The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-09-29

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that our sons seek the villages, towns
and cities, to avoid the slavery and
drudgery Of contact with such labor
with all it's attendant trials and vex-
ations? With such state>of things
need we wonder that many of our
most enterprising farmers, owners
of fine lands, should take their money
and their families to the towns to
educate their children? With such
a state Of things need we wonder
that to large ma jority of our farmers
life is burdened with care, and "vex-
alton of spirit instead of the bright,
cheerful, hopeful, happy existence
that God designed it should be?
Without system, without co-opera-
ton, without organization, how can
we hope to command or enforce
respect for our rights?
With classes, communities, states
and nations, as with individuals,
they must show that they respect
themselves before they can hope or
expect to enjoy the respect of others.
We often complain, and iustl y, that
our rights and interests are ignored,
but do we put forth any effort to
prevent it? Take, as an illustration
any of the great questions Of indus
trial economy in which we,as farmers,
are directly and vitality concerned,
questions which in their dignity
rise above considerations Of a mere
partzan character, and how are the
views and wishes of the farmers to
find expression -and~haNei einfuence?
Many of us believe that our pub
lie road system should and could be
vastly improved.
" We believe, too, that our convict
labor should be employed on the
| public roads of the State, thereby
removing it from the field OF COM
petition with honest free labor and
confining it to work So greatly
needed in the State and where it
would be direct relief to every
tax payer of the State.
But how are we to formulate our
views and impress them? Byorya,x<
i-ed dction.
Again: We believe that the time
has arrived when North Carolina
should have an Agricultural College,
where the youth Of the State may
acquire practical knowledge and he
fitted by proper training for the
vocationS they may fill in the vari-
Gus branches Of industry.
We believe that the Land Scrip
Fund donated by the general gouern-
ment for that purpose should noc be
applied as directed by the Act Of CON
gress and thus give us IN institution
where the farmers may give their
children that practical, industrial
training so greatly needed among
them. But how and by whom is
is this to be done? 1t must be done
by the farmers of North Carolina
and in the same way that it was
done in Mississippi, Missouri, and
other States whose fund, like ours,
was given to their University in dis
regard of the rights Of the farmers
and in violation of the Act Of Con
gress. We must demand its trans
fer from the University to a school
which in truth shall be for the
industrial training of our youth.
Again: We believe our State !
Department Of Agriculture coulf
and should be made more useful to
the farmers of the State by whom
and for whom it was mainly estab-
lished.
But how and by whom is this to
be done? Suppose that forty thous-
and, twenty thousand, ten thousand
farmers in the State should, in theirl
organized capacity, "agree touchingI
these things" or any other question:
affecting their interests and rights,
who can doubt that their wishes
would be respected.
Humiliating as is the confession
yet candor and truth compel US to
say that we are largely to blame for
many of the grievances of which we
complain.
But apart from all this, do not
the concerns of farm life, of farlT
husbandry, matters with which Te
are in daily and constant contact,
demand the fostering aid of cooper
alton? Should we not learn to profit
by the experiences and knowledge of
others? Should we not improve our