The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-09
For the Farmer sa3 MechSnic.
A Dark Outlook.


increase OF railroads and manufactures.
On the other hand. some statistics are
riven which are 50 startling, that all
men who are really interested in the
well-being of the human race. hope that
there IS some fearful mistake. They
rub their eyes and look again. Is il a
dark and troubled dream Some tale
of horror. invented BY the evil one to
scare comfortable. well-fed, and we'll
clothed and well-boused citizens?
Whether RI or false. It i the busi-
ness of every man to investigate. When
the army OF an enemy is at your very
doors. it is no time 10 fold your arms in
easy security and say, Il DO Tot know
certainly that they are there.-I will
wait awhile and see"
These statistics refer to the uneSam-
pied increase OF crime, suicide, insanity
aud pauperism. Beginning with the
last. we give a few extracts from the
March number of the Century: The
number OF destitute children sent out OF
the city of New York in 1854 was about
eight hundred. The expense of caring
for these children vas about 100000.
Last year it was a23G, 900. What will
these figures be thirty years hence ~
Again the same writer states. "A
single founding asylum, organized
scarcely twelve years since, now draws
from the public treasury about s2i0,0O0
per annum. 1t has under its care $500
children, and annually receives about 3
! per cent of all the children born in the
city of New York;"
These facts are astounding, and well
3 nav Tho writer n 4 tho tnlaEs soma
great change is made .'our existing
charities have a future entirely without
hope. Their labor is as vain as that of
working the pumps of a leaky ship.
The vessel NAV be kept for a time
atloat. but the leak is widencd by the
very effort to undo its effects the wa
ter is pumped back to its source. aud
the crew are worn out with their Danal-
dean task
The causes which produce this APP
palling amount Of pauperlsm, lead also
to suicide and insanity. The bitter
poverty which obliges a human mother
to leave her child at a founding hospit-
al, leads also to the mad-house. 50
another awfully insignificant fact found
upon the statistic tables Is that. while
the population of the United States
during the last decade increased at the
rate of % per cent. the increase OF in
sanity was over 100 per cent The cost
of maintaining the lunatic asyluIns is
over sl2,0 600, 900 annually.
In pointing out the increase in crime,
we will only refer TO one species of
crime the breaking Of the marriage
contract. Nothing so surely prognos-
ticates the decay and downfall of a peo-
pie, as this widespread faithlessness in
the most sacred obligations Of life.
Since 1860 the ate Of divorces has IN
creased IA per cent, while the rate of
marriages has increased only 4 per
cent. In one State there is one divorce
to every eight marriages; in another
State, one to twelve; in another, one to
fourteen. In New England ''of all civ
il contracts. that of marriage is the II
the most likely to be broken
Those who are Indifferent to the sins
and 5ufferings of their fellow-creatures.
take refuge in denying that these fright
full facts are true. They take pleasure
in repeating the stale wittici5m that
figures lie.' These persons cannot
short Of actual loss and disaster to
themselves. Others think that they are
really benevolent. and busy themselves
in a great variety of schemes for the
benefit OF this. that,and the other socle-
ty. But their efforts are as drops of
water to the ocean the evil goes on
with increasing velocity. We need re-
formers as deeply in earnest as were
the twelve apostles of Jesus Of Naza-
reth. We need men and women who
are ready to give, not merely superfu-
GUS time and superlluous money to the
work; but their very lile-blood, i fneed-
full.
There are vast tracts of rich, unin-
habited lands, where these paupers and
criminals, &C., who fill the Warehouses
and the prisons and orphan asylums
could be made useful and industrious
citizens. Let their women be taught
one of the habits of the people 0 South-
ern Europe, who still even in this 10Th
century spin their own clothing. Every
where in some of these countries you
will see women spinning with the dis
tatf-at the towns of Mentone. at Peru
gia, at Verona, it is n common sight.
a traveller says lit is also the custom
IN all parts OF Greece as we'll as in Asia
Minor Artists love dearly to portray
the artistic beauty and grace of the ac-
ton Of spinning with the distatf. AS
England still sends abroad 10000 sail
ing vessels while she has only 10000
steamers, so the steam-driven manufac-
tories o. clothing ought to bear but a
small proportion to the clothing spun
within the safe and ennobling precincts
OF home. There are no garments more
graceful and pretty than those knitted
with crochet needles for children. They
could be made equally beautiful tor
grown persons. As wind is still the
great motive power Of the world in nayi-
CATION, 50 the simple industries Of home
could still supply at least the pioneer
settlements with clothing. This cloth
INC is nice enough the Scotch would
call it very s'cannv.n /. for one. would
gladly wear it for the rest of my life. as
a matter of taste, as we'll as a matter of
christian principle. But all of our eff
forts to make a permanently prosper
Gus agricultural population VIII fail
eventually, without the Bible law Of
uHalien0Jie homestcndS. Make the
homestead Of any size that true states
men see fit ;-but make it permanent.
Let no man have the right to make
paupers of bis wife and children. ITO
every man shall! his Inheritance (of.
land) be given says the Maker of an
things. This law places each citizen III
possession Of a GoI--iven right ia the
soil. Divine laws, whether civil or spir-
itual. cannot be broken with impunitv.
Ia sending out pauper colonies from
the great cities. to settle ~uninhabited
lands, it would be better to settle them
in small villages, and bind them tocetl-
er, with the old tie Of Saxon frank
pledge" This system worked well for
centuries /; and in making reforms, it is
far wiser to select the best forms Of