The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-12-14
,T0 0F1R1ERs.

and manE taria8B are not. happy; Many
planted, ads year with the hope Of realiz-
ing fair prices in the fall, and notwithstand-
ing they are, now blessed in many sections
of onr'aapd With abundant crops, they find
themselves still in debt Labor is abundant,
seasons are 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 Gnd that farming does not Fay.
The singular spectacle is presentedsof a
vastScouptry, with its magnificent wealth of
forest "a lis Ultimate ne favorablesa .atsS S6f
! any Iand Oh the globe, with its long rivers,
navigable at all seasons of the year, with
its almost exhaustless mines of coal, iron,
mica, gold, silver, lead and copper, with it's
quarries 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 stagger-
ing under load of debt, National, State,
municipal and Individual. We believe that
the debt accumulated in the South during
the last twelve years is equal to that exist
ing at Lees surrender Various causes are
at work to produce this disastrous result
I6the frst place, no country can keep out Of
dbt and prosper that is continually drained
|'atits capital. Communities arc like indi-
! y@ipkxH they.a buy more than they sell
thu balance of trade" will be againstHhem
\ it.a7S e. -saad to ruin will be short one
So, It the eaormous drain upon us for
a"d fire insurance, the State of North
> 1Ssrolina has paid during one year since
1856 nearly s2,OO0,0OO. The annual out
sHfis, still very great. A comparison of the
|. h.hpeH Rf tLssdi ~ Insurance offices in a
I Saah Interior pf North A&pa fer
.t ,bat nat n5iss 5sisssSings July, 1sS eY
Been paid for insurance. SEef
which, Szgagcpts commissions, ~ 80
Nsfth crf,% companies. Our farmers have
paid many millions for sewing machines, at
cleln prolific foreign compfnies of about
400 per cent We send abroad annually
about, S3,OO8,OO0 for fertilizers. In the
State of Kentucky there was spent during
s..s s.faurc:: D9 tnfs sum there wass ~.
to that State during the year. f,r
- Fess1 ,246, ,G52, leaving aearIya miU;oa
Z ESo''o vi i.eio"u pEout W lOTelSn c0al-
yes doing business in that State. IF we
lne the incomes of the different insur-
companies of. Hartford, Conn, we will
lat the aggregate will exceed Sis 900.
Pnualy. Of this amount large per-
e comes fronr the 'outh. Millions
BARS are ANNUALLY sent North to buy
uffs that can easily be raised at home
greatest grain growing region of the
buy Northern -four and corn
- kuthern farmers eight grass all
Sse sSwhile they feed their horses on hay
grown on the bleak hills of NewEnsland. |
Nearly every article of home consumption
is purchased from abroad. Our clothing,
our house furniture, out. mechanics s<ssisf
our farming implements, are all manufacture
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
it. Well, we have practieed that theory
Tor the last twelve years. artt what is the re-
suit? Debt, banhruptcy and rmn.
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 a. ct
ton crop. The commercial value of money
in the South is at least 18 per cent per an /
mum, and the farmer who farms upon credit |
must pay this interest and an additional I
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 dangerous business
10 meet the increased risk an additional per
cent. must be added. Suppose we farm on
credre;' will farming pay with money advan.
ced at over 18 per cent. We know that
our annual gains must be small, and if we
cannot make money at this rate we certainly
IRE pursuing suicidal course to attempt TO
farm at higher rates In rich farming sec.
lions, 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
'f England cxpeud from $50 to $50 p"r
'crc in cultivating and they make money,
but we must remember those lands have
been enriched by centuries of expensive til.