Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1872-11-21
The Farmers and the Government.

the st. Louis Fair, in which he said +:
"The question of which am about
to treat is one of this sort: How shall the
farmers of the country procure from the
General Government that degree of con-
sideration and such Legislative encour
agement for agriculture as it requires
and deserves ? It's Importance, when
contrasted with the other great interests
Of the country, such as commerce and
navigation, railroading, mining and
manufacturing is, to Say the least, quite
equal to theirs. Then why should it not
receive as much consideration from the
law-givers 1t Is admitted by all, for it
is practically demonstrated, that the
railroad men, the merchants, the miners,
and the manufacturers have far more in
fuence and power in Washington and
with the State legislatures than your
honest farmers and industrious mechanics
have. How is this ? Let us ascertain,
and then I think you will agree with me,
that if they have more influence and
power with the Government than you
have lis yourselves and not they that are
to blame, for if you choose to let your
interests go by default while they pull
together and follow theirs up you have
no cause of complaint. Their associa-
tious call men together and yours dis
perse them. They assemble in cities
villages, and corgregate for work in
large numbers. They have daily and
hourly access to the post office, the tele-
graph, and the newspaper press, and
hold constant communications by signs
and correspondence with their fellows
everywhere. You on the other hand are
scattered over the face of the country,
are all day at work in your own fields,
and sometimes see whole weeks pass by
without word of conversation with q
single soul save those Of your own house
hold. This inclines SO many farmers to
old fogyism;' makes you averse to pull
together and 10th to hold meetings to
discuss the interests Of agriculture, and
then to combine for the purpose Of pro-
curing the necessary legislation. They,
on the contrary, have their guides, their
boards, their exchanges, societies, and
associations in which they meet daily
and in large cities nightly. One manu-,
facturer or miner may have in his en-
ployment 1000 hands, and one railroad
king 10000 men. And so they combine
and bring pressure upon legislatures and
governors while you, like true laborers'
are quietly at home happy to see 'the
ewes Craze and their lambs suck Now
1 want to persuade you-and by you l
apostrophize all those who, taken to-
gether, represents the rural interestssof
the whole country-I want to persuade
you to be more alive to your common
welfare. TO turn over a new leaf and see
that hereafter agriculture suffers no
wrong through lack of co operation and
concert among farmers or through want
OF advocates in high places. In persuad.
ing I mean to convince. According to
official Statements statements not gen.
orally very accurate, I admit, but suffi.
ciently so in this instance, perhaps, to
give IN idea of your wealth-your crops
last year amounted in round numbers to
$500, 100000. That is the annual pro-
duce OF your labor, and it Is increasing.
What, compared to this. is the produce
of the mines, the glins of commerce, or
the earnings of railroads /? Accordingto to
the last census there are SAID to he 12,-
100000 bread earners' in the United
States. These fill the mouths Of the
80, 1000 million Of people who inhabit
the country. Thus, every one who is
not drone, has, on the average, to earn
bread for three mouths. Following u
these statistics it appears that these sew
eral industries subsist respectively: The
agricultural and mechanical, 1000
souls the commercial, 1925, 900 souls
the manufacturing, 1,117,000; the min
ing, 472, 900; the railroad and express
men, $4,000. Foster the great National
Agricultural Congress that had its birtL
i'll this city on the 28th day of May last.
1t has already spoken with regard to one
Of these great measures, aud ere It's
memorial could be enrolled and sent up
to Washington, the public press took up
the petition, and legislators catching Its
spirit, passed-though they were upon
the very heels of the session-an act in
creasing the appropriation for the Sig
nal Office, and commanding it to address
its labors to the benefit of agriculture us
we'll as of commerce. Thus We have an
auspicious beginning aud good omen.
The Government in Washington acted
before it had received the official pro-
ceedings of the Agricultural Congress.
These asked, not only that the labors of
the Signal Office should be turned in the
interest of agriculture, but that the ma
tions should be invited to q general con