The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-02-11

GAS I looked at him it occurred to
me that he had been plowing and
narrowing and planting and reaplng
al these years in order that I might
eat. From him and his like l got rny
living, giving in return few col
umns of reading matter to furnish
them an hours entertainment. He
was a collaboration with Natures God,
and l court fool"
Nothing we had ever read brought
out so strongly and strikingly the
fact that the producer is the prime
necessity of mankind. All other occu-
pations-all professions and callings
no matter how worthy or how ex-
,alted-depend on him.
There was an old doggerel that we
haven't seen so long we have forgot
item how it ran, but it was something
like this:
"When Adam delved and Eve span,
That was the golden age of man."
But the man of today doesn't like
to dig and delve and plow; and the
woman has forgotten how to spin
but Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like her. We have gone far
away from that golden age-too far.
We have come to the place in the
worlds history where the producer
is disappearing; he has been almost
civilized out of existence. So many
things pay better; so many things are
easier; so many things are more hon
ored, that the tiller of the soil has
sought an easier and more lucrative
calling and the consequences is-the
high cost of living.
There are not enough producers to
make bread and meat enough to feed
the world, and thousands and mil
lions of people are going hungry, and
starvation stalks through large por-
tion of the earth. Congress is on the
eve now of voting fifty millions to
buy bread for the starving people of
European countries where food is
not sufficient to keep the people
alive. The president recommended
one hundred and fifty millions; but
congress feared to make the. amount
so large, for our own people are
feeling the scarcity of food; some
are in dire ristress in the cities, and
prices are very, very high every
where.
There are not enough producers.
They have gone from the farms to
the cities to look for easier jobs; to
get into the bright light of the cleo
trio lamps; to enjoy the advantages
of convenient schools and churches
to be near the movies and other at
fractions, and nearer "then center of
things" Every man that quits the
farm for the town takes one from
the producers and adds one to the
consumers. as this has been going on
large scale for years, it is easy to
understand why living is high.
Maybe change will come. Since
farming has become so profitable the
cry of "back to the soil'' may mean
something. Farming is the ideal life.
It is the most independent life. 1t is
the most useful ife. In very many
respects it is the easiest life The
worst thing about farm life is it's
isolation, which is due to the incon-
venience of getting about through
the country. If we had good roads, it
would be altogether different. With
telephones, electric or. other modern
lights, automobiles, ten miles or even
twenty counts for nothing; but rs
roads are now, and every winter and
good part of the year besides, a
farmer lives a lonesome life. If he
had the same conveniences in the
the country, and were-not actually
but practically-as near to his
neighbors and to schools and church
as in the city, he would ike the coun-
try all right, with it's purer, healthier
atmosphere, it's quiet, its "elbow
room" and it's greater opportunities