El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-06
To Stop the Farm Losses
Southern Business Men and Farmers
Unite to Make Farm Life More
Profitable and Desirable.
Frederic i FVast-fu
rAsHINGTON. b. d. No. g

C~ WASHINGTON, D. c, March e.
NJ Every organized agency en-
gaged in promoting rural
advance in the South viii meet in
Richmond, Virginia from April IS to
Is, for the purpose Of uniting on one
great comprehensive plan TO make
country life in the southern states
more lvable and more profitable All
told, there viii be more than 20 con-
4 Ierences taking up different aspects Of
this problem Unsenumental business
men VINO want the farmer to earn
more on his farm, that he may spend
more in the city, viii meet by them
selves to devise ways and means Farm
erS-reaI farmers. with the furrOW-
earth on their boot heels-wiu get
l0Selner 10 learn how they can
obtain more for their crops. state
county and district supervisors
oe rural schools viii plan methods
OF improved organization; teachers
IN the schools, professors in the
colleges and universities will find
out by the Interchange of ideas how
70 make themselves more effective;
southern editors and rural preachers,
IN separate conferences, viii map oul
the ways by which the press and pull
pit may advance the movement
With the definite completion Of q
federated plan Of action. every south.
erner, no matter what his interests or
occupation may be, Will have a chance
to do something to advance farm-lffe
in his section with the assurance that
whatever he does Will give strength
to this general union of effort. In
other words. there viii no longer be
any overlapping Of activities nor work
ing at cross purposes Moreover. as the
great majority Of SOutherners live on
the farm every advance in the pros
perity Of the rural districts viii mean
like advance to the whole body
polite.
Is For Southern Advance
The official name Of this convention
Of workers for better country living
is the Sixteenth conference for Educa-
ton In the South The fundamental
aim OF this body, when founded, was
to advance the general Well-being OF
the 10 southern states; and as an ia
mediate instrument to this end the
schools OF the section were selected for
Improvement. 1t was early discovered.
however, that the schools could not
be improved to any material extent till
they were voted more money With
this, also, came the further discovery
that the South was already voting a
larger proportion OF taxes to It's
schools than any other section. and
that the burden could not be further
increased without likewise increasing
the resources OF the population.
Now, owing to the fact that farming
is the prepOnderant industry Of the
South, the question of increasing the
resources Of the country Is directly
bound up with that of making the
farmer more prosperous Hence, by
degrees. the Conference for Education
in the South was led to the appar-
emily irrevelant subject Of improving
rural conditions. which il is now tax
ing up this year on a scale never be-
fore attempted
Training school In Marketing
In connection with this work, the
conference will hold a unique train
ing schooI in marketing for Southern
IA afaHr cd
many kinds Of successful marketing
associations win explain how these
organizations are conducted There
are now 1000 Of these cooperative
marketing associations in Wisconsin
and Minnesota alone, where they con
stitute the farmers sole guarantee that
he will be able to force a living price
for his commodities from buyers and
shippers. In the South. according to
DR.. A P. BOurland, Of Washington, D.
C., executive secretary of the confer
ence. the unOrganiZed farmer viii con-
tinue to be at the mercy of the or
gained buyer and shipper till he, toO,5
forms similar marketing organizations
A beginning in this direction has been
made at some southern points, notably
at Stanton Virginia, where the apple
growers have united, and on the east
ern shore Of Virginia, among the rails
ers Of potatoes, berries. cabbage and
onions There is likewise q cooperative
creamery in North Carolina. But over
y
has taken no vital hold
Once these associations are put into
operation generally throughout the
South, it is predicted that they will
not Ony increase the farm price OF
produce, but will also raise the stand
ard while lowering the cost of pro-
ductiOn, as well as cOnduce to more
neighbOrly feeling among the pro
ducers themselves
Another subject to be taken. up by
the coming conference is the tenant
evil, which the business men viii con-
slider At present DR.. BOurland points
out, almost One-third Of the farms IN
North Carolina, Virginia, West Nlr-
glnia. Kentucky and Tennessee are
cultivated by tenants, while in South
Carolina Georgia. Alabama and Miss
lsslppl the proportion runs to more
than twO-thirds. In the first group or
states % percent Of the white farmers
are tenants; in the second group, 1871
percent If agriculture is TO prosper
in the South, it is cOntended. this per-
centaEe materially must be reduced
for the tenant is q sort of agricultural
nOmad who rarely remains more tnan
viOusly. therefore, he has no permanent
interest in the community where ne
happens to be for the time, he VIII not
vote for better schools, and Often-t1mes
viii not even send his children 10
such schools as there are. ne TO the
soil without mercy. for he expects to
get only one crop out of it, while ms
Incidence. ignorance and general shift I
lesSness are said to be responsible in q I
large part for the fact that all or near
nowadays is centered In the cities
cheap Money For Farmers
After laying plans to meet the evil, |
the business men who viii attend the !
conference viii take up the further /
question Of obtaining cheap money for |
the farmer As things are now, when