Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1905-12-20
COMMISSIONERS TALK
Splendid Letter to the Farmers
From Mr.. Hudson.
lMPARTs SOME SOUND ADVICE

IMPARTs SOME SOUND ADVICE
Urges the Farmers and Producers OF
Georgia to Educate Themselves and
Take Advantage of the Glorious Op.
portunities Which They Are Heir to.
''Our Fathers in a Wondrous age,
Ere yet the earth was small,
Ensured to us an heritage,
And doubted not at all
That we, the children of their heart,
Which then did beat so high,
In later time should play like part
For our posterity."
Let these ringing lines from tle pen
of the great English poet, Kipling,
form the basis of this, our second
monthly talk to the farmers of Geor-
gia 1t is not our intention in this
letter to go into detail as to what
should be done on the farm during the
winter months, but to review in gen
eral way the conditions surrounding us
as people, drawing for the sake of
comparison, from the past and point
ing out as we see them, the paths Of
duty which lie before us.
It is, indeed, a priceless heritage to
which We of the South have fallen leir.
and 1t should inspire every farmer of
Georgia as he wends his way along
the dewy path to his field, to drink
in with the fresh morning air the idea
in It's fullness that the days task is to
be wrought, not only for himself, bur
for mis- posterity.
Owing to peculiar and unnatural
conditions, the low price of cotton, the
suicidal policy of raising this money
crop and failing to make a sufficiency
Of home supplies, the ever-present fear
of the bread winner tnat the home left
by him in the morning might be de.
spoiled as he labored in his field, has
caused an unnatural influx to the
towns and cities. This mas been a
retrograde move, but the time mas
come and now is when we must about.
courageously Stood by the old home
stead and kept alive the fires on the
affairs of our liberty and independence
as distinctively American people. OIL
course, these cities and towns must
continue to draw their very life's
blood from among the boys and girls
who grow up, as nature demands her
most perfect types should, close to
her very bosom; yet 1t is too much to
ask the rural districts for sucn an un.
equal share of her sturdy sons and
daughters, for they are needed on the
farms to work with their strong arms
and clear brains, holding with patri.
otic pride every foot of soil which has
been rendered holy by the baptism Of
the blood of their Sires Unless this
be done, there is danger of others who
are not in sympathy with our tradi.
tons and institutions becoming mas
ters and those for whom these sturdy
forbears suffered and fought, becom
ing "Hewers of wood an ddrawers OF
water!" Therefore, sons of tne South
look well to your heritage. Let your
thoughts be for the upbuilding of you1
homes, whether the acres around them
be few or many Be quick to grasp
time and laborsaving devices, and
thereby rise above the labor conditions
which so persistently appeal to your
wisdom and tact. Beautify your
homes; study your work and bring to
bear on it the same trained mind and
muscle, as do the banker, tne lawyer
the physician, the machinist, and al!
those who make success in other fields
OF endeavor. Educate your children
not away from the farm, but to it |
subscribe for and study your farm
magazine, keep in touch with those
who, with microscope and re-agent are
asking questions of nature and are
gathering in her secrets. Give to the
little lassie that is as a ray of sun
shine in your home-humble tho it'll
bean education that will fit her to
grace the home of either the one Who'll
grows up by Ter side, or the one who
dwells in mansion. Give to that
barefoot ad every opportunity in your
power to prepare himself to grapple in. |
telligently the more intricate and ex
acting problems which await him. We
appreciate fully the fact that all this |
is easier said than done" but We ask. |
what are you to do? In the very ma
ture Of the conditions, we cannot af-
ford to lag or falter, therefore, *For-
wardi" is the word
Do not allow the present price of
cotton to allure you into planting this |
crop to the exclusion of the rood crops
First, raise all those things necessary
to the life and well-being of man and
beast, raise them p!entifully. then 4
make just as many bales of cotton on
just as few acres as possible. Do not |
waste the timber on your farms, or
dispose of it for a mere song; but pre- |
serve the forests as much as possible |
Study your business a farmer build |
up the waste places and let not day |
pass that something worth the while |
has not been done, Organize anl
pull together for moral, social and
material uplifting, and for the protec-
ton of your homes, and in q few years
Georgia will blossom as the rose. Ed |
ucate your sons, not so much with the |
idea of entering the always crowded
professions, but hold before them in
your own life and example the dignity
Of labor and fit them as skilled me-
ehanics and husbandmen, and civil
Eation broader and better than now ex-
lsts will be the result Factories will
spring UP within hailing distance of |