The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-06-27

mentf ] have.
n were asked what were the most
useful editorials I had written rite wi ,s.s
were Of any use at ALL, would select
two. One was on growing hogs in
THE Mississippi Delta, and the other
was upon the inoccnistion Of land for
alfalfa.
In the hog editorial were comments
on an article discussing the agricui-
turai situation In the Mississippi delta
In which Professor FOX showed that
II was fuse a. easy, to make q hog
weigh 500 pounds ~ II 10 ordinarily
70 make hog weigh zoo pounds. and
that on the same amount Of money.
The same agricultural man told me
story Of inocouiating land for al
fsifa. II was as interesting as ro-
nance Of adventure. II was more ABB
sorbing. because Il was romance OF
the soil
| You and know that. 100 years ago.
people were fnocculated for smallpox.
Professor Fox, In order to grow al
falfa In q region In which II had not
hitherto been produced, FASTENED the
process by scattering over the new
alfalfa ground soil from the old al
falfa region. And this brought an in
vestigation into the uses OF bacteria
and microbes and germs In the scheme
Of agriculture.
The strong nations have been agri-
cultural nations.
So let us put our own house in order
| ana let US keep our own house In order.
It fs my first duty as the editor of a
paper In q great city. to give my at
tention to the affairs OF that city. It
10 your first duty as an editor OF a
| paper In your own city and In your
county-seat. to give your attention to
those things that are close to you. Let
us build up the home. and then let us
build up the things that go to make
a home.
Now you may say that am from a
great city, and when discuss the hfe
In the country districts and the coun-
tries public schools, that I am speak
| ing without authority, that know not
of what 4 talk. was born on farm.
and in the days OF my childhood. my
life was clouded by seeing the acres
OF my fathers pass into other hands.
The negroes went away, and under
adverse conditions, and because his
FOLDER children could not meet the new
conditions. there were financial wreck
AMI ruin.
left the farm when wss IL years
old. ] remember It with the lawsuits
and debts and the tragedies of the
! foreclosures. My guardians saved
enough from the wreck to give me OPP
portnnities to secure an education.
: The first turn. however. was to that
thing which attracts boys. railroading.
Five years In college followed. and
finally this work. Then to Memphis:
then to New York and Boston and
/ Chicago and back to Memphis.
A few years ago Journeyed to KEN
lucky and visited the graves of my
father and mother. Across the grave
yard there was a cow-path, The child
rem of other people waded in the
streams where I played when a boy.
Other mems children swung from tree
to tree, gathered In the red apples In
June and followed the reaper that
grain. bought the old farm back. I
thought I knew all about farming.
Was not / reared on, a farm? In his
day. my father was >one of the best
farmers in his county. He had the
finest cattle and the best horses and
owned negroes.
But 1 quickly found that the old way
was no longer successful. The man
doing the work as 1t was done ten
years ago against modern conditions,
stands no more chance than men In
close order would, armed with smooth
bore muskets, attempting to capture a
battery of Gatiing guns.
| And this thing of the f1ntlock
against the Krag-Jorgensen~a to the
farm in my case. applies to many
things throughout the length and
breadth of this glorious and beautiful
South. In commerce. in education, In
science, in newspaperdon., In law and
In medicine. the soldier Of work must
that any man in any work this day, to
make success absolutely sure must
have a trained mind ana 8a trained
hand And thisssaPplies to the man
4 who digs q ditch. who salts the cattle
ana pals the COW, just as much as It
does to him who stands in the bar of
the Supreme Court of the United
States.
The time 10 here. Mr.. Country Editor.
for you to hammer and hammer and
hammer at this fact The time Is here
for you to take mp this work at your
own home, or IL this work has already
lbeen taken up. to drive Il along. You
are bigger man In your own COM
muuity than I am in mine. Your work
Is cut out for you. Go to It.
What q, wonderful state is this Ala
bama! Coal iron. cotton, lumber and
grain. To the North. a replica of the
glorious bluegrass region OF my own
native state. To the South, washed by
the blue waters of the Gulf. Railroads
in every direction. Rivers: you have
more water courses. believe, than any
other Southern state. Climate; for ten
months in the year you can live in the
open. What q wonderful field for your
EFFORT What is the one thing that
holds you back?
Personal Politics.
| come not here to criticize you for
your prohibition or for your anti
prohibition. That il your affair. not
mine. i am not here to criticize your
railroad legislation. That Is also your
affair. not mine. have nothing to say
for or against your governor That is
assertion on the prohibition question.
because, with US, the prohibition law
will be in effect, so far as II Is writ
mark In passing. though. that when
the law is on the books. 1t is the duty
| of every good citizen to obey that law
And II is the duty of every officer to
| enforce that law. No man Is a law
to himself. No man has the right to
saw that which is written in the law
books does not bind him. The law, in
the course of time. may become dead
letter, but that law only becomes a
dead letter because the conditions
under which 1t was passed have
changed, and 1t fails because there is
no longer the necessity of its being.
We have got to leave the admins
tration of the law in the hands of
those sworn TO discharge 1t. When
they fail to discharge II, they must be
removed from ONCE. We must stop
taking the law into our own hands.
We must stop lynching.
Nine times out OF ten, of course, the
victim of a mob ought to be dead. But
900 times out of 1000 the law will