Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-04-22
A Live Stock Policy for Georgia

A Live Stock Policy for Georgia
Some haze meat and Gamma eat
And some would eat that want 1t;
But we hee meat, and we can eat
Sac let the Lord be thankit.
Burns.
What a wonderful philosophy of
| life the farmer poet of Scotland has
portrayed in these lines! 1t constr
tutes both a beautifully couched
Grace before meat and a prayer OF
| thankfulness to the "glver of every
good and perfect gift" for the mer-
cies and blessings conferred upon
| the participants in the feast which
was to follow. 1t recites the fact
| that health is one of the greatest
boons which human beings can en-
| Joy, and it succinctly defines the i'm.
portant and fundamental part which
the flesh of animals plays in the hui
man dietary. I imagine that Bobby
| Burns, when he voiced these senti-
ments, was returning thanks upon
the meat which his own labor had
provided and made available for the
nourishment Of himself and his
| friends 1t is not surprising under
such circumstances that he sould
quisite a prayer or that he should
have been able to state the noble
/ aspirations which welled up in his
heart so tersely and with whole
some JUNCTION.
We are great meat eaters in the
United States. We consume more Of
the flesh of the domesticated animals
than the people of any other coun-
try. We do our full share along this
line, more in the south; but [ am
wondering if we could often repeat
| Bobby Burns blessing with the same
degree of satisfaction that he evil
IDENTIFY felt when he first formulated
and set 1t down for the benefit of
posterity? You may appropriately
ask why this hypothetical question
has been suggested. 1t Is due en-
tirely to the fact that the great ma.
jority Of our people are not pro-
ducers of the meat which they eat.
Why does this condition pertain
throughout the south? And was it
always true that this section of the
country failed to raise the meat
which it consumed? The situation
which now exists arises from the
fact that we have followed off after
false gods" since the .halcyon days
prior to 1860. In this case, it was
not the golden calf which led us
astray, but the devotion and concen-
tratlon of our energies upon the
cultivation Of one crop; namely, cot
ton. 1t constituted the beautiful
though wholly illogical theory
around which the uneconomical type
OF agriculture we have followed had
as its central thought the idea that
we could buy our supplies of meat
| cheaper than we could raise them
How we could reach such an er.
roneous conclusion is difficult to I'M.
derstand because history records the
TACT that from the earliest ages that
the people of that country which
were the most nearly selfsustaining
IN the matter of supplying them.
selves with food and the raw ma.
terlals needed for industrial develop.
ment have always been the most
successful and prosperous.
AS in the case of all nations which
endeavored to set aside economic
laws, Gods laws. If YOU please, for
| they are nothing more Or less thar
this our southern people have had
to pay the penalty for their mis-
takes. Every thoughtful student
knows that we here in the south
have paid a. kings ransom almost
every year during the last five dec
AIDES to other sections Of the United
States in consequence of the gross
neglect Of our animal industries
We hav= simply been riding on
merry go-round, growing cotton
from year to year with varying de-
grees of success and then sold it
at such widely divergent prices as
! to leave us only a minor AND in
consequential profit. Most of the
money made from cotton has of
| necessity been sent elsewhere to
purchase the necessities of life. Even
! last year, we were justly charged
with sending ebout 800, 100000 of
| our hard-earned wealth outside of
! the borders VI the state. It never
comes back, or IN such slight pro.
portions as to be of no very ma
terial service ard benefit to orr ct
izenry 7 loer these conditions, is
1t surprising that our internal
| growth and development and the ac-
emulation of permanent assets
should have been relatively low?
| Stocking the furnace for the other
FELLOW may be an interesting diver.
sion, but 1t Is the most Improbable
work in which the population of a
| given section of any country could
| POSSIBLY engage.
We have pursued the policy out
| lined above until it has well.nigh
! brought us Sace to face with u:sds.
ter; but | am hopeful that we are
! BEGINNING to realize the ,-ure and
! character of the trouble from which
We have suffered. Let us take the
necessary steps Immediately to rem.
edy the existing situation by placing
a sufficient emphasis upon animal
industries to make our section self.
! sustaining in the matter of the
meat food supplies which our popu.
lation requires. In the days of the
old south" the planter finished and
! cured out all the meat he needed to,
| properly maintain his home estab.
| ishment. 1t was only after the rail.
| road came and the enlarging de.
mand for cotton throughout the
world obsessed US that we followed
| off after the false economic gods
| to which reference has already been
| made. If the ante-bellum planter
could provide the meat needed for
| the men and women employed on
his plantation, what just and sensi.
BILE reason can be cited today for the
neglect of an industry so vital to
our economic progress? We were
never in u more favorable position
in sc far as the development of ami
NAL industries are concerned in
Georgia than we occupy today
We have rather recently discover
ed that we have a number of ma
tive grasses which will enable us to
very acceptably extend our grazing
areas. Our breeders have shown by