The Camden chronicle. (Camden, S.C.) 1888-1981, September 21, 1923, Image 7
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*