The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-02

The meeting of the Farmers National
Congress in central Georgia this year,
with excursions to Savannah and to st.
Augustine, incidental opportunities OF
using ones eyes and ears in Virginia
and the Carolnas, and the privilege of
convcrsing with a large number OF farm
ers from every part of Dixie, can hardly
have failed greatly TO intensity, in the
mind of any New York delegate who
does not visit that region often, what
ever conception he may have previously
held of the awakening of the new
South. In the case of the writer. the
fresh knowledge acquired has crystaliz-
ed into positive conviction a half-fOrmed
belief long entertained that the 'Go
West" idea is thoroughly out Of date 50
far as farmers are concerned, not only
because. for the most part they are
better off where they are, but also be-
cause, if they are determined to migrate
somewhere, the South offers now, ON the
whole and for most people, far better OPP
portunities and more attractions than
does any portion of the Great West
Our notions in the northeastern States,
like our railroads have run altogether
too much east and west: We should be
wiser to turn them to north and south,
and TO regard the Mississippi River rath-
er than the Ohio and the Missouri, as the
natural dividing line. especially as all
the business interests of the Southern
States lie with the North and the East
mot at all with the West-and are easily
susceptible under any sort of even half
way reciprocity. of enormous develop
mcnt, to the benefit of all parties con-
cerned.
Quite outside of the field of agricul-
ture. the recent progress and new vi
tally of the South must greatly i'm
press every occasional visitor. The de-
velopmcnt of the shipping facilities on
the Elizabeth and tho James rivers at
the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay; the
fine hotels of Norfolk and Portsmouth;
the great business blocks and public i'm
prov~ments of Atlanta; the factories and
shops of many kinds that are springing
up everywhere: and even the enterprise
of the daily papers of little Macon Zone
of which, the Telegraph, printed prompt
" during the congress practically Vcr.
batim reports of the proceedings, with
all addresses nearly or quite in full,l-
thasc, and many similar items that
might be noted, are merely Straws show
jrg the force Of a wind of prosperity
aud new vitality that cannot fail to catch
the attention of even the most careless
observer who goes south at Intervals Of
some years duration.
When one comes 10 agriculture the &C
tual material advance is, in proportion
unless YOU except the trucking" around
Norfolk and the peach orcharding of CEN
trail Georgia.-so small as to be almost
Insignificant; but the spirit of the people
is the same in agriculture as in other
lines the atmosphere of every farmers
gathering is electric with a universal
passion for every scrap of information
that may point the way to reform in prac.
tice and a broadening of the scope of
Southern agriculture: the trucking and
tho peach growing Indicate what can be
done. and everybody wants to do, and
TO see his neighbors and all new immi-
grants do. equally creditablc and pro-
fttaLle work. The opportunities are
surely there and the people know and
feel it, Northern and eastern farmers
should be very, very slow about chang
ing their base of operations; they should
look many times ere they leap once. and
consider maturcly whether any dissatis-
faction that they experience with their
present locations may not really be due
TO causes that it is within their own pow
er to remove. They should remember
that with the exhaustion (until the new
irrigation bill has had time to work it's
malefcent cfIccts) of the supply of free
land worth cultivlting, and with tho
present great prosperity of all lines Of
manufacturing and mercantile business.
the immediate future of the eastern
farmer looks far brighter than it has
appeared for many a year; and they are
generally quite safe in assuming. TO be-
sin with. that if they must move at all.
they will PROBABLY be wise not to 20 far.
and that in many cases their best
chances for success lie contrary to he
ordinary prejudice. toward the North
and the East. If however any finally
determine to make Il radical change OF
place. and the question is between The
South and the West. we are quite certain
that the latter should not be hastily
chosen.
Were there no other reason for prefer
rinr the South the great abundance OF
farm labor there at moderate compcnsa-
tiou is an advantage far too important to
be overlooked. Mr.. Stahl whom read
ers have known for years as q careful
observer of agricultural conditions in
Illinois and the adjacent states. declared,
in a paper before the congress, that the
finding of laborerS is the most trouble
some problem of farming This pro-
blem can hardly be said to exist at the
South. or at least Go speak only Of what
/ we have definitely hcardl. it can hardly
be said 10 exist in the Southern States
bordering on the Atlantic. The darllics
havc their own unpleasant peculiaritics.
some of them very serious in the eyes OF
an unaccustomcd Northcrner: rot they
arc always to be had-Which IS more than
can be said. of even inferior ~. Up 1T
Inc North and West: and there is 10 sort
Of doubt that if properly handled they
can he made to yield, as a labor force.
surprisingly large returns for the cost ~
employing HON. Nor is II only. as lnjSht
he supposed for rough and unskillcd
a. ri,