The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-11-05

| HIOuSn IldlS ana OtTuggleS,
She is Now Prosperous and
Happy and Forging to the
Front With Her Great In
dustries---Making Wonder
full Progress in Development
Along all Lines of Endeavor.
Charlott. Observer.
This is from the Telegram ofTyler,
Texas:
"The grand old State of North
! Carolina has wonderful history.
Her first delegates to the Continent
al Congress were instructed for indie
pendence from the British govern
ment. The first declaration for inde-
| pendent government was within her
| State boundaries. She sent more
volunteers to the Confederate army
| than she had voters, and lots more
men III proportion topopulation than
any other Southern State in the war
| between the States. She ia now pros
porous and happy and forging to
the front with her great industries.
Her history il great one and the
sterling worth of her libertv-loving
population stands as an example to
the other states. The grand Old
| North State. where the fire of liberty
and self-government is never quench-
ed,'
The state news editor OF the Dal-
las, Texas, News, copies the foregoing
and remarks upon it in his depart
ment OF that paper, adding, Now
you are talking;' and says futher
that he
'knows something about the Old
North State, because he has seen it
with his own eyes-saw it before he
ever saw any other. in fact. To have
been born i'll that State is distinc-
ton all cannot boast of, but all who
can, do. From A. d., 1892, when
Raleigh's colOnists began their strug-
ole for Il foOthOld in the new CONT
nent, the people of North Carolina
have been strong, purposeful, self
reliant and self-cOntained. They
have titled the fields, opened the
|
the wolves at their doors, generation
after generation, century after cen
tury, and to-day the whole State
thrObs with industry as no other
Southern Commonwealth does
These kindly, splendid tributes to
the Old North State from two men,
both, evidently, native here, manifest
loyalty to the State of their birth
which is creditable to them in the
highest degree-is worthy of men
born in North Carolina" In the
same connection we are copying an
editorial from the Washington Post
of one day last week:
The Greensboro, n. c., centennial
celebration marks significant
period in the history of North Caro-
lima. One hundred years ago it was
Il Commonwealth of scattered settle
ments. There were few cities of any
great commercial Importance, and
! other States OF the newly formed
Union far eXcelled it in wealth and
population. The aristocrats of the
neighboring States of Virginia and
South Carolina looked down upon
North Carolinians with a certain con-
descensiOn, IA mental attidue which
has not altogether disappeared in
some quarters. But despite this,
North Carolina made good in the
bitter struggle of the War of Inde-
pendence, and i'll the civil war it is
still a moot point whether Virginia
or the Old North State made the
greatest sacrifice, achieved the
highest honors. and won the most
enduring fame in defense of the Lost
Cause. The sturdy manhood of its
hills and plains has been proved on
many a desperate battlefield.
Zone hundred years ago North
Carolina was almost a strictly agri-
cultural state; to-day it is forging to
the front as a manufacturing Com
monwealth, and at the present rate
of progress it will not be long before
the value Of it's manufactured
products will rival those of its fertile
fields. Millions of dollars during the
past few years have been pouring
into North Carolina in the creation
of cotton mills and power plants.
All it's industries have felt the up
ward lift OF progress, and it is doubt
full, perhaps. if any other State OF
the South has made greater eco
nOmic advance since reconstruction
days in the upbuilding of a great,
prosperous Commonwealth from the
wreck and ruin of war. The Old
North State, just awakening to the
value of its marvellous natural
resources, is entering a period OF
brilliant industrial expansion in
generous rivalry with its sister States
of the Southland"
We seem to have heard that some
other States have in the past regard
ed North Carolina in a spirit of con
descension.' Upon this our people
have always smiled with amiable
confidence in their potential selves.
] At this time it has come to be known
by the country that which the Wash
ington Post plainly indicates, that it
is the leader among the States of the
South, and that prophecy may not
tell what its future is to be.
We are fond of quoting from the
address delivered in Charlotte, May
Goth, 1882, by Hon. George II. Pen
dleton, then a United States Senator
from Ohio, and called "Gentleman
George" and beg leave for indulgence
for quoting it yet again:
The history of North Carolina has
been in all resDectS good. In wal