Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1922-04-12
OUR PROSPERITY is DEPENDENT
Ipon tho Homo Markct--Farmcr Is
Gradually Coming to this View.
editor Kcowec Courier:

am afraid that some Of our lead
crs outside, and some Of our states
men inside, have gone of chasing
political butterflies instead Of fol-
lowing their we'll understood conyic-
tions. Many Of them fear that, with
an election coming on, the farmers
have been led aStray by the propa-
ganda that their prosperity depends
upon their foreign markets. The
farmer may be mised for a while,
but when he wakes up and finds him.
self, then he will be in position to
take better care Of himself.
The American farmers prosperity
depends upon his home mar ket, and
he is coming to realize and know it.
produce is either consumed OH the
farm or in home markets. But re-
Gently there has been SO ma ch "hot
air. in the press about buying and
selling abroad that it is time for
so!.:e one to call halt and state 4
few cold facts.
So said, "ln 1921 We exported
from this country to foreign Ia tions
more chan 20,000,000 tons Of food
stulrs, an amount more than double
our normal pre-war exports. But it
did not bring prosperity TO our farm
ers. We lacked the home market
luying capacity Of the millions OF
men NORMALLY employed in our fac
tories at good wages, who were then,
and now are, unemployed Or work.
ing but half time"
Herbert Hoover, Secretary Of
Commerce, speaking before the In
tCrstatc Commerce Commission,
said:
Our farmers who look to foreign
markets for their surplus should
stop 10 consider that our home con-
sumption Of meal decreased nearly
seven pounds per capita in l92 -
mostly owing TO Unemployment t--aNd
that ii this decrease could be- over
romc, it would be worth more jhan
- per cent increase in our exports"
.ill tlaSHcS Hurt by Wage Cuts.
The "dcllation" Of labor, while
most injurious to the workers, has
had rorrespondingly injurious ef-
feet upon all our people. The eN-
listing paralysis Of business can be
traced to wholesale wage sla sh ins
When the workers are well paid and
steadily employed there is pros perity
and Il good market, not only for the
merchants, but for farmers and man
ufacturers as we'll. When half the
workers are on the streets seek ing
employment and the other hail are
being paid wages insufficient to
maintain a decent standard Of liv-
ing. there is commercial and indus
trial stagnatiOn and depression.
Constituting, as they do, more
than half the population of THIS
country, the Industrial workers and
their families must consume the
greater portion Of the product IS Of
our farms and the output Of our fac
tories. All that they have to ex-
change for food and other necessar-
les is the reward Of their labor.
When workers are unemployed or
their earnings curtailcd they inevi-
tably must consume less. That con-
dillon is Immediately reflected on
commerce and industry. To it can
be attributed almost entirely the
prostration Of agriculture and the
impoverishment Of our farmers This
is the great economic truth which
every statesman must realize. 1t Is
so sclf-evident that child in gram
mar school can understand it. And
yet it is ignored and violated every
day:
|. TO Ovcrburden the farmer Is to
destroy the whole Of prosperity, for
every extra burden placed upon the
producer has 10 be ultimately pa i'll
by the consumer.
2. If people. country, state or
nation be bonded for the assets value
OF its property, the bond-holders and
not the people are the owners Of it.
3. The biggest material quest ions
before the world to-day are money,
debts and taxation. b. Harris
The name Kersey, as applied to
cloth, is corruption OF Jersey, where
this material was first produced