The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-10-08
IF 1T WERE TRUE, WHY NOTl
Have Not tho Farmers the Right to
Share in Procress?--But They Don't.

Have Not tho Farmers the Right to
Share in Prosress?--But They Don't.
The following, taken from a re-
cent issue of Frank Leslie's News
paper, seems from the manner Of
its construction to imply that the farm
er has no right to share in the ad-
vancing civilization. "Potatoes, hoe
cake and bacon" with carpetless floors
and bare walls, are all that the tillers
of the soil have the right to expect, and
for daring to aspire to anything better
they and their posterity shall be punish
ed. But the charge of extravaganza
against the farmers as a class is arrant
nonsense If they are not frugal and
industrious there are none such on earth.
However, here is the article from Frank
Leslie's Newspaper:
another reason for tho existence Of
the so called farming depression, in
America at least, is to be found in the
fact that farmers live far differently
now from what they did fifty OF even
twenty-five years ago. In The Ashtabula
(Ohio) Sentinel recently comment was
made on the fact that q tract of 1O0
acres near that place had been sold at
administrators sale for $1050 an acre.
A veteran farmer name James Herrick
was bantered about the matter, and re-
piled that no farmer could buy land,
even at a low price, and pay for it off
the land "and live as farmers do now."
He added:
"When was boy for eight months one year
We did not have q loaf Of white bread in our
house One year we had three acres Of wheat,
which was very tall and heavy growth, and prom.
lsed great yield. About the middle Of June it
was struck with black rust. and We did not get a
pint Of wheat or the field. The same fall the
frost killed the corn, and we did not have even
bushcl to grind. We had sold our cheese at four
and one-half cents pound to Job Austin and
had not taken it quite oil out at the store, and as
q great favor he paid tho balance In money,
which my father took and went almost to the
center of the state and bought six bushels OF
wheat for bread and seed
"Mr. Herrick said the first money he
earned after coming of age was ten dol
lars, which he got in cash, and very
soon after bought twenty good sheep
with the money. Now it would be ten
very poor sheep you could get for twen-
ty good dollars. Mr.. Herrick's expert
ence is that Of every old farmer in the
country. In other days the prices of
farm products were far below what they
are today. and the comforts and conven-
fences of the farm were far less Very
few farmers of those days could afford
such thing as sewing machine, much
less piano. A common-very common
school education was all the farmer
boy got.
"Now the district school is equal to
the grammar school of twenty-five years
ago, but even the district school is not
sufficient. The farmer boy must go to
the city high school or to tho normal
school and college. Carpets arc on the
farmers floor today-not the rag car
pets of twenty-five years ago, but good
three ply ingrains and even Brussels.
Potatoes and pork no longer make up
the daily bill of fare. Angel food has
taken the place of hoe cake, and beef and
chickens have supplanted the pork barrel.
"The farm brings in more than it did.
No mans sheep sells for fifty cents
head; but expenses have also increased.
The farmer who was led to extravagant
notions during the period of high prices
in war times now feels the hardship of
low prices, for he finds it difficult to go
back to the severe economies necessi-
tated in his earlier days"