The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1909-08-12
THE FARMERS UNION AND IT'S
PURPOSE.

l am asked to say something of
the Farmers Union. / appreciate
this opportunity. If ] shall be able
to say anything that will add one
mite OF interest to this subject that
Will cause my brother farmers to
more fully appreciate the dignity of
agriculture, its blessedness, It's great
ness. 1 will feel fully repaid for my
feeble effort.
Sometimes the public mistakes the
true definition of the term farmer"
Not every man who can walk behind
a half-starved, crippled mule and
grow hill OF beans Is farmer; not
the man who does services on the
farm as daily drudgery, and is con-
stantly looking for something better,
Is farmer. But the man who loves
his profession, who magnifies his
calling, who realizes that in til1ing
the soil he Is walking with God; the
man who takes business methods in
to accounts, who puts a premium on
scientific knowledge, who applies his
"Comstocks to his Cornstalks," the
man who knows how to convert the
sunshine and showers into profitable
merchandise, the man who knows
how to collect the nitrogen from the
air, and, in combination with the
gases of the earth, produce the ma
terial for the finest fabric that dec
crates, or the daintiest food, he is
the farmer. It is gratifying to note
that the term "hay-seeder," 'clod-
hopper" and "Mr. Corntossel' ara
growing into disuse. The farmer of
to-day ''doffs" his overalls and
"dons" his business suit and panama,
and drying his best team to rub
ber-tired buggy, makes his appear
ance in public, the equal in appear
ance and Intelligence of any class
on earth.
Secretary Wilson, of the National
Department of Agriculture, Is au-
thority for the statement that more
than one-half the people of this coun-
try till the soil for a livelihood"
He also stated some months ago that
the aggregate value of our farm pro-
ducts for the year 1908 was $4,000,
900, 900. There are 100000 of
cotton farmers in the South produc-
ing annually more than $6,00,000,-
900. From the point of view of
numbers and of productiveness the
farmers is the strongest class on
earth.
The fact is the farmer is the only
primal producer of wealth. 1t is a
mistake to say the lawyer, the mer-
chant, the doctor makes money.
Useful as they are, they only accumu-
late. Look into any store you will,
and find something the merchant has
made-not a piece of cloth, not a
bolt of silk, not pair of shoes, not
a suit nor dress, not hat nor a
bag of meal, flour, sugar, coffee, tea
Or anything else-an produced prim-
arily upon the farm. The manufac-
turer has transformed some of these
materials into more useful articles,
but he has produced nothing. Even
the great lumber industry Is, this
day, a product of the farm for the
present day farmer tends his trees
|
as he does his corn, or wheat.
If then the farmer represents so
important a place in the economy of
the world, what doth hinder him
| from organizing? The more intelli-
gent and stronger for the sake of
the weak, the weak to receive help
and impetus form the stronger, and
all for each others good. All other
classes under the sun are organized
, from the wealthiest railroad magnate
/ to the hobo--the merchants, the bank
ers, the spinners, the weavers, the
, printers, the binders, the doctors, the
) teachers, the lawyers, the preachers,
the gamblers the butchers, the bak-
, ers, the Church, with it's conferences,
, union meetings, state and national
conventions, Sunday-schoo1, Barracks,
Philatheas, Bright Jewels, Sunbeams
Cad infinitum), the cradle makers,
, the undertakers-,so from the cradle
to the grave there is a ceaseless
stream of organization. And where
fore? All for the betterment of their
. own conditions-to accomplish by
united effort that which they could
not do singly.
To large extent the farmer has
g been the prey Of many of these or
< CARNATIONS. When he had anything
Y to sell he has taken what he could
g get. When he has had to buy, he
q has paid the other fellows price.
r But what of the Farmers Union
r it is coming. "Dinna We hear it?'
J. Chartered in the state of Texas seven
r years ago with very small beginnings
it has spread all over the South til
, | there is not a Southern State but
;, has its organization of farmers. It's
!, membership now numbers 100000
of as loyal men as the sun shines up
a on. At the present ratio of increase
: in less than three years we will have
= 100000 of members. Fifty coun
ties of North Carolina are organized
- with $1,000 members; forty Loca
- Unions in Wake with 1000 member
: and the work goes bravely on.
. What is the object of all this
The protection of the farming inter
ests. That, simply that, and nothing
: more AS implied in it's name, thu
! organization is educational and CO
S operative" We seek to teach mel
o the Importance and dignity of Agri
: culture; that a farmer without edu
n cation is handicapped. We are in
It terested in and encourage public ant
e private schools and higher institu