The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-09-18
What Ails the Farmers?

/ What Ails the Farmers! -
We know man living in Spalding county,
who came out of the war with only one lot of
poor land and one mule and one wife. lie
owns now between 1900 and 1000 acres of
good land, has built a fine house in beautiful
location, is out of debt, and will have several
thousand dollars of surplus this fall. He has
a.. made it all farming; has bought very little
corn or meat has no difficulty with freedmen /;
I many of his hands have mules, hogs, provision
and. other personal property Of their own Ev-
| cry year he has more applications from negro
j tenants than he can accommodate with, land.
He picks the best families and has no difficulty
in Keeping them He is not stingy. He takes
all the papers in Griffin and some others; sup
ports churches and schools literally : has
money in his pocket the year round, and IS al
ways in good humor. What is the secret of
about everything he does; a determination to
act with perfect honesty and justice towards
all, and to make his 0vn provisions; to attend
strictly to his own business, (farming,) which
! he understands, and not to dabblei in things he
knows nothing about.
We know another man who came out Of the
war with absolutely nothing but-a horse He
went to work on rented land like little man,
and the first year made enough with his own
hands to make the first payment on a lot of
land. The second year he paid tor the land
the third and fourth year he bought and paid
! for another place nearer town, and the hfth
wear built q nice house, barn, &C., on it, and
made. him a beautiful home, to which he
brought beautiful young wife, q farmers
daughter, who was willing to help him and be
farmers wife, Soon she gave into his arms
a charming child, the complete weld of their
domestic happiness. But, alas. in an evil hour,
our clever friend left the business he understood
and came to town to be merchant, business
he didn't understand. The pretty farm and
| wrong. The town store had big stocks and
| many clerks, and all went. swimmingy TOR
while, but not long The commercial papers
| fell due faster than money came in, and the
farmer fell into the hands of the money-shavers.
Two and one-half per cent. month compound
| ed soon did his business. The town store the
farm, the personal credit, all went up the spout,
and the creditors were settled with through the
| bankrupt court.
Still another came home from the war, a
clever fellow, gallant soldier. His father
was rich before the war, and had raised the
| boy we'll as the times went-that is, he was
sent to school and to college. He had horses
| to ride and fox hounds and plenty of pin money,
and was popular in town, and being rlch ana
| handsome, was great tayorite with the girls.
| When he was out of cash he went on credit,
and the old man settled the bills. But the old
man died during the war, and somehow or
other the niggers went free. But still there
was land q plenty for the young man, and
there was some cotton on hand, for the old
man was thrifty and out of debt; so our hero
had good start, and he hired the freedmen
who went to work for him, but as he had never
paid negroes for labor before, the idea was
! ridiculous, and the first crop he managed to
save pretty we'll, as the old man bad left some
thing to eat on the plantation when he died.
The second year the negroes all left him, and a
new set of strange hands had to be employed
some of them had been in the Federal army
and others were town vagabonds and the whole
were rather ;'bad lot" Our hero set them to
work, and then, as he chad good deal of busi-f
ness in town." he didn't stay about the planta-
| tion much.
What he had to do in town none of his
neighbors knew. But it finally leaked out.
Having more money than the town boys, he
was very popular among them. lie treated
like lord, and there was little game called
| billiards, which was said to be the best exer-
else in the world; and the best of all, it was
such scientific game that master of it could
6ACel d civil CiIStuCCi IA oAo Ao..' SNS
or building blind bitches and hillside bitches
and such. And then, again, as the country got
to have some money in it, there came along to
Griffin divers fancy-dressed strangers with
huge watch. chains and very hashy appearance,
and they conducted little business in which
our hero became interested, and soon embarked
some of his surplus capital it. 1t was clean
business, all the tools used being silver and
ivory, and could be carried on by,night as we'll
as by day, so it was very cool and delightful:
But somehow or other it didn't turn out as we'll
for our hero as it did for his new found friends:
| After this he embarked in politics and damned
the reconstruction measures with such zeal that
at one time he was spoken Of for the Legisla-
ture. He found out at last that the niggers
wouldn't work Then he cussed the niggers
out, rented the land out, and having decided
that farming with free labor was humbug, he
wanted to sell out and move to town. But his
place is so much run down he can't sell it,
and he is so much in debt that he contemplates
petting married so he can take a homestead on
the land, and then he will come to town and
clerk for somebody. So goeth the world
Griffin (Ga.) Star. -..,s:..a m.