The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-12-10
LAURENs. s. c.. Dec. 10. 1902.
Warming and Advice.

uauly eiBnI CeDts. InlS price may 5eem
email. Perhaps 1t lie. We can't help,
that. Perhaps we ought to help 1t but
we shan't and the reason is we can't.
Just as likely as not cotton In the fall
of 1908 will sell below eight cents. 1t
may sell for six. The distinct pro-
liability is that it will not sell at an
average figure above eight cents.
The Laurens farmer need not depend
on cotton for a comfortable living. He
doubtless ought to produce a cotton
crop but il he relies on cotton alone or
If he fails to produce other crops he
will, in our opinion, "bust." The Leu-
rens farmer can raise wheat, barley,
rye, oats, dozens of other grains and
grasses and numerous vegetable and
fruit crops. He cen also raise d cali OF
imals. He can raise a number Of these
without ~lessening his cotton crop.
1t is a fact that q number of Laurens
farmers, not the majority but actually
q considerable number, have solved the
problem of successful farming. If one
n man can farm successfully so can an
other, II he will. Take a period of i've
years and the rains and droughts are
about the same over the county. The
dry spot of oneyear will be wet another.
Thin ridge lands in Dlals township
that brought three or five dollars an
acre 20 years ago sell for twenty dol
lars an acre now. In the long run one
farmer has as good q "chance" as an
other, with, OF course, exceptions. The
farmer who works hard and uses hard
sense is bound to win. Moreover, he Is
winning. Nor is he Oppressed" any
more than the rest of us. Tariff and
pension taxes weigh as heavily on the
merchant as on him. Perhaps all of us
Cypress each other more or less. Our
books will show that THE ADVERTISER,
for example, has been Oppressed" to
The June of a surprising number Of dol
lars in the last II years. Maybe on the
other hand THE ADVERTISER has cop
pressed people sometimes. At any
rate it will need forgiveness for a fair
share of iniquity.
Ooo wv ohS ohhiSooibSs iuC pOiuU 10
that the Laurens farmer cannot depend
on cotton and live and pay his debts.
TO get along he must find a way to
have all his mules and all his hands at
work producing something all the
time. To improve land is to improve
production. To build o pasture, to
mend a wagon and to repair a barn
door, count in the end to increase val
ues and swell the income.
Here in Laurens we can't for the
same money raise as much cotton to
the acre as the fellow who lives in the
Mississippi bottoms. Just the same,
our chauce is better than his. We can
raise more things, we have a better
market and we have better health.
Your thrifty, your active, your smart
man on a two horse farm can make a
living every year without selling a
pound of cotton. He will have eight
or ten bales Of cotton clear profit
whether 1T brings five or eight or ten
cents a pound. You can go into COM
munities in Laurens and find such men
who have done it.
Without wishing to hurt anybody's
feelings We remark that the farmer in
this hill country of ours who looks to
raising cotton and little else for saliva
lion in this life Is a fool. In addition to
this we remark that he Is a blamed
fool. "Blamed" Is not q Slang term,
It's a good word that means what it
says. Men who show more sense will
simply put the blame where it be-.
longs.
1t may also be mentioned that the
arithmetic contains nc rule by which a
man with only q thousand or two thou
sand dollars invested In a store or a
farm or a printing shop can wear dia-
monds. Six per cent net is the income
that money will bring in the long run.
That is s12O a year on 81, 900. Farm la
Dor is worth about a $1O0a year. The
two horse farmer, by producing many
things snd using good judgment really
derives an income Of possibly 800 or
even more from his labor and invest
ment. He eats 1t and wears it and gets
1T In home rent. In short he Is able In
his wonderful land of ours to dig a
bigger return from a small capital than
any man can anywhere else. Neyerthe-
less, when the effort is made to keep up
a fancy horse and buggy and buy up
right pianos with that amount OF capt.
tal behind it,--then farming fails to
pay. In spite of this the chance is
here in Laurens for any pushing young
farmer, though he begin life with only
a pair of strong hands, to accumulate
enough to live in comfort and perhaps
luxury long before his time to die.
The moral of 1t all is, have a hay
crop and a grain crop, look about the
farm for things to do and do them.
Nv
Light The School.
The city school building should have