Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1905-02-25

A brief statement OF what the Great
er Mississippi Association Is doing
and has done since its organization
eight months since might not be
amiss. As many will likely remem-
Der, this organization was perfected
on the third day of last June, with
the purpose OF doing everything pos
sible toward advancing Mississippi |
along agricultural, commercial and in
dustrial lines. The work as outlined |
was at once begun and it is for those |
who read to say whether il has in
any sense fulfilled the obligation |
Here are some Of the things actually
accomplished.
1000 Greater Mississippi buttons
were bought and distributed among
citizens Of the State who attended the |
fair last year ana we're not ashamed /
for the world to know that they were /
Mlsslssippians.
A great many thousand bulletins on /
agriculture trucking, health etc, /
have been issued and distributed |
broadcast throughout the country. |
These bulletins have undoubtedly ac- |
complished great good, many of them /.
coming as revelations to the people /
outside our own State. as to health, /
conditions and other important mat.
ters,
$1,000 acres of land has been sold /.
directly through the advertising of I.
the organization Possibly much more /.
indirectly Several bodies of this /
land are being cut UP into small tracts /
and colonized by thrifty and good cit 1
liens who will work it themselves.
Advertisements have been inserted |
one time, telling of the wonderful ad- /
vantages of Mississippi in papers of |
the North and West with a combined |
circulation OF over five million copies. |
Estimating that as many as five |
people read each copy Of a paper pub |
lished, twenty-five million people have |
then heard of the good things in Mis- |
sissippi.
Special articles on the possibilities |
Of agriculture and manufacturing in |
Mississippi, and other subjects Of a
pertinent nature, have been prepared ,
by the secretary and published in |
prominent papers in Memphis New |
Orleans, Atlanta. Baltimore, Duluth, I
New York and Boston. Descriptive .
articles will appear in a number of .
such papers during this year and /
should prove Of great benefit to the .
State at large.
Aid has been rendered number OF |
publications for exploiting the advan-
tages Of Mississippi, one Of such being /
the Mississippi Hand Book, which is /
just out. and equal to anything Of the
character ever published by any State.
Preliminary work for campaign
OF greater energy has been done and
will be put into execution during the
present year. The association Is al \
ways alert to the best interests of
Mississippi and the cooperation of ev
cry citizen who has the welfare of
his country at heart is urged to aid I
in the undertaking.
Several hundred Of the best citi
zens of the State have invested dol
lar in a membership card and thereby
helped furnish the sinews by which
the war of progress has been kept up.
All are cordially invited to join in this
work and lend every aid possible
A friend from Copiah county sends
the writer a clipping from Il Philadel-
phia agricultural paper, warning the
farmers to let ginseng alone. The
writer goes on to state that those who
are selling the seed and young roots
at a fancy price are the only ones
making money out of it, and that
farmers should be slow in experiment
ing with something unknown to the
detriment Of a tried money crop.
While the Pennsylvania man may he
right as far as his section is con
cerned as to it being an experiment,
that would hardly apply to the north
ern section Of Mississippi, for the
plant grows wild up there and has
been gathered and sold for a great
many years Then, too, it has not
been advocated that any known money
crop should be neglected in expert
menting with this new one but that
small beds be planted to test the
adaptablity OF the soil and climatic
conditions to its successful cultiva-
tion. Plant Just as much corn, cot
ton and truck as heretofore, but give
this a trial to ascertain what can be
done with it on larger scale, Many
people are raising it with profit and
why not do the same right here in
Mississippi, where the plant grows
wild and is gathered and marketed
with profit?
There is a movement on foot to or
ganize company along with the in
dependent oil mills of the State for
erecting a 100000 refinery at some
central point, probably Jackson, where
the crude product can be refined be-
fore being placed on the market. At
present the independent mills, some
seventy-fve in number, are at the
mercy of the Standard Oil Company
which owns and controls the rehneries
and is empowered to say point blank
what they will pay the small pro
ducer for his OIL The project is along
exactly the right line When this
plan is put into successful operation
the mills can tell the trust to go
hence, or any old direction 1t is
high time that we were beginning to
break away from trust influences, for
the longer they are tolerated, the
harder 1t will be to break the mighty
barrier being thrown around their in
terests.
w. II. Richardson, of Louisville,
killed three six-months-old pigs that
netted him 472 pounds of nice pork.
1t is safe to say that Mr. Richardson
never missed the feed necessary to
raise and fatten these three pigs and
that the meat saved was almost like
drawing a pension from Uncle Sam.
There is money in the pig and the
quicker he will grow to a marketable
weight, the more money there is in
him.
In substantiation Of the writer's
oft-repeated statements that hogs will
pay in Mississippi the following rec
ord of big ones killed at Mathiston is
produced: Prof A. Graves slaugh-
tered a Berkshire hog two years old
that weighed 644 pounds On account
of the size and smallness Of his steel
yards he had to cut the pig into pieces
to be weighed and the different pieces
tipped the beam as follows: Head,
40; backbone. II leaf fat, 65; one
ham, so; one shoulder. So, and one