The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-02-14
A Public Omcer, Elected by Inc
People, Using the Weight OF
his OmciaI Position against
a Newspaper which hasthe
Temeri,y TO Speak out
In Behalf of the
People

of REPRESENTATIVES on Thursday even
ing last. Gov. Jarvis attack upon the
Farmer and Mechanic so deliberately
plotted and carried u before a large
audience Of our most pi ointment citizens,
could not be answered at once; because
we were not present. as he knew ; and
if we had been present, we could not
have made an oral reply, "a he knew,
because Of injuries to our voice while
undergoing Imprisonment in damp cells
at Albany, in punishment for having
served our State too well in the darkest
hour of her history. 1t is necessary,
therefore, to reply through these col
umns, lest some persons,-misled by the
weight which ought to attend the utter
ances of a Governor,-might credit Jar
Wis statements for truth.
Preliminary You are probably
aware that Senator w. W. Farmer, of
Wilson, and Representative y. y. Ben
nett, of Stanly. have each introduced
bills to re-organize mot to dbohSh) the
Department of Agriculture, with a View
to making it more truly representative,
and more practically useful. One bill
proposes to have the Board of Managers
composed Of representative men OF each
of the important industries, viz-Farm-
ing, Manufacturing, Tobacco Raising,
Fruit and Grape Growing. etc. The
other bill proposes to elect one member
of the Board from each Congressional
District. so that instead of having two
members in Edccuombe, and four within
a few miles of Raleigh, rs at present,
the chOic State may be iairly and local
" represented on the Board. You
must admit that either of these plans
are reasonable; and really better than
the present arrangement, which makes
the Board CLOSE corporation Chosen
to serve ~indefHtelD composed of the
Governor Ca Politician, the President OF
the University Ca teacher). the chief OF
the Grange Ga secret society with only a
few hundred members), the State Geo
logist (whose conduct. work, andmoney
matters are all supervised by the Board
of which he is a leading membcr.-so
that he helps TO investigate himsell,)
the President Of the State Fair, (who
may be a Lawyer, or a Manufactured,
and finally tw0 Farmers,--who are elect
ed by the other members, and you know
that people usually select their friends.
Behold, then. ye farmers, the compost
ton ola Farmers Dep ,rtment,--a De-
partment not supported like other State
Departments by a tax upon al Glasses
Of eitizenS,-but paid solely out Of the
pockets of the farmers. Gov. Vance
shows that any tariff laid OH tobacco. OF
blankets. or fertilizers. comes oil the
man who uses hcm.) and the farmers
compose th~ree-iourths of North Caro-
lina's population! They alone use Ter
t~ilizerS.
How IT HAS
Now, good reader, you will reco lect
that this Department Was created 10y the
Assembly of 1876. seven years ago
time enough 10 test it, surely As q
member of that Legislature, | worked
for and voted for the act creating it. As
co-Editor of Gen. ID. II. Hills Southern
Home, | was among the first, If not the
very first, to take up ard advocate the
measure after Col. l.. L. Polk suggested
it. Why, then, did we adopt 81 faulty
an arrangement :? Because the idea was
new, and we needed the influence Of the
Governor Vance,, President Holt, Presi-
dent Battle. Prof. Kerr, and other in
luential gentlemen to get The act passed.
| And go long as Vance headed the De
| partment it worked well. But with the
promotion of Gov. Vance, and the ac
cession of Jarvis, there came a change
Jarvis, as a politician, wishes the Stat,
Administration to be a big Machine
with all the Departmental officers al
mere clerks bowling down before him anC
doing obeisance to His Excellency' Ca
some Of his neal kin call HIND, like 81
many Chinese Mandarins. or the gall
plumaged Aids de-Decanter Of a Cen
tennial Jamboree /! Some incidents 0
life in the State House would illustrate
this, if space permitted. Suffice tina
Jarvis speedily wrought changes which
rendered the ''Farmcrs'' Department
mere salary bureau. COMMISSIONS
Polk, seeing that the public looked a
him for some results of the yearly ex
penditures of thirty to forty Thousand
dollars, threw up his office in disgust
although it paid $1,000 salary.
THB PEOPLE UNEASY.
Year after year rolled by. and the pee,
pie began to get their eyes open. AnC
all the influences of the Board could no
keep them quiet, although. as the Torch
light remarked last week, the high char
acter of the managers long restraineC
public criticism.
Finally the Legislature began to in
ve.tigate. Jarvis took alarm. He fear
a change for in any case it would tax,
the Department., with its large force O
officers, employees, agents, ETC.. etc.
out OF his direct or indirect control.
IN THE LEGISLATURE.
TIE Bills introduced by Senator Far
mer and Representative Bennett wer,
of course referred to the Joint Commit
tee on Agriculture. We will give mex
week the names of the committee. an,
those of leading farmers in the Legisla
ture. The Committee was invited t,
meet in the Commissioners Room at tn,
| old I.\atinuaI Hotel >, f,,