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

perfectly. sale while lncy We're ;ii',
sent in the fields.
Moreover the convict question
would be less pcrpleNing ii We had
rural police. Crime would be dim
iniSh> d and criminals would not be
SO abundant. Incurably criminal
men would not be inclined to tarry IN
State where they would be 50 cas-
ilv overtaken and arrested in their
misdeeds. If we had mounted Off
GERS moving daily throughout the ra-
raj districts We would not need SO
many wardens and whipping bosses
to run our penal system.
The increase in land-values conse-
quent upon increased security in rur-
al life would 60 far towards provld-
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
90 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 hamlets in those lands.
and they are thus Of mutual protec-
ton and pleasure to each other. II
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. It does not bear
fruit as does a mind in touch with
another. A lonely stalk Of corn in
cotton field makes more cob than
corn, and a lonely mind Is equally
sterile. King Solomon, who has the
reputation Of having been the wisest
man who ever lived, said: ''Iron
sharpeneth iron, and so a man
sharpeneth the countenance Of his
friend" But men can not sharpen
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.
If they lived in farm-villages they
could easily have winter courses Of
lectures, and many other such enter
tainments that would enliven and
enrich their social life.
Of course in such villages the
church and the school house would
be the centers around which the life
of the community would be organiz-
ed, and this would be a distinct ad-
vantage. A community held togeth-
er by mental and moralties would
live under the most elevating condi-
lions.
Such social centers, secured by the
sure and strong defense of the off,
GERS Of the law, would draw men and
women away from the congested
urban centers by an almost irresis-
tible attraction. Farming, wisely
and diligently pursued, Is not al I'M
profitable business. I know ignor-
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 in Georgia are rapidly accumu-
lating 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
for 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
sternest penalties to the faithful dis
charge Of their duties, a vast advance
in agriculture would speedily follow.
The products Of the soil would be