The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1860-04-18
OUR TOWNS AND MECHANICS.

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| Most of our towns are mere villages
Here and there they start up as by magic
| the sound of the hammer, the saw, the anyi
and the wheel are heard, briskly at first, bu
soon the town has its growth aud stiffness
reigns. Why is this. The cause is appa
rent TO every one who looks at it. Some
| times our towns are badly located. An en-.
terprising land owner wants TO make money
and he projects town upon paper, makes
noise about il, and soon little village il
started with assurances Of growth aud ex
pansion TO town. Enterprising men, con
cerned in the scheme, ill their pockets. ami
soon they are OH toa more promising spot
and the villages langushes for while, and
the groggeries and rum holes finally sink it
The great reason why our North COr0iina
towns are bigger at the birth than at ans
other time, is because the impression pre-
walls that town can be built up by Court
House, Jail, and whipping post, Hotel. two
or three Stores and a half dozen grog shops
These latter soon ruin the prospects OF any
village.
Mechanics and Manufacturers are the bone
and snew Of town. No inland village car
be made town without them. Large com.
mercial advantages help seaport, but Thea
can do but little without mechanics and man
ufactories. We do not speak simply oI
housejOlners and brick mas0ns, but we speak
OF all kinds of mechanics. L0ok at the sim
pie article Of household furniture. Every
dollar OF il should be made by our own me.
chanics. Our carriages, cooking utensils,
&C.. are made in large numbers at the North.
Even nnr axe and hoe handles, bread trays
and rolling pins are made North. Scarcely
harrow or plow can be stocked at home.
All these, and our cottun and woolen fa-
brics, hardware, &C., can be better made and
cheaper at home. and yet we 60 to the North
for them.
Perhaps the greatest want Of North Caro-.
lima al this lime. is good thoroughbred me-
ehanics in every branch of trade. We have
become dependent on the North berause the
different branches Of mechanical occupation
in this State have been given up 10 negroes
and half instructed white men, Who cannot
produce a good job for the want Of the re-
quisife trauiing. and who must take three
times as long TO do it a. a good mechanic.
There are honorable exeeptlans-we haye
snme mechanics equal t1 any--but We speak
in general terms. Hence. IN great mea.
sure, our people are driven North for arti-
cles which our own mechanics will not pro.
duee, or If al all. at such prices that they
cannot afford it. The few lir,t-ra,e mechan-
les we have, complain Of this, but the com
plant is often unreasonable. Good mechan.
ics--who understand bu.lness--6nl M diff.
Guilty in securing plenty ol work at remu-
nerstive prices. when they are disposed TO
work.
Nor,h Carolina has the material, the wafer
power. and the means 10 employ at this time
the mechanics, the machinery aud the man
ulaeturers for the production uf almost eve.
~ article Of necessity or luxury which her
citizens require. Her people are disposed
To pattonize home industry aud skill. and il
is more OF necessity than Of choice that We
have become sodependent on the North.
Let the mechanics and the capitalists oi
the State wake up 10 this matter. Let them
excel the North 10 the excellency. dispatch,
taste and cheapness Of their articles, aud the
demands for Northern productions will cease.
Then our towns and villages will become
frurishing cities. and not until then. But
let all concerned beware Of the rum iaat
must siwa,s ln'law village Or town filled
with liquor.hoes. Keep out the grng-shups,
and the mechanics and factories will build
Up town in Tie desert. Spia ef ne Age
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