and farming as adesirable mode of life, whether it be intellectual, political, ethicalor spiritual, is for the general welfare. The time is not far distant, let us hope and pray, when agriculture willcast off the thralldom of the ages and assert her own. But not until thesons and daughters of the country, trained for rural social andindustrial service, as you are being trained, assert an aggressiveleadership, with genuine patriotism for the needs of the open country, will the domination of ulterior interests be removed and agriculturemade free to manage its educational institutions and business affairs, in part at least, for its own good. _The Rural School Problem. _ Since education is the governing factor, especially so far as it directs the attitude of rural children towardrural conditions, the country school should be so redirected andrevitalized as to "stir into action community forces which are nowdormant; and to make the rural school a strong and efficient socialcenter, working for the upbuilding of all the varied interests of ahealthy rural life. " "The redirection of rural education means that the school is to abandon its city ideals and standards, except as these are adaptable to rural as well as to city schools, and to develop its instruction with reference to its environment and the local interests and needs. The main efforts of its instruction should be to put its pupils into sympathetic touch with the rural life about them, in which the great majority of them ought to find their future homes. "--_Cubberley. _ The away-from-the-farm-influence of rural education which has in thepast proved a serious handicap to rural progress and open countrypursuits, would thus be materially counteracted. Quoting Cubberley again: "The uniform text-books which have been introduced by law, were books written primarily for the city child; the graded course of study was a city course of study; the ideals of the school become, in large part, city and professional in type; and the city-educated and city-trained teachers have talked of the city, over-emphasized the affairs of the city, and sighed to get back to the city to teach. The subjects of instruction have been formal and traditional, and the course of instruction has been designed more to prepare for entrance to a city or town high school than for life in the open country. So far as the school has been vocational in spirit, it has been the city vocations and professions for which it has tended to prepare its pupils, and not the vocations of the farm and the home. " Then says Roosevelt: "Our school system is gravely defective in so far as it puts a premium upon mere literary training and tends, therefore, to train the boy away from the farm and workshop. Nothing is more needed than the best type of an industrial school, the school for mechanical industries in the cities and for teaching agriculture in the country. No growth of cities, no growth of wealth can make up for any loss in either the number or the character of the farming population. We of the United States should realize this above most other people. We began our existence as a nation of farmers, and in every crisis of the past a peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming population, and this dependence has hitherto been justified. " _The Rural Church Problem. _ No permanent rural civilization, however, can be maintained that will attach the population to the soil withsatisfaction and contentment without provision being made for enjoyingreligious services among people of their own kind and class. Thisnecessitates a social and religious center for every rural community. The church can and should be made such social center. For economic andsocial reasons, however, denominationalism can well be dispensed with, as such, and just plain Christianity substituted for sectarianism. Asocial center thus maintained will stimulate neighborly intercourse andsatisfy the demands of both young and old for religious culture, forrecreation and pastime. Where schools are consolidated the school houseand grounds will answer for all gatherings whether for worship, for thediscussion of civic or neighborhood problems or for recreation andamusement. For without such neighborhood intercourse, life deterioratesinto a dull routine, and the moral and religious tone of a community, degenerates. Moreover, under such conditions, young people becomedisgusted with its monotony and aimlessness, and seek city employment. But before the country church can be made an efficient community force, pastors must be found or created that meet the conditions of countrylife. A most excellent city pastor might prove to be a regrettablemisfit in a rural community. Moreover, the modern clergy seem quite asprone to herd in the towns and cities as the rest of mankind, whichfact has a bad influence on the youth of the country. Quoting from Rural Life and Education: "The rural minister needseconomic and agricultural knowledge more than theological, that he mayuse the economic and agricultural experiences of his people as a basisfor the building-up of their ethical life; he needs educationalknowledge, that he may direct his efforts with the young along goodpedagogical lines; and the church as an institution needs to studycarefully the rural-life problem, and to plan a program of usefulservice along good educational and sociological lines. Unless this isdone, the church will bear but little relationship to a livingcommunity; its influence on the young will be small; and its mission ofmoral and religious leadership will be forgotten by the people. " _Other Agencies for Rural Improvement. _ In addition to providing countryschools and employing rural school teachers as efficient as the best inthe towns, and the country church reawakened and converted into anefficient institution for progress, the Grange, farmers' clubs, the Y. M. And Y. W. C. A. , the rural library, boys and girls' clubs, farmers'institutes, woman's clubs, literary and debating societies and amateurtheatricals, of which the Little Country Theatre is the best exponent, can with profit be incorporated into the life of every rural communitythat maintains a social center, and that takes genuine pride in makingcountry life what the possibilities so readily warrant. No one of these separate organizations, even though fully developed andearnestly supported, will altogether satisfy the needs of a community. No one of them should be over-emphasized for its own sake alone, foreach is but a part of the community need. All are needed. The friends ofeach, therefore, should work for all and all work for each, and becomingthus federated, they will prove to be a positive force and establish, beyond question, a community spirit satisfactory to old and young alike. A sufficient number of these rural social institutions to meet thechanged conditions of modern life is as essential as a progressive andhighly contented agriculture; for without such institutions agriculturewill decline until on a level with the peasantry of other and lessfavored countries. For just in proportion as agriculture advances ordeclines will the prosperity of the people rise or fall, and theintegrity of our government be stable or questionable. This fact hasbeen clearly demonstrated in the history of nations; hence, stewardshipof the soil embraces not only conservation of its fertility, but thefostering of such social institutions and educational forces as may benecessary to support a rural civilization that will minister to all thephysical, mental and spiritual wants of a highly intellectual andpermanent population. Said James A. Garfield: "The higher education of the village and city youth, together with a modicum of the country youth, with only the fifth to eighth grade for the best blood of the state may stand for the educator's ideals, but it is bad for the country as a whole. It tends to make aristocrats of the poorest and slaves of the best blood. Education is for all, not for a favored few. " _The Morrill Act. _ The Morrill Act of 1862 was the first important steptoward the emancipation of agriculture. The establishment of the LandGrant Colleges was the biggest piece of constructive legislation thatCongress has enacted during the past century. By means of highereducation thus redirected and vitalized, industrial independence willultimately be realized. But the work moves slowly. However, in spite ofridicule and unmerited handicaps, and even the contempt of too many ofthe farming class, these institutions have grown steadily in influenceand power. The North Dakota Agricultural College directs its energies toward asystem of education that at once affords all the means of culture andcharacter building that collegiate courses of study can offer, yetwithout departing materially from giving special emphasis to thosesubjects which are directly related to the homes and the chief industryof the state. The purpose is not only to increase production as a means of profit andto render helpful social service, but to make farm life and ruralconditions so agreeable and satisfying that the choice of agriculturalpursuits, on the part of educated young people, will prove as popularand inviting as that of any other industry or profession. This is not animpossibility. From an educational view-point no vocation exceedsagriculture in the material available for calling out the best there isin man, spiritually or intellectually. From a social view-point, thecountry represents the purest and most neighborly sympathies. And froman industrial view-point it is the state's support and should be thestate's pride. North Dakota will expand in wealth and influence, therefore, in proportion as she throws wide open the door ofagricultural opportunity for the young people of the state. This she canbest accomplish by means of public education expressed in terms of rurallife. After twenty years of service as President of your Agricultural College, I find that my chief gratification comes from having associated dailywith a loyal and dependable faculty and with so many clean, ambitiousand sympathetic young men and women. In you and the thousands of Agricultural College students scattered overthis and adjoining states, many of them having already won enviabledistinction by their public services, and all giving evidence of mostexemplary citizenship, I not only take sincere pride but also find mychief reward. Others may scheme for wealth or fame, but for one at mytime in life, I would not exchange the friendship of the AgriculturalCollege student body, past and present, for earthly riches or personalhonor. I have implicit faith in the future of our Agricultural College as Ihave in this great agricultural state. Her broad acres are being rapidlyoccupied by a progressive and enterprising husbandry. Her cities andvillages keep pace with her rural development. The dreams of thepioneers are fast becoming realities. The erstwhile home of the redman and the feeding ground of the bison, are destined soon to be thicklydotted over with luxurious farmsteads, made beautiful by the arts ofcivilization and prosperous by the skill and industry of a happy andcontented rural population. Students of the Agricultural College, your mission lies in thisdirection. Your influence upon the future development of this state willbe as certain as it will be beneficient. The door of opportunity standsajar, inviting you to enter and share the blessings that reward theindustrious and reap the honors that crown the lives of those whosestewardship has been faithfully kept. May no temptation ever swerve youfrom loyalty to the cause which your alma mater represents. Too oftenthe enemies of industrial freedom capture with the blandishments ofvanity, the trusted leaders of reform. Let your hearts, therefore, ever beat true for the best there may be instore for those whose sweat fertilizes the business of the state. Thecause of the people should ever be your cause, and having received youreducation largely at their expense, spare not a generous service inreturn for the academic honors that now await you.