Background
Charles Simon Barrett was born on January 28, 1866, on a farm in Pike County, Georgia, the son of Thomas Jefferson and Minerva (Slade) Barrett.
(State Officials, Tennessee Division ;244 Prominent Worker...)
State Officials, Tennessee Division ;244 Prominent Workers, Tennessee Division 254 State Officials, Mississippi Division 264 State Officials, Florida Division 272 Prominent Workers, Mississippi Division 280 State Officials, South Carolina Division 288 Ex-S tate Officials, South Carolina Division (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology. Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org
https://www.amazon.com/Mission-History-Times-Farmers-Industrial-Agricultural/dp/B008QQ4MO0?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B008QQ4MO0
Charles Simon Barrett was born on January 28, 1866, on a farm in Pike County, Georgia, the son of Thomas Jefferson and Minerva (Slade) Barrett.
After attending the local country schools, young Barrett continued his education in normal schools at Bowling Green, Kentucky, Lebanon, Ohio, and Valparaiso, Indiana.
A farmer as well as a school-teacher, Barrett was old enough to have joined the Farmers' Alliance "at the first opportunity, " but his career is primarily associated with the Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union, more generally known as the Farmers' Union. This organization was founded in 1902 by a few hard-pressed cotton farmers in a little "cross-roads conference" in Rains County, Tex. Acutely conscious of the distressing plight of the Georgia cotton farmers, Barrett went to Texas to learn something about the new order and returned to become the first president of the Georgia State Union, which he helped organize in 1905. His offices were in the upper story of an old frame building in Atwater, a tiny village in Upson County, seven miles from a railroad, but the influence of the Union was soon widely recognized.
With other cotton states also falling in line, Barrett was among the most active of those who in 1906 organized the Union along national lines, and within the year he became its national president. Thereafter for twenty-two years, a record for uninterrupted service not attained by any other American farm leader, Barrett retained his office, always being reëlected by a unanimous vote. When he retired in 1928 it was of his own volition. As president of the Farmers' Union Barrett sought to avoid the political pitfalls into which the Farmers' Alliance had fallen. He emphasized primarily the educational and cooperative activities of the Union and measured the success of the order in the growth of cooperative practice and service rather than in the mere enrollment of members.
Nevertheless, by 1921, a conservative estimate set the total membership of the Union at from 500, 000 to 800, 000. Barrett was especially interested in its expansion into the Northwest and was in considerable part personally responsible for persuading the Equity Cooperative Exchange and the National Producers' Alliance to join forces with the Farmers' Union. What he had helped accomplish in the Northwest he considered the crowning achievement of his career. In his official capacity Barrett spent much time in the national capital and came to be known as the "friend of Presidents. " He took great pride in having served as a member of Roosevelt's Commission on Country Life, as a delegate to the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome, and as the representative of fourteen American farm organizations at the Paris Peace Conference - "the most interesting and most thrilling experience of my life. "
He wrote two books, The Mission, History and Times of the Farmers' Union (1909) and Uncle Reuben in Washington (1923), both typical promotional documents. After his retirement from the presidency of the Union he wrote a weekly newspaper column that was published regularly by more than three hundred newspapers.
He died at Union City, Georgia, after a lingering illness.
(State Officials, Tennessee Division ;244 Prominent Worker...)
Short, thickset, bald, and genial, he was beloved and respected to a degree seldom attained by farm leaders of his time, among whom much rivalry and dissension existed.
He was married on November 5, 1891, to Alma Rucker of Barnesville, Georgia, who bore him six sons: Paul, Charles Seldon, Howell Slade, Leland Arleigh, Gaines Rucker, and John.
