The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-09-19
Hard Times and the Remedy,

years past, spirit Of discomfort and>r
-estlessness among''our farmers caused
by lack of prosperity. A casting
about for some change more profitable;
something that will give more ready
money than the farm, with it's short
crops and shorter prices, and the little
demand for the little that is to sell
from the farm.
There are only two courses open to
US. The one to leave the farm and 60 |
to the town and seek a better paying |
business. The other is to stick to the |
farm and change methods, and add
new lines and more intelligent meth
DDS until the farm will pay.
Now which will you choose? 1t
must be the one or the other. There
is no escape from making the choice ;
there is is no way out Of it. We have
gone on with poor farming from year
to year until we have gone about as
far as we can 60. Our lands are i'm
poverished, many are in debt, and the
general condition Of many of our farms
are pltlful to behold.
We spoke last week of the increase
of population in the towns at the ex-
pense of the rural districts, as shown
by the United States census. This is
due to the causes above spoken Of.
These farmers who are abandoning
the farm for the town, will tell you
that they are making the change in
order to educate their children, and
to give them social advantages. But
the real cause is that they have failed
of success. They have either lacked
the energy, intelligence or business
habits necessary to success in
any business requiring these qualifi
cations.
So far as educating their children
is concerned, in the cases of most Of
those who desert the farm for the
town for this purpose, the expense of
house rent and the increased cost Of
the necessaries of life, as well as
many other expenses that would not
be incurred in life upon the farm,
would hire good teacher in the
country and as far as society is con-
cerned, it is a matter of grave doubt
whether or not any advantage that
might result from association with.
this so-called town society, might not
be overbalanced by other disadvanta-
ges. If you want your boy to learn
how to tie his cravat in the latest
style, to gracefully handle the seduc-
tive cigarette, or to do many other
things more ornamental than useful
or manly, he will get this kind of
education faster, and more perfectly
in the town, than he would in the
country.
My opinion is that in majority Of
cases the reasons above given are not
the true ones. The farmer has tried
one way of farming and has found
that it does not pay. He has not had
the vim, energy and perseverance, if he
had the intelligence, to start out
Alright in the right way to success on
the farm.
There is'a way to farm and farm
successfully. We have examples be-
fore our eyes in every community. 1t
is of no use to say that poor labor and
poor prices prohibit successful farm
ing. 1t has been done and is now be-
ing done. There is no royal path to
success in any pursuit. Success is
the reward of patience, toll, care and
the employment Of intelligent meth
DDS. There are no remedies pleasant
to the taste of the ills that our fam
ers are now suffering from. The med
icine is unpalatable, but it must be
swallowed regularly and continued for
a long time before we recover from our
diseases.
The ouack doctors will be around
this summer. I mean the politicians.
They are going to many Of your hou-
ses to see you and to tell you why
you are not prospering, and those they
do not visit they will invite to come
out to public meetings, and they will
get upon a stump and tell you exactly
what is the matter with you, and if
YOU will some out and vote for them
that is put your case in their hands
for treatment-they will remove all
your diseases; that the doctors you
have had in the past did not under
stand your case, and some Of these
uuacks will tell you that the doctors
YOU have had in the past wanted to
keep you sick so they could make mon
ey out Of you.
If you want days amusement, it
is we'll enough to go and listen to these
fellows; but the world over, these
uuacks are bad lot, and it won t do
for you farmers to take too much OF
their medicine.
I believe in our own homemade
remedies for most of our ills. Improve
the farm, make home attractive so the
bows will not want to leave it, get
good stock and keep them nice and
Comfortable, and, above all, make farm
life enjoyable and abandon the prac-
tice of loafng at the stores and talking
hard times, and keep out of debt.
If you can t pay fora thing; don't buy
it.
The farmer who has good home
and plenty to eat for man and beast,
should be happy without money in
these days when he knows that mil
lions of his fellow creatures in the
1.I.l,4o of eood How