The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-07


ant farmer they would rapidly ad-
vance TO land owner and Independent
farmer When this transition is &C.
compliShod, the lower cost OF farm
lands here than in other parts of the
country, would more than compensate
this class for any labor conditions
they may In the beginning have found
not to their liking; the advance in the
price of lands 2S the result of the
increased demands would benefit the
landowner and the subdivision Of our
too large landed estates into smaller
farms would greatly benefit the state
and the people at large.
Eliminating the presence of the
negro as an element Of hinderance
from the problem, the question OF
Southern immigration resolves itself
i;ito two questions: First, do we need
more labor in the South? Second, can
we get the kind of labor we want.
Twenty years ago North Carolina
was distinctively an agricultural State
Nearly its whole population was en-
gagged In agriculture. At the begin
ming of that time with lifty-two thou
sand square miles of territory we had
a population Of only about thirteen
hundred thousand people, a popula-
ton manifestly inadequate to the ag-
ricultural demands of so large an
area. Today North Carolina has sew
enty-tWo hundred and tWenty-siX
manufacturing esta blishments. most
of them established within this pc
riod, employing ninety-six thousand
wage eafners. nearly every one of
whom have been drawn from our ruN
raj population, While there has been
practically no accessions to this popu
ation to supply this drain except that
Of natural increase. The resulting
con 1ition. therefore, il Mo- til Carolina
today is q depleted rura! population
on the one hand, while on the other
our factories have practically eX-
hausted the source from which they
have, during these years, drawn their
supply. IN these twenty years we
have more than doubled orr activities
both in field and factory and the re-
sulting demand for labor while our
population has not increased much
more than twenty-five per cent. As
natural and inevitable rosul there is
in nearly every part Of the State to-
day both from the factory and the
farm, an urgent demand for more Ia
bcr. This double demand has
brought about a labor scr mble. so to
speak. between the farmer and the
manufacturer which viii continue as
long as these conditions continue ana
as long as the demand of both is in aX-
cess of the supply Is it not evident,
therefore, that unless labor can be ha1
from elsewhere neither of these Oc-
equations can further increase and eX-
pand its operations without Ill direct
proportion contracting the operations
Of the other? Is is not evident more
over, that we have reached. or nearly
reached. our limit of agricultural and
industrial developments if we are to
rely in the future, as we have done IN
the past for our labor supply solely
upon the natural increase in our popu-
latiOn?
In more ways than those / have de-
Scribed this lack of adequate labor
has been Instantaneous to the South.
During these long years when the
population of the South has been rela-
lively stationary. that of the other
States in the Union has been rapidly
increasing and speaking generally, just
IN proportion as the population of 9TH
CT States has increased more than
ours their wealth has increased more
than ours. A continuance of these
conditions not only threatens to call a
halt in our industrial progress, but it
has had disastrous effect upon the
monied value of our landed property
and the general prosperity of our peo-
pie. The average market value of
lands in North Carolina today is only
seven dollars per acre. while the aver
age market value of lands in Indiana
is over thirty dollars per acre and
those of Ohio thirty-four dollars per
acre What has brought about this
striking disparity in the value of lands
i'm these States? Ii is not to be attrib-
uted, certainly not solely or chiefly, to
difference in call or climate ofthe ONT
difference in soil or climate. If the
lands of these States are naturally
more fertile than those of North Caro-
ina, and they may be and perhaps are
whe nour greater diversity OF products
our greater number of stable lnoned
crops and our climate conditions
which allow of two or more crops Il
year on the same land are considered,
The market value of our agricultural
lands should be equal to those of any
State in the Union. SO we must look
elsewhere for the explanation of this
disparity in value than to physical
conditions either of soil or climate.
What then is the true cause of this
| remarkable difference? The census
| ia bleS furnish the answer. 1T IS mis-
North Carolina has a population of
only thirty-nne people to the square
mile, while Indiana has seventy and
Ohio one hundred and. two. 1t Is
people, not land-not the kind and
| chara cter of the people, but the num-
| Der of people working within the limits
| of given area. for of all factors that
enter INTO the DIODlcili tL idllu NdlhtS,
! especially agricultural lands. that of
/ population and the market it creates
| is probably the greatest.
IF North Carolina had received
| during the last twenty years its pro-
| portionate part of the desirable immi-
| grafton which has come TO our shores.
| She would today have Il population of
| fifty or sixty people to the square mile
and the average market value of our
| lands. it is safe to assert. would be
| approximately as great as those of In
| diana and Ohio and other agricultural
States equally denselyinhabit ed.
I'VE want more factories in North
| Carolina. We have not half or third
enough-we have the water power to
! operate them and we have. or we can
| easily get the money to build them.
We want all our arabic lands cult
waited and the vast areas of our wild
/ forests cleared and brought under cul-
! tivation--wc have or we can easily Set
the money to do it, but what we have
rot and cannot get without long years
| of waiting, unless we go outside to get
/ them, is people, laborers to operate
these factories and cultivate these
| lands and clear these forests.