The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-05-14

Ct lOIio"S IN MS wake with an additions
al per cent. on his beef Whot makes
hard times7 Let us try and find cause
for thls very disagreeable fact. Failure
in the crops of 1874 appears to be a suf>
Ecient explanation Of the present attack
with US (and We will take our case under
consideration and eonfne ourselves to
home people), and some such excuse is
always on hand, but it is lame one, and
the evil lies deeper. five managed our
aft irs correctly the partial failure of
crops for one year would not effect our
prosperity perceptibly. The farmer
whose granaries are full of ripe corn,
whose stock is in good order, and whose
smoke house is in a healthy condition,
goes through the"lean year without much
effort 30 with the commercial man who
has confined himrelf to his legitimate
business, and who has not, in the greed
of gain, stretched forth his arm beyond
the power of ithdrawal in travelling
over goodiy portion of our State the eye
is panied by the unsightly lands lying on
either side of the highway-felds whose
soft breasts are scanned with ugly gashes
until the subsoil glistens in the sun
struggling fences, i'll put up, and made of
inferior and light material; houses un>
painted and going to rack; barnes there
are none >. and stables utterly unfit to be
occupied by any living creature--brute
or beast There was not so much Of
this before the war, and th ere must be
cause, more real and truer than the one
usually given for this state. The freeing
of the slaves only affected comparative
ly small class, and cannot be given as
the true reason for such a general decay.
Take the case under advisement, care
fully, aud without prejudice, and we can
see the cause (:
Our whole system Of living since 1865
has been wrong We did not realize
the necessity of retrenchment under the
new and changed condition of affairs,
The high price of cotton for year or
80 served to mislead US, AMI the conse>
quence was,eVery man pushed his cred
it to the utmost to put in much land and
raise the staple, without gnce giving
thought to the inaumerable leaks which
FILTERED away his profits before his cots
ton matured. This system fostered idle
ness during all the time the crop was
out of the land, and no improvements
were made, but the land forced from its
weary bel of last year to a renewed eff
fort for this year--no rest given it, no re-
lief afforded from the continual strain to
produce a most exhaustive crop Who
is astonished that it lost heart and yield
ed less and less each successive year
No manure applied, no increase of stock,
no addition to the prOVender crop no
decrease in the demand for foreign meat
what could we expect but utter failure
and collapse at. the very first prOvideD~
ial check2 In the meantime our expenses
increased. Men who were rich in money
as well as IN land, before the war, lived
as extensively after the war On land
alone no curtaIlment in household fur
nishing, no decrease in style of dress, no
effort made to stop the thousand and
one unnecessary expenses that were in
dulged in in more prosperous time.
The credit system-that curse of civiliza>
tion--knew no check, and the fact that
payment would only come next Deem
Der seemed sufficient excuse to give way
to our tastes and crafty every within that
struck US. The true reason Of our straight
ened circumstances is this extrava~
gance extravaganza in living, in dress,
in equipage, buying things for looks
and not for use; purchasing articles for
beauty, and not for service, struggle
to keep up with the foremost and
make ourselves, our wives and chG~
dren live and dress as we'll on our In
come of n thousand dollars as our
neighbours, whose income was two thous
and; an inveter te habit of being asham =
ed to acknowledge our true circumz
stances before the world, puerile desire
to make better appeara nee than our
means warrant, Bn insane attempt on
the part Of Jeremiah to have everything
that Nehemiah possesses.
Another prolific source of m isfortune
lies in the fact that our young men are
not taught to look life sQuarely
in the face and so to work.
Instead of being producers aud
making living, by honest labor, they
are drones IN society AMI only consume
what others sweat for-giving n,thing
fr something, and looking down with
assumed conts mpt on all men who live
by muscle. The professions are OwdN
ed with half educated men who are
sensible enough, but who have missed
their calling and are drones instead Of
being of benefit to the world. 1t is no
exaggeration to say that if the merchants
and business men of this county should
shut down CD their debtors ruin would
be the portion of mary, and il is wrong
TO allow ourselves to slumber on in such
perilous security; the day of settleu ent
must come it is impossible to stave it
of long, self~pFeservation will compel
creditors to foreclose. A prudent man will
examine into his 0fairs and prepare for
,Is scttlamert We are no prophet Of