The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-12-14
T0FxRi6kRs.

The sunmeri3 passed sSthe harvest is over,
and man " partners are not. happy. Many
planted, tbs year with the hope of realiz-
ing fair. prices in the fall, and notwithstand-
ing they are now blessed in many sections
of ohr'aand with abundant crops, they find
still in debt. Labor is abundant,
seasons arc favorable, prices for the cotton
crop arc little, if any, lower than during
the past year, and with all the advantages
of the present year over the preceding,
they find that farming does not Fay.
The sipgnhr spectacle is presented:of
astscouutry, with its magnificent wealth of
forest, is. climate ms favorable.sss ahaA. oh
any Tund on the globe, with its long fvers,
navigable at all seasons of the year, with
it's almost cxhaustless mines of coal, iron,
mica, gold, silver, lead and copper, with its
quarrics of marble rivaling those of Italy,
with its soil adapted to the production of
every article necessary to mans happiness,
this GLORIOUS land" actually beggar to
other sections less favored than ours for the
common necessaries of life After twelve
years of peace the country is still staggcr-
ing under load of debt, National, State,
municipal and Individual. We believe that
the debt accumulated in the South during
the last twcl'c years is equal to that exist
ing at L.ec' surrender. Various causes arc
at wS.k to produce this disastrous result
lp-hefrst place, no country can keep out of
bt and prosper that is continually drained
sAits capital. Communities arc like indi-
y4ipksT they. buy more than they sell
thsAbalsncc of trade" will be againstthem
ll.%a?S ~saad TO ruin will be short enc -
60 t the baormous drain upon us for
"a ad fire insurance, the State of North
IA,rolina has paid during one year since
1856 nearly S2,OO0,0O0. The annual out
kssfis still very great A comparison of the
!.ipeksR Rf t4seai aHs Insurance offices in IA
Ssasl Interior 9pf Ncrth ,SS&pa far
s..;t I'M, mat noinS oSinnainss July, lsS ~
been paid for insurance. evetX MSgef
which, NPagcnts commissions, ~
Nstthe erIsN companies Our farmers have
paid many millions for sewing machines, at
clcal profit to foreign compfnics of about
400 per cent We send abroad annually
about. S3,OO0,OOO for fertilizers. In the
Statc.of Kentucky there was spent during
sifS !. 70, en,; iaysse s..n, Of a,23g;690
- 81 s9raurc;: DT TINS sum there was -.
to that State during the year, f,r
HWkl ,246,G52, leaving ncarlya million
5 z Spars of. clean profit to'foreign coa,-
yes doing business in that State. Ffw
EIne the incomes of the different insur-
y companies of, Hartford, Conn, we will
- aat the aggregate will exceed $4,000.
600 nually. Of this amount large per-
cent, e comes lrom the Eouth Millions
Of IN BARS are ANNUALLY sent North to buy
bread ufts that can easily be raised at home
In RI greatest grain growing region of the
world e buy Northern -four aud corn
The uthern farmers eight grass" all
SUP, while they feed their horses on hay
sr.~ on the bleak hills of New. England.
NcaNS every article of home consumption
is purchased from abroad. Our clothing.
our house furniture, our mechanics esssssst
our farming implements, are all nlanufactur.
ed in other sections To meet the enor
nous drain upon our capital to pay for these
things we have to rely principally upon the
cotton crop. When this fails us, as mat
ter OF course, we get into debt, and debt is
always expensive.
The theory is frequently advanced that
we can buy corr cheaper than We can make
~ 'c'' We ha'o PiaCt!Ceu tnaL ,ncory
for the last twelve years.sud what is the re-
suit? Debt, banhruptcy and ruin.
Small grain crops in the South require
but little expense, yet the farmers are an
nually paying high prices for foreign ar.
ticles that could be easily and cheaply pro-
duced.at home, with which to make act
ton crop. The commercial value of money
in the South is at least ls per cent. per an
mum, and the farmer who farms upon credit
must pay this interest and an additional
per cent. to induce the factor to make ad-
vanccs. There is no way to avoid this high
rate OF interest Usury laws avail nothing.
In the present state of farming in the
South, advancing upon crops to be here.
after produced, is a dangerous business.
10 meet the increased risk an additional per
cent must be added Suppose we farm on
credfe,' will farming pay with money advan.
ced at over IL per cent? We know that
our annual gains must be small, and if we
cannot make money at this rate We certainly
are pursuing a suicidal course to attempt to
farm at higher rates. In rich farming sec
tlons in valley lands, or in other naturally
favored localities, farmers make money at
rates of interest higher than those above
Tenants upon the highly cultivated lands
Of England expeud from $50 to $50 p"r