The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1870-08-10
Address Of Major T. W. Woodward before
the Fairfield Agricultural Society.

MIR. PRESIDENT TT may bo truthful
ly asserted that tho Agricultural prosperity
ofa country is not only the true measure
ofits civilization, but l believe that the
stability Of its laws arc oven del cndent up
on the successful tillage Of its soil. What
evor, therefore, have been the exoellencies
of q people, be they either Of q mercantile
or manufacturing character, il is mainly to
science as applied to the tillage of its soil
that we must look for the permanency of
its institutions, and for tho mat erial pros.
perity of its community. Nations have
arisen that from peculiar maratime aIvan.
tages have controlled the commerce of the
world and been blonted with the treasures
and luxuries Of foreign climes but whole
some laws. good morals, genuine liberty and
real prosperity, have remained to that peo-
pie whose worship has been most constant
ut the shrine Of Ceres. II is then emi-
nently proper, that this people barely re.
covering from the oyerthrows Of its every
interest, Industry and institution, should
again assume the upright forms of men,
and shaking off that strange AMI unaccoun-
table lethargy that hns envelopcd them as q
pall,-reach for the redemption and coutrol
Of its agricultural interests. The rude and
primitive implements to be seen in the
ficlds-thc care worn and poverty stricken
mules an1 oxen to be met upon the high
and fences, admonish US that the barbarian
in power has not alone excrted his inHu-
ence upon our laws and morals.
The blessings Of agriculture arc indeed
heaithful TO the morals and prosperity of
country but, the abuses are no less niu-
rious and are equally worthy Of our serious
consideration and it is proposed upon this
occasion to treat Of n few Of its ubus,
and our ability to control them.
\ The first material impeachment in the way
Of anything like gradual improvement in
the texture Of our soils. is the pernicious
practice Of allowing ourselves forced fairly
and squnrely into copar!ncrship with u
race mentally morally and physically he
meath us. There is q degradation in the
idea that snps the foundation of the fabric
Of public sentiment mere tofore and a re-
versal of the practical experience of tho
world in every branch Of industry, from
the days Of >dnm tho fret agricuturalst,
to tho present time. Do the laborers Of
MIR. Sprague, thong Of his own color. dare
to claim n share in his factory? Do the
mechanics of the North demand a share in
the fees Of the oonti actor Do the labor
ers in europe or anywhere else demand
that q copartnership shall be established
before they 60 TO work ? say not.
The cropping system now in vogue
amongst us, | care not what may be the
nature Of your. contrhct--not only estab
fishes n coparInership, but does indirectly
authorse the negroo to use his judgment in
the management Of the crop. In oil other
ayocations and in all other countries, a man
has the right of selecting his own partners
here, il is only necessary that the League
shall issue an edict and straightway thcre is
no more hiring for wages. Any planter
who will for n series Of years pursue the
system of creppng now pracliced by al.
most all of us, must in the end fad himself
poor man with an impoverished rlanta.
ton. Before the var hnve hauled out no
many as six hundred four horse loads Of
compost. now use the actual droppings Of
the animals and no more, md, the reason is
obvious Hands laboring for part of the
Drop, object 10, any outside work whatever
and. espec ally to this thing of hauling in
litter from the woods FOR il not only adds
nothing 10 the growing crop, but they argue
thatthey may not reside upon The place he
next year, and will, therefore, reap no ad .
vantage whatever. When you reflect lha,
the negroe as a class, has not tho remotcst
conception Of the obligations of contracts,
and that all his ideas Of political economy
occur 10 hie only es they reach his present
individual case,--his reasoning is not bad.
Tho fault then Is yours, ind must be
corrected by you. l SEQ no reason why
tho negroe shall not occupy the position Of
the laborera Of the North and Of all ether
parts of tn, world In this question of the
general states Of capital and lnbor.
Sir, it is too true that tho agriculture of
this State is being consigned into tie hands
of the negroes. We have been forced to
submit oh his ideas Of toxes and Of laws,
but We are tamely nnd voluntarily turning
over to him this last grand bul wark of DIV
ilization that should have, been left as an
inheritanoe 10 tho children of white men.
Whero is The ,hope for the future redemp.
tlon Of this land. If We are dependant upon
The agrioalturali ideas Of the negroe not
only for our daily bread, but for our ar.i-
cles Of export I The science of agriculture
simple as " Is supposed to be, has cost the
world hundreds Of years OF tho toll and
thought Of it's best men and ablest minds
In addition TO the above, there Is now lit
tie or no i"terval between the laying by of
tho crop and the commencement Of the
gathering of it as was the case in those
good old days Of Systematic labor. Then.
He ha1 time TO haul trash for barn yard
and stables, clear land clean fence corners
and repair buildings |; now under the crop
ping system, we wage an inglorioms con-
test with Gen. Green from the time of plan.
ting ill the rnaturine crop admonshes us
that II Ia time to put IL beyond the reach OF
rogues. There is'another objection to this
cropping system and it, is This laborers
who work for q part Of the crop arc usually
required to furnish thems Ives that is
an individual Who has neither bread, meat,
money nor credit, lis expected to feed and
cloth himself and perhaps alarge family.
tu M IF IL. L
must either steal. land many poor. swine,
sheep and COW, does suffer,) or he mus
apply 10 his employer, who. II he 10 not an
Honest man 10 hereby furnished with a
pretcxt'for absorbing his years wages, or II
he is an honest man aud il happens 10 be n
poor orQp,year like las, year, for instance,
.and there IS nothing made, he looses his ad
'vsrces Ind has the satisfaction Of seeing
hfslaborerd depart at The end Of the yearin
hs deDt, know men who, have losl
their all by by thia systern. lost moro