The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-06-25
FRIDAY, JUNE rs, 1920.
THE. coUNTRY's TROUBLES


tivator with the request that we pub
lish it. We are sorry that we cannot
publish the article in full, but it is
long and some of it may be omitted.
There are some parts of it, however,
worth quoting. Among other things
the article. which is contributed by
w. C. c., of Cleora, S. c., suggests
that the reason prices continue to
soar is that the people continue to
buy and the higher the prices, the
more they buy. The writer says that
instead of people refusing to buy
things which they might do without
and at the exorbitant prices asked,
they say, 81 am going to have it if [
can get it, regardless of the price"
There is something in this. There
will never be recession of prices in
groceries, clothes, building mater
ais and in the price Of labor as long
as the people are willing to pay the
prices asked, and as long as they are
falling over themselves to have these
things at the prices asked. The man
with the groceries is not fool enough
to sell an article at one dollar when
there are two men quarreling about
who will get the article at two dol
liars. The man who has lumber to sell
will not sell it at forty dollars per
thousand so long as there are men
who are "just dying" for it at sixty
dollars per thousand. The man who
charges one dollar per honr for be-
ing a carpenter and for carrying his
hammer and saw around your build
ing will never work for fifty cents
per hour so long as somebody else,
as well as you, is begging him to
walk around at the dollar per hour.
l. If the people want the prices of
things to go down, there must be an
end to so much buying, 50 much use.
less building, and such continued de-
raands for things which may be had
without buying them, and Tor things
which are not essential. People may
put the price down by producing
more themselves and by reducing
their demands through economy and
in other ways. Until they DO, the
prices will stay up.
The article further suggests that
one of the troubles with the country
is that too many people are moving
to town, "looking for an easy place
a do-nothing job-but get big money
for it, at least it looks big to them
After all he thinks the big money is
not so big after the expenses are
paid, but these people he says can
see but one side of the question and
that is "the do-nothing side" 1t is a
fact, we believe, that great many
people, and most people for that
matter, residing in the rural sections
believe that all the hard work is done
in the country, and that the people
in the towns and cities do little work
but live most of the time on the work
of others. This belief induces mum.
bers of people, who do not like the
slants of the sun anyway, to sell the
little farms, the farming materials
and the COW and pigs, and to move to
town in order to live easy. There
never was, though, more mistaken
idea. In the towns if man wants to
work and get along it is an eternal
grind from one years end to the 9th,
er, and never much to show for it.
Those people who try to live without
work soon find themselves misfts in
the communities in which they live,
and entirely disallusioned as to the
tcwns and cities being places where
the people live without work.
1t is to be regretted that good
MANY more Deople do not share the
experience of w. c. c. U1 himself he
says, The farm is the best place for
me-. broke up, moved to Atlanta
once. Four months was enough OF city
life for me. | came back to the dear
old farm, where 1 reckon I will live
and die. There are too many people
in the cities and towns depending on
the old farmer as they call him and
not enough farmers to supply the