The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-05-24
THEREMEDY FOR HARD TIMES,

A writer in the New York Times has
! ublished a number of letters with the
Dove caption. 1t is one in which all
IRE Interested, and therefore likely to
ttract attention and cause the papers
10 be carefully read. While they con-
ain good deal of information in the
lay Of statistics, and many valuable
Nuggestions, they are hardly entitled TO
bear the label with which they are sent
out. In nutshell, the papers assume
that the hard times are caused by too
large proportion Of the people turning
their attention from agriculture TO other
pursuits, and the remedy therefore rests
in the return OF the surplus in the trades
and professions to- the more primitive
cans of earning livelihood; namely,
" cultivatlng the soil. 1t is true that
eyery calling is now oyercrowded. 1t is
r, longer question with our young
llen how to get rich, but how to earn
wing. In all our country villages there
LIE more lawyers, doctors, storekeepers,
aoemakers and blacksmiths than can
, Dtain decent living, and we see men
Gaming from place to place in search
Of work. People with trades and labor
ing men are alike leaving one over
crowded locality for another in the vain
nope Of finding vacancy somewhere.
How it is in all our large cities every
resident knows too we'll. This writer TO
whom we have referred holds that the
only business which never has and never
can be overcrowded Is that Of culti-
waiting the soil. This produces all we
eat and all we wear, and the field OF
labor is 30 broad and SO diversified that
it can be made to suit all tastes and to
meet the requirements Of all different
amounts of capital and varied skiliul.
ness in labor. This country is somewhat
peculiarly situated as regards the farm
ing interests. We have no peasantry
and as class no farming tenantry. The
landed gentry that existed in the South
arn States in the days Of slavery is
dying out, and the life OF a farmer differs
in no material point from that OF any
other business man. The farm is his
factory. fit is small one he must take
hold and help run it; il larger, so that
many hands are employed, he may
protitably put In his time in seeing thai
The labor of others is well performed
and in looking after the many
matters that daily require his attention
1t is especially like any other busin ess
in that it must be learned. The mer
chant or mechanic that concludes he
will 20 to farming on the suppositior
that anybody can manage farm usual
ly pays dearly tor his experiment, bu
no more SO than the farmer who con.
cludes TO start factory or run steam
boat. If, therefore, this remedy for hare
times is to be applied it must be done
slowly to be at all successful. The pres
ent army of school teachers, lawyers
shoemakers and editors will not makt
successful farmers. The boys must b,
taught that of all callings that OF farm
BT Is LuS 6uISbb as WCAA 90 ahOhS VII
most honorable. Let the boys under
stand that while all other pursuits ar
precarious, to the farmer th
means of living are alway
secure. The farmer may not b
able in a given year to sell his surplu
crops at a remuneratiye price, but, shor
4 of general famine, his food and shelte
are sure. He is certain OF the prime es
sential of life, food, for he makes 1t hin
self, and is not obliged to earn money t
buy it. He grapples, hand to hand
with the elements Of human life, an
makes them his own, and by fulfllin
his part OF the great col
tract which mankind holds with ma