The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-09-16
FARMERS ARE NEGLECTED.
MORE THAN OTHERS

THE farmer therefore has not
only suffered in paying more than
his share to the tax collector. but he
has been the least benefited directly
by the expenditure of the money that
is raised. Read the amount spent
on ships and then figure, if you can.
what portion of that gets to the
| farmer
Need Farmer Representatives.
Take up the other large appro
priattons, and with the exception of
pensions l do not know of any large
| appropriation in which the farmer
has anything like his share in pro-
portion to his number These have
been some of the methods of dis
elimination. | believe that with
more farmers in the councils of the
nation, more farmers prepared to ex-
ert an influence upon public thought,
through the pen and pencil and by
the tongue, that we shall have a
| change, and that that change will
help to retard, if not to stop, the ten
dency now from the farm to the
town. But what, my friends. is the
danger of the concentration of our
| population. in the great cities? do
not mean to say that the causes that
l nave given are the only ones that
have tended to build up the cities.
Nearly everything has contributed,
! but these influences have all, when
! you trace them back to the cause,
| been operating, and the fact that the
farmers influence in legislation has
not been what it ought to have been
is one of these influences.
Scores Relating.
Take the rebates that have built
up great centers and destroyed the
small towns. Why have they been
given? Because the farmer has not
had a voice in the regulation Of the
railroads.
Il believe the farm is the great
training school, and [ know that the
| people from the farm have strength
ened every branch of business. but
my friends | believe as we get away
! from the country, as we get farther
! from the soil, we are less and less
! impressed by those great laws of ma
! ture that ought to have a controlling
/ influence in our lives. Man as he
| lives close to the soil lives close to
God. 1t is easy to teach religion to
one who sees the miracles performed
every day. 1t is easy to inspire re-
gard for the Creator in one who sees
! every day the handiwork of the Al
mighty and labors constantly amid
the mysteries of natural life. And
on these farms we have been rearing
, the men and women whose influence
have helped to keep this country
great and to promote the movements
which have for their objects the well
fare of the world
Law of Rewards.
But there is another reason why
[ am anxious that the farmer shall
have a great influence. AS l have
been studying the causes of evil, as
have been studying the abuses that
need to be remedied, l have found
that the fundamental trouble is
mistaken understanding of the law
of rewards. The farmer more than
any one else, is brought into close
touch with the Divine law of re-
wards.
The farmer knows that God has
given him a fruitful earth, the show
ers that are necessary and the
warmth of the sun, and the farmer
knows that if he is to convert raw
material into wealth it must be by
diligence and by intelligence; and
the farmer is impressed, day by day,
year by year, with the idea that his
reward is to be in proportion to his
merit"