Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-06-02

|
ground for city and country. 1t Is as
much to our interest to have order in
the town as 1t Is to your interest to
have order in the country. I admit II
will require courage on the part OF
both Of US to achieve this end. The
remedy, as l have said, Is the enforce
ment Of law, and the placing on the
statute books Of such other laws as
may be necessary to give officers OF
the law ample machinery. But public
sentiment Is the motive power, both of
law enforcement and of new law.
Another common meeting ground is
that you should encourage the farmer,
whether one-horse or one hundred
horse, to lift the mortgage he annual
ly places on the cotton crop. Thou
sands Of farmers have already cut that
abominable makeshift, but the ma
jority still employ the old credit sys-
tenn.
I do not wish, however, to over
emphasize the factor of production.
am quite sure that many of the alarms
wildly sounding throughout this coun-
try for men to return to the farm pro-
ceed upon purely selfish bases. Some
of their authors believe that increas-
ing the number Of farmers and in
creasing the productivity Of the soil is
to the veal Of the farmer, but a great
many others are urged on by the con-
viction that cheaper and increased
production mean they can buy eggs,
milk, butter, meat cotton cloth and
other products at lower nrice.
As to immigration.
There is a possible point of diverg-
ence between city and country regard
ing which the farmer and the Farm
T..t4 ak1ta alxV ,to-
represented. l refer to immigration.
1t has been broadcasted in many quar-
ters that we are erecting a barrier
against Georgia's development because
we wish to keep immigrants out Of
the state that we may have a monop-
oily of the acres This Is either silly
lie or a misrepresentation, according to
it's source. We realize that In order to
bring Georgia into its full destiny we
must have an abundance of the proper
farm workers. No organization will
more heartily welcome newcomers to
Georgia and more Hospitality aid them
In getting a start here than the Farm
ers' Union. But they must be our own
people. We do not encourage or in
vite-and we propose to fight those
who do-the incoming of such foreign
ers as can not be digested by our pop
ulation, as can not assimilate our in
stitutions and as can not respect and
abide by our laws.
It seems to me that there Is no es-
sential conflict between town and
country. can not conceive that as
thinking business men you would toll
crate the presence OF alien hordes
whose chief desire would be to milk
wealth from our soil and send or take
1t back home. Nor can / conceive
that you would tolerate foreigners
born and reared in such an atmos-
phere that they could neither under
stand our institutions nor cultivate
respect for them. We want In Geor-
gia, as I see 1t, neither racial, economic
nor industrial dyspepsia. We draw
the line between negro and white with
religious severity. There is nearly as
wide a chasm between southern white
and certain Europeans as there Is be-
tween the negro and the southern
white-measuring separation by diff
fering principles that can never be
reconciled. / believe you think with
me in this matter and that you Will
never knowingly lend yourself to the
bringing Of laborers to do works Of
construction at a minimum price at
the cost of. creating an after-problem
more expensive than the pittance saw
ed Dy tnlS eXpeQleHI.
Lest be written down as pessi-
mist, let me say that you can not real
ize the enormity.of the awakening In
the country districts. The farmer In
Georgia and elsewhere is alive today as
never before, both to his opportunities
and to his obligations. He Is turning
to scientific agriculture. He no longer
SCOTS at the laboratory or the agricul-
tural specialist. In Georgia he Is be-
ginning to own his own automobiles.
He is beginning to have running water
in his house. He Is beginning to take
his children out of the cotton fields
and put them into the schools, and do
ing that for nine months of the year.
He is taking daily, weekly and tri-
weekly newspapers. Rural telephones
dot the state. His wife Is less IN
bondage than she ever has been. His
son comes nearer getting the same
square deal that you crave for your
son than at any time in history. Re-
member that every city man traces
back to the farmer. Personally, or
through his ancestors, there Is farm
blood in his veins.
We live in a prostitution century.
In the cities the prostitution rules.
Life Is there at its easiest. Quick
transportation Is accepted as a matter
of course. Hours of toll are made
shorter and shorter. Salaries and
wages tend constantly to rise. Oppor-
tunities for education grow larger and
larger. Into the home, into the church.
into the theater, into the Office build
ing, in the clubs and in the public
streets are coming vital influences
that give life new zest and keener
meaning. You have your problems
here and you have your desolate
sordidness and your squalor and your
poverty. But you have not the COM
plicated and historically peculiar prob
lens of the country. The sharp con-
trasts between JOY and woe In the city
are an ever-present inspiration to the
down. -trodden man who hopes for re-
lief. $500
Shall we not take these conditions,
or the principles which underlie them,
into the country also? Indeed, 1t Is
not a question that put to you. 1t Is
statement of duty and of a neces-
sity. For your editors, your publicists,
your statesmen, your politicians, ana
your preachers may thunder forth
farm uplift" until they drop in their
tracks, but there will be no farm up
lift until facilities and conditions are
equalized as between city and coun-
try. You will not turn back the tide or
the farm until you place In or near
the farm the advantages Of the city,
Bringing town and country together Is
stake worth working for. Remem-
ber that the farmer is-an American:
Remember that he Is as patriotic and
deserving an American as yourself.
Remember that his ultimate necessity
and courage have turned the scale
several times when the nations fate
hung in the balance. Remember that
prosperity. equity in government, that
peace at home and prestige abroad are
the possessions alike of the farm and
the town. Remember they are not to
be gained in their fullness until farm
and town understand each other. AS
long as you try to achieve that ideal
which turks in the mind Of the small
est man you will do so hopelessly un-
less you have the aid Of the farmer.
Make him your partner. Do not be
easily DISCOURAGED If he temporarily
plays the fool or sulks, for his trials
have been fearful ones. 1t is worth
while to be patient with him, for his
gratitude and confidence once won at
the expense of persistent sacrifice Is
as the dew of heaven to the parched
earth.
That is my message to the business
men of Atlanta from the farmers OF