The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-12-10
OF THE PEOPLE
IN r

State. and Some OF Its Immediate
Duties.
Address by President r. D. W. CON-
NOR before the State Literary and
Historical Association, December 3,
1912.
Kindness selected me for the honor
and duty Of presiding over this thir-
tenth annual session Of the North
Carolina State Literary Inc Historical
Association. This honor, I am fully
conscious, I owe to no merit Of my
own but to your generous partially,
for which I desire to return my sim
cerest thanks. That same Partially
I shall expect to be my advocate to
plead your ~forbearance for whatever
failure l may meet with in perform
ing adequately the duties you have
imposed upon me. Among these is
the duty Of opening this session with
an address on some topic in keeping
with the purposes of this Association.
You will naturally expect me to select
some subject from the history Of our
own State, but at the same time, you
have q right to expect it to be a sub
ject from which some lessons may
be drawn hat will be of practical
value iE the working out of our own
lIOoCLL udS pIOO1cIllS. 81" I1clUcE L
have succeeded in meeting these just
expectations is for your merciful Judg-
rent to say. My subject is 1.-The His
trrical Foundations Of Democracy in
North Carolina"
The history of North Carolina dur
ing the little more than a decade
since the organization Of this Asso-
citation, a been characterized by a
remarkable development along two
no 70 IVOv linnc ono loo IL 10 - ~rsJ
spread material prosperity, the other
to a popular intellectual renaissance.
One manifests itself in the hum Of
mills, the shrek Of whistles, the roar
and rush OF trains, p~erSOnifying the
power and energy Of an awakening
people. The other, no less q persona
fcation Of power, is nevertheless a
silent movement whose energy is
| generated in the quiet Of the school
room and the closet Of the student.
These two movements have created
conditions out Of which has sprung
a third, political in it's nature, just
beginning to make itself felt and de-
handing changes in our system Of
government profound in their char
acter and ~far-reaching in their eff
fects. None Of these movements
would have been possible without the
others. while all are the result OF
q forces that for two and a half CEN
q VuIlcS nave UcCu SIlupluS OuI ClV1llL1~
ton and determining our destiny.
In recognition of this fact We are,
as u people, turning more than at
any other time in our history to a
study Of the past to seek therein an
explanation Of the present and a
forecast of the future. One Of the
most striking features Of the intel
lectual awakening of which I nave
spoken is the recent rapid develop
ment of our historical consciousness
Out of it have sprung such intellectual
activities as h organization Of this
Literary and Historical Association
the creation Of the State Historical
Commission, the organization OF
numerous historical and patriotic so.
~cieties. the preservation Of historic
battletields and buildings, the marking
of historic sites, the celebration o.
historical anniversaries, the plbllca
ton of historical manuscripts, mono
graphs apd books, and h numerou:
other methods by which mankind ha!
always preserved the history Of tn
race. In the past decade alone W.
nave erected more ant
written more books in North Carolina
many of them works of real merit
than in all the previous two hundre
and fifty years of our history.
The development Of the inwart
spirit, Of hich such activities ar
but the outward manifestations
means much in the life Of any PEG
pie. The spirit OF a people is tn
history Of q people im~personated II
the life Of a people. II there is ~
history Of a people. there Is no sp1rl
of a people, and without such
spirit the people perish. 1t seems t.
NE. therefore, that nothing can b
more important to a democratic PEG
He than the cultivation Of such
spirit. Great and rapid material am
political development may prove any
thing but an unmiXed blessing II i
be not accompanied by a correspond
ing development Of the mental an
spiritual resources Of the State. an
there is no better way for the Stat
to develop these an
strengthen this side OF it's life tina
through the study Of its history
Every duty which we are called upo1