The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-25
THE DRAIN ON THE STATE.

tremendous drain on North Caroline
nv sending out 50 many millions Q
dollars for what ought to be grown
on North Carolina farms. This drair
m,st be steadily decreased and as t
some things the balance OF trade pu
on the other side before North caro-
lima truly. comes to its own.
~sevhe is printed a Statement
showing that to the flourishlng city
If New Bern alone there was shipped
duripg the past year LOO ears OF pro
ductS that ought to have been grown
in Eastern North Carolina, and tina
10 obtain the corn. meal, nay, meats
hntter. flour, oats, etc, sofa lnS the
New Bern market over n mliiloI
dollars was sem to the rme OF
other states. Men and brethren, think
Of that drain and then you Will see
why a farmer in Iowa can own an au-
tomObile and build good while
! North Carolina does not grow rlch.
There is no part of the State where
hay and all sort of food stuff can be
grown better than in Craven ana or
the creek and river banks OF that and
adjacent counties, and yet ~ cars
were needed to haul INTO New Bern the
hay sold there in one year. AS 20
corn. that country Is as good as the
| Egypt country in Illinois, n yet II
took 462 cars to haul the corn needed
for New Bern merchants to sell and
there was sent out OF North Carolina
$50 0 for the corn hauled there, and
il took 100 ears to haul in $4,000
worth of corn meal. Now, it is not
20 be expected that any section can
raise everything it needs. but there Is no
good reason why a single dollar should
go outside Of North Carolina for the
corn and corn meal used to supply the
New Bern trade. New Bern sent out
in one year 1870 0 for cor and corn
meal. SuppoSe every dollar OF that
money had been kept in Craven and
the counties tributary to New Bern.
hink how many things that money
would have brOughl to the people that
they need and how comforts and lux
uries would have been multiplied to
the people.
No agricultural State so We'll adapt
ed to growing corn can attain to the
necessary measure of prosperity when
one big town in the best corn growing
section sends away nearly halt a mil
lion dollars for corn and corn meal.
Now where did the people get the
money to pay for these imports that
should have been grown at home?
From the export Of lumber and truck.
AS to the last. farmers who have land
peculiarly adapted to growing truck
should not put in the less profitable
corn crop, but there is abundance of
land Well suited for growing corn that
would give plenty of corn without TAX
ing away the million and a half dol
lars that comes from truck shipped
elsewhere. AS to swapping lumber for
corn, that is a very poor trade for
North Carolina. The farmer who
grows corr can produce a crop every
year. The timber crop is of slow
growth and when the virgin forests
are sold never again is there SO val
liable tinber even after a long term of
years. We are sacrificing our timber,
which will grow in value every year
if slowly marketed, for the Iowa mans
yearly yield OF corn. North Carolina
has been ~prOdigal in the destruction
and sale of its standing timber. 1t
be much better if every owner
would sell slowly and hold part of his
timber for the better prices which are
sure to come. The timber has all been
cut in many States. The man who
owns timber lands Will realize fine
prices by selling slowly and not flood
the market. Besides the forests
preserve the fertility of the lands, pre-
washing. and the Wholesale cut
ting down of timber does not make
either for better health or better farm
If North CarolinianS We're wise
would not be in q hurry to sell
their timber, but would grow more
corn and sell timber gradually. With
fair times. which are sure
to come from natural causes and not
from tariff injections, the
man who owns timber will realize good
prices, and his children will get twice
price he ear get for it now.
Let Us stop the corr and hay drain
IN the one hand, and conserve cor for
ISIS on the other. GROW al we eat
sell timber slowly. That NEAR
neutrality-suspicious. return and gener-
II prosperity. The prosperity that
comes from rushing imber to market
II poor prices. or praying for a high
arm, IS short-llved- There are many
sections oil the State that seemed
prosperous while mills We're eating up
ne lumber that are now almost desert
a.. Iumber CamnS flourish for q fan.