A few days ago the new Governor of Minnesota, A. D. Eberhart, who, incidentally, is of Swedish ancestry, delivered his first important speech since he took office. He spoke about the American farm and farmer. The Governor, who himself grew up on a farm, knew his subject matter, and what he said was received with applause from every section of the state. He presented valuable and instructive statistics, and the suggestions which he made showed that he was sincere and knew what he was talking about. The speech was entirely void of those empty phrases which are so often used for political purposes.

Not considering Minnesota alone, the American farmer has made remarkable progress during the last few decades. This year he expects a corn crop 2of some three billion bushels. Our mind can hardly conceive such an amount of corn or its actual market value, which will be about one and a half billion dollars; this is more than three times the value of the 1896 corn crop. The entire farm output of last year was valued at eight billion dollars, and this year the estimate is considerably higher. In 1850 the value of all farm land in the United States was four billion dollars; today it is twenty-eight billion. The value of our farms increases by $3,400,000 every day.

It is of great importance to the country that the farmer receive his just share of the national income, thus enabling him to enjoy the country's general prosperity. Even the eight billion dollars which he now receives come to only seven hundred dollars per individual when divided up between every farmer and farm worker in the country.

During the next twenty years we shall probably see a radical change in 3farming methods. We may expect to see the farms operated more intelligently and with much improved equipment. The benefits of scientific research and discoveries will be applied to agriculture, and the result will be more economical operation and larger crops. The net farm income will thus be greatly increased, and effective measures should be taken to prevent the lion's share of this income from going to the railroad companies, the flour mills, and to the manufactures of agricultural implements. It must go to the farmer himself, and provide him with better food, better clothing, and a more comfortable home.

North Dakota, where opportunities for obtaining a farm are still fairly plentiful, will this year produce wealth amounting to one thousand dollars for every man, woman, and child in the state, and even at that, scientific methods are little known on its farms.

It used to be that one of the farmer's highest ambitions was to send his 4brightest son to the city to become a lawyer or a businessman, but that may soon become a thing of the past. The farm now offers the boy just as happy and prosperous a future and gives him a chance to work both with his hands and his brain. There is no more satisfying occupation than farming for a man who really wants to give the best he has to the job, and has a strong desire for the largest possible measure of independence.