Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-06-02
Mistellaneons Aseaaina.
BARRETT TO FARMERS.

BARRETT TO FARMERS.
President of Farmers Union Makes
Remarkable Address.
| The address of Charles S. Barrett,
president of the National Farmers Un-
ion, at the Georgia dinner Friday night
was remarkable in its frankness and
In its caustic criticism Of the dema-
gogue in politics and his attitude to-
ward the farmer. Mr.. Barrett spoke Of
the effort toward uplifting the farm
err" and was frank in saying that until
] the hardships of farm life were ame-
liorated and he was given more to live
for, the effort would meet with slight
success. He took up the immigration
question and said forcefully that while
Georgia needed good workmen, she
would not tolerate an influx of unde-
| sirable sitiZens from other countries.
Mr.. Barrett spoke on "An Offensive
and Defensive Alliance Between the
Town and the Country for the Upbuild-
ing Of Georgia.
He said in part:
| At a moment in our history when
consider the prosperity of every man,
woman and child in this state and
country can be wonderfully quickened
| and the country, I esteem 1t a priv
ilege and opportunity to address your
body.
In the course Of my duties as pres
ident of the Farmers Union have for
| the past several years visited virtually
every state in this country and the
| majority Of the more important cities.
. have seen civic organization In every
phase and graphing with every con-
ceivable problem from that Of rotten
ness and corruption to that Of a simple
Improvement OF city life. l believe, II
you will excuse the seeming lack of
modesty, that l am qualified to Judge
the relative values Of commercial or
ganiZations, and I am convinced that
the Atlanta Chamber Of Commerce
takes precedence of any organization
of similar character In the southern
states, where 1t comes to fighting force,
cooperation and the ability to get
practical results. -.
Your motive power, as l see 1t, Is
that Of building and rebuilding from
the bottom up. I know that many OF
the most important improvements
making headway in Atlanta today are
the results of your initiative. I real
ize that other factors contributed to
the three million dollar bond issue
that signalized the real transformation
OF Atlanta into a metropolis, but l am
not guilty Of injustice to these other
factors, when / express the conviction
that the Atlanta Chamber Of Com
merce, its painstaking investigations,
its keen and diligent educational cam
paigns, and the untiring willingness Of
your wealthiest and most Influential
members to give their time gratis to
the city, were mainly instrumental In
hn /
make this statement by way Of pre-
amDie SD you may understand that I
appear before you and plead with
hopeful heart.
II I did not believe that your whole
membership had capacity for grasp
ing huge and complicated problems.
would not have consented to address
you upon a subject which SO nearly
touches our mutual commonwealth.
The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce has
In its power to aid In the launching OF
d movement which shall mean an Of
fensive and defensive alliance between
town and country in the upbuilding Of
Georoia-and II your people and my
people should succeed in formulating
such an alliance, they might safely Of
fer themselves as bidders for the graf
itude Of posterity.
The Farmers Power.
God grant that be able to conclude
this address without resort to plati-
tudes The theme OF the farmer and
the farmers real and imaginary woes
has been so often harped upon by po-
litical or well-meaning imbeciles as to
make It farce comedy in the mind Of
all save the very thoughtful. So that
/ run the risk Of telling you what you
may have been sick Of hearing when /
say that every man before me tonight
is directly dependent upon the farmer.
in Georgia or elsewhere, for his live
lihood, or for his wealth, and for the
comfort and for the dreams and ambi-
tions he cherishes for himself or for
his children. Consult your Adam
Smith," That wise old Englishman
laid down the premise that all wealth
came from the soil. The average city
man in an age the keynote Of which Is
competition accepts the statement as
an axiom, and straightway neglects to
analyze it. All wealth does come from
the soil. Whether your business is that
of selling insurance, of jobbing, OF
wholesaling, of merchandising, Of jour-
nalism or even of preaching, you can
not, IL you have the honest and the
intelligence with which l credit you,
escape the conclusion that your well
fare is ultimately founded on what Is
taken out Of the ground In some one
form or another / make hasty apol-
ogy for excepting the game of politics
from this classification. l did not do 1t
intentionally. For If ever any profess
sion, or vocation, or pastime, or what
ever you may choose to call politics, Is
dependent upon the man who works
the ground, 1t is that Of the peewee or
the broad gauge catcher. I do
not speak against politics as a broad
proposition. 1t Is as necessary In our
present state of society as air, food
and water. 1t has always existed In
some form since the serpent beguiled
Eve in the garden. Business Is full
of 1t.
But what I appeal for Is that we
place In front Of the word politics the
qualifying adjective honest" and In
front of the word diplomacy the word
sincerity" This may sound like a
paradox, but before l am through
am going to show you that 1t Is really
sound economic principle.
To begin with, the farmers isolation
has tended to keep him out of sympa-
thy with the man who lives in the town
or city. He Is less isolated now than
he has ever been in history, but his
condition is still sufficiently pitiful.
You may he a most unsocial and eX-
Cluded individual, but ii you i've ever
i'm village you have the conscious
ness of touching elbows, mentally
speaking, with other people. You are
not exposed to the absolutely crush
ing monotony of an unvarying round
of toll that does not itself vary. You
know that when you become bad COM
pany for yourself, and it happens to
the most resOurceful of us, you can
hunt relief whether in the shape OF
friends or by simply sitting on bench
in the village square and whiting
stick while you hear the loafers talk.
That is the safety valve in the village.
The safety valve is a little more ef-
fective in the towns. 1t reaches its
maximum in the city. For, If, as we
are told. the night has thousand eyes.
the average American city has thou
sand diversions, and it simply be-
comes a question Of choice.
From all of these saving and fresh
enng influences the man who IS max
ing bread and meat to 90 on our ia
bles is either partially or wholly eX-