The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-09-30

president of the Farmers Union in
North Carolina. spoke as follows:
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentle |
men:
- owe it to the Farmers Cni,n
that . am cOmplimented by being
asked to address this audience his
.~,fternoon. 1t was only since twelve
O'clock that j knew / was going to De
,r,led upon to speak to this audience,
au,l am here as has been indicated
a'foa!y by the gentleman introduc
in- ne. to represent the Bravo uf
North Carolina and a part Of the
Drain of North Carolina. i am here
40 speak for the farmers of North
Carolina n also for a large part of
the consumers of North Carolina.
am here to speak for the class Of
people who are creating year by year
Two hundred millions Of dollars worth
"f agricultural products from old
Mother Earth" from North Caro-
lima soil. l am also here to speak
Tor that class Of people who are Great
ing the raw material from which
three hundred millions of dollars Of
manufactured products are put on
the market from North Carolina year
by year. / am here to speak also for
t'c Thousands, yea, hundreds Of tilol-
Sands # poor men,, women and child
rem. too, who are not here to speak for
tEeluse!ves, those who are at horDe,
films the field or picking the fieeoy
>;aple Nficn is going to bring wealth
80 our commonwealth; the people
WHO are leaving to others these vital
q.cstioDs which concern their vel
fare | say leaving it to others, a. d
70. they have been leaving it . others
and that to their hurt. Now, though,
they have had their eyes opened,
their ears opened, and they are be-
ing awakened to an understanding of
.,r1itinnc &c fhnu re o-I h., 4-1
demanding that these evils and these
impositions upon our State be RENE
died, and they are looking to the
Leaders in our great State to find a
remedy and to put it in operation in
this State of ours that we may no
longer be robbed of our birthright.
They realize that it is not right that
they create wealth, only that others
may reap who have not sown, who live
IN fine houses and go in the height of
ease and luxury and comfOrt-frOm
the wealth which we are creating.
Now we know we have a grievance;
We all know it, we acknowledge it,
We all know it. The people have been
~ ignorance in the past in regard
10 the existing conditions. but as Abe
lincoln said once: You can fool all
the people part of the time, and part
of the people all Of the time, but you
can't fool all the people ESPECIALLY
ii they are North Carolinians) all the
time" tApplause.) The day has
passed when the people Of North Car
olina can longer be cajoled or fooled
about this freight rate proposition
J had an experience a few days age
that touched me in a tender spot. il
my p~ocketbook. l had 80 bushels O
rye shipped to me from Winston
salem. y. c., to my town. Matthews
\. G.. IS miles. The freight bill wa!
Slo.11-for hauling $500 pounds o
rye rs miles. ] protested that it wa
an imposition, that it was outrageous
and that it was simply holding me vi
and iobbing me. which it was, arr
'he agent acknowledged that it was
" | ordered the rye from Richmon'
10 be shipped to Matthews, 301 miles
the rate would have been zoe }"
hundred-I had the agent TO look
uD for me. Now from Winston-Sal
en- to Matthews / was made to pa
rs IL cents a hundred pounds, 70
hauling rs miles, and that too, With
my own State, intrastate. Then ! ask
ed myself What has the Corporate
Commission Of North Carolina done?
Laughter and C ontinued applause
! could not help wondering VIII
was that the officers of our Sta
whom we have elected and whose sa
AIRY is p aid by the taxes of tf
people Of North Carolina, why it Wa
that they had not taken the peopl
into their confidence and let US kno
how we were being imposed upon an
how we were being robbed for genel
ations past. tApplause). l could NJ
help feeling, gentleman, that a pus
lie officer is the servant of the PEI
pie. tApplause). ! do not mean TN
as an impeachment of the Corpor;
ton Commission. but | do believe n
mat the people have a right to no
their officers to their official dutl
or know the reason why. They ma
failed to perform those duties. No
what is the remedy? We know TN
the disease is here in our commol
wealth, a disease that has been co
cealed like some hidden cancer, ca
ing out the very vitals OF our cor
monwealth from an industrial stan
point, a disease which has carried y
talitY from North Carolina TO ON