Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1912-04-11
"Stand.P aters" And "Prc.
sressives" Among Far
MeTS
TEleTS
AS Well as Politicians, Says Bar
rett-Which Pas Best.

To the Officers and Members of the
Farmers Union:
We hear much today about the
"standpatters" and "progressives" in
the two political parties, not to
mention the socialists and three or
four other more or less important
groups.
There are "standpatters" and pre-
gressives" among farmers as we'll
as politicians, and I am pinning my
faith and the future of the farmer
in America, to the latter class every
time.
''he standpat farmer believes he
has learned everything about his
business and that no one can show
him any new tricks or any better
method Generally he is the fell
low who inherited his calling from
his father, and has made no effort
to improve tie method handed
down from sire to son.
He ridiculeS scientific agriculture.
Instead of subscribing for papers
and magazines that will keep MIN
abreast of what the laboratory and
the eXperimcEtor are doing for him,
he is content to go On planting and
raising by the way the moon hap
pens to sit in the heavens. How
can he save moneo by seed selection
and rotation, how can he get the
most out of his soil, doesn't seem to
interest him. His main concern is
in rocking along from year to year
in the old rat, contentif he skimps
through the season or gets an ex-
tension on the mortage that is pref
ty apt to roost on his roof.
Standpatter in bis business, he is
apt to be in his union, in his atti-
tude toward public affairs and to-
ward his own family. He is not
often found joining in whole-heart-
Ily in movements to better tn e
community. 1t doesn't seem to
occur to him that by making the
county a better place to live in, he
enhances his own happiness and
prosperity as well as that of his
neighbors, and does more to keep
his son and daughter On the farm
than all the preaching under the
sun.
The progressive farmer, on the
other hand, doesn't let his mind stop
expanding when h reaches the
voting age. He goes to school
every day in the year, and his
school teachers are many and vari-
ed. They may be agricultural jour
mails, daily newspapers, close Obser-
walton or the causes which explain
the success of his prosperous neigh
Dor Or taking warning by the man
ner in which the broken promises
of politicians or hand-shakers have
kept the farmer from coming into
his own.
Visit any agricultural community
in America, and you will find
the line drawn with tolerable sharp
ness between these two classes of
farmers. You are also apt to find the
progressive farmer is the prosper
Gus farmer, and the standpat far
mer the man who is complaining
about his hard luck and laying the
blame for his ragged children or his
over worked wife and upon every
source but the right one.
By this, don't mean that there
is a great deal in old, established
methods and inherited customs
worthy of adoption. Nor do | adj
wise the farmer to follow every
brand new notion coined by visiona-
ries or the peddlers counsel as how
to operate his affairs.
There is always a middle course
as between these two ext remes and
the wise farmer seeks it out and
keeps his feet in it. But as between
the two classes-the standpat or the
progressive-I should gamble every
every time on the prospects of the
latter.