The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-05-16
THE ONE THING NEEDFUL.
Some Practical Hints for all our Readers.
w AIT ENODECT n -


WAKE FOREST, n. G.
Mr. EDITOR:-In the absence of 20
litical excitement, it is somewhat diff
cult for US to determine what we most
need During a campaign we have
few hundred stump speakers who can
tell us what the one essential element
is, to the supreme happiness Of man
kind. Some will tell US that the saliva
tiOn OF the farmers is in the Sub-Treas-
ury plan. 1t is very good plan, but
our ideas differ as to the one thingmOst
needful. Others will tell us that tariff
reform is the great essential element to
our happiness. Tariff reform is very
much desired, but our ideas again
differ. Still others will tell us that our
financial policy is the great stumbling
block in the path of progress. and a
change, such as is desired by the farmer
and mechanic will bring us nearer the
goal than all things else. A change is
indeed desirable, and l might say is
absolutely necessary, but our ideas yet
differ. Almost every petty politician
has his ,heory, which, if put into prac-
tice, will bring absolute and speedy re
lief to the farmer and mechanic. Every
thing is partisan, therefore we must
again differ. Well, then, what is the one
thing needful? The answer is we must
live at home. What does that mean?
1t means that you must raise your
own meat and bread, your own molas-
ses, and perhaps go back to the old
fashioned spinning wheel and the pom
derous loom Of our mothers for your
clothes, skin your own COWS, tan your
own leather and make your own shoes,
20 down to the branch, get you limb
off Of the north side Of a maple and saw
out your own peg wood to make those
shoes. Be sure to have a good garden,
moth ng is more healthy than whole
some supply of vegetables; make
enough Irish potatoes, peas and beans
to carry you through the winter. Cover
your lot with pine straw and litter to
a depth of at least two feet, after your
crop is finished put as much more on;
keep your stables well bedded. This
will reduce the necessity of buying
commercial fertilizers. 1t means all
this, and more to live at home. You
might work one or two days for your
nighbor and take a colony of bees for
your pay. If you have more honey
than you need in your own family, sell
it; there is always a market for it. Let
your wife and daughters have charge
of the butter dish and hens nest, and
if the supply is greater than the needs
of your own family, sell it; there is
always a market for it. If you have
more corn, wheat, oats and peas than
you can consume and cannot sell it,
have it ground up, and the pigs you
are expecting when the notch on your
thumb nail grows out will eat it and
YOU can sell the meat. In fact, to live
at home means to buy as little as you
possibly can, and sell all above and be-
Yond your own needs. You need not
buy very much if you will raise little
of everything that can be raised on
YOUR own farm that is needed in your
own household.
Do not depend on political parties to
put dollar in your pocket; indeed a
law cannot be made that will enable
the government to put money in your
hand without receiving it's equivalent
in something else. If you ever get a
dollar honestly it must be given you by
your friends, or you must buy it with
your cotton or tobacco or some other
product or your labor. The govern
ment can make laws and ought to make
laws that will make it easier for you
to keep the dollar in your pocket after
you get it. OF course we expect you
to meddle in politics, it is your privi-
lege and it is your duty, but never
swear allegiance to any political party :;
if you do that, when it goes wrong you
must go with it. Use political parties
as means to attain an end, and let
that end be the welfare of the sower
and the reaper, and all other men who
depend upon the sweat of their broWs
for their bread. ABRAHAM JONES.