The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1888-06-26
SOME TIMELY SUGGESTIONS
FROM A LEVEL-HEADED
FARMER.

EDITOR FARMER:-We were told by
our better informed friends that no
good could come to the laboring peo-
pie of the State by selecting one of
their representatives to head the Demo
cratic State ticket; but that our only
hope lay in the efficiency of the Presi.
dent of the Senate and the members
of the legislature. Accepting then,
in good faith, the full assurances of a
hearty cooperation of all interests for
the common good, as the result of the
coming fall election, it behooves the
farmers and mechanics of North Caro-
lima to begin now to discuss their
needs, that they may formulate a
platform of principles plain and simple,
by which their chosen representatives
to the General Assembly are to be
governed. To this end then I would
suggest, as a farmer, the following
query: Has the agricultural interest
of North Carolina received that fos-
tering care from the State that it's
great Importance to the general
wealth and prosperity of her people
would demand :? If not, why not :?
North Carolina has n citizen who
is literally "enshrined in the hearts
Of his countrymen;' his life work has
been devoted to the good of her peo-
pie; his guiding star has always been
"for the common good" 1t was
during his administration in 1876,
that Gov. Vance, DESTROYS of fostering
and encouraging the agricultural in
terest Of the State, had the Depart
ment of Agriculture established. He
hoped by this to create a fountain
head-a source from which the farm
ers Of the State might reasonably ex-
pect to be benefited. The mere estab-
lishment of the Department of Agri-
culture attracted but little attention
at that time, except among those for
whom it was intended to benefit; but
when it was endowed with an annual
revenue of more than forty thousand
dollars, it made the thing intensely
interesting, and our better informed
friends took immediate charge Of it,
and from. then until now it has been
controlled by that same influence.
Nearly four hundred thousand dollars
have been expended by our Depart
ment Of Agriculture since it's estab-
lishment, ostensibly in the interest of
agriculture, and yet the enquiry is
common: Has the Department of
Agriculture, sustained alone by the
consumers. of manufactured guanos,
been administered with an eye single
to the interest of those for whom it
was intended to benefit 2"
Should the farmers alone be taxed
to defray the costs of surveying the
oyster beds along the Atlantic coast,
when not one farmer in a hundred in
the State knows he, difference be-
tween an oyster and a mussel?
Should the farmers alone be taxed
to sustain a bureau Of labor statistics,
gotten up in the interests of mechani-
cal labor organizations :?
Should the farmers alone be taxed
to sustain a State immigration
Agency? J.
Should the farmers alone be taxed
to sustain a museum, wherein is dis
played specimens of speculative in
vestments !?
Here are four salaried officers quar-
tered upon the resources of the De-
partment of Agriculture; and while
their services may be right and proper,
and a benefit to the general interest,
1 submit they should be paid from the
general fund, and that our friends
along the highways, who are alone
benefited, should help pay the costs.
A new feature in the Department Of
Agriculture has recently been estab-
lished, which l trust will eventuate in
great good. It is proposed to establish
experimental stations or farms in the
different counties in the State, and l
notice some work has already been
done in that direction; but it occurs
to me the Commissioner began his
work in the wrong locality. He be-
gan in the extreme eastern portion OF
the State, and is now in the trans
mountain country. 1t occurs to me
this work should have been begun in
the Central belt Of counties and let its
influence radiate to the outer borders;
but we will abide our time in the hope
that all things will work together for
the good of those who greatly need it.
The farmers Of North Carolina should
demand the absolute control Of the De-
partment of Horticulture, and candidate