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

Ail1 Null L 1
Carolina Press Convention Wednesday |
morning, June oath, was Civic Ser
vice Week, n a Statewide Cam
paisn for Arousing Civic Conscious
ness" He said:
1t is a curious fact that practically
All OF our political differences cluster
about the word "progressiye'. at a.
time when pubic thought is uniquely
united and alert in its desire for prog
fess. Progressive in the past few |
years has split one great National
party into factions and knocked a few
dangerous splinters from the other.
in our own State in the past few
months it has set off a preliminary
explosion or W more or less dis
turbing to the safely dominant party, |
separating the press and the people
into fairly recognizable division.
Progressive" on the other hand, was
never so c~onSpicuouSly the master
word in the thought of all the people
as it is at this men
Why Differences OF Opinion.
The reason for the contradiction of
and restricted meaning, not necessar-
lily associated with progress" 1t may
course, is that progressive has as
sumed in the public mind a specialized
suggest certain measures and atti-
tudes of mind and personalities that
permit wide differences of reasonable
opinion. 1t may suggest more n a
Mr.. LaFollette, or Mr.. Bryan, or the
minimum wage, or government own
ership, or the initiative and referen-
DUN, or uncomfortable activity con
nected with 'swatting' something
the Standard Oil. the fly, or Mr.. Per-
kins. 1t always implies an attitude
toward change, and to some it is syn
.trrr,ntfE ,r~ifb n 4rart1nni ,poi,,
dice in favor eff change militant
dissatisfaction with careful attitude
expressed by 81 mountain friend of
mine who said he could 'aIlus git
along faster settin' STILL Progress
SiVe" in its specialized meaning is in
danger Of becoming confused with
motion in n direction, as distinguish
ed from progress which is concerned
with only that motion which is in the
right direction. Along the line Of this
division, there are as many degrees
OF difference as there are individuals
all the way from Mr.. Roosevelt.
whose natural gait IS running away"
said by the people who know him, to
be the mathematical fixed point in the
profession of standing-pat-or sitting
pat. someone asked a travelling man
recently, what a Georgia cracker"
was. Well" said h man, IF you
are going along a Georgia road and
set Two DldCk ODJGCIS OuLiIIltd against
the sky ahead of you, one will be a
stump, and the other will be "a Geor-
sia cracker. You watch 'em. The
one that moves first will be the
stump The modified motion that
characterizes permanent progress is
kept in view in Mr.. Wilson'S we'll
known definition Of the progressive as
Al conservative with a move on"
Emphasize the agreements.
What we need to emphasize at this
ome of keen and growing politi-
cal interest, as it seeks to Identify it
self with the forward-looking up
Ward-building spirit hat animates the
state is not the diSagreements that
center in the incidental measures OF
progressivism; but the great agree
ments that enter in the fundamentals
Of progressive. Some of us believe
apparently that we will get along fast
cr by ~"settin' STILL" a few that we
will go faster and further by run
Minis away" but we are all of us
consciously intent as we have never
been before on achieving the grea'
creative mission of progress that civil
iization exists to promote. and thai
we hope to promote the boundaries o.
North Carolina to a degree not hither'
to attained elsewhere. This may have
been what one of the leading state
papers had in mind the other da,
when it said that North Carolina j
tho most progressive State in the IN
ion, that is, that there IS no othe.
State where the spirit of progress /
moving so actively, and With 50 keel
and unbiased a desire for right guid
ance. and where conditions of mater
ial resources and human resource
are so fortunately combined to pro
mote progress.
Defining Progress
70 achieve this progress We wan
first of all to find out what we meal
by progress. so that we shall not care
lessly confuse it with material pro
duction, or with magnificent IndlVla
ualism, or with governmental power
n then if We can outline what W
mean we want patiently to set to VOL
TO Law the foundation thu
SO great a thing requires. For 1t
under such conditions as we are en-
joying that now and then IN the ION
course of human competitions me
- 4 ,;,y0 40 f1n trivia l 6IffpranP(