Irwinton bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 1894-1911, August 18, 1911, Image 8
wirariiE AffIKRHW ’ \?J ^iiiiiaiMlMnKujnK^auisMMAitta£^ffiin^^KnMtMaiMMM .They are long, calm days o£ the summer time .When the world moves on In a. sleepy rhyme, And the stars at night have a patient creep As they lift themselves through the deep— They are long, calm days, and the nights are still, And the locust-scent blows across the hill, There’s a Sunday-sense through the live long week, When the red comes Into the apple's cheek. When the apple’s cheek takes its first red tint Then the brook-breeze breathes with the breath of mint, And the grapes grow plump in the sun and rain And the clover-tang drifts adown the lane, And the sky is blue as the far-off sea While the clouds are white as soul could be— We have found the good that we fain would seek, When the red comes into the apple's cheek. When the apple's cheek shows its first blush. There’s a lazy peace in the noonday's hush, And the swirls of dust In the road die down— But there is no roar of the noisy town, And there is no clang of the busy street, But the good world rests to its low pulse beat When the blush creeps on in a wine stained streak As the red comes into the apple's cheek. There's a dappling shade on the orchard grass And a shadowed laugh as the breezes pass; And the work-world seems to be leagues away In a place we knew in some other day, For the flowers nod as we walk along, And the crystal air is a breathed-in song— And the year’s best time is the wonder week. .When the red comes into the apple’s cheek. A Fine Distiction. "Pap,” said Mrs. Meddergrass, “there was a feller here today that said he was a pedestrian tourist from Noo York. I ’cused him o’ bein’ a tramp, but he claimed he was writin’ magazine articles about the country roads. Is there any difference be tween a pedestrian tourist and a tramp?” “Near as I can figger,” answered Mr. Meddergrass, “a pedestrian tour ist is a man who asts how fat it is to the next town an’ then hangs around till you ast him to eat, an’ a tramp is a man who asts you to feed him an’ hangs around till you chase him to the next town.” As It Sounded. “And were the school exercises pleasant this afternoon?” asks the fond mother to the dimpled child. “O, yes, mamma,” responds the little one, “ ’specially Willie Green’s piece that he recited about the dogs jnaking love.’’ “The dogs making love?” “Yes,in. That one about ‘ 'Tis sweet to hear the watch dogs on a spark bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home.’ ” Correct. “Gentlemen,” said the professor who held the chair of confidence in the Get Rich Quick college, "when •you see a man from the rural dis tricts counting a roll of money on the street and gazing interestedly at the tall buildings, what is the proper thing to do?” “He is,” was the response, which came in chorus from the class. Unappetizing. It was . some time after they had moved out of Eden. Eve was repeating her opinion of •what might have been if Adam had not developed such an appetite for ap ples and then blamed everything on her. “O,” growled Adam, “rm getting mighty tired of this eternal apple sauce!” Immunity. “Kitty Flirteigh says she already *has become engaged to fifteen men.” “Yes. But I knew her when she was a child. She was vaccinated twen ty times and it never took.” T is difficult for those who are concerned more with enjoying the luxuries and pleasures of life than they are in securing its necessities I to understand the feelings of those to whom hunger is not an unusual experience. And, yet, we are told that one-tenth of the American peo ple do not get enough to eat; that four-fifths of our wage earners do not earn in excess of SSOO a year. Living on such an income is like wise more or less incomprehensible to those to whom the expenditure of such a year’s earnings in a brief outing in the mountains, the northern woods or at the seashore is not an unusual experience. The problem of achievement of ambition and of success tnat confront the business or the profes sional man is radically different from that prob- lem of existence that daily demands a solu tion from 75,000,000 of people in the United States alone. This prob lem is, of course, most acute in those centers of population and indus try where great wealth and great poverty exist side by side in striking contrast. While poverty and misfortune are not unknown in the coun try districts, they exist there generally as a re sult of accident, misfor tune or disease, and not from the lack of opportunities or the discrim ination and injustice apparently incident to our present industrial system. While the problem of the poor has always been, and doubtless will al ways be, with us, that is no reason why we should accept with complacency conditions which, if not capable of being completely reformed, are, at least, capable of considerable correction. The increase in the cost of living in recent years has given a new interest to attempted ex planations of existing conditions, and various the ories are offered. We are told that the increase in the amount of gold production, or rather the decrease in the cost of gold production, has low ered its value, and, therefore, enlarged our meas ure of value, with a consequent increase in the cost of necessities as well as the luxuries of life without a corresponding increase in wages and salaries; that combinations and trusts have in creased the price of their products by arbitrarily fixing the price of the raw material to the pro ducer and the price of the finished product to the consumer; that labor unions have increased the cost of the necessaries of life by the increase that they have brought about in wages; and finally, the explanation is offered that supply has not kept pace with demand; that consumption has increased more rapidly than has production. It is unusual that a general condition is to be attributed to any one cause. That all of these influences are more or less responsible for the present conditions Is probably true. That a per manent correction of the tendency of the price of. the necessities of life to increase must be based upon a proper relation between supply and de mand, is at once apparent. A demand increas ing wit of proportion to the available supply is sufficient in and of Itself to cause an increase in prices. And any correction of the other conditions which may have helped to bring about the in crease in the cost of living must necessarily fail unless there is maintained a proper relation be tween consumption and production. The fact that in 1909 the value of our exports of food-stuffs de creased, as compared with 1908, eighty-seven mil lions of dollars, while the value of the food-stuffs imported into the country increased thirty-seven millions of dollars, making a charge of one hun dred and twenty-four millions of dollars upon the wrong side of our national ledger, shows that the consumption of that which we produce has been increasing more than has the production. To bring about a correction of these conditions it is apparent at once that there must be an in crease in production, and the question is how is this to be accomplished. We must either use to better advantage the soil that is already in culti vation, or cultivate that which is now uncultivated. The truth is, we must do both. Production in this country, as compared with other countries, shows that we are not using to the best advan tage the great resources with which nature has endowed us. The average production of wheat in the Netherlands is 34 bushels to the acre; In England, 32; in Germany, 28; in France, 20, while In the United States it is only 14. The same dis parity is found in fields of corn properly cultivated compared with those not properly cultivated. In a recent report it was stated that ap proximately 40 per cent, of the soil that was cul tivated was used in such away as to decrease, rather than increase, its productivity. The cor rection of this condition of inadequate production, due to lack of scientific methods of cultivation, must come from the agricultural department of the United States and the agricultural colleges of the different states. From these sources the farm ers must get the scientific information which will enable them to adopt not only effective methods of agriculture, but effective methods for conserv ing the productivity of the soil. The other cor rection must be accomplished by inducing a larger portion of our population to engage in the cultivation of the soil. We can all agree as to the advisability of the “Back to the Soil” movement. But how to make it effective and successful is another and far more difficult problem. Some time ago George Ade, the great American humorist, said in a speech before the representatives of the Associated Press that everybody thought they could ‘‘write a play, run a hotel or edit a newspaper.” He might have en larged his list by adding “become a successful farmer.” To put seed in the ground and see it grow seems so easy that almost every one imag ines himself capable of doing it successfully. But we know that farming, that is, successful farm ing, is both a science and a business. One can make just as complete a failure of farming as he can of practicing law, running a hotel or edit ing a newspaper. It would be worse than useless to encourage the “Back to the Soil” movement if it is not planned and executed in away that is likely to be successful. The natural yearning to “get back to the soil” that comes to most people causes such a movement to appeal to those who are well qualified, as well as to those who are poorly qualified successfully to do their part as cultivators of the soil. To go back to the soil is to the man of ordinary means and under ordi nary circumstances something like pioneering, and not every man, by any means, is capable of becoming a successful pioneer. To undertake in discriminately, unscientifically and without proper method and organization, to get people back to the soil will result in more of failures than suc cesses; in more of injury than of good. But this work can be accomplished in away that will be both effective and successful and which will in crease the proportion of producers as compared with consumers. All that is necessary for the accomplishment of this result is that the same fore sight and organization should be adopted in start ing the business of farming as is adopted in the inauguration of any other business enterprise. If men of means, who also have the disposition to help their fellow men, would realize that they could make a good paying investment, as well as relieve distress and suffering by helping others to return to thesoil in the right way, the “back to the soil” movenient would then give promise of accomplishing all that its enthusiasts have claim ed for it. Such a movement must, of course, be under taken on a busines basis; upon a plan which will promise not only a profitable return on the investment, but result in giving good homes and steady employment to many people who need both. It is easy enough to say to the poor of the large cities that they should “go back to the soil;” but for the successful accomplishment of such a result money, and considerable money, is required. One cannot expect to make a living on a few hundred dollars invested in a farm and the machinery necessary for its cultivation, any more than one can expect to make a living on the same amount invested in any other business. So, in the first place, It requires money or credit to buy a farm, and money or credit to secure neces sary implements, machinery, horses, cows, etc., to successfully conduct it. It will take from five to one hundred and sixty acres, according to the char acter of the soil and the methods of Its cultivation, to support a family. You cannot expect large re turns from a poor farm, or from a good farm, poor ly cultivated. You cannot expect to receive a re turn from a farming investment out of all pro portion to the value of the investment and the labor expended thereon. The difficulty in this proposition begins at once. Many of those whom we all agree should be brought back to the soil have neither the money nor the credit necessary to accomplish it. It is as to the method by which this difficulty can be overcome and this deficiency supplied that this article is written. There have been successfully established in Missouri and other states in recent years a num ber of farm home colonies, which seem to offer the best method for bringing people back to the soil in away which is likely to make the experiment a successful one. The general plan of these farm home colonies is for some individual or associa tion to divide a tract of land available for farming and fruit raising into a number of small farms, which are sold on easy terms or rented to per sons who desire to go back to the soil, with a cen tral or Jiome farm conducted in away and with the appliances necessary not only to encourage and to instruct, but also to assist those liivng upon the other farms; the idea being that the cen tral farm, under the control of an experienced farmer, will be a source of example, and with the establishment at some central place of a church, schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, creamery, silos, milk separators and other modern conveniences and necessities of the farm, the chances of sue ces swill be increased and the chances of failure resulted a marked benefit to the settlers, as well as to the people of the surrounding country who have been taught marty things in the use of t e soil by these foreign farmers that they had not known before. One of the farm colonies that promises the most successful results is a Swiss colony recently estab lished in Howell county, Missouri. Another settlement of similar character has been established by Col. J. L. Torrey, who was the organ izer of one of the “Rough Rider Regiments ’ in the war with Spain, and whose regiment through , the unfortunate accident of a railroad wreck was perhaps deprived of the opportunity for actual serv i ice. Col. Torrey purchased a tract of 10,000 acres upon the southern slope of the Ozarks, which he is selling to deserving people upon terms which ' practically place it within the reach of all who are ' looking for an opportunity to engage in farm life who have not the means available to do so. That Col. Torrey is Interested in developing good citizens, as well as good farmers, is manifest from ; the fact that he insists that every one of his ten ants, or those to whom he sells a farm, shall own an American flag which they shall, on proper occa sion, display from their Ifomes. These farm home colonies are all established on the same general plan. A tract of land is divided up into different farms with a central farm and village. The land is sold or rented on such terms as puts the opportunity to become a farmer within the reach of any deserving man. The profits or returns to be realized from such an investment will, of course, vary according to the size of the farm i purchased and the character of the soil. Horace ' Greeley said that a man could make a living for । himself and his family upon five acres of land. This is true of some land and not true of other i land. But it is true that with a small acreage i properly cultivated, with cows, hogs and chickens i well managed, a good living can be made on a ■ comparatively small investment if the enterprise is conducted with industry and intelligence. It is, i however, always dangerous to “count your chickens i before they are hatched.” The results in farm i Ing enterprises, as in other enterprises, will usually I fall short of expectation. Bad luck, accidents and other misfortunes will, of course, confront the farm , er. But if he has “the right stuff in him,” the land , will yield him a liberal return if he will use good ’ judgment, work hard and stick to it. He can then , be independent of the beef trusts and other trusts; enjoy luxuries that the city man of means cannot , secure, and view with complacency an increase in , the cost of living when he realizes that he is a , producer as well as a consumer. When President Roosevelt’s Country Life com । mission, after an extended investigation of condi tions of country life throughout the country, made • its report to the effect that improvement in the • social life of the farmer was one of our most im portant problems, many regarded this statement as , a mere academic or theoretical utterance. But any one really familiar with the conditions of coun try life knows full well that the limited social life of the country is one of the greatest disadvantages that now exists in connection with the cultivation > of the soil. To provide a proper social life is an i essential if the “Back to the Soil” movement is to i be made generally successful correspondingly lessened. The isolation and loneeome ness incident to individual effort in getting back to the soil is thus, of, course, avoid ed, with a consequent im provement of conditions of social life. Under the auspices of the Catholic church, and par ticularly under the direc tion of Archbishop John J. Glennon of the St. Louis diocese, there have been es tablished in Missouri a num ber of such farm home set tlements which have proven I both interesting and benefi cial. One was established some years ago at Knob view as an Italian colony, which has enjoyed a most successful career. There has MACON, DUBLIN AND SAVANNAH RAILROAD COMPANY LOCAJj TIME TABLE. Effective July 2, 1911- No.lß N 0.20 Stations? N 0.19 NalT A.M. P.M. Lv. Ar. A.M. P.M. "7?10 3?25 Macon 1715 4?30 7:22 3:37 Swiftcreek 11:03 4:20 7:30 3:45 Drybranch 10:55 4:12 7:34 3:49 Atlantic 10:51 4:09 7:38 3:53 Pike’s Peak 10:48 4:06 7:45 4:00 Fitzpatrick 10:42 4:00 7:50 4:04 Ripley 10:37 3:53 8:00 4:14 Jeff’sonville 10:27 3:42 8:10 4:23 Gallemore 10:15 3:30 8:20 4:33 Danvilel 10:07 3:22 8:25 4:38 Allentown 10:02 3:17 8:34 4:47 Montrose 9:53 3:08 8:44 4:57 Dudley 9:42 2:58 8:50 5:03 Shewmake 9:36 2:52 8:55 5:09 Moore 9:29 2:45 9:10 5:25 ar lv 9:15 2:30 Dublin 9:15 5:30 lv ar 9:10 2:25 9:17 5:32 SouMD&SJct 9:08 2:23 9:21 5:36 NorMD&SJct 9:04 2:19 9:31 5:45 Catlin 8:54 2:09 9:40 5.54 Mlntor 8:47 2:01 9:50 6:05 Rockledge 8:36 1:50 9:55 6:10 Orland 8:31 1:45 10:08 6:23 Soporton 8:19 1:33 10:19 6:34 Tarrytown 8:07 1:21 10:26 6:41 Kibbee 8:00 1:15 10:40 6:55 Vidalia 7:45 1:00 “ CONNECTIONS. At Dublin with the Wrightsville and Tennille and the Dublin and South western for Eastman and Tennille and intermediate points. At Macon iwth Southern railway from and to Cincinnati, Chattanooga, Rome, Birmingham, Atlanta and in termediate points. Also the Central of Georgia, G., S. & F. railway, Ma son and Birmingham railway and the Georgia railroad. At Rockledge with the Millen and Southwestern for Wadley and inter* mediate points. i At Vidalia with the Seaboard Air Line for Savannah and intermediate points, and with the Millen and South western for Millen, Stillmore and in termediate points. J. A. STREYER, G. P. A., Macon, Ga. Foley’s ORING Laxative la Pleasant and Effective I CURES Constipation, Stomach and 1 । Liver Trouble. ■ by stimulating these organs and ‘ restoring their natural action. 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