The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-01-13

richer, and the poor poorer. Thers was a
time when there was q wagon shop, and q
blacksmith shop, and q hatter's shop, and q
shoe shop, and a chair shop at every cross
rtads and little mills and tanyarda all about,
and the people were happy and had plenty
Of work to do, but machinery has run them
all of. They couldn't compete. That help
ed me, but it was hard on the humble work
man who made his living there. 1t 10 a pitt.
full, p~laintire cry to hear anybody begging
for work. ...,
Ay, only give me work.
And then you need not fear
That I shall snare his worshipis hare,
Or kill his grace's deer.
Wherever nature needs,
Whoever labor calls,
No Job I'll shirk Of the hardest work,
To shun the workhouse walls.
No aims I ask; give ma my task,
Here are the arms, the les,
The strength, the sinews Of q man
To work and not to beg.
The cry Of the day fs not for bread. ut It
Ia for work; our young men are teRging for
il. Seventeen from our town q v found
places in Atlanta with meager salaries, just
enough for board and clothes, and seventeen
more are trying. They are just from the
SCHOOLS anu TIRE CdpdOlc duo "ultuHJ pQG
there are few vacancies. 1t is the same way
with the girls. Almost every day I receive
pleading letters from anxious mothers want
ing teachers places for their daughters. The
gpnteel, educated poor are increasing in
numbers. Will they lave to be servants
Observation-Disclosures
But we were talking about the cotton pick
ers. Su, pose they are q success, what thenl
Who Wilt beneSt7 II the cotton can be
-.-Iroa ~ 90 n ho1a inofaod AZ Elm r. will
cheaper the price just that much. Eight
dollars a bale will be saved to the world, but
how will it profit the producer? The news
pspai 8 figure up a saving to the south Of
sol, 600, COO o year, but it seems that it viii
save nothing and will depriys thop:asds ef
our poor: both wnife and black, OF employ
ment. OF course machinery is a good thing,
and the progress of the age demands improV.
Ell and cheaper methods, but I can't see any
great good to colne to cur fara.eis from the
cottc II, pickers. It it could be grown and
picked and ginned and compressed for moth
Ing. what then2 saw an immense sawmill
at Bruton that cut l25 600 feet of lumber a
day, and kiln-dried mot Of it, and while I
fingered there I thought the hands had gone
to dinner, but they had not. Machinery
y Tss s6 aS5n %r NJ a al shs To5si n w spo R's ads e
with ten. This would seem all right II the
other ninety had something to do. These
big things enrich the rich but reduce the
poor to beygary. The farmers are crying
for relief-for h .lp. hut I see no help for them
except through bounties. The protective
tariff d upon them for ten years at least.
There Is a bounty upon sugar, and 1t helps
the sugar planter aud has reduced the price
t. the consumer. Sugar never was 50 cheap.
Why not give a bounty to every
bale of cotton-say SlU a bale-and
every herce OF rico and every bushel Of
wheat and corn. Why mott Suppose it took
SOC, 00O, 900 a year-that Is no more than is
paid In pensions-maks the plutocrats pay it
by an income tax. Something must be done
to make the government secure. Necessity
knows no law, neither does misery. Win
the Central railroad suddenly turned Of 200
workmen, and the Richmond and Danville
does the same, and the men go to their homes
right on the eve Of Christmas, right on the
owe OF winter and know not today how their
little ones will get bread tomorrow it shows
that there is something wrong in the system;
something wrong In the relations Of capital
to labor; something that the law cannot reach
nor defend nor protect. Right in the face
Of the most bountiful crop ever produced on
this continent we are In the midst Of a crisis,
a financial s~tringency that affects everybody
and hiss paralyzed the business Of the coun.
try. The debtor class are dunned and pur-
sued with a persistency never known. One
man Jumps upon another, and it reacts all
along the line. A duns B and B duns O and
G duns D and 30 on down to lizard, and
everybody feels aggrieved with everybody.
1t Is like the old song of "Pray dog catch
cat, make al catch rat, make rat gnaw rope.
make rope hang butcher, make butcher kill
OK, make OK drink water. make water quench
fire, make dre burn stuck, make stick beat
kid, make kid 90. Time kid and I were home
an bour and q half ago. Now, II we could
Just turn lizard loose with q little money and
let him pay Y and let Y pay x and K pay
W, and 30 on, until the mo ey got up to A.
there would be- twenty-six d BITS psid and all
would be calm and serene. And 20 l think
we ought to have a kind Of clearing house
for the whole twenty-six. Lat A. lend 500
to lizard and let lizard pay it to Y and I to
x, and 80 on until it got back to A again.
and he would put it in bis pocket and he no
worse off, and yet twenty-five debts would
be PAID and twenty-five persons MADE mar py.
Why not? Let's 60 into i5 and make UP the
schedule. Surely We can And one man in
twenty six whe will lend the money. There
for a few dollars, and he writes me affection
ate notes through the pos office. He ia worth
five dollars to 10y one. but I'm afraid he will
perish to death n l would pay MIN III
coul d collect. but I can't, and so I think Re
ought to lend the money to lizard and let's
start the ball rolling. There is nothing imprac-
ticable about this plan Of r. lieving the fnan-
cial embarrassment. 1t will do it certain, il we
can get it started. 1t is OH a better principle
than that by v hich Joe Plunket settled with
the cross roads barkeeper. he first bargain
ed for a ginger cake and after handling and
smelling it awhile handed it back and said he
would take a drink of whisky instesd Of the
cake. He drank the Whisky and started out,
when the barkeeeper said, 'hold on my