Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-21
THE ATLANTA TR1-wEEKLY JOURNAL

regret it. In short time you VIII see this
very farm reach the point where It will sell
for as much money as it would have
brought in 1918. And l say this with full
appreciation of the fact that the boil weevil
is here to stay. That makes no difference.
The three million people in this State are
not going to surrender the fight and give
up in despair. If you read the newspapers
you know that on the south the State of
Florida is enjoying unprecedented pros
perity. You know that the States of Texas
Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama on the
west have practically recovered from the
boil weevil and prospecting. q can tell
you that on all the farm lands we have in
Alabama we have no difficulty with interest
and taxes.) The State of North Carolina
has become so prosperous as to attract the
attention of people everywhere; there is no
talk of hard times in North Carolina. Still
more remarkable, the State of South Caro-
lima, on the east, which sank as low as
Georgia on account OF boil weevil and de-
Hation, has already recovered and surpassed
Georgia in cotton production. Let no one
convince you that Georgia farmers will re-
main in a plight, or that the values of
Georgia farm lands are not certain to adj
vance The farmer who now buckles down
to the task of saving his lands will reap a
reward, and reap it within very short
time
This well-reasoned optimism should do
more than inspire the farmer himself to
heroic efforts; it should also inspire his
business and banking friends to more
than ever liberal measure of cooperation
circumstance than year ago, and
better able to turn fresh opportunities to
account. If he makes a good crop in the
seasons just ahead and at the same time
raises the bulk of his own food supplies, he
will be thrivingly the way to indie
pendence; and as a result all Georgia will
pulse with new prosperity. But he must
be tided over the gap between seed-time
and harvest He must be encouraged in
crop diversfcation, and helped to adopt the
"hen-hog-cow" program, with it's debt-ift-
ing stabilizing, withdrawing and wealth
conserving power. Business and civic lead
ers in every county can do no better turn
than to ascertain the particular needs and
opportunities of farmers in the matter of
financing such enterprises, as we'll as in
already has done so, and in consequence is
famed the Southland over for thrift and
for progress.
Georgias golden age lies futureward.
Her richest haryests are yet to be garnered,
her goodliest fortunes yet to be earned, her
most wonderful possibilities yet to be re-
allied. Certain establishments there un-
doubtedly must be, ere her happiest era,
especially in agriculture, can fairly begin.
For one thing, there must be a breaking
up of large plantations into relatively small
farms, worked, not by serf-like tenants, but
by owners having a stake in the common
wealth and the heart-lifting incentive Of a
home to work for. The economic forces
that will bring this about are already astir.
Old things that long have handicapped are
about to pass away. New ideas, new ener-
gies are militant in Georgia. and new hopes
light her horizon. Happy the citizen who
holds to his faith in her, and honored if he
labors as a patriot to bring that faith to
pass!