The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-07-04

BILL ARP.
Bill Arp sympathi1es with the Poor Far
m6rg.
atlanta Constitution,

atlanta Constitution.
I was thinking about the farmers-the
poor, downtrodden, oppressed farmers
the men who swest and toll for the sup.
port of the country and get no thanks for
it. The men. who are heeced by the
merchants, robbed by the protective tariff,
bled by the lawyers and doctors, impover.
ished by the sugar trust and the jute trust,
aud the corners in wheat and corn and
bacon. The men who have to work the
roads and sesve on the juries, and live
hard, and die poor, and have no comforts
except rest on Sunday, aud cheap reli-
gion.
Now I doa't say that, but that is the
way the farmers talk about themselves,
and they try all sorts Of remedies to get
even and better their condition. Years
ago they formed trust to ship their cot.
ton direct to liverpool and save broker.
age, and stealage, and dockage, and
wharfage, and rattage, but the whole con-
Germ was a bustage, and they lost all they
put into it. Then they tried the Grange
business, and that busted, land now they
have got up an Alliance, which seems to
promise better things, and ne hope it
will, and now let everybody say "hands
off," and let tie farmers have their own
way. Let them elect Mr.. Northern for
governor and alliance men for members
Of :sne legislature, and let then, pass just
such laws as tkey think will benefit them.
Mr.. Northern IS a good man, and we can
all trust him, and if the farmers cant.
help themselves then they can't complain
any more. Then let the alliance elect
men to congress in every district-men
who will demand their rights, men who
will not be Influenced by. the power ot
money or monapoly or trusts or ambition.
If it is the tariii Chat oppresses the farmer,
let, them repeal it and see how things
will work.
But things ara not as bad as they seem.
It is just as natElal for farmers to grumble
as it is for them to eat. Most everybody
grumbles, but it is fact that the average
farmer is 8 chronic grumbler. He really
has but two persons to grumble at, and
those are God and himself, and as he
won't complain of them he growls at
everybody else. The farmer really has
about as good time as anybody else. I
mean the farmer in the South. The very
fact that most Of the prosperous farmers
move to town ia q sign they are able to
move and that they want the privileges OF
schools and chu,ches and society. They
don't sell their EARNS but they rent them
or farm on shares. Naber Freeman mas
moved to town aad Nabor Manford and
Nabor Buford. Captain Lyon is coming
and Mi. Tumlin and several others, but
they have no 'iea Of giving up their
farms. It is q common mistake that the
northern farmer is more prosperous than
the southern farmer. He works better
and works harder and is more economical
but his competition is ruinous. He can't
get cost for what he produces. The
whole concern il in debt. I saw it stated
not long ago thas the farms of New York
State would not ssll for enough to pay the
mortgages if a cash sale was forced upon
them, and that Ohio and Illinois were in
the same fix. An Elmira paper is before
me and says thare we're 638 mortgages
recorded within the farming lands of Che.
mug county. These mortgages covered
more than that number of farms and ag.
gregated three hundred and eight thous.
and dollars. That is just one years
work. The editoG says that the aggregate
Of previous mortgages that are unpaid
runs up into the millions. He says the
county assessors report a steady deprecia.
tion Of farming lands, and that many Of
them will not now bring the amount they
we're mortgaged for few years ago. The
Connecticut buresa of labor statistics says
that on the one thousand average farms
they found that tifay.four per cent. were
worked at q positive loss and the rest at 8
nominal profit, and that large tracts OF
land have been abandoned to grow up in
forests and in brisrs. The same paper
speaks of the returns from fourteen coun.
ties in New York State that are in as bad
a condition as Chemug, aud that the in
surance companies who loaned the money
will not be able to get it back. And yet
he says these faflus are everywhere in
terspersed and environed with allkinds of
manufactures. Think of that, you
southern farmers, and be thankful that
you live in a land where you don't have
to work one-half tho year to support you in
winter quarters tbs other half. A land
where your cattla and sheep and hogs
can almost winter themselves.
Now here is Barlow county that is
nearly twice as large as Chemug and has
nearly az many farms and farmers and
there we're only thirty.six mortgages on
farm lands recorded in the last twelve
months, snd these aggregated only
twenty.four thousand dollars. More than
half of these we're Sor renewals and con,
olidation of indebtedness The sum
total OF past and present mortgages on
Barlow farms is less than $4,000.
Twenty one Of these thirty. six mortgages
are for. sums undtr s4OO, and seven Of
them are for the purchase money of the
lands.
Now let US hear no more of the pros
| perity of northera farmers, or of their
growing rich through the benign influ-
ence of protective tariff that gives them
home market at the factories. The
truth is that the no-sh ia weakening under
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