The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-09-30
MOVE FORWARD.


That the South has made no great
sr strides in material progress is not
to be wondered at when we consider
the policy that has so largely OBJ
tanned among her people, viz i, to
send away from home for what they
need. The wonder is that she has
been able to make SO good a show
ing In the face of these facts:
Too many people send North for
what may be secured at home.
Too much of what may be secured
here is manufactured at the North,
instead of being made here.
Too many farmers fail to produce
their own necessities and depend
upon Northern or Western granaries
and smoke-houses for their supplies.
Too little encouragement is given
to Southern wholesale merchants
New York, Philadelphia and other
Northern cities being centers for
Southern trade instead of Whining
ton, Richmond, Charleston, Savan-
nah and other Southern cities.
Too much of our insurance money,
both for life and fire, goes to the
North and to Europe, instead of
being used to build up and strength
en- Southern insurance companies.
As an Offset for all this outgo, We
have depended almost entirely upon
the income from cotton and tobacco.
In recent years there has been
some improvement in some of the
particulars noted, but there is abund-
ant room for continued and enlarged
effort along this line.
1t Is astonishing that the South,
the great cotton field of the nation,
for years and years permitted the
North to enjoy a monopoly of the
manufacture of the staple.
1t is to be wondered that even now
most of our furniture is made in the
North and West, when our forests
abound with woods appropriate to
the purpose and, indeed, when much
of this wood is shipped in the rough
to Northern and Western manufac-
turers and shipped back to us in the
manufactured state, bringing with it
cost OF freight two ways.
1t is amazing that right here in
North Carolina, where we raise
garden products in great abundance,
we look largely to the North for our
canned goods, pickles, etc.
IT seems curious, too, that for a
long time North Carolina allowed
her sister State of Virginia to get the
credit for the production of the fine
North Carolina tobacco.
In considering this subject, think
of what we wear, and what we eat,
and what we usegand see how many
of them come from the North or the
West, or from foreign lands, that
could be produced or manufactured
just as we'll or better in the South,
with the advantage of giving en-
ployment to our laborers and
mechanics and trade to our mer-
chants, and keeping thousands and
thousands of dollars at home and at
work to the benefit of all classes.
Let US get out of the old ruts and
and move forward upon a more
solid road. Let us utilize the great
opportunities that are within our
reach, and become the great and
prosperous section of this country
which our resources and advantages
make possible.
Referring to the practice of sending
our money away, the Statesville
Landmark says:
cit is wonder, as we look at the
whole subject. that there is a dollar
left in the Southern States. The
North and Europe send to us for cot
ton and tobacco. Against these, we
buy everything else away from home.
The remedy for this condition is the
establishment in the South, as far as
possible, of manufactures which will
make the things we buy. We have
all the while been an agricultural
people. We will never become rich
and great until we add to agriculture
manufacturing, and that not in one
line alone but in all the diversified
lines of human endeavor.
Let us practice as well as preach
the idea of encouraging home enter
prises-those that we already have
and this will stimulate the establish
ing of others that are needed and
that will contribute greatly to our
material welfare.