Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-09-02
NOW OF CUMBERLAND, MD.
Farmers Emancipatlns Themselves From
vassaiage to tho Tobacco Trust-nIod-
ern and Fast Train Service on the S. A.
1.-The Olivier Ranoy Library Beautl-
full Gih-Tho Monument to the Memory
Ofzebulon Baird Vance, Tho Growth of
Dear Old Louisburg.
tFrom the News and observer.>

y
request, L promised on my return trip
to write you q few lines, in which
might be suggested the impressions
worthy of note--made on the mind of
native North Carolinian upon his re-
turn to the scenes of his boyhood and
early manhood after an absence dur
ing this electric age. Pending the
white heat OF the late campaign, so
naturally and properly busy have the
people of the old State been in safe
guarding the purity of the ballot and
in elevating the standard of citizenship
and social life, that but little time was
LETT them for reading such a letter as
this must needs be. Happily the
struggle is over. None like it, save
that between Vance and Settle and
that of 1860, do L recall (and 1 voted
for James Buchanan in 1860, while in
point of lasting Importance, far
reaching consequences. in blessed re-
sultS--none in the history OF the State
has equaled 1T. The God Of our Anglo
Saxon fathers has vouchsafed their
descendants a notable victory, the aft
ermath, of which am persuaded will
be richly crowned by high courage
tempered by discreet justice and u pa
tlent forbearance and magnanimouS
helpfulness to that race which served
so admirably on the old plantations
before the war. and which has done
nothing OF their own accord to change
the relations which then so happily
existed. L am firmly persuaded that
all Will go we'll with both races UNI
der that regime, in which virtue and
intelligence will be dominant factors
in the old States future.
SYSTEM OF HUSBANDRY.
Coming back to the State in the soil
OF which the bones of my ancestry
have bleached since the settlement of
New Bern, it was both natural and
healthful that my interest should be
quickened to note the changes which
had occurred during my absence.
Noting these carefully, l Shall give
them in the order of their prominence.
list. l could but observe some mark
cd signs OF Improvement in the tillage,
the system of husbandry and in both
The reduced acreage under cultivation
and the mixed crops introduced. The
repairs of outbuildings, the painting up
or the homestead and the improved
condition of the Stock-all went to
show that many of the farmers had re-
ceived what they so much needed-the
better price for their cotton which al
ways comes when due regard is had
to the healthful relation between sup
ply and demand, one OF the few basic
principles of political economy. | found
steadily decreasing breadth of acre
age given to tobacco, and this from a
settled determination to break up the
long continued serfdom of the North
Carolina tobacco farmer or planter Qf
you please so to word it) TO those
heartless trusts which have so long
transformed the honest sweat drops of
the farmer into bonds or diamons,
making the heads of this trust such
influential agencies in the change of
McKinley's Porto Rican tariff of the
last Congress.
EDUCATIONAL.
2. found a growing interest in ed
ucation. as we'll in its more element
al forms in the common or public
schools as in those supported by the
State and the various branches of His
church who was at once earth's great
est teacher and preacher. learned
with great pleasure OF the growing
usefulness of the State University of
the A. and M. College in your city and
| OF the steady, healthful' progress OF
Wake Forest, Davidson and Trinity
and in fine of all the schools in the
| State as well the noble old school in
Salem as st. Mary's. Raleigh: the Bap-
| fist Female College and the Louisburg
| Female College, of which my old Uni
| Versity comrades of the early fifties is
the honored and useful president.
These signs, these better than signs,
these proofs of prosperity gave Inc no
| little pleasure, and l could but think
could Gen. Robert i. Lee come back to
life how gladly would he recognize that
the State which stood by him so nobly
| on so many battlefelds was largely
! profiting by the silent, yet deathless
| influence of the last five years of his
own life. when as 81 college president
at Lexington, Va. he taught that the
| culture of the mind and soul OF man
was the very noblest employment of
| life. Gladly should We Southern peo-
| pie land in q broader sense. we Amer
| icans) recognize the fact that the Non
pariel OF all the centuries with Vance
| and Grady. is not dead, but by their
| deathleSS examples are structures in
the be.terment of their own people.
So much for the schools and education.
IMPROVED TRAIN SERVICE
g. Coming into the State from Nor
| folk, Va, by the Seaboard Air Line
railroad one Of the first things that
struck me was the very remarkable
change in the improved service OF this
road. The number OF trains has in
creased, the schedule time table, and
the trains seem to keep to the sche-
dule, the road bed was better ballast cd
ard the motion of the cars was far less
than on former trips over the same
route. 1t may have been purely fancy
with me, but there certainly seemed
to have come with the consolidated
Seaboard Air Line with It's through
trains from New York City to Tampa
Fla. thence by easy, quick connection
| with Havana), a certain get up and
go along" movement. in the very ali
of all the officials 1 touched, which
tells OF qu;ckened, healthful life ir
one of the great competing lines oil
tho South. given 1t under great diff.
cuities by Mcssrs. Williams and st
John. 1 did not travel far on either
the Atlantic Coast Line or the South.
ern. but / was glad to learn that they
too. are meeting the requirements Of