The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-07-28
(By BION H. BUTLER.)

to interview "A great many men in
all stations OF life, big ones and little
ones, brilliant and stupid ones, men
in the capitol, men in the condemned
cell. men in the industries, the
sciences. the possessions, the peniten-
tiary and everywhere. In all the
bunch ! never fell in with IA man who
whanged the cover off Of the ball
with more prompt efficiency than
Hugh MacRae. He could catch the
point of a question quicker, and an
swer it in fewer brief words than any
other man l eve put on the witness
stand At times 4 thought OF super
John T.. Ray, Of the School
for the Deaf and Dumb and his sign
language.
II is a pretty well recognized fact
that North Carolina needs about
twenty millions more people to bring
the State out to what it might easily
be if it's resources were developed
more.
MacRae is one Of the men who see
this need. and he sees d little fur
thcr. He sees that the way to satisfy
a need is to go after what is wanted.
He is one Of the kind too, that really
determines what is wanted before he
goes, so that he does not obtain some
thing that is not wanted.
Mr.. MacRae long & saw that
North Carolina needed more people,
and that the need is certain to become
more and more Imperative. He also
saw tina il is not simply people that is
needed, but "a definite kind of people.
An Important Discovery.
Right there he made a most inn
pOrtaDt discovery. 1t was not "a sud-
den vision that came to this man. He
kept thinking over the thing for a
long time. Presently this thought
evolved itself-that it is not men who
would buy big tracts Of land and make
big farms that we want. Many men
now own big farms and big tracts
OF land who are facing the probler.
that the whole State is trying to
solve, which is how to get that land
cultivated. 1t is a most disturbing
question over in Jones, for instance,
where magnificent big holdings await
the men who will till that land and
bring results from a willing soil. 1t
Is a big question in Sampson where
men are anxiously seeking for help
TO reclaim the black jacks. 1t is a
big question everywhere, for men
enough now own land which is ] OF in
cultivation. North Carolina has no
pressing need for big land buyers.
Mr.. Mac Rae saw clearly that if he
were to sell to some man fifty thOua-
and acres of and the State would be
In just the same predicarnent it is
now. 1t would merely be a transfer
vi III W "a 0liitIt1t lOiQeI, a TRAITS
Ter OF some money to the seller, but
not to the community or to the State.
1t is not 81 question of owning land, or
OF buying and selling land that North
Carolina is troubling over. The thing
IL far deeper, and Mr.. MacRae saw il.
TWO things are absolutely necessary
to production, and and labor. Under
the modern subdivision Of labor a
third factor, capital, becomes essen
tiOl TO the success of the undertaking.
The land owner is of no use, unless
az owner ne can furnish capital.
Mr.. MacRae had "a lot Of land out ir
Pender and elsewhere and he finall,
reached the conclusion that what ne
needed and what the State needs, is
that factor of labor that will till h
ground. He looked the field over
He saw that the amount of available
labor in the State is occupied. HI
put him up to the necessity of pro.
curing labor from somewhere else
Naturally he thought of the NortI
and West. He encountered severa
conditions in that direction. The mos
desirable men are already establish
co., ana they do not care to pull ul
and go to an unknown country sim
ply because somebody there is inter
ested i'm urging them to go. Tn,
Norm has been SO long advertise,
from the West that a man irwin,
single handed to bring to bring PEG
pie from the North would have al
h energy of the Western boomer
to contend with. North Carolina j
not yet well known in the North. az,
Mr.. MacRae concluded that it woui
TAX a broader agency than his L
carry on a campaign of education u
that way.
He looked out to see where tn
settlers are coming from to fill up tn
lands of the United States and max
the farms and develop the states. Fol
lowing the trail of migration back
wards he saw that 1T led to Grea
Britain and Ireland, Germany, Swe
den, Austria, Italy, and on far int
the east. He followed the backwar
trail, only to perceive that English
German, Irish, and Swedish migratio
long ago passed it's high tide. TIL
people coming now are Italians, HUI
Ear,aHs, Polanders, Russians. an