Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-07-10
PATRONS OF BUsBANDRY.

PATRONS OF BUSBANDRY.
Like many readers, We have been little
curious to learn what new ideas have been
incubsted and Matched within the oranges
of the Patrons of Husbandry. few days
since Col. T. !. Smith, Grand Master OF
the Georgia State Grange, delivered an Ad
dress in Savannah, from which the follow
ing is an abstract:
al tell you, my brother farmers, there is
something in this world worth living for
beside hard work. We have heard enough
Of this professional barney.
"Toil is not ia Itself particularly glorious.
"TO toll Ike slave, raise fat hogs, b6eVes
and cul,ivae broad acres and pile up
treasures, and, at the same time, bow and
stsrve The mind, harden the hand, dwarf
Ire immor,a! mind aud ALLEVIATE our chill
dTen from tie homestead, is a disgrace TO
is, and should stamp US as worse than a
brute
1t is not honorable to sacrifice the mind
ana body to gain. Ii is not trait Of true
nobility to bring up children to thankless
and unrequited labor. 1t Is not just, good
,r noble TO wear out The wives of our
bosoIns in the drU gerry of the farm with
out Just remuneration. You have no
right 10 make agriculture so disSgresable
IS TO drive cur young men Of spirit and en-
terprise into other branches Of business.
"If the calling Of agriculture viii not en-
able US TO escape physical degradation and
mutual and social starvation, if it does not
enable to enjoy the pleasures, com OTIS and
necesssries Of life as well as other branches
of business, it is cur duty TO abandon it al
once and not drag down in misery cur de-
pendent families.
81 trust we will not be driven TO this aW
fol alternative. Surely agriculture with
protection, by Generating its inter st can
d wise some means by Wh CD il can be made
4 success. We work too hard and think
TOO little. We make our hands too hard
while cur brains are too soft. The day is
long passed when muscle ruled tie world.
Brain is the great motive power Of this age,
and muscle but feeble Instrument"
Col. Smiths notion Of making agriculture
more attractive to the ambitious Sous Of
farmers, and more remunerative to the plain
cultivatoIs OF th3 soil, is sound and to be
commended. But some caution is needed
not to oyegestimate The utility and value Of
money as an element OF social and intellect
usl enjoyment with a Turai home on the
E.rm. La city life, family requires for com
fort, considerable ready cash 70 meet daily
expenses. In the country, On a well cuiti-
vsied farm, The case is different.
The educated, scientific farmer has natural
resources orTemarkatie power and fruitful
less, which ere wildly unknown aHd una
Vaila .le 10 dUGLisrs IL towns. Tie ,II-
geLcy Of cites is eli her sGiied paper Or
WCichty metal Of little worth, rs compared
with life ard the eternal force Of nature
that sustaiLa i Oh The farm. 1t is a dis
grace 10 their character as frcemen, tai
farmers are 90 willing to be the slaves
Of traders, spectators and demag0gues.
Being themselves 8 larle majority Of the
whole nation, the government, whether
Safe OF Federal, is, theoretically, in the
keeping Of agTiculturists. But they very
fOoiishiy aGdicAte the power OF sovereignty,
and submit 10 any amount Of unjust pub
lie debt and taxation, which either aiIb.-
ton or coTup ion may impose. Many
farmers are getting weary Of this sta OF
things, and are laboring to restore TO this
class Of cit.zsns that unity Of senti-
ment aud purpose which will make their
ideas Of some weight in Congre s.
This is every way desirable fer the equal
benefit OF all classes. IL is great mistake
10 believe tna5 the owners and CulliVatoTs
of the land GIe alone injured when p0liti-
clans and spCndthrifJS tax the natural fer
jility Of the coil uujustly. The wrong af- |
feels disas;Tously children yet unborn, Of |
" h2tCV5r condition in life. Suppose all the |
arabic land in he United States were
made by taxation and q Gen. Grant spend |
hrifJ policy az poor as our poorest old field. |
Would it not yc 4 misfortune to be one of |
forty million of hungry people, born into
suCh an uDfrUiliul and dcsolate country?
Clearly !. would. Yet, by the time our
population reaches one hundred million
souls, The average resources OF American
farms viii be below what IS now seen OH
ne poorest farm in The Slste Of Tennessee.
This v2uton destruction Of fertility
concerns not alone the patrons of
lusb&nary and farmers generally.
Il affects injUriously every child that will
e born in the United States in tLs next
lily years. 1t viii, in all human pTobabii-
Y, damn 10 lasting jnialny those Law makers
Who have done most 10 lessen tie natural
iuIJfuluass Of tho esrth; for such fruitful
isss belongs exclusively TO no one genera
ion, but equally 10 all generations il
4 coming time. Il is a traitor govern
neut that uyeI-laXts the sUil, and
hereby robs it OF its fertility. Time
sill show that the bread Of great ua-
.on caanCt Ice wasted with impuuily. |
{ is desirable to look this evil, which covers
he RepabiIc, and cholera, calmly in The
Ice. When tillage and husbsndry fail, all
ties, tades and manufactures will starye
nd be no more. II is pity that CT les are
OF far-seeing enough not 10 commit sui
de. Whether the LAID that yields grain,
our, wheat, tobacco and cotton, which they
audle, is imp v3lishld or not, is TO the !
s5rage business man a matter Of profound
difference. For thousands of years cities
ave made war on the eanh's fruiululness,
ID on honest agricultural industry. a re- !
fian has come st last, and organized sgri- =
.2ture will labor hard to defend itself from v
wrong.