The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1886-04-30
Hhe Indus trial SchOOI-Intei1)
view with DIR. G. ID. Smith II

"A AOSClt AACCtAdS OA +StAO A1OnAO "!
Agriculture. of which DIR. G. D.
4 Smith of this district is member
took definite action on the creation
/ and location ofan Industrial School
1 This action is of such interest to the
people of the district, that we were
anxious to obtain the views of our
representative as to the effect and
objects of the Board, and of his par
ticipation therein; and one of us
had an interview with him upenthe
lsnbjeet. the rasnltsaf which IS here-
with presented )
Qnestio Having seen IN the papers
of the State several notices of the recent
meeting of the State Board of Agriculture
and its action on the question of the es-
tablishment of an Industrial School for
the State Twill be pleasedifyou will state
the trueistatusof that question. We desire
that this whole matter may be laid be-
fore the people of the district which you
represent as member Of the Board"
| ANswER:-ln the first place, the last
| y
establishment OF an inIus:r. al Sch ui in
| the State Iiiis bill ais, autior:z 4d The
| Board of As riculture 10 invite bids for
the loeaLi, uf said IA ,ui they madt
no provl>iuH iIateFer-Gid not appro-
| pirate dollar Ior tile establishment and
maintenance of the School. They, how
ever, autl orized the Board to use as
much as $1,000 of their own funds for
that purpose az a supplement to the
amount subscribed by the locality bid
ding for the school. Under this roguIa
| ton of law, thee were several bids-the
city of Raleigh having the highest bid
| So 900 in cash and the Exposition build
| ings which are valued by mechanics at
| 5000. At the recent meeting Of the
Board, Raleigh supplemented her for
mer bid with the addition of $1,000, cash,
making the otfer of the city of Raleigh,
as estimated before the Board, $4,000
The addition of the $4,000, set apart by
the Board, makes the whole capital for
the commencement of the school $4,000.
The gift of Raleigh las attached to it the
condition that the school be located in or
near the city. After several explorations
for site by a committee of the Board,
acting with a similar committee ON the
part of the CITY authorities, a locality was
found well suited to the purposes of an
Industrial School. 1t is in healthy
Spart-a good nelghborhood- orderly
COMMUNICATIVE creek near by, suf-
f1ciently large to furnish water for all the
shops and uses of an Industrial School,
is barely within the corporate limits, and
only fraction over half mile from our
Experimental FarmI This brings the
school near enaIg;a the farm to- teach
practical farming in connection with
metallurgy, mining, wood work, and, in
deed, with all the mechanics in wood
and iron, engineering, machinery, and
whatever Is necessary for utilizing our
varied resources. Four acres of ground
can be had at this locality at reduced
rates on its present market value-a re-
duction ofone-fourth on that value, with
a probability that the owner, Gen Brad :.
ley johnson, of Maryland, 8 ill do ate
one of the lots. A resolution to accept
the offer of the city Uf Raleigh with tie
proviso that the Board and the city au-
thUrities agree upon a location was
adopted and the Board appointed
committee to act in conjunction
with similar committee represent
ing the city, to open negotiations
with Gen. johnson for the site, and
report their proceedings to the next
meeting Of the Board, which will be in
July. If the negotiations are brought to
satisfactory terminatian, the school
may be considered as located"
What part did you take in this matter,
and in behalf of the section you repres-
ent in the Board? 81 held, in the dis
| cussion, that State Industrial Sch )ol is
for the whole of the people; must be open
in its offer of benefits to every man in
the State; that every living thing must
have head, but that it would be an
abnormal being which was all head;
that Raleigh, as the State Capitol, was a
proper place for the head of an Industrial
School; but in order to reach the wants
of every section OF the State whichever
ample funds and endowments are pro-
cured, it would he legitimate to establish
branch schools with some one college or
school in each section of the State; or for
that matter each Congressional District,
that woald furnish small farm for ex-
pertinent in practical agricultural, and
build shops where the arts taught in the
principal school should be taught; that
the Board of Agriculture might, by econo-
missing its expenditures, support pro
fessor for each of these cooperative
schools. In this way the benefits of in
dustrial instructioncan be put within the
reach OF all-even the poorest boy in the
State. maintained in the discussion
that we. as North CarohDians, ought to
look to and labor to. hasten the day
when North Carolina's artizans and
machinists shall be her own sons. We
have the talent and genius, equal to that
of any State or section-bright and valu-
able as hidden and uncut gems. This
talent and genius is given to us as trust;
and God and our surroundings require
that we develope and use it. We have
the iron and Manganese FOR the Droduc-
ton of steel; we have the finest of ina
terial for furnace Innings, in our Itacolu-
mite and finer soapstones.a We have, to
sum up, all the material suitable to the
manufacture OF all useful articles made Of
iron and steel from that of stove to
surgeons -sealpel. In woods we have
equal resources. Now with all these
gifts bestowed upon US by the Builder of
continents We allow our native talent and
genius to lie dormant. and seek TO give
away our opportunity for wealth and
greatness by the sale of our raw material
for nominal consideration To avert
the final transfer of our natural resources
to artizans and capitalists not altogether
in sympathy with us, we must take in,
hand in good earnest this question of in-s
dHstrial education-nake artizansS and
lmachinists, metalurgists OF our own boys
|-put our raw material within their reach
and they viii lnaugufate nsW Industries,
and create the capital which will place
North Carolina along side of the foremost
of our sister States in wealth and progress.
| hold that this qnestion of an industrial
sphool-the developmenL-the trainfng
and utilization Of onr own native talent