The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1882-06-09
The Egis and Intelligencer
BEL AIR, Md, JUNE 8, 1882.
Deer Greek Farmers Club.
liz Farming an Improbable Employ
menf?

Farming an Improbable Employment?
Judge Waters said: have suggested me SUD 10
ject for discussion this evening believing II 10 De
one which it may be profitable for farmers 10
think about and talk about. know there is
of hard work an little pay. lfthey are mistaken
it is wrong that we should be discouraged by
i las m rnpGg think they are mistaken.
shall endeavor merely to suggesta line OF thought
hoping that Others IN ~ develop ana extend It
Shoud consider the character of the farmers
calling and its relation TO the industries, of the
world. Agriculture may be said TO be the uni
yersal employment of man that is, it is the one
employment which is essential to the existence of
man. Agriculture in some form, crude or other
WISE is necessary to mans existence; besides ii
is the employment which, above all others. is
adapted to mans general capacity. do not
mean to say, as some do, that any fool can make
farmer; but do say that agriculture affords
place for the lowest capacity and at the same
agricuturo in This light it is essential that il
should have few risks. A lottery which has great
prizes must necessarily have many blanks. Agri-
worker il has no blanks. Civilization has many
wants real and artificial. To supply those wants
gives employment TO mans activities in many
and diverse fields. 1t is not desirable that all
should cultivate the ground-it is not discourage
ing that other fields requiring t; special capacity
the few successful ones. 1t is right that those
who have special talents should use them for the
benefit of themselves and their follow-men, and
we should not grndgc any reward their efforts
may bring them. 1t would have boon misfor-
spent his life behind pillow. But electricity, or
even the whole field of science does not offer its
prizes to the ordinary average capacity OF man
Once or twice in generation poet may be born,
whose genius we may reverence and whose works
VIC may enjoy; put II we ordinary mortals UNDER
take to do what is their natural work we become
nuisances to others, II not to ourselves Success
in agriculture, ms well as in other employments,
though not TO the same extent, is not uniform.
hut within certain limits, depends on individual
energy and capacity. Its browning excellence is
that for the industrious worker there is no ahso
,t,f t1,,nA 10 n fhnF
the present wealth of the world has been derived
mainly from agriculture. Therefore farming
must have paid somebody. IT it has not paid the
farmer sufficiently It must have been the fault of
farmers themselves rs they have been in the ma
jority Whether the burthens of society are
made to bear unduly upon farmers is a proper
matter for them TO consider. In introducing this
branch of the subject do not consider that am
violating the rule of the Club which forhids the
discussion of politics. If farmers remit to politi-
cans subject which so vitality concerns their in
terests they have right to complain if the final
determination is reached from the politicians
standpoint instead of the farmers. That the
farm laborcr should be taxed TO increase the
wages of labOrers in other fieds-that the farmer
who pays his employees fifty cents day, should
he taxed TO enable the maj ufacturer to pay his
employees dollar day, may be good politics but
dent. Farming cannot be considered an unprofit-
able employment by any farmer who knows his
own good things"
$. Il. Silver did not think farming an unprof-
table business Its profits are slow but sure, and
very few fail in it. 1t has not only proven prof.
able In the West, but here in the East farms are
increasing in value and the crops increasing per
acre. Men have started without owning farms
and in few years have them clear of debt.
:. NJ. Lee said thai farming is the pedestal
upon which everything else stands, and is there
tore a necessity. 1t is generally credited with
less profit then it really makes. For instance,
take any of our farms around here. Count the
amount of capital invested in the land and in OPP
Grating the farm. Charge yourself with what ii
produces, for your comforts. your necessities and
your luXurics, and you will find that it must have
produced a good deal to supply these wants The
iD1pDpudpnpn farmer
that of any other calling. That is an offset TO Il
lack of money at times.
Geo. r. Glasgow thought farming pays. The
farms in his neighbNrhOod are improving in value.
He recolocts that 90 or 30 years ago the country
was covered with old sCdge fields. Now very few
Of these are left. the land having improved.
Thomas Lochary regarded farming as protta-
BILE in this way-that farmer can, with econo-
my, live more comfortably than man in any
other business. It Il man wants to get rich in a
gear or two. and live extravagantly at the same
time, however he had better try something else
A. NJ. Fulford said that looking at the question
IN Il general way it would not do for farmers to
make fortunes like spectators and Others but
most farmers profit by their business. We can
all recOllect good many Scdge fields, that now
produce we'll Their owners have all the real
comforts Of life, the land has improved, their
families are well dressed and their children cdu-
Gated. These cases. he thought, show that farm
ing is not an Improbable employment. There
are exceptional cases of failure, bur these can he
traced to causes. such as want of adaptation to
the business. la2incSS. bad habits. &c. Farming
may not require as high ability as some other
professions. although it does require certain
KIM Of u'ttiity, md s"ccceds in proportion
rs he possesses this ability. Farming not only
pays proprictors but also their hands.
James Lee had no doubt that farming pays. He
thoaght this was illustrated by the fact that 50
out of 100 farmers succeed, whereas very few
merchants succeed.
VIM + HAYS said there was no doubt farming
viii pay if q man sticks b il. But he can't spend
his time at the tavern or stores and expect it to
pay. Farming is as near free life as man can
get.
John Moores thought farming pays we'll If he
believed something else would pay better he
would go at that something else. As proof that
It must be profitable. compare the buildings, the
lands and the condition of the people OF to-day
with those of 40 years ago. Ours has been purely
an agricultural community, and the improve
ment has been wonderful. One point Judge
Waters referred to should be discussed, and
that is the t,ritf, Mr.. Moorcs could not see why
10000 farmers should be taxed to support one
manufacturer. lie rccOllCctcd hearing speech
10y n candidate for Congress, in 1874, in which the
speaker promised that if sent to Congress we
would have high taritl and as consequence
an iron furnace would he built on every hill on
Deer Creek. We have had the high tariff for
many years, and instead of the five furnaces in
the county at the time the speech was made we
have none.
Jas. II. Ball said he could remember n number
of young men, schoOlmates, &c, some of whom
became machinists some manufacturers, some
merchants, some farmers, &c., but he could not
recall an instance of any of the farmers failing,
while nearly every one of the others had failed.
Thos. A Hays thought farming pays If proper
y pursued. 1t is the universal business of man
kind and is absolutely necessary to the world
4 larger number of mankind can make farming
pay than could succeed in anything else.
X. Harris Archer said he should say mo" to
the question us Farming Improbable" AS Mr.
Lee remarked IT is the pedestal upon which
everything else rests-the backbone and sinew of
the country. at this time the eyes of the coun-
Try are turned towards the wheat crop. Capital
lists, railroad men. and even stock lobbers are
hoping for good crop, and that England will
want the greater part of 1t. He did not think
farming very profitable If a man has heavy
debt on his place If, however, Il man is left
good property it is a profitable business. There
is no more independent way of living. since the
farmer is little snhJeetto outside changes which
affect other occupations, such as labor strikes,
&c. At tins time general strike Is impending,
which may upset everything but farming. Far
mers are now all living well, while persons in
other business, unless they have Il good income,
are very much cramped.
Geo. n. Silver said that 10 answer the question
asked would require entering into other ques-
tions. Our own neghborhood alone furnishes
an affirmative answer, and our county speaks for
itself in favor of farming. The profits should
not be considered from money point of view
alone, with the contingencies connected with
the business, but its pleasures, its blessings. and
even the hard work necessary to success should
be taken into consideration. Farming is Il bust
ness in which men of limited means can engage
There is in 1t a place for the most ignorant and
get room for the most learned. Farmers are free
from certain cares and troubles that come upon
other pursuits, and although in other business
risks are taken of losing as well as of making in
farming, If a man will perform certain acts he
will come out little ahead at the end of the
year.
The President, Mr.. VIM. Munnikhuysen, also
took the view that farming pays. 1t certainly
must, II we may judge from the improvement
made in our own county chiefly by farmers. No
class lives as well as the farmer. He eats whole
come vegetables Of his own raising has his own
horses to use on Sundays and has many other
pleasures. If you count the profits of business
merely by dollars, there are other occupations
that pay better, but the profit should not be
counted in that way.
Messrs. Archer Moores and Thos. A. Hays, the
committee of inspection, reported through Mr..
Archer, who said that Judge Waters farm
speaks for itself The first thing they noticed
was the home-raised stock consisting of pair of
fine threc-year old grade Short Horn oxen, we'll
matched and partly broken, and II fine grade
Short Horn calves. some of them fat enough for