Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-08-14
Agriculture.

tion, for the ostcnsihie purpose OF
relieving this alleged depression.
Now, we desire to ask dvcry farmer
in Oconee county to look about him,
tako his proper bearings and SEQ by
All honest examination of his own
3 condition if he is not better off than
in the "days Of yorc," which have
been cited by so many speakers and
E writer's as the days of model pros
pcrity in agriculture.
Surely no one will claim that the
farmers Of this county, rs class, are
in worse condition than they were
ten, twenty, thirty or forty years ago.
Every mans experience and obscrva-
tion proves at once the absurdity Of
any such pretension. And what is
true Of Oconee is equally true, in the
main, of every county in South Ca
rolina and every other Southern
. State.
But we arc told that statistics show
that from 1860 to 1870 cotton sold at
an average price of 48 cents per
pound; that from 1870 to 1880 at 1G
cents per pound; and since 1880 at
an average of II cents per pound !;
80, therefore, the cotton farmer now
pays .tour times rs much in the pro-
~ III 1n1> y,}} H.,
did in the years Immediately after
the war.
Well, so it is; but why not carry
the comparison a little further and
toll the whole truth by stating that
the purchasing 2oacer of this dollar
is .four times as great now rs it was
Immediately after the war. 1t cannot
be gainsaycd that a pound of cotton
will to-day purchase rs large guam
tity of farm supplies as itcver did at
any time since the war. The price
of cotton, as well rs all other articles
of commerce, is getting back to what
it was in the good old antc-bcllum
days. And this state is brought
about in obedience to the workings
of the law of supply and demand !;
for, after all, this is the great law
which will always regulate the price
of farm products rs well rs those of
the artisan, the mechanic and the
manufacturer. The protective tariff
is the only lcgalizcd obstruction to
the regular and natural workings Of
this universal law, and just here is
where Congress can give the most
effective and substantial relief to the
agriculture of the country. Not by
the passage of the sub-trcasury
scheme, as is now proposed, which,
in our humble Judgment, would do
mischief and mischief only; but by
the proper reduction of the tariff,
80 that the products of all producers,
whether Of the farm or the shop,
would be placed on an equal footing.
The sub treasury scheme rs at pre-
sent understood, we believe to be
wrong in principle, for neither right
nor Justice, can be invoked for the
support Of any measure, scheme or
Law, which has for its object the
exclusive benefit of any particular
class or calling in the country. But
this aside, We fear the scheme would
fail to give the desired relief. Sup
pose, as a simple illustration Of its
practical operation, that the farmers
of Oconcc should place their cotton
in the warehouse here to await the
rise in price for twelve months, and
that the wheat, meat and corn men
of tho West house their produce.
How much better off would the
Oconcc farmer be should he succeed
in getting twenty cents per pound
for his cotton and then have to pay
twice as much us now for his corn,
meat and -four? But should this
scheme become n law, we may be
sure that not only the farmers, but
all producers, both of the field, shop
and factory, will be given the same
opportunity of availing themselves
of its advantages, if it has any, and
thus all manufactured articles would
be advanced in price. An honest