The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-16
NORTH CAROLINA'S EXAMPLE.
A Virginian Bids the Old Dominion to
Follow Her Industrial Lead.
HynchluIrr \eWS.)


Uynchburg News.)
Every farmer in Virginia ought TO
feel indebted to YOU for the able editorial
III Tuesdays issue Of your paper devoted
to their true and best interests. and,
drawing a comparison between the indus
trial conditions Of Virginia and North
Carolina. indicating one Of the reasons,
and the chief one. why the latter is
cruising on the high seas of prosperity
ard fortune. while the voyages of the
former are. to 4 considerable extent,
bound IN shadows and miseries.
North Carolina is building seven in
dustrial enterprises to Nirginia's one, and
she attracts one hundred e~nterprising
Northwestern farmers, who seek a better
climate. to Eirginia's less than a dozen.
What Self-satisfied Nirginian, of the aver
age voting class, had any idea that such
We're the comparative conditions:
Times change and men change with
them" The writer well remembers a
joke, prevalent throughout the country
forty or fifty years ago. which the pres
Cnt condition OF the two 'soyercigntieS
brings forcibly to his mind: When a
North Ca~rolinian was met abroad and
questioned as to his place Of residence.
his traditiol1ally imputed reply usually
was, We'll, | ann from North Carolina.
but not very far from the Virginia Line
As Il boy, knocking about the world, l
used to laugh at the joke and hold my
head a little higher. When next | go
abroad | shall do penancc for the vanity
Of my boyhOOd, which, however. was
cXcusable at the time. | shall adlnd
that | do not live in North Carolina, but
shall claim that my people, who are her
NEAR neighbcrs, are capable Of following
her lead If we can only break through a
thin crust of old fogyism and kick off a
large pack Of small politicians.
The Book OF Books intimates that
n~eekn2sS invites prosperity. and that a
sharp lookout, for the main chance is
better than vain pride and self-satisfied
pomposity. We nave a right to boast
that our State was once the mother Of
statesmen. etc. and we do not fail 10
exercise that right occasionally. North
Carolina was. and is. the mother OF tar
heels" and though she passed 4 declara-
ton Of independence more than q year
before one was passed by the Continental
Congress, she remained meek, aLi kept
her eye on the main chance She stuck
to her pitch, tar, turpentine and lum-
ber." and watched out for 4 better place
in the procession.
When the better place came along. Nir-
sinia was being amused with q rattle
ticklcd with a straw by small mem
with ideas too big for them (and far
| above hog and hominy, to say nothing
Of tar and turpentine) and North Carolina
almost awed at the idea of taking prec,-
dencc Of Virginia. put some more tar Oh
her heel and stepped Into line just behind
the band wagon.
All honor to the old North State
Though we can 10 longer panl4er our
pride by pcsin" as a mode fer her. we
! can do what will be better for ourselves.
We can look over her shoulders and copy
the problems she has already worked out
We can also take the advice which |
heard one Of her soldiers give to a lot Of
oilers during the war:
There had been a lfttlc unplcaSantncsa
at Drancsville. i'll which a gallant reSi-
! ment. from another State, had been com
PEELED by overwhelming" numbers, to
leave the field in some confusion and
equally as much haste. The incident
had given the regimfnt the chatting so
| briquet of the Dranesville trottcrs' One
! cold day a t~attered North Carolina re@i-
mont was slowly passing the road in
front of their winter quarters, and, as
usual. chaffi1Gg left-hand compliments
were flying thick and fast, when one Of
! the tar-heels with 4 Stentorian voice yell
! cd: Yes: we've got tar on our heels
that's the reason we always stick. Fl
! YOU 'trotterS' had er had some of our tar
YOU could err stuck at DranpSville. Come
to our camp and We'll lend YOU some and
show YOU how to make folks think YOU
arc men,
Let us get some OF that North Carolina
tar for the benefit of our Virginia legis-
| lators and see if it will not cause them
| to stick to the business they are paid TO
attend to. and to quit playing into the
hands OF the professional politicians who
go to Richmond to attend to their own
devices, the chief of which it is charged,
is to consolidate an Oftice-holder's trust
with a view to cnthroning Il political boss
for our poor old Mother Of States"
Have we not enough good and patriotic
men in the legislature to lift that body
above the low level of personal politics
We will wait and see.
EN-FARMER.
West End. January 4th, 1900.