Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-12-24
Ho,U Putnam, County Surv'ved
4 Tr;bu1at;on Fit For Job

HoU Putnam, County ourD'ved
4 Tr;bu1at;on Fit For Job
IF the sorel. tried man Of w had suffered
such a toll weevil plague as befell
- many a Georgia farmstead this year he
might have lost his patience, but he would
not have lost his pluck had he dwelt
amongst the sturdy sons of Putnam. OF all
regions invaded by the cotton-devourer that
county, authorities say, was attacked most
sweepingly and sustained the heaviest loss.
Normally yielding seventeen thousand pales
of cotton, and sometimes as many as twenty
two thousand, Putnam produced this lasl
season not u or. than two hundred; and even
that was collected by dint of raking and
scraping, for few planters if any raised IN
dividually as much as single bale. SO I'M
dressed are the officials of the federal Depart
ment of Agriculture by the extraordinary de-
structiveness o. the Loll weevil in that coun-
ty, they are planning to make it special
field o. study and experimentation.
Yet, notwithstanding this well-nigh COM
p1ete loss of the principal money crop, Put
nam farmers and business men, far from
despairing, are resolute and cheerfully
trustful of the future. In Eatonton, the
countys thrifty capital, t4-ere has been but
one mercantile and one banking failure, de-
spite the unexampled stress of circum-
stances; and throughout the surrounding
country there is a manifest freedom from
day would be hailed as shining prosperity.
Highly significant, moreover, is the advent
of the cash system in business; the endless
chains of credit that prevailed when cotton
was king and kaiser have been broken and
cast away. 1--WE are paying as we co." runs
the slogan, land We going fairly we'll"
How has this interesting and admirable
condition of affairs been achieved in the midst
of what less resourceful community would
have sat bemoaning as an agricultural dis
aster? Why is it that Putnam county, with
its traditional money crop almost wiped out,
has not collapsed but has Jared at least COM
fortably in the necessities and has kept its
courage mistaken: The answer, which is
of concern to the whole Commonwealth as
a guide to wise planning for the new year,
is found largely in the fact that Putnam pro-
duced foodstuffs and conducted fooC indus
tries Witho ut these, ca Unity and ruin
would have been inevitable; with them, the
losses of the resent are supportable, and
problems of the future faced with a good
heart. The county did hot raise this year
as abundant a supply of food ne ;essaries as
subsequent developments showed to be need
full, but it raised enough to save it's people
from extreme want, fact for which they are
now keenly grateful. Furthermore, from
the dairying industry, which was overshad-
owed and minImized while cotton held the
throne, the county now derives some six
thousand dollars a month, two hundred a
day, which s no small help to it's individual
benefciaries and to business as a whole.
Now suppose that in the far years, when
al. was going well with Putnams cotton, and
crop diversi. cation was thought theme for
college lecturers rather than a program for
practical men suppose there had been no
pioneer to prepare the way for livestock and
dairying industries. How would matters
stand with the county now? Great opportuni-
ties are not built in day; great enterprises
do not spring suddenly to harvest Back of
the attainments and possibilities of our gen.
GRAFTON are the thought, the labor, the vision
of men who wrought long ago; and back of
the Georgia which is to be will stand the
vision, the labor the thought of men whose
present endeavor is largely one of faith. 1t
was in the year 1876 that Benjamin w. Hunt
cast his lot with Putnam county. A native
of New York, he soon proved himself as
stanchly true to the welfare of his adopted
State as if to he manner born. He it was
who foresa the results to which Georgia S
onderful resources for cattle raising could
be turned and who worked along truly
scientific lines to hasten their development.
Says Ralph Smith in one OF his richly in
forming stoies On this calm of vital interest
notwithstanding Mr.. Hunts burdensome
routine of laily business he has found time
to experiment on man. lines for the develop
----at of the South, as a breeder of fine cat
tie and horses, as fruit grower, and as a
cotton planter. On al these varied and dis
similar occupations his experiments have
produced valuable results. The men who
come after him in the South, will find the
path of progress intellectually easier where he
has broken the way. He has personally Wis
tied the Island of Jersey, selecting the finest
types to improve cattle, and the blood of his
herd is in evidence all Der the South, and
even in Cuba whittier his cows have beer ex-
ported. He was the first man in lie world to
immunize cattle against southern" OF
'splenic feveI," and had not TIE United
States government taken UP the demonstra-
ton, his own discovery would n;-ve saved the
South millions of dollars Besides cattle few
e he has investigated many obscure diseases
not treated il, veterinary works and which
have proved great obstacles to successful
so successful stock breeding in the cotton
belt. Among these j. the deadly affection
known as "osteo poross'' in horses raised in
alluvial soil, which he has conquered. His
scientific studies and observations at the
Pasteur institute in Paris have greatly aided
him, and with the result that his advice is
sought, not only in Georgia, but over the
whole Soltl in regarl to stock breeding
AMI animal diseases. He is naturally ,presi
dent of the Georgia Stock Breakers associa-
ton"
1t is Georges great good fortune to have
had ir, wears 8, ne and to have today NUM-