The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-12-28

"a working together" and that
is what it is. Two men cooper
ate when they work with each 9TH
Ell for a common end. Such working
together is coming M )rc and mere
to be a necessity, although the fat
remains that farmers have learned
its advantages and profted by them
to a less degree perhaps than any
other class. The reasons for this
are plain to the man who studies
the subject a little; but it is becom-
ing plain, too, to thinking men that
it is time to change this policy
ime for farmers to begin working
together, both as individuals and as
a class, to bring about things that
will be of benefit to all of them.
1t is part of our creed, however,
that before farmers can successfully
cooperate as a class or in great bod
les they must learn to cooperate
as individuals or in small groups.
For this reason, while believing in
and urging cooperation of the farm
ing class as whole, we have stressed
the primary need of local cO-opera-
tion-of the farmer learning to
work with his immediate neighbors,
so as to help them and be helped by
them. When a man has learned TO
join forces and to get along with
the other farmers who live right
around him it will be easy for him to
work we'll when he becomes a mem
Der of a larger body of co-operatOrS;
while, on the other hand, the man
who cannot work in harmony with
his neighbors, though he may preach
organization and cooperation ever
so loudly, is not likely to add much
strength to any association or order
to which he may belong.
Right now the fall blowing season
is on hard. If Farmer A has one
horse and Farmer B has one horse
and both wish to do better blowing
than they have been in the habit of
doing let them combine forces; put
the two horses together and let A do
some sure enough blowing while B
digs up the bria1s and bushes, cleans
off ditch banks or something of the
kind. Then next day, if wished,
change jobs. Both will be better off
by having better work done and by
saving the labor of one man, and the
spirit of neighborly helpfulness and
interest will be worth much to each.
Then suppose A has three of four
acres of stumpy land; B four or five
acres; c, just over the hill, half
dozen acres, and all Of them feel the
need of getting rid of these stumps
so that they can do better work at
less cost. No one of the three
NAV feel able to buy a stump-puller
for his little patch of land; but if
they all go in together they can get
the machine easily, join teams and
forces, and almost make picnic out
of what would be hard job for any
ore of them alone.
Then that little strip of swamp
land that runs down from Browns
farm into Smiths; Brown can't drain
his part without having an outlet on
Smiths land: and Smith finds his
field frequently flooded by the water
coming down from Browns farm.
Wouldn't it be the sensible thing for
them to go in together and drain
the. whole patch and be done with
it?
These are obvious ways of coop
Grating with ones neighbOrs; but
there are others which most farmers
never seem to think of, but which
are we'll worth while.
For example. a man in the neigh
borhood has a good variety of corn,
one which he has bred up with care
and which gives uniformly good
crops. 1t will pay this man to give
his neighbors seed of this corn 50
that he may more easily keep his
own strain pure; and it will pay
his neighbors to plant this corn, and
to help keep the strain pure and true
to type. Then if the originator OF
the corn advertises his seed and ere
ates a demand for it everyone Of
them will profit by it, and the neigh
borhood will soon get a reputat ton
for good seed corn, and every man
will easily be able to get more for
his crop than he otherwise could.
Learning to cooperate with ones
neighbors in these plain matters of
business at first, the spirit of mutual
helpfulness will soon extend to 9TH
er things; and one will find himself
joining in with his neighbors to buy
staple goods in larger quantities and
at better prices, to market his crops
more advantageously. to make better
roads and better schools, to estab-
lish local reading rooms, to hold
local farmers institutes and so on
and on in a hundred different fields
of activity.
And so, having learned how much
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