The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-03-13

haruer and necessarily produce more.
All the tenants, as a class, can hope
TO get out of a years work is a living,
n they argue that the easiest way to
get this is the best for them. 1t is not
natural nor just that a tenant should
put extra wOzk upon some one else's
land this year and lose the next year
and let the owner reap the reward Of
his labor. This would not be right,
either. Now you give a man his own
land and it is to his own interest to i'm
prove it. We have got to have a peo-
pie who produce more than is neces-
sary Tor a mere existence to ever rise
lndustriously, and the sooner we con-
slider the principles which underlie the
construction of our social, political
and economical system, the better it
will be. We ought to consider the laws
OF human nature as we'll as those of the
natural world, for they must both
work tremendously together to produce
the best result. Another reason, and
one, perhaps, paramount to all others,
for this depression of agriculture, is
that legislation has not been made in
It's interests as it should have been but,
on the contrary, legislation has, in
many instances, been detrimental to
it. 1t is a well established fact that
laws can have a great influence upon
any profession or business. They can
thwart all efforts looking towards i'm
provement as they a encourage and
foster them. 1 say that the farmers
have, in proportion to their numbers
and the capital invested, received less
good from the hands of our law makers
than any other class. Even the rail
roads have Jared far better than they.
And this has, to a great extent, been
holding back our farmers. This cause
can easily be remedied by making a
multiplicity of laws calculated to bene-
fit agriculture. AS to what laws now
upon the statute books are detrimental
to the farmer, and as to what kind of
laws should be enacted, it is not my
business at this time to discuss. But
one thing is certain, there must be
some legislation for the farmer, or else
this depression will always continue,
Again, I submit the thought that if
our farmers would raise their own sup
plies-corn, meat, wheat and every
thing of daily consumption that is pos
sible-times would be better. Cotton
was once king in the Southland, but
he has lost his CROWN. OF course there
is more ready money in cotton than in
almost anything else, and if our PEG
pie, after raising their supplies, would
make all the cotton that they could,
this would add an impetus tx these in
terests. Cotton is a good thing In it's
place, but it's place is not to go to pay
for Is cent meat. From this l got a
maxim: Raise your home supplies
first, and then raise all the cotton you
can" Farming is a business. To cal
culate it's profits and Losses is much
more difficult than to calculate the
profits and losses of the merchants, etc.
He used to get his profits and losses
from nature and from the God of
nature, and il was hard TO say exactly
what would be the result of any years
labor; but now, when a few gamblers
on Wall street also have a great deal
to do with it. it's the harder to calcu-
late upon. Under the present condition
of affairs the farmer cannot get more
than a living, if that. What's to be
doneH He is either bound to produce
more, get more for what he does pro-
duce, or else he must lower his ex-
pensea. AS to the first part of this
proposition: If you give him 80 cent,
corn and 81 wheat, and IL cent cotton,
he don't ask for more But he is far
from getting this. And as long as the
price of his products r made by New
York and Liverpool spectators we can
hardly expect a rise in the markets.
He can, lower his expenses, as he is
now almost living on mush, pumpkins
and acorns. He is raising all he a
now "a good deal of cane among the
balance) so there is no hope for better
until the conditions are changed. Give
us free silver, prohibit the alien owner
ship of land and let the government
own and operate the railroads, and we
can hope for better"
And his fellow man said: Right
! GU are for once, old man, if you are a
tramp. Come up to the house and let's
get dinner" And as my cook vas ''out
Of sight," I went with him.
ITO BE CONTINUED.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.