Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-06-09
FAvORTTE FALLACIEs ROUGHLY
HANnIFn

As running counter to the views most
IN vogue, and boldly endeayoring to
grasp the recognized difficulties of the
situation, it is calculated not only to
attract attention, but also provoke
thought in others. Mr.. Aiken regards
as twin fsllacies the two fashionable
complaints that farming does no. pay,
and that our Southern labor is too un-
reliable. Observation and experience
teach him that white labor is quite as
unreliable on the farm, and perhaps
more 50 than negroes. The notion
of a wholesale supplanting of the lat
ter with English laborers who never
saw a boil of cotton. he regards as OBJ
viously impracticable. To turn the
tide Of European emigration from
Northern to Southern ports, would
merely increase the consumers of
breadstuffs and tend to precipitate a
famine, because such emigrants DO not
understand the soil or crops Of the
Southern belt.
The trouble is, that We expect too
much Of the negro. We complain that
he viii not work unless watched, but
the same is true Of all labor, the world
over. Northern farmers get more work
out Of their hands, because they say in
the morning, "Come, boys, let us do so
and So" while the Southerner says
GO, boys, and do so and So" Lead
ing and driving differ in their effects
on human nature, and the SOuthernor
who leads his negroes, going to the field
with them, viii get more work out Of
them than he can out of white labor
ers.
To cite the price Of Northern lands
as a proof that farming pays better
there than with us, is a delusion.
Bring into the South similar popula-
ton able to buy, and make our farms
attractive, and the result will be that
they must run up to the same prices in
dependent Of any improvement In fer
tility or labor. Northern farmers are
compelled TO work larder than we, and
have much moretrouble with unreliable
labor. On this subject Mr.. Aiken
says:
I have heard Northern farmers say,
time and again, that during their
busiest season, they have to-day had all
the help" they wanted, and to-mor-
row, It was gone. In the Northwest
labsr sets its own price and receives 1t
every night; and the teeming hCrdes of
laborers, that are constantly migra-
ting westward through the Northwest
ern States, are less reliable than the
weather itself; for fervently believing,
that Just a little further westward is
that Eldorado for which they have long
sought, and the accounts Of which
brought them TO this LAND of the
free, they soiourn and labor here to-
day TO "raise the wind" to take them
yonder tomorrow. Had we to deal
with such a people our crops would sell
dom be planted, much less cultivated
and harvested. Far better b depend
upon the labOrer We have, whose local
attachment at least fixes him almost
invariably for one year.
Neither is 1t true that the Northern
farmer makes more money than we do.
The fact is they make and handle less,
and if they lived as easy as Southern
ers, would be utterly poverty-stricken.
They do not employ labor as constantly
as we, partly because they cannot Sc
cure it and partly because they cannot
afford it. Very few white men are long
content with farm wages. Besides,
Northern farms require double the
amount of plough stock, compared
with the South, and everywhere the
annual expense Of a horse is almost
equal to that Of an average hand.
Cur people have an immense ad-
vantage, if they will but use it. Lands
are cheap and labor is abundant, if
We would learn to control it. Onemi
fortune is that we do not act IN con-
cert. The negro who becomes disoon-
tented on one plantation, merely crosses
the fence line to neighbours and is
taken by a new employer without ques-
ton. This migratory tendency is an
argument against hiring for weekly or
monthly wages. The principle Of "lead-
ing negroes by going into the field
with them, and watching over them,
can apply only to small farms. There
is no way to manipulate large planta-
tons, thinks Mr.. Aiken, except to
tenant them, thus making the laborer
a fixture for the year, and affording
him the stimulus Of self-interest to in
duce steady work. The practical oper-
alton Of this plan, after six years ez-
perience, is thus given:
I allOt the land, the labOrer furnishes
everything else, and pays all expenses
except the taxes. If he Is unable to
carry on the farm alone, I assist him
for the year, with the hope he VIII be
able the next year. If he makes moth
ing, and I think he is to blame, dis
charge him, and have no difficulty IN
securing others. My rents are reason
able, and have never failed to be forth
coming, except IN two instances, where
two men contracted store accounts
without my knowledge, and being
threatened by the merchant with law
suit, they stole my cotton to pay the
accounts. blamed The merchant more
than l did the negroes. l have never
had a hand, but IN these two instances,
to fail to make more than the rent and
the expenses of his portion Of the farm.
A VERY singular statement is made
in regard 10 Senator Hamilton, of Tex
as, in connection with the recent visit
of the Indian chiefs, and the attempt
to get them to sign a treaty relinquish-
ing their rights to hunt in Nebraska.
In q yul,lishad iyltarviav- with Mr.