Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-05-04
Small Farms.

small farms mean a wider distribution
OF the wealth OF a country, and, conse-
quentlv. more cOntentment and happiness
among the people. This condition is also
more conducive to the practice Of virtue,
to the pr de Of self respect, to the love Of
personal liberty, and these working 10
gether in the breasts Of an intelligent, IN
dustrious population bring forth those
high accomplishment which distinguish
some races so much above others,
and constitute the glory Of civilized
nations. Proprietorship not only endoWs
with real Independence but with authOri-
". holiness. enterprise and aggressive
ness. which accounts for the rapid strides
made in the acquisition Of wealth and in
the usurpation OF authority when the
foundation Is once laid. Non-proPrietor-
ship i seen 10 have the opposite
effect. Subordination TO the authority
or capital Of others partially
suspends, through prudential mo-
tives if 10 other. the
personal Independence Of those under the
necessity Of occupying that position, and
the longer that subOr1inatiOn continues
the.more subseryient it Will become and
the less value it will place upon the
higher virtues growing out Of proprietor
ship. The two conditions divide all
civilizations into the governing
and the governed. the serving
and the non-serving, the pr0prietors and
the n0n-prOprietOrs: The one, restless,
disconnected. suspicious and liable 10
turbulence and revolution, waging per-
petuaI war in the social struggle for
position and competence: the other,
with strong hand and determined will,
maintains the law that defends their
titles. creating diversions in the ranks.
diversifying labor, distributing the power
OF their opponents. and by all the devices
OF civilization certifying their posi-
ton and estates against the necessities
which send clamOrOus multitudes to
batter down their doors upon the failure
Of a crop. or financial reyulsiOn in the
government. A change Of fortune on
either side sends the lucky or lUckless in
diyidual 10 Join the other party, and thus
each is peTpetually recruited from the
others ranks. This reciprocal recruiting
is the balance wheel Of civilization and
the salvation of law and order.
Those who are up and prosperous will be
circumspect and just lest they fall, and
those who are down and needy, will be
diligent and honest under the spur Of am
bition to rise. Too great disparity Of for
tune. as between nobility and peasantry,
milliOnaires and the labOring classes,
DESTROYS that balance wheel-creates
spanless gulf between the classes, elevat-
ing the one to opulence andIgrandeur, and
booming the other to poverty and OBJ
security.
\ population thus situated can never
be happy-can never be cOntented, can
never rise to that high order of self-respect
which brings into play the potential vir-
tues of personal liberty; intelligent, true
patriotism, freedom from superstition,
desire Of knowledge, integrity TO princi-
pie and unyielding maintenance Of truth.
The remedy is equality in the pursuit Of
fOrtune-distributiOn of the chances for
acquiring wealth. even handed justice
in the administration Of govern
ment and a broad unobstructed highway
from the novels Of the poor to the man.
sions of the rich. Thus men started out
to populate the earth, and so continued
until some grew rich and claimed their
weaker neighbours lands; then at last
they claimed his service. But civiliZa-
ton has discovered the fatal error and has
gone to work slowly to correct it. Uni
versal agitation attests that the social
scales are TO be readjusted by the
immutable weights and measures Of ma
tural right and justice, and those nations
and governments whose wisdom may en-
able them TO discern the signs Of the
times viii hasten TO make the widest
possible distribution Of their wealth, and
reap in the harvest that peace, harmony
and solidity Of structure no demagOgue
can disturb, no moral, social or political
upheayal dissolve.