The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-01-11
THE SMALL FARMER.
ssme OF the Disadvantages Under Which
he Labors-A Thoughtful and Consarva-
tive Discussion.

Prof. r. Means Darts, in the November F0ru+r.
Whatever may be the condition of ag-
ricultural interests elsewhere, there is no
Aeabt that the small farmer who plants
cotton in the South is embarrassed, and
the future holds oat little hope of relief
through established methods. He knows
what it is to work hard and live scantily,
fer from choice or necessity he has tried
it for years. Every spring he has set to
work With all the hepe that is insepara-
bly, connected with the turning up of the
mellow soil With the plough and the new
birth of nature, and yet every autumn
his chief harvest has been disappoint-
ment. He fads himself in summer with
q mortgage on his land and his mule and
q lien on his growing crop, while "fu-
lures" are quoted at less than the cost OF
production. He Is not theoretical
economist indeed, his ideas of econo-
mics are often as crude as the erudest
raw material he produces; yet he knows
that be cannot 90 on losing year after
year without winding up in the aims
house. Hence his resilessness, his will :
ingness to listen to any plan of redemp-
ton. provided it has never been tried
before. He hes heard, he thinks, enough
of the old ways. They cannot help him.
If he has toiled faithfully all these
years, as many farmers bave, ard is yet
penuiless, he feels that misfortune has
come not through his remissness, but is
the result of some extrinsie baleful infu.
ence. There is injustice somewhere ;
some one is walking off with the surplus
that he sees accumulatiRg and believes
should be his. The next step is to catch
the thief. The small farmer believes he
has found him skulking In Wall Street,
or hiding behind railway embankmsnts,
or lurking in the vaults of national
banks. The plutocrats of the land,
leagued with "dsbauched and bamboo.
zled" politicians, have 80 managed the
and manipulated the
finances that the poor man has no
chance. He is told that if he can cap
ture the ssrongholds of political power
and use the Government for his behoof,
as his oppressors have used 1t for theirs,
he can solve the problem and make him.
self and. everybody else happy by coin
ing plenty of silver dollars to lend to
agriculturists at nominal interest. Hence
his eagerness TO leave the harvest for the
political field, and TO seek through legis.
lation panacea for bis ills.
This seems to be just presentation OF
the problem of the Southern small
farmer to-day. 1t is we'll to see whether
his solution of it is correct.
No one can successfully deny that log
islation by Congress for the past genera
tion has not been 10 the interest Of agri-
culture or of the small farmer. Other
classes have been helped; other interests
bailt up. That this was a necessity to
preserve the Government at critical
period must, to a certain extent, be ad-
mittad. But it is no less true that in
accomplishing some good results this
legislation ushered in brood of evils.
Simple justice requires that political
be abolished, and that class
legislation not in the interest of the
farmer be repealed, and that class legis'
lation in his interest must not be
attempted. He must have his equal
rights before the law. Indeed, as he
cannot enter into combinations 30 easily
as ether classes can, it may be proper to
provide that they be watched in his be-
half. This is all he should demand OF
receive from the law.
Bat grant all the remedial legislation
necessary to put the farmer on equal
terms before the law; abolish artificial
monopolies, prevent illegal e'mbi-
nations, increase to its proper vol
ume the eurreney-and yet the problem
is not solved. There are natural causes
operating moro potent than alleged plu-
tecratic legislation for good or i'll TO the
farmer. So long as they exist be may
be relieved of the injustice of man, yel
his prosperity is not assured. His efforts
must also be to strengthen those forces
that aid him and to couuteract those that
operate to make him poor. Without
attempting to advance any new truths, ]
desire to point out how some embarrass
ments have come about regardless oi
legislation, and how some facts abduced
to prove determinations against the
farmer are actually to some extent proofs
of improvement in his condition ard
productive power. 1t is we'll 10 begin
with this latter class.
1t has been held IS proof of the fact
that the farmers are growing poorer, thai
farm values were seventy Fer cent. o
all the wealth of the country in 1850
about fifty per cent. in 1860, and are less
than twenty five per cent. now. Abso
lutely, the value of farms increased from
four billion dollars in 1850 to eight bill
ion dollars in 1860, eleven billion dollar:
in 1870, and twelve billion dollars in
1880. The statistics for Inc last census
have not been completed. While | an
firmly convinced that the tariff has beer
a very potent factor in this comparative
diminutisn of agricultural values, aud
that other legislation also has contribu
ted to the same result, yet natural causes
are enough t. account for large share
of the change.
In a new country the Industries are
chiefly sxtractive, because of the ferti!-
ity of the virgin soil. As civilization
progresses industry is diversified anc
wealth is turned 10 other investments
The most prosperous country is "ne that