The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-09-29
RATES OF ADVERTISING.
From the YorkuiAe Enquirer.
The Dignity of Farm Labor.

Mr., EDITOR: Since the close OF tne war,
see that great many young men nave Deen
thronging to the towns and cities In search OF
congenial employment something easier and
and more respectable, as they imagine, than
working on the farm The towns and cities
have long been over crowded but still the mi
Grafton from the farms continues, and it is
feared that unless it is checked in some way,
the men of the South will become traders in
stead of producers.
I would advise the young men to remain at
their homes and learn to produce the wealth
that the South needs, instead of drifting to
towns and cities where they can barely exc out
a living, while the agricultural interests of the
State 90 to ruin for the want of proper persons
to direct them.
What the South needs at the present time,
and will continue to need for some years to
come, is labor. There is no lack of lawyers,
doctors and editors, in any of the Southern
States. There is hardly a spare seat in any of
the learned professions The various depart
msnts of trade are more than occupied. Men
versed in politics are quite numerous enough
10 look after the public Interests. There is no
place untitled except in the field of manual la
bor, and that place, which is certainly the most
honorable is the one which the young men ap-
pear to be unwilling to fill.
1t is not to be denied that in the early days
of the republic, farm labor was not regarded in
IS favorable light as it is now. The farmer IN
those days was drudge. He knew little, and
cared little what was going on in the world out
side of his one or two hundred acres. But 1t is
not so now The farmer has become power
in the country. 1t is not necessary to trace
the cause of his elevation. 1t is sufficient to
Rnow that the laboring classes stand as high in
practical culture as any other portion OF the
community. They possess as clear an intellect,
as sound judgment, and are capable of as apt
an appreciation of public questions and inter-
ests as men brought up in the active centres of
business and politics. No farmer now consid-
ers himself beneath the merchant or profession
81 man in the qualities which constitute manly
dignity In brief, all intelligent men have
learned to regard labor in its true light-as one
of the most honorable and dignifed callings in
which man can be engaged: With the spread
of intelligence, the social prejudice against
manual labor has died out, and at the present
time there is no class more respected, or more
worthy of respect, than that which develops
and utilizes the wealth of the soil.
The present generation of Southern planters
and farmers must disappear before many years.
When the men who have directed the labor OF
the South for the past twenty years shall have
passed away, others ought to be at hand to take
their places. The South will need a great deal
more labor in the future than she needed in the
past; and unless she can command capable
hands and brains to do it, she must go the wall.
But if all young men of the present generation
abandon their country homes and crowd into
the towns and cities, seeking employment as
clerks or in the professions, there will be none
to attend to the farms and plantations when the
men who now direct the agricultural interests
shall have ended their days. 1t is popular
error that life in the towns and cities is much
easier and more pleasant than life in the coun-
try. The truth is that where one young man
who abandons the farm for the store or the
office eucceeds, two are almost sure to fail and
their failure very often ends in dissipation and
ruin. If the young men will be advised, they
will stick to their country homes and let the
towns and cities alone Their talents will com
mand more influence, and have wider field for
profitable development on the farm than behind
any desk or counter. They are sadly needed in
the country, and trust that they will apply
their labor and energies where they are most
needed.
Mr.. Editor I throw out these suggestions for
what they are worth, and should any young
man be Influenced by them, my end will have
been accomplished. PLUS.