Newspaper Page Text
PAGE SIX
Os Interest to the Wealth Creators
THE DESTRUCTIVE BOLL WEE
VIL IS A PERMANENT PEST.
The scientists who a few years ago
entertained widely divergent views
as to the future of the boll weevil
now seem to be agreed that the bug
is here to stay. For the benefit of
the uninitiated, if there be any such
now, after miles and miles of articles
have been written about the pest, it
may be explained that the authono
mus g"andis, as it is technically
known, is the cotton-destroying in
sect which crossed the Rio Grande
from Mexico something over a de
cade ago, and has since progressed
steadily northward and eastward
through the cotton belt. Since its
first appearance the weevil has cost
the cotton farmers of the south, and
especially of Texas, to which its op
erations were confined for years, un
told millions of dollars. At first, so
thorough was the destruction wrought
_ in some sections the planters cast
about for some other crop and talked
of abandoning cotton culture entire
ly. Since the federad department of
agriculture took cognizance of the
subject, however, material progress
toward the circumvention of the pest
has been made as a result of the ap
plication of up-to-date cultural meth
ods and of close attention to the cot
ton fields generally. The kelep, or
ant, which was discovered in the
wilds of Gautemala by Dr. 0. F.
Cook, of Washington, and imported
to Texas in considerable numbers for
the purpose of waging war on the
weevil, did its work satisfactorily,
but in too limited away to result
in any benefit. The ant could not
survive the Texas winters and, of
course, could not be brought to this
country in sufficient numbers to be
spread over anything like an exten
sive territory. Now the ant theory
has been practically abandoned, and
the methods already referred to are
being depended on almost exclusive
ly. It is now possible to grow cotton
in spite of the weevil, but that the
pest will ever be exterminated is not
believed by any of the experts. In
time it probably will be found over
the whole of the cotton belt.
Destroy Cotton Stalks in Fall
According to the United States de
partment of agriculture it has been
considered by many that the des
truction of cotton stalks after kil
ling frosts was of little value in the
control of the boll weevil. AH'ob
servers have agreed, however, that
this process is of paramount value
before that time. Recent data show
that the destruction of stalks after
several severe frosts is of great val
ue; in fact, it is apparently only
slightly less efficacious than earlier
destruction.
From various experiments made in
this manner it is evident that a far
mer may control the number of wee
vils to some extent by the full de
struction of the stalks very late in
the season. Great advantage is ob
tained by the farmer who removes
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
all debris from the field and burns it
at the earliest possible date, thus eli
minating the hibernation of the wee
vil.—Griffin News.
WHAT THE FARMER WAS, IS
TODAY AND WILL BE.
Success or failure of every busi
ness enterprise depends wholly upon
the farmer. Every business of what
ever character must succeed or lan
guish in proportion to his success or
failure, and should complete disaster
overtake all the farmers every busi
ness of every character would be
bankrupted and all the people would
soon perish.
Should all the farmers lock up
that which they have produced and
conclude to take a Rip Van Winkle
sleep for sixty or ninety days, all the
banks, stores and factories would be
closed when they opened their eyes
and looked upon the world again.
Railroad cars would lie dead on the
tracks and vessels of every charac
ter would remain at the moorings
unmanned. Manufactured articles
of all kinds, money and commercial
securities would be without value,
and every human being, including
captains of finance, and all money
grafters, would realize as they never
had before, that the man with the
hoe is the real power at the end of
the Archimedean lever. Possessing
more power than all other individ
uals on earth, alone or in combina
tion, the fanners have used it least
for their own purposes and advan
tage. Laws have been enacted with
the view of protecting and promot
ing every other interest at their ex
pense, and regardless of their rights.
The farmer has produced the
wealth that has made it possible for
others to live in ease and luxury,
while he continued to toil, and those
dependent upon him possessed only
the necessities of life.
The farmer of yesterday, by rea
son of isolation and lack of organi
zation, was content to toil and pro
duce, to take his way as his due and
not complain. The farmer of today
toils fewer hours with his hands and
is demanding a greater reward for
what he produces. The farmer tomor
row will use his muscle and brain in
combination and get what is due him
or know the reason why. The future
farmer’s home will not suffer by
comparison, inside or out, with that
of a merchant, banker or manufact
urer. The farm home of tomorrow
will possess all the comforts and
many of the luxuries, and life on the
farm will be more attractive than
life in the big cities.
The farmer’s wife will have every
convenience and helpful invention to
aid in the household work. Tomor
row the lot of the farmer’s wife will
be the envy of her less fortunate city
sisters.
These are not pipe-dreams but are
the sure realities of changing condi
tions.—Exchange.
COTTON WAREHOUSES.
A Leader Talks of the Movement to
Store and Hold.
One of the visitors who attended
the meeting and remained over in
Waco, was Mr. B. F. Chapman, state
secretary of the Farmers’ Education
al and Co-operative Union of Texas.
In an interesting talk about the out
look of the movement Mr. Chapman
gave some figures that will show
something about the strength of the
movement and the objects aimed at.
He said:
11 Texas is the mother state of both
the state and national farmers union
organizations, the last of which has
spread over seventeen different
states. The only northern state in
which we have gained a foothold is
Indiana. We took over at one time
10,000 members of a state farmers’
organization that existed in Indiana
and that was run on somewhat the
same lines as the Texas Farmers’
Union. Texas has by far the largest
number of members and local unions.
It has 4,439 local unions and about
125,000 members. It is the largest
through the fact that it has been
longest working and also because it
has more material to work on. The
present movement is quite an ad
vance over the old Farmers* Alli
ance, which existed in this state sev
eral years ago. The charters are
so drawn and the by-laws so made
that it will be a hard matter for it
to drift into politics, and we are go
ing to safeguard it to the extreme
against such a disastrous step.
“We have the experience of all
past farmers’ organizations and also
of the labor fraternities to guide us,
and we believe now that we have
formed a union that will stand the
test of time and increase in its
proper ratio every year. If it con
tinues to grow in the future as it
has in the past, we are sure that it
will one day be the strongest union
on the face of the globe.
“Yes, it is somewhat on the order
of a trust, but we believe that a trust
formed by the producer in order to
safeguard the prices of his products
is not an inimical one, and that
there is no part of its workings that
can come under the anti-trust enact
ments.
“The movement that is interesting
the farmers’ union more than any
other is the establishment of cotton
warehouses in the towns of the
state. We now have 150 such ware
houses that will hold, on the aver
age, 2,000 bales each. These ware
houses are not built for the purpose
of obtaining loans on stored cotton,
but are built as the first step toward
regulating the price of the cotton
crop.
“We do not intend to try to reg
ulate these prices by boycotting or
using any other method that will vio
late commercial ethics, but we intend
to regulate the charge as the far
mer regulates the feed he gives his
animals. We will have it stored
away and will only give it out at
such times as the demand for it
will create the rightful price. We
want to avoid glutting the market.
“We do not intend to make a cor
ner on the cotton nor to hold it for
fabulous prices, but we do intend to
regulate the supply to the demand in
such a ratio as will insure to the far
mer the proper return for his labor
and investment.
“We believe the time has arrived
when the farmer should set the price
of his product rather than the specu
lator or the man who buys it. He
produces it, consequently he should
set his own price on it. We are sim
ply working to get out from under
the thumb of the cotton broker where
we have been ever since before the
war, and we believe we are going to
do it, and that very soon. We want
to place a cotton warehouse in every
town that markets 1,000 bales or
more each year, and we want to put
a cotton classer from our own ranks
in charge of each warehouse so we
can sell our cotton under our own
classification rather than that of a
speculator or a cotton buyer. By
this means we will save to the far
mers on the average crop of cotton
in this state something like $10,000,-
000, as at least that much is made
each year by cotton classers who
‘scalp,’ that is, misclass the cotton
to the farmer’s detriment.
“For the purpose of getting these
cotton classers we are running now
a cotton school in Houston, which
has a hundred pupils by now, all of
whom pay sls for a scholarship and
can go as long as they want to.
This is the second school of this
class ever organized, conducted for
the farmers, and it will give us our
own cotton classers. This is only
one of many projects on foot through
which we hope to be able to be mas
ters of the situation and escape the
yoke of bondage that has pressed so
heavily upon the cotton planters*
necks. When we solve the problem
of proper prices for our products
we will then turn our attention to
many other problems that face us.”
—Waco Tribune.
YOU CAN SPOT THEM.
The Farmers’ Union has selected a
committee whose duty it is to keep
posted at all times on all phases of
legislation to be introduced during
the present session of the Georgia
legislature. __
The Committee has spent several
days in the discharge of their duty,
which is bringing, and will bring,
some adverse criticism from those
who do not want to be watched.
The members of the legislature
who do not want the Farmers’ Un
ion to watch them, will object to the
state president, and the state secre
tary (the committee seleced for this
work) spending so much of their
time at the State capitol, and those
who desire to have such legislation