Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-10-26
The Reason of Il.

1.-The agricultural interests Of this
country have made more progress In
the last fifteen years than in any pre-
vious fifty years since the earliest set
tlement"
We have heard that statement, or
similar statements made time and again
during the past four or five years, and
as we have never heard the proposition
disputed, we are inclined to accept 1t
as a fact.
From our own observation and ex-
perience, We do not hesitate to say that
1t Is 80. We can remember when the
average yield of cotton in this county
was hardly more than a bale to three
or four acres. and the time is not far
back when bale to the acre on five
acres or more was so unusual as to be
remarkable. If anyone had had the
hardihood to suggest the probability of
time when it would be possible to
make three or four bales on an acre,
he would have been in danger Of being
corn. The average on upland used to
be from to 10 bushels an acre, and
from 60 to 80 bushels was unusual on
bottoms even under the most favorable
conditions. Nobody seemed to dream
that it would ever be possible to make
as much as a hundred bushels on up
lands.
And the reason of 1t? Many people
have thought it out for themselves and
they know; but there are many others
to whom the real reason has never oo-
Cured.
Away back yonder in the early seven
ties when many broad and able men
cranks some people called them-were
laboripg to build up general school
system, were you. thoughtful reader,
one of the folks who held that people
who had nothing should not be educated
at the expense Of people who had
something? We will not say that we
hope you were not in that class, for 1t
Is fact that many good people were In
1t; but all that has changed now, and
most good people having realized what
those far seeing publicists were after,
are also now able to appreciate that
while many who had nothing were be-
ing educated at the expense Of those
who had something, the benefit has
come to all alike, and the country has
never made a better investment In
money or effort.
While many people fully understand
the conditions to which we are calling
attention, 1t is a fact that there are
many others who have not thought Of
1t before. To most people, education
is purely an individual matter. They
find it difficult to see the progress that
is made by them from day to
day; but looking back over period OF
years they can easily see that a great
deal has been accomplished. The same
rule is to be applied on somewhat
broader lines to the country as a whole.
There are still those who are unable
W ScS "Aeie liciO 10 oily POI SoA'oi wa
eft to them in paying out money for
educational purposes; but the number
is growing fewer and fewer every year.
Most people are now able to see where
money spent in educational develop
ment is the best investment that can
be made.
And just as we believe it Is true
that there has been more agricultural
progress during the past fifteen years
than during any previous fifty years
since the earliest settlement Of the
country, for the very same reasons we
have tried to explain above, we believe
there will be evidence Of still more
progress in the next five years than
there has been in the past fifteen years.