Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1880-06-10

grown in sorghum, could be made to produce
| annually more sugar than we import. Nay
! more, sir, the unquestioncd conclusion has
been arrived at, from successful experiment
and legitimate computation, that 1lliuois
might produce and crib her millions of
bushels of corn, ind from the stalks manu-
faoture annually more sugar than wo havo
ever imported in a single yoar. TO my
mind, sir, this is one Of the grandcst dis
covcrics of the nineteenth century, nnl
should immortalizo the parties who made it.
Last year we imported 1,7O0,0OO,OO0
pounds of sugar, worth $4,000, 900, but
costing the Consumers over $4,000 600,
by reason of tho excessive import duty
levied for tho protection of less thau score
OF sugar reiipcrics III two or thee of our
large cities.
Ponder well theec facts, 20 farmers of the
Northwest, whose lands, though they bc
us fertile as the delta of the Nile, have,
within the past fifteen years, decreased in
productivencss 20 per cent. Reflect upon
your own extravaganza, when it is a we'll
asccrtained fact that by properly utilizing
tho stubble Of the coru fields of one of your
States, tho taxpayers of tho country might
be relieved aonually of burden of forty
| millions OF dollars
MIR. Speaker, the countries whence We
import this vast amount of sugar arc nearly
oil slave holding Tho recent abolition of
slavery in some Of them, and the gradual
emancipation Of tho slaves in the others,
will in all probability, in tho near future,
reduce our sources Of supply, and for this
reason, if for no other, this discovery Of
the Agricultural Department is most op
portuno.
An appropriation is also asked for to aid
the Agricultural Department. in encourag-
ing tho growth Of the tea plant and manu-
featuring tho commercial article, so that
wa may become the producers and no
longer remain, as we arc, tho purchasers Of
twenty millions OF dollars worth Of tea
annually. Thirty years. experience has
satisfied individuals in more States than
QUO III tho South that tea can be grown
successfully, but it has been lcf: to The
Agricultural Department. to prove that my
State South of tho latitude of Washington
by dcvoting the samo attention to tho
c1tarc OF tea that is now given to its
staple crops, might obviatc tho necessity
Of cur importing single caddy of foreign
tca
But, Mr.. Chairman, those who disoou-
rage tho idea Of increasing the appropriation
for the Agricultural Department. are tho
first to thcorizc about the independence
OF tho farmer. Aye, cir, they can read
pastoral or rural poetry in the skipping
!ambs, the lowering hcros, tho golden grain,
TIC tlcccY staple, tho shining plo~aiiarc,
The we'll laid furrow, ard perhaps the
pretty miikmaid; but they can see no
connection between the duty Of the govern
mcrt aud the wants of the farmer in This
respect Sir, the farmers Of this country
want nolhiog from tho Government that it
ia not the duty Of the Government to bcs,ow.
They ask its fostering care cn,y to the
extent thnt ii is given to tie other pursuits
Of life. Manufactures arc fostcrcd by ta.rE
cxactlons. Our internal commerce has
become immcasnrahly great by reason Of
Government subsidies, and our foreign
commerce, relieved of orr odions nayi,a.
lion laws, would to-day whtcn every sea
with is unfurlcd sails. But agriculture,
the very ltc-blood Of commerce and the
parent of manufactures, has never, from
tho inception of our Government, received
Il propor,ionatc share even Of the crumbs
that fall from Tic Government table
When the various departments of tho
Government were orgal.izcd, specific duties
were assigned 10 each, and frequently tho
supervision Of single bureau has bccn
transferred from enc Department to another
The Patent Office and Land Office, for
instance, havo each been subject to the
supervision of two different departments,
and every onc of tho Departments to day
has much more widely extended iuris-
diction thun could have been anticipated
when they were established. Who could have
conceived in 1850 that tho Treasury De-
partmont would today control the Lifc saving
Service, tho Coast Survey Service, tho
Marine Hospital Service, the Bureau Of
Printing and Engraving, and the many
minor bureaus so numerous and 30 multi
tarious that it ia far easier to say what is
not tlian what is under the supervision of
tha, Department? Why, sir, 20 onlnifnrous
arc its spcciaItics that cargo of live stock
cannot bo exported, nor even imported for
brood purposes, except by permission of
tho Secretary of the Treasury, after being
| subjected to inspection by Treasury officials.
Enlarge tho jurisdiction of tho Agricul--
tural Department, and many duties which
legltimatcly belong to it would DO transfer.
rcd thithcr from other Departments which
they arc now assigned and to which they
arc totally irrelevant.
In 1880, 81, GOO wcro appropriated and
placed in The hands of the Commissioner
of Pa,oDis 10 bo expended in collecting
agricultural statistos. In 1851, this an
nual appropriation had grown to $4,000.
In 1862, tho Agricultural Bureau was
tukcn from tho Patent Olfioo, and by
Statute enaGtcd ipto Department. Of Az.