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Show OWNERSHIP OF FARM LANDS Between Twelve and Thirteen Million Acres ef Pine Cotton Land Owned Outright by Foreigners. To Officials and Members of the Union: In prevloua utterances I have had something to aay about alien or for elgn ownership of our farm lands, particularly of lands In the south adaptable to cotton. I have said that It waa an alarming development, and some people have pooh-poohed such narrowness of views, and. at any rate, It wasn't very bad, and only a few English or French spinnera were experimenting! That la what 1 got for Bounding an alarm, which I believed then formed a aerl-oua aerl-oua menace, and which now I aua absolutely ab-solutely sure Is the case. Now, listen, you scoffers and unbelievers. unbe-lievers. Do you know that between twelve and thirteen million acres of the finest cotton lands In the south are now owned outright by foreign Individuals In-dividuals and corporations? Do you know that agents of these foreign individuals in-dividuals and corporations are constantly con-stantly working to get more millions of acres of the cream of coton lands? Do you know that foreign spinners are sending men here to be educated la our agricultural colleges and schools to take charge of these broad acrea, cultivate and ralae cotton to abip to spinners In England, France and other foreign countries? Do you think deep and sense what this means? Do you know that It means the actual production of cotton cot-ton in the aouth on farms owned and cultivated by foreigners, and whose product wlU go direct to their mills In England, France and other countries? In plain worda, we are sitting supinely by while foreign capital and corporations corpora-tions are taking our oldest, richest and greatest heritage right from under our noses. Time may not be far distant when our own people, the men who have raised and supplied the world with Its cotton for generations, will be restricted re-stricted absolutely to the home market. mar-ket. Sounds scary, and I want it to aound so, for It la time to get scared a bit. There la, loo, the other grave danger In this new something we are called on now to face, that of abaorptlon of our farm landa by foreign ownerablp. Conditions are bad enough In all con- science by constantly growing city and I town ow nership of farm lands, which I are cultivated by tenanta or not cultl- vated at alL These thlnga all tend further to destroy de-stroy our home-owning, home-making type of farmer, the backbone and sinew and soul of our natlotal life. You people who have been preaching and working and theorizlug on a "back to thu-fartn" movement, think over these things a bit. Here Is the innerneas of thlnga, and It is for wlae and aane men to olve them. I aak national leaders, thinkers, men who really want to do something, to ponder theae thlnga seriously. seri-ously. C. S. BARRETT. Union City, Ga. |
