The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-11

SulII maze, though SIQL out rom
their original markets, were of in~
estimable service to the Confeder-
acy. The Roanoke plantations were
its reliable and unfailing granary,
and so long as the Petersburg and
Weldon Railroad was held by the
Confederacy, so long was the army
of Virginia relieved of the fears Of
starvation.
| With the close of the war departed
the glory Of the Roanoke river lands.
The struggle with the river was one
that could never be intermitted. In-
cessant vigilance was exacted to re-
pei encroachmept from the waters, to
repair damages as soon as discovers
ed, and to do this, not In one place.
but III thousand, and TO do it
simultaneously and by concerted &C
ton. When this power of concerted
action was lost, then all the fruits of
past achievement were lost. The
river asserted its supremacy and na-
ture resumed her sovereignty. A
territory once the most fertile, the
best cultivated, the most productive
in oar whole territory, reverted to
the wilderness.
The conquest over difficulty was
not all abandoned and q feeble Ie>
lance upon chances, rather than
reasonable expectation, gives cour>
age to some planters to try to wrest
from the rich soil some of its eXuber-
ant rewards. With what success the
melancholy experience Of last winter
reminds us, when the people along
the Roanoke were In q state Of seml>
starvation, and when it was serious.
ly proposed to convene the Legis-
lature in extra session TO provide for
pressing Immediate wants; and this
because repeated freshets had over.
whelmed the land, destroyed the
crops, and left the planters stripped
Of the proceeds of their years hope
and toll.
This is result not only melan>
choly n itself; it is reproachful to
our commonwealth. 1t proclaims
retrogradation in a once wealthy sec
ton, when everywhere else is heard
the exultant note of progress; it de
notes the dry ylng up OF tue sources OF
food supply when all around is rals-
ed the imperative demands of in
creasing population; 1T sounds the
note Of diminished State and county
revenue, when, from every quarter,
comes demands to meet the impera-
tive needs of a people enlightened
with the spirit OF an improving age ;
and it betrays the unwelcome fact of
ruin aud poverty in one section con-
traSted with life and activity IN all
other parts, no more the effects of
Incidence or negligence in the one
than it is the undeseryed good fort
: une of the other The one fails be,
cause he is opposed by obstacles it,
surmogntable to uuaided human eff
fort; tue other succeeds because
more happy conditions await his
energetic hopefulness.
Retrieyal of the conditions ot
, Roanoke lands is not within the
J scope of private means, and is beyond
! the attainment OF private effort. II
= is work to which the State, il
: some shape or other, must put Its
hand. 1t would be dlsgraceful sur
: render to the rude forces of nature
what intelligent energies had wor
7 from them in its conflicts with the
) turbulent river god; 1t would bt
lamentaole indication of Incidence
: indifference or parsimony to yielC
= without resistance to forces once
) proved to be complaisant when bold
) ly assaulted, and to welcome desola
e ton back to what had once beer
e converted into teeming garden.
: | do not know what those wbc
/ direct attention to the subject pro
5 pose to do, farther than that Mr.. F
5 L. Hilliard Of the Scotland Necl
e DEMOCRAT suggests appeal to th
< Legislature to permit the application
of local convict labor to the work @
= redemption. Compared with TIL
h slave force once deem,d imperative
e ly necessary TO the gigantic struggle
: such convict application would be 0
t inappreciable weight. The Stat
2 must take a broader, wiser, NOR
Z energetic position, It must do thi
It in its impartial regard for the inter
i ests of alI sections; 1t must do it i
4 prudent regard for its own interests
1t aust 10 it in regard to its ow