Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-12-20
PreSident-EIect DobbS, of
Chamber of Commerce,
Stresses Necessity of In
Creasing Yields of Farms

A great propaganda of education TO
increase the production, not only of
foodstuffs but also of cotton, in Geor-
gia, was proposed Thursday morning
by S. c. Dobbs, president-elect of the
Atlanta chamber of commerce, at a
meeting in the auditorium of the
chamber of fifty of the leading bust
ness men of Georgia.
3 don't want to see us grow one
bale of cotton less said Mr.. Dobhs.
81 want to see us grow so per cent
more on the same acreage and at the
same time double and treble our pro-
duction of foodstuffs.
Il doRt apologize for cotton. Crop
that brings a return of $500, 900, 600
needs no apology. To my mind, what
we need to do is to intensity our
production--to grow two bushels Of
corn where we now grow one;+ and
two bales of cotton where only one
Is now producted.
ITO do this we need to set about
great propaganda of education,
which will reach all the farmers OF
the state and which will have the
backing of every chamber of com
merce and of every individual busl-
ness man."
The purpose of the meeting Thurs
day morning was to encourage agrl-
cultural production. 1t was one OF
the most important conferences ever
held in Atlanta.
Carl j. Baer, of Chicago. a national
authority on agricultural develop
ment, told OF how campaign of ed
ucatiOn has caused an increase of
$40,0O0,000 in the foOdStuffs pro-
duced in Arkansas.
Now that the war is over" he
said, 1.-THE leading men of every coun-
try are trying to stabilize the world.
But they are puzzled over many
things particularly over the ques-
ton of food. There are 5OO,OOO.OOO
people in Europe who are more or
less in need of food. Under these
circumstances ii is the duty of the
south to at least feed itself.
I'VE worked all together to whip
the Germans. We must work to-
gether now 10 solve the question of
food production.
The problem of your life today
is before you. The thing you must
do is TO build up your state by
starting with the farm and then
working from the farm to the city.
Forget Atlanta for awhile and think
of the country around Atlanta. A
city in an agricultural section like
this can develop only as that sec
ton develops. Every farm is fac
tory and every piece of live stock on
it is SO much machinery.
"Some specific things that you
must do are:
Increase and improve the schools
in tho agricultural sections.
"Give every assistance to your ag-
ricultural department.
Give every encouragement TO the
Southeastern fair.
Put above all things the farm
ers must have the assistance of the
bankers and merchants. Until you
business men put your feet under
the same table with the farmer and
learn to aid him in every possible
tine unsolved."
DIR. A. NJ. Soule. president of the
State College of Agriculture, spoke
of Gorgias unanimous support of
The food administration during the
war.
when we were asked to save co.
300 barrels of flour for the allies,
we saved 100, 000." he said. I'm
proud of what Georgia has done"
He stressed the need of the busi-
ness men helping the farmers to find
a market for their products, but he
declared that Georgia has already
done much in the way of increases
production
"In ten years we have doubled our
production of corn he said. land
since 1918 we have increased our
hogs by 100000 head. We are rails
ing 100000 more cattle than we had
q few years ago"
He said that the business men and
merchants were cooperating with
the farmers.
]. ]. Brown. state commissioner %
agriculture. said that a meeting of
the various state commissioners in
the south would be held soon I'm New
Orleans at which he understood that
q decrease of % to 80 Der cent IT,
the cotton acreage would be urged
w C. Lanier. president Of the
Georgia Bankers association. said
that the business men ARE letting
the farmer too much alone" that
they weren't doing enough for edu-
uc7 tion in the agricultural districts.
He urged that Georgia raise ev-
erything it needs and not he forced
to go TO any outside markets for
foodstIIffS