The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-08-21
A Farmer Thinks the Alliance Will not
Prove Panacea for all their Ills.

EDITOR MANNING T1MEs:-The whole coun-
try, Or large portion Of it, is running wild
about the Farmers Alliance, telling what
great benefits will be derived from it. lam
not surprised at the leaders, as the most of
them, if not all, have other motives besides
benefiting the poor farmer. When did you
ever know.of any man since Christ and his
apostles giving his time entirely for the ben
| eft of others? No, they have other objects.
! Genl. A will make q long speech and abuse
al! other professions. Col. 3 will follow,
and tell the dear farmer how he is imposed
| upon by the merchant and factor, and that
each sub-alliance should have their purchas-
ing agent. and probably name a good friend
of his, (who has nothing to do,) who would
only charge them small commission, the
same as the factor. And the poor farmer
swallows it all, and sends up hearty cheers.
Now thereis great hue and cry aboutJ Jute
baggging, that it is in the hands of trust
and they charge 12c. for bassing weighing
q pounds. They want everybody to buy
cotton bassing that only weighs I pound at
l2c. Break down one monopoly, and build
up another! have myself sold thousands
of yards Of iute bagging at from 33 cents
up to 37I cents per yard and cotton G to Z
cents per pound and the rope which bound
the bales Is to 16 cents No, grumblers; you
will never see Genl. A or Col. B between the
plow handles: speech making is his profess
sion.
The farmers of South Carolina have spent
in time and money already enough to buy
bagging sufficient to wrap up the present
crop of cotton, and it won't be long before
Genl. A and Col. B will want to 50 to Con-
gress and to the Legislature, or some fat
county office, and will call out all the good
| farmers to vote for them
They tell you that all trades have their
organization. That is so; but just stop and
think for one moment. They organize not
to pull down others but to build themselves
up. They meet and consider the supply and
demand, and if the supply is greater than
the demand they curtail products. The
farmer is making every effort to increase
the supply, and at the same time trying to
break down the consumer. Destroy all your
village merchants and force them to SO to
the plow: where is your market for your
surplus butter, eggs, chickens, melons, etc. !?
I can tell you lived in day when all were
farmers, and each made his provision and
ate it, and the wife had to make the clothes
the family wore, and the course some are
pursuing will bring them back to it again.
The farmers should organize in every
county, and keep every one out of the pro-
fession they can by patronizing other in
dustrics, and by improving their farms to
the highest state of cultivation. Let each
county own a cotton seed oil mill; let it be
owned by the farmers; and let the farmers
of each State own an oil refinery. Sell the
seed to the mill, and take the meal for their
lands The farmers of each county in the
State could also build small cotton factory.
All these things take laborers from the plow,
and help build mp the county.
No country will prosper until they start
other industries besides farming Encour-
age the merchant, the mechanic,-in fact
every profession; they are all consumers,
mutually helpful, and will need your sur
5Ius. <~@----SS SMALL FARMER.
Clarendon, Aug. II, 1884,.