The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1920-10-01
tensively cultivated acre. / dent

some claims as well as California.
I do know this, that from $500 to
$500 an acre profit are common in
Georgia, according to agricultural re-
ports in my hands.
They are very proud Of the fact
out here that California is only sixth
from an agricultural standpoint, but
did you know that Georgia is only
FOURTH? Georgia is first in peach
es. She is second only to Texas in
cotton, and if it were not for the area
of Texas she would be first. Georgia
is third in meat production. While
Georgia is largely an agricultural
state, her mining opportunities are
wonderful. I paid visit to the Cali
fornia State Fair this week and had
rather interesting talk with the man
in charge Of the mining exhibits. He
took a great deal of pride in showing
me an exhibit Of asbestos. Georgia
laid claim for long while to the only
asbestos mine in the world, with the
exception Of Wyoming. Georgia has
the largest deposit Of kaolin. She
has 142 square miles of coal; 175
spare miles of iron; besides her de-
posts of gold and other minerals.
The thing that impresses you most
out here is the bigness of the under
takings. These people out here are
accustomed to thinking in big figures.
They think in millions when they un-
dertake project of any kind. They
have to do this to get anywhere, be-
cause they have to spend millions and
millions of dollars getting their land
so it will produce. They have faith
in themselves and in their state. That
is very clearly shown by the irriga-
ton projects and other reclamation
schemes. have been shown one
tract of $4,000 acres that were for
merly overlooked lands. 1t is now
one of the finest farming sections in
California.
There is a project on here in
California just now that l want to
bring to the attention of Georgia
people later, and that is land set
Element project. California now has
law making it possible for the ten
ant farmer to become a land owner
easily. 1t is too big a story to go
into this here. But / want to call
to your attention this one thing. In
1910 two-thirds of Georgia's farm
lands were cultivated by tenant far
mers! Think of that! How much
more valuable these 100000 farmers
would be to Georgia if they were
land owners. The California bureau
of land settlement is in position to
give their new settler every kind of
assistance and information that he
may need. That is very important
One of the chief sources of failure
on the part of people going into a
new section of country is the fact
that they do not know the soil and
understand farming conditions. Geor-
gia must provide a means that her
two-thirds farming population can
own their own homes and have bu-
reau to advise and cooperate with
the newcomer. We have land area
sufficient to take care of 100000
people and we must get them.
Georgia has wonderful opportun-
ity to develop and grow in prosperity
IN the next ten years. The posi-
bilities of our agricultural and min
eral resources are beyond calculation.
In South Georgia we have oil lands
and vast areas of farming lands to
develop, our ports to build up, and
in North Georgia they have the min
erals and water powers, fruits and a
hundred industries to foster.
We all know about the world-fam-
Gus American Spirit. We know of
the California Spirit. We want a
Georgia Spirit. We want every man,
woman and child Georgia booster.
We want to SELL Georgia to Geor-
gians so that when visitor comes to
our state he will become Georgia
booster just as they become a Cali
fornia booster when they come to
California.
The casual tourist in California
gets caught. He comes for a few
days or weeks and they show him the
glories. They tell him the romantic
side and he is SOLD. 1 was very i'm
pressed with the beauty of Southern
California, because it is indeed pref
~. l marvelled at the TRANSFORMED
ton of that desert country into a
beautiful, blooming flower garden
and orchard and my first impression