Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-09-17
A TRIP 10 oCoNEE COUNTY.
Farmers Organization Which Has
Not Missed Meeting In 20 Years.

the annual rally Of the Oconee Coun-
ty Farmers Union at Oakway, some
six or eight miles from Seneca, and
about the same distance from the
Georgia line. Up to within the past
few years this section was known as
"Nubbin Ridge" | was told that a
good rifle would have bought a l. ag's
estate many years ago because the
game was so abundant there was lit
tie need to toll at the plow or with
the hoe for living, and the crops
from the primitive methods we're
such that "Nubbin Ridge" was an ap-
propriate name.
Not so now. Some as fine farm
ing as | ever saw is being done on
the fine red hills of Oconee. saw
very little washing in the lands now
under cultivation. Deep blowing and
rotation of crops has revolutionized
the appearance Of the farms and the
crops show it.
More than a thousand people were
ut the picnic, and carried home with
them renewed determination to re-
vive the business in all the borders
of the county. We revived the local
union by restoring to membership
some who had dropped out, and ini-
tiating four new members. A whirl-
wind campaign was planned to cover
WhO1n n
and the best Of it is that the local
people made the proposition and will
carry it out. That is the kind Of
work that counts.
But to me the most interesting
part Of my visit was the narrative
told me of the history of Bounty
Land Union. In 1884 the farmers of
the section between the Blue Ridge
and Air Line railroads organized the
Poplar Springs Farmers Club. About
1888 1t was merged into the Rich
land Farmers Alliance, and about
1907 into Bounty Land Farmers I'm
ion. But the remarkable part of the
story is that for 20 years they have
never missed a meeting or failed to
have a quorum at their monthly and
sometimes semi-monthly meetings.
That is the kind of stuff that gives
one renewed hope for the final sue
cess Of a farmers organization.
Two of the good signs Of the times
IN Oconee county are their Mutual
Fire Insurance and Mutual Live
Stock Insurance Associations, both of
which are doing a good work. This
i is matter that ought to be looked
into by every county farmers union,
and is one of the surest ways of saw
ing money to the membership.
While up there | heard Of efforts
to entice the sturdy farmers of this
semi-mountain county to Middle
, Georgia farms by holding out the in
ducements of cheap lands. | never
hear Of such an effort without a feel
ing Of sorrow. And | am reminded
Of what an Anderson county farmer
said on returning from a 900-mile
trip to find cheap lands. When his
auto reached the top Of the hill from
which his home could be seen four
miles away, his son said "Yon's the
dearest place on earth to me-" The
father replied, "Amen!" and then
said to himself, You old fool, what
are you thinking about, to want to
leave the land you cleared and the
home to which you brought your
bride, and where all your children
were born, and from which some
| of them have married, and from
your neighbors, to go away to strange
people and at your age try to form
new ties? And for what? To own a
few more acres of land-you old fool,
thank God for His abundant bless
ings."
| was told Of one Of our Alliance
men who was such an enthusiastic
cotton-kept it lying around in his
front yard-until when he sold
something like 90 bales out OF his
hundred was rotten. And he is anti.
union and anti-alliance from that day
to this, with just about as much rea.
son as the Charleston county farm
ers, who Say they have built a $17,
600 monument to the Farmers Un
ion in the defunct Mississippi Ware
house Company. Just as if the ALI
ance or the union could upset tht
laws Of nature by keeping sound ant
clean cotton bales exposed to the
rains and SHOWS Of winter, and the
sunshine of summer, or defy the law!