The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-09-11

was worth in 1850. Inc working OF
our mines has been made possible.
Our forests have become valuable
for lumber and we have begun to de-
velop a few lines Of wood manufac-
turing. Ehe growth of fruits has
been encouraged; and stock raising
has been made profitable. AT first
we suffered greatly from world-com-
petition and received little benefit
from world markets but our very
suffering forced us to do what other
wise we would not have done to i'm
prove the soil, diversity our indus
tries, and build up local markets.
(4 A change from rural life and
agriculture as oar sole occupation to
toOns and cities Nth the Development
of manufactures. The census of
1900 shows that one-third the popu-
Iation of the United States live in
cities having over 5000 inhabitants.
Counting smaller cities and towns
about one half our population is
urban. In North Carolina fully nine
tenths of the population is rural,
The ratio should be not over one
fourth. If one-half Interpolation of
the whole United States live in cities
and towns, certainly three-fOurths
of our State should so live. 1t is
often said that the farmer should
make his boys stay on the farm and
that the building up of cities and
towns is harmful to the farming in
terests. The contrary is true. Every
r that leaves the farm for the
town adds one more to the number
of buyers on the food market and
takes away from the number of sell
ers. In North Carolina the pros
perity of our counties is almost in
exact proportion to the ratio of food
consumers to food producers. Dur
ham comes first with it's small rural
and large urban population CASTOR
next, leading all the other counties
in the number of it's cotton mills
Alamance next, being also next in
cotton mills Buncombe next, with
large urban population and hundreds
of thousands of visitors in search of
health or pleasure, all buying food
and none selling. When three-fourths
of the population of North Carolina
are engaged'in occupations not agri
cultural, the State will be one of the
most prosperous in the Union, and
agriculture, by a system of intensive
farming, made possible through uni
versal education and industrial train
ing, sustained by local markets and
by quick transportation, will enjoy "a
sure and continuous prosperity. The
average yield of our State in all
crops in the next 80 years may be
quadrupled and industries Scarcely
now existing or only just beginning,
may bring in more wealth annually
than the entire cotton crop of today.
But these changes T not coming
of themselves. We must promote
them by education. We must have:
1. Universal education with a com
pulsory law.
2. Industrial education and train
ing, both agricultural and mechani-
cal, in the public schools.
3. High grade colleges for techni-
cal training in agriculture and me-
chanics, and normal colleges for the
proper training of public school
teachers. National aid should be
given to establish and maintain this
4. Farmers, educated practically
as we'll as theoretically, to use ma
ehinery, to improve the soil, to build
good roads, to care for and improve
animals, to cultivate and improve
plant crops, to understand the mar
kets of the world and the laws of
to know the duties and powers
government in protecting them
and furthering their interests, to
keep at home the boy that loves the
farm and educate him thoroughly
for his work, to let the others do the
work that they love with an educa-
ton suited to their purpose, to inn
prove themselves constantly by the
culture that comes from reading and
studying, from farmers clubs and
discussions, from social gatherings,
music and other art.
5. Cities and towns, mills and fac
tories. mines and fisheries, summer
resorts and winter resorts, stock