The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-09

lis. some one ia. sS4d tuSS it-As
are an exponent of the civilization
Of a people. And some enterprls-
ing geegrapher would no doubt
long ago have put Us down as less
than half civilized. but for the fact
that he was not enterprlslng enough
to get here over such roads. And
as for the canals and slack water
navigation, YOU know IN what utter
failure and disappointment. (be-
sides the loss Of millions IN money
10 the state.) ended all the efforts
and struggles Of Murphy, Browne,
Caldwell. and their noble compa-
triots Of Il former generations. mann
" through incompetent and DIS
honest engineering. But we have
about a thousand miles ef railroad,
which although not as judlciously
located as could be desired, ought
TO give our farmers tolerable means
Of getting 10 market. Butthe CON
tinuance of the exhaustive and ru-
nous process of depletion, known
as moving west sufficiently IN
I uIttltS tEldl tliC ldli IL obiACI N4St.
and that Jno. NJ. Morehead, and
his patriotic co-heroes CT the rail
road system have been destined,
thus far at lest. to almost rs com
plete failure and disappointment as
their noble predecessors Of the pre-
vious generation. And, my friends.
SO long as we continue: herein Raj
eigh and in Wilmington. for Nam
pie, to pay one dollar and fifty cents
a bushel for Illinois and West Ten
nessee corn, while tens of thousands
OF bushels are begging sale all along
the fat valley of the the Gadkln and
the tianks Of the Blue Ridge,
within thirty and forty miles of
your rail roads. al fifty cents a bush
ell, so long will your agriculture
languish and your population move
west. SO long as we continue here
IN Raleigh, and all along the Sea-
board and the rail road lines, to
pay fifty to sixty cents a pound for
Goshen butter from New lork.
while the mountains Of Il Own
>iltt dIt ttCiillIl- WIN Al 'CNANi u
icie AT twenty cents Il pound; 50
ong as We pay five TO ten dollars Z
,arrcl for New York and Vermont
apples and potatoes. while there arc
thousands Of barrels of both.
better than New York ever saw all
along the Blue Ridge and beyond,
within forty TO sixty miles OF your
railroad, at one dollar and fifty
cents to two dollars a barrel ; SO
long as we are obliged, here III Raj
eigh, to send to New York city to
get a beef-steak from Watauga or
Mitchell: SO long as the produce of
these and other Blue Bldge
ties-apples, potatoes, butter, cab
bage, &C., continets to be wagoned
one hundred miles right across the
track of your railroads to Charlotte
and South Carolina: and SO long us
the mountain farmers continue to
make fence-rails of cabinet woods.
almost within the sound OF Your
steam whistle, while your furniture
is made of material from the middle
of the continent and from the for
ests of South America: and so long
as the farmer must pay three cents
per ton per mile freight on lime,
plaster, and other essential manures,
or allow his lands to go to waste as
hitherto; and SO long as a thousand
other absurdities and impositions
of this sort continue, SO long will
our people continue to treat North
Carolina as ca good place to come
from" And SO long as the farmer
fails to know his power and his
rights, and to assert the one and
maintain the other, SO long must
he chow his shoulder to bear and
become a servant unto trlbute;' so
long will he be the pack-horse Of
whoever chooses to get astraddle OF
him. Now | want it observed that
| have not undertaken to locate, or
to distribute the blame which must
attach somewhere forthi5 long con.
tinued, disastrous and ~disgraceful
state of things-eXcept that part If
1t which falls properly to the share
of the farmer for his ~supineness, ap-
athy and cowardice in failing to
enforce his just claims, allowing
himself to be thus taught with
thorns and briars," and TO aban-
don his native soil and 90 SWIVEL
ing out west. Farmers of North
Carolina, here rises a Chinese wall
right across the path of your pro-
gress. You must sap and mine that
before YOU can 90 forward one inch.
But must pass on.
ITO Ue continued.)