The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-06-04

mat then, L ask you, is to prevent
that dire calamity, "social equality, :"
from becoming an accomplished fact :?
But you say, How can we help 1t !?
We are too poor to pay any more tax
for this purpose" Do you reason
thus, when these same politicians, in
the interest of some railroad scheme,
asking you by public tax to produce
subsidy fund, paid in annual install
ments, perhaps as long as you live,
and afterward to be entailed as a
curse upon your children, for which,
what recompense do you farmers re-
ceive, save that you have but added
another span to the fetters of steel
the monopolists are riveting around
your limbs ? And this serpent,
hatched by the heat of your bosom,
will, from your halls of legislation
and justice, bury its poisonous fangs
into that very bosom that gave it ex-
istence. Are you poorer than the
Virginians =? Is it not an acknowl-
edged fact that the State of North
Carolina is financially better off than
is the State of Virginia ? Let us COM
pare the condition of the border coun-
ties of Halifax and Pittsylvania, Va,
and Person and Caswell, n. C.-com-
posed of the same kind of population
and engaged in the same agricultural
pursuits From close observation, if
any financial difference exists, l should
say it is in favor of the two North
Carolina counties. Yet I find their
tax on the 500 worth of property is
double that levied in the North Caro-
lima counties. [ find the two Virginia
counties also dotted over with neat
farms, school houses, nicely painted
and lathed and plastered and com
fortably furnished inside. Many of
them have two rooms and regular
graded course of instruction, the
school terms averaging not less than
seven months in year. Contrast this
with the shabby uncomfortable school
houses in Person and Caswell, n. c.,
and the length of sessions in Caswell,
averaging about three months. What
does this teach US What will be
the result !? No wonder Virginia boys
and girls are proud OF their old Vir-
ginia, and when grown men and
women have some State pride. Would
| could write the same about the State
that gave me birth and in whose de-
fense l gave freely the four most i'm
portant years of my youth, and if
necessary would give four more to
help lift the dear old State into po-
sition worthy to be occupied among
the sisterhood of States. But to do
this, the truth had better be told, that
the error may be seen and corrected,
and this 1t is That so far as it's soil
and climate, and the virtue, courage
and industry of it's inhabitants are
concerned North Carolina stands Sec
ond to no State. But the rank of
State or nation in the estimation of
the world is fixed by the rank of its
representative men. Thus while love
of State prompts some of our best
writer's to labor to prove the greatness
Of her sons at the bench, bar, pulpit
and council chambers of the nation,
and by school histories to impress
State pride upon the minds of her
children. Yet it is like the g Ostrich
sticking its head into the sand, }" think
ing because we thus delude ourselves
that the unsparing eyes of the histo-
rian can be averted by so shallow
subterfuge. Do his orians, deserving
the name, gather material from local
histories or draw estimates of charac-
ter from Fourth of July panygerics
Are the records of State and national
council chambers denied them and the
annals of current events sealed book
unto them. Oh, my fellow Carroll
mans, is it not wiser, is it not better
to acknowledge that, in the past, with
a few notable exceptions, North Caro-
lima has been an unappreciative
mother to her children, and that most
of those who have positions Of respect
and honor assigned them in the
chronicles Of the nation were those
who were expatriated All know ''it
takes love to beget love-" And love
is an essential factor in the problem of
State pride.
What think you will avail the les
sons from school history in producing
State pride in the North Carolinian,
when upon threshold of manhood, he
meets the Virginia boy SO much bet
ter equipped for the battles of life ?
No, no. If we want to inculcate the
lesson of State pride within the bosoms
of our children, the first step will be
for the State to take some pride in
them and in herself, and also stop
playing second fiddle to every other
State; and if our statesmen have not
the brains and force of character to
command respect abroad for her, let |
! i