The Russellville Democrat., 1876-03-23
Farm Lire vs. City Life.


 times and scarcity of greenbacks; and many seem to think that az liculturalists, as a class, are cxcep- tionally poverty stricken. Green backs are scarce in the country and the farmers are not so well to tlo as they ought to be be, but we suspect that if they could change places with the dweller Tn cities and towns for a short Sime, they would go back to the farm wiser and more contented. As the az licultural editor of the New York Times says, "one cause of com plaint among farmers is the small amount of money they are able to obtain from the sale of the pro duct of their labor; in other words, the amount of cash they have the pleasure of handling during the year. They frequently point to the mechanics of our cities, or even the clerks in stores and va rious officers, whose salaries ap- rear to be entirely out of propor- ton to tEo work performed or talents required, as proof of un- just discria. ination made in re- munerating labor. A casual glance at the prices paid for labor in cities and in the country would certainly lead one to believe that the former was really unnecessa- rily high, or the latter ridiculous ly low. It is this seeming differ ence which makes so many young men and women in the country strive to get into the cities; 1t also makes their parents feel that they, too, were cheated oat of their rights in selling the products of their farms at less than city re- tail prices. There are, however, two sides to this question, and 1t is well not to decide hastily in  regard to which is the most .avor- able without knowing something of both.
 If wages are higher in cities than in the country, the cost of living is in proportion, and there is no way of escaping it. It may sound very well for carpenter or mason to receive four dollars per day, but if he has to pay two of it for house rent, he is no better of than the country mechanic who receives only three dollafs and pays one fer an equally good, and perhaps a better house. Then, again, where rents are higher other nccessaues of life are usually in proportion; conse quently it is not the amount of money a man receives for his labor, but what he can save, which brings a competency. Now, if we take the mass of the trades-peo- ple, mechanics and other laborers of our cities, and the poorer class of farmers, and inquirc 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 an mum. 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 anndm. Then, again, a farmer who works upon his own land is constantly accommodating wealth, even if he cannot show a 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 ri9htfuily managed, will bring as good in terest as though invested in gov ernment bonds"
 The editol of the Times had in view the condition of the farm CTS in the north, and his remarks are true, even when applied to them. Ours is a far better farm ing country than that in which the northern farmers labor, and our agriculturalists handle more i. money than those of the north If they are in worse circumstance es, pecuniarily, It is because they spend more rather than because they make less Rural Carolinian