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

Ioith carolina should have supported
are nroSellent TO re-charter the sec
oho BANK Of the United States tho
pro.ectlVe tariff, n internal i'm
ploHeHhents oy Fedora aid, when these
measures were opposed by the Sontb
al large; the other, that the Whie
parry should have found its strength
Al tnoSe portions Of North Carolina
IN winch the slave system did not
oUfnlnate, and the democracy in those
where 1t did.-while the situation in
the FAR South was Just the reverse
ror every need there is a remedy,
Tor every task a method. How can
these neglected phases of the past be
pest recalled to memory and given
thelr proper place in our history? |
nelleVe only by a two-fold survey Of
tle polltlcal. economic and social
heritage Of North Carolina; n based
on n smallest available local unit,
presumably the county and the
sources relating to it: the other, based
on a Statewide organization. general
sources and archives. For each the
following suggestions are offered.
In the investigation by counties
more emphasis han has been Gus
tomary should be placed on economic
conditions. An estimate of the nat
ural can be obtained from
the various publications Of the State
Geological Survey, of which an ex-
cellent photography has has been pub
ilsned. How these have
peen utilized is a more difficult ques-
tlon. Such matters as the average
SIZE OF farms, the development of the
labor system, the products of the
land and land values, trad routes,
prices, industries and population,
should be analysed as far as possible.
For this purpose the United States
Census, official records, printed and
manuscript, private correspondence,
diaries, and account books should be
carefully examined. To collect and
classify such details requires an al
most Infinite amount of patience, and
often an apparently undue attention
to useless details. But such Informal
ton. culled from a variety of sources,
plantation by plantation, county by
county, are the material used in re-
constructing the economic life of Eu-
rope; they will prove equally illumi-
mating, not only for the economic his
tory Of North Carolina, but for that
Of the entire South.
Closely related to economic condi-
tons are racial origins, for they have
been quite a factor in shaping in
dustries in the new world. Adnira-
BILE examples Of what ma be done
with this phase Of the past is found
in Mr.. Frank Nash's History Of
Orange County, and NixOn's German
vi - O0AAN AAo -
difficult is a proper use Of the art Of
genealOgy. Names of departed citi-
Gems may be found In large numbers:
but such essential data as their oc-
cupation, and, if they left their homes,
whence they migrated and why. are
throw considerable light on the larger
economic questions Of the past.
The history of religion may best
be given a. reality when studied local
ly, for questions of theology are neces s.
sarily eliminated and the church as a
factor In social life naturally has a
clearer perspective than In the gen
eral history of denominations. ConsE F.
quently the local church records
should be collected and carefully ek-
amined; in them much information
Will be found regarding amusements,
relations between whites and blacks,
standards Of education, as we'll as the
ways in which organized religion has
expressed itself. If nothing more Was
done than to bring together in one
place the records Of the churches, the
attempt at a county history would be
justified, for a sense Of the value OF
material too often left to waste and
oblivion would be diffused, and this
would lead to the collection Of other
sources.
Educational history in the sense OF
the rise OK q QuUl1C Opii1OA CONIcIu IL
ing knowledge and the duty to impart
It, can best be visualiZed through
county history. For example, there
is in the collections OF the Trinity
College Historical Society a letter
written in 1884 from job G. Scar
borough. superintendent OF Educa-
ton, to an officer Of Lenoir county
Interpreting the Dortch School Law
of 1877 to mean that a local tax for
c<.hnn1 nrrnnoo0 Nnco vOfo6 fn hn nor
rnanent; also there is an affidavit by
a citizen OF hat county that he had
not signed a petition for a second
! election in school taxes. These docu-
nlents at once suggest an inquiry Into
the early steps in the reconstruction
Of public education since h war;
the Dortch law must be read; then
the sentiment for local tax in Lenoir
county must be examined as we'll as
the schools that were developed: ano
finally the case in the Supreme Court
Incorporating the law must be con