Every now and then I like to check in on what Monsanto, the proud owner of the Terminator seed, who not so long ago acquired the Delta & Pine Land Company, the major purveyor of cotton seed, has been up to. Because, while I'm not a flaming environmentalist or the kind of person that joins outfits like Banterminator.org, Monsanto, like WalMart, another enterprise that's a Stephens Inc. staple, has monopolistic ambitions and I happen to be convinced that monopoly and monoculture are hazardous to human existence.
Indeed, that's probably why I'm not an environmentalist. I figure man's natural environment can take care of its own survival, but humans may just be too smart for their own good. Wall Street's recent effort to monopolize our money supply strikes me as an example. Maybe the reason I'm opposed to monopolies is because, instead of seeing the diversity of organic life as having evolved out of a soup of chemicals, I prefer to see diverse organisms as the result of single cells exploiting a multitude of molecules, and, instead of considering man's singular glory to be his multiplication without speciation or differentiation into groups, am more inclined to conclude that each human is a species unto him/herself--unique and distinct and destined to begin and end with that one specimen. Which might give comfort to the folks who argue that extinction is a natural thing and nothing to worry about. But, man extinguishing himself and his progeny has to be a concern. Otherwise, what's it all about?
Anyway, this time I found Monsanto in Bastrop, Louisiana. That's a speck on the Google map, east of Shreveport, a bit west of the Mississippi River and north of Monroe, close to Arkansas. Perhaps because the community has been going through hard times, the local paper, the Bastrop Daily Enterprise recently ran a nice story about communities that had gone extinct in the past.
Bastrop, La. -
A definitive history of Morehouse Parish would have to include several towns, villages and communities no longer found on modern maps. The Shelton Sawmill Community is one such vanished town.
Shelton was a vibrant little community about three miles north of Bastrop in the 1920s. Abandoned during the Great Depression, Shelton exists today in the form of photographs, ruins and artifacts uncovered at the former site.
In 1993 Ray Harrison and Lilla Mae Hawkins gathered information about the town for "Shelton: A Sawmill Community of the Pre-Depression Era," placed in the State Archives and reprinted by the Enterprise for Pride 1995. The following derives from the courthouse records and anecdotal evidence collected by Harrison and Hawkins.
There are some nice photos accompanying the story. Lots of children, hats and caps and no black folk. I only mention the last because the population of Bastrop is currently 64% black and the people hosting the Monsanto visit are the Morehouse Black Framers, Land Association, Inc.
OAK GROVE -
Friday morning a large number of area black farmers and students from three area schools attended a Growers Meeting at the Agricultural Auditorium. The meeting was sponsored by the Morehouse Black Farmers, Land Association, Inc, and Southern University AgCenter. Students from Bastrop High School, Delta Jr. High School and H. V. Adams were a part of the mornings lectures.
Dan Roach representing Monsanto, gave a slide show and talk about corn and soybean production. After his lecture, he asked the students a few questions about his speech and many knew the answers.
Isn't that encouraging. The Monsanto representative's "lecture" was understood by the students--a successful learning experience. Not a whiff that a corporation might be exploiting hard times.
Let's see who else was in attendance for the affair.
Tim Daniels spoke to the audience on the Importance of Agriculture to My Company and Community. Daniels is the owner of Jireh Plastics and assemblies. From the National Black Growers Council was Dr. Dewayne Goldmon of Monsanto and closing remarks were from Dr. Dawn-Palin of SU AgCenter and Harper Armstrong MPBF President....
Sponsors for the event were Dan Roach of Monsanto, Lester Scott of FMC, Connie Ware, Ph. D. of DuPont, Nathan Crisp of USDA Statistics Services, Helena Chemical Company, Crop Production Service, Ouachita Independent Bank, Community Trust Bank, Kennedy Rice Dryers, LLC, Tatum’s Crop Insurance, Commercial Bank of Delhi and Conley Crop Insurance.
Now, you might think that the presence of the bankers is an indication that they were looking to lend money. But, since Senator Landrieu made it quite clear that an extension of unemployment insurance needed to come with increased funding for the SBA attached, it seems fair to suggest that Louisiana small enterprise has been dependent, like Georgia's, for years on a steady stream of SBA loans, which then get deposited in local banks.
I mention Georgia because the flow of funds to Georgia District 08 is quite illuminating, especially for 2003, the year before the 2004 election.
There's a really nice graph which I don't have the capacity to embed. But, my point is that Washington has had to send money to Main Street for some time to compensate for Wall Street's sequestration of our money. Deprivation, it seems, is alive and well as a strategy to get people to cooperate with corporate interests.