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

wards of his skill.
Now the difference between these
two ways of looking at men makes the
whole difference between life in the
middle ages and life in the modern re-
public. Almost every man in Wake
county now lives better than the kings
of England lived, for they had neithe,
forks nor soap. The difference has all
come from this changed view of hu.
man development.
How simple has been the method OF
all human progress In one era of the
history OF mankind king or baron for
a man with power looked upon the
great body of men az a common lprd,
good to till his land, to fight his battles,
10 obey his orders, to keep their place.
They remained generation after gener-
alton common herd and tbs doctrine
was accepted, not only that be was
born to lead, but that they were born
to be led. Human society went on for
centuries without any great change.
At last men began to get individual
chances. Soon there was no common
he'd. The commonest with an equal
chance given to him now and then de-
veloped into the most uncommon.
Men no longer looked on any class
fixed or as doomed /; and every man be-
gan to adjust himself to society accord
Ing to his character and ability. See
what changes came! In few genera
lions human society moved forward as
it had not mcyed for centuries. First
Il became riche1-so immensely richer
that comforts multiplied beyond pre-
csdent. Science arose with its revolu-
'ionary changes. Inventions came.
Behold modern republic instead of
medlaeval kingdom
If Darwin or Tennyson or George
Washington or Thomas Jefferson had
lived under the old way of looking at
men, they might never have risen from
the ranks of medlocracy. I venture
the assertion that if the hundred most
useful men in North Carolina had been
born in North Carolina as it was before
:he war-of the same parents and un-
Ger the same social conditions-not ten
of them would have risen out OF the
common herd of men.
But let us come back to the soil, for
in spite Of the great progress that we
hsve made in manufactures, much of
the future of North Carolina will be-
'ong to the farmer. A large part of
our population will always be agricul-
,ural and it is the agricultural out
look of which chiefly Wish to speak.
Much has been done these twenty
wears for the betterment of farming.
The growth OF small fruits and vegeta-
hles in some of our eastern counties
has attracted the attention of agricul-
tu:alists all over the world. Last year
| met on the train an old gentleman
from Wilmington who had been a bank
er and a lawyer. "But l didn't find
)rt," he said, "what the good Lord
made me for until few years ago
when I was getting old enough to die"
"What did the good Lord make you
'or?" I asked.
"To grow strawberries. Think what
!, fool was not to have found that out
fifty years ago!"
was told the other day of man in
Alamance county whose farm is off the
railroad and away from easy access to
market, but in four years he had made
his land worth four times as much as
it had been-simply by good farming.
But it would be absurd for me to
ell you more stories like these-you
who know better than I know the new
era that has come even in agriculture
can tell you only Of the great chance
that educated farmers will have in
North Carolina-of the economic and
social value that their work will have
in the future life OF the Common
wealth, and to all men who make the
right measure of work there can be no
more interesting subject.
After devoting some time to COM
parison OF the States of North Carolina
and Iowa Mr.. Page continued.
So much for these general items in
the comparison. Now, let US look at
the industrial differences between
these two rural States. Sixty-four per
cent OF the persons who work in North
Carolina work on farms; forty-seyen
per cent. in Iowa. We have more
farm workers in North Carolina than
they have in Iowa. But in trade and
transportation they have more persons
engaged than we have. In manufsc-
lures each State has approximately the
same-Iowa having few more. In
each State about the same number are