The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-12-02
nromnt and effectual interposition of law

ana TO ena0le Lin TO Iully reallZc GnaG ne
is the owner of his own labor, and enti-
tied to fair compensation for it. That
he is the protector Of his wife and chill
dren; that his home is his sanctuary
where none can modest him or make him
afraid; and that he is secure in his right
of life, liberty and the pursuit OF happl-
ness,
1t should be the earnest effort Of every
man to secure home, however hum0lo,
for himself and family, and add to It's
comforts gradually fresa his earnings 1t
is earnestly to be hoped that facilities for
acquiring such homes will be greatly arg
mented. and that an increased number OF
industrious and deserving persons may
soon be settled on their little farms, with
the pleasant conviction that their labor is
for their own benefit and that of their FAM
lilies. By settling in neighborhoods in
contiguity to each other, they can avail
themselves of the benefits of association
for educational and industrial objects, and
also for the purpose of protection.
1 earnestly recommend, therefore, the
passage of such laws as will protect the
working man from the rapacity and dis
honesty of his cmpoyer-men who have
been faithful and diligent in fulfilling
their contracts by putting in and laying
by the crops, as was universally admitted
at the time by the public journals, when
the necessity for their labor has somewhat
relaxed have been driven from the plan
tation upon some frivolous pretcxt, and
all compensation for their labor refused
them-and these outrages are palliated
and excused by some OF the very journals
who werc previously loudest in praise OF
the laborcrs. Thus at the close OF the
season without money and without en-
ploymcnt the laborcr is thrown upon So
ciety, to beg or starye, to become deprc-
dators On tho community, and candidates
for our jails and pcnitentiary.
APPRENTICES.
A law binding out apprentices is great
ly needed An investigation would show
that at present there are but comparative
ly few apprentices, either white or colored,
and the great mass of our youths are
growing up in habits of idleness and ig-
norance, which promises badly for their
future career and which but too frequent
ly lead to vice and degradation. An ap'
prentice has the opportunity OF acquiring
some useful trade or industrial pursuit
which will be advantageous to him or
her in after life in securing employment
and good wages, and with the schooling
which should always be provided for, ena-
BILE them to enter upon career which if
industriously pursued will lead to respec-
liability and wealth.
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL SCIENCE.
The great necessity of the present
time, and especially in the South, is the
want of practical men and women. Our
habits of thought and practice have un-
fortunately been adverse to the prodnc
tion of them. The noXious influence of
slavery was nowhere more apparent than
in the pernicious sway exercised upon So
ciety IN dishonoring labor. Hence the
oagerness tosavoid it as an unclean thing,
and the avidity for what are called profes.
sions-clergymen, physicians, and lawy-
ers-not for any peculiar aptitude or fit
ness of the candidates for these positions,
but from the conviction that to be con-
nected with them was passport to good
society, while gentlemen and mechanic
were distinctly antagonistic terms. And
to avoid this faint, aspiring young men
who could not attain to tho coveted pro-
fession were content to accept situation
as clerk, as keeper of books, as messen-
ger, or any other subordinate position
that could enable them to avoid the
stigma of labor. Many fond foolish pa
rent acquescing in his sons repugnance
to his fathers vocation on the farm, in
which he had acquired competence and
responsibility, has yielded to his desire
for profession, has sent him 10 q college
or university, where but too frequently
he acquired the vices and not the advan-
tages of city life, and in attempting to
rival the extravagances of wealthier as
socates, has plunged himself into debt,
resulting but too frequently in dishonesty
and disgrace. Others who have passed
this ordeal successfully, having received
their diploma and license, have commonc-
ed the practice of their profession, and
their subsequent career has been con-
tinuous struggle between pride and pow
erty, TO keep up appearances, which are,
at best, but the shabby genteel, and, de-
spite the many false pretences, are main
ly sustained by the subsidies from the pa
ternal home, where the pride felt in tho
favorte position in society, was but a poor
equivalent for the frequent drafts on their
limited resources and their accompanying
deprivations. Such is, unfortunately, but
too truthful an outline of the career of
many of tho aspirants for professional
honors, which appear so dazzling and at
tractive to the uninitiated. Contrast his
position with that which ho might have
occupied in the home which he has aban-
dorel and which his energies might have
contributed to elevate and adorn, and his
presence not only give happiness to the