The Savannah morning news., 1902-10-08
The FARMERS MEET
TWENTY-SECOND SESSION OF con-
GRESS AT MACON.
ONE THOUSAND ARE THERE
REPRESENTING ALL SECTIONS OF
THE COUNTRY.

President Smith of MacOn's Cham
her of Commerce, Welcomed Them
to the City-First Vics President
Jordan Responsibilities of MIR.
Flanders.
Macon, Ca, Oct THE twenty-sec-
ond annual session of the Farmers Ma
tional Congress was opened in this city
to-day. One thousand delegates are
present, representing all sections of the
United States.
Gov. Allen D. Gambler of Georgia
welcomed the delegates to Georgia in
a speech which was received with en-
thusiasm. He said in substance that he
had closed the Governors office in or
der to come to Macon and extend a
welcome to men who represent the no.
blest calling on earth. Upon the farmer
rests everything. If he prosper every
industry and calling will prosper The
men who have shaped the destinies o.
the republic since it was born were far
mers or the sons of farmers.
The Governor said the farmers of
the country did well in selecting Geor~
gia as the place to meet this year,
state which owes her greatness to her
sens who have titled the soil.
Referring to the race problem, the
!. Governor said Georgia had her burden
to bear and she was doing it. and that
the condition of the negro in Georgia
was better than in many other states;
he was bsing educated without discrim-
nation; had an equal protection under
the laws, and was taught that Georgia
was the best state for a good negro,
and the worst state for a bad negro.
The Governor said in the exercise of
his authority as Governor he had been
compelled to listen many times to the
pleas of negroes, and he had never al
lowed himself 10 think of them save
as men entitled to equal and exact JUS
tice under the laws. 1t was no time to
enter into a discussion of past differ
ences. The men who fought under the
Stars and Stripes believed they were
right, and the men who fought under
the Stars and Bars thought they were
right.
The Governor said Georgia, with her
land devastated, her homes darkened
with mourning, through the reconstruc-
ton period, had succeeded because her
| life of any place on earth. To that
Georgia, and in her behalf, he extended
a cordial welcome to the delegates, and
| babe them God-speed in the work that
! called them together.
George A. Smith, president of the
Chamber of Commerce, rendered a well
come on behalf of the city of Macon.
Hon. Harvie Jordan, first vice president
of the Farmers Congress, responded
for the convention.
NIr. Flanders Address,
Mr.. Flanders said in part:
I'VE have lived to see the demand
for agricultural education which should
educate the boys back toward the farm,
that should educate in the calling of
the agriculturist so that that calling
might be dignified also with the title
of profession grow until to-day we
stand upon a prominence down which
we can look into the years that have
gone by and see the path made by
this steady progress, and 1 am thank
full to say that that prominence upon
which we stand is the result of the
recorded will of forty-three states of
this Union, to the effect that education
shall be provided for among those who
are pursuing agriculture for a living,
to the end that they may unlock the
secrets in the laboratory of nature in
such a way that they may make use
of her greatest ability without impov-
erishing her strength or injuring her
future usefulness.
THE granaries of the world are be-
ing filled until to-day we are con-
fronted with the fact that in the United
States five and two-thirds millions
farms are producing five and one-half
billion dollars worth of agricultural
products, a sum said to be much in
excess of the total income of the farm
ers at any other time in their history
in this country. This year we are rails
ing in the United States as much corn
as was raised in the world last year.
THE education that has been going
on in the interest of the agriculturist
during the last thirty years has pro-
duced wonderful results, but all, or
nearly so, are upon one side of this
two-S sided question, viz: Upon the side
of production without touching the
question of distribution, of the ques-
ton of the relation of the agriculturist
to the government or governments I'M
der which he lives and by virtue of
which he is protected. We are living
in an age of combinations, an age when
corporations and corporate interes is
unite for purposes which to them seem
wise and just, an age when the labor
element is organized for purposes which
which capital, generally speaking, is
organized and combined for reasons
which to it seem just and right, so that
when any problem arises from the
question of distribution to the
question of legislation they are
prepared at short notice to deter
mine what action should be taken, and
then act as a unit. What is true of
these combinations is not true of the
agricultural population, and yet that
population is 1929 of the entire num-
Der engaged in the industrial pursuits
of this country. The scope of our edu-
cational work should now be such that
it will extend to this class of our pop
ulation as much information as pos
sible through some kind of an organi-
zation or by some means best suited
to that end, the fundamental principles
involved in economic questions of the
times and of their political duties and
obligations to themselves and others
through the government or govern
ments under which they live. In other
words, the theories and fundamental
principles of constitutional law should
be taught alongside of the fundament-
al principles underlying the production
Of agricultural products. Those prin-
ciples are stable, undergoing few
changes. Every agricultural citizen
should understand that the govern
ment of<the United States under which
we live is government of derived pow
ers, that it has no powers except those
that have been conferred upon it and
that the comforting was done bY the