The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-11-25
HOYT & CO., Proprietors.
Address of General Hagood before the
State Agricultural and Mechanical So
ciety.

ciety.
Gentlemen of tie State Agricultural and
Mechanical Society: More than eight years
have elapsed since the last meeting of the
Society whose successors you are. For
four of these the voice of peaceful indus
try was hushed amid the clash of arms
the energies once devoted to its advance
ment were directed to the preparation
and welding of the implements OF war;
and the accumulation of two centuries OF
labor was freely devoted to a cause in
which all of it that was destructiblo per-
ished. For other four of these years we
have been recovering from this fierce par
oxysm of civil strife, and have moved
"as sick man in his sleep"
1t was the teaching of our States Rights
politicians, apart from its being 80 noml.
mated in the bond, that with the main:
tenance of their dogma, the material
prosperity of the Southern States was in
separably connected: of our theologlans,
that our system of labor had its sanction
in Divine DEGREES; and recent experience
in adjacent countries had shown, that
without it, in tropical climates at least,
race composing one-third of our popula-
tion could not be utilized, and would re-
lapse into fetishism What wonder, then,
that at the results of the war, our people
stood aghast; that the emigrant spirit OF
their ancestors partially revived; that
for time the voice of hope herself grated
harshly upon the ear-that it became
fashionable to be poor and patriotic tobe
despondent. But, thanks to the reviving
energies of our blood, and the sunny
skies and teeming soil with which boun-
tiful God has blessed us, to-day in pro-
ductive capacity our glorious land nearly
equals the valuo, if not the quantity, of
the days of her prosperity. Time, which
"makes all things even," has toned and
mellowed the partisan eXaggcratIon with
which we held our peculiar views; and
while with revercnt loyalty we bury the
dead past, we now accept the inevitable
present, and stand ready to grapplo with
its difficulties. 1t is in this spirit you are
to-day sembled-that you are here mar
shaling your forces for one more advance
in the battle of material progress. Where
are the gaps in our line? What means
have we left with which to bear worthily
our part in this removed effort at pros
perity2 The destruction of buildings,
fences and stock, of capital invested in
banking, manufactures and trade. OF hu-
man life, and the time devoted to the war,
or los, in the prostration that followed, is
so much clear loss. 1t is idle to 60 into
statistics to estimate it. We know and
feel it's magnitude; aud time and labor
can alone make it good. The loss result
ing from the enforced change in our sys-
tom of labor is, however, that which
most prominently attracts attentlon-as
involving both loss of capital invested
and of the means of recuperaton. Let
rs endeavor to make some estimate Of its
extent. Tho capitalist desiring, under
our old system, to invest 100000 in
planting, found that about $4,000 was
required for land and stock, and furnish
ing the plantation while tho remaining
100000 was required for purchasing the
community of laborers for the place.all
of which were consumers and something
like half only of which were producers
With his business we'll managed, at the
end of tho year ho found that 33 per cent
of the gross product Of his plantation
had been consumed by, or been expended
upon, this community-bcing in fact the
wages of the labor of the producers
among them-and his balance sheet prob
ably showed profit on his investment OF
from to per cent. from current income,
with an addition of to 8 per cent. to
his capital from natural increase OF his
purchased labor. l feel assured that
these figures nearly approximate accura,
CIV, especially in the item OF the annual
cost of slave labor. A strong proof of
this is to be found in tho universal and
simultaneous determining throughout the
South apon the third as the proper COM
pensation for farm labor when cmancipa-
ton made the payment due to the work
or himself, and threw upon him, and not
upon the employer, the support of the
community of which he was a part.
Farmers, generally, do not trouble them
selves much with the details of book
keeping, but most of them, by Jumping
process, have q shrewed idea of how their
business stands. They knew that they
could hope for no reasonable profit and
nav more for labor than they had paid
before. however the form Of payment
might be varied. Now, suppose for a
moment that after emancipation this com
munlty of laborcrs had remained undis-
turbod upon the plantation, and that
their labor was as efficient as before.
The income of the planter would have
remained the same, and he would not
have realized q change in his affairs, un-
less he endeavored to sell out and aban-
don the business. Then he would have
found that bo could no longer make a
title to the largest portion OF the invest
ment in which he had placed his money.
individuals among US could and did often
sell out to each other, and realize their
slave capital. But to whom could com, a,