Newspapers / The Carolina Union Farmer … / June 6, 1912, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page Two THE CAROLINA UNiON PARMER [Thursday, June 6, 1912. .1 Warehouse System Favored in England Mr. William Whittam, of Manches ter, England, writing to American newspapers in regard to the Ware house System that is being establish ed in various parts of the South, has the following to say: “One wonders how the cotton growers of the South who have pos sessed for some generations a mon opoly of those grades of cotton which the world uses most largely, can have been so blind to its own inter ests as to allow the multitude of speculators to make more money out of the work that they have done, than they can ever expect under pres ent conditions to obtain for them selves. “It is to one such as the writer who knows, cotton manufacturing, in not only the New England States, but the Southern States, Brazil, and the heart of the world’s cotton in dustry, Lancashire; a marvel that we can have been so supine for many generations as to allow a planter to have more or less 10 cents a pound for his cotton, the middle man, and particularly the parasitical specula tor to chip off $10 approximately from every bale of cotton, on which, not only the South, but the whole of the United States are dependent very largely for their prosperity, and the enormous balance of foreign trade in our favor. Mr. McLaurin’s Bill. “I am writing this because there has come into my possession a copy of a bill passed by the Legislature of South Carolina, ‘To create and op erate a State warehouse system for storing cotton,' and this was accom panied by a copy of a speech made by the Honorable John Lowndes Mc- Laurin, former United States Sen ator, these two documents have brought so vividly to my mind the progressive step that South Caro lina has decided to take, that I feel that our people knowing me as they do, not only as a former cotton spin ner and manufacturer, both in New England and the South, but also as editor-in-chief of the principal tex tile paper in the South and subse quently as the special agent of the Bureau of Manufacturers of the De partment of Commerce and Labor; to investigate conditions and details of the cotton trade of. the world in Lancashire, will at least know that it is only due to my still keen interest in this matter that I write this to encourage the people of South Caro lina to proceed along the path, they have started upon, and pioneer a movement which will result in ines timable good to both the grower, the spinner and legitimate middle man; the ultimate result will be the eter nal damnation of the speculator who is usually willing to confess very frankly that he is merely a parasite, and that the producer and consumer of this great white staple are merely tools in his hands. Prom Another Angle. “Looking at the problem from an other angle one cannot help arriving at the conclusion that if the State of South Carolina follows the trail which she has by statue provided the means of blazing the way, there will be very shortly no reason for the bankers of every cotton producing spinning and manufacturing country to concern themselves with the mat ter of fraudulent bills of lading and to provide safe-guards. My reason for being emphatic on this point is that if the power of the State of South Carolina and its integrity is placed behind shipments of cotton. other cotton-producing States will follow the lead that the Palmetto State has given them, and bills of lading will be like Bank of England notes accepted on their face value throughout the world. “When Mr. MacLaurin made a speech at the accouchment of the New Orleans years ago, he pointed out in very clear and convincing lan guage that the cotton grower for his protection should get in direct touch with the spinner and that this should only be done by the Growers’ Asso ciation or one or more of the sev eral States sending a man of promi nence in not only industry and fi nance, but also prominent in the so cial and political life of the Southern Cotton Belt. “Faulty distribution of the staple results invariably in under consump tion. Over-production can hardiy be considered when it is known that the average increase of consumption of cotton for the last ten years or more has gone on at the average rate of half a ,million bales per annum and cotton planter, from these fig ures, can at once readily see what this means to the South in the way of extended acreage, more scientific cultivation and increased profits. Other States Should Follow. I feel that South Carolina having enacted the bill, I have before men tioned, should make an adequate and even generous appropriation and that other States either by their leg islation or by a popular subscription should provide sufficient funds to send a gentleman after the type of integrity and ability of the one who struck the keynote in New Orleans, to Great Britain and the continent of Europe where he would undoubtedly secure the financial and every other kind of co-operation that is necessary to bring the spinner and grower clos er together, thus stopping the enor mous leaks which have for so many years poured into the hands of the Prices, the Suilys, the Divermores and which beginning with Morris Ranger have done such incalculable damage to every one who is legiti mately engaged in the cotton trade from the field to the factory.’’ A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE VALUES. During the past few years much has been written and said as to how to keep the boys on the farm and many theories and plans have been advocated and some adopted. The “social center’’ movement, to the “Pompey school lectures’’ that Judge Grubbs wrote about last week, and the school garden are all movements having for their purpose the making of country life more attractive and more remunerative with the ultimate end that the boy will prefer remain ing upon the farm rather than move into the city and towns. All of these movements around the country school and this is an acknowledgment that the country school is a very important factor in shaping a boy’s tastes. Even stronger recognition of this effect of the country school upon the subse quent occupation of the boys who at tended it is found in the laws that have been adopted by most of our States requiring the teaching of ag riculture in the common schools and the establishment of agricultural high schools. Both movements have for their object the Instruction of these boys about the things that they will need in future life hpon the farm. All of these things are good and Texas Parmer wishes to do and say all it can to encourage them. While they no doubt help some, un fortunately already it is beginning to be recognized that they are not ac complishing their object at least as rapidly as many of their most enthu siastic advocates had hoped. It is true that in the past few years there has been some falling off in the move ment of boys to the city, but it is a question whether this diminution of the stream is due to these efforts or to the fact that as a general thing, particularly in the South, the prices of farm products have had an upward tendency, especially with cotton, thus tending to hold out better promise of reward for farm labor. It is, after all, regrettably to be admitted that these last two mentioned movements, “Agriculture in the Common Schools” and “Agricultural High Schools” have not been the glowing successes they might have been. We believe that the reason is not far to seek. It would seem to us that the trouble is that in trying to teach agriculture as a sep arate subject to the boys who attend either the country common school or the agricultural high school, we are rather attempting to build a house by starting with the roof first. Wheth er he is to be a banker, or a farmer, there are certain rudimentary things that all children must learn before they attempt specialities. These are usually referred to as the “Three R’s.” Thye are the first steps to wards acquiring a knowledge from books and without them other ad vancement along the pathway of knowledge as acquired from reading is well nigh impossible. Nor Jfe it best to attempt to teach too many of these things at once, for by so do ing we confuse the mind and accom plish nothing. When to these sub jects we add what is usually called agriculture, in the shape of a dis tinct book, and further mystify that subject by attaching to it a bugaboo in the shape of the term “scientific,” we both confuse and frighten the child and the results is a loss of in terest and a supposed inability to un derstand. At the same time the ef fort to accomplish the task borders closely to over-work and the result is failure, not only in the agriculture, but all along the line. Then, too, in order to make a success at teach ing anything it is necessary that the instructor—him or herself—shall have a clear knowledge of it. It is an acknowledged fact, however, that very few of our teachers have had the training that would fit them to teach this subject. In their efforts to carry out the law they take the text-book recommended by the State authorities and hold recitations there on. The child may repeat the words of the text-book verbatim yet fail to learn any agriculture and certainly will not awaken any Interest in the subject. Without a competent knowledge on the part of the teacher to make the subject clear and intel ligible the child becomes a parrot and it is not to be wondered at that this sort of teaching has little effect in turning the child’s tastes towards the farm. We do not mean in this to criticise the teachers. They, are as a rule, honest in their endeavor to give good work; but we are rather requiring them to do something for which they are not prepared nor has the child, nor have they, time to do this work. Teach agriculture in the common schools by all means, but we believe that the true and the effective way to do this is not through spe cially prepared agricultural text books but my making all the text books used more or less agricultural. When a child is learning to read it incidentally learns the story told by the words. Why not have this a story of something that takes place in the plant or animal world or of some physical fact that the child will need in after life upon the farm. Will it be any harder for the child to learn the life history of the butterfly told in simple entertaining language than that of the little Red Hen, espe cially if the former is illustrated un der a glass? Or,is it any harder to learn that 10 per cent of a fertilizer means ten pounds in a hundred, than it is to learn that 10 per cent of a dollar means ten cents? A child is always more interested in studying about the things with which it is familiar than about some abstract subject, and we believe that the true way to teach agriculture is by hav ing specially prepared text-books that will treat of these subjects rather than those that bear only upon city life. There have been some steps taken along this line, but as yet v/e have had no uniform effort to supply a whole series of text-books in ac cordance with these ideas. They will come, though, when the people through their representatives, who shape the public instruction, demand it. Why cannot Texas take the lead in this matter as she has done in so many other things?—Texas Farmer. RECALL OF JUDGES. Chief Justice J. B. Winslow, of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, who has been a member of that court for twenty-one years, has the following to say on the recall of judges: “Any method by which in some deliberate and orderly manner the decision of any court supposed to be objectionable to the people, may be reviewd by referendum vote of the people is far better than denunciation of the courts which breeds contempt of law and lawlessnes and can in it self accomplish no good either as to the particular decision for the de nunciation or any following decision. “The referendum vote of the peo ple should be taken at a time when temporary passion has passed and op portunity has been given to fairly consider and debate the question. “In my judgment it should be much easier to amend. the Federal Consti tution. “The makers of the Constitution and of our early State Constitutions were able men, but however able they were they could not anticipate or solve the new problems of life o.nd government which have come upon us in the last half-century. “They built wisely for the condi tions then existing; their great aim was to protect the rights and liber ties of the individual citizen; they emphasized wider freedom because life was then essentially the individ ual life. "But as individual life has more and more given birth to crowded com munity life, the right and privileges once deemed essential to the po^ feet liberty of the individual are o ten found to stand in the way o public welfare and to breed wrong and injustice to the community ^ large. “In a word, the impervious and complex problems of great cities come suddenly upon a people who ^ fundamental law was designed for rural or semi-rural State.” We believe in the recall of and we are glad to see the hone judiciary come out for such law. SENATOR FRYE’S RBTOBT. Senator William P. Frye, of and Senator Charles Curtis ,of ^ sas, had been having a long what heated discussion as to the thorship of some of the works tributed to Shakespeare. “Well,” said Senator Frye finality, “when I die and go to I will hunt up Shakespeare and him about it.” “Suppose you do not happen Shakespeare there?” sugested fien Curtis. gr- “Then you can ask him,” an ed the Maine Senator as he P ^ork quickly out of hearing.—New Herald.
The Carolina Union Farmer (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 6, 1912, edition 1
2
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