Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-08-26
FARMERy stats CONVENTION.


/ TENDER, we had not space at our command
to hotiee thosubject as the great interest of
l agrienlture demands. Lis not our pur-
| pose to neglect this interest, nor to appear
TO neglect it. For reasons not altogether
| plain 70 many people, farfns i this State
in not few counties, have deprecated In
value since the war from twenty to sixty
per cent. TO the serious irjnry of their own
ers and the public. Unfortunately the same
causes that lave depressed the market price
Of ,aSla land, ose aressq stillsa4 in gas full
| operation with no prospect of
abatement. To view of these facts, and
Imany others that might be ma red in an
elaborate discussion of Tennessee agrienl-
ture Of to-day, It Is both natural and prop
81 for thefarmers Of the State to come to-
gether st its capital for consultation, and to
find ont, if possible what is defective in
their systew OF tillageaad husbindry, and
what 10 amiss IN either keeping, selling or
Isendihg their crops to market. If nothing
wrong Is found in their plans Of cultivaticD,
sAEifg manure, managing and improving
stock, and renov2tiog old fields, then they
should investigate the cost and character Of
their farm labor and SEQ if some
1 defect IN this Is not silently destroying the
money value. of their landed estates.
Time and momentous events have changed
many things, and among others the plan
tation labor OF the South. If planters and
fArmers fail to adapt their agricultural OPP
erstions to the new order CT idleness, in
creased stealing and freedmen independ-
ence, which take new shapes from year to
year, and promise little Improvement for
| the future, they m y see their ability to
cultivate the soil and harvest crops dimin-
ish, while both State and county taxes in.
lease, with falling price for m ost staples
| produced for morket. This falling price is
due. not to any defect in labor, but the ex-
istence and depressing influence Of many
great monopoliss. The sams "higher law"
than the old Constitution that transformed
at once by The scratch o; pen late slave in
to sovereign elector has called into being
little known aristocracy in hundreds and
thousands of bond-hoidipg, railway, manu-
featuring, banking, aud money lending mo-
nopolies, which in kind or unkind way,
are receiving generous profits from a2ricul.
lure for small benefits conferred. A legion
of these who are ready to reap where they
have not sown, are fast taking 20 themselves
not merely the fruits of the earth, but the
titles to the land itself. Old and respec-
table families that were recently well off on
their own farms, are now in poverty by in
curing some pecuniary liability on falling
market. There are times when debt of
Sl00 is worse than one Of 81 900 4
with property on the rise. But
while government, machines at Wash
ington and State ais have been run to
make some thousands of millions fer ia
vored few, the property of American farm
ers has been deprecated ard injured to the
same extent. In word, solid wealth,
whether in treas ury or bank vault, or out
of it, never comes into existence by moon
shine, by interest, or insurance tricks, but
BY work and production. II productive
land never gave to non-producers nor ira
Gers more than farmers received in return,
the main wealth of the world would be in
the hands of those who own and cultivate
the soil. Its great natural increase, as
when one bushel of corn produces 500,
would all be theirs, and the !
outside world pay them interest.
This natural advantage is now thrown away
by million of farmers, probably more,) |
and wiser money changers are likely soon
to have their property. A State convention
Is ne ded to devise ways and means by
which land holders may learn the great wis
dom of keeping out of debt, and never
making bad bargains. Cheating has attained
wonderful development as an art and sci |
ence, and farmers are the greatest sufferers. |
They should meet in clubs, oranges, or as
sociations of some kind, oftener for pur-
poses of mutual instruction, and to culti-
vate mind as well as earth. Without cul. |
tivated manhood, wealth is little better |
than dry sedge set on fire. Without
mental culture and organization
among farmers, their lands wiz |
soon lass over to other families.
There are few men inTennessee who COM
prenend the perils that environ the agricul-
tural development of the ate, and are
laboring earnestly to avert the impending
ruin. Shall their hands be strengthened,
and their courage favored, o: shall they
meet cold and heartless indifference from
the public? The way TO have industrial
improvement in the South, is to take hold
with both hands and work right along
in the ranks of common people TO make it.
Every impeachment in the way must be re-
moved without dispute or grumbling. All
depends on knowing and doing. 1t is time
to bring common farmers with their honest
common sense, 10 the front. The fault will
be their own If they stay In the rear; yet
we should lend them helping hand, and
not by neglect drive them out of Tennessee
as thousands have recently gone. Our
mistaken policy is serding both capital and
honest enterprise out of the State. Instead
of talking and writing so much about
bringing foreign capital aud skilled laborers
into Tennessee, we had better work more
to retain the population and wealth in the
soil which we already possess. Our farm
ing lands under the plow are growing poorer
every year, yet without these lands for rails
ing grain, meat, fruits and veget-
ables, our cities and villages must
soon perish. Cities are dependent
on fertili y and successful agriculture.
In place of returning the elements of pro
visions to the Impoverished fields whence
they were taken, cities throw Them into
rivers or otherwise waste them to the seri.
GUS injury of agriculture Everybody works