FARMER WILSON TALKS

James Wilson

Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, December 14, 1897.

FARMER WILSON TALKS.

Walter Wellman Interviews the Secretary of Agriculture.

CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH.

Observations on a Recent Trip Through Alabama and Georgia—The One Crop Idea—Too Much Corn and Too Much Cotton—Progress In Agricultural Education.

   WASHINGTON, Dec. 14.—(Special.)—Secretary Wilson of the agricultural department is a most interesting talker. Whenever he goes away on a trip, he keeps his eyes and ears open and on his return usually embodies his observations in an interview or an article. His hobby is doing something for the farmer. He believes there is a great work to be done in lifting up the agricultural interests of this country, and certainly no man ever worked harder or more effectively in that cause than he. Mr. Wilson has recently returned from a journey to Alabama and Georgia, the first visit he ever paid to those states, and he kindly consented to give me the result of his observations and inquiries.

   "The first thing by which I was impressed in that region," he said, "was the number and the size of the rivers. This means a heavy rainfall. The rainfall there is nearly double that of the northwest. The south is abundantly watered. Want of moisture is not likely to annoy the people there. They have plenty of heat too, and heat and moisture together cause a rapid decomposition of organic matter. For this reason the surface of the soil in the south looks as if it were barren, but as a matter of fact, it is a warm, quick and responsive soil. It is well known, of course, that in all tropical or subtropical countries the soils have their plant foods carried downward by a mechanical action, giving the surface a sterile appearance. All these things suggest that the soil of the south requires more careful, delicate treatment than the colder and less frequently moistened soil of the north.

Running on One Crop.

   "It is quite common in all of our states where producers have limited means," continues the secretary, "to see much more attention paid to one crop than should be. For years past the wheat raisers of the United States have raised too much wheat. At the present time the corn growers are producing too much corn. They have to compete with the corn growers of all the world, the market is glutted and prices are brought below the remunerative point. The southern states have this difficulty. One thing that has retarded the prosperity of the south is they are to such a great extent a one crop people. They have grown cotton, and they continue to grow cotton, till the price is below 5 cents a pound, and at that rate there is no money in it.

   "I found on inquiry that Georgia grows every year about 1,300,000 bales of cotton and something like 600,000 tons of cotton seed. Alabama produces about 1,000,000 bales of cotton and 425,000 tons of seed. Now, less than 20 per cent of this seed is ground up in Alabama and not much more in Georgia. Cottonseed meal is the most nitrogenous byproduct in the world unless it be dried blood. It has a greater per cent of nitrogenous matter than oilcake from the oil mills, gluten meal from the glucose factories, bran from the flour mill or any other product from any mill.

Wasted Nitrogen.

   "To illustrate the value of the nitrogenous matter found in cotton let me say that during the last fiscal year this country shipped abroad nearly 500,000 head of cattle. Now, the cottonseed of Georgia and Alabama alone would furnish nitrogenous matter to the feed of all these cattle, The best thing the people of the south could do with the byproduct of their cotton is to feed it to cattle for market, mixing it, of course, with proper carbonaceous matter in the shape of corn fodder, Johnson grass, Bermuda grass, cottonseed hulls, oat, wheat and rye straw and other such foods. But instead of doing this the southern people ship their byproduct and sell it at low prices to more enterprising people in other sections. The New Englander recuperates his weary soil with cotton meal from the south. The northwestern farmer buys it for fattening his stock. The English farmer, who has for centuries been searching the world for just such a fertilizer, imports it and feeds it to a bunch of cattle, not because there is profit in the cattle, but for the sake of enriching his soil. Of course it takes time to do all things, and the people of the south will have to learn. I remember a story of a traveler from America who greatly admired a thick, rich lawn which he saw in England.

   "'How do you grow such fine grass?' he asked the caretaker.

   "'It is weeding and weeding and manuring and manuring for 800 years that has made this 'ere lawn,' replied the man.

Progress in Alabama.

   "But the people of the south are beginning at the right end and are keenly alive to the situation which confronts them. They know they must take better care of their soils and have more effective farming. The state of Alabama surprised and delighted me with the progress they are making in agricultural and industrial education. At Montgomery and at Huntsville they have two colleges for colored young people where just these very things are taught. At Tuskegee they have an Institution in which colored boys and girls are taught the trades as well as agriculture. In addition the state is providing for a school of agriculture in each congressional district. I do not believe any other state in the Union is doing as much toward the education of its people along useful agricultural lines as Alabama. The educated white men there are enthusiastic in the work of educating the colored young men and women. They recognize the fact that those are their people, their laboring class. They will always be there, as emigration on any large scale is out of the question. The people of Alabama are carrying on this work in a manner very creditable to them.

   "At Tuskegee, for instance, 700 students are being taught to make wagons, to show horses and to manage the soil scientifically. These young people will go out through the south and bring excellent influence to bear upon others with whom they come in contact. Booker T. Washington, the leader of this movement, has all the moral backing the whites can give him. Philanthropists of the north are helping in the cause. I am more convinced than I ever was before in my life that one of the needs of this nation is just such work—education of the young men not only in the south, but everywhere, in all the sciences that relate to agriculture."

   WALTER WELLMAN.

LYNCHED TWO NEGROES.

Evidence of Their Guilt Was Complete and No Time Was Wasted.

   NEW ORLEANS. Dec. 14.—Two negroes, arrested for the murder of a storekeeper named Babin at St. Gabriel, La., were lynched. The proof of their guilt was conclusive. Sheriff Brown, fearing a jail delivery, put the blacks on the Texas and Pacific train to be taken to New Orleans for safe keeping. The people stopped the train six miles below Plaquemine, locked up the conductor and the deputy sheriff, took the negroes off and hanged them in the woods.

A NINE-HOUR DAY.

Big 6 of New York Meets With Great Success in Its Efforts For That End.

   NEW YORK. Dec. 14—President Samuel B. Donnelly of Typographical union No. 6, at a meeting of the union held in this city last night, announced that 65 of the 103 publishers had granted the request of the union for a nine-hour day. Among the publishers who conceded to the union were: John Brisbane Walker of The Cosmopolitan, the Martin B. Brown Printing company, William T. Atkins of the New York Clipper, the Illustrated American, Mrs. Frank Leslie, Funk & Wagnall's Publishing company, C. G. Burgoyne, the Lockwood Press, Nicoll & Roy company, A. S. Sear, George P. Rowell, Frank V. Strauss, Styles & Cash, Frank Tousey, The Drygoods Economist, and the Williams Printing company. About 30 book machine offices also consented to a nine-hour day.

   President Donnelly said that the other offices would doubtless come into the compact and that the impending strike will probably be averted. Further conferences will be held with the dissenting publishers, reports of which will be handed in at a meeting of the union to be held tonight.

Samuel Gompers.

MEETS IN NASHVILLE.

American Federation of Labor Session Well Attended.

   NASHVILLE, Dec 14.—The American Federation of Labor began its annual session in this city with an attendance of more than 100 delegates from different states and an equal number of visitors. The federation met in the hall of the house of representatives at the state Capitol, President Gompers presiding.

   Havelock Wilson and Edward Harford, delegates from England, were introduced by the president. Mr. Wilson is a member of parliament and Mr. Harford is ex-secretary of the Railway Employes' organization.

   William Amison of the local Typographical union delivered an address of welcome in behalf of the labor organizations of the city. President Gompers responded, thanking Mr. Amison and the labor organizations for the hearty welcome afforded. The report of the committee on credentials was presented, after which President Gompers read his annual address.

Standard block.

DISPLAY OF FIREWORKS.

Banner Fell Down, Wires Crossed, Everybody Scared—Wind Did it.

   The wind last night played havoc with the large Fair store banner that was swung across the street between the Standard building and the Keator block. It swayed and creaked in the gale. Shortly before 7 o'clock this morning the cable upon which it was suspended snapped, and down it came in the mud of Main-st., Cortland, bringing along with it a number of guy wires and other wires.

   Part of the banner fell upon the delivery wagon of Hilligus & Wentherwax which was then standing in front of their market. The wires twisted up near the heels of the horse and, crossed as they were with trolley wires, telegraph, telephone and fire alarm wires, there were fireworks every where. Every wire was spitting fire. It was so dark that it was almost impossible to see the wires in the street and all who came along were afraid of touching a live wire.

   Telephone bells rung all around town by the crossing of the wires. One of the large cables at the telephone exchange was burned out and it has taken nearly all day to repair it. Linemen soon arrived and rescued the banner and took care of the hanging wires. It is advisable for no one to touch a hanging wire in these days when so many wires are alive. Let the linemen who have the proper tools for it and the experience handle all wires.

An Illuminated Sign.

   Proprietor John F. Dowd of the American hotel has had placed in front of his place of business a handsome glass illuminated sign.

"The Great Train Robbery."

   Scott Marble, who wrote the new realistic melo-drama, "The Great Train Robbery," has the happy faculty of interweaving into a sensational play sufficient love and comedy interest to make his pieces most fascinating to all lovers of popular price attractions. In "The Great Train Robbery" he has made the realistic sensational features, but incidental to a love story and to comedy situations and characters which keep the audience in a continuous roar.

   Heroism and law and order are the foreground of his pictures, while desperate white and Indian characters, lawlessness and bloodshed are but the background to bring them into more conspicuous outline. The old soldier tramp in "The Great Train Robbery" is one of the most clever characters introduced to the stage world for many a reason. The play is filled with novelties and will prove of interest to all who see it at the Cortland Opera House this evening.

ROUTE TO KLONDIKE

And Directions for Those Who Propose to Start for That Land.

   [Village of Cortland] President Call has received the following communication with a request for its publication. It explains itself and will be of interest to any who may be imagining that the trip to the gold country is a delightful jaunt and who may be planning to go out there for a picnic excursion:

   There are two established routes to the Klondike country from Paget sound. One is via the ocean to St. Michaels, thence via river steamer up the Yukon. This journey is made in the summer months only. The other is also by steamer to Dyea, Skaguay or Pyramid Harbor and thence over the Chilcoot White Pass, and the Daulton Trail respectively to the headwaters of the Yukon and then down by boat. The distance over the various trails to boat navigation on lakes Lindeman and Bennett and the Pelly river Is a s follows: Dyea to Lake Lindeman, twenty-nine miles; Skaguay to Lake Bennett, forty-seven miles; from Pyramid Harbor to Pelly river over the Daulton Trail, 415 miles. Each of these trails has been successfully used by parties going into the Yukon, the first two being most generally used. Distance from Seattle to Dyea or Skaguay,  980 miles; to Pyramid Harbor, 965 miles; Seattle to mouth of Yukon river, 2,500 miles; from mouth of Yukon to Dawson City, 1,725 miles; Dyea or Skaguay to Dawson City, 450 miles. The time of travel from Seattle by either way is about the same—thirty or forty days.

   No person should start for the gold fields with less than $500, excluding his transportation to Paget sound. This sum will be barely sufficient for one man for one year with the scant necessities of life and traveling under the most favorable circumstances. Persons inexperienced in mountain travel are cautioned that utmost care should be taken to preserve a secure footing in climbing steep ascents and in fording streams. No one should attempt to shoot rapids unless thoroughly conversant with the method. Of the many thousands who have gone in this year not more than half a dozen have lost their lives and these have been from carelessness in fording.

   The summers of the Yukon are short, the winters are long, and the weather is severe. Extreme heat and cold exists, making the climate difficult to endure. On account of the isolation of the mining regions all persons are cautioned to take ample supplies of provisions and of warm clothing.

   WILL D. JENKINS,

   Secretary of State,

   Olympia, Nov. 8, 1897.

BREVITIES.

   —J. W. Daniels goes to McGrawville to-night to start a class in dancing.

   —Superintendent Jas. F. Costello and Chief A. J. Barber are this afternoon testing the fire alarm system.

   —Vesta lodge, I. O. O. F., did work in the third degree last night. Several Odd Fellows from Scott were present.

   —The regular meeting of the board of trade which would be held on Wednesday evening of this week has been postponed until Wednesday evening, Dec. 22.

   —The Presbyterian church organ was yesterday tuned and put in first-class condition by Mr. Weiner, a representative of the Johnson Organ Co. of West field, Mass., the manufacturer of the organ.

   —An error was made in the type last night in announcing the time of the cottage prayer-meeting, in connection with the First Baptist church for to-night. The hour should have been 7:30 o'clock and not 8:30 o'clock.

   —To-day the sun will set a minute later than it did yesterday, and from now on for six months, the afternoons will continue to lengthen. The sun, however, will continue to rise later every morning until the 30th, when the limit, 7:30, will be reached.

   —New display advertisements to-day are— D. E. Shepard, Make Merry, page 7; McKinney & Doubleday, Xmas Season, page 7; D. McCarthy & Co., A Chance in Chairs, page 4; Warren, Tanner &Co., Holiday Presents, page 6; C. F. Brown, Christmas Goods, page 6; Case & Ruggles, Useful Gifts, page 6; Cash Bookstore, Holiday Goods, page 4; Cortland & Homer Electric Co., Reduced Rates, page 4; Smith & Beaudry, A Good Book, page 7.