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• ' r/.f >*>«*' / L ft Ls / / Progress vol. 3 CAIRO, GRADY COUNTY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1913. NO. 32 The Boll Weevil Peril is a il—A W fOIIII IMTHS PUBLIC FOR GRADY TERM Danger Threatening the Prosperity of Us All. HowTo Meet It—How to Avoid The Calamity Following in Its Wake—Is a Paramount Issue. There is a Remedy—Will You Have It, Mr. Farmer? Read and Decide. Every effort is being made just . now to warn the farmers of Geor gia of the near approach of the South’s greatest peril, the Boll Weevil, and, as much as is possible, prepare them for its coming. 1 It is a fact—a strange fact— that in other states ravaged by the Weevil, the farmers have stubbornly and persistently re fused to heed the warning and have suffered the terrible conse quence's. Whether Georgia farmers will see and heed the danger signal, is yet to be seen, A Mississippi banker writing on this subject, says: “To begin, I wish to say that the Boll Weevil is a monster of such hideous mein that he is hard to slander. Our neighboring coun ty, Wilkinson, which lies in the extreme southern corner of M is sissippi, was the first, to receive the visit of the Toll Weevil about four years ago. Prior to his ap pearance this county’s crop was around thirty thousand yearly — and in 1910 this same county made less than one thousand bales. The county in which we live, Amite, prior to the Boll Weevil, raised about twenty-five thousand—in 1909 we did onl .raise .thirty-five hundred. In these.two counties, heretofore, cotton has been the basis of credit from a crop standpoint—the re sult being that credit is regulated to the past, comparatively speak ing, and our people are utterly demoralized. If the.Boll Weevil should visit your section, and very likely*he will, and conducts himself with you as with us and on the borders of Mexico—the first year he makes his appear ance—he will cut down the crop from fifteen to twenty per cent. —the second year, from; I will say I believe, not lpss than^ fifty per cent. The third year he practically destroys thewhole crop This you can fely upon strictly. If a good portion of the banks you represent is in a cotton coun try, having cotton as basis, I ad vise that you have your people begin at once to preach and prac tice diversification, beginning at once to decrease cotton acreage, continuing yearly to decrease until he shall have made his ap pearance—for he is sure to com: in your section—and surer to de stroy all cotton, unless in the meantime the government should find how to successfully handle the young-man. ” “The greatest trouble Wbl be the'unwillingness of .your people to accept advice; nothing but the downright experience, bitter as it is, seems to suffice. They can not possibly reallize how pesky this little fe’low can be.’.’ “It was not an uncomon thing during this last fall to see a far mer drive in-town with a few hundred pound of seed cotton, representing his entire crop, to be delivered to his merchants. 11 remember distinctly one n~xro I brought iu on mule-back twenty j three pounds of seed cotton 1 His crop prior to Boll Weevil ] timesjXvas arehn 'five bales'of j cotton. I recall a planter who. is ! a patron of the bank that planted ' upwards of forty acres and his j yield was not eight hundred pounds of lint.” “Our farmers are now rapidly diversifying; planting oats, pota toes, corn, peanuts. In. this sec tion the peanut will, be their marketable products. Hogs, cattle and stock are also claiming their attention to a large degree. We are carrying considerable pa per for the farmers — waiting- waiting for the dawn of day,” A Mississippi Farmer Says: “People outside have no con ception of the havoc wrought by the Boll. Wet '1. Many families before prosperous were broken up and had to nmve away. Yet there was absolutely no need of you and will reach here on sched ule time. Your farmers will be caught asleep' just as we were and lots of them will go by the board. “The remedy is very simple and that of course is to diversify ci;ops in time to divert the disas ter. This and this alone will save vou. “In my territory is a promi nent merchant who does a large credit business and before the pest came he told his big custom ers thot he would not carry them another year. This he did, be cause he knew he could not in fluence them. But his smaller trad he told he would carry if they would follow, his directions, which was to raise hay, coin, peas, etc., and little or no cotton. When the crops were gathered that man got everything coming to him and bis customers were in good fix, while the other mer chants were b ke or seriously crippled and had no trade besid es.” A Prominent Georgian says: “I have been in the Boil Weevil districts to the west of us considerably during the past five years, and I want to assure you that it is real, not a fancied, danger. The advent of the Boll Weevil into any section brings on a local panic. The merchant is compelled to shutdown on credit ing his farmers; incidently he stops purchases from whole salers, jobbers and manufactur ers, and all the interests suffer. GEORGIA’S DANGER “After many years’ struggle, Texas has in a measure, succeed in controlling the Weevil, but Texas is naturally better fitted to / combat the Boll Weevil than any other state in the cot ton belt. Our Georgia condit- To the Teachers and Patrons of Grady County Schools; At a recent meeting of the County Board of Education, it was decided to have only four months public term during the year 1913. This action on the part of the Board of Education was necessary in order to meet a deficit resulting from the fact that for the past three years it has been necessary to spend more than the appropriation to keep up the standard of teachers they have employeef, and this ac cumulated deficiency is so great now that it will take a months pair off the schools to come out evOai at the end of the year. Tht» Board regrets the necessity of cutting short the term for this year, but they do not think it a good plan to continue the policy of making the indebtedness greater each year. The Board feels certain that it will be able to put the term back to months for another year. By order of the Board of ucation of Grady county, J. 8. Weathers, . Superintendent of Schools* five Ed- ions more nearly approximate any suffering or loss of money if % oge of Louisiana,, where the the people had only heeded the cr ^ ^ been cut from a million plainest, warning. • -Ibales to 265,000 in five years. It You are going to be in the j g ^h'at kind of a situation that same fix,here in Georgia as sure j gtai . eg U g. j n ^e f ac6) anc ] the as the sun shines. The Boll great majority of our people are Weevil is making straight for so blind that they cannot see their danger' “You may ask whether or not there is a remedy. Yes, but it means an entire revolution of our agricultural methods. “Cotton can be grown under Boll Weevil conditions, and will be, but by intensive and diversi fied methods. The ordinary cul tivation given cotton in this state by the average farmer and ten ant won’t make 100 pounds of seed cotton per acre under Boll Weevil conditions. We must change to high-class, intensive farming, as against t he ‘nigger and mule’ class of cropping, and ‘land-skinnin,’ and we must, do it now it we are to escape disas ter. “Two courses of action arc open to the-'; rffer r.:v. ho"may ■choose betwc.n tin .. He may decline to heed the warning, he may adopt the do-nothing policy and refuse td believe the men ace until it is upon him- he may wait until this pest has destroyed his crops and he finds himself hopelessly in debt, facing ruin, and with only one way out—the method he should have adopted before this curse came upon hi x Or, being wise, he. may adop' the policy which will save him from this ruin, not only save him but will make him prosper as he never prospered before, and will set him apart Irorn his l'elows and mark him as a man of fore sight and judgement in his com munity. It is singular, ypt providential that the remedy which is to save’ opr farmers from ruin and our people from ’ -.nkniptcy is also the cure for most of - the ills of the farmer to-day. . It is simple.' Any farmer may apply it with out the co-operation of anybody. All he heeds is his own consent. It will not only save him from the boll weevil, hut will add to- his income and profit. With the coming of the Boll Weevil the basis of credits to the farmer will be completely and radically chr tged. In the past the farmer’s credit with the banker and with the merchant have largely depended upon ho\v much cotton he was going to plant or had planted. This wTl be changed, and the question which will be asked the farmer when he applies for a loan itt. the bankorforcreditAvithlhemerehant ‘ will be hew little cotton, and how' much of corn, hay, oats, rye, wheat, peanuts, potatoes, hogs, cattle, mules, horses, watermel ons, fruits, etc,, lie will raise.: If the farmer will raise these crops, and others, he will not on ly be able to obtain credit, but better still-, will need very, little cradle , $ hunks'.are taking very advan c ...utions with refer ence to the coming of the Boll Weevil. They are saving to their customers among the farmers that when the Boll Weevil comes thev will help only those who have heeded the warning and be gun t. diversify their crops prior to its coming, and all banks and ah merchants will be forced to abopt this policy to a greater or. less extent. It is inevitable that you must answer the question yourself— to yourself. What will your an- swe" be? Which course will you pursue? Now is the time-for you to decide. It is a question for this year—not next year. You are about to p’ant your 1913 crop. What shall it be? WiU y m.diversify? Will you heed the'warning and profit by the experience of. others, and become financially independent?. Or will you. too, adopt the do-nothing- policy, and subject yours'elf to. the privation, hardship an finan cial embarrassment which must and- will inevitably follow such a course? 'Which, Mr.. Fanner, WHICH? We offer you THE BEST SERVICE IN BANKING We seek the opportunity to prove the above state ment, .All depositors, .whether large or small, receive our best attention. Give us an opportunity to serve you, and pperi an account with us today. On 12 Months Time Certificate we pay 5 per cent On 6 Months Time Certificate we pay 4 1-2 per cent - In our Saving department we pay 4 per cent and com pound it quarterly. “Make Our Bank Your Bank” FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK THE OLD MAN NOT FORGOTTEN W. T. Crawford, President J. E. Forsyth, Thomas Wight, V-president Cashier Not “shelved” yet, is he? '' Not by everybody; at any rate. Dr. R. H. Harris enjoys a unique distinction—perhaps un paralleled. For the fourth time in his life, he has been selected to deliver an address at the com mencement exercises of Mercer University. Once the Literary address; once as the representa tive of his college fraternity; twice, (including the present in vitation) to deliver an Alumrii address. And the last is the highest honor of all—to speak at the celebration of the 75th an niversary of the founding of the V University. He does not deny R j that he Ls not ashamed of the V honor. CITIZENS BANK CAIRO GEORGIA » * - I " We Pay Interest On Deposits As Follows: ' On time Certificates of 12 months 5 per cent On time Certificates of 6 months 4 1-2 per cent Savings Deposits Compounded Quarterly 4 per cerit If you have some money on hand that you would like to place in a good strong bank, we would be glad to have you place same with us, we will be glad to pay you interest ac cording to the above scedule. This bank always conducts its business absolutely on a ba sis of conservatism, and at the same time we always endea vor to give our patrons liberal treatment. If you are not a customer of ours we will be glad to have you open hn account with us, and be satisfiied with your Banking Connections. W. S. Wight, Pres H. G. Cannon, Vice-Pres. W. H. Searcy, V.-P. & Cashier MX W>; <QaE3tf-