The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-02-14
Disaster, Failure. Dissolution,
Death!

about n hundred newspapers puolish-
| in North Carolina hence is enabled Z,
watch the course of public events in ev-
cry section OF the State. The condition
of affairs a. reflected By the local papers
is not cheerful. Scarcely a das Of the
past month has failed TO bring its story
| of financial Disaster, Dissolution. De-
ransement. or Death. The trouble
arises not from eur soil, not rom our
climate, not from the lack Of energy IN
our people; but solely because we have
not enough Of people, and capital, and
m~anufacforie. to ill mp our vast area of
vacant lands. to develope our vast re-
sources, TO furnish markets FOR our FAR
mers. and to furnish employment to our
idle mechanics. Add another million
to our population. and We would have
| schools. more churches, more factories,
and many times more chances to sue
! coed in business. Thi. would keep our
young men at home.
Yet when the Farmer and Mechanic
seeks Gas il has sought for SIX years
past;-riN any Of our readers deny Il :
Surely not.)-to and .timu-
late and spur into activity some public
effort TO improve the existing order Of
things. and vivify our enterprises and
industries,-there are prominent office
holders (who for 20 years have fattened
and battened on the tGx-il.ed Treasury
of North Carolina) ready 10 jump up
with loud-mouthed dcnoun alton OF the
| paper; falsely ac1usin. il of ''dema-
gosuery and selfish motives :
| although we'll knowing that no
paper. no editor. no man, ever more
steadily RETAINED from seeking anything
for his, or its, W personal benefit. nor
ever more steadily forced the well-for-
seen LOSS Of hundreds Of dollars, hun
dreds of subscribers, advertisers, free
passes, public Office and financial DO
nus"-by its advocacy Of the Peoples
Rights, aud the Peoples Welfare,
WHAT O THE NIGHT
Unhappily the response must be-
the outlook is not Bright! Instead Of
t on and advantages would warrant, we
are almost at a stand as compared with
other Southern States.
Glance over North Cardinals vast
empire of So 900 square miles. and what
do o see? Many of our largest facto-
ries running III half-timc or less than
full time. All of our thirty or more
Railroad. ''gobbled' by tire. foreign
syndicates, who, having gotten control
of the State, and ''Associated'' them
selves, are masters of the situation.
"Cutting-down expenses taking of
trains. turning off employees is the order
Of the day and very wisely, we think
The Bank. are drawing in their horns.
and decline to discount paper, except
in special cases, with old customers.
Every paper i'll the State brings It's It'd
ing of business failure. Raleigh has
had a half a dozen, Gold.boro four
! or five, Tarboro discharges a score Of
clerks in one week, Wilson three or four
failures, W%arrenton four or five. Char
lotto, Salisbury, Winston, Greensboro,
Durham, Rocky Mount, Wilmington,
Newbern, and many other points.
Five newspapers have succumbed du-
-, - IL -, 81 o..z- l
hands.
Four or five boarding schools have
suspended, and others are very, very
weak. 1t is true that the larger and
stronger class of schools, as well as the
larger and stronger class of newspapers
are apparently doing well, or in healthy
condition. But you must remember that
this is one sign of general prostration /;
for tlike the Monopoly created by the
Nor h Carolina Fertilizer Law as fast
as the small and weak schools and pa
pers are crushed out, the big ones gain
in patronage. If you think this is a
good arrangement for the State-all
right, ue can stand it. If on the contra
~, you think it desirable that business
should flourish, and that education and
intelligence should be disseminated
among the masses as well as among the
rich and favored few,-make haste to
raise your voice and use your pens
against the men and measures which
have taken our good old State captive.
and arc fattening upon her. while they
seek to stitfle the press, and bribe Your
agents, aud fee attorneys and hull the
public with deceitful speeches, and plaus-
IDLE phrases,-just as the hideous YAM
pyre-bat of the Tropics softly fans its
| victims with its wings while insidiously
sucking away his life blood.
A CONTRAST.
Virginia on the North, Tennessee on
the West, South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Texas. etc, are fair
ly Booming" with life and prosperity.
South Carolina has been usually deem
ed a dead State, 'prostrated.' and held
down by 10000 majority Of niger ve-
tiers, and a soil mainly adapted to cot
ton-raising. Yet the census shows that
she has gained in population about twice
as much as North Carolina, since 1880.
the relative size OF the two States con-
sidered, Her industries, crops. manu-
features, etc, show an mcrease Of fr0m
100 to LOO per centage think Of it
during the past three years! No Won
! der that the CbarIaetop por.rs 49,