Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-05-17
SOME THINGS FOR FARMERS TO
CONSIDER

the fullneSS thereof. The thought OF
which makes the husbandmen OF our
country feel grateful to Him for
having given to ms such a goodly
heritage, stretching as it does from
the Atlantic to the Pacific and from
the Gulf to the Lakes. one great,
grand sisterhood of States, in which
the farmers so to speak, touch elbows
beneath the protection folds of the
starry ensign of American liberty.
First, we must by our patronage
encourage those industries already
established and help to create others
for the manufacturing into useful
articles the abundant material we
have in the county.
For instance, all our bark might
be used in our tanneries in tanning
hides into leather, as was formerly
the case, for we all need shoes and
we are not yet able to grow them as
we do potatoes or apples. Nor at
this advanced age are We likely to
get back to the good old custom oil
having them made to measure Of
good home tanned leather by honest
workmen. Our shoes we're then
minus paper or shoddy filings and
fanky insoles, which hold water like
sponge and are not therefore very
conducive to health. If we cannot
go back to the days OF small things
the question is whether it is good
policy for us to continue our present
mode of supply, which gives us a lit.
tie present comfort and a pile OF old
shoes, with loss to the country Of
thousands of dollars paid out!
Next, our wagon and coach makers,
how have they been faring at 0ur
hands? Are we not causing them
to leave the county or spend many
OF their days in idlenes, because we
will not employ them to do our work
because we send our money out OF
the county for Il western wagon,
carriage or sleigh, not because they
are any better or even as good, but
because they are sold a trifie cheaper!
Fellow farmers, instead of shipping
our good oak and hickory, would ii
not be wisdom in us to give it into
the hands of our mechanics and
have them manufacture our wagons,
carriages, sleighs, etc., for us at
home, thus saving to the county the
price of labor, together with that OF
the lumber used in their construc
toni At the same time we would be
developing q profitable local EN-
ployment.
To illustrate | will inform you how
one OF our fol- mer Adams county men
with his sons, has succeeded by 10
eating elsewhere. The father of the
Studebaker brothers went west from
Pinetown, this county, poor man
and from his humble shop at South
Bend, Indiana, produced an enter
prise which now gives employment
to fifteen hundred men. The wagons
made, if in one continuous line,
would reach twenty five thousand
miles, and the firm, as the result oil
their industry, is worth at least
100000.
Now it is a we'll known fact tibet
some of our Adams county farmers
send money to adjoining counties
and western states to get higher
interest, and thus help develop such
enterprises and build up those coun,
ties and states. Would it not be to
their advantage to invest it in some
needful enterprise in the county that
would give employment to 1900 OF
1000 mens With their families they
would need much, and it would fall
to the farmer to supply the demand
our merchants would have to handle
more goods and employ more help;
the contractors would have more
houses to erect; the banks would
have more depositors and so along
the whole line, all caused by our IN,
creased population and wealth.
| quote from a recent speech OF
Senator Brown, of Georgia: in
other words if the manufacturing
interests of New England have
passed the stage of infancy and
reached mature manhood it can not
be denied that in the main the in
dustries CT the south land he With
just propriety might have added
Adams county are still in their IN,
fancy and need protection. 1t is
only since the abolition OF slavery
that the spirit of development has
taken hold Of the south, AMI manu-
facuring interests are springing up
in every direction. The high pro
lection tariff, as it is usually called,
has been a motive power in produc
ing the result. Why should not the
south initiate the example of New
England and move forward emerge.
tically and grandly on the same line
until she accumulated much greater
wealth than New England has been
able to amass up to this period.
Instead of sitting down and COM
planning that our neighbors are
growing rich let us adopt the same
line of policy that has made them
rich and press forward until we have
built up our own section in wealth
and power" | think | may say
that no section OF this Union is max.
ing as rapid strides in development
and in the establishment of factories
of all kinds as the Southern States :;
no states are likely to be as much
benefited by protection as the South
ern States. Now this is proof positive
that the world moves, and that we
must move with it or be left; that
God helps them who help them
selves.
We will now briefly consider how we
may most successfully and cheaply
enrich our soil and increase our
crops. Now very important agent
at hand is clover. which feeds largely
upon the rich elements of plant food
above and beneath the surface of
the soil, and thus freighted it awaits
the wise husbandmen, who should
be loath to allow such a prize to slip
their hands, which they only prevent
by adopting the four-field system OF
farming, which would give the soil
The full fertilizing value of the sod,