Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-07-18
GRADY COUNTY FARMERS
HEAR ADDRESS OF BROOKS
Thousands Cheer Great Work
That Is Being Done by
Georgia Union
Especial Dispatch to The JournalD

/ CAIRO, Ga, July 1.-THE Farmers
union of Grady county and the education
al interests generally were given royal
treat recently by hearing two of the very
section of the state. State Senator T. J..
Brooks, of Atwood, Tenn, and Hon. Jere
II. Pound, of GAINESVILLE, Ga, former
| state school commissioner of Georgia,
and now president of Gordon institute at
GAINESVILLE. were the principal speakers
over 5000 people attended.
W. c. Barrow. president OF the Farm
ers' union of Grady county. presided and
introduced Senator Brooks. Senator
Brooks came to Grady county recon-
mended as one of the foremost speakers
in the south along agricultural lines,
and he sustained with ease the high rep
utation which he has as an orator.
GIVES GOOD ADVICE.
Mr.. Brooks was master of his subject,
and went to the bottom of IL in a mas
terly manner. He showed that a hundred
years ago the wealth of the country
rested with the man who tills the soil.
but the corporate interests OF modern
times owned about so per cent OF the
wealth and that the only hope for the
man behind the pillow" Is organization
and cooperation He stressed the impor-
lance not only OF scientific farming, but
OF using the same care in marketing the
products and finding ways of eliminating
all unnecessary middlemen, arguing that
middlemen are not necessarily corrupt,
but are simply creatures of an unwise
system.
He emphasized the Importance of not
sitting idly down and bemoaning our fate
and waiting for some unheard of circum-
stance to watt US to better conditions
but emphasized the fact that the farm
ers of the south had 1t in their power
TO order conditions as they wished and
to become moral force for good in ev-
cry possible way. Throughout his speech
he preserved the high plane of reasoning
and logic that commended il to the large
crowd who came TO hear. Senator Brooks
is man who impresses one as being en-
tirely sincere and OF having made care
full and exhaustive study Of the needs and
achievements of the union. His speech
was strong. forceful and entirely devoid
OF anything that approaches prejudice.
His arguments in favor of making the
union even more effective were unanswer-
able.
ADDRESS OF POUND.
Hon. Jere NJ. Pound was then intro
duced by County School Commissioner J.
s. Weathers. Mr.. Pound Is among the
very foremost educators not emily of Geor-
gia but of the entire south. and his
speech here was the stroke of a master
hand. He traced the history of the
Anglo-Saxon race and showed that
wherever the white race had been from
the beginning of time to the present day.
his pathway has been marked by con-
quest for land and power He argued
that the Pilgrims who came to make set
Elements in the early years of this coun-
try were actuated not so much by the
desire for liberty in worship as they
were for the possession Of land, and said
they had secured liberty under oliver
Cromwell in England long before they
came to America.
So on through all the periods of terri
torial expansion of the United States, ar
gued Mr.. Pound. the controlling passion
OF the people was the possession of prop
erty. With the above assumptions he
came down to the specific fact that Geor-
gia pays more directly for the cause of
education than any other southern state
except one. and that the point where our
educational system broke down was the
fact that the people did not supplement
this from their own purses but are SEEM
ingly content TO put up with what the
state was doing.
He argued also that most of the coun-
ties of the state received from the state
more money in pensions and school funds
than they pay into the state. and ridi-
cuIed the idea that the people are being
taxed 10 death, saying mat We are taxed
more by our ignorance and criminal ele-
ment than In any other way. Finally,
he showed that the future safety of our
people, both educational and industrially,
f. lay in giving more heed to the necessity
for, educational advantages commensur-
ate with the progress along every other
line OF endeavor, and summed up the
whole matter in the words, Educate!
Educated! Educateiir'
II is estimated that not less than 1900
people heard the address of these distin-
guished speakers and il viii be a day
/ long to be remembered by all who took
advantage Of the occasion. Special thanks
are due to the Cairo Concert band for
the excellent music rendered for the occa-
sion The band met the speakers at the
train and played for them at the picnic
grounds.
MDANIEL Is PLEASED
Mr. j. T. Mcdaniel. secretary and
treasurer Of the Georgia division of the
Farmers union. who accompanied Mr..
Brooks on his tour OF Georgia. was pres
ent and expressed himself as highly
pleased with the outlook for the future
OF Grady county. and said that no sec
ton OF the state offered greater advan-
tages, nor seemed to have more hospit-
able and intelligent people than Cairo and
Grady county. He said that the crowd
would have done justice TO any section
Of the state