The Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Ark.) 190?-current, 1908-03-19
farmers EDUCATIONAL
AND
COOPERATIVE union
OF AMERICA -
A HEART TALK.
President Barrett Appeals to the
Hearts of Men.

Friends and Brethren:
We have just closed at Memphis the
greatest meeting the farmers of this
country have ever held.
In numbers, in enthusiasm and in
cooperative fellowship it surpassed all
the meetings that have gone before
and furnishes the most gratifying and
conclusive evidence that the Farmers
Union is neither at a standstill nor a
sluggard in the progressive march of
the times
From first to last the same harmo-
ny prevailed that has always charac-
teriZed the organization, and the plans
for the ensuing year were agreed upon
without dissent or division.
When we look backward and con-
template the steady and stately
achievements of the past three years
all that our great organization has
done and all that its splendid powers
make possible for the future-we may
we'll rejoice, and the spirit OF amaze
ment at the work may give place to
thankfulness for the grace that has
guided our efforts and the helpful har-
mony that has made them win
There is absolutely no reason known
to men why the Farmers Union should
not become-if it is not already So
the greatest business organization in
the world We are marching now
sturdily and hopefully toward that
goal.
We must inevitably mold the South,
the West and the North into an ire
sistible and beneficent company that
will sway the nation for the nations
good. In a great cause that is neither
selfish nor improbable we must help
ourselves, and in so doing help our
country to a larger and nobler plane OF
happiness and prosperity.
Who is there among us who doubts
our power or capacity to serve this
noble purpose in the history Of our
times?
The things that we fight for are
laudable and logical things The
claims that we make are reasonable
and righteous claims. The betterment
we seek must and surely will include
the betterment of our country and OF
all the people of every class. God
helps those who help themselves, and
we are best invoking the divine bless
ing and sturdiest when we stand stur-
dy and steadfast for the measures and
the party which increase our character
and enlarge our prosperity.
Let me congratulate you once more
that, in the face of panics and amid
prices falling everywhere, we have
held steadfast the values of our farm
products and sustained cotton at the
rim of what We ask, even though the
bottom dropped from stocks aud bad
securities. But for the banded strength
Of 100000 farmers, cotton would
have fallen from its high estate to a
5 cent value. The world knows this
and the world respects and hears a
body that can defend its own.
Two little words of counsel will suf'
fee for this message of today. 1t Is
better to single-shot one idea than to
scatter bird-shot suggestions over q
wide area of advice.
First-Let us make our farms every
where self-supportins, and we can
smile into the face of every panic
which gamblers are able to manipu
late. Let every farm be province OF
plenty, a walled city of industrial de
Tense. Let us SOW and reap from the
soil that is ours the necessaries of life
and we can then in any possible emer
gency forget the Injuries and defy the
consprators who would starve us into
industrial submission to their plans
Tickle the soil with muscle and touch
It with brain, and it will furnish every