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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