The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-29
RALEIGH CAN BE A CITY OF A
QUARTER OF A MILLION PEOPLE,
That Is, If 1t Wants To-The Thing Has Been Done and
Why Shouldn't Capital City Do It?-Capital Citys
Talking Points

some OF you VINO were BORN mere.
When a man comes into a thing by
the ordinary course Of affairs he is
not compelled to defend his acces-
sion. But when a man deliberately
picks out anything he must expect
to tell his neighbOrs why he did It. l
have to show my friends back in the
North why I left them to come to
North Carolina. The native North
Carolinian has no uch task. The best
way l can do that is 10 hunt ont the
good features of this section and hang
them on the bulletin board where all
my Northern friends car see them and
Justify my judgment.
l have great faith in Raleigh. as l
have in all Of North Carolina. Other
wise l YOU never have chosen North
Carolina for my home. When [ look
back and see the Raleigh at the John
son street station, n then OOk at
the Raleigh of today I car put an
other group Of years on the picture
and look ahead and see the Raleigh
that is to come.
The Future Raleigh.
Possibly some folks may think I do
my fortune telling by a guessing sys-
tenn. l will give O the secret Of my
scheme, and let you try it on this
town Of Raleigh. | will work it out
with you. [ start back again at John
l. son street. You can start any pace
you want to, but Johnson street is
as good as any. We nose around
Johnson street station as it was twen-
ty-five years ago. Then we come up
town. We look at the sky-schapers
as we come. We drop into a fine big
bank building, we do not bother to
look at the name, but it's interior Work
suggests the grottoes of medieval
days. Its massive architecture tells
| that + lC nQrYnanAnf MO nrnu1
around the lobby. Here is evidently
a directors board room. Here is the
cashiers department. Here is a place
for the customers who wait for any
purpose. You can ask questions if
you like. but my system is to look.
We happen to recall hat on this
site a year or two ago was a building
of the older day, with not much to
commend it except that it a served.
hen comes the deduction from this
n clue. The folks that run this
bank are broadening. They are
broadening immensely. They have
put up a building here that they need
not be ashamed Of in New York or
London. This fine building would at
tract attention in any capital Of Eu-
rope. Apparently, it is here because
it is needed. 1t is here because the
men who put it here are men Of keen
vision and Of business ability.
The forecast follows. The conditions
that make this fine building needed
and the men who have made this
4 fine building a act are existing now
just as they existed when this build.
ing was planned. They mean that
others are to be planned. We go uI
street and we see the same thing du
plicated. Other fine big buildings are
in evidence. Other grOups Of men have
been doing things.
From the results of the efforts O.
, such men, and from the facilities af
fOrded by the increasing big building:
, ONE a wider financial and CONNER
c1al power. Raleigh, you see, ha!
) commenced to expand on the mos
substantial basis possible to conceive
. We pursue u inquiry. We find tina
. a lot of cOmmodiOus new building
are showing up all over town. On,
: Of the first things l lock at when
want to get the gauge of a town i
Q the roofs Of the houses. If I Sc
many bright new shingles l say Their
. is a live one. II / see no new shingFe
Q | expect to see the hearse come aroun
t the corner. I try the shingle test O.
Raleigh. h has them.
We are on the trail. New shingles
Live men. We will Shirlock Holme
this thing out together, and you Wi
draw your inclusion and / will dra,
mine. The town folks all know
come from the sticks, SO they do nc
d object as 1 go up and down stree
" looking in at the store windows.
d see that Raleigh mas good big store:
and good little stores. 1t has the Cd
stores, the art stores, the Did boo
e stores, the broad variety that ind
o Gates hat Raleigh is the place t
1t which people from a wide ~territor
turn when they want anything. The
t. tell me Raleigh has more stores fo
IS its size than any other place in tn
e State. There is a pretty good clu
q that the whole State looks on Raleig
| as a certain center, and as the Stat
s, grows Raleigh R-ows in that diret
re ton in the same proportion.
er Center of Education.
e. In the course Of our wanderings "
D. notice that in Raleigh is an interestin
l. center Of education. That brins
Il young men n young women fro1
as all parts Of the State as we'll as frol
a many other States, and gives to TT
OF town a helpful acquaintance that