The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-01-31
zAasEaE Msss,as,
VgCAS 0Y THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
~LEGISLATIN9 FOR PRO
GRESS

resources. The old wars Of the
Montagues and Capulets, under
the name of Wing and Democrat,
which convulsed the people in ante
bellum times have long since passed
away. On all important political
questions the overwhelming major
Ity of the respectable white men OF
the commonwealth all think alike.
For the improvement Of criminal
and civil jurisprudence, as general
" understood and applied, there
need to be no heated discussions,
nor extrayagant expenditures OF
me or money. What we require
with instantaneous dispatch is a
manful graphing with the COM
mercial, mechanical and agricul-
tural problems of the day, a yigo-
rous appropriation II investment
Of the unlimited wealth buried
within u borders, a brilliant and
far-reaching use of the mean and
agencies proyidentially entrusted to
our keeping, and the adoption of a
bold but cautious policy which
shall comprehend the results which
we wish to work out. The pro-
priety of timid counsels and penu-
rious legislation is a thing of the
past. The starched decorum and
ruffied and 1uted craftsmanship of
the epoch, which made war upon
internal improvements, and fought
down canals, railroads and manu-
features, must go into history with
continental shoe-buckles, short
clothes and exploded systems of
ccurtly etiquette. We live in an
age which has even pulled off its
seven league boots, and has clothed
itself with steam from head to foot.
The tabled lightning which played
about the brow of Achilles in the
trenches before Troy, has been
transferred to the whole corporate
existence of these stirring times,
and like the doomed palaces Of
Priam, every power which lifts it
self upinto existence must go down
iato the dust.
The question is, what part will
the representatives of the people in
II State Legislatures perform in
this absorbing drama which has
already BEEN put upon the stage.
There is no doubt that much time
has been wasted in indicate feuds
for personal preferment, and in i'll
advised agitation of measures not
az all necessary for the public good.
Will this criminal expenditure of
the public revenues, and this reck-
less disregard of the most pressing
claims of the commonwealth be
persisted in, or will the responsible
legislators of the country at last set
about the work Of it's material re-
generation, and set it on high
among the princes of the earth?
No State has more active, intelil-
gent and honorable public servants
than North Carolina and we have
confidence in their future wisdom
and fidelity.
OF course, We are met at the very
Threshold of this subject by the
threatening obstacle of the public
debt. And the very mention of
this fact is enough in the minds of
superficial thinkers, to place an
arbitrary prohibition upon all flu
ture appropriations in the Old
North State. But what are We to
do? Sit down quietly in the lap
of II embarrassments, exclaim
alphabetically and wickedly with old
Louis the Fifteenth, CATER us the
deluge," and make no efforts to in
crease our financial ability to throw
off the burdens which we bear ?
The highest proof of the ablest leg
islation is the production of the
most useful public enterprises by
the least oppressive taxation. One
thing is certain, the public debt
will never pay itself. Another
thing equally certain is, that the
people out of their present limited