Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1878-06-11
Go Back to the Land.
From the Boston Advertiser. /

Wishing to know what had become of a
certain prosperous New York banker,
whose sweeping failure in business was re-
ported some months ago, inquiry was made
Of connection Of his by marriage:
Where is A--now ?"
"In New Hampshire, at work on my
farm" was the answer.
The news was not surprising. Ii was
Just like the mana worthy, sensible fell
low as ever lived, one Of the kind who
never whine over loss and disappointment.
How many of the thousands OF rich men
in the country, who have "failed" as badly
as he, will as contentedly 60 back to the
foundation estate, and rest on the first hu
man birthright2 ? So much energy has gone
into the excitements Of trade, and the
great competing industries Of the manufac-
turing towns, that the land has been glec-
ted. Our farmers are of the last genera
ton. Their sons are merchants, specula-
tors, inventors-producers OF the more
sensations and speedy sort.
The demand for luxuries has increased
with the supply, and the art Of producing
the necessities suffers for lack Of the old
hearty following Men nave grown asham-
ed to plod. Ii is easier to handle some
one else's money than TO handle ones own
plough; and great many forget that 1t
is a good deal more dangerous. The scent
Of swift fortune and an sy income has
become sweeter 10 the patent-maklng Yam
kee than 'the smell ola field that the Lord
mas blessed" " 1t was inevitable that this
greedy materialism and eager insisting on
showy results should affect the morality
ofbusiness and all social health ard wealth.
Prosperity no satisfied with the ie march
afoot went by express train, by wind, by
telegraph and got so far from It's legiti-
mate base as fatally to expose Its weak
ness.
Remedial advice in the present distress
need not always be "Go West''-though
there the almost exhaustless untitled ter
ritory offers gracious opportunities. Let
those who have been making fortunes to
lose them, setter themselves from the cit
les into the CO.. try to make food. And
enough mill labOrers, shut out Of silenccd
factories, may 60 with them to help them.
There is room ia the"agricultural districts"
for more of them. Retreat there affords
q situation secure from panics, and nearly
the only one. Pallow farms enough lie
waiting. Go back to the and. No surer
mending of the mind as well as the fortune
can be prescribed for the frustrated spec
ulator and capitalist Many such al
thrown out and standing aside, and there
viii be more. The few great and strong
business houses are absorbing the small
and weak. Men accustomed to wealth,
finding themselves unprovided for, must
provide for themselves. To no small num-
Der, disappointed and brooding seeds Of
insanity and suicide in their enforced i'll
ness,a little farm will be the best possible
refuge and occupation If they have for
COTTON all theit boyhood knowledge of the
plow and the hoe it will pay to learn
again.
Let US not be misunderstood We must
have the toll of cities as well as tho tiith
of fields. But the former has outgrown
the latter in enormous disproportiou. Let
us have a new division and a new depart
ure. There is no other country in which
the credit system in business prevails to
50 extrayagant extent as in ours. We are
suffering the consequences Of floating fac
tories and commercial firms on paper, and
tempting dishonesty by oyer-trust Once
aground let us greet the ground, aud get a
blessing out of it. 1t may be the saving
of you to earn your own living for one
generation by digging. Overhaul Poor
Richards ploughman's almanac, study its
maxims, accumulate slowly, but get in the
habit of paying as you GO Randolph
Tucker may be rank free-trade hereto
when he says, This nation ought 10 te
contented with cultivating the soil ard
raising cereals for export in exchange for
all other things which We need but 1t
goes without saying that nation of far
mers, rather than shop-keepers, beat the
world for honest money and wholesome
prosperity,-a prosperity that knows its
own foundation, and eau count its own
cash value at the close Of every day. a
little sum will buy good farm now, and
q little health will be bettered by working
it. Our American people need to smell
the soil more The name "Jew" would
never have suggested the Shylock type If
the golden age of the Hebrew race the
agricultural age-had lasted. The giant
Antaus could hold his own with Hercules
only when he touched the earth. If hard
times shall teach this nation to recognize
again the real mother Of its strength and
greatness, there will be no need to repeat
the lesson, and the prophetic song will be
answered,
lizard Zines come again no more"