i
li.
Vol. 5. No. 50.
GASTONIA, N. C., DECEMBER 14, 1911
One Dollar a Year
i
to
VlI~~To Stay Organised and Educate.
By J. Z. Green.
In all the foregoing discussion I have tried
the
steer clearcof any extended reference to
country as a
general interests of the
''^hole, for any solution of problems that af
fect
h
ns as a whole must of necessity leave the
^^^iness problems that directly affect the in-
I^^ests of farmers, as a class, untouched and
Unsolved, because nobody can deal with tliese
®P6cial class interests effectively and satis-
etorily c.xcept the farmers themselves
^ough their own class organisation, in a bus
iness
way.
, ^^e should organise to stay organised! It
^discreditable to any set of men to start to do
^niething that must be done for the protec-
of their own interests and then shirk
and refuse to do it. It is dishonorable
start a business fight for a square deal and
^ indifferently and cowardly quit the fight.
, the balance of the world declares that
. ^i^iners won’t stick,” we ought to have the
^|^^^lli§cnce and firmness of purpose to prove
statement false. In full view of the wreck
ruin of former splendid organizations, we
'^dit to be ashamed to leave behind us an-
^ wrecked farmers’ organization. Con-
^nted with an organized system of com-
nier
Shi
Sialism that is gradually taking the owner-
soil
.d^ of farm lands from those who till the
^ ’if win be a crime against our posterity to
the Farmers’ Union and let this heritage
dal
inue to leave the men and women whose
'^Or
^0 let
gives it all its value. If we continue
^ncts
other classes fix the prices of our pro-
'^'ill ^ ^ question of time before they
7'/ possession of all our lands.
are financially able to do it now!
dask
shrink back and surrender because the
aii(i
i'^ a big one is an exhibition of cowardice
'^iScTst
ignorance that is as disgusting as it is
Or:
Sani
I'ous. To relax efforts and give up an
rifi i^atioii which it has taken years of sac-
to build up, only makes the task bigger
i^ore difficult. The responsibility rests
. ^ oach individual member, and when he
"Pits h
f . ne acknowledges personal defeat and
^^lll 1*
u ^ as one of the units of the organiza-
OOii , .
sil 'V ‘^^i'i shift his personal respon-
an • anybody else. If he has been dis-
^iiited with the results, it isn’t the first
time in his life that he has been disappointed.
Men who have the elements in them that go
to make a successful life do not sulk at de
feat or quit when disappointment comes. If
in our individual efforts it is a good policy to
make a more determined effort after each
failure, that policy is even more desirable in
our relationship to the Farmers’ Union and
its mission.
IVe should stay organised to educate! The
withering, blighting curse of ignorance is be
hind all forms of human slavery. “Success
and power are born of knowledge, but lack
of knowledge. renders the people helpless in
the struggle for existence.” The educational
feature of the Farmers’ Union is most im
portant, because it is fundamental. The class
problems which the Farmers” Union must
deal with can be handled successfully only
through intelligent business leadership and in
telligent patronage. It can not be done through
appeals to sentiment and passion. Ignorance
can be organized but it can’t be kept organiz
ed. It is only through the process of educa
tion that a farmers’ organization can be per
petuated. “Farmers won’t stick” unless they
know why they must stick. They will not meet
changing conditions successfully unless they
knozu zuhat the conditions are.
The farmer is the pack horse of American
civilization. “Theoretically he has no enemies;
practically he has no friends.” He enters
into competition with his own class to pro
duce bumper crops and under the law of
supply and demand the other fellows get the
products at smaller prices. He sells in com
petition with his neighbors, on congested mar
kets, regardless of present or future demand,
and prices tumble again, and somebody else
gets the benefit! A few years ago an eminent
Southern writer and historian made this ref
erence to the coming of the Farmers’ Union:
“It is a subject for national rejoicing that the
farmers are coming together again in a class
organization of their own. Heaven knows,
it is tiipe. A flock of sheep, girdled by raven
ous wolves, would not be in much worse fix
than are the farmers of our land, surrounded
by the predatory trusts. A naked swimmer,
trying to make shore through a swarm of
man-eating sharks, would have just about as
good chance for his life as a Southern cotton
grower has to prosper under present condi
tions. It appalls me when I think of the in
difference of the farmer; it enrages me when
I contemplate the deviltry of the system which
robs him.”
But there is no good reason for the farmer
to be enraged with a business system that robs
him of all his profits, when it lies within his
power to prevent it, by combination and co
operation with those who belong to his class
and whose interests are identical with his.
The classes who are taking his profits are
doing it by his consent. When we surrender
to theirs, whether they belong to trusts or not,
the right and privilege to price the products
which we peddle upon the streets, they would
be foolish not to do it, and we should have
no class fight against them for doing what
we tamely permit them to do.
In concluding this series of articles on
“Why Farmers Should Organise and Stay Or
ganised,'’ it may not be amiss for me to say
that I have not attempted any political “play
to the grand stand” or to court general public
applause. If all the conflicting interests of
this country should heartily endorse the con
tentions made by me under this subject, in
dealing exclusively with the direct interests
of farmers, as a class, I would be sadly dis
appointed. I might win hearty applause from
the consumers of farm products if I should
follow the example of technical agricultural
journals and political “helpers” of the farm
ers, and should stress the importance of strain
ing every muscle to produce bumper crops for
the market, regardless of demand or distribu
tion, but this general applause should not come
when I make argument in favor of limiting
production of crops for the market, so as to
keep up a strong demand for them, and then
control the supply to meet actual demand,
just as all intelligent folks do business. A
co-operative system of marketing by farmers
that would secure the endorsement and sup
port of all classes wouldn’t be worth much to
the farmers.
Boldly, fearlessly and manfully we must
fight our own battles. All other classes and
subdivisions of conflicting interests have all
they can do to look after and protect their
{Continued on page 4.)
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