The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-11-11

and proximity to market Our labor,
organized and compact, was enlisted for
the life of the laborer, and could be
welded with the force aud efficiency of
regulars; but it was costly from its alli-
ance with capital, and fatally limited in
it's supply to the natural increase of the
small class from which it was drawn.
The rates of money were easy enough;
and while in embnrking in tho business
large amount of money was needed as
permanent investment, the current sup
ply OF ready cash required was reduced
stances the prosperity of the Southern
agricuturist ompared we'll with that of
his brethren in any other portion Of the
world. But the system under which he
worked, though the legitimate result of
the relations which labor, land and
capital bore to each other in his case,
was SUI generis, and can never recur
again. Cherishing his costly aud highly
priced labor, which was also, under the
laws Of the land, the largest part Of his
capital, his whole efforts were given to
Its increase, and tho land bore the
penalty of the Advertisements down,
skinned of its fertility, and thrown out
TO the recuperative efforts of nature,
while the generous product of its virgin
soil was invested in additional laborers,
and the planter and his gang passed on
to other fields. There was prosperity
under the system. Laborers worked, and
danced, and multiplied; and the planter
moved by the shortest road before him to
wealth and comfort. Yet was there not
III all this as much of the prosperity of
the Arab shiek passing with his men
servants and his maid-servants, his oxen
and his asses, from oasis to oasis, as the
prosperity of the agriculturist? But
little Improvement attached to the land.
Few buildings wero reared which we're
expected to last beyond The life of the
tenant; no fence which would not require
in five or ten years; and
seldom was any ameliorating process
vouchsafed to the soil. "New ground"
in plantation pnrlance, was the equivalent
OF productiyencss, and cold field" of
sterility.
Thoroughly imbued with the economic
ideas of tho system under which they
were reared, our people have but slowly
taken IN the changes produced by eman.
cipntion in their exact extent aud pro-
portions. At first, provided sufficient
number Of laborcrs could be herded upon
the plantation, the planter felt hopeful
OF success, however limited the means of
supplying them, until tho crops we're
realized, and however faulty, nay, suici-
'lal to good management. the terms upon
which they were engaged. The novelty
OF the experiment was his excuse. The
of the industrial effect
which u sudden transition from the re-
straints of plantation discipline to the
extreme of political liberty would have
upon an uneducated race. gave a large
margin between the auticipntions of the
and the fears of tho despond-
cnt. The usurions rates Mt which money
was held almost deprived him of its use.
And the desperation of his fortunes
drove him to utilize all that he had left
his land not IS he may have wished,
but as best he could. But the first
fierce struggle for bread which followed
the devastations of war, is passed; ex-
perience has settled the value of our
labor; and patient industry has added to
our money resources. until to-day the
customary rate of interest is Just half
what it was four years ago. Let us ex-
anime the relations of the elements of
the farmers problem as presented to us
now. 1t certainly cannot be foreign to
the objects of this Society to consider
we are using them to the best
advantage.
Since emancipation our lands retain
thoir favorable conditions of fertility and
proximity to market, and are cheaper
than they were Def >re. Our labor has
lost its characteristic of capital, unless it
be that capital which taketh unto itself
wings; it has lost more or less of it's ef-
licicncy, and decreased in the quantity
available; and the supply of current
cash so little needed under the slave sys-
tenn. now rises to prime Importance.
These are certainly the general chnrac-
terlstics of our condition as agricnltu-
rists, but when we attempt to come to
details, the variety of soils, and the diff
fering circumstances affecting labor in
the various localities of tue State, make
1t difficult to present an exact statement
OF the items affecting the farmers ba-
lnnce sheet, without trenching too much
upon your time. Some statistics, how.
ever, applicable to our lighter soils. and
embracing the country below tho falls of
the rivers and above tide water. NAV
possess interest aud serve us standard of
In this region u mule cnu
well cultivate fifteen acres in cotton and