Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-07
OWN YOUR FARMS.
President Barrett Gives Good Advice
to Farmers.

President Barrett Gives GOOD Advice
to Farmers.
President Charles s. Barrett preach
es the sound doctrine Of the farmer
owning the acres he tills in a state
ment just issued to the members Of
the Farmers Union.
He declares that one Of the greatest
evils in America today is feudalism in
the country-the condition which
makes so many farmers mere tenants
of the land from which they wiring a
living. He warns farmers to buy now,
because farm lands are rapidly ad-
vancing in value, and In a few years
ownership will be a sure enough lux
ury:
His statement is as follows:
ITO the Officers and Members of the
Farmers Union:
"One Of the greatest evils America
is facing today is feudalism in the
country districts-in other words, that
condition which makes millions Of far
mers tenants upon the land from which
they must earn living.
Americans have fought to the last
ditch for their homes. 1t is humor-
Gus axiom that no man ever stood in
the last ditch for his boarding house,
and it is certain that no farmer is go
ing to discharge his duty, in times Of
peace or war. IL the roof that shelters
him is the property Of another man,
and the acres that feed him are simply
rented for a year or a term Of years.
1.-The entire nation is more or less
wrestling with the problem Of tenancy.
But it is probable the southern states
are called upon to face 1t in its most
aggravated form.
II know Of not one, but scores Of
instances in which southern farmers
actually rejected proposals by which
they might easily have acquired their
own farms. They preferred instead to
rent the land upon either a system Of
cropping or Of money payments which
in few years would aggregate more
than the entire cost of the place.
Such a policy, and it Is pursued in
the south to a ruinous extent, leads
nowhere save to dependency or indif-
ferent prosperity.
So that one thing the farmers union
has endeavored to encourage, has been
personal ownership Of the farm by its
members, against that vicious system
of Cropping by which the tenant Is
little better than slave to the land
holder.
The man who does not own his
farm, is likely to be almost constantly
in debt to his landlord. From one
years end to another his obligations
are perpetual and self-renewing. He
must consult his landlord regarding
what crops and how much of each crop
he shall cultivate. Often he is under
debt for the very necessities OF life,
and in a few cases have known his
type to drag out hand-to-mouth ex-
istence.
"I sound this warning now, so far as
regards the south, as well as every
other section of the nation, that at the
galloping rate lands are enhancing,
owning your own farm a few years
hence will be luxury. Today only a
certain amount Of enterprise, self-de-
NAL and thrift is essential. The pro-
cess is open to the humblest and poor
est farmer in America.
Hand in hand with home owning
should go the policy Of scientific and
diversified farming.
During the panic Of 1907 I know
several wise farmers in the immediate
neighborhood Of my home who raised
on their places every product neces-
sary to the sustenance Of man and
beast.
These men weathered the toughest
part of the panic almost in ignorance
Of the existence of such a thing. They
would not, in fact, have known OF the
existence Of panic had 1t not peen
for the straitened circumstances or
their less wide-awake friends, many OF
whom had to borrow money with
which to buy food brought from out
side the state, when that food should
have been raised upon their own acres.
I'VE are not yet immune to panics
in this country. The visitation of 1907
will sooner or later be repeated.
IF you raise your own food supplies
as well as food for your cattle and
stock you will not feel the pinch or
panic.
I'm this connection it is hardly nec-
essary for me to say that diversified
agriculture means you shall make cot
ton largely a surplus crop.
The farmer who single shots on
cotton is putting all his eggs in one
basket. He Is paying tribute to the
western cattle and grain dealer out OF
his cotton money for the supplies with
which to raise his cotton crop.
He is mortgaging his main money
crop before the latter goes in the
ground---and that is the worst eco
nomic fallacy that could be perpe-
trated
II know that it will require self
sacrifice for a time, the denying ones
self of small luXuries, both to own
ones own farm and perhaps to prac-
tice diversified agriculture. The game
is worth the candle.
Charles S. Barrett