The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-08-23

your State will be no experiment and
no new undertaking. 1t will simply
be getting back into the footsteps of
our fathers, and forging a strong link
in the desirable self-sustaining feature
OF our farm work. There are thousands
of people in your State to-day who
we'll remember when patent -four,
sacked in Western mills, had no sale
in your merchants stores. South
Carolina wheat has helped to furnish
the muscle and brain Of many Of the
most prominent characters who have
conspicuous places in the history of
0uT country.
ln contrasting the agricultural con
ditions of the South as they existed
thirty-five years ago with those Of the
present it can be more forcibly pre-
sented through short illustration
from part of our history with which
We are all familiar, and Of which
many of you who are here to-day have
feeling recollection. During the
four years continuation of the civil
war the entire population Of the South
was blockaded on all sides. The con-
tinued call of troops to the front
drained the country of its best man
hood, leaving agriculture largely in
new hands and under the restraint Of
perilous: wrought-up times. The en-.
tire Confederacy subsisted upon homo
raised supplies, and the invading army
of the North loaded its commissary
departments with the products Of
Southern farms. During the entire
period OF four years there was no suf-
fcring in any quarter Of the South by
man or beast for want Of food, whole
some food. particularly -four. Our
troops suffered for want of money and
transportation facilities, but not be-
cause there was not an abundance Of
provisions of all kinds in every sec-
tion of the South. Gen. Sherman
commenced his memorable march
through Georgia toward the close Of
81, with nearly one hundred and
thirty-fve thousand men aud thous-
ands of cavalry and wagon horses. AS
he advanced on his line of march to
the scaboard, and onward through
your own State, his foraging parties
daily replenishcd this vast army's
commissary department with the finest
bills Of fare everissued to any soldicry
in modern times.
The full gr@naries, smoke houses
and extensive, well-stocke6 pastures
of South Carolinas farms supplied
Gen. Sherman with an abundance of
provisions, without any great detri-
ment to our people left in the wake Of
his march.
It'cannot be doubted that there is
vastly more acreage in cultivation in
your State to-day than at that time.
Should such an army with its neces-
sary stock equipments, start out
through your State at this time with
out well-flled commissary, depend
ing upon the resources Of the country
to sustain it's march to the seaboard,
how far would it proceed withouthalt-
ing or looking to other uources for
supplies? Suppose for one short year
the population of South Carolina was
6iockaded and Western trans portation
facilities cut short off, what would be
the consequence under our cpresent
system of farming? Famine would
run riot in your towns and cities, and
thousands of the agricultural classes
would suffer for bread and meat, be-
cause our farmers generally do not
produce enough provisions to take
their families through one year. OF
what magnificent past we can boast
and how glaringly it contrasts with the
present.
In all departments of commercial
and industrial life, except agriculture,
the inventive genius of man is being
utilized with every possible degree Of
profit to the various avocations in
which the people of this country are
engaged. The conveniences of all
kinds that the world is daily manufac-
turing and placing before the farmer
are tending to render him more help.
Less aad dependent in business which
should be pre-eminently the most iu-
dependent on earth. Thirty years
ago, when the cid horse power thresh-
ing and hand power tanning machines
were in use, more wheat was annually
raised in some militia districts of the
various counties Of your State than is
now threshed with all the modern i'm
provements at our command, from the
combined wheat acreage of two or