Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1875-11-06
NIL DESPERANDUM.

fail to draw the proper line of dis
elimination between that 1%ustitiable
%ceusure which exposes folly IL
wrong doing, in order to correct
them, and a railing spirit of FAULT
finding which seeks no other end but
to crafty its own righteousness. 1t
| has been the fate of the lntelligencer
TO have TO do a good deal of grunb-
ling concerning the management OF
county affairs, and we are quite will
ING to confess that our complaints
have been long and loud. We have,
however, always, and do still, resist
the inpulation that in thus
ing and exposing Gelinqueucies official
and otherwise, we were injuring La
fayette county. AS well say that. the
unearlhimg OF the iniquities of the
Tweed ring was striking a blow at
the material prosperity of New York
City. But in directing public atten-
ton to the vast amount of gross, aud
i'm some cases criminal mismanage-
ment OF affairs, it was the furthest
possible from our intention to create
n feeling OF dependency among the
people, and it is the apprehension
that such a feeling to 4 certain degree
exists that prompts us now to offer a.
few suggestions to the public. partlc-
ularly tt the farming class, in the
hope that they may aid in promoting
4 spirit of greater cheerfulness and
coutentmcui. We may accustom
ourselves to look on the dark side of
the picture of existence until after
awhile we come to live i'll the shadow
OF Il perpetual gloom. All life,
whether of individual or communi-
lies is made up of diverse elements,
Of good and evil, of prosperity and
failure, of happiness and misery.
There is no man, be he who he Emay,
in whose surroundings, if he suffers
his vision to be wholly Obscured by
the disagrecable features, who will not
find sufiicientto render him miserable,
unhappy and dlscontented. On the
other hand the man who looks with
a steady and practical eye can find
encouragement and consolation, and
even enjoyment i'll the most adverse
situations. In regard to u condition
as 4 county, it is the same. One citi-
zen, with a somewhat jaundice-ob-
scured vision, sees in our situation
enough to cause him to regard La
fayette county a the most accursed
spot on earth, while his more cheer
full n%eighbor says, ats bad enough to
be sure, but with all the draw backs
| would rather take my chances. of
makinga living here than eisewhere.'
Let us examine for a moment how
our count stands with despair. Per-
haps after all, the grim spectre has no
such claim upon II noble county as
very many are willing to imagine.
Ha! ha laughs the fiend do l not
hold over your heads a monstrOus
debt of nearly a million aud Il half of
dollars, W hich is gradually closing III
upon you, as the walls of that famous
Italian prison, day by day encroachil,g
by almost imperceptibie degrees upon
the poor prisoners scanty room, UNI
til he was crushed between them?
Have not the drought and the grass
hoppers blightcd and devastated your
fair fields, until death by starvation
stared you in the face2 In this way
despair puts its demand, and although
main be allowed. But here are the cred
its: We have gotten rid of extrava-
CANT and corrupt officials, and i'll their
stead have men who are conducting
the affairs of the county oil principles
OF strict economy. The people have
organized, and their concentrated
wisdom is being brought TO bear in
solving The great problem of so all
j~usting our debt that it may be car
ried without distress. Much has
already been accomplished in this
direction, and no candid man will
deny that the outlook Is much more
encouraging than il was one year ago.
Upon the desolated track of the
grasshoppers fell the early and the
later rains, and nature, as if sympa-
thizing with mans misfortunes, re-
doubled her efforts to retrieve the
disasters of the spring. and 10 the
discouraged farmer enters upon the
winter with his barns filled to over
flowing. Times have been what is
called "tight.' very eight" and
money scarce, but i'll this we have
but suffered in common with other
portions OF the country. The most
astute observers descry a speedy
termination of this stringency, and
predict that spring will sec the chan
nGls of prosperity once more cleared.
This leads us to say what we MAINLY
started out to say, that the main
hope of our people must be anchored
in the soil. So long as we stood by
and trusted our Iauds they stood by
us and we had nothing to fear. 1t
was only when we suffered ourselves
to be led off in pursuit Of the ianiS
tiutut Of railroad and other empirical
enterprises that the county began to
sink in the quagmire of debt. The
old NEUROLOGICAL character, s'son of
earth" is i'll point: however worm and
exhausted, no sooner did his head
recline upon his mothers lap than
all his strength and vigor instantly
returned. So i'll our own case. We
have come out worsted from q contest
with those modern giants, corpora
lions, and what we have to do is to
throw ourselves upon the bosom of
mother earth and we shall assurcdly
arise with all our original strength
renewed. Lafayette is emincntlv an
agricultural county, and all efforts
should be bent to develop her agrir
cultural resources. There has per-
haps been 4 disposition to attach too
much Importance to II coal deposits.
They are very valuable. ii is trucs