Americus times-recorder., 1923-08-01
GEORGIA REVENUE IB!LL IS INTRODUCED
Turner County Farm Plan
Given National Publicity;
40 Delegates Investigate G
Economic independence Is Coming to County
Through Foresight of Its Affirming and
Business Interests

AS the 1923 season progre
apparent that Sumter county m
into the production Of milk, ea
the hen and the SOW. as Turner c
A number Of SMALL cas-
means our salvation, our econ
fails.
Sometimes, those events I
our attention is engaged by sol
Turner county plan is attractir
longer a matter OF. local or stat
interest.
So remarkable has been the re-
generation Of Turner county un-
der the plans promulgated by the
late George 7. Belts that The
Country Gentleman, one Of the
largest and most authoritative agri.
cultural publications in the world,
in its latest issue devoted its en-
tire front page to an article en-
titled: Turner County Puts 1t
Oveer."
The article is illustrated with
convincing Photographs of actual
farm conditions in Turner county
at the present time.
The writer E. Il. Taylor, prom;
inent authority on farm questions,
in bis opening paragraph, says that
the case Of Turner county has at
tracted such nationwide attention
that forty delegations of farmers
and business men from other coun-
ties and states have come to see
for themselves the solution Of
that hard riddle-how to put
farming on sound and selfsup-
porting basis, that promises a per-
manent prosperity to farm owner
tenant and town business man.
Turner county has supplied the
answer to that vexed question and
is showing how that can be done.
but, says Mr.. Taylor. at is doing
so with the ordinary means that
are at hand in almost every coun-
ty, in fact, it had far less of the
real material resources than the
average county"
Mr.. Taylor in his article deA
scribes the past history Of agricul-
ture in Turner county:
"Only a couple of years ago
Turner county was down and al
most out. If general liquidation
had been called for, few in the
county would have escaped bank
ruptcy. The small farmers and
tenants-and over three quarters
OF the county's farmers were ten
ants-were deep in debt to the
large landowners and credit mer-
chants. The latter in turn owed
the banks, some of them so heav.
lily they had to turn over their
some sort of settlement could be
property to be held in trust until
worked out. The banks were hav-
ing troubles of their own, as banks
always do when a community
threatens to go insolvent.'
One of the familiar disasters
that invariably overtake one-crop
farming communities had occurred
here. The center of Turner coun-
tvs agriculture was cotton, financ>
ed by the usual credit system. The
writer tells of the coming of the
boil weevil and the drop in cotton
prices and adds that this double
blow left business PROSTATE and the
people virtually nothing except
courage"
Only Courage Left.
That the farmers and business
men of Turner county had an
abundance Of that rare courage
which overcomes the greatest OBJ
stacles is next told by Mr.. Taylor.
He tells the story of the way in
which Turner county farmers tArn-
ed their misfortune to prosperity.
The origin OF this remarkable
is told in this way:
"One day George 7. Belts, banker,
merchant and large land owner of
Ashburn, had an article in The
Country Gentleman telling how
Dallas county, Alabama, had turn
ed a similar disaster into prosper
ity. The article goes on to say
how George Belts Immediately
visited Dallas county to learn how
such an evolution in farming was
accomplished and if some of its
principles could be applied to the
relief of Turner county. Belts re-
turned "fired with hope and with
a new vision of the possibilities
within his own county"
The board of trade at Ashburn