The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-03-17
FARMERS TO THE FRONT.
Call for an Agricultural Convention at
Columbia--An Address Setting Forth the
Grievances of the Tillers OF the Soil.

Call for al Agricultural Convention at
C~olumbia--An Address Setting Forth the
Grievances OF the Tillors of the Soil.
TO the Farmers Of South Carolinu:
Seventv-siX per cent. of our States
population are actively engaged in
agricultural pursuits. AT least one
half of tho remainder are directly de
pendent upon the farmers for the
means of a livelihood. We may Justly
claim, then, that we constitute the
state, yet we q 0 not govern it, nor are
the laws administered in our interests,
and few are passed for our benefit.
We pay taxes and vote and there is
no further use for us. These taxes do
not grow any less, while our ability to
pay them grows smaller year by year,
and nothing worth naming has been
done to foster and encourage thrL in
tcrest which feeds and sustains All
others. The negroes used to be the
"mudsills" of III economic fabric;
but thousands of white mcn-land-
owning farmers-tind themselves slow
ly but surely sinking beneath the
waves to be added to the foundation
upon which II few Inc and corpora
tons arc erecting their fortunes. I'm
pending bankruptcy stares thousands
in the face, while other thousands are
overseeing their owl plantations for
their victuals and clothes.
An insane system of farming largely
| prevails and our lands arc growing
poorer year by year. Large areas Of
South Carolina are being made a
desert to feed negroes, while the land
owners, giving no thought to the
future of themselves and children,
stand idly by, or assist and dircc. this
Swimming of a State, which, by reason
OF soil, climate and geographical posi-
ton, might be made II veritablc Gar
den of Eden. The negroes will ''go
Vest went the bones are picked.
What will VIC do? We are "farming
towards despair" in thus continuing to
impoyerish Il lands ny ignorant cul.
turc, but nothing is done by our Leg
islature, or its creatures, to stop it, or
to try to teach the people n better and
wiser system. Forty thousand dollars
are spent annually in the State, three
fourths of it spent by farmers, to edu-
cate men for other professions and
pursuits; the farmers get nothing, and
are left to grope their way tawards the
grave in ignorance and its consequent
poverty. Even the pittance donated
to educate farmers by the United States
Government is taken from us aud APP
prOpriated TO sustain the Institution ut
which our future masters arc being
trained. How thankful we should he
to the good Lord for such generosity
and wisdom among statesmen, so
calledi
Again, we pay $4,000 annually by
specific tax, which comes out of the
farmer alone, to sustain a department
of agriculture. A good slice of this is
spent to collect the phosphate royalty,
which goes to support The state Gov
eminent, and the rest is frittcred and
wasted, 80 far as we can see, the only
benefit received by the farmers being
o partial protection against fraudulent
fertilizers.
A majority Of the board of agricul-
ture are not engaged in farming. Who
wonders, then, that so little has been
done by 1t to benefit II farming in
terests?
Four bad crops out of five AMI the
consequent poverty Of Il farmers cry
aloud for economy and reduction of
taxes. But this cry, which came from
every. county, was ignored by the last
which also persistentiy |
refused to obey a plain mandate of the
constitution to provide for q reappor-
honment of representatives by holding
u c. nsus. 1t Is small wonder, then,
nothing was done to protect the
farmers against robbery by dishonest
ferii izer manufacturers.
The Legislature which recently ad
burned thorgh not corrupt, has been
very negligent OF the public welfare.