The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-08-03

StSc 1891 "As
Audience - Evils Exposed but no
Remedies Offered.
At quite an early hour~on yesterday
morning, the people began to pour into
Ahhcvillc. 1t was an unusual sight to
sec so many here at this time OF the
wear. and we are persuaded that no one
less than agricultural Moses" could
have brought them together in such a
crowd. The speaking was announced
for ten o'clock and was expected to take
place from the piazza OF the New Hotel.
But At this time the rain began to fall
and the crowd had to adjourn to the
Court lIeuSr.
Mr.. TillmSn was received with cheers
as he entered the Court House and was
very appropriately Introduced hy the
President Of the Farmers Convention
Mr.. John II. Morrah.
He mad quite n rambling Specie,
caused he said by his being un-
accustomed to speak without manu-
script. His speech was interspcrScd
with numerous jokes, and the large au-
thing he said. The following, however.
dience were entirely with him in every
is about the substance Of what he said.
leaving out the anecdotes and profanity
Mr.. Tillman's Speech.
lie did not think it necessary to OK
press his surprise at the magnitude OF
the crowd there present. He hoped he
; might be able to learn his hearers some.
thing, and even il he is the ecrank that
some pretend to believe he is, he is
thankful to know that he is honest. He
said he is but Il PLAIN farmer, unused to
public speaking, and had never made n
public speech previous to last August.
ut Bcnnettsville, when he spoke on the
resolutions then introduced by him, and
which was the origin Of what has since
become known u the farmers move
ment. The history Of that meeting it is
unnecessary to repeat but he went
there conscious that the agricultural
affairs of the State were in Il deplorablc
condition and proposed u scheme which
he thought would be beneficial to the
farmers Of the State. Although that
meeting was composed Of representative
farmers. his resolutions were voted
down, and it was then that he went
home and resolved t. renew the. fyht
and ~pcrsevere in it until he gained the
victory. The contest was renewed by
a series Of letters in the public press,
and about the time Of the meeting of the
last session Of the Legislature, he was
astoniShcd at the effect the letters had
produced. lie discovered that he had
struck \ responsive chord, which en-
couraGed him to prosecute the fight.
The main object Of this movement is
to organize farmers into societies for the
purpose Of educating them. We do not
know how to farm. Ii we do, why are
we growing poorer every day, and why
do SO many of our farmers go with ha,
in hand and beg some merchant or fac
tor to run them for u year
You live in a county beautiful by ma
ture, but like old Edgclield, marked and
SCARED by gullies, CHASTITY skeletons of
once fertile fields. Why is this ? lgnor-
ance, which is also the root Of our pow
erty. For our condition to-day we may
justly blame Ignorance, extravaganza
and laZiness. But white | make This
charge to others, | may say that | need
educating too. One solution of the de-
Dl0rable condition OF Il farms is the
fact that SD many Of our people have
moved IT, the fertile fields OF the West.
After having exhausted the fields Of
South Carolina they went West, and we
Of the Soutl, are now in competition
with those people west Of the MISSISSIPPI
pi Rivera competition that we cannot
stand. The people of the Northern,
States have made this discovery, and
they have i~ntelligcntly gone to wcrk to
improve their lands and meet the com
petition Of western agriculture, while
with the blindness Of an idiot we are
ed our farming lands.
These remarks brought the speaker
up to the three agencies in our State in
tended for the benefit Of farmers ; these
are the State Agricultural Department,
the Agricultural Department Of the
South Carolina College, and the State
Agricultural Society. All these are said
to be for the benefit Of the farming
community, and yet all three are under
the management Of separate boards with
no concert of action, and to cap the eli.
max. there are no farmers on either of
the board! Seven Of them, elected. by
the Legislature, are lawyers. After the
college was recognized with the so.
called agricultural department., the Leg
stature was bamboozeled into voting an
appropriation, and two political farmers
were placed on the board. There are
aooIt 700 lawyers in this State md
about 10000 white farmers vet the