The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-02-27
The Farming Interests Of the South.

The Farming Interests Of the South.
tits Characteristic Of all transition epochs,
that those departments Of life which should be
most stable. are most unsettled and threaten
complete failure. Of all the industries of the
land, that which at present is suffering most,
and which calls most loudly for reform, is the
farming industry, upon which hangs most i'm.
mediatelr the very life Of people. From all
quarters is heard The complaints of the farmer:
He is ground down by oppressive taxation, and
this, together with the enormous rates ne mas
to pay foe the transportation of the produce OF
his farm, prevents him from making other than
bare Living, and that by the hardest sort OF q
labor. Numerically the strongest class ne ls l
virtually weakest for other classes have their
organizations, which, with the blind selhsnness
of all organized bodies, unite IN depressing
him. Inipotent in matters of legislation, ne
sits passlvely ac9uiescent, giving ms support
to the very measures that involve MS rum
And go. unable to compete with the activities
about him. he ia discounted in the great busl-
ness thorouehfares of fife, and his occupation is
become q erievous burden instead Of being, as
it should, the most noble, joyous and healthful
of all human employments. ,o ,
Wherein lies the remedy of the evilY What
isito redeem the farmer from the terrible con-
dition in which he ia involyed? The main
trouble lies, we believe, with the farmer him
self In the complexities, of modern clvillza-
tion. he alone thrives who understands most
thoroughly the business which he undertakes.
KNowI1DeE is the grand power in every de-
partmen5 of industry, and be who fails, to keep
In with the neutrality-suspicious. of his age, is
overrun and lost sight OF in the struggle. AS
with the individual So with the class. Farming
must be conducted .upln- scientific principles,
and he who does not acquaint himself with
these principles must suffer the consequences
of his ignorance. 1t ID just as necessary for
the farmer to have knowledge. of theynature
of the soiI which he works, its chemical prop
critics, etc, as it is for the physician to know
the anatomy and physiognomy of the human
BODY. While we have little respect for that
intellectual sharpness engendered by the tfrlc-
tion of the cities, yet the ignorance of farmers
a. body, about what it most imports them to
know. is greater than among any other class OF
people. About whatrit most imports him TO
hnoy: we cast no reflections upon the general
culture of the class, and I'VE admit shat many
things concurin preventing that Scientific cul-
ture which is so needful. A man who is ha-
rassed with the immediate and pressing neces-
sites of life has little heart for severe appica-
ton 70 study. In truth the pressure upon the
farmer, in the way of taxation especially, is
,well-nigh ruinous; Maytit not be that the
enormous activity in the construction of rail-
roads, while subscribing the interests Of our
towns, is bearing down too heavily upon the
country at large, and for an apparent prosperity
is sacrificing the real and permanent interest OF
the peopleY We are keenly sensible OF the
benefit which railroads are to country--we
IL ,x,,o1;oot Of hnda 0f Incn.
motion. that there may be greater facilities for
TRANSPORTING the produce of the country, and a
constant commingling of people of different
and widely separated Districts and an inter-
change of thought and sentiment--for it IS only
in this way that narrow, local prejudices are
outgrovn; but will the enlarged town and city
life compensate for the depletion of the coun-
try3 Is it not an apoplectic condition, as it
we're. a determination of the blood to the head,
and consequent exhaustion of other parts of the
system :? We simply make this suggestion to
those of our readers who are imposed upon by
the show of life, who have not counted the cost
of the show.
The difficulties which beset the farmer are
aggravated in the South by negro labor. Here,
scientific knowledge and modern improvements
are often at disadvantages for the negro Will
not be guided by the former nor use the latter
to any extent. The light of experience flashes
upon as the conviction that the liberation OF
the negro was not altogether calamity, and
the question of Southern national existence Is
narrowed down to the getting rid of him en-
tirely. We believe that the establishment OF
a heaehly regime upon the farm, wilEproye the
solution of most of tho political, industrial and
social problems Of our section. 1t is the policy
-of the political party in power to keep the ne
gro element as largely predominant as posi-
ble. ard to prevent that emigration which sta
tistics prove is gradually taking 1T in q south
westernly direction. The constitution of the
negro, his indolent, shiftless habits take him
naturally to warm regions where siistenance is
more easily procured, and if this native ten
dency were unimpeded, Mexico would soon re-
ceive these swarnis Of half-humanized' beings,
and tie South would be freed. from the abomi-
nation. How shall We rid ourselves of this
element? Most assuredly by gradual pro-
cess, and one which will tax the energies of the
people to the very utmost. We are now so
situated, both politically and socially, that We
are liable to become bankrupt in all the virtues
which constitute q people worthy OF "a nationa!
existeace, and nothing but ultimate purity and
integrity will save us from being absorbed by
the evil around ris. Individual reformation is
the basis Of all other, and accepting the present
order of things, let US address ourselves to that
development Of character upon which depends
our destiny. Let the large plantations be di-
vided into small farms; the young men who
fill the towns and cities TO overhowingi who are
compelled to degrade the" highest professions
into subserving the base needs of the body,
who llonopolize positions the duties of which
could be more properly discharged by women,
let them distribute through the country, take
possession of the FARMS, and with plow and hoe
come in close contact with nature, and gather
from her strength and purity and cleanness OF
heart, health Of mind, and yigor of body. In
this way, and in this mainly, do we look for the
redemption of cur section from its desoation.
For while our towns are unhealthfully crowded,
large plantations are abandoned to negro set,
tiers who are running them by careless and