Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-02-03
MORE FARMERS AND
WISE CULTIVATION
NEEDED FOR SOUTH
President Branson, of State
Normal School, Says That
Economic Salvation Lies in
Host of Small Farmers

state Normal school. in letter which
ne has written 10 The Atlanta Semi
Weekly Journal
IN his letter President Brsnson says:
The economic salvation OF the south
depends upon q multiplied host Of small
farmers. who live on and cultivate the
farms they own The one-horse crop
per. or better still the two-horse crop
per. who owns his own farm is the most
important man In Georgia economics to-
day The Industrial future OF the south
is assured. but IL is future OF inous-
trial city civilization The agricultural
future OF the south needs equally 20 De
assured, or we shall in the long run pay
an inevitable penalty
his letters follows In full:
Athens. &C.. Jan. Is, 1911.
Editor The Journal;
IN the Semi-Weekly Journal January
a. / and sixty-two distinct articles and
items ON various phases OF better farm
Enx. better business and better live
Ing on the farm. We can both recoI-
lect the day when the big dailies or
the country ignored such items and
left them to the farm journals This
change OF attitude IN the daily press
il Z good omen. II means immense
enlargement OF vision and patriotic
concern for the common veal. con-
Eratulate you heartilys
Preserving the balance between farm
and city civilizations is almost the big
xeat problem that any state or country
nas 20 consider. Fat cities and a lean
<onnfrysice meaz- IN the end. the de-
sfructiou OF the cities themselves No
lessen OF history stands out more prom
inenfly than this The students OF hui
man life problems have long remind
ed us that the farm class alone pos
sesses permanent vitality that from
It's overflow the city population Is
formed, displaced and renewed that
any cftv. n left to itself, would die
out in four generations: that the rural
life problem is the national problem
stated a few generations in advance
II the city we're not reinforced from
the feids. says Mr.. Emerson. ii would
have rotted. exploded ana disappeared
LONG ago. Il has been the history OF
needless great cities ever since the
days Of Nineveh-
LESSON OF TO-DAY.
In Great Britain four-dfths OF All
the people live in cities. -Four mii-
lion acres OF food-producing land In
TIE plouman in the last thirty-hve
years. Fewer than million farmers
are left on tire land In the last sixty
rears Great Britain and ireland lost
- uoe.oe8 a1nigrants and gIeso0e,0ee.-
e4o ia agrlcultnral values
Macauiay' dreamed that in some fu-
fare day a stray traveller might, per-
chance, stand upon broken arch OF
London and look about upon a desolate
waste IL sounded like a joke TO the
people OF his day, but Ii sounds Ike
a<fateful warning 20 present-oay
statesmen in England, now that her
civilization IS at last in the melting
pot
preserved the balance between her rural
and her urban civilizations Her cities
have fattened upon the life of the farm
regions. and they realize that their
Industrial city civilization is at last N
dire peril
s- New England has not preserved this
balance: and the same thing Is true OF
View York, Maryland. Ohio, Indiana. II
isnofs and Iowa In every one of these
states Il IS the old story OF wealth
accommodating in the cities and man
hood decaying on the farms. mil
lion. two hundred thousand acres OF
Mohawk valley farm land in central
New York state. along the New York
central railway. within easy reach OF
the markets OF the metropolis. are now
basnr offered for sale by Chicago real
estate dealers at less than $50 per
acre
IOWA. ILLINOIS. GEORGIA
In prosperous Iowa there are 13ooo
school districts The schools in 2,5oo OF
these have dwindied TO an average al
tendance OF ten pupils or fewer; In 500
the schools have dwIndlsd 10 an average
attendance OF 70 pupils or fewer In
more than half the territory OF Illinois
there are now fewer people than 50
wear. ago But Il is also true that 20
x~ar~s aro more than one-thfrd the mill
Ia districts OF Georgia had suffered
loss az population.
Dwfndlinx population means empty
houses a drop IN rents and in real es-
tate values. less trade. discontinued
renters and laborers. feeble schools sano
churches. doubt, encouragement ano
nfaxnatfon Whenever community
Or county or state begins TO slip down
hfn in these ways everything seems
creased for the occasion
Were you aware. for instance. that
1aa churches in the south. of one de-
domination. are now without pastorsg
PRUsSIA's WISE POLICY.
Prussia has pursued a different policy.
Efrhty-seven per cent of the farm land
f. owned by 10000 substantial peasant
farmers. while 81 per cent OF the farm
land OF England is owned BY SOS land
lords who hold thousand or more acres
apiece Prussia Is land OF farm own
ers. England is a land OF farm tenants
In the pride OF ownership these small
farmers. on poor SOIL IN an unpiOpitcos
climate have made German agriculture
the wonder OF the world They are
hard-uorking prosperous and happy.
Not only has the total investment In
agriculture greatly increased. but the
country population has grown marvel
ousIy in numbers and In prosperity. The
city Industries Of Germany have grown
until they threaten England's trade su-
premacy In the markets Of the world
But also the country life Of Germany
has developed into a great bulwark
AGAINST Socialism The German farmer
answers, the argument of the Socialist
with pitchforks. In the pinch and crisis
Of EngIand's peril, she finds that the
great majority Of her voters are land
less multitude whose souls seethe with
revolt
The balance between city life and
country prosperity has likewise been
maintained saneIy and safely In Den
mark and Holland and half dozen
ether prosperous countries of the world
IN these countries there Is a maximum
per capita wealth with a minimum of
saupers and tramps. city tenements and
eIums.
sOUTH'S SALVATION DEPENDS
What am trying to say is this. and il
CONTINUED on Page Ssven.l