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This website is dedicated to the proposition that an agricultural based economy provides a better way of life than does the industrial economy we have now. It was that way once, particularly here in the Southern United States where I was born and raised. I am old enough to remember the end of that era and have seen the changes come over the years such as the loss of the family farm, and the death of the rural communities.
Here you will find articles about this subject, writings by people from older days, current events, and a forum where these issues may be discussed.
Please make yourself at home, look at the information I have posted here, and feel free to participate on the forum. Send me any comments or questions by way of the form on the "contact" page.
Here you will find articles about this subject, writings by people from older days, current events, and a forum where these issues may be discussed.
Please make yourself at home, look at the information I have posted here, and feel free to participate on the forum. Send me any comments or questions by way of the form on the "contact" page.
An Opinion A few years ago there came on the national talk radio scene a man who seemed to be a champion of the common man against the establishment. He railed about the federal government selling us all out to the United Nations and the "New World Order". There was, however, a theme that he returned to over and over, containing a catch phrase that soon came to be repeated by people from all walks of life. That expression, which carried the implication of an almost holy destiny we were being deprived of, was "high paying factory jobs are being lost overseas".
I worked in manufacturing for nine years in my youth and I can assure you that the average factory job is not "high paying". There are some positions in each establishment that offer salaries that we could get excited about, but these are the engineering jobs and those of upper management and sales requiring a degree from an institution of higher learning. These make up a small minority of the number of people employed in these places. The common factory or "piece" worker, by the very nature of the business, is paid the lowest possible wage. Quite often they labour for overly long hours under rather unpleasant conditions which include extreme heat and/or cold, breathing noxious air, exposure to toxic chemicals, and physical danger. Their activity is studied and it is figured down to the second how much they can produce. They are continually pressed to keep up the maximum pace. What meager benefits they are provided are minimal if there are any at all. Possible exceptions to this miserable picture are the auto plants and the aerospace industry. But even in these sectors, the workers have to pay astronomical fees to the labour unions for the privilege of working under decent conditions for reasonable pay. For generations now we have been taught that our goal in life should be to go to work for someone else. From childhood this is heard in our schools and from the various media that invade our homes. The talk show host earlier mentioned once related a suggested program that would enable factory workers, who had lost their jobs, to acquire a bit of land and begin a career in farming. This was presented as a despicable option and that death should be preferable to lowering oneself to "farm". The way I understand it, in the old South the economy was based on agriculture, and that goods and services were provided by individual craftsmen. Local merchants also offered products made in other countries at good prices. The pace was slow, and leisure was given as much attention as was labour. Gentility was the rule of the day. Agrarian
Pronunciation:/əˈgre(ə)rēən, əˈɡrɛriən/
adjective
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Recommended Reading
The Mother Earth News Almanac
by the staff of Mother Earth News Bantam Books 1973 Out of print since 1973. "A lively collection of information about the satisfying , self-sufficient lifestyles of yesterday, today, and tomorrow." This is a great little book full of all kinds of information about old fashioned living, plus what you normally find in a farmer's almanac. You can still find copies on the internet. I'll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition by Twelve Southerners Louisiana State University Press 1977 Reprint A symposium first published in 1930 by a group of twelve people, most of them associated in some way with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. They detail all the elements of life in the agricultural South and what will be lost if industry takes over the economy. Southern Wealth and Northern Profits by Thomas Prentice Kettell University of Alabama Press 1965 Reprint First published in 1860, an excellent work on agricultural economics just prior to the Civil War. McGuffey's Eclectic Reader by Van Nostrnd Reinhold 1879 John Wiley and Sons Reprint A seiries of thirteen readers for the different age groups of children in school. They seem to indicate the children of the 19th century were more advanced in reading skills. Civil War Blacksmithing Available at Amazon.com and EBay.com Civil War Blacksmithing: Constructing Cannon Wheels, Traveling Forge, Knives, and Other Projects and Information Sears 1897 Catalogue What's InsideAgarian Society Forum News Current items in the news that are of interest to us. Contact You can contact me here with any comment (good or bad), suggestion, or request for a topic on the blog. Voices From the Past Writings of people from a time in our country's past discussing matters important to us here. Gone Are the Days Profile of a rural community. Links |