Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-03-09
RAISE MoisE FOOD CROPS.
Harrett Says Avoid Planting Big Cot
ton Crops this Year.


the National Farmers Union, has
sounded another note Of warning to
the farmers Of the South.
3 "The way for members of the
Farmers Union to kill the effect of
future panics, so far as they are con-
food stuffs, for man and beast, to
run the farm" he says
Here Is what he has to say to the
farmers, and it comes straight from
the shoulder:
ITO the Officers and Members of the
5 Farmers Union:
lid in the fall Of 1907 we had flnan-
cial stringency in this country a
sort of near-panic, but near enough
to embarrass thousands Of Southern
business men. Do you remember
how 1t affected you?
The way for members of the
Farmers Union to kill the effect OF
future panics, so far as they are con-
cerned, Is to raise at home all the
food stuffs, for man and beast, nec-
essary to run the farm.
THE procedure is as plain as the
nose OH your face, and it Is proven
by my own observation and expert
ence, and the observation and expe-
rience Of thousands Of other farm
erS.
I'm Campbell county, Georgia,
where | live, I know a farmer who
makes cotton simply q surplus,
cash crop. The rest Of his land he
puts In grain and fodder and Dota-
toes, cabbage and other vegetables.
He doesn't forget poultry and eggs,
either.
This man side-stepped the panic
of 1907. He never has to go into
debt to the village merchant. He
never has to consult the village mer-
chant regarding how luch or little
cotton he shall plant. He raises
hogs and at the first touch Of perma-
nent cold weather he kills them. The
result Is, that when he sells his cot
ton nearly all Of his proceeds are
profit, with a small amount he has to
take out for dry goods or farm imple-
ments.
Produce More Food Stuffs.
There are many thousands such
members Of the Farmers Union, but
not enough by jugfull. Every men,
ber Of the organization, every far
mer in the South for that matter,
ought, In plain, business self-inter-
est, to produce enough to feed him
self and his family the year round,
leaving cotton as crop to give him
ready money, but of no more I'M
portance than that.
ITO raise all cotton and ignore
food stuffs and grain is to go into
debt, in the majority Of cases, TO
your merchant, and to expose your
self to the full blast Of a panic
should one come along.
"On The other hand. If you pro-
duce on your own acres the things
needful to sustain life in yourself,
your family and your employees, not
forgetting your stock. you can abso-
lutely defy the pinch Of panic, be in
dependent of the merchant and the
banker, and be your master In the
true sense.
PLANT moderately In cotton, raise
your own food and the food for your
stock, and raise wall against dis
aster for yourself and your family.
This year 1T looks like you must
make the choice.
"1n the cotton season just closing,
cotton brought, as rule, high
prices. The crop was rot large, and
the worlds demands we're exorbi-
tant.
"Under these conditions cotton
brought good price. 1t will not
bring good price next fall. If you
allow yourself to be fooled by high
prices into planting a huge crop
"One thing that IS likely to delude
even the smartest of farmers: He
reasons this way: 4 know my neigh
Dor IS going to reduce his cotton
acreage and plant food stuffs. SO
I'll plant the usual acreage and
Of hic
Avoid this Temptation.
THAT way lies tremendous crop
and uncertain prices next fall. Avoid
the temptation as you would disease
or dishonor Plant conservatively In
cotton and raise a bumper crop Of
food stuffs.
Southern farmer has the greatest
'cinch' in all history? In the first
place, Providence has given him
world-monopo Of cotton, the one
staple that Is indispensable to ciyili-
zation.
1.-The nations must have our cot
ton, and they get it from the South,
though they can secure their steel
and their wheat elsewhere.
I'm addition, Providence has so
constituted the Southern States that
in every one OF them the average
farmer can raise the food essential
to feed himself and his family. with
absolute disregard to the mercantile
world
I'm any other section, In any other
country, ! believe the people would
quickly have gotten on to this mo-
nopoly and made themselves abso-
lutcly independent.
ut Is up to the Southern farmer to
make himself independent, to so
place himself that he can defy Danics