Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1922-01-02
GETTING DOWN TO BED ROCK.


speaks out bravely in a discussion of
Just what our troubles are and how
to remedy them Mr. Hastings is a
man whose words are worth listening
TO. ke is probably the largest seeds
man in the South; is man interest
ed in a number of successful enter
prises; has been a powerful figure in
the past in movements to develop
Georgia's possibilities. He served
several years as president of the
Southeastern Fair association; he
helped in, the activities of the old
Georgia Chamber of Commerce, an
| organization which had splendid aims
but did not get far, with the war and
its all-absorbing interests coming just
as the Chamber got under way; and
now he is the president of the Geor-
| gia Association, merger of the Geor-
gia Chamber of Commerce and the.
Landowners association.
Mr.. Hastings says the tenant farm
system is at the bottom of our trou-
bles, instead of the boil weevil; that
lard ''skinning" for the last fifty or
more years has impoverished the soil,
and that the whole tenant system is
erumbling because the boil weevil has
forced the cotton growing industry
into a decided uncertainty. He de-
clares that of $4,000 farms in Geor-
gia only 10000 are operated by their
owners. Discussing his letter, the
Macon Telegraph says;
''Mr. Hastings tells us that the
boil weevil will strike the death
blow to tenant farming in Georgia
If so, it will prove blessing to the
state. But if the farm-tenant sys-
TEN should be destroyed by the
weevil, what can be done to take its
place? Mr.. Hastings suggests three
things. One is that the owners of
the land go back to the farm and
give his careful attention to build
ing up the~acreage that has become
so rundown by cotton, and engage
in Diversified agriculture and
stock raising A second is that the
owner remain in town and dedicate
his farm to the weeds and grasses.
A third is that young farmers of
the North and Northwest be given
an opportunity to purchase many
OF these acres on easy terms.
1T being improbable that the
first of these courses of action will
take piace-the prosperous Geor-
gians seem to want to remain in
town more than ever Beforehand
the second course, letting the farms
become idle lands, not being espec-
cially attractive, the third is. one
that commends itself highly. The
young golks on Northern farms are
not only thrifty and industrious but
possess a high knowledge of ad-
yanced farming methods They
would be q large asset to Georgia,
if hundred thousand of them
could be brought to this state. Not
being accustomed to cotton, the boil
weeyil would never worry them"
Presenting his remedy Of immigra.
ton MIR. Hastings says in his letter:
"The third alternative is to bring
III. through perfectly legitimate and
truthful advertising and promotion,
several hundred thousand energetic,
Young farm raised folks from the
states to the North of us and settle
them on orr unused lands, same being
sold to. them on the most favorable
Terms
There are in all probability mil
lion CT more of these farm raised
young men and women who cannot
pet land owning foothold where
they are due to high cost of land and
the large amount of capital necessary
to make start. These folks are real
farmers, not simply troopers. Cotton
means nothing 20 them. Their know
ledge and interest in dairy and beef
cattle, hogs, poultry and the hay and
grain crop necessary to feed live
stock on. These are the folks that
-puild up land instead of robbing or
mining it, They are not ashamed to
work with their own hands. They
ale = class of people that Georgia has
needed in the past and needs now
worse than ever under the new con-
Gitions that confront us.
II am and always have been flat
~ opposed to bringing to Georgia the
generality of foreign immigrants.
They do not fit into the. general
schemei of American life in the South.
We do need, however, more people
of the type populating the farms in
the states further north, the younger
generation that is looking anxiously
for better opportunities than their
present locality affords. It is the
ea,,,a oIasc nf foItsc fhot CO lar0alxy soft