The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-06-03

adopted. Such proposition, we are
sure, will never find favor in South
Carolina lie. yislature, even though it were
composed en- Lirely of farmers"
'Let not TIE shoemaker go beyond his
last" The News and Courier, too, bet
ter stick to ''free trade" and let agricul-
ture alone. The legitimate duties of this
officer would be the encouragement, pro-
lection and advancement of our agricul-
tural interests. The collection of the
phosphate royalty should be given to
the comptroller general, and in ali hui
miity ask, Why may not the farmers
of South Carolina be allowed to control
that department of the government
which they alone support, which is, OF
ought to be, devoted entirely to advanc-
ing their interests? This method of
choosing the secretary or commissioner
Is not new or unusual. A board of agri-
culture thus chosen, and who elect their
own secretary, has existed in Ohio since
l947., The same system of agricultural
administration exists in Maine, in Con-
nechcut, in Indiana, in Illinois, in Iowa
and many other Northern States
If the News and Courier can tell us
why the agricultural societies, free from
political influences, cannot select better
board than the Legislature, and why the
board thus chosen cannot select their
own executive officer and thus secure q
prompt and efficient one, I would like to
have it do so. Without the power to
dismiss an incompetent or unworthy
officer, the board can accomplish nothing,
and If the Legislature cannot trust the
farmers to manage their own department
we had better abolish it altogether.
L will next briefly notice the News and
Courler's bookkeeping. They say Gig
ures wontie, but L have always thought
it all depended on who set down the
figures, and with what motives. AS the
News and Courier enters some "worGls',
from my speech in it's column of "prom-
Use, and then charges up 1868, 900 in
creased taxes in the column of "perform-
ance" alongside, I may well ask permis-
sion to show that its figures s'ie" if I
can. And, first, let me say that %he
present value of the plant of the Missis-
slppl College does not represent it's cost.
Ihc original cost of the buildings and
farm was IN the neighborhood of $780,
600. There have been additions in stock
and other appliances out of each annual
appropriation during the five years since
1t started, but large per cent. of its
present valuation is increase in the value
OF the farm by n proper system of cult
vatlon and natural increase in the large
herds of cattle, etc., etc
Rome was not built in O day, and we
do not ask OF expect that our agricultural
college shall come, like Minerva from the
brow of Jove, armed and eq quipped for
battlo. All we asl. is to plant it on the
right foundation and let it grow. An
appropriation of 1915, 900 with the $685.
oOO from the tax on fertilizers, which
can be used the first year to build and
equip it, is all we want The board of
agriculture already possesses a complete
chemical laboratory which would thus
not have to be bought. Many OF the
books in the State library can be spared
for the agricultural library. Convict
labor can be used in excavating the
foundations of the buildings and in max
ing brick, etc, provided they can be
spared from that blessed "Columbia
ditch, and L guarantee that with these
helps and with the money mentioned
the college can be opened on the lst of
January, 1885,
AS for the experimental station, if
Congress don't give the $15, 900 then the
faculty will, as they now do in Missis-
sippl and Michigan, carry on expert
ments without it. My information is that
the bill will pass if it is reached on the
calendar before Congress adjourns. If
IL Is appropriated the money becomes
available LIST July prox, and if the pres-
ent trustees of the South Carolina Col
lege spend it on the agricultural annex
at Columbia tho demand next winter for
separation OF the agricultural college
| from the South Carolina College would
be met by the argument that the experi-
mental station had already been ostab-
ilShed ut Columbia, and another, linl,
would be forged in the chain which now
olnds the two institutions together. This
| argument, which used in the Conven.
Cion' overthrow all of Colonel Duncan's
speclous arguments and promises on be-
han OF the trustees, and the farmers
passed the resolution because thew nre-
terred n whole loaf hereafter to q crnmb
now If the Legislature grants our
wishes in December next then the ex.
pcrimental station can be provided for
in planning the college.
am satisfied, also, that there is GOING
to be O. lively competition among the
counties to secure the college, and I
hope to enter Edgefeld in the race if I
can wake her up. This element in the
estimated cost will amount to no small
item, l imagine. If we allow the pres
ont appropriation for the Citadel to keep
it up as school for girls; if we give the
South Carolina College $5, 700 in place
of the land scrip fund and its tuition
fees, both institutions, it would seem,
could be thus bountifully sustained, so