The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-10-15

s.rry.rd hrOugh the
I' I'D. the Manufacturers Record,
~,...fuore.. The purpose of it, APP
' -. is to scare us to death. 1t
t Ill the wave Of pOpulism," of
-.r-.r a~gitation." of wild agita-
and wants Us to be the great
-,.,.. force of the country. We
Nv. .r..d tIlat unless VIC do become
,f cGm@ervativc force and the
.. unity our material develop
-HI be halted, capital will be
5-..- f.gm Investment in new enter
rsl,road expansion will be i'm
..t.. and the deuce to pay gener-
all.
t. Iodine to be affrighted. We
,,. heard all this kind of thing be-
ears ago, when the Southern
,.- snrc lighting the reconstruct
a l.lns we were told that if we
...ra fa quiet and conservative
,,,tf.rn money would come piling
al curing i'll here and make us all
-. Later. various newspapers print
n fn tho South-thank Heaven, o
s.orb.ru i'll the sense OF
..,rss- uting Southern standards
.,ara and preached and exhorted and
.u III tina we were wild and crazy
and radical for opposing the protect
ire tariff system; that if we would
urn tu and be good and quiet and
rrc ard conservative and support
rrotect onist doctrines, Northern mo-
new would come rushing and every
ding would whoop and boom. But
MO didn't. We overthrow the recon-
s;ructlen Governments and threw the
negro ont of politics and we have gone
on steadily voting against prOtectionist
ideas. The result is that the country
has come to our way Of thinking On1
these propositions, and we have gone
ON growing and blooming and building
nm and getting rich without surrcn-
dertng any of our s~eif-respect or
any of our principles.
Where is the wave of populism,'
rho ~aerarian agitation? Who are
rhc-a desperate and radical fanatics
against whom the Manufacturers Re-
cord warns us with such dreadful out
cry and such dismal ciamor? Are they
in ihe Virginia Corporation Commits
sion. composed of men OF Wealth..
brains and character? Is it fanatic
radicali~m or revolutionary insanity to
insist that the laws of "a sovereign
State shall not be nulIified by the cas-
nal DEGREES of a subordinate judge of
a United States court? Are the COM
mercial ira cling men who call for "a
two cent rate or the business men who
demand that railroads shall carry and
deliver goods promptly the red capped
bowling anarchists and sans culOttes
that the Manufacturers Record seems
10 think are in charge of affairs down
here?
The dismay OF the Manufacturers
Record j. funny. It's absoiut ignor-
ance Of what it is talking about is in
terestng. Men are engaged in the
present contention against the rail
roads who have built large enterpris-
Is. who ave gone Oh quietly, making
no fuss or parade about it and done
more in a year to develop the South
than the Manufacturers Record ever
has achieved with all its diligent and
sometimes somewhat obtrusive self
advertisements. Others on that side
in time have faced boycotts and been
almost thrust from their communities
because they stood for conservatism
and against some of the waves of real
radicdIism which from time to time
have swept through our country. They
know what they are doing. They are
in contact with actual conditions.
Notwithstanding the apparent opin-
ion of the Manufacturers Record. the
people of the South have a good deal
Of sense, n fairly clear idea of their
own interests, and understand pretty
well what is necessary for their OWL
prosperity and progress. THEY DO
NOT SEE THAT II is AT ALI NEG
FSSARY THAT THEY SHOULD LIE
DOWN AND LET THE RAILROADS
OR ANYBODY ELSE RUN OVER
THEM ROUGH SHOD. They built
many Of these railroads and put their
GOOD money in them n carried heavy
Burdens to establish and maintain
them before the Manufacturers Re
cord ever was heard of. We never
have been able to get this alarmed
contemporary in Baltimore, or any
body else, TO tell us exactly what they
think cur conduct toward the rail-
roads ought to he. As well as we can
gather, the notion is that VIC SHOULD
put no restrictions of any kind on
freight or passenger traffic or prices,
nr regulations or requirements, that
Taii Dads should be allowed to fix
llcj- own valuations for taxation, and
t. handle freight and passengers eN-
aCtly as their own convenience or in
tere~t- may suggest. WE CANNOT
EE~OLLECT A SINGLE MOVE
}JFNT OR PROPOSITION FOR THE
RETALIATION OF RAILROADS,
FOR ADJUSTMENT OF THEIR TAX
RETURNS. FOR CONTROL OF
IHiIR OPERATION, THAT HAS
NOT BEEN MET WITH THE SAME
'it|. THE SAME THREAT THAT
iUE RAILROADS WOULD BE
Eil<ED. THAT ENTERPRISE
NatlD BE HALTED. THAT THE
>Jt fEf WOULD BE LEFT DESC