The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-09-11

perfectly safe while they were alb.
sent in the fields.
Moreover the convict question
would be less perplcxing if we had
rural police. Crime would be dim
inished and criminals would not be
SO abundant. Incuably criminal
men would not be inclined to tarry in
Il State where they would be 50 cas-
lily ovcrtaken and arrested in their
misdceds. If we had mounted oi1i-
GERS moving daily throughout the ru-
raj districts we would not need so
many wardens and whipping bosses
to run our penal system.
The increase in land-values consc-
quent upon increased security in rur-
al life would go far towards provid-
ing the taxes required to pay for
rural police.
If then our country people would
adopt more generally the plan of vii
lage farming we would have almost
ideal conditions. Our farmers live too
far from each other. It is better to
go two miles to ones work than to
live two miles from ones neighbor.
In no other country in the world is
farming life so isolated as it is in
the South. Neither in Europe nor
Asia is such the case. Farmers live
in villages and hamlcts in those lands.
and they are thus Of mutual protcc-
tion and pleasure to each other. IF
our farmers lived thus grouped in
the South they would have better
schools, better churches and better
farms. Coming in daily contact
with each other would quicken their
minds and improve their methods.
A mind which lives alone becomes
morbid and torpid 1t does not bear
fruit as does mind in touch with
another. A lonely stalk Of corn in
cotton field makes more cob than
corn. and Il lonely mind is equally
sterile. King Solomon. who has The
reputation Of having been The wiScSt
man who ever lived. said: "Tron
sharpeneth iron, and so man
sharpeneth the countcnancc Of his
fricnd.' But men can not sharpcn
each other unless they rub together
daily. Our country people are not
dullards, but they need attrition one
with another to brighten their minds
and quicken their faculties.
IT they lived in farm-villaccS they
could easily have winter courses of
lectures, and many other such enter
tainments that would enliven and
enrich their social life.
or course in such villages the
church and the school house would
be the ccnters around which The life
OF the community would be organiz-
rd, and this would be- distinct adj
vantage. \ community held toccth-
or by mental and moratcS would
live under The most clcvatinc condi-
tions.
Such social ccntcrs, secured bv The
sure and strong defense of the Off
cers of the law, would draw men and
women away from the congcstcd
urban contcrs by an almost irrcSis-
'lblc attraction. Farming, wisely
and diligently pursued, is not an un
profitable business. I know icnor-
ant negroes who as tenant farmers
make more money each year than
many young white men who are en-
gagged as clerks in stores. Very many
men III Georgia are rapidly accumu-
latlng property on their farms. The
recent panic hurt the farmer less
than it did any other man. He was
very little affected by it, His invest
ments were not in inflated and un-
certain securities, but in the steady
values Of his native soil. His lands
have steadily appreciated in value
Tor many years past, and they will
rise still higher. Their increase in
value would be nightly accelerated
If adequate protection were thrown
around his home.
If our lawmakers would frame a
statute providing for rural police,
bound by bonds and moved by the
stcrncst penalties to the faithful dis
charge of their duties, a vast advance
in agriculture would speedily follow.
The products of the soil would be