The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-01-21

track railway connected it with the in
terror, it would remain as Insignificant
as Morehead City is today, which has Z
fine harbor and is connected with the
interior by a State railway.
Before the railroad era, and when con-
dltions were much nearer to nature than
now, the force OF the waFon-bornc traf-
fic in a wide area proceeded along the
line of least resistance and found water
at Fayetteville, which is the h.aG Ct ma
v~igation on the Cape Fear and the inland
end OF the improvement now asked for.
BY reference to the map il Will be seen
that Fayetteville lies 80 miles West OF a
Inc from Norfolk to Charleston. the
nearest existing "tasing points for
freight rates. a little to the West Of a
line from Richmond TO Charleston. and
Cn the line from New "urk to Savannah.
the normal coast line. Wagon borne traf-
fic. a century ago, from Central and
Western North Carolina, South West
Elm Virginia aEl North Eastern South
Carolina. naturally, therefore,, fixed upon
this town as it's port, for it was nearer
to them than any other. By a striking
but entirely logical coincidence, the ter
ritory whence this ancient traffic came
is almost precisely the same as that
which this improvement would delimit
under the rule of equal railway charges
FER ton per mile.
What we are asking. then. is not the
establishment of novel conditions, dis
turbing natural ones, but the restora-
ton of those as old as our civilization
and as natural as the flow of water.
These conditions have been changed
by circumstance which it would con-
sumo too much of your time to recount IN
detail-antag onisms resulting from the
1lfferent origin Of the immediate settlers
of the Cape Fear and the Albemarie
sections: errors Of State policy.
as in the attempt to build up a great
port near the Eastern coast line; the
novelty of through railway trains which
the necessities of the Confederacy
caused to be established on N~orth-and-
south-going railways; the partial de-
struction of the town by war in 1865: and
deforestation at the headwaters of the
Cape Fear, which curtailed the boating
period in summer and rendered the river
an easy prey to those competing rail
ways.
While these circumstances have re
tarded the normal conditions in Fayette-
Vile. the same fierce competition which
has hammered out the unit of railway
transportation, has caused the eStah-
sinner there of many thriving indus
tries-cotton mills, silk mills and the like
and the cheap freight rates which they
enjoy have turned the eyes of the State
again TO this ancient capital. The result
is: the recognition of the geographical
peculiaritieS which | have referred to
and which are more fully described in the
note APPENDED to the map which | have
submitted; the realization that. except
approach be had through the port of
Fayetteville, freight rates on equal terms
with those enjoyed by the people of other
SeabOard States are impossible for
North Carolina; and the embodiment of
these facts in the unanimous resolution
of the General Assembly, asking for this
appropriation, which presented to you
at the outset.
Now. while it is plain that the reasons
recited amply Justify the State in her
present attitude toward this proposed
work, and while it is true that theh gen
eral government has. by it's action in
taking over this river and making it a
national highway. undertaken the scri-
Gus responsibility of improving and de-
called upon to undertake a scheme of i'm
provcment more costly than a reasonable
expectation of results would Justify. We
have therefore made an estimate OF these