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der. It will jSJi J|SKL^^ e resting
to members of to have
the news of the working of the dif
ferent lodges disseminated among the
brothers; or we would be glad to have
articles written by any one on sub
jects of interest to the Union.—Cor
dele Rambler, Cordele, Ga.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS FOR
SOUTHERN FARMERS.
Prof. Soule Suggests Four: (1) Keep
Accurate Accounts; (2) Plan Care
fully; Use Business System; (3)
Make Higher Yields on Fewer
Acres, and (4) Co-Operation for
Higher Prices.
Messrs. Editors: It is the fashion
on the opening of each succeeding
year to make resolutions of high
character for the ensuing twelve
months. And it is a good thing for
men to sit down and reflect occasion
ally, and take a census, as it were, of
their present condition and what the
future holds out to them.
I.
Importance of “Keeping Books/'
So it does not seem inappropriate
to suggest that the most important
thing for the farmer to do on the
opening of the new year is to sit down
with pencil and paper and figure out
his financial condition as it has been
affected by the year’s operations. It
is only by striking a trial balance and
ascertaining what sources of income
are available to him that he can ar
rive at a just estimate of his finan
cial condition and be in position to
intelligently pursue that line of in
dustry which promises the best for
the future. So seldom are books kept
on the farm and so indifferent are the
business methods pursued that it
seems incredible that farmers should
succeed as well as they do; and to the
mind of the writer there is no single
operation that promises more for the
advancement of agriculture, for the
increase of profits on the average
farm and the cutting down of unnec
essary losses than that of keeping a
record of the operations pursued dur
ing the year.
To show the importance of farm
accounts, it is only necessary to state
that beef cattle can be fed in two
different ways. From our own expe
rience it would appear that under a
given set of conditions a pound of
beef may be made on grass at about
half the cost entailed by stall feed
ing. Is not this information essential
to the success of the man who would
engage in the raising and handling of
beef cattle; and how shall he obtain
it (unless it is worked out by some
experiment station) if he does not
keep a record of his own business
transactions! It is safe to say that
the operations on many farms would
be essentially changed if statistics
were available to show the profits de
rived from the several crops usually
grown.
Therefore it seems as if Resolution
No. 1, for the improvement of the
condition of Southern farms may
properly be labeled, “A determina
tion to ascertain the actual financial
condition resulting from the opera
tions during the year 1907.”
n.
Business System and Foresight Pays
the Farmer.
The second matter to receive earn
est attention is an to plan
the work do every
thing as nearly as ..possible at the
right time. It is that Reason and
soil conditions interfere with the
best laid plans,Wod J observation im
presses the faA’ asi ’re emphatically
each year that systematic
farmer nearly always accomplishes
what he sets out to achieve, because
there is system and method in all that
he undertakes, and therefore he can
accomplish twice as much in a given
time because he has worked out things
beforehand, systematically; he has
repaired and painted his machines
during the winter, he has planned out
accurately what he shall devote each
field to, and he has looked into the
future far enough to anticipate many
of the unpleasant conditions which
will confront him during the year.
Farming to him is a pleasure and a
delight, and though he may not accu
mulate great wealth, he is nearly al
ways a successful and prosperous man,
a man who enjoys the respect and
confidence of his neighbors, and who
has a respectable bank account to his
credit. He is a jovial, whole-souled
person and takes a larger view of life
than the ordinary man because he
has brought his fields under a sys
tematic rotation of crops, he has
purchased his fertilizers at the most
opportune time and so secured them
at the lowest possible cost. He has
studied the markets carefully and
placed his crops on sale to the best
advantage. He has examined closely
into the methods pursued by h ; s
friends and neighbors; he reads an
agricultural paper; he examines the
bulletins from his state experiment
station; he places himself in touch
with the latest and best source of in
formation, and so he is posted well
in advance hs to the conditions which
are likely to prevail and which crops
are likely to prove most remunerative.
System has achieved wonders in
business life and, all opinions to the
contrary, system can be introduced
on the farm, and in proportion will
achieve relatively as valuable results
as it has brought to our great cap
tains of industry. This little word
bears a, prominent place in the suc
cessful operations of every farmer.
in.
Why Cultivate Five Acres to Make
What One Should Produce?
Intensive farming should also be a
slogan of the tillers of the eoil for
1907. High-priced labor makes it a
necessity, and in our discriminating
markets of the present day and gen
eration quality alone counts. Quality
and quantity must be obtained by
the farmer in order to make his oper
ations profitable.
Why should any farmer persist in
following the slip-shod methods that
have so frequently brought ruin in
their wake! Intensive culture is the
plan by which success alone can be
achieved in the face of the grave dif
ficulties which now beset the farmer.
It takes but little more labor to culti
vate an acre of land capable of pro
during fifty bushels of corn than it
does to cultivate one which will not
produce more than ten. We often
see one hundred acres of land culti
vated for a yield, say of 1,500 bush
els of oom. Twenty-five acres or one
quarter of the area, properly fertil
ized, can be made to produce the samp
amount of com. In this instance one
can grow a larger ciop than two
THE WEEKLY
formerly did. Is it not economy,
therefore, to practice intensive cul
ture in the future! By the means of
labor saving implements and inten
sive culture the farmer can largely
overcome the very serious labor situ
ation with which he is confronted to
day.
*
JOIN THE UNION.
“We hope that all our farmers and
workingmen will join the Farmers’
Educational Union. The Union move
ment is a movement in favor of hu
manity. It is only through co-opera
tion that we 'will ever be able to stop
the aggressions of capitalistic and
corporate greed. It is only by organ
izing that popular rights can be se
cured. The few who are already in
the saddle will continue in control
as long as the workingman and the
farmer remain Helots and allow
themselves taxed to death to support
the rich corporations which are mak
ing large dividends on watered stock.
There are enough farmers and
workingmen in this country to right
every political wrong if they will
only organize and work for the bene
fit of the many against the encroach
ments of a few.
Let us all go out, join the Union,
and work for the good of our coun
try'.”
V e clip the above from the Cor
dele Rambler for the reason that it
expresses our opinion so fully in so
much better language than we can
command. The Banner has contended
all along that money was the ruling
power, that sooner or later, there
must come a revolution, a reversal of
things, when men will be rated by
instrinsic value, and not by dollars
and cents. Money has ruled until
the middle classes—the common peo
ple are mere tools and serfs, and yet
when an election comes round, a
large number of them allow them
selves to be hoodwinked into voting
for a human Octopus by the “dirty
politician’s” cry of, we want a man
who has been iSUCCESSFUIa and the
poor fools never stop to think that
success in this world’s goods does
not always mean an honest man, and
that perhaps every dollar of the
wealth of the so-called SUCCESSFUL
man has been wrung from the hand of
labor by means and methods that are
anything else but right and honorable.
Again, we say to the farmers and
laboring people—those who produce
wealth—get together and see to it
that your rights are respected—vote
your convictions and stop pandering
to the ill-gotten gains of the MONEY
SHARKS.—The Turner County Ban
ner, Ashburn, Ga.
•t
LET THE FARMER PRICE HIS
OWN CROPS.
After ’the farmer has grown his
crop, moreover, he should give more
attention to how he shall market it
so as to secure the largest returns
for his labor. The old method of
simply going to town and taking
whatever is offered is a relic of bar
barism. In the past the farmer has
not stood up for his rights as he
should have done, and so he has fre
quently failed to receive a fair re
muneration for his industry. This is
the farmer’s fault for he has allowed
himself to be brow-beaten by men
*y . V/' 1
who are not superior to him in
rospect except that they learned
advantage of comfawmig for the
vancement of J interests 1
an earlier datejHßFlocation, thejK
fore, should reinJji el tention atfw
hands of the farmer, and by
mean rational co-operation.
is no reason why the farmers in ' 1
given section should not get together "
and determine what would be a fair
price for the crops they have to sell,
and then by presenting a united front
to the buyers, obtain what they ask.
So long as they go as individuals into
the markets and offer their crops at
any price the buyer will give them,
they are bound to get the worst end
of the bargain.
Co-operation, therefore, should he
one of the planks in the farmer’s
platform, and every progressive citi
zen will respect him more for stand
ing out firmly for his just rights. Too
frequently in the past the residents
of towns and cities
farmers could be overridden wi.ff
that their wishes could be ignored—
in other words, that the success of
the farmer depended entirely on the
city. There never was a greater mis
take. but the present
never be solved satisfactorily^’wtil
the farmers unite Vet
in touch with the consnnieifl®l wl
more of their products ..fid
not through the middlemtlrf who
makes life a burden to the conVmer.
Co-operation rationally pursuet Yvill
enable the faimers to improve lieir
condition financially and to < /tain
better prices for their products.
it should, therefore, bo the du ' A
every fanner to give attention t< its *
important phase of his business Id
to work in harmony ’with his fri Jas
and neighbors for the achievement of
an end so desirable from every point
of view.—Andrew M. Soule, Director
Virginia Experiment Station. Blacks
burg, Va., in Progressive Farmer
and Cotton Planter.
NOT A POLITICAL ORGANIZA
TION.
The Farmers’ Union has been stead
fast in its contention for the agri
cultural classes to remain true to
certain principles in the business af
fairs of its membership. It has been
charged by certain venal newspapers
—those who sell their editorial ut
terances for a few paltry dollars of
public patronage—that the Union .is
going into politics and is, therefore,
dangerous. With all the trusts and
farmers cannot be blamed for at least
voting intelligently upon the public
issues confronting the country. The
Commercial knows that in the three
last presidential elections the corpo
rations actually furnished all the
money necessary to elect a president.
United States senate and House of
Representatives, thereby controlling
the exectutive and judicial branches
of the government with the money of
the people. It is certainly not trea
son for the plain citizen to exercise
his right, of suffrage as he sees fit.
The Fanners’ Union is not a politi
cal organization, but stands now, and
ought to stand forever, for the sacred
rights of the humblest citizen. Upon
this basic principle it will live on
while its enemies will perish by their
own narrow selfishness and avarice.—
Georgetown Commercial.