Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / Jan. 7, 1912, edition 1 / Page 13
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BJl "tiiAiU- j 1 1 h NtiW, JANUARY 7, 1 1 9i2 13 r my mm aorta EDITED BY J. M.BIGHAM. i ' " """" ' i Farmers Doing Some Mighty Hard Thinking At This Time of Yeai This is the time of year, and this rear especially, -when farmers are doing some mighty hard thinking. The rear has been good to us all in many r-rects. nay had no great ca lamity, and yet the returns to many a n:an for the toil of, the long year through has been meager, and now at tl-.e te sinning of the new year when vp is taking stock, it Is hard to think cf the unpaid bills, the cherished' im provements laid aside indefinitely, John and Mary kept home from school, pv.d other things postponed, until 'we ran get back to where we were. Take the state as a whole, maybe we are ahead, hut the territory for which I am vriting. the beginning of the new ?ar is not auspicious. The disastrous drought and the low price of cotton have demoralized our condition so that the future looks dark to many, and ret it should not discourage us. The experience of 1911 should abide with r.s all. This year of 1911 the farmer placed his eggs in one basket. He has teen putting too many eggs In this basket for several years but the mar ket was taking them, and taking cour age from this fact he Increased the tens and the feed, and the result has teen disastrous. Dropping th figure, let me return to the matter of thinking cur w ay out of th trouble. Do you know that the greatest trouble we farmers have is failure to do enough thinking? It is a result of not thinking that has potten us into the hole now.. For a lens while we have not been thinking shout our business in a serious way. If vce had become accustomed to think ing deeply and seriously, the drought would not have been bo serious. When r e realize as we should the import anc of water In crop production, and the part that water plays in making r '.ant food available, we shall learn to prepare our soil so that the supply of water will always be sufficient. There is cany a farmer now who is ready to eay that he can grow a crop next year without any rain "falling during the growing season. So this is one thing we have to think about. Another thing the diversification of our crops. It is felly for the south to grow all cot ton, and though the farmers have been advised time and again that such a pol icy was suicilad they lost their heads last spring and planted the largest acreage ever known. This was done in the face of the fact that it has been proven that corn and almost any thing else that the farmer consumes at horce can be grown on our southern fams. It is idle to talk now over this mis take. It is one of the things we have to think about however. We see the THE "BOCK HILL 9) in ID I F Deep and widespeard interest" in what is known as the "Rock" Hill Plan" for the reduction of the cotton acreage oT the south, consequently of the crop output, mak es - more ; than timely an article regai ding "that plan from the author, J. G. Anderson, presi dent of the Rock Hill (S. C) Buggy Company. . - - - - .: - . Mr. Anderson is at the head of one cf South Carolina's foremost business enterprises, with a plant whose build-ins-? cover five acres and turn out 15.000 vehicles a year. The building cf the business to its present import rnt and extensive proportions, has heen largely due to his native ability 2nd energy, and he has taken foremost iank among South Carolina's leading captains of industry. - . ; Manifesting far more thenkhe ordi nary interest in the success of the southern. farmer, Mr. Anderson thought out, devised. and arranged the. details cf a plan . he believes -will" prove un questionably effective in materially re ducing the cottcn acreage of 1912, and he offers it freely to the farmers of the south, if thy will but, take hold and apply it. What the Rock Hill Plan Is. As slightly modified by the execu tive committee of the Southern Cotton Congress, ' at a meeting in New Or leans on December 21, 1911, it is pro posed that the plan shall be put into operation by each state acting for it self and not" In collusion with others. It Is proposed to call upon bankers, merchants, mercantile and- manufac turing interests for small subscriptions to meet the expenses of organization and the work to be done In the vari ous counties. It provides for the se lection of a state superintendent who shall have entire charge of the work in the state and be responsible for it. It is suggsted that the governor, the commissioner of agriculture and the president of the Farmers' Union, start to work and arrange for raising the necessary funds. The state superintendent is to -appoint county, committees in each coun ty, composed. It is suggested,' ofmen taking enthusiastic interest in the work one a banker, one a merchant and onea farmer. The county com mittee is to have charge of raising county funds for the purpose, of con ducting a house to house canvass for the purpose of securing signed pledges from all farmers, and those Interested in farms, THAT THEY WILL. RE DUCE THEIR. COTTON ACREAGE IN 1912, NOT LESS THAN 25 PER CENT or whatever amount may be -agreed upon. ',' It Is pointed out that the average county can be covered by canvassers at a coRf of from SI 25 to S200. which fan easily be raised by proper effort. r-nougn canvassers should oe empiuj ed to cover the county thoroughly "within a period of two weeks. They should make dally report to the county committee, and the names should be P L A it nimii 1 statement that Mecklenburg county purchases about $2,000,000 worth of supplies, and the cotton crop is worth about $1,300,000. Can Mecklenburg stand this drain? She does not have to stand it. Wheat can besgrown in Mecklenburg,. and so can corn, oats, clover, peas, and many v kinds of grasses, and all kinds of -stock do well, if they are wisely managed. By saying "wisely,". I do not mean that it takes any more wisdom there than anywhere else, for cattle to do well anywhere, require attention in a busi nesslike way.. Then the old hen. old "biddy." She is a most wonderful lit tle animal. She is a true money-maker. I am not making a complete argument along any line, of work, showing just how success may come to the man who engages in it. but merely pointing out some things for us to think about this winter, while we watch the embers glow, and the wintry winds whistle around the gables, and the eeld rain drops are filling the earth with wa ter, and the frost is making plant food out of the up-turned sod. There is an other fertile subject for thought, and that i? the pig. What a wonderful lit tle animal is the pig, and how great does his bacon add to the farmer's bill. The pig is,- therefore, worthy of consideration when the farmer is plan ning his economy of farm management. Cotton is the south's greatest mon ey crop, but all cotton does not make it a money crop. If it takes all the cotton crop and . more too to purchase the supplies, it is not a money crop. It is a money crop only, when it adds year by year to the south's surplus for investment. Most farmers only make a living, and most other men, for that matter, and when It Is so easily made on the farm, why should it be necessary for the farmer In the south to depend upon the farmers of the west to make it for them. Another little matter de serves consideration in this winter study course, and that is the kitchen garden. How many southern farm ers give this kitchen garden the atten tion it should have. This little gar den and the little fruit orchard should make the southern farmer's meal a wholesome, one indeed. This winter course around the old family hearth stone should include a close study of one or more works on agriculture by some of our best authorities on the subject. Don't get scared about "bok farming,' but think about the ruin and poverty the want of it has brought us. Now I am through. I am practicing what I am preaching;- for I am studying farming today around the old hearth. . E. S.: MILLS APS.- published in the county paper.' The rniintv committee shoula reDOtt daily to the state superintendent who should report daily to the state supenntenaent who should give out . a consolidated RtntmpTif' tr the - nress. It is confidently Denevea mat me . nrrfntfl?e of those-who would "fail' to adhere to such a pledge would he so small as to De insignmcant. : me newspapers are counted upon forras sistancet which they will unquestion ably give, and county rallies are urg ed to arouse interest. Tt is earnestly recommended that the acreage Of cotton planted in 1912 k Tin laa thou 9.-, rr rpnt as compared with 1911, and ,t hat the) written pledge adopted by the Na tional Farmers Union, be used in eacn state. Author Discusses Plan. nififiissine- his- nlan and its various ra tn ros. Mr. Anderson has written the following interesting statement for ThA Atlanta Constitution: Editor Constitution: The Rock Hill so-called, for the reductionl of the cotton acreage for 1912, is sim ple, and its very simplicity is wnat r fool Biir will commend it to the cot- tnn niantors throuehout the south. It I has but one object by reduction, of acreage. io noia iue ouyyij ple down to the demand for the south's chief product, tt la Tnprelv a "call to arms" in the matter of reduction of acreage. I claim no honor for the introduction or J initiation of the plan. It is, and has i in fr tnmA time, a Dreenant need' in the south, and has been broached many times before; but I saw that the nA-fnp anHrm alonfir this line was now so Imperative that I determined to see what, could be done in a smau w in our immediate section with a plan rarivh t tnmie-nr. noma ue BousLa-i.umj , worked at a relatively small cost. I went to UOXUmDia ana iameu a-ith Commissioner of Agriculture Watson. He- thought it hi V - T - ' . . looked good and gave m pledge blanks. I returned home,, sent a man out to make a house-to-house, canvass among the : planters of the townships contiguous to Rock Hill, sub stantially all of whom were seen with-. S j x . -nnot nf hilt S2t. I in iour aays, aim ai ; and all but two of whom signed to cut 40 per cent of their acreage; and these two, it may be said, reduced their acre age at the beginning of 191L . Having, found out that the plan was entirely feasible and could be econom ically worked, I again visited-Commls- nrntr, ot fninmh'ft. and after discussing the matter. Jt was. decided . to call a meeting or me eiwu" committee of the ' Southern Cotton Congress. That meeting was held at New Orleans on December 21 at whicji I was present. I laid the "Rock Hill plan" before- the committee, and it was unanimously adopted with minor modifications. . - . v v . ... I believe there are large possibili ties U this plan,"-1 believe it can be economically engineered and placed be fore every southern Pjanr. v Would Enforce Diversification., - You hear a lot about crop diversifi cation The Rock Hill Plan, it gener al adopted, will automatically force diversification..-"- You, aj? about raising "hog and-hominy, and other supplies at, home, of the cotton acreage will automatical ly take care of that, too. But the plan will not bring about all these good things and the millen niumon papen It must be general, and the officials, whose duty it is to 6et the machinery in motion, must "get busy quick," and must appoint men of known ability, who hive the necessary energy and enthusiasm to do things.. n If the various state super intendents will perform, their duties faithfully and energetically, and the county committees get to work promt ly, the farmers will do .the rest. They will sign the pledge, as has been Tully demonstrated, if It is presented to them in person. Right here lies the gist of the whole matter get .the pledge to the farmer, and the "busi ness" is done Instantly, and it doesn't! make any difference what it costs the pledge must go to him if the south is to come into her own without de lay, x You often hear the argument made that the size of the crop depends more upon the season than it does upon the acreage, but there is no gainsaying the fact that in any season 26,000,000 acres of cotton will produce less than 37,000, 000 so that no more r than 11,000,000 bales will be raised in 19f2. Some thing like that will be necessary to take care of the surplus.-. Th "Rock Hill plan," is, . however, merely a temporary expedient. It is only meant to meet an emergency, and that -'emergency - exists today. Something permanent in the way of producing uniform crops; or, at least, prevents over production, must be done. The Southern Cotton Congress has that matter in hand, and intends to develop something at its next meet ing whereby permanency will be as sured. It is an axiom as old as the hills that a flooded market inevitably pros trates prices, as witness the 1911 cot ton season now drawing toa close. If the world cannot use cotton, why grow it? What has always held the south ern planter back is his unwillingness to diversify. True, the present gener ation of planters have never had the proper example set them by their fore bears. But that is no reason why the men of the. present day should fall down and worship the fetich , of a by gone period. For many years the southern farm er has lost sight of all save his fields of cotton, and he has done this at a high price. He has forgotten that if he would, he could feed the world with the products of southern soil and cli mate. With the reduction of the cot ton acreage, diversification will nat urally result and the southern sec tion of fhis union can be made the gar den spot of the world not figuratively speaking, but naturally so a vast gar den in which can be produced all that man will need for sustenance. Will Make Food at Home. Cut down the cotton acreage and the south will not have to send west and north t for foodstuffs totalling an amount of actual money in figures which would stagger the imagination millions' upon millions every year, for meat,' and grain, and hay, and mules, and shoes, and hats, and cloth ing and a thousand and one other things, which with the greatest ease and the greatest profit can be raised and produced on southern farms and in southern factories. And the pity of it all Is that even now the south ern. " farmer cannot see the evils of his plan. -He. continues to flood the markets of the world with cotton at de clining prices and sending the money to. the west and north to fill his meat- house and granary. His bumper cot ton crops make him play Jnto the hand of the western producer, who gets the southern planter coming., and going. ' The patriotic press of the south will, as always, help in the good work. Wnat you newspaper men want to preach daily to the southern planters is cotton, acreage reduction, aqd diver- sincation win tonow, ior .tnerem lies the salvation of the south.1 The south has never yet seemed to grasp the lim itless possibilities of her soil and her climate. Let the south awake and throw off the bondage to the north and west. The "Rock Hill plan" is aimed that way. We want to plant less cotton acreage until the world needs more cotton, and the reduced acreage will be devoted to the raising ' of food stuffs to the everlasting good of every body. , J. G. ANDERSON. Rock Hill, S. C. FAMOUS PEOPLE HAVE COME OUT OF ASINIERES. Parns. Jan. 6. The untrue rumor that Therese .Humbert had left her peaceful little house In a suburb of Paris for the seclusion of a lunatic asy lum has called attention to Asnieres. In London, Asnieres would be no more of a suburg than Chelsea is. You can get there in twenty minutes from, the Madeleine by tramway, and curiously enough, it- has become the home of spvpral neonle" whose names have fig ured in large print in the newspapers or tne wona. The Humberts hava ioined forces. Frederic naints nictures and his wife sells them for him. She also sells, on commission, any works of art which are confided to her. Romain Daurig nac. Therese's brother, is "some thing ih the ctyy," and old Mme. Hum-1 bert's little (Frederic Humbert's moth-. er is the widow of a former minister ' of justice) is the mainstay of the lit tle family. Until quite lately Mme . Steinhcil lived at Asnieres, too, in a litle house quite near theJHumberts. She used to go to England a good deal, but recent ly she disappeared, and according to the concierge and the neighbors, went to Portugal. . In the Rue des Eccles, near the Asnieres town hall, in a neat little house, Jules Jalouzot lives with one servant. He was the director and chief shareholder of the Magasins du Prlntemps, who ruined himself . and a great many other people not long ago by speculation. In the Boulevard St. Denis, at As nieres, too, there lives the heroine of a grimly sensational murder trial which nobody has yet forgotten. She is Gabrlelle Bompard, who helped (un der hynotlc influence, she said) to murder the old lawyer Gouffe, whose body was cut up and hidden in a trunk. Gabrlelle Bompard is a middle-aged woman now, but there are traces still of her great beauty. "She lives quietly and respectable by her needle, and has a pretty gift for embroidery. E HOGS AND HOI I NY FOR BIGGEST PROFIT .From now on -until cotton planting time many thousands n of pencils will be pushed and innumerable voices will be raised warning southern farmers against planting too much cotton and advising them to produce all their sup plies at home. These warnings and ad vice are all in good faith and sincerity, and doubtless will prove acceptable and effective to a certain extent. But there seems to be a weak place in the arguments used to impress upon rthe minds' of these farmers the-soundness and wisdom of the policy advocated. Many perfectly honest and. sincere ad vocates 'seem to enjoy but a very short sighted view of the question. Their appeals and arguments are" dominated by the one idea that by. reducing the aggregate crop production of cotton by two or three million balse, more or less, the problem will be solved, and the farmers will become prosperous and happy; and to perpetuate this prosperity and happiness they have on ly to stick to the policy of "reduction of area and ouput. But the trouble is that they will not "stick" to the poli cy. When the average farmer gets a taste of 15-cent cotton it seems to run up to the-brain and upsets the reasoning faculties. He at once throws aside his good purposes and goes in for an investment in fertilizer and a larger production. Isn't' that so? "Very few voices were raised last winter and spring in warning against too large area In cotton. It was said that there was no danger of an -over-supply of cotton; that the world's con sumption bad outrun, production; that the day of "10-cent cotton" was forever gone. The result has been that the farmers have sold most of their cot ton for less than 10 cents and are now doubtingly fighting against a re duction to less than -9 . cents- I re- member, writing a few years ago, when we were making an average of around 11 or 12 million bales that there was no danger of a failure in the pro duction of enough cotton to meet the demands of consumption and that the south could (and would) produce 15, 000,000 bales of cotton when the stead ily maintainedmarket price should elo quently plead. for it. .And now we have already approximated, a. 15,000,000 bale crop (14,855,000 I believe is the latest official estimate) ,. and we have probab ly lost nearly enough to have made the full total of 15,000,000 as a result of bad weather for the harvest and a shdrt supply of pickers. - -l modestly believe that the funda mental error in our arguments is the undue magnifying of cotton as a mon ey-making crop. It has been called the "money-crop" of the south, and the prevailing idea has been that the way to ' succeed as a farmer, is to make a. big crop of cotton. The argument in favor of raising a home supply of hog and hominy is based too much on the idea that the production of such supplies is but an expedient by which we will be able to keep in our own possession 'a larger proportion of the money brought by the sale of -cot ton. Nobody makes : a fuss about the high prices of ' bacon and lard, hay and oats, sugar and coffee, and dozens of other things which the south eith ed does not or cannot produce at home. Little is urged about the di rect profit in breeding and fattening hogs, beef cattle; the raising of mules and horses;; the daily business, etc., except in time of stress and depres sion N on account of unsatisfactory prices of cotton. If cotton goes above 12 cents, and stays there, everything seems to be lovely and inviting. We use to long for a 10-cent market when we had to sell for 5, 6 and 7 cents. Now. 1Q cents seems a sacrifice price, and we are not getting even that. - . , ,. , - The truth is that cotton is not the only money-making crop not by a very large majority.- The very essence of good farming ,1s to supply from the farm every necessary want" that the farm is capable, or may be made capa ble, of producing, and, while doing this, -to add generally to . the produc tiveness of the soil. It is said that if a farmer succeeds in making his soil rich . he thereby becomes rich Tiim self, and it Is true in a -large and important sense. It has been proven time and again that, with proper man agement, there is a greater profit In producing pork and baconf beef and buetter, peas and pea hay, potatoes, (sweet), chickens and eggs, etc., then is producing cotton. Not only is this condition true in theory, but practice confirms its -truth. Almost without exception where" we find a prosperous .farmer one whose course of prosperity is steady and unfailing we find that he produces more or less of the above so-called "home supplies"- in greater or less abundance, or enough for hiB own con sumption and some to sell to -the nearby city and to his less thrifty neighbors. On inquiry we find Lalso that he attributes his prosperity main ly to the production of these supplies. He truly and: surely makes his mon ey, besides supplying himself and tamily with these necessaries by pro ducing these things. The money ne receives : from his cotton crop very largely represents the profits in con venient, form of his skill and industry and foresight in producing the things that he needs and must have, and not alone in producing cotton a thing that he does not need and cannot consume for which he practically has no use It would be easy, to go on at length and, show how the steady annual in crease in the producing capacity1 of his soil is due almost entirely to the fact, that he has dovted his energies largely to. the growing of crops and the breeding and. fattening of animals to consuSae these crops, that tend to im prove and .enrich the. soil.1. This in crease In the productiveness or tne soil is like adding to the operative capital of a oank, or a manufacturing company. He may not only sen nis farm for a higher and higher price as the years go on, but he will make larg er and .larger and more profitable crops as the years go by. -The all-cotton farmer he who relys on his cotton crop to pay the greater part- of the expensesgets his meSgre profits - at the end of each year (if any at all) and each year as a rule finds'nis soil less productive' than, before. -The man who farms rightly who does not rely solely on his cotton speedily, if slow ly, becomes more independent and rich er. It becomes a normal, natural con dition, a sequence that follows just as surely as effect follows a ' cause---"aa a matter of course." R. J. Redding , in Atlanta Constitution: OUR MENTAL ATTITUDE IN THE NEW YEAR. Much of the success of our readers this year will, depend upon the mental attitude with which they face ita protK lems. : If they don't expect much, they are not likely to receive much. If they are5 optimistic; not rainbow chasers, but have reasonable expectations which they will do their level best to realize, they are likely to receive, gen erally speaking, about what they ex pect; for in natural things as in spirit ual, the saying of Jesus holds true: 'According to your faith be it done unto" you." ! . ; The" man who starts out on New Year's day with a feeling that the cards are stacked against him, that he is under the dog in' the fight, that he "can't do nothing nohow," will not get very far ahead; while the man who opens his mouth wide.iexpecting much and working as if he expected it is likely to have- it reasonably well fiilled; not always, but generally. For there are times when,, no matter how great the faith nor how hard the work, things will go against us; for example, extreme drought, hail storms, epidem ics among live stock, great slumps in prices, sickness which could not be prevented. Still, in a broad way, it is true that the ,man who is a hard work ing optimist gets his fair and just re ward, while the man who is expecting little, and works according to his ex pectations, will say and with good reason: "Jus-t my luck." v There is Bound philosophy under lying this. The man who has no faith in God, or if thiB word may be mis understood,, in nature, or in the benev olent intentions of whatever Power he believes rules in this world, and is not willing o yield obedience to what we call "natural law." on which all good farming depends, is not likely to think very clearly or work very hard. The man who has no faith Jn himself, who regards- himself to use an 'bid-fashioned phrase common in our boyhood as "a bound boy at a husking," this man is not likely to use the ability, either montal or physical, which is his heritage. Thy year 1912 is not likely to be a bed of roses for many of us; and if there be roses, there will be thorns among them. It will have its trials and difficulties, just like . all other years since the world began ; but if We face these- problems with a stout heart and a cool head t and strong hands, their solution will be much easier. If, on the other hand, we have no faith in the established order of nature, cruel step-mother, as she often seems to be; if we have no faith in the God behind nature, -and little faith in our selves; we are not very likely to have a happy Thanksgiving in 1912. Some men will succeed this , year; others, In exactly, the same, or, it may be, more fortunate circumstances, will fail; and the explanation will general ly lie in the personal quality, and the success will be to a large degree meas ured by his faith. Who was it that said: "The fault is not in our stars, but in. ourselves?" The world is not a hammock in which we can swing lazily under fair skies, fanned by gen tle breezes. , It is so ordered that if we are to get anything, we must ex pect to get it. To use an old-fashioned western phrase: We must "get up and dust," and 'not let the grass-grow under our feet." . We are quitenikely to get in 1912 just about what we ex pect and will really try to earn. Wal lace Farmer. Some to ew Year Views and Comment By The Forum Editor. "Every New Year is a fresh begin ning. Listen, Oh! soul to the glad re frain." .-. , January- is always a month among farmers especially, for reflection and prospection. A time when the mistakes and failures of the year should be gone over and in changing methods with the view of course Of correcting and improving our plans for the ensuing jear. Radical changes have taken place within the last year and the farmer will have to make radical changes to meet the changed condition success fully. A year ago cotton was selling for near 15 cents and it was not surprising that with that stimulus a large acre age was planted. But it will be surpris ingit will be foolhardy, if under pres ent conditions a large or even, an aver age acreage is planted this year. We believe the time of the various farm produces will by a common sense ad justment, like water; find their proper level. The department of agriculture has made preliminary estimates of the yield of wheat, corn and oats with about the following results: Wheat, 29,000,000 bushels below; corn, 400, 000,000; Oats, 380,000,000 below last year. . In fact all farm products except cot ton and sugar beets are corresponding ly short last year. And the farmer that will have to buy these products will not have to be told that the prices are correspondingly high; he win find that soon' enough. One dollar - per busliel fot corn and seventy-five cents for oats are not compatable wit&8 cent cotton. While we know that interest is grow ing in the South in-these two import ant crops corn and . oats, ; and yield gradually increasing yet we believe, that on the average farm, twice the amount of corn and oats could be prof itably fed than is raised on the farm. Hogs and chickens are great consum ers of these products and while they are too few on the average farm, they are often under fed, which always is an unprofitable business. Sixteenuggesttqns To Me F I will close this report with a few suggestions that I believe will be for the good of the organization. - (1) That there should beo abate ment in our efforts to jfTmote the Interest in an educatifthat will fit pur boys and girls lor the life that they must live. - (I) That : we should continue to teach co-operation by precept and ex ample; what it is; what it means; what it does; to the end that our people may substitute the benefi cence of co-operation for the war fare of competition; that the public may be delivered from the middle men, capitalists and monopolists who would make tlie laborer work for the least and the consumer pay the ut most. (3) That we should promote the spirit of trtie fraternity throughout our order; always placing the com mon good before private interest. (4) That the state . union should adopt the - charter and establish a state central warehouse as a ship ping point to supply county ware houses that can not buy in car lots. (5) That the county unions should spare no efforts to secure county warehouses. d This is absolutely nec essary ii we are ever to build up a permanent system of co-operative selling and buying. (6) That the tobacco counties should erect dry. prizeries and pre pare to pool their tobacco, which is co-cperative marketing. , (7) That the grain, stock, fruit, and trucking counties should eliminate the middle men. by co-operative selling (and buying) through the county warehouse and as a neces sary adjunct to success, that their crops be well graded and packed; and that all union farmers use the col umns of the Union Farmer to let their brethren know what they have for sale or exchange. ' (8) That all farmers determine now and for all time to raise all food crops for man and beast. We must do this if we are ever to sue ceed in our calling., We will never be able to control the marketing of our money crops as long, as they are pledged for the payment of bil for supplies. : (9) That all farmers adopt sclen tific methods of farming that will not only conserve but build up the fertility of their soil. This is the permanent, rock basis of all success ful agriculture. And as a very im portant adjunct 'thereto, that more and better stock be raised on all farms. ' - - (10) That we quit buying high; priced, ready-mixed fertilizers, which impoverish the farmer and enrich the fertilizer trust, ever keeping in mind the statement of the National Year- Bpok of Agriculture that two-thirds of the money spent for commercial fertilizers is a total loss. Deep plow ing and the rotation of crops, grow ing legumes to fill the soli with nitro gen and humus, with the aid of phos phates, lime and potash, and cotton seed or cottonseed meal, will give more profitable results, both In yield and in permanently building up your soil. Do not sell your cottonseed, However the corn crop of the South we are glad to say, is increasing every year. We are expecting to see a pro portion of crops this year commensur ate with the demands. Once in a while the farmers loose this proper ballance but they may be , depended upon of find -the. proper equilibrium the -first opportunity. We believe the opening of the ensuing season win satisiy tnis assertion. The writer heard Sam Pow ell, a well known colored farmer, of Paw Creek say the other day that he planted 60 acres of cotton last year and made 30 bales, but if he lived to planting time his neighbor would bear witness that -he had not planted but 10 acres this year. Sam says that spme white people think that niggers can't raise anything but cotton but that is a mistake- that when it comes to watermelons he can make his white friends down In Berry hill sie up and take notice. Anent the subject of diversification we are print ing in another column the Rock Hill plan. We look for a readjustment along the line of diversification this year. VOCIFEROUSLY CHEERED WHEN AGED MAN FELL DEAD. Geneva, Jan. 6. An old man falling dead in the street was the signal for vociferous cheering the other night. This strange incident occurred during the Escalade festival, when crowds of Genevese and strangers in dominoes and masks were parading the streets. It was during the height of the joy making that M. Frederic Stern, aged 82, fell dead, and the masqueraders in the vicinity, thinking he. was hav ing a game at their expense, cheered him, while pierrots, buterflies and Othr ers joined hands and danced round the corpse. Stern making no movement, one or the disguised persons made an exami nation and found that he was deal. Thereupon several pierrots carried the body to the nearest drugstore,, but their task was a difficult one, as the cr6wd, thinking it was an Escalade farce, would not clear a passage. A doctor soon arrived on the spot, but the old man was beyond aid. V Bad Fire in Houston. HoustonY Texas, " Jan. 6. The main building, boiler house and storage room of the Industrial . Cotton, OU Company with ten thousand tons of seed and other produce burned here today. The loss is estimated to be be tween $ 50,000 and 75,000. - The origin of the fire has not been determined. Thep lant gave employ ment to 250 men. , . - - Several persona were slightly in jured during the fire. The plant was partly insured. 1 unwii but exchange for meal if you can get an equal exchange. ' (11) That all : cotton fartaers hole their cotton just .as long as"possibl and if the price remains under 10 cents until planting time next spring then reduce the acreage at least 50 : percent and plant food crops. I can . not indorse the holding plan advised by the committee appointed by the Governors' Conference at New Or- neans. It is really not a holding plan but a plan to sell on "call." . (12) I suggest further, that every man keep himself well informed on the current political issues of the day. It is safer to do your own thinltv ing than to let some lawyer-politician- do it for you. I presume that every; man here believes in a democracy.' since a democracy is a government int wnicn tne supreme power resis in ine, hands of the people. Then let every; man study and advocate the initia tiye, referendum and recall, as , . thflj the only way in which the people. can rule effectively. ' ' (13) That if we want "to be free; from the domination of professionr politicians, wehould stand for and; ' advocate state-wide primaries for al): offices instead of conventions which; often defeat the will of the majority of the people. ' : (14) That every man' should study! the Torrens System of registration 6X land titles; and that we press, this question on the' minds of the peopl next year, leading up to a successful, fight before the next legislature. .(15) That we; as progressive citk tens, study the land question. Thf' land is- a God-given heritage ' to the people. No man can create land. ; Tc, monopolize . the ownership of land ijf the hands of the few, while the many are homeless, is morally wrong antf should be prohibited by-law. Alie'if ownership of land should not be per mitted. Corporations, as corpora tions, should not be allowed to pty chase and hold lands not needed 1 the business, for speculative pur-, poses. :kme limitations should placed on individual ownershp o land, that the rich may not crowd out the poor and make the great mass of our people tenants. Mom than half of them are now lrint in hired homes. I would like to se every white mah in North Carolina! the own-r of his home, and a gocii school in reach of it for his chlldre The state should provide at least i six months term each year. And then I right add that in my own pri vate opinion the man who will not let his children go to school Bhoujt? be compelled to do it by law. . -j ' (16) One of the cardinal principles of the Farmers' . Union is . to discouyn age the "credit and mortgage sy tern.". Why should not the chatty mortgage on crops that do not exisj be abolished? Isn't it a curse rathe! than a blessing to the poor? lBn'1 it largely responsible for the forced sale of distressed cotton on a con gested market? Will we ever be able to control, the marketing of cotton or tobacco as long as 40 per cent of it is raised under a blanket mortgage? Think of these things. Progressiva Farmer. EVERY FARMER SHOULD SYSTEM- Special for The Forum. With . the new year every f&rmei should determine to systematize hie farm during the winter days. Plan out in detail just how much land and what particular field you are going c plant in cotton or corn. Figure out just how many acres 'in corn it will take to make sufficient corn to do your farm. Of course figure to make about double per acre what your neighbors doand work to that end, which should not be less than 40 bush els on upland and 75 on bottom lan. Then plant cotton as a secondary crop. - -r Land that is to be put to corn must be ploughed. Yes! ploughed an scratched. Should have been brokea in November, December eight to ten inches deep. : Systems can . only be carried out with knowledge. I say knowledge 4' visedly, because a great many fanner object to the word education. Yet as a calling we must learn to use our study ing-cap now, while our muscles res4-' Must read agricultural papers and study whether or not those writers' theories are not practicably to ;oir own fariny V Set a grim resolution to make a Hy ing the coming year instead of raising cotton. That any "fool negro landsi' but be a farmer indeed, as well ajp name. Plan your - system so as to work less acres and make thes ame, or even more by mpre frequent shallow- culti vation. , The past season has provep the wisdom of the deep braking and frequent working of our crops. Z A. C. Stroup, Gastonia, N. C. FLATTERING OFFER FOR . , JACK DILLIOr. "Indianapolis, Ind., Jan. 6.Tom Mi Carey, the Los Angeles- fight promo ter, had made a flattering offer to Jack Dillon, the Indianapolis middle weight, . and Mike Gibbons, Vof " Sj. Paul, to get together in a twenty-rohftd bout on the coast next nynth., Dllloti has already accepted McCarey's term but Gibbons is holding out for a larger guarantee. The fight, if it takes place, will be pulled off before the "Pacific A. C, at Vernon, Cal. ATIZE HIS Filll If ; - - 4h A' it mm ( , ,'( a '1 I, ; '1 1 j - V : i'j t.-v r' . i- '!': - -t ir i ' 5p: M , Y'V. ' . ; i i I,' '!, , 1 . ' i'.J' i.;u - J-. f. ; "t1: -' ' I it' , ' ' 1 mi ; 4 ,! !.., . i -i, f v Ir;'- i
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 7, 1912, edition 1
13
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