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VOL. 13-NO. 10.
FARMS AND FARMERS.
WHAT A GEORGIA FARMER SAW
v IN OHIO-
Recollections of the Excursion in the
Fall of ’B9—Extracts from the
Journal of Col, W. R. Gorman.
EXTRACT NO. 5.
Wellington, 0., Sept. 7,1889.
During my afternoon ride today, I met
with a farmer putting in wheat. The
modus operandi is so unlike that gener
ally pursued in Georgia that I give it
verbatim, just as the farmer told it.
Says he; “I am breaking the land with
the team you see on tho opposite side of
the field. They’have just finished. My
breaker is a turning plow of the largest
size,and it is set to break the land from
nine to ten inches deep. It takes three
good horses to pull it. That other team
out there is drawing a harrow. That is
run over the ground until it is reduced
to good tilth. It sometimes requires
requires three or four harrowing to do
this. I am putting in my wheat with
this machine you see here, and it does
the work well. That team,” pointing in
the direction of his barn, “is pulling a
roller that weighs several hundred
pounds, and the rolling, in my opinion,
is a '-cry important part of the work.”
'■ Uli 3 were -four eHstlueb ‘operati'.wu
going on right under the farmer’s eye,
and every 'one of them essential to the
proper seeding of the wheat. I then
outlined the methods usually followed
for doing the same thing in Georgia.
He laughed and said, “if we did that way
here we could not make any wheat.”
The culture of wheat in Georgia has
been steadily declining for twenty year.
The aggregate amount now made in the
state would not, if turned into flour,
make enough to supply the trade of two
of our principal cities, say Atlanta and
Macon. This is a bad showing but it is
true. There are two reasons for the
falling off in wheat. One is said to be
it’s cheaper to buy the flour than to
make it; and the other is that the land
wont make wheat. Both are erroneous.
It has been demonstrated time and
again that wheat will succeed as well in
Georgia as in any of the northern or
older northwestern states. As far back
as 1856 some notable experiments were
made in Athens, Ga., by Dr. Hamilton,
Col. W. E. Dearing, Mr. Phinizy and
others, which may be found in the patent
office report of that year. The largest
yield reported was by one of the gentle
men named and it was a fraction over
forty-five bushels per acre. Another
reported a yield a trifle under this.
Several reported yields varying from
thirty to forty bushels per acre. In 1870
the writer of this article made on a four
acre lot 169 bushels of clean wheat,
weighing over sixty pounds to the bush
el. The average was over forty-two
bushels per acre. The land was thor
oughly broken and the wheat plowed in
with the ordinary scooter plow. A good
crop of cotton was made on the 1 and the
year the wheat was sown. Manured it
with liberal applications of cotton seed
and raw bone. When the wheat was
seeded, about November 10, fifty bushels
of cotton seed and 100 pounds of bone
per acre plowed in. In the latter part of
February following, top dressed with a
barrel of Nova Scotia land plaster (gyp
sum) on every acre. This was an extra
ordinary and profitable yield, Jand was
made on land that had been cultivated
for forty years. This can be done again,
and probably beaten, on the same land.
We have learned something about fer
tilizers since 1870. Take out our sea
board counties, and the ten or a dozen
counties adjacent, and there is not a sec
tion of Georgia where wheat can not4.be
profitably grown.
Suppose the millions that are sent out
of the state for flour shouldjbe kept here
in the pockets of our farmers, what a
wonderful difference in the general con
dition it;would make. We have the best
money crop in cotton of any people on
earth, and if they will supplement this
with other crops, wheat among the rest,
that can be profitably grown, very much
of the present trouble will be removed.
To make wheat, select land that has
good drainage, prepare thoroughly and
fertilize liberally, remembering always
that nitrogen is what the crop needs, and
the results will be good. It must be
borne in mind by the farmer, that he
must sow seed that is acclimated, or
what would be better, get it from locali
ties south of where he intends to sow.
The reports from the experiment station
of South Carolina for the year ,1889 show,
that seed of the Fultz variety grown in
that stat* and,sown alongside of seed of
same-variety grown in Ohio and Pennsyl
vania, made a better crop. The yield
was two to three bushels per acre better,
and the grain of superior quality.
The incident related at the beginning
of fthis number furnished the text for
this somewhat lengthy writing about
wheat. It is not seasonable but apro
pos, and your readers might turn it to
good account, when the time again comes
to sow your grain.
These Wellingtonians are a good peo
ple, cultured, hospital and clever, noth
ing bad about them save their politics.
They are true to their traditions and no
where will you find a greater republican
stronghold than this.
I heard a good one to day on old Zack
Chandler. ;Although he lived in Michi
gan, it was his wont to come down here
and look after the canvass on presiden
tial years, more especially if Frank Hurd
or J udge Thurman had been among the
people and got ’em stirred up.
It way at Li ffin that he met. an im
mense crowd. The prohibitionist, had
been celebrating the same day, and
large v..£w; of .the white boutonnieres
couldrbe seeiTatnong his audience.' After
he began speaking he laid his manu
script or head notes on a table before him,
a puff of wind blew them off among the
crowd, they were handed back to hiifl
and his own words shall finish the story.
Says he, “I pulled out what I supposed
was my old barlow that I always car.
ried along for that purpose and laid it on
my papers; and in a moment I could see
that something was the matter with my
audience; at first there was a smile which
soon widened into a broad grin, then from
that to a general snicker. I happened
to look down and instead of my barlow
there lay my blankeddld cork-screw. It
done me up completely! I felt like I had
disgraced myself and I made a blanked
poor speech.” He swore after he got
home that he would never go back to
Liffin to make a speech,and he never did;
it was not long after this that he died.
I saw a large onion field today, the land
was immensely rich, and it looked like a
bed of muck. The field was said to pro
duce several hundred bushels per acre.
Numbers of women and children gather
ing and assorting the crop. The choice
onions sold for 50 cents per bushel, and
culls 30 to 40 cents. Although this is not
considered as much of a farming country
as other sections, I notice a great diversi
fication of crops. This is one of the grand
secrets of success and tells even here,
where ( the farmer does not have the
wide range lof creps that we have
in Georgia. Occasionally you will
find land here that is farmed
on shares, but the wage
system prevails.
When the land is farmed on shares,
the landlord gets half of the crops made
though he furnishes nothing but the land.
The tenant must have stock, provisions,
etc., of his own.
As yet we have not seen a single negro
working on a farm. They are not con
sidered reliable, and have not the intel
ligence for managing machinery, and
labor saving implements. Ohio has a
negro population of 150,000 and it would
seem that out of this would come much
labor for the farm, but it does not.
We are within 36 miles of Lake Erie
and from here to the Ohio, we have not
seen a negro at farm labor. It is not likely
that under the conditions that prevail
here, the negro population will increase
much. There is but little difference be
tween him here and in Georgia. He is
quite a factor in politics at election times
and always votes the republican ticket.
The democrats claim that with the negro
votes out,'Ohio is a democratic state.
We leave here at 9 p. m. for Cleveland,
all are deeply touched by the reception
these people have given us. It has been
a grand ovation from the time of our
arrival.
B. R. Herrich, Col. Horr, Col. Wads
worth, Capt. Visscher. and let me add,
everybody in Wellington has been ex
ceedingly kind to the Georgians.
THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF TfrE GEORGIA STATE ALLIANCE.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 11,1890.
I did intend in this paper to give
your readers an account of the maimer
of boring a gas well, but it must Le re
served for a future number. There is no
connection,as has been supposed,
coal oil,and gas here. There is some con
nection between gas and oil, but between
coal, and either one of the others, where
is none.
It now nearly 9 o’clock; an immense
throng of people have collected to see us
off. The ladies have done us the htraor
to turn out in large numbers. While
good-byes are being said and regrets are
expressed the bell clangs, and the last we
hear, from our friends is three cSfeers
for Georgia; it is returned with a will
from the platforms and windows of our
coaches—three cheers for Ohio! i-and
away we go to Cleveland.
THAT INTERVIEW.
WHEN YOU CALL ON!HIM,
HE ANSWERS.
X
No Alliance. Ticket in the Filed But
Plenty of Alliance Doctrine fcr
be Swallowed-
On last Wednesday a Constitution re
porter sought an interview with Col' > L.
F. Livingston,'president of the StatxAl
liance, and here is what he got:
President Livingston unlimbercd last
night when he was asked about the re
port that tho Alliance would put oht a
tiekpj against the democratic
congress.
“If there is any such movement among
the farmers of Georgia, I am intirely ig
norant of it,” said he, “and my relations
with my people are such that I would
know if there was such a movement.
“There has been a good deal said in
Georgia and outside of Georgia about
three parties, but it has been confined to
individuals and isolated cases. I have
seen two or thee letters to Mr. Brown
(editor of The Southern Alliance
Farmer) from the northwest, and I.have
had but one directly or indirectly on that
question. It was from the secretary of
the Banks County Alliance, saying some
man had proposed that their people in
the ninth district get together and or
ganize a third party. I discouraged it
roundly, saying in my reply that the dem
ocratic and republican parties were well
established in the country, their policy
was pretty well understood and the mass
of citizens would ally themselves with
one or the other; that it was well nigh
impossible to concentrate between these
two parties anything with life and power,
and I did not think there was any neces
sity for getting up a third party, or what
has been designated as an Alliance ticket.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS.
“But I do want to say this, and I will
say it publicly or privately: Our people
have just interest enough in the politics
of this country to inform themselves,and
when informed they ought to go to the
primaries and oast their votes for those
men who will do the best for the whole
people,not for any particular class. I don’t
believe we ought to elect men to the leg
islature to crush the railroads or the
manufacturing interest, or any other in
terest. We want men who will repre
sent the whole people, and I think they
can be selected through the parties that
now exist.
“When the nominating time comes
in the fall, all those gentleman who
stand for re-election, or renomination,
which means election, will be asked
to tell the publicjhow they stand on these
questions that effect us, and if they can
not answer correctly I can’t pledge my
people to vote for tleem. Shall certainly
not advise them to do it.”
“On what questtons will you ask can
didates to commit themselves?”
“First, the sub-treasury plan. I don’t
want to say that the Alliance people are
wedded to that, but something of that
kind will be demanded—something] that
will give an effective currency to handle
the business of the country without de
pressing or encouraging corners and mo
nopolies. lam perfectly willing if con
gress thinks some other plan to increase
currency will be better—provided the
people control it. But lam decidedly in
favor of the sub-treasury plan, and shall
be until something better is presented. I
am going to canvass the state on it, and'
when I get through, I think can I
say our people will not vote for any man
who will not favor it—l mean in the
nominations. In other words, will give
their preference man to a who favors that
plan, or something like it. If Mr. Blunt
for instance, should say he favored tffie
principle, but could give us a better bill,
we would say, all right go ahead.
“We believe, whether we are right or
wrong—but the Alliance stands ready to
change when convinced of an error—We
believe the present currency system is
the nursery of fhese corners, itrusts and
combines. We believe it would be im
possible to put up corners in cotton,
wheat, or anything, if the sub-treasury
system, as we presnt it to congress Jwei j
adopted. We think so far as the simple
reason goes that we put the producer in
such a position that his product sare not
forced on the market, or made to sell his
produce at a given day. The producer
gets twelve mouths to sell.
A CURRENCY BASED ON CROPS.
“The sub-treasury plan proposes,
briefly, that the government take the
farmers staple crops into its warehouses
and issue him negotiable certificates to
eighty per cent of the value of his pro
ducts. With no charges but the bare
expense of storage and insurance the
crop is kept there a year. In that time
the farmer sells it mouth by month,
simply letting the supply keep up with
the demand. This will regulate prices
and prevent corners. It will break up
all this speculation which is encouraged
by the present-system.
“In the fall and winter when the
.farmer has,to sel ( l, money .is scarce and
corn and wheat is low. Its the spring
and summer when he has to buy, money
is cheap and that makes provisions high.
Tne present currency of inflexible vol
ume forces the farmer to sell cheap and
buy .at high prices. By the sub-treasury
plan the currency would be expanded as
the crop comes in, and retired as the
crop is marketed. -Thus, there would be
in all the seasons just such a volume of
currency as the business demands, with
no surplus to encourage speculation.”
“Another thing. The price would be
fixed month by month in just accordance
with supply and demand. Cotton statis
tics are at best an approximation. The
estimates may miss several hundred
thousand bales, and a hundred thousand
in the supply may make a difference of
a cent in the price*of cotton. When the
crop is marketed or stored the actual
number of bales will be known and the
price will become steady.
“I believe a plan of this kind will re
lieve the farmer a thousand times more
than a reformation of the tariff or any
other thing of that kind. We believe that
with our whole soul our people will say
to Mr. Clements or Mr. Stewart or Mr.
Anybodyelse, ‘will you vote for such a
currency as we ask?’
“The present system makes the money
kings our financial masters. This will
make the government our ruler in money
matters. Jay Gould has no interest in
my physical or moral well-being. He
does not care whether my children are
educated or grow up to be heathens.
But the government wants me strong of
body so I can fight for it if necessary,
and wants me moral and intelligent so
that I will be a useful and a burden-bear
ing citizen, able to pay my part of the
tax.”
“Some may say the farmer is asking
too much, but he is only asking what the
government gives to the whisky men.
They get more. Whisky is worth $3 a
gallon the minute it is put in a bonded
warehouse, because the age gives it val
ue by anticipation. That whisky was
worth only fifty cents a gallon before.”
“The farmers are only asking an exten
sion of the favor already granted to the
national banks. They deposit bonds in
vaults, which stand in place of bonded
warehouses, and they get ninety percent
of the face value at one per cent per
annum, meantime collecting interest on
the bonds, and paying nothing for stor
age, tax or insurance. We only ask the
government to advance eighty per cent
of the value of products, and we pay the
storage and insurance.
“I have no doubt this question will be
propounded in every district: ‘How are
you poor fellows going to get any money
from the government when they do make
plenty of it?’ The advance is made di
rect from the government to the pro
ducer. This system will encourage the
production of the necessities of life, for
when a man knows what he raises will
sell for its value uninfluenced by specu
lafion, he will plant heavily. It will
stimulate agriculture world without end.
“This plan applies to agricultural pro
ducts, pig iron or any staple product,the
principle now applied to silver under the
eoheme devised by Alexander Stephens.
The government issues money called
silver certificates based on silver coin or
bullion; also certificates based on gold
or bullion. Silver and gold bullion have
fluctuated widely. Some will say the
fluctuations of products of the farm will
be an obstacle. We answer, bullion has
fluctuated also. Under this plan, how
ever, fluctuations would be reduced to a
minimum. It would have the same effect
on agricultural product that remoniriza
tion had on silver—it will solidfiy and
steady its value. Fluctuation as a cause
will be removed, aud prices will be left
to adjust themselves firmly to the cost
or abundance of the crops, and other
legitimate factors in the cost of the
article.
“The farmer, as it now is, must pay
the retailers profit, the wholesalers profit,
the Georgia bankers profit, and the toll
the New York bank makes off those in
Georgia. With the other the money goes
direct to the producer, and he gets his
purchases at the lowest margin of profit.
“Another question on which we will
ask candidates for nomination to commit
themselves, is that of railroad regula
tion. The great difficulty is in discrim
inating in favor of terminal points
against the villages and rural districts.
To HJusu-ate, » cm- l<r>»d of GwoP.ja
phosphates' is drbppv of a train for
me at Covington, and the freight is $4.30.
The train goes to Atlanta and drops off
several cars for George W. Scott & Co.
at $3.40 a ton. It goes on to Montgom
ery and drops several cars at $3 a ton,
and carries the rest all the way out to
Meridian, Mississippi, for $2.50. If we
want to start an oil mill and fertilizer
factory in Covington, this difference of
ninety cents in favor of Atlanta is hard
enough to overcome, but that is not all.
We must stand another ninety cents on
the fertilizer we ship out. So we are
met with the obstacle of SI.BO a ton.
This not only discourages the building
up of industries in our small towns, but
depresses our rural districts by killing
their home markets.
“We think the remedy is to be found
principally through the inter-state com
merce law- It must be so amended that
the charge will be by wheelage. That is
the gist of the resolution we passed on
the subject at St. Louis. If this does
not give relief then we are for govern
ment control of railroads.
“Without some relief of this kind, it
will be an uphill business for us to build
up rural districts and the country
schools. Men of wealth move to the city,
where the discrimination places the ad
vantages, and with them they take their
children and their money. There is less
and less remaining to support the
schools or develop tho farms.
“We’ve decided to waive all minor con
siderations, and concentrate our whole
strength on these two measures. With
the first secured, we think the rest will
follow of themselves, for with a cur
rency system expanded to meet the ne
cessity of the harvest, the farmers will
soon be able to build all the railroads
we need, if it should become neces
sary.”
A Kingly Plan of Relief-
in 1763, after a disastrous war of seven
years in which he had contended with
the strongest powers of Europein com
bination against him, Frederick II of
Prussia effected a treaty of peace at Hu
bertsburg, by which Maria Theresa
withdrew claim to Silesia, the exciting
cause of conflict. As the monarch re
turned to his capital he was met by del
egations of farmers from various prov
inces through which his road led, who
represented that the country had been
overrun, and they were destitute of food
and seed. The royal promise was given
that whatever relief lay in his power
should be granted. Every horse that
could be spared without endangering
the country in case of sudden attack was
delivered up to the needy farmers, and
the military storehouses were drawn on
for seed for a crop. In one province, 8,-
600 houses were rebuilt which had been
destroyed, and the most distressed sec-
SINGLE COPY 5C
tions relieved from taxation, in Silesia
the term being two years and in others
shorter exemptions, as need suggested.
In the work of recuperation, which took
several years of constant application,
those cities which had been fined by in
vaders under threat of fire had tlje
money returned to them, and the Gov
ernment accepted as the burden of the
whole people the financial disaster inci
dent to the national defense. The fourth
and fifth years after peace were crop
failures, and in some provinces the spec
ulators ran the price of rye, the bread of
the people, up to five thalers (3.65) per
bushel. The policy of the government
had been to hoard grain for a time of
military need, and the storehouses were
opened and rye distributed at the price
which the government paid for it in nor
mal markets; thus causing disaster to
the speculators and relief to the masses.
A bank of 8,000,000 thalers capital was
started in Berlin by the king, who seems
in ever instance to have moved to relieve
his subjects from extortion by usurers.
Finding that agriculture was not reliev
ed by the bank, but lagged in the march
of progress, Frederick took a step which
entitles him to more praise, and better
earned the distinction’of “Great” gen
erally affixed to his name than every
other act of his busy life, and which was •
one of those victories more renowned
than any on the battle-field. The king
seems to have realized the power of
money to oppress in the condition of
scarcity, the process of lowering values
from the scarcity of war and famine be
ing in active operation at the time,
attjT ttre being restored to
standard value after very great debase- i
ment during the war period. The land
owners of Silesia were yet the greatest
sufferers, and the king founded in that
province a plan of co-operative banking,
by which the land-owers unitedly pledg
de the whole land of the prov
ince to the government, which in turn
raised money on its own credit as if for
a public loan. This money was lent to
the Association of land-ewners at the
rate it cost the government, being in the
form of land stock, ’ guaranteed by the
government and transferable at pleasure.
The immediate effect of this placing the
government’s credit at the disposal of
the farmers was a fall in interest through
out the country to the government rate,
and the people were freed from the power
of money to oppress. .This system was
extended through other Iprovinces with
like beneficial results.
It is pertinent to note that there yet
remains something of this system
of co-operation of Germany, and
it is stated that it is a means
of great prosperity, having done
much to raise the condition of
agriculture where tiied. Just substitute
the use of the products of the people for
the credit of the government, and the
operation of the sub-treasury plan would
be almost identical with that devised by
Frederick the Great, who has been cred
ited by history with having performed
almost a miracle of statesmanship in
leading his country to perfect recupera
tion despite failure of crops and the dis
asters of war, together with the necessity
for an army absolutely upon a war foot
ing and all the preparations for war nec
essary by contiguity of enemies who were
constantly prepared, and whose hostile
demonstrations were prevented by fear
of the military prowess of Prussia rather
than honest unwillingness to be guilty of
any breach of the national peace.
Congressman Teller said the other day
that Wall Street was running the govern
ment, and it verily looks that way, for
you can’t get our law-making powers to
pass a single law that would put a brake
on their greed and robbery. If they
hadn’t had a finger in the pie I think the
Olive bill would have passed by a large
majority.
The time has come when we must pick '
our men, and let no man beguile you. .
“He that is not with us is against us.”
Be sure not to vote for any man who
wont come out and show his hand before
election time. If he is a friend to tjatT"* ~
monopolists and is trying to run witty th o
hare and the hounds, elect him to<stay
at home with the old woman aud the
babies. The farmers of Georgia spoke ,
out in plain terms last snmmeij on some
important measures, and candidates w&o
are against us or lack manhood enough
to say which side they are on, ought®©
s tay at home.
