University of South Carolina Libraries
Hlill TUB DUTCH- FARMERS. ... Jordan M?k? Short Slay in the . Country. x !5 Jordan in Hilhm Herald.) ' Maine, Schle^'ig-Holstein. August 10, 1923. i w uow in Mamo, a small town in , Hols te in. 1 have crossed Germany again, going from the ex treme southern portion to the ex frt>ine northern poytion. 1 think ' L ? , seen every inch of Germany, "nii | am leaving in a few days for Holland, Franco. England, and then rL to the, good old United State* of America. It i* Uood to turn your face homewani after an absence of five " Many <>* my good farmer friends will recognize the name ,4IIolatein," U-vausf this is the original home of the famous cow by that name. I don't thi?k however, that many of them fvei; loft home because it seems to nu' that 1 have seen the whole entire Hols te in tribe grazing on their native meadows since I have been in this wonderful farming and cattle-raising section.' They are everywhere you tu,n; I thought I had eaten lots of gttbil butter in my life but never hav-j 1 oaten any butter that measures up ?tQ.Hete.tein butter. I told you before I left home that it was my intention, to visit tho small farmer and live with him until I found out something about his methods of farming and living. That is what I have done in Schleswig-Holstein. I left the main line express at a small railway station, . took a branch road train and traveled 30 miles. I left the branch road train at the small town of Maine and drove six miles in tho country. 1 was in the midst of the fa mous Hoist e in country, fAr removed from the big cities. X: did not find life here so much dif ferent from what I would have found it in i any prosperous farming section of lMlim county. Here I found wheat, \ ..1 . n 4 n Aqrrnfo Pill lt'\ ? U?U"?, vU4ivvuy and of course Irish potatoes, besides "acres" of cattle. I am near the North Sea where the land was re claimed by immense dykes that . run goodness knows how far and of course the soil is very fertile. I saw some of the prettiest pasture lands I have ever laid eyes on. The country is level like the eastern and lower sections of our state. Running through the pastures are mounds from HO to 40 feet wide and between each mound is a greatly sloping ditch or trough which keeps the land dry in extremely wet weather and re tains a small amount of water in dry weather for the use of the cattle and stock, in summer the grass grows rapidly and in great abundance. It is not- more than five inches high but* is so thick that one Walks through it with difficulty. Cows, hogs and stock are turned on the pastures every day and all the stock and cattle I saw were rolling fat. Now if you want to get an idea of - what this magnificent farming ami stock country looks like just picture in your mind the whole of the Pee Dee country almost hare of trees, with hedge rows cutting the land scape up into squares like a checker' board. There art* no trees and shrub* beVy on the river and creek banks. Occasionally you will see a small patch of trees and every now and then you will sye one or two or perhaps : three trees, all trimmed up and round ! ed out like a lawn tree in a city. And I then yon can, look as far as the eye j can reach and you see Ileitis of waving grain, with here and there a windmill j which turns its large, lazy arms over i as it converts the grain into feed. That ^fives you briefly a pen picture of what this section, and in fact about all the farming sections of Germany | look like. You wonder where ilu y ? got bedding for their stork. They use j wheat and oat straw One bundled und twenty acres is j considered a large farm, but every now and then I came across a farm that had fuom 200 to 500 acres, but they are mighty rare. Before the war a 120-farm was worth about $50, 000 Today I do not know what it is, worth and neither does anybody else in Germany. But there are no farm mortgages. Inflation of the mark has helped the farmer because it enabled him to pay off his mortgages with cheap money. Let me illustrate be cause I consider what I am going to relate the most important discovery I have made in Germany since I have been here. It is Germany's great eco nomic problem: Bear in mind that be fore the war a mark was worth abdTTt 25 cents in American money. Today 25 cents in American money will buy or is worth 1,000,000 German marks. That is what inflation of a nation's currency means. America was drift ing to the same rapidly when the government put the screws on in 1020. But now let us go back to the day before the war. At that time a person who owned ? million marks i ? j was rich. Thosands of old people who i had toiled all their lives to lay aside something for a rainy day had their money invested in farm lands and it was bringing them from 6 to 7 per cent. ~ When money got cheap and plentiful following the close of the war, and the collapse of the kaiser's government, the man who owed money on his lands paid off the debt with cheap dollars. The man who held a 1,000,000 mark mortgage and felt that he w#s in easy circumstances, finds today that his 1,000,000 mark mortgage, if he still held it, would be worth just 25 cents. But as I said in the beginning, the farmer does not owe anyone because he was shrewd enough to pay off his debts j with cheap money. But what about tne man who held the mortgage ? The most of them are bankrupt, Those who were too old to work have gone to the poorhouse or are being fed by the. government. This is what inflation means. The same thing could happen / JUST NEW SHIPMENT t Hackney, Tyson & Jones and Carolina Buggies., HACKNEY WAGONS ? ? v. ~ I Horses and Mules Harness and Saddlery or all kinds. GEORGE T. LITTLE For Twenty Years the Favorite For twenty years Red Devil Lye has been the favorite. 1 he concentrated strength of Red Devil assures quick results when there's reel cleaning and work to be done. It Is convenient to use, it is economical, it sure is strong ? it is the standard for good lye. Ask youx grocer for the can with the smiling red devil on the labeL Writ* for Frmm BookUt Wm. Schield Mfg." Co^St-'LouM, Mo. in America. That is it Could have happened before the war, ^but Ainyi i can money lenders have taken. a les son from Germany's sad plight in this respect and now it is difficult to And a mortgage blank that does not re tjuiro the mortgagor to 'pay the debt in United States gold or its equiva lent in value. If there should be in flation in America it would not affect the value of a mortgage with this clause in it. If currency went to nothing you would have to pay that mortgage in gold. 1 discussed this phase oif Germany \ economic problem a few days ago with the lielgian cousul. Jle seemed to think there was no great difference in deflated and inflated currency, pro vided the cost of living went up and down with the rise and fall of the mark. 1 did not agree with him. So far as a nation's internal affairs are concerned it does not make any dif ference. If I buy a hat and pay 1,000, 000 marks for it, what does it matter to me if my salary or income is based on the selling price of that hat? Hut it hints from tho outside and that i.\ Germany's grt world and a nation that cannot trade with the outside world is in bad shape. It cannot get anywhere trading with itself. That would be swapping dol lars. The mark is so low that Ger many cannot buy or cotton, she can many cannot buy our cotton, she can present rate of exchange it wOuld take $00 million marks to buy a bale of cotton and .300 million marks is a fortune in Germany. Hut let us get back to the farm and cattle lands of Schleswig-IIolstein. 1 went into the home of the small far mer, the middle-class farmer and the big farmer and I found them prosper ous. I went through the barn' and stables of a large farmer. The barn and stables were as neat as a living room. No odor could be detected. All at once he opened some sliding doors which led into a handsomely furnished library and writing room. The floors were of hardwood, and strips of car pet rail across the room from both di rections. Not three feet away was one of his cows tethered in a stall. His home had living rooms, bed rooms and a kitchen that in point of cleanli ness and equipment was a model. Li noleum covered the floor. An im mense range, probably 15 feet long and 4 feet wide, with tiled door fronts, extended across the room. The walls iwere finished in white checked tiling. The oth?r rooms in the house were furnished in exquisite taste and every where ther^ was an atmosphere of culture and refinement. On the outside you could * not tell where the house ended and the barn and stables began. It looked like one large, red brick Jtmilding. The farmer himself wore heavy top boots and a heavy, coarse-looking shirt, and a cap. In America you would have taken him for a skilled day laborer. That describes the ftfrm in Germany, in fact in all of Europe, because all farms over here are run on the same general lines. Among the smaller far mers you also found the barn and stables and the living and sleeping rooms all under one roof, but they too were neat and clean. There is pover ty here in the country as well as in the city. While I was at the home of the wealthy farmer a poor man came in and begged for a loaf of bread or some wheat. He said his family was on starvation. There is more tabor than the farms can use and many men were seen loafing along the road side. The do not pay cash for farm labor. They give two bushels of wheat for a day's work. The laborer can work an hour or all day, if he wants to. The days are very long at this season and the nights are only about 5 hours long, and you see farm hands leaving the fields while the sun is still high in the heavens. Some of the farm hands sleep in long houses which look very much like single story tenement houses in I a city. rhany cannot The lands are handed down from father to son, the oldest son usually getting the lion's share, and there is not much chance for a young man to acquire land. -I saw places which had been in the same family for many generations. That is why the young German who knows how to farm and is ambitious wants to come to Amer ica. But of this I shall write upon my return home. I found here, however, much to my surprise, that the Protestant pays very little attention to religious mat ters. One small church serves a wide area of country, the pastor is poorly paid and the attendance at church is small. Sunday is the same as any other week day. If the Trops need work the hands go into the fields and work, the same as if it were Monday and neither does public sentiment nor the law condemn it. In other words, the German works when he thinks it is neces?4?ry. The Catholic, howeyer, is atrictly religious and very active. H e is get ing a strong hold . in this religious foundation which GustaVus Adolphus laid when he came in here 506 years ago and established Pro testant churches all over the land, Hut of these mutters .1 shall write later when I deal with the character istics of the people ii^ a more con crete manner. This letter will end my travels through Germany and may be the last lettev| 1 will write froht abroad. My" time from now on wilj be very limited, as 1 have devoted the most of it to a study of agricultural conditions, farm tenancy, etcs., because I felt that my renders would Ih? more interested in this phase of European lif<.? and would like to know something of agricultu ral conditions in a country from which it may have to' draw its future supply of farm labor. My trip through Germany has been very pieasant and highly profitable, thoiugh 1 am glad it is over because it nas been a strenuous three weeks. Travel through Germany an^iBavaria is difficult and at times annoying. Conditions here are still badly unset tled. A foreigner must carry his passport all day and sleep with it at night. When you register at a hotel you must fill out a questionaire in du plicate, giving your name in full, when and where you. Were born, how long you intend to remain in a certain suction and what your business is. The hotel keeps a copy and sends the orig inal to the police station. When you enter Havana you must also register with the police. 1 had to do this also at Hamburg, my port of entry, and will have to notify the police when I leave. I was born at Bamberg, 8. C., and there is an important town in Germany named "Bamberg." When I registered "Bamberg, S. (\, U. S. A.," as the place of my birth it caused con fusion. They would glance at the "Hamberg" and want to know why it wart I was born in "Hamberg" aud could not speak German! I explained that about 150 or 200 years ago a German colony settled in the section in which I was born, and all around there were such familiar German names as "Orangeburg," "Hamburg," "Ehrhardt," and even other familiar northern European names like 'Den mark," "Norway," etc. It was quite interesting. If luck is with mo I will reach home about September 1st. Automobile Wreck. % Two Ford cars, onp occupied by Willie Stutts and M. B. Munn, trav eling men from Rock Hill, and the "other from Heath Springs section, oc cupied by H. L. Sims and J. H. Din kins, had h head-on collision at Elgin Monday morntag at about 7:30 o'clock and as a result all four sustained painful cuts about the face, legs and other parts of the body. Dinkins and Stutts being the worst injured. Din kins was thought to have been injured internally when he came in contact with the steering wheel to his car. He is under treatment, but his injuries have not as yet been determined. Stutt's left leg was badly lacerated just below the knee, several stitches being required to close the ugly gash, and he was otherwise considerably "Major," $50,000 Elephant with John Robinson's Circus TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2nd. bruised and out. Munn, who was rid ing with Stutts, received a badly bruised knee and slight injuries to other parts of the body. R. L. Sim+, from Heath Springs, who whs riding with Dinkins and was on his way to Lancaster to attend court, received several painful cuts about face and hands. It is not known just who was at fault. The crash came at the curve in front of Hagin's store and was wit nessed by several parties who were in the vicinity but who were not sure as to how it happened. Drs. Graham and Morrison answered the distress call over the phone from Elgin and with a number of others from Lancas ter, including a reporter for The News, made a record run to the scene of the wreck. Relief was given by the physicians to those' suffering worst and those who were less injured were brought to Lancaster for medical aid. Stutts and Munn continued*their jour ney to Camden after their wounds wore dressed. Both automobliles were badly torn up by the impact. Com menting on his injuries, Stutts said that there were six others in about the same or worse fix as he was that morning in Rock Hill hospitals from automobile wrecks. J. Hoy Cunning ham, who was at the scene of the Elgin wreck told a reporter for the News that an automobile wreck oc curred Sunday night near L. F. Dab ney's west of the city when two cars collided, but no one was badly injured. ? Lancaster News. One ounce of gold pays wages for twenty hours work in the Uriitetl States, fifty hours work in Great Britnin. ninety hours work in Japan, 100 houvs work in France, 200 hours work in Germany. This means that Americans must maintain their past rccord for high outpiH per man to guarantee prosperity which will mean work for oil of us. W. M. Manning, Joseph Walker, - Alan B. Smith, Pres. and Treat. Vice President. Secretary. We wish to announce that our office is open to do a factorage and storage business, in which .we expect to render the following services: ? 1. To furnish storage for cotton. 2. To accurately class and weigh all consignments. 3. To make reasonable advances on consignments. 4. TO see that when cotton is sold it brings its value. Columbia's railroad facilities and its geographical location make it a most advantageous point to store cotton, as cotton concentrated in Columbia is available to both the foreign buyer and the American mills. It is the object of this company to put the farmer and smaller merchant in direct touch with these buyers at as small cost as possible and, by the use of the company's facilities, the farmer and merchant can be assured of getting what their cotton grades, weighs and its full value when sold. We also wish it distinctly understood that we do not buy or sell cotton for our own ac count, but that our entire efforts will be devoted to performing faithfully the above out lined services for our customers. CORRESPONDENCE INVITED SOUTHERN FACTORAGE & STORAGE COMPANY COLUMBIA, S. C. DIRECTORS: ? J<*e^FTa: fiSi ~ ' Rtetatrd I. Wanninr r r ? - ? - \1/ U Mannitlf ? I " : ] Joseph Walker - Alan B. Smith ~ ? - W* M*