The Van Buren press., 1869-09-21
CRAWFORD COUNTY, Sept. IL, '69.
EDITOR OF THE Press
Dear Sir. For several months past a

zens to organize an Agricultural and Ne
chanical Association for the County of
Crawford. Tins and time again has
been set and advertised, and everybody
requested to meet at the Court House in
Van Buren, to aid and assist each othei
in maturing plans and aifording ways
aud means for the accomplishment of
this most desirable object. The days
came and went. Notwithstanding the
earnest solicitude OF few and the an
nouncement of the hour of the meeting
by John Wade and his drum, with the
streets lined with people eager and anxi-
Gus to purchase a yard tape or few
yards of calico, or get sup at a glass of
rot gut whisky, and thus spend the day
in general cndeavor to- accomplish no
thing A certain few of eur most enter
pri.ing and intelligent farmers have been
prompt in their attendance ut every call,
and notwithstanding the very poor en-
couragement Of an almost totally indifler-
ent people, have gone onto organize an
Agricultural Association with Consttu-
ton and Bylaws; have elected TEN
porary set of officers, President, Vice
President, Secretary. etc. But, alas for
the County of Crawford with her rich
domain her 200, 900 acres of rich cotton
lands her fine tobacco, wheat and corn
lands her high rolling hills and fertile
valleys of fruit lands her limestone quar-
reys and coal beds; her lead, copper, sill
yer and iron. All must, in measure,
remain undeveloped and unappropriated
until we have new and living popua-
ton, more fully imbued with the spirit of
the age We need farmers, merchants
and mechanics. of the living age Men
who spurn the ideas Of fossilatcd fogyism,
with its self satisfied stupidity, still plod-
ding along with dirtroad speed in the
old beaten track of an hundred years ago,
with his peck of corn in one end of the
sack and rock in the other. You some
times speak boastfully Of our farmers,
mechanics and merchants ] am sorry
to say, am unable to see in what degree
If any, they deserve to be complimented
As a class, our farmers are fifty, if not
an hundred, years behind the age in al
most everything that pertains to agrcuL
turc, especially in implements, and ideas
AS for our mechanics, quite too many Of
them have failed to keep pace with the
improvements of the age, and manifest
little or no desire to employ machinery
in the manufacture Of structures ofwood
iron, leather, etc. Little, or no desire
seems to move them to improve the
architectural structures of the County
Pretty much the same old style Of poor
ly ventilated, comcly looking cdifces
with flat roofs, narrow caves, without
conice, brackets or ornamental design
prevail. And although much Of theil
time they do not seem to be employed
yet when you call upon them to attend al
Agricultural and Mechanical meeting, Tho
object of which is to elevate and improve
the arts and obtain knowledge Of tho
great grand improvements Of the age
they turn away and seem to forget I'll
about the matter until again mentioned
But let some struggling vagabonds come
TO town and propose exhibiting pc
coon, dancing dog or monkey, and ;
grand displays of juglery, and how many
are there Of all classes that will refuse t(
go and spend money for the maintenanc,
of that most detestable Of all classes o
worse than paupers, enabling them to liv,
| L,, ,jn Ia u-aot ~ all ool;nno norp,;fta a,
by the laws of the land. And our mer
chants-what about them? BY what ac
have any of them ever signalized them
selves, in becoming participants in
single great public enterprise? How
much Railroad stock have they taken il
the long struggle of Railroads in Arkan
sas? For about fourteen years the Littl
Rock and Fort Smith Railroad has strug
gled for existence. The grant of lane
would have been long since forfeited, bu
for the amounts taken by men of smal
means, whilst the abest merchants o
Van Buren, and Fort Smith have onl,
tightened their grip on their dollars whcl
asked to take stock ! will not includ
all of our merchants, for there are fey
honorable exceptions, but as class it i
lamcntable fact, that cannot be denied
that most all of them and the most abl
of them to assist in the advancement o
all great public enterprises have, as
general rule, blufly refused and stiIl per
sist in such refusals. The sale OF yart
of tapc and few yards of calico woul,
seem to be q matter of vastly more i'm
portance to th.m, than all the Railroad
and Agricultural meetings ever called oi
this side the Atlantic ocean. But il il
useless to admonish them They will il
due time find themselves superseded b,
men of the living age, who will under
stand and appreciate the farming interest
| of our country; men who fully appreciate
the fact, that if there were no farmers, nc
tillers of the earth, that this world would
soon become q desert waste, inhabited
only by rowing savages and wild beasts
No proud cities us London, Paris, New
York and ten thousand others, w.~.os'
lofty domes and glittcring spires are
seen pointing heavenword. All! ant
whose gorgeous streets, adorned witt
solid walls Of inassy architecture equal
ing in splendor the Palaces of Kings ant
Temples of the Gods would have existed
Even the oceans might have "rolled OF
their mighty waves in everlasting success
sion and solitude, unvsited by the whit,
sails Of commerce, with the countless
numbers Of eoilosal steamers, that plov