January 25. 1918 



The Southern Alluvial Land Association, at its first annual at the 

 Hotel Chisca, Memphis, Wednesday afternoon, January 16, honored 

 all of its old officers with re-election, as follows: John W. McClure, 

 president; A. C. Lange, first vice-president; W. E. Hyde, second vice- 

 president, and J. M. Pritthard, treasurer. 



It also elected all of the one-year directors to serve for a term of 

 three years, as foHows: S. B. Anderson, F. K. Conn, Thomas "W. 

 Fry, S. M. Nickey and S. E. Simonson. 



President McClure extended greetings to all present immediately 

 after the delightful luncheon and expressed much pleasure over the 

 tact that so many members had braved the elements and the difficulties 

 of transportation. He theu read his annual address, in which he 

 asserted that the association, about a year ago, was laxmched at a 

 most opportune time, because, owing to the entrance of the United 

 States into the world-wide war, the production of food and clothing 

 had become of paramount importance and because the southern alluvial 

 lands represent the largest undeveloped body in this country capable 

 of producing vast stores of cattle, hogs, foodstuffs and clothing. 



President McClure reported increasing demand for these lands and 

 predicted that the association stood at the threshold of the greatest 

 "migration period" in the history of America and that it would 

 witness the biggest ' ' back to the farm ' ' movement ever seen, with 

 resultant quickening of the development and cultivation of these 

 properties. He pointed out that the war had been something of a 

 stimulus because of the need of increased foodstuff production, but 

 that it had also prove<l itself a handicap in the respect that it had 

 rendered labor much scarcer and had created a larger demand for 

 cultivated than for ' ' wild ' ' lands. 



He thought it proper that the association should have been launched 

 by lumbermen and that the task of getting it started had been borne 

 by them, but he believed the time had come when farmers, bankers 

 and others who profited by the publicity and advertising done by the 

 association, shoidd become a part of the organization and thus 

 strengthen its finances and enable it to do a much broader work than 

 it has done during the past year. In this connection he emphasized 

 the fact that while the owners of these alluvial lands vrere largely 

 lumbermen at one time, they are now both farmers and lumbermen. 



He paid a tribute to the patriotic spirit in which members of the 

 assoication responded to the call of the government for increased 

 foodstuff production and declared that the association would continue 

 to offer its services to the government and that it would assist to the 

 best of its abUity in carrying out the plans of the authorities during 

 the period of the war. He then outlined the purposes of the asso- 

 ciation as follows: 



"To advertise the wonderful possibilities of our rich alluvial ter- 

 ritory; to overcome prejudices which may exist in this section; to 

 give publicity to the rapid developments taking place ; to give accurate 

 and reliable information whenever called upon by new settlers or by 

 those desiring to locate in the alluvial region; to assist in building 

 up communities and improving farming conditions in this territory; 

 to cooperate with other forces operating for the development of these 

 lands, and to furnish our members with information valuable to 

 them either in disposing of their lands or in their agricultural 

 development. ' ' 



Secretary F. E. Stonebraker, in his report, stated that 27 new 

 members had been received during the year and that the total mem- 

 bership was now 44. 



He reported that thousands of letters had been mailed soliciting 

 members and their active co-operation in the affairs of the association 

 and that, while most of the replies had been highly favorable, the 

 results had been somewhat disappointing. He also paid tribute to 

 the patriotic spirit of members of the association, saying they had, 

 in response to the appeal of the government, planted thousands of 

 acres to com and other foodstuff crops originally intended for cotton. 



He briefly reviewed the work of the year aimed at aiding in the 

 development of the alluvial lands of members and in disposing of 

 properties they wished to sell. He pointed out that farming opera- 



tions on these lands had proven highly profitable and that splendid 

 results had been achieved despite scarcity of labor and other handicaps, 

 including unusually early frost in the northern Mississippi valley and 

 the presence and activity of boll weevil. 



He reported that cut-over and cultivated lands had advanced 

 steadily and regularly during the year but that, despite these higher 

 prices, they offered splendid returns on the money invested in them. 

 He described advertising and publicity as factors which had greatly 

 contributed to the development of these cut-over lands and referred 

 to the "Call of the Alluvial Empire," a booklet issued by the asso- 

 ciation, as the most sustained bit of publicity work undertaken. 

 He reported inquiries for this from all parts of the country and even 

 from the Philippine Islands, and said that thousands of copies had 

 been mailed to prospective settlers and others in every part of the 

 United States. He thanked the lumber trade journals, the newspapers, 

 the railroads, the agricultural colleges and all other agencies which 

 had lent their aid along publicity or other lines. 



He forcibly outlined the steps being taken by Georgia, Alabama 

 and other southern states in confirmation of the view that the 

 "farming tide is turning toward the South," and concluded his 

 report with the following eulogism on alluvial lands: 



"Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana alluvial land 

 is unquestionably the richest soil in the United States. When prop- 

 erly managed, the most enduring form of wealth is real estate. The 

 most profitable real estate is farm land, and the best farm land in 

 the world is the alluvial land. Now that we know that we of the South 

 have the best largo body of alluvial land in the world, it is certainly 

 up to us to let the world know about it, to bring more of the world 

 here to assist in continuing the rapid development already begun, 

 thereby developing the best soil into the most beautiful country in 

 the world." 



The report of the treasurer, John M. Pritchard, was read by Secre- 

 tary Stonebraker, in the absence of the former. It showed the financial 

 condition of the organization to be wholly sound. 



Gov. Charles H. Brough, spetiking on "The Dawn of a New Con- 

 structive Era," elaborated on the wonderful resources of that State 

 in apples, peaches, anthracite and smokeless coal, diamonds, cotton- 

 wood, ash, gum and other hardwoods, and reviewed briefly the steps 

 taken by the authorities of that state to hasten the dawn of this 

 era, including a constitutional convention to enable various divisions 

 of the state to issue evidences of their ovvti indebtedness, making 

 large appropriations for building good roads and using convict labor 

 in this work, putting the state on a cash basis without increasing 

 taxes, taking the institutions of higher learning out of politics and 

 keeping them out, and placing a check on vicious and conflicting local 

 and sectional legislation. 



He declared that Arkansas wanted to join hands with the association 

 in developing over 5,000,000 acres of alluvial lands within that state 

 and in helping to bring about the settlement and cultivation of the 

 20,000,000 acres of such lands in the lower Mississippi valley. He 

 said they offered climatic conditions which made double crops possible 

 and that they were the richest lands in the world; that they were 

 situated within easy reach of markets not only in this country, but 

 also in Europe, because of their location with respect to seaports. 

 He asserted that the gold hunters had passed these lands by in 

 olden times because they were covered with a heavy timber growth 

 and could not be cultivated until the timber was removed, but he 

 declared that, out of the 76,000,000 acres of cut-over lands in the 

 United States, only about 15,000,000 are not subject to second timber 

 growth, and the greater portion of the latter lies in the alluvial regions 

 of the South. 



He regarded the coming of boll weevil, with their depredations, 

 as not an unmixed evU, because they had forced upon southern people 

 realization of the fact that the one-crop system is deleterious to 

 any region and that diversification is absolutely necessary if they 

 are to be self-sustaining and if they are to stop the inflow of millions 

 (Continued on page 37) 



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