The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-12-10
Columbia. S. c., Nov. 90.


the spirit which has made the South
appear as beggar sitting at the gate
OF the rich man, Lazarus-iike. expos
Ing its sores to public gaze, Hnd ask
Ing aims. Everywhere there is heard
ringing protest against the men and
the movements which have resulted In
placarding the North with begging
signs, please help the South" and
even In originating charity balls"
and selling tickets on the plea that
something must be done to help the
South.
This section did not at first quite
realize what would be the effect of
the many begging plans in congress
and elsewhere to give to cotton-grow-
ers a "protectiong never granted TO
any other industry, and to teach the
improvident ones that they must be
"coddled" and. saved from their own
fatal mistake of raising too much cot
ton, and the people responsible for
this overproduction OF cotton are tho
one million or more tenant farmers
who raise three g. four bales each, in
season and out OF season. Il must be
Remembered that I am referring not 10
the intelligent, thrifty, hardworking
growers who make uD large part OF
the farming elament OF the cotton
States, and who raise their own food.
stuffs, but to tens OF thousands of in
efficient. lazy and Sne'er do we'll"
small farmers, mostly tenouts, white
and black. who area curse to the
South-a burden on II. which constant
ly holds It back You can see their
homes wherever you travel, many of
them without a sign OF a garden, a
pig or even q chicken What to do
to lift this burden by lifting these peo-
pie, is great problem. but it must be
solved. The sooner they are forced
by the refusal of landowners and
country stores to advance one dollar
OF credit on cotton-and many of these
classes OF local flnanciers must be
taught to quit their habit OF which is
directly responsible for existing deg
radiation Of tenants and for their fail
ure to raise foodstuffs-the sooner
they will be forced to earn a better
living by regular work. There are,
OF course, some good tenant farmers;
many, indeed; but as q class these
small tenants are slovenly in their
work and hundred years behind in
their methods !, of cultivating their
crops. They destroy the fertility oe
the soil, they are ever moving from
place to place,' and rarely ever bene-
fit any place! These are the people
who. like q load, are hung around the
necks of the thrifty, prosperous far
mers who by their own work or that
of the more Intelligent tenant farm
ers have to carry this burden, and yet
have wrought kHell In developing the
South. They sfe like a dead body
chained to q ,liye man.. who can only
advance; as iIe Hsga the load to which
late has tied hifas ;Tts$
For the votes 'eff these people, that
Is to say, the votes Of the whites
among them, politicians of high and
low degree, politicians who run the
county machine, the town machipe
and the State machine. propose every
visionary and pneconomic schc;ne that
the brain can devise, merely to keep
the spirit of unrest alive, for upon
unrest they fatten.
Th-se politicians are. developing
among many of'these lower classes OF
ignorant, lazy farmers spirit of an
archy. which hates success, despises
honor and condemns honesty. Out OF
this condition, .lamentable as 1t is,
grew the agitation which has placard-
Oo ShO SOuhtAy WILL l<ttLhI tlhG
pleas, and which held up for national
pity every evidence or weakness.
The late d. A. Tompkins OF Char
lotte who was once rightly nominated
in a public meeting. not as OF Char
lotte nor OF North Carolina, nor even
Of the South. but as sd. A. Tompkins
Of the United States,r had a favorite
expression when talking to cotton mill
operatives and cthers, to the effect
that ''if you have q sore toe. don't be
always sticking II out and calling at
tention to It." The South, or at least
a part OF 1t. stuck out its sore toe"
and begged the passerby to note tits
soreness and tn give charity when
none was needed. ,s,l.,.,.i
"a beggar race can never be a
great race" said Tompkirs once In a
Boston club, when he, had been inn
portuned to give his views about the
negro. He had refused to discuss the
subject until after much persuasion he
consented upon the promise that he
should have the right to express his
views with absolute oapdor without
offense. Then wien he pointed out
how the philanthropists OF New Eng
land were running the negro race by
encouraging its begging proclivities
instead of letting It Fight out its battle
OF tndepende ntsdeyelopment. he added
that SO long as the race was q beg
gar race It could never be o great
race. How about DIR. Blank" one of
audience. asked surely you do not
count him as q beggar?" "He," said
Tompkins. "is the greatest beggar or
them all. for ne has for years made
Q business of Begging from yen ani
mo race That iissp ys nv tsa9n,, s a s.sas, eys,
become great, any more than an in-
dividual beggaf sc.n ever become q
trne. self-reiiznt nan. so long as he