The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-01-20
Farm Life VS.. City Life.

There is q good deal OF complaint
among farmers Of hard times and scarcity
of greenbacks, and many seem to think
that agriculturists, as a class, are, excep-
tionally poverty stricken. Greenbacks
are scarce IN the country, and the far
mers are not so we'll to do as they ought
to be, and might be, but we suspect that
if they could change places with the
dwellers in cities and towns for short
time, they would 60 back to the farm
wiser and more contented. As the agri-
cultural editor of the New York Times
says, zone cause of complaint among far
mers is the small amount in money they
are able to obtain from the sale of the
products of their labor; in other words,
the amount of cash they have the pleasure
of handling during the year. They fire.
quently point to the mechanics OF. our
cities, or even the clerks in stores and
various Offices, whose salaries appear to
be entirely out of proportion to the work
performed or talents required, as proof OF
unjust discrimination made in remune-
rating labor. A casual glance at the
prices paid for labor in cities and in coun-
try would certainly lead one to believe
that the former was really unnecessarily
high, or the latter ridiculously low. tits
this seeming difference which makes so
many young men and women in the
country strive to get into the cities; it
also makes their parents feel that they,
too, are cheated out of their rights in
selling the products of their farms at less
than cityiretail prices. 4. There are, how
ever, two sides to this question, and it Is
well not to decide hastily in regard to
which is the most favorable without
knowing something of both.
If wages are higher in cities than in
the country, the cost of living is in pro-
portion, and there is no way of escaping
It. 1t may sound very well for a carpen-
ter or mason to receive four dollars per
day, but if he has to pay two of it for
house rent, he is no better off than
the country mechanic who receives only
three dollars and pays one for an equally
good, and perhaps better, house. Then,
again, where rents are high other neces-
saries of life are usually in proportion !;
consequently it is not the amount OF
money q man receives for his labor, but
what he can save, which brings him a
competency. Now, if we take the mass
of trades people, mechanics and other Ia
'borers of our cities, and the poorer class
Of farmers, and inquire minutely into the
circumstances of each, the latter will be
found far the more Independent of the
two. A farmer who can actually save
one or two hundred dollars per annum,
after providing for the support of his
family, is doing better than nine-tenths
of the residents of our cities who have an
income of from three to FIVE thousand
dollars per annum. Then, again, a far
mer who works upon his own land is con-
stantly accumulating wealth, even if he
cannot show balance in cash at the end
of the year, because every tree planted,
ditch dug, fence built, or field cleared,
enhances the value of his real estate.
These are so much capital laid aside for
the future, which, if rightfully managed,
will bring as good interest as though in
vested in Government bonds.
We have only to take the proportions
of men in both city and country who are
really in Independent circumstances, that
is, capable of supporting themselves and
families without fear of want staring them
in the face, should anything happen to
prevent them from laboring or attending
to business, in order to see how much su-
perior farming is to other ordinary occu-
pations. It's not pursuit provocative
of riotous living, but one that is safe from
disastrous fluctuations, caused by panics
in monetary affairs. 1t is said that about
five per cent. of those who attempt busi-
ness in cities succeed; but it is doubtful
if there are five farmers in a hundred
who fail to make a good living, provided
they are intelligent and industrious.
The editor of the Times had in view
the condition of the farmers of the North,
and his remarks are true, even when ap-
piled to them. Ours is far better farm
ing country than that in which the
Northern farmer labors, and our agricul-
turists handle more money than those of
the North. If they are in worse circum-
stances, pecuniarily, it is because they
spend more, rather than because they
make less.-Rral Carolinian.