Saturday, September 30,, 1916
EDUCATION, COOPERATION, LEGISLATION
(1) Education to Develop Power, Q Coopetatioa to Multiply It, and 0) LegUlctkm and Good Government'
to Promote Equal Right and Human Proexest-Plain Talk About Men, Measures and Movements Involved
:. ' , .. .'. ..' ... By CLARENCE POE ' ' " -
A Variety of Comment
-.V-
selling together instead of each man selling for
v- . ' himself ' In narlv pvrv irrviin f ir et'milir rrrvr A
EVERY country school ought to have-an ex- sults may be had by pooling cotton seed. In fact,
hibit showing the common wild plants, weeds, the farmers in a section of a county may organize
flowers, insects, etc., with their common and with almost equally as good results. With the
scientific names, together, ,with specimens, and 'present high prices of cotton, there is going to be
names of all grasses,, clovers, etc., that are found ' a wild scramble for seed long before the season
in the community or. that should be found there cioses and farmers who hold seed until next spring
In .other words, an exhibit which will enable any .are likely t0 get record-breaking prices. ,
bov to ldentny aniactuiuuiuu wixu aiiu tumva
ted plants with whose names he may not be famil
iar and all the insects. Why not urge this upon
your teacher along with the other suggestions
mentioned in last week's paper? . ......
(13) 1157
- helpers, v These in . turn were followed . by my r
: nearer -neighbors ? from Goshen equipped. with4 ?
". six two-horse hay wagons and helpers. The
result was that in a surprisingly short time I ;
- had 15 -tons of ,hay stacked; at. a cbnvehient
placejtiear my home." . fiii
Life is worth living in a neighborhood where
such a spirit of true cooperation exists; And if the
reader will only watch out, we doubt not that some ?
opportunity will soon appear in his own commun
ity for increasing the happiness and neighborli
ness of everybody by just such cooperative help
fulness.
The Texas Democratic state platform "recom
mends the submission by the Legislature of a con
S - 1 . ' "1 A ' 1 v-J ... M .
"Somebody Must Lead; Why Not You?"
BY. SHIPPING hogs cooperatively," said a
farmer in our office the other day, ."my
' neighbors and I cleared $200 profit on 130
head shipped." And another farmer from the same
stitutional amendment exempting from taxation section told us that neanut -Growers, hv rombininer
all factories in the manufacture of cotton or wor- and ordefi . wholesale lots saved 33y per cent
steds or woolens in Texas for-a period of ten . , .-. , . , T' .
years." And we again raise the question- why on baSs- -In the same county, the Farmers' Union
money put into a silo, a creamery, a pure-bred sire, . secured substantial reductions in freight rates on
or any other improvement farmer "or group of fertilizer! and lime, whereas without, organization
farmers may propose in a neighborhood is not on the part of the farmers the rates would have
lust as much entitled. to exemption from taxation ,,r u. - . , . .
jusi .iuuv. v Tf k undoubtedly stayed as they were. -
as money put into a cotton, tactoryr It may be . . - , ,
well to stimulate industrial progress by tax ex- And in nearly every other, county the opportuni-
emptions, but if so, then agricultural progress is ties for organization and cooperation are just as
also entitled to like encouragement, good. Right in your own neighborhood, Mr. Farm-
- ' , ; er, we doubt not, there is a chance for ten times
The South Carolina state - warehouse system is more co6pcrat1ve effort than is now being put
too imoortant an institution to be, made a football . ; .. . .
of politics. For this reason - we . regretted State xortn- someooay must leaa; wny not your
Commissioner McLaurm s active part m the re
cent bitter factional fight in the Palmetto State
resulting not unnaturally in his 'resignation now
that his faction was defeated. In his letter an
nouncing his resignation Mr. .McLaurin says : , v
"What the system now needs is (1) licensed
graders; (2) direct sales;" (3) to become self-supporting.
The insurance, properly handled
by the Legislature," can be, made to support
the system and furnish aid in establishing di-.
rect sales. Few realize the tremendous profits
made upon insurance. We have- paid out
around $80,000 5n premiums,, while 'the losses
during that time amount to only $1,197" :
Every cotton state ought to supplement the new
Federal warehouse law by providing a state ware
aC-
; Cooperation and Neighborliness
IN TALKING about cooperation let it be always
remembered that cooperation is not confined to
buying, shipping, selling, running cooperative
enterprises and other forms of commerce or "bus
iness.1 All this is good and necessary. It means
better profits for the individuals interested ; and
weeed bigger profits in order to make farming
and farm life more attractive.
Along with cooperation for bigger profits, how
ever, let's never forget that, the biggest noblest,
and most inspiring of all forms of cooperation
comes when the human heart is stirred by senti-
house system in harmony ;with it 1-The National ments of sympathy and friendship, and men and
government provides the machinery, for making women join. in helping somebody in distress hav-
warehouses what they should; be. Now the states ing no thought whatever of future profit or ad-
should appoint , warehouse commissioners (1) to T - --
help get the warehouses started,; (2) to "Veep dovTn va"g7; . - . ' .
insurance rates, (3) plan for : general cooperation We like to record incidents qf this kind just as
among warehouses in the farmer's interest, etc., much as we like to report successes in cooperative
etCt marketing or other Z profit-making cooperation.'
Anniston, Alabama, falls in line with the move
Here, for example, is a story a farmer has just sent
Community Singing
WE HOPE Mrs. Boylin's suggestion in; last '
week's paper, "Sing More In Church and ?
Sunday School," will set a lot of our people
thinking. We don't sing enough in this country,
as anybody knows who has witnessed the good
results of community music abroad. We ought to
get people together in singing classes. We might
hold "all-day singings," as is already done in some
sections. ; We ought to introduce spirited songs C
into public schools and into farmers' and: farm
women's clubs. Dr. Charles W. Eliot in a recent
publication strongly urges the need for more at
tention to music in schools. And then, too, as
Mrs. Boylin suggests : "Why not sing after Sunday
school each Sunday? There is no need to hurry,
home. Sunday is rest day, so make the best 6f it,
.even by having a little social time at th church.f ;
. " Getting people to sing together will - promote ,
that spirit of neighborliness which must be the!
foundation of all true cooperation. A recent
writer in the Atlantic Monthly , points out . that
when men sing together, it not only "gives them
the most wholesome of diversions, but it equalizes !
them; it creates a sort of brotherhood." As he.
continues: " ':'A;;
"The possibilities in music to weld together g
socially disorganized communities have never
been fully realized in America. Were we to :
set about using it directly to that end, we J
should find out how valuable it is in breaking
down -artificial barriers. By choral singing,
people in any one locality can be brought into
a certain sympathy with each other. Groups
who attend the same church, the fathers and
mothers of children whom the settlements
reach wherever there is a 'neighborhood'
; there is a chance for singing. It needs only a
person who believes in it, and who will rigidly :
. select only the best music. And where neigh
borhood groups have been singing the same
fine music, any great gathering of people
would find everybody ready to take part in
choral-singing." ' : -:.;.:C-
ment f6r exempting new industries from taxation. h local paper telling what happened the other . f he Social Element inland Safes
Says a daily paper in reporting the action of the day when his barn: burned, destroying 45 tons of . . . . . ,.-
city council:
"The ordinance ' exempting ; the Anniston
Ordnance Company and Anniston Steel Com
pany from taxes for a period of five years. was
read for the third time by Councilman Hamil
ton and passed. The passage of this ordinance
was in accordance with the city's plan to fos
ter new industries."
For our part, we are entirely in sympathy with
the plan to use taxation so as promote material
development and the gen eral welfare. Wnat we
want, however, is to have the principle applied in .
such a way as. to encourage not only manufactures
and town development but1 agriculture and rural,
development. Suppose, for 7 example, we should
tax a resident's first $1,000 worth of real estate at
?inSnhalf the rate at which holdings in excess of
?1,000 worth are taxed. Would not that discourage ;
large holdings and absentee landlordism and pro-?
mote instead small holdings and home-ownership ?
ll th,es Texas and Anniston ideas are good,
there s no use limiting their application to manu
facturing industnes: alone. Let's see where they
can be applied to the benefit of agriculture also..
We didn't get a very lirge proportion of the
'aAri?Jrs of the county to join in our cottonseed
Pool, said Business ? Agent" Nichols of my '
umnty Farmers' Union in our office the other day,
ut we got 2,400 pounds Of cottonseed meal in ex
piange for each ton of seedV when farmers selling
individually were gettmglcmlyV pound for pound, :
tnat is to say, 2,000 .pounds of meal for-each ton
Tn S? dTand some of them- notso much;as that, i
; .ther words, forach tonVAof seed sold coopera-lvely-we
got-400 pounds of meal extra simply bjr :
hay:
- "Before the fire died down'a man I had never
known or seen offered me the hay that was
standing on a farm which he. owned. Other
.Cummington men made it their business to
see that the hay was' cut and raked. Five
teams with mowing machines and several men
with scythes attacked that grass one morning,
being followed by several horse rakes and hand
WANTED?
WANTED fcy all the people:
A servant. - ":
Born of those vthx serve and aspire.
Who has known trant and trouble
And all that passes In the Little House of the Poor-r
Lonely thought, counsels of love and prudence .
The happiness horn of & penny v
The need of the strange and mighty Dollar-r-And
the love of' things above all its power of meas-
urement . .. .-' ' . ' :'.. . ' "
The dreams that come 6f weariness and a hard bed
The thirst for learning as a great Deliverer;
Who has felt ta his heart the weakness and the
strength of his'brothers,
And above all, the divfnlty that dwells in them;
Who, therefore, shall have faith In men and women, ,
And knowledge of their wrongs and needs' and of
their proneneBs to error. . .- -Humbly
muat v; he listen : to their voice , as one who
knows that. GodwIU often speak in it., .
And have "charity even", for his own Judgments -Thus
removed, fajemoved from the conceit and van
V: ity ot Princes, 'il ".'
Shall he knw how great 'is the Master he has chosen
,j - c irrbg Batchellet in thNew Tork Times.
A LAWYER writing us regarding race segre-
J- gation in land ownership says: .''The; su
preme courts are awakening to the fact that
such questions, like labor laws; are not merely .
contractual but social, and the judges are broad
ening their visions like all the rest of us in the'
last decade or so." ..
There is the whole point. In the sale of land
the social element is one of the most important.
Men are not merely animals. They do not exist
merely to eat and drink and pile up certain heaps
of . material things called property. Their most
sacred treasure is their home life and their social
; life ; and for this reason it seems to" us the height -of
folly to say that the Southern white farmers
.have a right to- protect their, barns and houses
, and lands but have not the right to protect their
higher treasures-their home life? social life,
neighborhood life, with" all that these terms imply.
If my neighbor sells a mule or a load of lumber,
that affects me in no serious way. But the sale:
of land involves the right to say who shall be my
neighbor, who shall be available as associates for
my wife and children, who shall be co-workers
with me in all my efforts, to develop a satisfying
life for; me and jnine. -The transaction is indeed
v "not merely contractual but social." " .
' We want no injustice done any race, but the law
must come to" recognize cooperative; effort and
a richer social life as the basis for a rural civili- -zation
and take steps to promote these, ends. .