The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-02-05
Agricultural Industry,

We are liable at times to overlook the obvi-
Gus truth that the germ of oil the wealth and
grandeur and power we see around us is to- be
found in the simple fiat Of Omnipotence, that
man should till the ground from whence he
was taken, and that all our marvellous civiliza-
tion depends directly upon agricultural indus
try for its perpetuity as we'll as its further
DEVELOPMENT u
Yet such is the fact. It lies at the founda-
ton of social order, and it forms the basis of
every profitable pursuit that can possibly en-
gage the energies pf mankind. Without it,
not solitary ayocation known to civilized
society could be pursued for single day. To
have q clear conception of this important
truth, you have simply to reflect ;that:perhaps
nine tenths of al the vast variety of materials
upon which the manufacturer exercises his
craft are directly or indirectly the products of
agricultural labor; and that almost the sole
office of commerce consists in the dissemina-
tion of those products, either in their natural
state, or as modified by hesskill of the manu-
facturer,; while both the artizan and the, mer-
chant, as we'll as all other classes of society,
are Immediately dependent upon the labor of
the husbandlnan for the very means of sustain
ing life ITSELF Il Or, if You would realize still
more fully the paramount Importance of this
Y
pursuits, you have only to imagine, If you can,
what would be, the inevitable result OF a total
suspension of all agricultural production what
ever. Let all the cotton crop, the wool, the
fax, the hemp, the corn, the wheat, and the
thousand of other commodities of prime neces-
sity, to say nothing Of the innumerable luxu-
ries that areTproduced alone by the cultivation
of the earth, be entirely withdrawn from use
and what then would be the condition of our
race? Let everybodyaof1 every cassgbe remit
ted to the necessity of depending upon the
spontaneous bounty of nature, or the precari-
Gus fortunes of the chase and the fishery, for
even the commonest lecessaries of life, and
what would be the fate of all our boasted
civilization? The din of the factory would be
hushed, the spindle would cease its perpetual
whirI,i and the roaring furnahce would be silent
The wheels of the engine would rest on their
idle axles, and the ship rot sailorless in the
useless dock. The bat would fit through the
silent halls of legislation, and ,the fox make
his den in the deserted forum. The owl would
perch upon the broken printing press, and the
serpent coil beneath the moulderng altar-piece
of the crumblingi cathedral. The rank weed
would flourish in the thoroughfare of the de-
populated city, and the blissfnl precincts OF
Long Branch become melancholy realization
of the poets m'ournful picture of the desolation
of Balclutha. Society itself would idisintegrate
and topple. into ruin. The President would
abandon his cottage by the sea" the Senator
would leave his ponderous speech half written,
the Judge would cast aside the ermine, the
banker would quit his balance sheet, the law
yer would desert his Office, the doctor would
''throw physic to the dogs" and the clergyman
rush from the sacred desk, all to mingle in the
universal strife for the commonest morsel OF
food that could alleviate the pangs os hunger.
And finally, the remnant that might escape the
terrible ravage of universal famine, or the
more horrible exactions Of cannibalism, would
sink to level with the naked Bushman of
Africa who is looked down upon with con.
tempt by his more intelligent neighbors-the
gorilla and the baboon. Then you would see
the 'bele of the season." who tolls through
the intricate mazes of the Dance with first
rate farm on her back and valuable house
aud lot hung to each ear, catching grasshoppers
for her dinner, or embroideringia pair of raw
hide moccassns for heE. fayorite suitor. While
the "glass of fashion and the mould of form, y
who cocks his NUM- mber-si1 hat on one side OF
his exquisite heads and co contemRlates-.the pro-
priety Of MS neck=te, or the setof: his back
hairEin a thousand-dollar looking-glass, would
realize in. its fullest extent the brief butper-
emptory mandate of necessity, "root, little hog
or die."-Hon. Proctor Knott, Of Kentucky.