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“ FAVORED with continued prosperity in 1904, the farming element of the people has laid broader, deeper, and more substantial the foundations of a magnificent agriculture. A period of some industrial depression during the last two years has been saved by the farmers from the severer conditions that must otherwise have befallen in consequence of the absorption of a large portion of the readily convertible capital of the non-agricultural classes into great and prevalent speculations. ”

“ As great as the financial successes of agriculture were in 1903, hitherto without equal, those of 1904 advanced somewhat beyond them. While some products have fallen behind in value, others have more than filled the deficit, and the general result is that the farmers have produced in value much more wealth than they ever did before in one year. ”

“ In the awarding of prizes only those persons are considered who are formally nominated as candidates by some institution, college, or scientific society of rank and character. Not a single American, we are informed, has yet been presented for consideration, and the impression abroad is that Americans are not interested in the prizes. ”

“ Particular attention has been given to normal school work in order to train up a class of native teachers for the public schools of the islands, and this course has been pursued with eagerness by hundreds of natives, but at present there is no institution in the Philippines in which instruction is given in English of a sufficiently advanced character to fit students to enter American colleges. ”

“ Although each year several hundred aliens have been returned to the countries whence they came because they were public charges, and several thousand others were originally refused admission to the United States because likely to become public charges, the recent investigation of the charitable institutions of the country conducted by the Bureau of Immigration actually found about 30,000 alien paupers, including insane, in the public institutions and another 5,000 in the charitable institutions under private control. ”

“ The farmers could from the proceeds of this single crop pay the national debt, the interest thereon for one year, and still have enough left to pay a considerable portion of the government's yearly expenses. The cotton crop, valued for lint and seed at 600 millions, comes second, while hay and wheat contend for the third place. Combined, these two crops will about equal in value the corn crop. Notwithstanding the wheat crop shows a lower production than any year since 1900, the farm value is the highest since 1881. ”

“ The elements of agricultural science are gradually finding their place in the primary and secondary schools through the instruction of teachers. We buy over $200,000,000 worth of products from tropical countries that cannot be grown in continental United States. Through scientists sent from the United States to the several island groups the department is instructing the people of our island possessions to grow these things, such as coffee, rub- ber, fibers, drug plants, nuts, fruits, spices, and the like.
Our farmers buy $100,000,000 worth of machinery every year. ”

“ If he has his small home and plot of ground, the possession of English, the ability to read, the understanding of figures and those matters of business which affect him, and even the knowledge of other lands and peoples will not draw him from his country life and labor. ”

“ Another school that will have a profound influence in the development of the islands is the Nautical school. The coast line of the islands is greater than that of the United States, and as there is at present almost a total lack of railways, and the highways being in poor condition for the most part, the waters of the archipelago must continue to be used as a means of transportation. ”

“ It cannot, in justice to the interests of our country and to the preservation of its institutions, be too urgently or too frequently repeated that in confining our treatment of the all-important immigration problem to the exclusion of such of certain enumerated classes as we can detect our policy is superficial. ”

“ Studies which individuals cannot undertake, but which must be made if the wealth-producing power of the country as a whole is to be brought to the highest point, need to be prosecuted in the public interest. The furtherance of that part of this department's work which is directed toward informing the small owner how he can to advantage practice forestry on his own account is of the first importance. ”

“ Thus emigration from certain foreign countries has become, in a much larger sense than the public imagines, a revenue resource to those countries, of immediate benefit to them to the extent of the aggregate remittances, of prospective benefit to them because it insures the return of the emigrant with his accumulated savings. ”

“ THE SOIL SURVEY The study of soils and their manage- ment with regard to their values for pro- ducing crops has been continued. Soils vary greatly in the several states, and a general knowledge of their composition is of prime importance before the tiller can put them to their most profitable use. The Bureau of Soils is mapping the various areas to the end that resi- dents on each may as soon as possible learn the peculiarities with which they have to deal. The department is seek- ing to introduce plants from foreign countries to diversify American agri- culture. ”

“ Americans are doing noble work in the physical sciences, in literature, in medicine and surgery, in chemistry, and in the humanities. A prize of about $40,000 is awarded annually for achievements in each of these branches, and yet no American has received a prize. ”

“ This would make possible the primary instruction of 600,000 Filipino children, and would give to every child in the Christian population of the islands the advantage of four years of primary instruction, to be secured between the ages of 6 and 14.
High schools have been organized in every school division.
The system of public instruction introduced into the islands is thus eminently practical. The purpose of those who are directing the course of studies is to exalt the dignity of labor. Effort is made to train the eye and the hand as well as the head. ”

“ The cold storage of fruit has grown to large proportions, nearly 3,000,000 barrels having been cold-stored in the United States during the last winter as a result of investigations during the past year. It is found that the condition in which the fruit is grown and the man- ner of handling it determine to a large extent its keeping quality and ultimate value. ”

“ The viceroy of Honan, who has been so prompt in carrying out these instructions, has a son being educated in the United States, and the youngster had not been six weeks in this country before he cut off his own queue to escape the teasing of his schoolmates. The viceroy was greatly shocked when he heard the news, because a young man without a queue in China is quite as conspicuous as a young man with one would be in the United States. ”

“ PLANT-BREEDING WORK
Much important work has been done in plant breeding. Great advances have been made in securing new and desirable long-staple cottons. Important results have been obtained in the breeding and improvement of corn and of oats and potatoes. Some of the most important investigations in breeding and selection have been inaugurated in connection with the growing of tobacco. ”

“ THE AMERICAN PURPOSE IS TO DIGNIFY LABOR
But this attitude toward bodily labor which so disgusts Americans with the wealthy and more cultivated class ap- pears to be not a racial feeling, but a result of Spanish training. If we look at those Malayan tribes which escaped the Spanish civilization — the Igorrotes in the north and the Moros in the south — we find that the man skillful with his tool and cunning of hand en- joys additional reputation. ”

“ The states in which are located the large cities have the largest proportions of aliens detained in their institutions. For instance, out of 44,985 aliens in all the institutions of the United States, 12,440, or 28 per cent, are in the State of New York ”

“ Of the great bulk of immigration going to New York 34 per cent is south Italian and 23 percent Hebrew. Other Eastern and Southern States and Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri get large percentages of immigrants belonging to the Iberic and Slavic divisions. Louisiana is conspicuous because of heavy percentage of south Italians. ”

“ They claim that the Filipino hates and despises labor for itself, will not keep a laboring contract, and cannot be procured on any reasonable terms for various enterprises in which Americans desire to invest effort and money. ”

“ The similarity in structure makes it very easy for a Filipino of one tribe to learn the language of another ; but never- theless these languages have preserved their distinction for more than three hundred years of European rule and in the face of a common religion and in spite of considerable migration and mix- ture between the different tribes. This is as true where different populations border one another as elsewhere. ”

“ It is to be hoped that hereafter for each prize the name of at least one American will be formally presented as a candidate. Any one can compete, but his or her name must be presented by a worthy institution. ”

“ Increasing proportions of immigrants are going to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, while the percentage for the neighboring State of New York has gradually decreased from 42 per cent in 1892 to 32 per cent in 1904. The far Western States are attracting increasing proportions and the Middle West and South decreasing percentages year by year. ”

“ The diffusion of well-being among farmers throughout all parts of the coun- try is one of the most conspicuous feat- ures of the recent agricultural develop- ment. This attracted attention a year ago and is now even more noticeable. The great South is more especially en- joying this growth of well-being, owing to the enhanced value of the cotton crop in addition to the general progress in agriculture. ”

“ But we are receiving many other families of a similar character bound for the tenement districts of our large cities, and with aspirations as narrow as those above described, whom it is not possible to exclude under existing law, for it does not necessarily follow that they are likely to become public charges from the fact that they will go to an overcrowded tenement district and occupy inadequate quarters. ”

“ The steady advance in poultry leads to some astonishing figures. The farmers' hens now produce billions of dozens of eggs, and at the high average price of the year the hens during their busy season lay enough eggs in a single month to pay the year' s interest 071 the national debt*
After a careful estimate of the value of the products of the farm during 1904, made within the census scope, it is safe to place the amount at 4,900 million dollars after excluding the value of farm crops fed to live stock in order to avoid duplication of values. ”

“ It has resulted in an exodus of domestic and agricultural labor from Great Britain, which is viewed with alarm by the people of that country. These classes of emigrants come here with the avowed intention of following their regular occupations, which are certainly not overcrowded in America. ”

“ The Pacific coast has long been prosperous, with its world-famous spe- cialties ; the mountain states are glad with the fruits and promises of irriga- tion ; in the older prairie states the farmer has seen his land go from $1.25 an acre, or from a homestead gift, to $100 and $150, and the " Great Amer- ican Desert," as it was called when it was nothing but a buffalo range, is now peopled by a progressive race of farmers, whose banks are filled to overflowing with the proceeds of their products. ”

“ Intelligent man- agement will bring the ranges back to their primitivs state of productiveness, but there is no chance of improving range conditions except where stockmen are able to control the ranges upon which their stock feed. It has also been demonstrated that many new plants may be introduced upon the range success- fully. ”

“ The Filipino ad- heres to his native dialect in its purity, and when he converses with a Filipino of another tribe ordinarily uses broken Spanish.
TO THE FILIPINOS A NATIONAL LAN- GUAGE IS A NECESSITY—THEY PREFER ENGLISH
For common intercourse, as well as for education, the Filipino demands a foreign speech. To confine him to his native dialect would be simply to per- petuate that isolation which he has so long suffered and against which his in- surrection was a protest. Opponents of English education find no sympathizer among the Filipino people. ”

“ The average percent- age in all beets grown in the United States is but a little over 1 1 per cent. During the season of 1904, 14,000 pounds of American-grown seed were distributed by the department for test- ing in comparison with imported seed. The factories also bought 34,500 pounds of American-grown seed. Interesting experiments in fertilizing were con- ducted, one in particular showing the difference of over twenty dollars per acre as the result of fertilizing with nitrate of soda. ”

“ The fact that one part of copper sulphate to 100,000 parts of water will at ordinary temperature completely destroy the bacteria causing typhoid fever and Asiatic cholera suggests the great usefulness of copper in fighting these and other diseases. ”

“ Mongolic division: Most of the immigrants of the Mongolic division, principally Japanese, go to Hawaii and the Pacific coast. Of all the immigrants going to Hawaii 82 per cent are Japanese.
OCCUPATIONS
Examination shows that immigration to the mining regions of the Alleghenies, Lake Superior, and Rocky Mountains is composed of comparatively few families and a very large proportion of laborers, while that to the agricultural districts of the Middle West and South is composed of comparatively few laborers and large proportions of families. ”

“ It is believed that a profitable system of agriculture can be developed for the semi-arid area of the United States by securing crops which will grow with a very small amount of water. Consider- able progress has been made in this di- rection. ”

“ These alleged 'American citizens,' although they enjoy and avail themselves of the high privilege and protection of American citizenship, are, in truth and in fact, not Americans at all, and quite a number of them have become naturalized by fraud. ”

“ The present crop of rice promises a yield of 900 million pounds — 300 million more than ever before.
Horses and mules reach the highest point this year, with an aggregate value exceeding 1,354 million dollars. On the other hand, cattle, sheep, and hogs all show a slight decline. ”