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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1913.
I
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mall Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMIS R. GRAY,
President and Editor.
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A Nation Refreshed By a
New Insight Into Its Life.
President Wilson’s inaugural address is remark
able for its terseness and trenchancy, its breadth of
insight, its poise and elevation of thought. It is not
the announcement of a program hut rather the decla
ration of a purpose; yet, so clear and steady is its
drift that no one can doubt the course the new ad
ministration will pursue or the well considered ends
it will seek.
This nation has been refreshed, as the President
says “by a new insight into its life.” We Lave come
to see that in the richness and diversity of our ma
terial wealth, we have grown wasteful, that in the
vast sweep of our industrial progress we have neg
lected human interests and humai. rights, that in
our ambition to build great fortunes we have ignored
for a season certain pripciples from which the
breath and the very life-blood of the Republic spring.
The mission of Democracy, as an instrument in the
people’s hands, is “to cleanse, to reconsider, to re
store, to correct the evil without impairing the good,
to purify and humanize every process of our com-
'mon life, without weakening or sentimentalizing it.”
This is not the task of a revolution; it is the task
of patient and orderly readjustment, “We shall re
store,” says the President, “not destroy.”
In order that this mission may be fulfilled cer
tain specific things must be done and others must
be undone. The tariff which unjustly burdens the
consumer and at the same time restricts the nation’s
commerce must be revised. The hanking find cur
rency system which is now ill adapted to business
needs and common interests must he improved. The
crushing -tyranny of monopoly must be lifted fro; i
our commercial and industrial life. Whatever self
ish alliances may exist betw'een special interests and
the Government must be broken. The people’s nat
ural treasures, whether tlfose of stream o forest or
the soil of the farm, must be conserved for future
generations and utilized, as best they can, fof
present needs. And above all, the Governmer* must
be made responsiv- to the wishes and the interests
of the public that owns it. •
The particular legislation through which these
high and practical purposes are to be wrought into
effect will he advanced in due season. For the
present, it is enough to know that the new admin
istration raises a standard to which “all honest men,
all patriotic and forward-looking men” can rally.
How to Check Rabies.
An ordinance such as Alderman Van Dyke pro
poses. to introduce at the next session of Council,
requiring all dogs on the streets of Atlant- to be
muzzled, is open to few, if any, reasonable objec
tions. There are, on the contrary, many practical
and urgent reasons for its em. tment.
The records of the State 3oard of Health show
that last year there were six hundred and seventy-
three cases of rabies in Georgia and that, of course,
one hundred and forty-nine developed in Atlanta.
It is little short of alarming that within a single
twelvemonth so many people should have been ex
posed to the peril of hydrophobia.
An ordinance requiring dogs on the streets to be
muzzled would go far toward removing this menace
and also toward eradicating the disease itself. Dogs
are not peculiarly susceptible to rabies. It is said
that among the canines of South Africa this malady
was never known until it was imported through a
pointer that had been bitten aboardship; the same
thing is true of the Panama canal zone and of other
parts of the world. If, then, the infection is once
completely wiped out there is little likelihood of its
recurrence.
Alderman Vap Dyke aptly cites the instance of
England where some years ago a law was passed
requiring dogs to be muzzled; the result is that
mad dogs are unknown in that country and in all
the British isles last year there was not one case of
rabies.
It seems, therefore, that as a matter of kindly
consideration for “man’s best friend” as well as for
the public’s protection some measure that will pre
vent the spread of rabies should be adopted; and
there is no means to that end so practical and effec
tive as a muzzling ordinance.
Mexico Today.
The comparative quietude and commonplaceness
into which Mexico has settled is encouraging.
For the time being at least, the country is in the
grasp of an iron hand. The outlawry of a few
weeks ago is app: ently yielding to methods which,
however drastic they may seem, are necessary. Tile
majority of the people with interests at stake are
doubtelss disposed to accept the Huerta regime’
crooked though its path to power may have been.
Before Mexico can even think of acquiring self-
government, it must escape the peril of anarchy.
The Sixty-Second Congress.
During the two years of the Sixty-second Con
gress, which ended Tuesday, much important work
has been undertaken and much has been left incom
plete, but a substantial , measure of good has been
accomplished. There has been a continual conflict
of purpose and opinion between a Demi ;ratic House
and a Republican President. In the Senate also
there has been sharp division within the Republican
ranks; and the differences between the executive
department and the Democratic-Insurgent group have
been irreconcilable. To this lack of political adjust
ment and harmony is due the failure of many
weighty tasks that were well begun.
Had the President and the Congress been in
sympathy, tariff legislation of far-reaching value to
the people would have been enacted. Bills reducing
the tariff on wool, cotton, metal and agricultural im
plements and supplies were introduced and were
steered successfully through the House; some of
these measures, notably the wool bill, passed the
Senate also, but they died under the executive veto.
Despite this temporary failure the movement for
tariff reform has gone steadily forward and in the
Sixty-Second Congress foundations have been laid
upon which this important task can now be reared
to completion. ,
The Congress opened with a special session called
to consider Canadian reciprocity. A reciprocity
agreement was ratified but later it was rejected by
Canada. The discussion and public interest which
this measure aroused was none the less valuable as
an influence toward broader and freer trade relations
between, the United States and foreign countries.
The Sixty-Second Congress was noteworthy for
a number of official investigations designed to cor
rect abuses and to bring evils to light. The probe
of the Lorimer case, as a result of which a man
fraudulently elected to the Senate was unseated has
had a wholesome effect; it has forcefully called at
tention to the truth that public office is not a thing
to be bought and sold.
The impeachment and conviction of Robert W.
Archbald, of the Commerce Court, on charges of ju
dicial misconduct have reaffirmed the high stand
ards of the nation’s federal judiciary and have
shown that the Constitution provides thoroughly ad
equate means of upholding the integrity for which
the federal bench is famous.
Besides these investigations into the conduct of
officials, there have been seasonable probes into the
methods of politics. The expenditures of the na
tional campaigns of 1904, 1908 and 1912 were search-
ingly reviewed and the sources of the money spent
were brought to light. It is gratifying to note in
this connection that the Sixty-Second Congress
passed a campaign fund publicity law, requiring a
complete accounting of all funds used in the quest
of federal office.
The investigation of the so-called Money trust,
the Steel trust, the Sugtfr trust and other monopolies
have produced evidence on which wise and corrective
Iegisaltion can be based. All these inquiries have
been conducted not-for the purpose of mere muck
raking, hut in order that the seat of economic and
political evils might be located and then purged frfr
the nation’s welfare. There is no cause for pessim
ism when evils are being revealed; but when they
remain secret they are perilous inded.
In addition to its investigations and its initial
work on the tariff, the Congress just adjourned has
submitted to the states a Constitutional amendment
for the popular election of United States senators;
and, interestingly enough, the amendment authoriz
ing the levy of a federal income tax was ratified
during its session. The treaty with Russia was ter
minated as a protest against that nation’s unjust
treatment of Jewish-American citizens. A Panama
Canal bill, commendable in many respects, but em
phatically wrong in its exemption of American coast
wise ships from tolls, was enacted. These are some
of the things accomplished by the Sixty-Second Con
gress. It has left much undone but it has opened
the way for constructive work by the new and com
pletely Democratic administration.
The Wilson Cabinet.
If the press predictions of the new cabinet are
correct, as they doubtless are, Mr. Wilson has
shown statesmanly judgment in his selections. He has
chosen as the chief counselors of his administration
men of eminent ability and of unquestioned loyalty
to the country’s common interests., Each is admir
ably fitted for the potrfolio to which he is named
and, as regards the broad policies of government,
they are all’of kindred persuasion; they are progres
sive Democrats and, by every token, they will work
together, harmoniously and constructively.
William J. Bryan, as Secretary of State, enters a
field of service for which he is peculiarly well en
dowed and well equipped. There are few if any
Americans of the day so thoroughly conversant with
international affairs. His ideals of diplomacy are
high and generous as well as far-sighted, and they
will win the United States new confidence and re
spect in the family of nations.
Particularly pleasing to the South is the fact that
four of the most important seats in the cabinet have
been allotted by Mr. Wilson to Southern i_en. Wil
liam G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury, though
now a resident of New York, is a native of Georgian,
having been reared in Marietta. James C. McRey-
nolds, Attorney General, is a Tennessean. Albert S.
Burleson, Postmaster General, is from Texas; and
Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, is as thor
oughbred a North Carolinian, as the Tarheel State
ever bore.
Mr. Daniels is one of the stanchest and truest of
the nation’s Democracy. As editor of the Raleigh
News and Observer, his influnce for the cause of
good and progressive government has been faithful
and effective. He h. s the South’s heartiest congrat
ulations and good wishes in the honor deservedly be
stowed upon him.
Welcome, Mr. Taft.
Greetings and good wishes to Hon. William How
ard Taft! All Georgia and all the South join with
the city of Augusta in welcoming him within their
borders, not only as the nation’s former President,
but as a good and true man whose human self rises
above all partisanship and emerges unblemished
from the hazards of politics.
It is a significant fact that one who has met such
defeat at the polls should he so genuinely popular to
day as is Mr. Taft with the rank and file of the
American people. They have criticized him frankly
for his errors, hut they admire him none the less
cordially for what they know are his virtues—his
sincerity, his graciousness, his manliness.
The relationships between Mr. Taft and Georgia
have been particularly happy in the past and they
will ever remain so. In no corner of all the nation
will he ever be a more welcome guest than in Au
gusta and Georgia. *
w ^OU/MTRY
Ns'iur V TIMELY
lijOME TOPICS
CWjctep vt ms.wHJrtLTO/i
THE INAUGURATION OP PRESIDENT HAYES.
The 4th of March, 1877, cam© on Sunday, and con
gress held that day until the belated clock stiruck 12.
There was an all-night session, a great lot of legisla
tion that never should have gone through was forced
on, and the city was crammed full of people who
aimed to be in should there come a collision. We
were told that Governor Hayes was sworn in some
where, maybe in the White House, where President
Grant was in control. The rush for seats were so
great that nobody could enter the senate chamber ex
cept b> ticket. I was fortunate enough to get several
tickets, and, strnage to say, I was able to save a few
until the present time. I 'came across several last
summer in a packing box with old letters. We had a
hurried breakfast at our hotel and rushed to the Cap
itol, getting a good seat in the gallery. After a little
while a gallery door openecLwhere the president's fam
ily occupied seats and I saw Mrs. Hayes for.the first
time. She was dressed plainly but elegantly, wear
ing her beautiful raven-hued hair plainly drawn over
her ears. She was remarkably handsome in spit^e of
this plain hairdressing. I saw her often in later
years, and she never changed the manner of wearing
her beautiful and abundant tresses. After sh e and
her children took their seats every eye was turned in
that direction until the floor of the senate begun to
fill up with dignitaries. Army and naval officers
wore full uniforms. The foreign legations were all
present. I saw. the crown prince of Russia among the
handsome Russian representatives, and he would have
been the emperor of all the Russias but was taken
away by death before the demise of the czar, his fa
ther. He was a callow looking youth, said to be eigh
teen or nineteen years old, and was touring the United
states with his tutor and staff. The supreme court
and many other dignitaries were there. After a while
there was a tremendous burst of music on the out
side and directly we saw the president and presi
dent-elect as they advanced and were given seats to
gether in front of the secretary’s desk on a handsome
leather divan.
They did nothing, however, until the vice president
was sworn in, and taken his seat as president of the
senate.
All newly elected senators took the oath of office,
among them M. C. Butler, of South Carolina, and W. P.
Kellogg, of Louisiana.
They were conspicuous because the air was full of
rumors that a trade had been made which not only
lost Tilden the votes of South Carolina and Lou
isiana by which these two men entered t**c senate, but
which gave Mr. Hayes the liberty to appear on that
fateful day.
When the senate was organized the meeting ad
journed to the capitol front, where Mr. Hayes made
his inaugural address and was sworn in for a four-
year term in the White House.
WHAT WOULD aTOU DO ABOUT MEXICO?
According to the newspapers about one-half the
folks are calling on ’resident Taft to march our
troops over into Mexico and force those run-mad peo
ple into a state of quiet, even if it means bloody
forcing, while the other half is of the opinion that it
is none of our business if they butcher their ene
mies until there is none left to butcher.
I can see reason in both sides, but I believe the
time has come to make those butchers stop their dev
ilish work, because it is against humanity to permit
the like of it to continue. When mad dogs are run
ning at large somebody should be brave enough to
shoot them on general principles, and these Mexlc
muderers have no more reason than mad dogs, and
should be hindered from further .trespass on life and
property.
If the American government gives even a quasi
recognition of that traitor Huerta it will evidence
either cowardice or inefficiency in our own authori
ties. That man who won his position by barefaced
treason has no clajni for respectful attention.
Like Benedict Arnold, who betrayed General Wash
ington and made terms with the British authorities
to surrender the,fortifications at West Point for Brit
ish gold, General Huerta, who betrayed President Ma-
dero and went over to the Diaz forces, should receive
the same public condemnation which was given to
Arnold. Arnold’s name has been a “by-word and hiss
ing” ever since poor Major Andre was captured and
his treason exposed.
If Arnold had succeeded and the British forces had
won and General Washington had been captured as a
prisoner, doubtless Washington would have been shot
and American liberty sacrificed. I think the time Las
come to intervene in Mexico.
The Money Trust Report.
Submitted as it was in the dying hours of the
old Congress, the report of the Pujo committee on
the so-called Money Trust must naturally hide its
time for future and' thorough consideration; and
that is fortunate, for any definite measures toward
remedying the evils complained of should be taken
deliberately and with farsighted prudence. The re
port is voluminous. It embodies a great -mass of evi
dence and sets forth thirty or more particular recom
mendations as to what Congress should do. The
problem dealt with is vast and in many respects, in
tricate. Not one of its details can he solved by snap
judgment.
Whatever may be thought of the Committee’s pro
posals, there can be no doubt that its investigation
has been well conducted and will prove broadly val
uable. The report itself will be read by compara
tively few but the newspaper accounts of the Com
mittee’s hearings from day to day have reached
thousands of people and have shed light upon ques
tions in which the public is deeply concerned, hut
which heretofore have been cloaked in something
almost like mystery.
It is well for the country’s business interests and
for the average citizen that the term “Money Trust”
has been made clearer. The people have felt, how
ever vaguely, that there was something secret and
sinister in the practices of high finance; that there
had sprung up a monoply of money, of credit, which
was more dangerous to common interests than the
monopoly of any field of maters products comu be;
and that legislation to reform these conditions
should be enacted.
The hearings of the Pujo Committee have shown
unquestionably that centralized control of credit in
the hands of a comparatively few financiers does
exist and, according to these financiers themselves,
that such power might he used to the country’s
grave detriment. This control, as one keen observer
has said, is not “a deliberate, cold-blooded conspi
racy,” but rather “a natural outcome of bad banking
and currency legislation.” The essential fact, how
ever, is the well proved and openly admitted exist
ence of a group of interlocking interests that hold
the key to the country’s money and credit—a small
inner court of finance, responsible to no power higher
than itself, yet capable, if it chose, of crushing out
all freedom of enterprise and of wielding an absolute
tyranny over the nation’s industrial and commercial
life. -
It is fortunate, indeed, that this condition of af
fairs should have been brought into the searching
and purifying light of publicity. The investigation
by the Pujo committee has placed before Congress a
wealth of evidence on which prudent and effective
legislation can be based.
THE NEW TEACHER
By Dr.
Frank
Crane
At the close of the first day of school the new
teacher said:
“Now, children, listen, and I will tell you how I
have marked you, and give you
my reasons.
“In the first place, I will ex
plain that I do not mark at all
upon how well you get your les
sons. You may really know
much more about the subject
than you can tell. Besides, you
are not here to get lessons and
pass examinations. You are
here to grow. So I mark you
upon how you show that you are
making that kind of effort which
forms character.
“Jimmy Fitch I have given a
good mark because he was the
only one in the room who asked
what the word ‘syndicate’ meant.
None of the rest of you knew.
Why. didn’t you ask? Asking
questions is the best way to learn. Slurring over
things you don’t understand is the best way to be
come an ignoramus. If you are not curious it is a
sign you are stupid.
“Etta Rogers gets a good mark because her finger
nails are clean. And she is the only child here whose
finger ends are not in mourning. You will find it
quite as important when you grow up to have clean
finger nails as to know algebra.
“Emma Montgomery is marked ‘good’ because
when a button was torn from her dress playing at re
cess she took a needle and thread from her desk and
sewed it on. Also she carefully picked up the orange
peel she lu.d dropped. I would rather have you all
learn to clean up your own litter and look after your
own clothes than to know how to spell every word in
the dictionary.
“Willy Waters I have given a high mark because
when I asked him who Napoleon Bonaparte was he
said: *1 don’t know.’ He probably had a vague no
tion, but he did not seek to deceive me. I want you,
when you cannot tell a thing in plain words, not to
hem and haw, but to say at once: ‘I don’t know.’ To
have an honest mind is better than having a stuffed
one.
“Charles Stuart is commended because he stands
up straight, sits properly in his seat, and is not oth
erwise slovenly in his habits.
“During the day si;c promises were made me by
six pupils. Only one of them, Henry Clark, did what
he promised to do. So he has a high rating. When
you become men and women and get the habit of
promising thoughtlessly and not keeping your word
you will be a nuisance to all those who have to do
with you. Do what you say you will do; that is bet
ter than being able to bound Illinois or tell the capi
tal of Kamtchatka.
, “Now you may run home, children. And remember
that in this school there are no rules tut two: Do
what you think is right and be cheerful. And in case
you don’t know, ask.”
Aerograms From Antiquity
BY EDWARD J. COSTELLO
BABYLON, March G(B. C. 708).—Short cuts to the
millionaire class are to \>e Amrred by "law” in Babylo
nia. Reports current today in the Temple, qf Baal,
the chief seat of eomiq,erce in the kingdom, and prob
ably the greatest public market house of the present
age, were that certain patriots are planning legisla
tion which is expected to prevent "combinations in
restraint of trade.”
The proposed legislation is believed to be aimed
at the well known banking house of the Uons of Egibi.
It is not denied that these “loan sharks” are in league
with the priests of the Temple, and that they, with
the religious money changers, are the middlemen be
tween the producers and consumers. If the plans of
the patriarchs work out there should be a substan
tial reduction in the cost of living.
It is asserted on good authority that the Sons of
Egibi recently made overtures, secretly, to King Sar-
gon eff Assyria, to buy tne bonds of that kingdom if
he would send an army over here to overwhelm the
present Babylonian monarch, Merodach-Baladan. For
some ,cause not quite clear the bankers are much op
posed to the present regime. It has been charged that
the reason for this attitude is that they desire an
other war in order that their present enormous wealth
may be multiplied. The rul e here in Babylonia, among
captains o_ finance who need more cash, is to start a
war of some kind, and then lend the government the
money to run it et exorbitant interest rates. The
people are rushed into the armies under the guise of
patriotism. The money barons reap their harvest in
coupons, and th e nation garners a harvest of bleeding
corpses and bereaved families.
If the plans for the much-needed legislation carry
the business man of Babylon can continue to bank
regularly and issue his brick "cheques” and bills of
exchange, but ho must be careful that he does not
overstep the bounds of honesty, else the laWwill step
in to preserve the rights of property. Human rights
do not matter here any more than they do anywhere
else on earth. Indeed, so keen are business instincts
developed in this community that the priests of the
temples quite naturally acquire expert ability in the
conservation of property rights.
That is why the greater part of the commerce of
this country is centered in the temples. Unlimited
quantities of food stuffs, clothing and other commod
ities, which, eithqr as gifts to the temples or offer
ings to the gods, pour in daily, are sold by the priests,
who do not neglect to get their full share oi the
profits. Nowadays one of the most important quali
fications for admission to Temple priesthood is this
aforesaid knowledge of property rights.
it is in connection with these priests that the Sons
of Egibi chiefly work. The firm is a very old one,
founded in the year 1000. It carries on every sort
of financial transaction. But, while the Sons make
loans to private citizens, it is their loans to the king
dom that have produced their greatest wealth. The
firm once had the finances of the court entrusted to
it for several generations. It collected the land taxes,
tithes and dues for the use of public roads and paid
them into the royal treasury.
However, all this may he changed if the proposed
legislation is adopted. It is quite possible that the
Sons of Egibi will be unable to erect many more such
palaces as that which stands near the Hanging Gar
dens—at any rate not until after the constitutionality
of the legislation is passed upon by the courts.
Listen to the Dictagraph
Another reason that more splendid minds are not
heard from is that some of us put enough gray mat
ter into a checker game to conduct a serious enter
prise.
* * *
“It is true,” said Senator Sorghum, “that the devil
is not as black as h e is sometimes painted. It is also
true that be is not nearly as white as he is some
times whitewashed.”
• * *
Speaking of tb e way the innocent suffer, Little
Willie Miggs was chased two blocks by a near
sighted man, who said Willie was making faces at
him. Willie was only learning to play the jews’-harp.
> “I’m kind o’ worried about that boy o’ mine,” said
Farmer Corntossel. "He’s one of those young fellows
that’s too smart to take advice and not quite smart
enough to think it up for themselves.”
True merit often gets slighted. While the frivo
lous and irresponsible young men are eating salad at
a picnic some honest, good-natured chap is getting
weary and wounded carrying water and’ shucking sar
dines.
PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Every organized agency engaged in promoting ru
ral advance in the south will meet in Richmond, Va.,
from April 16 to 18, for the purpose of uniting on one
great comprehensive plan to
make country life in the south
ern states more livable and
more profitable. All told, there
will be more than twenty con
ferences taking up different as
pects of this problem. Un
sentimental business men who
want the farmer to earn more
on his farm that he may’spend
more in the city will meet by
themselves to devise ways and
means. Farmers—real farm
ers, with the furrow earth on
their bootheels—will get to
gether to iearn how >they can
obtain more for their crops.
State, county and district su
pervisors of rural schools will
plan methods of improved or
ganization; teachers in the
schools, professors in the col
leges and universities, will find out by the inter
change of ideas how to make themselves more effec
tive; southern editors and rural preachers, in sepa
rate conferences, will map out the ways by which
press and pulpit may advance the movement.
• • »
At none of these conferences will there be the de
livery of fine-drawn papers. Eloquence likewise will
be barred. Instead, the proceedings will be like those
at a board meeting of some great industrial corpora
tion, where the directors, understanding the needs.of
the company, assemble about a table to meet them.
The talk will not deal merely with general problems,
but rather will go at once into the questions of solv
ing the problems. And, when each conference has
hammered out its own conclusions, there will be a
general meeting of all the sections where a feder
ated plan of action will he laid down.
f\ » » »
With the definite completion of this plan, every
southerner, no matter what his interests or occupa
tion may be, will have a chance to do something to
advance farm life in his section with the assurance
that whatever he does will give strength to this gen
eral union of effort. In other words, there will no
longer be any overlapping of activities nor working at
cross purposes. Moreover, as the great majority ol
southerners live on the farm, every advance in the
prosperity and • happiness of the rural districts will
mean a like advance to the whole body politic.
...
The official name of this convention of workers
for better country living is the Sixteenth Conference
for Education in the South. The fundamental aim of
this body, when founded, was to advance the general
wellbeing of the fifteen southern states; and as an
immediate instrument to this end, the schools of the
section were selected for improvement. It was early
'discovered, however, that the schools could not be
improved to any material extent till they were voted
more money. With this, also, came the further dis
covery that the south was already voting a larger
proportion of taxes to Its schools than was any other
section, and that the burden could not further be in
creased without! likewise increasing the resources of
the population. *
. . » .
Now, owing to the ‘fact that farming is the prepon-,
derant industry of the south, the question of increas
ing the resources of the country is directly bound up
with that of making the farmer more prosperous.
Hence, by degrees, the Conference for Education in
the South was idd to the apparently irrelevant sub
ject of Improving rural conditions, which it is now
taking up this year on a scale never before attempted.
* • •
In connection with this work, the conference will
hold a unique "training school in marketing” for
southern farmers, at which men connected with many
kinds of .successful marketing associations will ex
plain how these organiz -tions Are conducted. There
are now 2,000 of these co-operative marketing associ
ations in Wisconsin and Minnesota alone, where they
constitute the farmer’s sole guarantee fhat he will be
able to force a living price for his commodities from
buyers and shippers. In the south, according to Dr
A. P. Bourland, of Washington, D. C., executive sec
retary of the conference, the unorganized farmer will
continue to be at the mercy of the organized buyer ‘
and shipper till he, too, forms similar marketing asso
ciations. A beginning in this direction has been mad«
at some southern point-, notably at Staunton, Va. ’
where the apple growers have united, and on the east
ern shore of Virginia, among the raisers of potatoes
berries, cabbage and onions. There is likewise a co.
operative creamery in North Carolina. But over tin
south, as a whole, the movement has taken no vita)
hold. Marked impetus to the movement for co-opera-
tiv e marketing among ihe farmers of the south will
be given,-it is anticipated, by the coming conferences
where every detail of organizing and managing th<
associations' will be explained by experts.
... •
Once these associations are put into operation gen
erally throughout the south, it is predicted that they
will not only increase the farm price of produce, but
also will raise the standard while lowering the cost
of production, as well as condone to a more neighborly
feeling among the producers themselves.
...
Another subject to be taken up by the coming con
ference is the tennat evil, which the business men
will consider. At present, Dr. Bourland points out,
almost one-third of the farms in North Carolina, Vir-"
ginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee are
cultivated by tenants, while in South Carolina, Geor
gia, Alabama and Mississippi the proportion runs to
more than two-thirds. In the first group of states,
29 per cent of the white farmers are tenants; in the
second group, 43.7 per cent. If agriculture is to pros
per in the south, it is contended, this percentage ma
terially must be reduced, for the tenant is a sort of
agricultural nomad who rarely remains more than
one year in the same locality. Obviously, therefore,
he has no permanent interest in the community where
he happens to he for the time; he will not vote for
better schools, and oftentimes will not even send his
children to such schools as there are; he robs the
soil without mercy, for he expects to get only one
crop out of it; while his indolence, ignorance and gen
eral shiftlessness are said to be responsible in large
part for the fact that all or nearly all the best in
southern civilization nowadays is centered in the
cities.
After laying plans to meet this evil, the business
men who will attend the conference will take up the
further questipn of obtaining cheap money for the
farmer. As things now are, when the southern farmer
goes to make a loan, he finds that after paying inter
est, fees, papers, and so on, his interest sometimes
runs as high as 20 per cent a year. This money,
moreover, is taken out for a term of years on mort
gage, which-means that while his need for money in
nis business will fluctuate with the seasons, the loan
itself will remain a constant quantity. Hence, during
a large part of the year it is possible that less than
half the money he has borrowed is working for him,
while the interest rate of 20 per cent is ticking off on
the full amount.
When the business men who attend the coming
conference go into the problem oft furnishing the
farmer with cheaper money, they will be told of the
co-operative credit systems of Germany, where farm
ers deposit their savings in a bank owned by all ot
them jointly, and place loans, terminable at will, with,
each other under the guidance of the best business I
men in the community. The«“Landwirtsqhaft” plan of |
Prussia will also be dealt with.