The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-08-23

upon US to render this State q prosper.
GUS agricultural section has been done.
Our people in years gone by have
prospered greatly and accumulated fine
fortunes out of agriculture. The census
OF 1860 showed that under the insii,u-
tion Of slavery the South was immensely
prosperous. The Southern man acquired
more money than the Northern man as
an average, but since the war change
has been wrought. A new condition Of
things has been brought about, and
while our people have farmcd with some
profit, 1t he's not been near so great ~ il
should have been under our favored con.
uitiOns. One cause, we think, has been
tnat our planters have insisted upon the
bad policy Of raising all cotton, and
buying everything else. Instead of
making our breadstuiis, meats and food
for stock ut home, we have persisted in
buying them outside Of the State, paying
commissions to the wholesale merchants
OF the North and West, and high frcigl,s
to the railroads for hauling them from
five hundred to one thousand miles, and
then commissions to the retail merchant.
This policy has largely made the South.
| ern farmers hewers of wood and drawers
| of water for the railroad, and for the
merchants TO a ruinOua extent For
this no person was to blame except the
farmer himself, cor if he had grown these
things at home, as he could easily have
done, there would have been no ncccs.
sity for patronizing either the railroads
or the merchant to obtain them. The
real aim Of our agriculture 0ugh. ~ I,,:
the production Of ~ much that is con.
|inied Oh Inc farm as can bc made
w!.hc". It's costing mere than it wouIt!
| require to buy it in market, and after
this is done, then to raise as much cot
ton and other surplus produce ~ can br
done with the capital ut the command OF
the farmer. When this policy is fully
adopted, we have no doubt that the
prosperity of Southern agriculture will
be greatly enhanced.
The monopoly Of cotton culture, how
ever, is not, in our opinion, the grea,
drawback to Southern agricultural pro-
gress. The uncertain and indolent
labor of the present is doing more to re-
tard South Carolina than all other calrs.
es. There is no certainty nor uniform.
ty about it. When the planter hires his
hands in January he has no guarantee
that when the cotton working time ar
rives. they will not unceremoniously
quit their contracts and work for other
people to get the advantage of day
prices. This renders the planter uncer-
tain in all of his labor contracts, for he
not only runs the risk of losing portion
of his hands, but even those who remain,
knowing that others arc getting seventy
five cents to one dollar per day, while
they are only getting ten dollars per
month, become indolent, intending to
render only an amount of service pro.
portionate to the pay. They forget or
care nothing for the fact that they were
drawing full wages during the unremu-
nerative months Of the winter. This
uncertainty in labor is not only injuri.
Gus to the employer. but it is also equal
ly damaging to the leborer, for the feel
ing of uncertainty that the contract will
be carried out causes the contractor IL
pay lower wages, and hence the laborers
who fulfill, and those who do not fulfill
their contracts, alike suffer reduction
in the amount given them, for no one
can tell which ones will stick and which
will not. hence all must be reduced tc
such sum that the farmer can take the
risk. This state of affairs is extremely
unfortunate, for there is no business in
which there should be greater feeling
of certainty and confidence than in ag.
ricultural contracts.
In view Of the uncertainty of labo.
and its increasing ineificiency, we think
legislation should be adopted for the
punishment Of either party to an agri-
cultural contract who violates i. 1t:
the penalties be severe, and apply both
to tho employer and the employee, 80
that when contract is made there will
be q full reliance on both sides that it's
provisions will be carried out. The re-
suit of such an Act would be beneficial to
the lsborer and to the employer by Sc.
curing the best price for work, and by
guaranteeing that it will be rendered
when !: has been contracted for. Such
an Act will not affect contracts between
honest men, for they will be fulfilled
anyway, but it will necessitate the dis.
honest man, who by his disregard Of his
contracts 10 demoralizing the labor OF
the country, to carry. out a contract when
he makes one. 1t would give, in our
opinion, stability to labor, and confidence
between employer and employee, which
would result in great mutual advantage.
In addition to the healthy influence OF
legislation on the subject, our farmers
can do much to render such labor as
they have more remunerative by the
use of improved agricultural machinery,
for by this means one man can do the
work now which required two or three
hands heretofore. BY the introduction
of this machinery our farmers can also, in
large measure, become independent of
| IL