The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-06-30

&<14AE G4Ei6 u ~ j
great works Of art. Professionalism IS
such as Interpretation and Democracy
IS, n the SermOnt on the Mount. and
the Parthenon, and the Declaration Of
independence. This country Of ours
IS, ana the Sermon on the Mount and
.eilpt 70 work but IN an environment
INFINITELY rich in resources, and under
conditions of supposedly perfect free
dom, q newer and truer ~terDret
ton Of the individual man and his
relations. We have apparently not
been satisfied with the result. Wei
nave produced our great institutions
OF material Wealth-the Steel Trust.
and the Standard Oil and the rest-l
We have produced the great individ-
uais of business development Mr..
Morgan, Mr.. Rockefeller, Mr.. Harri-
son; and we are producing a power
full, centralized, regulating state: but
we have lately awakened to the fact
that 1t was not for these that this
Nation was established. Civilization
had produced Institutions, individuals,
and a state as great ana as powerful
two thousand years ago. And our
stricken consciousness that we have
partly failed and that we must still
passionately seek to discover the right
relations between our material nros-
perity, individual freedom, and the
wides human development through
government, is what put prophetic
power IN Bryan's voice
I;ooseyelt's Charter of Democracy"
Wilson's Newer Freedom and all
the literature and legislation of recu-
lation that has lately enlightened and
confused US.
The World Problem.
All of our recent political history
has been concerned either superb
cially or profoundly with trying to
work out this problem, and that is
the world problem that we OF Of
North Carolina have freshly set for
Us to solve; to work cut q truer basis
than has yet been discovered, the re-
lations between the individual man.
the material wealth by which he is
SURROUNDED, and the State he has crea-
ted under the guidance of the i'm
pulses of democracy and Christianity
handed down to him as the achieve
ments Of the past civilizations.
| do not mean to attempt to analyZe
the problem, nor discuss any Of the
measures proposed for its so%lution;
but to reemplaasize the necessary
foundation for it's solution and to point
out a method OF furthering it. And
by this, | mean q very simple thing
that we are always forgetting. We
arn't to succeed in achieving genuine
progress in his democratic Ctviliza-
ton, we are building in the midst of
a rapidly growing material prosperity
by adopting h popular government
clothing made in Oregon and WiScon-
sion. Some OF it is, no doubt, excel
lent. and-we may gratefully make us
Of it on occasion. But in adopting
this progressive legislation we often
lose sight Of the foundation on which
il must rest. What we need, if the
genius of the people is to control this
State, II We are to ave a real on
StructlVe democracy. and produce the
fruits Of progress, if the people are
really to rule, is for the greatest pos
sible number of people to have the
greatest possible amount Of knOWl-
edge about the life of the State that
they are supposed TO control.
More knowledge a Need.
We must know more about Il facts
of production, the facts of distribu-
ton, about our tax system, our lano
system, and our labor, and school sys-
TEN. We must know more about The
history Of u people and more abOu'
development of other States and cOun-
tries. We must get at the basic fact.
that control our community enter
priSeS Of progress as directly as tht
bank account Of a merchant controls
the cultural opportunities of his fam
lily. We need to know about the fact:
hat enter into the processes of Ou1
public affairs, before u biennial eff
J forts to set things straight by lesisla
tive enactment will produce the bes
) results. Real progress for us vii
come only when the people of Nortl
Carolina are stirred by their interest il
: North Carolina, and knowledge abOu
/ North Carolina into warm glow Of
devoted common civic purpose. TN
til then such laudably devised mea
s sures as direct primaries will onl
make our failure more direct, an
the initiative and referendum onl
lead to blind alleys OF temporary re
t form. Our material success Will onl
\ lead US to tear down u old barn
: to build greater barns at the eXpenS
Of the permanent values that our In
: ion in democratic government exist
3: to promote. The compelling ansWe
g Of progress in North Carolina IS no
K coming from any single leader Q
t group of leaders; it is coming frol
the mind and heart of an informe
: and practically aroused people.
. A campaign of the broadest sort c
education. then, is what we need,
s campaign of direct education anon