The age-herald., 1900-01-11
THE COMMISSIONERS MEET IN LOUISIANA Culver of Alabama Replied to
 Welcome Address. HIS EFFORT WAS VERY ABLE President Stevens in His Annual Ad- dress Said That Nature Had Not
 Done More for Any Section
 Than This
HIS EFFORT WAS VERY ABLE

New Orleans, January 10-The first an-
 nual convention of the cotton states asso-
 ciation of the commissioners of agriculture
 opened today in the hall of the Louisiana
 experiment station at Audubon park.
 A roll call showed the following states
 represented: Georgia, Commissioner o. B. Stevens; North Carolina, Commissioner s.
 L. Patterson; Alabama, Commissioner l. F.
 Culver; Mississippi, Commissioner J. A.
 Redhead and Assistant Commissioner R. M.
 McGhee; Louisiana, Commissioner Leon
 Jastremski; New Mexico, Commissioner
 Charles A. Keller; Texas, Commissioners
 Jefferson and Johnson; Floradi, Commits
 sioner L. B. Wombwell twill arrive tonor-
 row). The convention was opened with ] prayer by B. NJ. Palmer. The address of
 welcome was delivered by General Jastrem- ski.
 Governor Foster had been invited to per-
 form that task. and had accepted the invi- tation, but hfs excelleney telegraphed from
 Baton Rouge this morning that he was i'll
 with grippe and could not come and dele
 gated General Jastremski to speak for him.
 General Jastremski welcomed the com
 missioners to New Orleans and Louisiana,
 declaring that the work which had been
 undertaken was replete with importance and vital interest to every one interested in the welfare of the cotton producer and
 the cotton buyer. No calling was higher
 than the farmers. There is nothing that
 can be done for the country better or more thoroughly than by the farmer, who Is the bone and sinew of the nation. It is the farmer who can control the prosperity of
 the country, and to the farmer the people 4l.,- ,,,t,,, thai.
 General Jastremsh urged the commis-
 soners to continue their good work and push the movements which had been in- augurated by the convention He said there
 was nothing the commissioners could do 70
 better the farmer that would not result | in bettering the conditions. He paid glowing tribute to the energy and fidelity of the commissioners to the farming interests of the country in the organization or the
 association, and insisted that the officers ! and members put forth their best efforts m the future, as in the past, for the upbulld- | ing of the cotton industry in the south. Cuiver's Address Happily Received
 The address delivered by Hon. l. r. Gull |. yer of Alabama, replying to the welcome 1 from the governors representative, was | happily received by the commissioners and ! the large delegation of state chemists ana 1 professors in state agricultural colleges. l MT. Culver thanked the governor for the | cordial NelcOme IO uile Clly oifu dSSht Si 1 him that the commissioners had no inten- | ton of giving up the work that was start | ed only recently, but under such favorable l auspices.
 "We find great encouragement here in | your own s,tate," said MT. Culver, and it l is with pride that we notice the rapid | strides the grand old state of Louisiana 1 has taken in the matter of agricultural | and material development. If every state | in the union was possessed of such staunch | and progressive citizenship as this state. | there would be less need of an organiZa- | tion, similar in nature to ours, then there l is today"
 | President Stevens then delivered his an-
 nual address. At the outset he said: "This day, which has been set apart for | tine first annual meeting of the associa- | tion of commissioners, looking as 1t does to | the upbuildng of our common country l and to improvement of the conditions of | the cotton states, is to be an suspicious enc. I am glad of this opportunity to meet with you and join in. so laudable an undertaking, remembering that it is for the good of the present as we'll as future genera tions Permit me, therefore, to of- fer a few suggestions in the beginning of our meeting for your consideration. For years the farmers of the south have been drifting into a condition of bank | ruptcy and demoralizaton greatly to their | own hurt and to the detriment of the com l mon welfare. This is not due to sterility | of soil, nor unfavorabe climatic conditions | Nature has not done more for any section | than for the cotton states: nor is it alto gether fair to lay the fault of failure to | our people, for as a class they have work | ed industriously in and out of season, but | they have not worked with any fixed pur- l pose of permanent benefit in the end. | have for years been urging the farmers of Georgia to reverse their methods if they 1 would escape the conditions which have re- | suited from a lack of diversifcation in 1 planting their crops.
 "The salvation of the people depends up- | on rural independence, by living at home | and raising home supplies; by cutting off | imports and increasing exports; and urge upon each of you, the commissioners of the cotton growing states, to call upon your | people to change their methods of farming. | It is true that for thirty years the balance | of trade has been somewhat in our favor, l but much can yet be done along this line. | The farming interest has been the subject l of much discussion by the press and peo- | pie of the south for the past twelve months. l so much 90, that the people of the rural l districts are seeking information by read | ing the daily and weekly papers and agri- 1 cultural journals. This is one of the im- l portant channels through which this as- sociation must rely in reaching the farm | ing class. by writing monthly letters upon ! agricultural subjects and questions to be