The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1917-04-18
MrTEnD MEETING AT
THE COURT HOUSE THIS MORNING
Food Production and Conservation Conference A
Great Success-Much Good Expected to Re-
sult-Resolutions Adopted.

!, He touched upon the fact that som
within the military age limit had no
shown due interest in the call of tn,
Country, and he urged that thes,
young men be awakened to the dut,
which confronts them.
Judge Hammer declared that within
the next year the government prob
ably will take owe a large part of thu
output of the factories and the pack.
ing plants, which would prevent ship.
ments of foodstuffs and meats to in.
dividuals. He pointed out the short
age of cars which has been exper-
fenced during the past winter and sug.
gested that the government probably
will take charge of the cars for Fed
eral use. He stressed the fact that
every section must take care of itself
and not become a burden upon the
government in times of stress.
He declared that the time has gone
when a planter can raise his bale of
cotton, haul it to town, sell it and
go to the store and buy what he
wants. He must raise it at home, ev-
erything that he needs and then fill
in with cotton.
Captain John A. Webb, of jackson,
was the next man introduced. He is
connected with the Illinois Central
Railroad system in an official capa-
city, his work being connected with
the demonstration farming of that
system. He pledged the hearty sup
port of the railroads in the movement.
He offered some excellent suggestions
as to how to change from a cotton
producing section to a grain and food
producing section.
Mr.. E. C. Mchnis, district agent for
the Delta of the Agricultural Demon
stration work of the United States
Department of Agriculture in a splen-
did address delivered from the shout
der and with facts and figures at his
fingers ends told the assembled hun
dreds of the exact condition that con-
fronts the Delta. He mentioned the
labor question first and told them of
great numbers of negroes who have
been lead to the northern cities by
promises of easy money and light
work. He explained how these labor
ers could be brought back.
Mr.. McInnis declared it was the
desire Of his department to increase
every poultry flock in the state, en-
large every pig den and raise more
milk cows. He declared there was
enough waste on the average Delta
plantation to raise sixty pigs.
Relative to the price of cotton and
the cultivation of that staple he de-
clared that it made no difference if
cotton brought a dollar a pound it was
the exchange value of cotton that
really counted. This statement brought
several "Amens" from different parts
of the audience.
He declared that the Delta raises
less than fifty per cent, of its hay and
and much less than that of; its meat.
He said that it was as much our duty
to see that the Allies we're fed prop
erly as to raise enough to eat our
seves. He stressed the necessity of
raising some surplus food.
Among the people present were two
score or more of negroes who gave
every attention to the speakers and
appeared to thoroughly take in the
grave phase of the situation. When
at the close of Mr.. McInnis' address
Senator Wilmington threw the meet
ing open and called for statements
from those present the first answer
was from a negro from the gallery
who said: "Send me a set of the res
olutions to Itta Bena and we will teach
the negroes to raise more corn and
cotton, and raise it better, and to hunt
out German SPIES" The negro who
made the statement was P. R. Glib
son of Itta Bena.
Several of the gentlemen present
and one lady answered the call for
volunteer statements. The lady did
not rise from her seat but spoke right
out in the meeting and declared that
"the women are going to do their
part" ve.
The gentlemen who spoke were: Mr.
W. S. Wingfeld, Mr.. Mike S%turdivant
Mr.. Ed Kearney and Mr.. J. R. Bing.
ham, the latter from Carrollton,i al
endorsed the movement.
A committee of three men from
each beat in the County was author.
lied by resolution drawn up by the
committee to serve as an advisory
board and to complete tn eorganiza.
ton of a Food Production and Con.
s%ervation Association.