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FARMERS AND WAREHOUSE
FOLKS HOLD CONFERENCE.
There was a senes of meetings in
progress all day yesterday with the
purpose of harmonizing the demands
of the Farmers’ Union with the
plans of the Farmers and Merchants
Warehouse company, but no decisive
action was taken.
First there was a general meeting
of farmers and then a secret session
of the Farmers’ Union, after which
there was an open meeting of the
farmers. There was then a confer
ence with the lessees of the Farmers
and Merchants warehouse, who are
W. B. Griffin and J. E. Drewry, at
which there was also a large repre
sentation of the stockholders and di
rectors of the warehouse company.
The lessees made their proposi
tions to the Farmers’ Union, as fol
fows:
1. That they would rent one of the
three rooms of the warehouse and
pool interests in the whole business.
2. That they would rent two rooms
and not pool.
,3. That they would rent the two
rooms in the whole warehouse if the
Union would employ the lessees at
the same salary as they have already
agreed to give S. C. Mitchell as the
manager of an independent ware
house.
The Farmers’ Union turned down
all three propositions and proposed
only that they would rent one room
at the same price paid by the les
sees. Definite action, however, was
postponed until next Friday.
H. H. Bass and A. E. Futral, eith
er one, stated that they would be
willing to stand back of the contract
to employ all three of the men men
tioned, Messrs. Mitchell, Griffin and
Drewry, at the price named, in con
sideration of receiving any surplus
‘ profits after paying them and also
paying the stockholders the guaran
teed eight per cent. —Griffin News.
TWO PICTURES IN THE SUNNY
SOUTH.
Drawing a picture between twelve
and five cent cotton, John Ballew,
in the Inland Farmer, has many
things to say about the difference re
sulting in the high and low prices.
Elevating influences and a thousand
and one kindred blessings to the
world come with it. He says:
“And echo says: 1 Ours and our
children’s forever.’ Is it worthy of
our attention? More homes are paid
for and more fruits and flowers and
trees and shrubs are put out from its
proceeds in our sunny southland than
with the cash from any other source.
Employment with riding tools is fur
nished for thousands and tens of
thousands of the sons of the soil in
the cotton fields. Thousands of im
migrants dumped on us from other
shores find pleasant and profitable
pastime, and become civilized and
modernized working in the cotton
patch and coming in contact with
the broad and liberal cotton raiser.
“It clothes the world. It buys
the milk and medicine for many a
family and pays in legal tender the
smith, the doctor, the merchant and
butcher. Five cent cotton causes the
world to weep, the teeth of trade to
gnash, stand still or sink in despair.
The homes and the hearts of strong
men in conditions brought about by
low cotton are too sad to contem
plate, being far beyond my telling.
If cotton goes back wc are going to
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
lose our homes, trees, fruits, flowers
and all.
“Thousands of homes have been
bought on time and thousands of
hard-working, honest men have paid
out the proceeds of years of honest
toil in improving and beautifying
these homes. With just and equita
ble prices for our staple, we can pay
for these homes. The southern home
can be furnished with books, papers
and periodicals. We want to bring
out the great importance of stand
ing pat on the price. With middling
cotton at a bit a pound prosperity
smiles from the Atlantic to the Rio
Grande.
“Necessities and luxuries are en
joyed in the farmer’s home, and fields
and flowers are going out every
where. Improved tools are in evi
dence. The laughter of happy,
healthy women and children lingers
in the air of contentment. Farmers’
wives have their music and their
magazines. Farmers’ children, as
other classes, have educational ad
vantages and a higher plane along
social lines is attained.”—Augusta
Herald.
NEW YORK ABANDONED
FARMS.
It appears from reports of the Ag
ricultural Department that the de
cline of farm population which has
been noted in New England in the
past four decades has also become
noticeable in New York to an extent
that has called for some movement
to prevent a further decrease in farm
interest. It is shown by these re
ports that in six of the leading agri
cultural counties in New York there
has been a decline in the total farm
valuation of from 10 to 40 per cent
since 1880, and that the abandoned
farms in the State of New York
amount to an area of over 1,200,000
acres. Many farms can be bought
today at 50 per cent less than the
cost of the buildings thereon. The
government officials making this re
port say in their summary:
“The reason for the depopulation
and heavily decreased value in the
farms of the state since 1880 is not
because of any deterioration of soil,
but is due rather to the migration of
the village and country population
to the cities and Western States,
which began in the middle ’Bos, and
to the lack of any action by the
state to encourage the reclamation of
the abandoned and depopulated
farms. If something is not done
soon by the state to encourage the
upbuilding of the agricultural dis
tricts —a slight increase in wealth
and population manifested in the
last three years making the present
time opportune for such action —
the opportunity will be lost and the
state of the farmer will again lapse
into the unfortunate condition in
which it has been since the ’Bos,
with the prospect that the conditions
will become worse than they were
during the census-taking of 1900.”
—Nashville Banner.
The Texas Farmers’ Union will
build at least five hundred more cot
ton warehouses in the state before
the cotton crop is harvested, and
that will give the organization con
trol of about 800 warehouses. It is
expected the warehouse system will
prove a potent factor in the market
ing of the next crop.—Fort Worth
Telegram.
THE STORY OF A FALLEN
KNIGHT.
(Continued from Page Three.)
humble cabin which was to be their
home. When they ate their first
meal under this humble roof they felt
the delight and sweet repose which
comes to one who has a home which
is his own. No boarder or renter
can feel that way; for they are mere
ly pieces of human driftwood. There
is something about the home that at
taches to no other place in the world;
and a nation of home-owners is in
vincible, for they draw their inspira
tion from the home; while the list
less tenant has nothing to appeal to
patriotism. Bob Ingersoll declared
that no man would fight for a board
ing-house.
The people around Belleview, Mo.,
who saw this quiet man come among
them, say that he carried his posses
sions on his back. But he had hard
ly gotten there until he made by
hand a printing-press, and began the
publication of the People’s Banner
to spread the doctrines of your cause
and of mine; and often the bare
necessaries of life were denied his
wife and little son, who were more
than life itself to him, in order that
he might buy the blank paper or pay
the postage on his little paper, to
send its message of liberty to the
world.
The world has known heroes be
fore, and will know them again.
Some deserve their fame because of
their bravery; some endurance; oth
ers self-sacrifice. But the heroism
of the man who delves in poverty
alone and unaided, with his heart
centered on the common good, and
putting aside his own interests and
the comfort of those'he loves that
others might be benefited, is as great
as any.
During Mr. Thornton’s life on the
homestead I had many letters from
him, all full of hope, and reflecting
his happiness at having a home of
his own. He discovered the work
ings of an ancient mine, and on this
he labored his spare hours, hoping to
discover either a treasure in mineral
wealth, or to add a leaf to the sci
entific lore of his country. After
the campaign of 1904 was over
during which the little Banner was
a most valued supporter of our
champion, Thos. E. Watson, Mr.
Thornton wrote me only occasionally,
and now and then his little paper
failed to come. I finally learned that
he was in deep distress, that his
little son was deeply afflicted, and
had to be sent to a hospital. I sent
him some assistance, and the let
ter thanking me w’as the last mes
sage that ever came. For when the
early spring came and the wild flow
ers began to peep out among the
rocks on the mountain and the grass
grow green in the valley, he died,
having contracted disease at a meet
ing held in Bismarck to fester im
migration to that section. So prac
tically his last act was for the public
good.
Only a short time ago I learned
that Mr. Thornton in dying had left
his widow and little son penniless;
and that she is now working at the
printers’ trade in a small Missouri
town for a mere livelihood. But as
a friend of the departed she wrote
to me to know what could be done
to save the homestead in the Ozarks.
Circumstances with her now are such
that she cannot live on the land as
the law requires, and she must either
lose the land or pay the government
fee of $1.25 per acre. When her boy
is older she wants to go back to the
homestead, for she loves the mountain
home and the associations that sur
round it. But S2OO is a fortune to a
poor woman who must live by daily
toil, and support an afflicted son,
and unless she has help she must
lose this land.
It is not alone the value of this
homestead. It is the fact that the
sacred dust of the father of her
child and her life companion lies in
a lonely grave on this mountain that
makes the heart of the widow yearn
to own the homestead; and I feel
that it is our duty to help her to
secure it.
Some monuments are carved from
marble, and some are welded bronze,
but I do not believe a more worthy
monument could be raised to the
memory of a faithful and effective
soldier in our cause than for us to
secure this homestead and the last
resting place of Will Crittenden
Thornton for his widow and orphan
ed son.
I have previously written Mr. Wat
son in regard to this, and he will
give S2O; I will give S2O; there is
yet $l6O to secure. I don’t want you
to send me a cent; but if you are
disposed to help save this homestead
for the widow of as gallant a knight
as this modern crusade has known,
write to Mrs. Julia C. Thornton, at
Fredericksitown, Mo., and tell her
that you appreciate the work of Mr.
Thornton, and send her whatever you
can to help her hold this homestead
and to make a woman whose life has
been a hard struggle against irre
sistible poverty and adversity su
premely happy.
TARIFF REDUCTION AND MAN
UFACTURING.
We commend to the consideration
of our stand-pat friends the follow
ing statement, which appears in a
recent issue of that interesting publi
cation known as Daily Consular ami
Trade Reports, issued by the eDpart
ment of Commerce and Labor:
“Consul R. S. Chilton, Jr., of To
ronto, writes that, according to a
Canadian newspaper, the practical
■working of the new Canadian tariff
as exemplified in the period extend
ing from December to May, shows
that the result is a scaling down of
the duties which the consumers have
to pay. The average rate of duty
collected in the six months has been
26.74 per cent, as compared with
27.05 per cent in the corresponding
months of the previous year. If the
free imports arc added, it is found
that the average rate of duty all
round has been 15.81 per cent, as
against 16.31 per cent under the for
mer tariff; and while the duties have
been thus reduced, the manufactur
ing industries of the country were
never in a better condition.”
Comment would seem to be super
fluous. If Canadian manufacturing
industries “were never in a better
condition,” notwithstanding the re
duction of the tariff tax, how can
the standpatters hope to convince the
people of the United States, through
the advancing of mere theories, that
our tariff could not be revised with
out injury to business?—Washington
Herald.
PAGE SEVEN