GREAT CHANGE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1913, Page 3

GREAT CHANGE

AGRICULTURE IN AMERICA INTENSE CULTIVATION. NATIONAL^ POLITICS(it TELEGBAPa— SPICUL TO THB POST.) 1 CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Mr. W. H. Babcock, who is in charge of ''the Boys' Gordon if all in Christchurch, arrived back ; on Wednesday after a visit to the United States, which he left four years ago. Speaking to a reporter, he said that a great change had come over the Central and Western States among the farmers. New methods are replacing the old, he remarked, and the people are going in for intense cultivation. A place of five or ten acres is called a fruit ranch now, and the cultivation of large areas with -machinery is giving - way to smaller settlements and the more intense forms. of agriculture. Colleges are spreading the knowledge of scientific methods ' in agriculture among the farmers, and all connected witli the farms. The work is being taken vj 1 seriously everywhere, and great strides ai'e being made on all sides. Great interest is being shown in the conservation of ""fertility in the soil. A few- years ' back if land got worked out people shifted, into a new area, but' now they have to stay right on, and adopt up-to-date methods to hold their own, The small farmer with the up-to-date ideas is gaining ground. POLITICS. "Although the big political contest was on when I was in the States," said Mr. Babcock, "tho people there don't take politics as seriously as the New Zealandei's. The result of the Presidential contest, however, is reviving interest. A Democratic Congress, a- Democratic Senate, and a Democratic President are pledged to take up tariff reform, and the wool is the first schedule to be taken up. Before I left the States, all the talk was that as soon after the inauguration ceremony -(on 4th March) as possible, a special session Would be held to go right into the business. Big reductions " in the wool, tariff are freely prophesied. The big manufacturers state that they cannot get the pure wool in the States, and they want the foreign wool allowed in on a fair basis. „ CONSERVATION^ OF FOREST^ "The conservation of the' forests' is another mark of progress. When Mr. Roosevelt went out of office them were 150 million acres of national, forests, and it was feared that the movement for the reservation and protection of the great' wooded lands at the head waters of the streams would be relaxed ; but now there are 192 million acres and a big staff of forest rangei's. That's a point that New Zealand should consider. The forests arebig things. I travelled for three days with one of these forest rangers, and he told me of his duties. In the winter he had' to supervise any cutting out, the piling of the brush, and the clearing, so that the danger of fire was diminished. In the summer he was engaged chiefly in fighting fires. Where he was stationed there was a supervisor, with nine rangers, overlooking a million acres, and that is about the usual proportion throughout the national forest. BOYS' CLUBS. "Of course, during my tour I visited as, many of the boys' club's as I could. I saw them in Duluth, Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Dcs Moines, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, Pittsburg, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. The V.M.C.A. work and the work among, the boys is proceeding famously, and there are many new buildings. "At Toledo I found a remarkable organisation. It was tlie Newsboys' Association, boasting 3000 members, with a fine club-house and a theatre, the auditorium capable of seating 1600 people. It is the beet play-house in Toledo, and the profits from -it are sufficient to pay all the expenses of the association. The association, brings high-class companies to : Toledo, and takes care to offer only plays of merit. Leading actors visit Toledo because of the ,reputation of the association. A number of seats in the front stalls are reserved for the poorer newsboys, who cannot afford to pay, but Otherwise the theatre is open. These Toledo newsboys have also taken up the 'duties of guides. Each boy wears a badge with the inscription : 'Ask me about Toledo!' and it is a matter of pride with them to know everything connected with the city. Many times I questioned those boys, - and I never found one of them wanting. Toledo has" the most courteous % newsboys in the world, and their, reputation for progress is gi'eat in the States." . ,