The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-05-02

49, S-CS R4OCSOCSA4V 4OO4O VAL 1
day. I fell into the hands of Click, the
Mercury man, a most genial speci.
of human drought, loved even by
his enemies for the kindness Of his
nature, Notwithstanding the incisive-
ness of his wit and humor, which
makes them squirm from week to
week. He cuts with a keen, oiled
edge, and does it with uncommon dex-
He had expected me to be in Hickory
on Friday night; so he announced on
the streets Saturday that I would
speak there that night. He didn't con-
suit me about it at all. So I spoke in
Hickory Saturday night to a fair audi
for so short a notice. The Order
in Catawba is in fine shape.
Saturday afternoon he went with me
to the Piedmont Wagon Works, and
Mr.. Geitner, the Superintendent, very
kindly and carefully showed us through
the whole establishment. He is a young
man, recently married in Catawba, a
Pennsylvania by birth and rearing, a
man of character and of extraordinary
fitness for the superintendency of so
large an establishment. Twas especially
struck by their method of shrinking on
tires. They were not heated at all;
but, having cut and and welded to fit
as nearly as possible and on the wheel,
the wheel was then Rugged by a circu-
lar series of eighteen hydraulic rams,
pressing fifty tons apiece. The iron
was actually compressed to fit the
wheel, and will remain tight indefinite
ly. I wondered how the machine
this the second of the kind ever made
could turn loose after hugging so hard,
how it could get rid of the grip, so to
speak. 1t did it, however, and as easily
as certain Alliancemen gave up their
allegiance to the Order. Then l looked
at it, and it did not look as if it had
ever Rugged or would ever hug again.
But another wheel was put in-another
''cramp pain" came on-and the same
old expression of attachment was seen,
and subsequently the same dissolution
of adherence.
These works have been the very life
of Hickory. With a capacity of five
hundred wagons a month, they are
now turning out not more than two
hundred. This reduces the pay roll,
and this reduction tells upon the trade
of the town. l was shown q mammoth
wagon capable of hauling twelve thou
sand pounds, manufactured for a Penn
sylvanian, and others nearly as heavy
for the turpentine trade iii Florida. 1t
was noticeable that they made nothing
but wagons. The company doesn't
make carts, nor buggies, nor wheel
barrows, nor bicycles, nor cradl. 8.
They do not manufacture s~uspenders,
nor shoes, nor hats, nor run a knitting
mill. In other words, they do not
diversity. They make wagons only,
and each workman makes only his
particular part. Their trade is not as
encouraging as 1t nee was, but it
seems no one has ever advised them to
diversity. If they had been farmers,
they could have had advice, and that
gratis. Farmers get a heap of advice
more advice, indeed, than anything
else. Even Latham, Alexander & Co.,
bankers and option gamblers in New
York, recently advised the cotton
planters "to organize farmers clubs,
associations and meetings; to keep the
organizations entirely free from poll
tics, and to avoid all schemes that
politicians get up to catch votes"
Cheap and cheeky, isn't it?
If the farmers were as able to buy as
they were a dozen years ago, the Pied
mont Wagon Works might u their
fullforce. But the farmers are crippled,
this cripples the Piedmont Wagon
Works, this cripples the merchants in
Hickory and knocks the boom out of
the town; real estate declines there in
value, and the workmen who bought
homes on time near the shops, in ex-
p~ectation of constant employment at
remunerative wages, are finding them
selves unable through enforced idle
ness to care for their families and
make their payments. And thus it is
that whatever depresses agriculture,
injuries every industry, and, like the
devil, takes the weakest first, they be-
ing the hindmost. @. THOMPSON.