West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1904-03-10
down IN D|X|E."
A Prestonian Writes Entertain
lngly of His Home in The Tar
Heel State.
The Negroes Are 1.-THE White Mans
burdcn' mthc South. Pay per cent
OF The Taxes and get half the school
Money.
Correspondence Of The Argus

Correspondence OF the Argus.
ELIzABErH Cry, N. c.. March 4 /.
When / went home for lunch at noon
today and found Mrs. Heermans
had set out lettuce plants, and !
found other visible signs of garden
making" it brought wave Of feel.
ing for home, -"old Preston, y
hence this letter.
1t has been fine day, 10 in the
shade, and there is a general air OF
preparation for summer. People
are cutting potatoes for planting.
the truck farmers have already got
ten in some of their crops, and inn
mense quantities OF fertilizers are
being moved every day. The city,
size 10, 600, is much astir today,
the ladies out shopping in spring
suits, the boys playing marbles, the
men in shirt sleeves, and the darkies
basking in the warm sunshine.
Elizabeth City is the county seat
of Pasquotank county, at the head
of navigation on the Pasquotank
River, and has the Norfolk & South
ern, and Suffolk & Carolina rail
roads. 1t is busy prosperous city
which has grown much in ten years
and is still growing.
This is our first experience in
southern state, and we like il very
much. A good joke on me is that
when 1 left Preston, on cold day,
wore heavy overcoat, but insist
ed upon having my light overcoat
packed in the steamer trunk which
we expected to open in Washington,
''for ] will want to express my heavy
coat back home from there, / told
my wife. l Thought we were coming
to land of perennial spring.. /
have had need for the heavy one.
They have had an unusually cold
winter down here, the coolest in
FIVE years all say. and now it has
apparently broken.
am glad / did not express the
heavy coat home
This country has diversified indus
tries, numbering, oystering, truck
ing, fishing and wild fowl shooting.
The city secures It's trade from a
dozen counties, round about, most
of which are down on ALTERNATE
and Pamlico sounds. The river
harbor here is constantly filed with
sailing crafts Of all kinds, sloops,
steamboats,, schooners, sail boats
etc. The North Carolina yellow
pine is the chief timber which has a
great demand. The oystering sea
son has closed, and many Of the
"Baltimore oysters which we buy
up our way in West Virginia are
gathered abou, here and packed in
this town and other places.
Now the shad and herring fishing
season is on, the fishing being done
with gill and pound nets. 1t is
very profitable in good seasons, and
fishermen make enough in a couple
of months to last them the year
around. Small truck farms do
big business. We find that fuel is
very high here, coal 81. 90 per ton,
wood $500 per cord. Provisions
fairly reasonable and rents very
reasonable indeed. The earning
capacity is far, in all classes, cs
pecially day laborers.
The land is low and fiat, and the
houses have no cellars. The houses
are set on brick or stone pillars, all
open underneath, in order to keep
the floors dry. They build the
houses for fairly mild winters, and
when it gets rough as i, did this
winter, the warmth in the houses is
not sufficient to make one perspire.
The soil is made fertile by artih-
cial means, but brings good returns
when cultivated They raise a great
deal of cotton hereabaut, which
this year Of course, brought fine
prices. The crop promises to be
unusually heavy next year, If the
acreage to be planted Is any guide.
was wrong ia an estimate which
! wrote 70 Haywood about the rel
alive proportion Of whites TO blacks
here, bot there are vast horde of
blacks as the census shows, about
two-6fths Of the population. The
statistics show that the negroes pay
3 per cent Of the taxes, and the
whites % per cent, and The cduca
tional appropriations practically
equally divided between the two
races
This IS the "Whiie Mans Burden"
Of the south. The negroes arc
shiflless, and good labor IS con
stanuy in demand at good wages
The negroes flock 20 the towns and