The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-28
Editorial Correspondence

MaXtOn, N. u, May 1t Wnen L
was returning from Fort Fisher, a dis
appointed Confederate soldier, l passed
through the road here that now consti-
tutes the town of Maxton," said Editor
Mckenzie to me this morning. There
was no sign of the good town you now
see here and that foot-sore and tired
soldier did not think that few years
later he would be living here as editor
of the Scottish Chief"
When the railroad made this
stopping place it grew into village
which was called Shoe Heel or Quee-
heel in Gaelic. The name Shoe Heel
did very we'll at a time when another
conspicuous settlement in the State of
Robson was called Scuf1letown. There
is more in a name than Shakespeare
imagined. A rose might smell as
sweet if called something else, but if
it had been called some name not in
keeping with its beauty or fragrance,
who supposes that men would have
cultivated it as they have done? The
rose we see is very different from the
rose of Shakespeares day as the rose
of his day was very unlike the rose
that Adam and Eve cultivated in the
Garden of Eden. 1t has been so i'm
proved by cultivation that if you were
to tell large and glorious rose of
1906 that it had descended from the
Wild and small rose of the year one, it
would turn up its nose and deny its
ancestry, just as some rich and edu-
Gated people, who come from humble
parentage, deny their origin and pur-
chase coat of arms and a family tree
and put on airs and seek to shine IN
the plumes of a borrowed aristocratic
family tree which their grandfather
would not have recognized. But all
the same the cultivated rose owes
much to heredity and owes more to
education or cultivation.
When Shoe Heel had grown to be
considerable village, the people felt
that the town ought to have better
name than Shoe Heel Come to think
of it, that wasn't a very beautiful
name, and it had no history or signifi-
canoe, and so it was decided to change
the name. What should be the name
of the lusty, growing infant, just
emerging from its swaddling clothes?
Nearly every person then living in
the farmers thereabout proclaimed
their Scotch ancestry with a Mac, and
some of them had Mac in both their
surname and their given name. And
SO it was decided to give the town
name that would mean something-a
name that would show this to be the
real centre of the Scotch population.
that has borne so conspicuous and use
full part in the development of North
Carolina They were among the earl
lest to settle in this section of North
Carolina, and it is mainly to them that
it has come to be one of the most
prosperous and progressive sections of
the State Take out all that the Macs
have done for the counties in Southern
North Carolina and you have the
play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out
And so the town was called the Town
of the Macs, but as that is too long
name to go on the maps or fit in the
mouth, it was contracted into MaXton,
and as Maxton it has grown to be one
of the best towns in this section, and
a leader among the live towns in the
State of Robson.
Robson is the biggest county in the
State and ranks among the best II
noticed only yesterday a publication.
showing the county in every Southern
State which produced the largest num-
Der of 500 pound bales of cotton, and
in North Carolina Robson led all the
other counties with 1882 bales.
North Carolina has made the largest
increase in the cotton crop between
1901 and 1904. 1t made 415,S0S bales
in 1901, while in 1904 it made 697,452s
bales, an increase of ST. per cent,
and Robson led the State of North
Carolina. Now the county that leads
the State in the production of it's chief
staple has a right to say that where
it 'sits is the head of the table" anc
Robson is modestly making that
claim. ] say modestly for it has done
less "blowing of it's own horn" than any
county of like development in the
State The best thing about the de-
velopment of Robson county is that
it has been an all-round sort of de-
velopment that has increased the av-
erage prosperity of all its citizenship
1t has not built up one great town by
some special industry, but the pros
perity that has come has been gener-
ally diffused and has touched every
interest in the county-agricultura
mercantile, manufacturing, profession
AL In contrast with the prosperity
and development that we read about
in most other counties, where II
reaches it's acme in manufacturing an6
town building, the agricultural inter
ests have felt the greatest stimulus
and impetus here. The towns have
improved and the farms have i'm
proved. The towns have grown ir
population. but the country has re-