The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1879-04-17
HARD TIMES.
We Don't Patronize Home Industries

These days when we hear so much
about hs d Zines aud the scarcity OF
money, it would not be out of place
to investigate the matter and search
for other causes than those to which
money scarcity is attributed.
Twenty years ago when you at
tended church, ia the country es
pecially, you saw most of the young
men as we'll as the old ones, clad in
suits of decent home>spun, while
their feet were shod in good sub
stantial boots and shoes, the work
manship of some neighboring me
chanic To day you may attend
church in the same neigbborhoOd,
and you see all ages, from the beard
less youth up to the gray-headed
partriach, clad from head to foot in
glossy "ready made" all bought
cheap, it is true, but the money thai
bought them will never again circu
late 10 that community. 1t is gone
north to enrich those who manufac~
ture them.
You met young man and you
hear him complain that times are
hard aud money so scarce that he is
not able to lay up anything, and as
he stands you take a survey of him,
aud you find he is dressed in a suit
that cost him perhaps fifty dollars,
and while he speaks the fragrant
smoke from q ten cent Havana curls
from beneath his waxed and well
trained mustache.
Who helps to make these hard
times Before the war the farmer
cultivated his farm in wheat, oats,
corn and tobacco, each trying to
make enough breadstufs and meat
to do him. You never heard of
Western bacon, Cincinnati lard and
such things, being bought by the
farmer--but how is it nOwH Then
who ever heard Of rawbOne super
phosphates, commercial fertilizers,
and the like Mortgages and deeds
of trust were then rare, but they
come along with the other things,
aud help make hard times. The
product of tho farm will scarcely pay
for the fertilizers that are bought,
which should be made. But fertil
izers are bought in large quantities
aud the money paid for them never
finds it's way back into the farmers
hands, but goes to enrich the manu-
fscturer. What makes hard times
who max es money scarce
We have honest and skilled me.
chanics in our midst. They can
make good plows, wagons, buggies,
carriages, machines, boots, shoes,
&c, and in fact everything neces~
sary for our use, and to make US a
self-sustaining and prosperous peo'
pie. Yet we buy buggies MADE in
Cincinnati, wagons made in Racine,
Wis, boots and shoes made in Bos
ton, plows manufactured at dis
lance. In a word, nearly every
thing we use comes from the North.
We have good crops, are reasonably
industrious, and 10 way, economi~
cal, and have country rich IN nat
ural resources, but we don't get
rich. We buy from the North beN
cause we think we buy trifle
cheaper than we can at home, aud
we never stop to consider that we
are sending the money where we
will never see it again, where it will
enrich some other section.
Are we not responsible for the
scarcity of money and the hard
times
The war came as mighty
scourge. 1t tried US as people, and
it ought to have taught US wisdom
and economy, bat it only seems to
have learned us extravaganza and
sefishuess. No doubt the efforts in
Congress IN opposition to the money
borders of the Eastern States may
Il .allyl better our condition, but all
the legislation that can be placed on
statute books will never do US any
permanent good until we learn the
lesson to De a self.sustaining people
and take care of ourselves. Let US
amend on" own ways, then we will
hear less of "hard times"