The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-04-05

| Social and Industrial
Conditions.
North Carolina was not settled Dv
colonies. but by individuals VINO 10
Gated along the stream Dy
the small boats of the period, upon
widely separated plantations and only
pressed inland as the chOlce lana
along the streams was occupied. Ihese
soon developed two fixed principles:
III Spirit of Democracy, The Dignity
of Land-holding. AS balancing lnf1u-
ences these produced a sound conser-
vatiSm which has marked every per-
riod of the States history and must be
taken into account in every study OF
its institutions.
The distinctfvely arlstocratlc eie-
ment was not large. 1--WE always had
(says DR.. Wiley) an educated class,
numbering men and women Of he
highest type for virtue, intelligence,
patriotism and public spirit"
DR.. Bassett says of a larger class:
"They were usually self-made men, Of
fair intelligence and of some educa-
often wealthy. The majority OF them
were Christians. mostly of the Meth
odist. Baptist or Presbyterian
churches. There was little that was
ideal about them. They were hum
drum, but they We're honest, pious
and substantial, and they were num-
erous.' He might have added that
they were brave, constant, industrious
and hospitable.
Agriculture was the employment Of
all classes. Tools and implements
were rude and often clumsy, but were
made in shops on the plantation. In
fact there were few necessities of
daily life not made at home. Wooden,
men and cotton goods We're manufac-
tured for master and slave. Hats and
shoes. even plows, hoes and nails were
Of domestic manufacture Such work
was usually done by negro slaves. 1t
was a case Of Hobson's choice, owing
Co the lack Of transportation and the
cost of marketing products and pro-
curing supplies. The primitive cot
ton gins operated by horsepower
turned out about two bales Of cotton
per day and were found upon nearly
every large farm. The State pro-
duced ten million pounds of cotton in
1888 and about 100000 pounds in
1889. Tobacco in hogsheads with
shafts attached was rolled to market,
usually Petersburg. This tobacco was
sun cured and was worth ABOUT five
cents per pound. T~wenty-three hun
dred hogsheads were carried to the
new tobacco market at Henderson in
1870. which indicates in some meas
ure the extent Of the inconvenience
our planters had suffered for var Of
transportation.
III 1910 North Carolina produced
double as many yards of cotton and
WOODEN fabrics as Massachusetts, but
the factories disappeared just after
the Wa of 1912. One was established
at the Falls Of Tar River in 1913, and
one near LincOlnton in 1922. In 1888,
however, they had begun to spring
up rapidly and were then to be found
ar M~ocksville, Greensboro, Fayette-
Vile. Lexington, Salem, Milton and in
the counties of Orange and Randolph.
A number of others were projected
and started about this time. In 1910
the number of persons engaged in
manufactures and trade was 14,322; in
agriculture 217,095.
The mining interests were pr:nci-
pally confined to gold. Several small
iron furnaces and FORCES were in Oper-
alton in a small way. but with the
spread of railroads they were aban-
doned. being unable to compete with
the cheaper products of the we'll
equipped plants Of the North. LAS a
rule, the mines consisted OF simple,
but numberless. pits and cuts, along
the outerops of the ore bodies, which
were abandoned when they attained
too great a depth, and others opened"
The gold-producing States of the
Union were Virginia. North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee
and Alabama. The total product,
1924, was s2,444.000, of which
North Carolina furnished S1.313,OOO,
more than half. The benefits arising
from this mining had diffused them
selves among every class in the COM
munity. The banks in particular had
been enabled to procure funds and
a redeeming capital, which had the
ability to sustain their currency"
The establishment Of a Branch Min
OF the United States at Charlotte for
the coinage of gold, which went into
operation L 1885. greatly stimulated