The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-12-14

owner. explained that he WAS selling
at sacrifice because he was timex
pectedly leaving the country. | have
learned to look with dis;rust on s1cri-
fee sales but this seemed to be all
right The farm is in the fruit cOun-
try. the soil is good, the rainfall is
sufficient. and excellent fruit is raised
here. 1t seemed 10 me that the for
mer owner had not made the most OF
his property, which | attributed TO the
fact that he probably had not the
requisite capital. After making the
purchase. had a reasonable margin
left for improvements, and went mo
the thing with enthusiasm.
Il do not see how this affects the
needs of the unemployed of the city or
your duty to them, suggested Bull
lard
The judge did not seem to hear
him
THE man did not lie to me in any
particular" he went ON. "All that he
said was literally true, but there was
one point upon which l neglected to
ask information and he volunteered
none Possibly, he thought it unneces-
sary to say anything to city man
about the unemployed of the city"
What" exclaimed Billiard.
The judge waved his hand toward a
field
THAT was formerly NINE" he said.
1.-The unemployed of the city took it
away from me-"
What do you mcan?" demanded
the mystifed Billiard.
The judge waved his hand toward
another field.
That is still mine" he said. 1T
cost me something in labor and money
to get it planted, and the unemployed
of the city deprived me Of the crop
Billiard saw that it had been plant
ed to potatoes, but had run to weeds.
Before he could speak, the judge point
ed to an orchard.
THAT represents part Of my in
vestment," he said, but the unem-
ployed of the city say that it shall be
nothing but loss to me this year, as
other fields and other orchards have
been in other years"
Billiard saw the fruit rotting on the
ground and began to understand.
1.-THE lack of labor" he exclaimed.
'"The lack of labor" repeated the
Judge, bitterly. The country boys go
to the city, and the city boys and men
stay there, even when they starve.
Aside from my own trivial troubles,
is there no menace to the country in
that?"
May not the fault be with you?"
asked Billiard. There certainly is need
of work."
There is need of work. and here is
work." said the judge. The combina-
ton seemed to be SO favorable that it
gave me no worry-at first. But it
proved to be constant and bitter
struggle The farmer with the large
family of boys that he was able to
keep at home was the lucky one My
financial resources dwindled through
losses due to my inability to work my
farm properly. l could not understand
it. There always has been a cry for
work in the city, and here was work
that any able bodied man could do.
Inc few that came along in the fruit
season were of the restless, romantic
kind, upon whom no reliance could be
placed: they would move on whenever
they happened to take a notion. And
these conditions continued until l
found myself seriously crippled finan-
cially. l sent to the city for men;
advertised in the city papers; l APP
piled to employment agents; but it
was always the same story; many men
were seeking work, but it was work
in the city they wanted. and the farm
had no attractions for them. read of
restitution, Of appeals to the chart
table; of the deserving poor who could
not get work-and these unemployed
were taking from me every year the
little profit of my farm. | abandoned
some of my land, because l was I'M
able to use it; some of the fruit that
l cultivated proved dead loss when
the time for picking and shipping
came; l decided that l was spreading
out too thin the work that I was able
to get done. So l concentrated all eff
forts on the most promising fields and
orchards, and let the rest go. But this
made the margin of profits small, even
with success, and l was carrying the
load Of unproductive land. l had to
let some of it go, charging the loss up
to the unemployed of the city, who re-
fused to be employed in the country
opened a ledger account with the I'M
employed who would not come to me
in spite of my most earnest efforts to