The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1899-01-21

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Another year, q ear marked
by hardships, disappointments
and failures, has been catalogued
with things that were. And
standing, Sirs. as we do today
in the breaking dawn of a new
year, with the memories Of a Bit
ter past lowering like vultures
about the waning hopes of the
farmer, when. the unmistakable
drift of political thought is toward
the Capitalization in the general
government of enlarged unneces-
sary power, when the greed and
avariCe of party spoilsmen and
the rich bribes of corporation
henchmen are drawing the pro-
tecting folds OF governmental
sanction about the citadels of
consolidated capital that they may
better control and rob the wealth
producing elements of society,
splendor streams IRON gilded
castle and squalor crouches in
mortgaged homes, when the full
blown glory of our blasted civil
ization rests upon human lives
pinched and embittered by want
and suffering. Standing, Sirs,
as we do in the full fruition Of all
the suffering that ignorance and
vice can entail, would it not be
an insane delusion to deny that
the time has already come when
the southern farmer must rise in
the dignity of his full grown mani
hood and throw off the lethargy,
which like the soothing dream of
an Indian opiate slave is sapping
alike the heart and brain of the
country. But what you ask, can
we as farmers do in this presence
Of foes such as you would de-
scribe? What remedy would you
suggest for the ills which so se-
verely aff1ict US and which have
doomed us to a life OF unrequitted
drudgery? Questions not easily
answered. This | know, the one
great aim of congress should be
to secure the absolute independ-
ence of farmers of whatever rank.
The history of the farmer has in
it much of pathos and sadness.
When first we see him in England
he is a slave wearing a brass col
lar, bound to the soil he titled,
and passing with it into whose
ever's s hands il might go by pur-
chase or otherwise And though
he has bravely struggled on
through centuries of conscience
less tyranny and oppression.
Though his boundless vitality has
transformed the unbroken forests
of this hemisphere into blooming
gardens and woke its trackless
prairies from barbarous repose to
civilization life. Though in his
unselfish devotion to civil liberty
he has built and guarded with
jealous care the superbest "eov-
ernment that ever rose to animate
the hope or bless the sacrifice OF
man. he is today in soberness
and truth little moro than a slave.
They tell US, sirs, that feudalism
has long since sought the peace
and repose Of oblivion. Dead
Though it be like the dead but
secptered sovereigns who rule ouI
spirits from their urns'' it still
wields powerfully for the oppres-
sion Of the farmer. It lives today
in the theory that many must
produce that few may enjoy.
But to this relic of feudal past
must be added other causes foI
the enslavement Of the farmer
And | mean no offense when
say that among these are extray-
agance, greed, lack ofintelligence
and want of energy. OF these
briefly:
There can be nothing more do
structive of true worth and man.
hood than the growth Of habits ol
extravaganza. Not so much thai
money is thus spent which, ac-
cording To every just standard
should be applied 70 nobler pur.
| poses, to the better development
OF mind and heart. Not SO much
that money is thus spent which,
in our sober moments, we fee
should have been used in the i'm
provement of the farm and thf
enrichment Of its soil, in building
more attractive homes and tht
training of the mind and charac.
ter Of those who must take theil
place in the ranks of another gen.
Grafton Of farmers, but becaus,
it exerts a baleful influence upoI
the integrity Of our manhood ant
womanhood and stiles all th'
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