The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-08-23
THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS



10 God for the reasonable hopes OF peace.
we meet i'm this our twelfth annual Se>-
sion. The condition Of Our order aS SHOWN
by the records Is about the same rs =
was last year. The reports Of your on
GERS are full and explicit and VIII IN aue
time be referred to you tor your CON
sidcration and action.
Our country is to bc congratulated up
on the approaching termination Of our
war with Spain. vitality interested III
thr great financial questions, agitatine
our country and still unsettled. the neces-
sitv of united action in ending success
fnlIv thn war against our enemies. has.
for the time being. promised our PEG
pIe TO obliterate party lines, and patrl-
ntism. coualIing that of our Revolution
airy forefathers and the heroes Of oui
civil war, has caused them to bury TEN
porarily their just grievances. Would TO
God that the humanitarian spirit Of the
great American nation. that reyolted II
| the enormity of Spanish miSrule IN Cuba
would arouse itself for the betterment OF
its own laboring classes. especially the
unremunerated tillerS Of the soil. 1t IS
true that the mililonaires Of America
have been the architects of their own
| fortunes, and that the path 10 fortune IS
open to all: but the great bulk of our
| agricultural population will never find
that path. Oppressed by IN Ubiquitous
tariff system that robS under the forms
of law. fleeced by great railroad corpora
| lions in the transportation of their crops.
the price of their agricultural staples
fixed by trusts and syndicates. regardless
Of the law of supply and demand, our
people are wonderful examples Of the
vitality Of the American farmer. Signs
of ~decadence are. however. painfully
manifest and the disposition to abandon
country life and congregate III towns II
cities BODIES i'll to Republican institutions.
Our order has brought the two great
questions. transportation and finance.
prominently before the people. The me
chanic, the merchant and the manufact-
urer are equally interested with the
farmer in their correct solution. The ma
tional debt. increased by the war with
Spain. will bring the financial question
prominently before the American pe0-
pie in the fall elections of 1900 a sin
cere believer in the necessity of silver
as an adjunct of gold in the channels Of
commences. and believing that compro
missing differences is the SureSt means
of success. it seems 10 me that the
friends Of silver should be united if
possible in the campaign of 1000. A
safe compromise would be the purchase
of silver by the Government with silver
dollars. All the silver purchased to be
coined and carried to the United States
Treasury. the Government making clear
the difference between the market value
and the coinage value. This compro-
mise would add thousands to the silver
forces. and we could gradually approach
our hearts desire. the free coinage Of
silver.
1t gricves me to state that your eff
forts. aided by those of the executive
head of our beloved State. To annul the
ninety-nine years lease Of the North
Carolina railroad have proven abortive.
The manifest intention of the Fedora
Judiciary to decide all questions pOlain-
ing to the ninety-nine years lease in
favor of the Southern railway prompted
the Governor of your State to advise
and request the directors of the North
Carolina railroad. on the part of the
State. to accept the proposition of the
Southern railway to end the suit against
them and pay all court costs. thus saw
ing the State. i'll his opinion. Il useless
expenditure of many thousand dollars.
The suit was brought by the Southern
railway. The views of the Governor
were endorsed and the proposition Of the
Southern railway was accepted.
The unfortunate termination Of this
contest on the part of the people renders
it imperative that they should arouse
themselves and regardless of party af-
citations see to it that the next LegiS-
lature shall enact a law to prevent the
! consolidation direct or indirect of paral-
lei or competing railroad lines.
The control Of the Seaboard Air Line,
the most liberal of our great thorough
lines, has, more than once. nearly passed
| into the hands of thp S0nthnrn# IN wa
its great rival.
This calamity has been averted in all
probability rather by the interests OF
officials in salaries and pcrquisites than
through desire for the public good. You1
efforts to secure lower passenger and
freight rates should not he nbated. The
interests Of the railroads ought to be
indiSSolully linked with those of the
people.
The free pass system ought TO be
broken up. but it should not apply to
bona tide employees of railroads.. Your
railroad commission should be preserved
AMI IT'S powers enlarged, but the COM
miSSioncrS should not be allowed to low
CT rates on one of our three great sys-
TENS and not upon the main lines at least
of the other two. This discrimination is
%repugnant to North Carolina ideas Of
justice.
The working of our dirt roads is sec
ond in Importance only 10 the control
of orr railways. Our convicts should be
made to work our roads as far as prac-
ticablc. The necessity of their safe CON
tinemeEt and maintenance is evident.
h penltentiary is not, and has not
been self sustaining. Its management.
both under Superintendent Leazar and
Superintendent Mewborne has been good.
If the State would purchase the Urqu-
hart. or Northampton farm. and the
Caledonia farm at the option price. nine
dollars per acre. sufficient provisions and
market crops could be raised on these
! two farms to feed. clothe and guard all
! cOnyictS not let to the counties to work
on their roads. There are about one
thousand convictS now i'll confinement.
On the U%rquhart farm are one hun
dred and fifty convictS and eighty horses
and mules. There are in cultivation
twelve hundred acres in cotton. one
thousand III corn. two hundred and fifty