The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-09-08
TIE FARMERS MEETINGS.


, serve un,uiicd their honesty. integrity
and -cli-rc-pcct md. TREY request the
merchant. ani dca.cr, in fertilizers ~
make such discounts a. their profits viii
justify and they may be wiling 10 give.
Bird Tia, lncy VIII divide the mon.y
from their crop l,rp '1''i ;tEong All their
creditors Iii. That any man who at,
tcnp,- TO coiicc, hi, debl- by law, other
than upon the J,p ,qfi plan, is Il public
enemy. 9TH Tha, they will give their
colpr~d laborcrs the benefit Of whatever
reductions they secure.
The citizens of Savannah township
have suffered a. severely from the drouth
rs any section We know Of, and their mis-
fortune Is 80 great IL 10 cntitlc them To
the sympathy Of ali our people. for they
have been -ingu!arly unfortunate for -c:
cral year, past between druu!hs and de
vastatiug hail storms. They are, how
ever. not the only section which has suf.
fcrcd this year. and their movement looks
now like il would become general over
the upper portion OF the state. Indeed,
our whole people l.;,vc been carried to
! the verge of Il very fearful calamity by
the unprecedented crop failure, but we
must be allowed to suggest toour readers
| that their troubles cannot he remedied
by public meetings and resolutions, The
facts which stare IL in The face are that
we are in debt. We have obtained fer
tlizer4 and supplic- under the promise TO
pay for them. There wa. no condition
| in The contrac; which allowed them to be
reviewed aud settled at the end Of the
year according to the crop yield, and the
law holds the crops and ali other prop
crty o. the debtors above the homestead
liable for these debts, and they can be
enforced by suit, if the parties are dis
posed 10 press them. II is, therefore,
impossible for The debtors to arrange
what they will pay without the consent
OF the creditors also, and in our opinion
the only practicable road out of our
present circumstances is for each farmer
to go to hls creditor and make the best
settlement with him that his crops will
permit. by paving all that he can he
will discharge his present ability and
duty. that any reasonable merchant
would willingly extend the time for pay
ment on the balances due In his way
our people will preserve their credit and
most easily overcome their present mis-
fortunes. Any other course will produce
IL very serious condition of affairs
throughout our country. Any combined
effort to secure II compulsory reduction
of the debts due by the farmers will in
duce inuumcrablc cnforcemenls uf liens,
and, what will be worse for many farmers,
the chattcl mortgages upon their stock
will also be forccloscd. This general
sucing would entail great co upon the
debtors, and would greatly cripple the
agricultural interests of the country.
The worst feature, however would be
| the destruction of all credit at home and
abroad, for if such 4 state of things
should arise this year the merchants
would refuse to sell next year on credit,
for they would fear similar action the
ensuing Fall. This would bring every
body 10 n cash basis, and the country in
its present crisis could not stand it.
Great numbers of our people would then
be ruined, indeed. But the injury would
not stop even there. The credit of The
merchants themselves would be ruined,
for the Wholesale merchant would be
afraid to credit the merchant whose Gus
toners did not pay him, for such q mcr-
chant would be liable to break at any
moment. We cannot be too careful of
our credit at this time, for it is credit
that will have TO be relied upon 10 carry
us through the coming hard times.
There is another trouble in the way of
avoiding the payment of these debts, if
it were otherwise right to do so, and that
is that the greater part OF the indebted
ness for Guano and supplies is secured
By mortgages or liens, and the debtor
cannot sell his property covered by
either mortgage or n lien without lay
ing himself liable 10 prosecution and i'm
prisonment. 1t is against the law to sell
crops or property with lien on it, other
wise than by the consent of the party
holding the lien. As the law now
stands, rent has the first lien, and then
the lien for supplies or guauo comes
next, so that it is impossible for tho far
mers to carry out the third resolution of
the Savannah township meeting, with
out running the risk OF conviction and
punishment in the courts. The crop will
have 10 be applied 10 the debts according
to the security given TO secure them. 1t
is important for our people to understand
this, for withou, it many good men,
thinking they were doing right to pay
some on all of their debts, might for
their mistake be sentenced to imprison-
mcnt and inc
Now, we have no idea tha, the present
trouble cannot be survived and overcome.
If we bravely meet them our people will
soon by economy and energy recover
what they have lost To DO so, however,
we must keep up the confidence and
c:S6;; which i,, been established be.
tween our people, and the way to do this
Is Tor each man who owes debt 10 go
squarely TO the man he owes and tell him
his condition, pay all that heis able. and