Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1910-04-15
Mississippi News
90 OO
ADVERTISING THE GREAT DELTA.
Capt. Merry Urges the Business Men
to Hustle for Farmers.

capt. merry urges the BUSINESS Men
to Hustle for Farmers.
Plans for advertising the great delta
sections of Mississippi were thoroughly
launched by Capt. j. F.. Merry, general
immigration agent for the Illinois Cen
trail and Iazoo & Mississippi Valley
railroads, when he spoke for an hour be-
fore members of the Greenville Cotton
Exchange, outlining for them a general
line of action. The spirit of advertising
the delta's resources to the world had in
4 certain way preceded Capt. Merry.
Capt. Merry told of the Illinois Cen.
trails plan of gathering an exhibit for
the land congress to be held in Cmcin-
natl, beginning the last week in August
and lasting for thirty days. He urged
the necessity of having we'll versed men
attend this congress-, SO the advantages
of the State could be brought before
homeseekers in a satisfactory way. His
talk was splendid and to the point. He
said considerable about the boil weevil
scare, advising planters to grow cotton
in the manner advised by the agricul-
tural department at Washington, then
the boil weevil would soon be hunting
new fields.
But the best way to kill this de-
strOyer of your great cotton fields is for
you men to grow something besides cot
ton," he said. Il don't see how any OF
you can make money growing cotton
and buying your stock feed from the
city and your table supplies from even
your home markets. Prices of food
stuff are too high to continue this. You
must raise more hogs. You must have
corn and oars for your mules, horses and
COWS.
If there is any difference in your
cotton acreage this year, it is for the
BETTER" continued Capt. Merry. But
[ believe cotton acreage i'll the delta has
decreased. Still, it is hard for any On4
80 judge farming from the back plat
form of a car. l cannot say what the
Legislature is going to do about the ap'
preparation bill, which l am interested
in, but if it fails to pass the Illinois
Central will handle this exhibit not only
from Greenvillc, but from Nicksburg,
Greenwood, Yazoo City, Jackson, Clarks-
dale and Natchez.
You have here at Greenville the best
lands in the United States for the
IIOLcJ anu yOu Gail SION " N"lA0CJ "a
products the equal of any State. You
nave an annual rainfall that insures the
growth of a crop every year. Your eli
mate is good. All of which makes Mis-
sissippi an exceptional territory in which
to locate farmers from the Northwest,
who are just now looking for permanent
homes. There is no comparison between
farming conditions in Canada and Mis-
sissippi. The only thing is the Canadian
government spends millions of dollars in
the United States advertising their
cheap lands, while Mississippi does lit
tie or nothing in this direction.
"Mississippi now has fifteen million
acres Of uncultivated lands, yet it makes
no effort as a State to advertise its
farming possibilities. Other states like
Oklahoma, Texas, Idaho, Colorado, Wy
oming, Washington and even Florida
spend thousands of dollars annually in
letting homeseekers know of their cheap
lands and in extending to them a cordial
invitation to locate among them"