The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1903-06-11

oA1W 1DU1A8A10 oooD
workers wers ~ good farm workers ~
those Of Iowa, our farm property would
b worth eight times - much - it IL /;
and our annual farm products four
times a. much. This would mean an
increase Of $276 QUO, 900 year-almost
81 ,O00. 900 for every working day in
the::ysar. It would mean . gift Of so
cents working day tor every man,
woman and child In the State. 1t all
farmers were a. good as the Iowa farm
ers We should be richer by that much.
Now how have the Iowans made
their property eight times as valuable
as ours, their farm products four times
as valuable, and their income for farm
workers nearly four times as great as
the income of our farm workers? That
is the lesson for US to learn.
In the first place they had better
men. Many of our farm workers we're
slaves. A trained white man on an
Iowa farm is better than an unframed
negro on North Carolina farm.
Then they haye trained their farm
ers. They have long had agricultural
schools, and they arc now having agri-
culture taught in the public schools.
This Is the central secret of the
whole dlfference-they have trained
their people better. They till the soil
better; they know:lt better; they use
more machinery they use more intel
ligence.
Our first duty then clearly is to train
the man behind the pow. 1t many OF
the men behind the plows in North
Carolina were slaves that Is our mis-
7fofsane-a misfortune Of our inheri-
lance ;but there is no other way to REM
edy the matter than to train them. So
long as the man behind the plow is
unframed, the earth resents the insult
and becomes barren; and every UNI
trained man behind the pillow makes
the soil of North Carolina-makes the
State poorer-makes us all poorer. It
Is the old mistake of supposinR that
cheap labor is benefit.
But all the difference is not to be
set down against the negro. Much is
due to the false view OF farm work that
was direct result of slavery. 1t was
not respectable tor mhite men of the
better sort to work themselves. They
neither plowed nor invented plows ;
they neither sowed nor analysed the
soil to get a scientific knowledge of it.
They hired the negro to scratch its
surface and went on from generation
to generation without radical improve
ment in method.
Here comes your opportunity-you
are the first generation OF men in North
Carolina that has had a chance to be
trained at scientific agriculture. You
haye the high duty to make the man
behind the pillow an efficient man. In
doing this you will do more than to add
intellectually to our wealth. You will
bring also a better view Of life.
The culture of the earth demands as
great knowledge and skill as the cul-
ture OF the arts; 1t can satisfy the In
tellectual ambition, It can solace the
spirit, 1t can broaden the character.
It must needs be In reality the labor Of
great souls a. 1t has been represented
to DO in poetry.
OF course no man can work properly
with his hands without working with
his brains and his heart also. Labor
by mere main strength, a mule or q
donkey or engine can do. Your insti.
tuition, therefore, comes right down ia
the bottom ot<Ihe problem of life In
North Carolina. Other people may
fool themselves, 1t they still care to dc
20. Some may think that it is bette,
to be q jackleg lawyer than a maste,
carpenter. Some may think that q
lazy drone Of preacher 10 better than
good blacksmith. Some may think
that life of idieness makes q gentle
man. Some may think that to be an
unproductive prominent citizen" j.
better than to make good split bottom
chains. But you know better. You
have got away from all these delusions
A man who makes a bad buggy O,
who builds poor house, scratches q
poor farm, or does anything badly-he
makes 40 al poorer. He pulls down
the level of our life. The only sub.
stance 'tlsat most mon have is their
labor. It is the most precious sub
stance that anybody can hsye-the hes,
gift Of God. The man that wastes hi,
labor throws his own life away, and be
wastes the time and degrades the stand.
ard Of all other men who haye to dc
with him. Every inefficient man is 9