It’s again time to step back into the 19^th century for a glimpse of the Baldwin County news of yesteryear.

The leading headline of The Baldwin Times this week in 1895 centers around the age-old dispute over money, with a headline that reads “L. & N. Boycotted by the Southern Wholesale Grocers’ Association.” It seems issues between those in the mercantile business, which comprised the Southern Wholesale Grocers’ Association, and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad had been festering since 1893.

According to The Times of the day, a dispute arose about rates on such freight as flour, meal, hominy, grits, meat, sugar and molasses “which are among the recognized essentials of life.”

According to the front-page article, grocers were wanting to pay low rates for the staple items themselves, while making other retailers pay a higher rate for railway delivery.

“For instance,” the weathered front-page article states, “if a man buys a carload of provisions … they want the rate to stand as it is at present. But if anybody else buys a barrel of flour or a case of meat or of soda or any of this kind of groceries less than a carload lot, they (mercantile representatives) want him charged 4 cents per hundred for the privilege over every railroad upon which it was handled.”

Thus, according to The Times, two years of discussion between the two groups finally broke down this week in 1895, and mercantile representatives organized a strike against the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

“As to why this railroad should be singled out when all other lines composing the Southern Wholesale Grocers’ Association had taken the same position might be difficult to tell,” the front-page article states, “unless because they hope by boycotting that line to throw the bulk of the other trade to the other lines and thus bring them around to their way of thinking.”

The Times front page also indicates the prominence of agriculture in Victorian-era Baldwin County, as an article touts the merits of farmers canning their own products instead of having them professionally packaged by such companies as the Prosperity Cannery Co. The article uses testimony from S.L. Fellers of Prosperity, S.C., a former employee of the previously mentioned organization to reinforce its point.

“When the Prosperity Cannery Co. started, I worked with them as a capper and a tipper,” Fellers says in the four-page publication, explaining that he soon learned his way around the canning process and business. “I could see no reason for it costing so much money to can fruit and vegetables.”

In the 1895 article, Fellers goes on to list the tools needed to create a canning facility, with such items as a No. 20 galvanized iron 36-by-9-foot in length tub that contains three sides for the various canning steps, a furnace made of sheet iron and a crane to lift crates out of the boiler tub — with a total cost of $10 and a lucrative return.

“I put 2,700 three-pound cans of tomatoes up last season and sold every can,” he boasts.

The report goes on to explain that not only was canning their own products less expensive for Baldwin County farmers, but it could easily be worked into the schedules of Victorian-era days.

“Farmers can go at their own pace, and can at a time when there is no work to do on the farm,” the article advises.

The front page of The Times this week in 1895 also gives a detail of the Weather Bureau’s report of Alabama crops.

“Cotton has improved slowly,” the article states, “and while some few correspondents report it as fruiting well, it is sadly in need of continued warmth and sunshine to bring out the top crop.”

The article also indicates corn to be in “excellent condition,” sorghum to be “ripening rapidly” and the “second crop of Irish potatoes” to be “doing well and making good tubers.” In addition, Alabama turnips “are making excellent progress while sweet potatoes are being harvested” and ground peas are in good condition.”

But not every crop in the Gilded Age was faring as well.

“Fruit is rotting on trees faster than it can be saved,” the article reports.

An additional nugget of news in The Times this week in 1895 continued to look toward the Cotton States and International Exposition, held Sept. 18-Dec. 31 in Atlanta. The article provided readers of the day with a schedule of the anticipated event, which included Liberty Bell Day, National Irrigation Congress, Pennsylvania Day, Lucy Cobb Day, a meeting of the International Folklore Association and a meeting of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

Additional news published in the infancy of The Times included the ongoing national debate over implementing silver as currency, support of continued immigration into Baldwin County, the organization of the Department of Transportation and the tax assessor’s schedule of appointments for property assessment in Baldwin County.

In the advertising section, one particular notice stands out as it advertises 160 acres of land with $300 worth of timber on it for sale.

“small house and other improvements,” the 1895 ad states. “Will sell for $200 cash.”

Check back next week for another visit to The Baldwin Times of yesteryear.