The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1888-01-12

our sons slain, our fair fields devas-
tated, our homes desolate and house
hold gods destroyed, without money,
without food, without implements
with which to work, our credit gone,
labor utterly destroyed, our systems
wiped out, the accumulated wealth of
generations swept away as by a breath,
and we were left friendless and un-
aided to depend on those high qualities
Of true manhood which are always
evoked by terrible emergencies. Ours
was the painful, but noble and heroic
task Of removing from our fair and
beautiful Southland the wreck which
marked the feast Of the war-gods who
had revelled here for four long years
in their high carnival of blood, Of
carnage and of death. And if South
ern men did win glory in arms, how
grandly and resplendantly sublime
that glory becomes when crowned
with their nobler achievements as
citizens in peace. In war their man
hood, their answering devotion,
their iron-like endurance, their superb
heroism challenged the admiration Of
the whole world in peace their for
bearance, their patience and their in
dOmitable perseverance, modelled by
the heroic spirit and lofty patriotism
of ouf peerless women, have wreathed
their names with chaplets Of imperish-
able honor.
We beat our spears into pruning
hooks and our swords into plow-
shares" and turned, with a faith and
devotion that was sublime, to the
solution of problems SO graphically
described by your eloquent Grady
this morning, and which would have
appalled, any hearts but those that had
been educated in the terrible ordeal
through which we had passed. For
four years our ports had been locked
against the world. The demands of
commerce we're hushad amid the
th%underings of internal war, and our
leecy cotton fields were appropriated
for supplies of bread for ~ struggling
and beleagured armies. The world
wanted and needed the cotton of the
oOuIu. dI1u liz 1Oulu I UuIh "dlllCo
and need the money Of the world, and
in that supreme hour of our extremity
we yielded to the seductive and delu-
sive promise Of speedy relief, if not
fabulous wealth, and turned a deaf
a to the wholesome lessons and adj
monitions of a prosperous and indie
pendent past. Every interest Of the
farm was subordinated to the produc
ton of cotton. We said to the North
ern and Northwestern States, "make
everything we need-our meat, corn,
flour, hay, fertilizers, fruits, butter,
potatoes, and ten thousand things we
don't need-put your price on them,
and we will raise one crop with which
to pay for it all and you may price
that crop" Magnanimous, but disas-
trously unwise proposition. Never
was the connection between cause
and effect more forcibly illustrated or
traced than in the results which most
naturally followed. With that old
fashioned, wise and only safe policy
for the Southern farmer abandoned,
viz: the raising Of u home supplies
on u own farms-we drifted away
from the sheet anchor of our safety
and independence. Habits Of reckless
extravaganza and improvidence grew
on us, debt, the iron-gloved tyrant,
was robbed of his terror, the wretched
slavery of liens and mortgages was
invoked and welcomed, ruinous profits
on the accessories as we'll as the luxu-
ries Of life were freely promised if not
paid, stock was neglected, diversified
ton of crops abandoned, rates were
paid on money and supplies that
would have wrecked the whole fnan-
cial system of this government in
ninety days, and finally the lordly
gambler, under the sanction of legal
authority, appears on this tempting
and fruitful scene of wild and extrav-
agant speculation and absolutely and
arbitrarily fixes the price of the whole
crop. Our independence as farmers
surrendered, a system of genteel ten
antry established-that we may have
the privilege of producing the leading
commercial crop Of the world, the
price of which we can no more control
than can the shepherds in the high
lands of Scotland.
Why should the Southern farmer
pay II dollar, or more, per bushel
for corn, when he can produce it at