The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1913-11-25
CONFERENCE FOR
THE COMMON GOOD
Continued from Page one.)

cause of the vast amount of COM
mercial fertilizers we use. Out of the
$26, 100000 spent in the United
States last year on commercial fer
tilizers, South Carolina spent nearly
one-fourth,, paying out $6,OOO,OOO.
"Intead of this foolish waste you
must go back and put green carpets
on your hills in the shape of legum-
eous crops" Too much time has
heretofore been given to politics, de-
clared Mr.. Watson, when 1T should
have been given to mother earth, in
trying to learn the best methods OF
production. The boys and girls are
now teaching the old man how to
raise corn and cotton, for they are
young people of confidence, ready for
any emergency.
More Is being required OF men ana
women today than ever before in the
history of the world. Whether or not
they are going to measure up to these
requirements rests largely with them.
You cant get the best out of people
until you make the people prosper
Gus. And If you don't go after the
average farmer in South Carolina ne
will continue to be the biggest fer
tilizer agent, and Lancaster county
is sending every year to st. Louis and
Kansas City for mules, spending 1or
them 100000, when these mules
could be raised here at home tor
800 apiece as against $500, the price
they pay. We are thus living eN-
travagantly. Our fertilizer bill alone
canals the value of the entire corn
crop of the state and if 1T were not
for Jerry Moore and the other corn
club bows the farmers would have TO
stop because they could not go aheau
without profits.
In conclusion Commissioner Wat
son begged earnestly that we take
stock of ourselves, find out our weak
points and then get together intel
Iigentlv as one man to improve condl-
tions. He quoted the words of the
late Mr.. Hartman, the great empire
builder, who said, "The first law OF
all our civilization is cooperation 10
improve the conditions of life lie
explained that all their efforts would
be dwarfed unless a working coop
Grafton was brought about. Refer
ring to the remarkable gains which
had come about through cooperation
elsewhere, he spoke hopefully Of how
we could do even more here on these
Piedmont hills, where nature offers
so many advantages. But we must
take hold of our opportunities.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The second session Of the confer
ence began at $3.50 in the afternoon
with a map study on roads and a talk
by County Supervisor T. o. Black
mon. Mr.. Blackmon discussed free
ly his plans to grade our roads and
build more bridges. He told of what
he had already accomplished, stating
that already he had cut out 4OO
ground bridges and had put perma-
nent culverts in place of them. He
said that the roads within a radius OF
eight miles Of Lancaster were the
ones which gave most trouble. Point
ing to the map in full view of his
audience, Mr.. Blackmon showed
that his efforts had not been confined
to any one section of the county, but
that he had done his best to work the
roads in many different directions
In a number Of places the roads had
become impossible, he said, mention
ing a specific instance Of where a
branch had been found running for
considerable distance down the mid
die of the road. The improvement
on the road from Lancaster to An
tioch and east will draw the trade to
Lancaster, which might go elsewhere
Mr.. Blackmon stated his preference
for patent drags instead of the split
log drags, and stated that he had
ordered four dozen of these which
he would place in various parts OF
the county for the farmers to use. He
stated that there are 500 miles OF
roads in Lancaster county and about
1000 ground bridges.
Mr.. BlaCkmon told of one man who
did not want to use road drag for