Alton High School - Tatler Yearbook (Alton, IL)

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 THE CALL OF THE WEST First Prize The West! The West! What a world of meaning: those two words convey ! They recall the time when the West was a wilderness infested by wandering tribes of Indians, when it was the hunter’s and trapper’s paradise,—then the advent of the “forty-niners” and the hardships, dangers, and sufferings endured in the search for gold—how a few were successful in finding the precious metal, but how a great many were stranded— and then how those stranded ones turned their hands to other things—cattle and sheep-raising, lumbering, and especially to farming. Then it became a reality that the true wealth of the West lay in the soil. This fact has a special significance, when, “Back to the farm!” is heard on every side, when people in all phases of life are leaving their present occupation and are rushing back to the country; when, more than ever before, mankind is realizing the value of agricultural schools and the use of modern and devised methods in farming, when it is seen that farming is not a mere side Issue, but that it is a business and a science. And where, where do these enthusiasts go? Where, to practice their new ideas and methods? To the West! The West, swelling each year with the tide of emigrating farmers—farmers who have left the East to go where success is assured; where the climate stimulates ambition and fills the body with new life; where the calm, clear atmosphere and the bright sunshiny days assist him in his efforts: where, through energy and perseverance, farming has proved a wonderful success in all of its branches; where the farmer of ten acres has as much chance as he who possesses thousands; where each works for the good of all; where co-operation, by means of which all difficulties have been overcome, is the distinguishing feature. Through the combined efforts of the people, the water problem has been solved: some of the greatest engineering feats in history have been accomplished; rivers have been made to change their 1 ;

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— LITERARY 15

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courses, or have been converted into enormous reservoirs, veritable inland seas; for miles and miles the precious liquid has been carried overland, by means of tunnels, aqueducts, and canals, and thus, by the aid of irrigation and dry land farming, thousands and thousands of acres of desert land have been reclaimed. Xo longer is the Western farmer harassed by dreams of droughts and dying fields of grain or withered orchards and vineyards; he is practically independent of rainfall: he gives his time and labor to his crops, assisting them in every way possible, knowing that for every degree of care and patience which he expends upon them, he will be repaid tenfold. His object is to produce the very best: he is “in the service of quality.” Then, when his crops are matured, he does not have to rush immediately to market to beat his neighbor and to get the first chances for a sale: neither is it necessary for him to store away his crops and pretend a scarcity of them. But by the aid of co-operation, central exchanges have been established, which attend to the grading, packing and shipping, not only finding a good market, but securing the very highest market prices at any time of the year. So efficient are these institutions that others are constantly being organized, the officials being paid by levying a tax or duty on the shipments. Their business integrity is of such high standard that, when a merchant receives a shipment from any of them, he knows it is just exactly what he has ordered. lie knows that if the articles on top are A Xo. 1, those on the bottom will be of like quality. Upon receiving a carload of grain it is unnecessary for him to go to the additional expense of sorting it out. When he receives a shipment of apples, oranges, lemons, grapes or any other fruits, he knows that he can put them in cold storage and that they will keep, that there is no danger of decay, because they have been packed with the greatest possible care, and furthermore, because goods of inferior quality are not allowed to be sent out. Therefore, he can afford to pay higher prices; in fact, he will even pay premium prices to get Western crops. Can the same be said of the Eastern farmer? The East must give way to the West in the future as it has in the past. Throughout the ages the call of the West has been imperative. It was in response to this summons that our Aryan ancestors left the Far East and moved on and on until the Atlantic checked their progress. Then with the discovery of America by Columbus the long restrained tide of emigration poured itself into the land of promise. Gradually this tide moved on' until the discovery of gold furnished a new impetus—an impetus that soon filled the country 17