The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1884-01-05
A NEW YEARS STORY
THAT ILLUSTRATES THE DOC.
TRINE OF SELF.HELP.
A Practical Example Of the only Meth.
cd to Develop our Resources and to
Build mp our People.

"A fractlcaI Example Of the Only Meth.
cd to Develop our Resources and to
Build mp our People.
Special Correspondence The caronsele
CARTHAGE, Dec. 3o.-There was a lit
tie buggy shop here sixteen years ago. and
there was a little buggy shop at the same
| time at perhaps fifty other towns In North
| Carolina. And sixteen years ago Car
| image was-Carthage and that was all.
/ Moore county OF necessity had a county
! seat, and that necessity and the cos.rs
house, together with the venerable and Pc
| rennial clerk Of the court, Mr. McNeill.
| who from the beginning OF things has been
| clerk OF the court and who will be till all
| things end-these i'm those days constituted
| Carthage. The little buggy shop hardly
attracted the attention even OF its owners.
| Well, there are little buggy shops now
at perhaps fifty towns in North Carolina,
| but there is no other town or city in the
| South-Atlantic States where SO many bug
| gies and carriages are made as at Carthage.
| Tyson Il Jones are known i'm half dozen
States. and their buggies cut not only the
sand OF Moore county but also the sand
| aud mud cs North Carolina, South Caro-
| lima, Georgia and Virginia. In its way the
little manufacturing shanty of sixteen
years ago, even before Clerk McNeill's
term has expired, has become the notablest
| thing in these States. And Messrs. Tyson
& Jones, il they were to make nothing but
| buggies, could manufacture with their pre-
| sent facilities, one thousand a year.
asked Mr.. Jones whether he foresaw his
present capacity and prosperity. NO"
said he. 1--WE just worked along, and the
thing grew in spite of us. From the be-
ginning we made only the very best work
that we could make and never sent a vehi-
! Gle from the shop that we were ashamed
of. We began here in 1859, but we had
hardly got to work when we were inter
rupted by-well, you know we all suffered
s,1f<x
1866 we began again in this old shed Of q
building. After while we built that two
story building, and people called me
fool. They said that there would never be
demand for enough vehicles to warrant
such structure. Then we built another
| and another OF these houses. But when
we put up our machine shop down the hill
there, we had more imposing structure
than the court house. Not only did folks
think we had gone crazy but some OF them
at once concluded that the county treasury
must hare been robbed to erect such
building, and they began to ask what right
the county had to spend money in such
way. Well, we now have six buildings,
but we are so crowded that our men in
some departments have no room to turn
round. We are saving lumber to build
another"
The growth of this manufacturing en-
terprise is the proper kind OF a romance
to interest us in these days. The turning
lathe is better than the tourney and the
buggy-maker better citizen of this coun-
try than the knight Everybody knows
that if a man had selected Carthage eigh-
teen years ago as place to establish a
pretentlOus mandatory, he would have
been a fool. And such mandatory
: could not have been established here at
once. Like all other excellent and sound
things, it grew.
, Messrs. Tyson & Jones buy their timber
l.
and dry it themselves. They take trees
and make buggies of them, burning the
, ''outsides'' as fuel. They have, of course,
all the labor-saving wood working machin-
cry that they need. They have an iron
, department wherein there are eight forges.
priced painter, Mr.. Montague, does work
T which they no longer compare with North
ern ornamental work, but which is as
nearly absolutely perfect as any such work
done anywhere. They have their trim
ming room where their vehicles are carpet
ed and c1rtained and trimmed All this is
not only skilled labor but very high kind
of skilled labor.
''Where did you get your workmen %
asked. 1--WE trained them. First of all,
in certain kinds of work we secured excel
: lent men who knew how to do it, and they
! trained others: We now have workmen
of our own training. They live here. See
these houses. That one was built and il
: owned by one of our men. These others
we built and rent, garden and all, for $50
year.
1--WE can do work as cheaply as any
body. The material grows about lis. We
eat beef at four cents a pound. We buy
3 our material other than wood directly
from the manufacturers and pay cash. thus
getting the advantage of discounts and
: avoiding the jobbers' profits. See tina,
: keg of tacks? We buy them by the peck
. And this velvet carpet we get by the guam.
tity, of course.
II have learned something every year,
: continued Mr.. Jones. ''And to the best o.
my knowledge there are no better material,
made than those that we use. There II
only one thing l wish done. When the
people once find out that good buggy il
cheaper than bad one-even at somewhat
q higher price-the whole problem will b.
e solved. We never lose customer. W.
II now sell buggies to the sons and sons-in
l. law of men who became our customer!
70 years ago."
II s'Where is your largest trade?''
;. "In South Carolina. We drive our bug
n gies there every year and sell them. Th'
chief hindrance we suffer is the high loca
freight tariff on the railroads. We cal
carry buggies through the country for 1O
H. miles and even more, for less money thar
l. the railroads charge us. They'll find ou
n one Of these days." he continued with
N smile of patience, ''that it would pay then
A. to haul our vehicles cheaper"
"a The lesson taught By the experience o
,e these buggy-makers is the best lesson TO
Df us all to learn. 1t is simply the homel
q, old truth that doing work with the mos
m nearly absolute perfection attainable is tn
- only sure foundation. That principle @
" action will bring all the good things an
"a the good times that we are ever 1ookin
st for. We are now, Tor instance, talkin
re everlastingly about the importation {
ia skilled workmen. Why not become skill
as Gu WOrhneh ourselves: Ine tniTty'HVc
" forty men employed by Messrs. Tyson
Jones are North Carolinians, with one {
two exceptions, and they are as good bus
gy makers as there are in the world. Ho
they, in their independence, must laug