Goldsboro weekly argus., 1915-04-01
Possibilities OF
WAYNE COUNTY
COMMENDABLE UNDERTAKING BIZ
UNIVERSITY BOYS IN BEHALF
THEIR NATIVE COUNTY.
FOREWORD.

FOREWORD.
Wayne is a backward county-back-
ward in that it buys more food with
out its borders than it raises within;
backward in that its cotton crop mono
mania is fatal to its otherwise limit
less advancement; backward in that
the ratio of tenants to homecoming
farmers is greatly ill-proportioned;
backward In rural cooperation, fore
sight, thrift-in short, and in this
phrase may be summed up the whole
truth, backward because in the face
Of an enormous productive power it
contents itself with an enormous ill
proportioned retaining power. 1t would
be a God-send to this county il she
would only learn to retain q just pro-
portion of the wealth that she pro-
duces.
If the public Is advised of the con-
ditions, for few have the opportunity
or the time for personal research,
should it not follow that their inter
est will be aroused, and may we not
then begin to look for change for
the better? We pray that it may be
SO.
Consequently. spurred on sey faith
in public once informed. al1i in &C
cordance with the plan of the Wayne
County Club at the University that
several of it's members, In the interest
OF the county, should treat soEae par
ticuIar economic or social phase of
the county, and report through the ool-
| umns of the local papers the result of
| their investigation, the following trea-
tise, being the first Of Q saries. is
submitted:
w. REA PARKER, Pres.
Crop Production Of Wayne County.
Journey e. Edgerton, Wayne County
Club
| stThe farmers trade is enc ce9-orth.
| He's partner with the sky and earth,
He's partner with the sun and rain.
And no man loses for his fafn.
Men may rise and men may fall,
Yet the farmer feeds them ALL"
| DR.. Thomas N. Carver, Economic Ad-
wiser for the Federal Department OF
agriculture, says, "The first business
of the farm is to feed the farmer S
family and the farm animals" The
- sa %A hA
lself-feeding, no matter what else il
does And it is important for any
growing city to be the center Of 8
well-developed food-producing region
The high cost of living forces this con-
cern upon every city Board OF Trade
Yet the South has been very slow tc
develop q self-sacrificing policy. The
trend in our agriculture has been to-
wards the production of crop wealth
and away from the retention Of farm
wealth. Hence our per-acre crop-pro
Iducing power is much greater thar
that of the United States as whole
nevertheless, we have to admit the
lacy of the above poem as applied tC
the South, to North Carolina, and es
pecially to Wayne County.
The total home-rafsed food deficit o
!, the South in 1910 was $936.670,8s9.
the South's 16 million bale cotton crol
was sold for fifty dollars per bale, 1
would bring only 500 million dollars
, or would lack s136,670,S89 paying 70
the deficit In home-raised food. Nortl
Carolina's annual food deficit Is owe
eighty-fiv million dollars. Wayn
: County, according to the 1910 censu
report, has q population of 35,6s8. It
. need OF the food and feed-stuffs whicl
can be raised in the county Is approx
mately three million dollars ($2.S70,
l000) q year. It takes this much t
supply its own psepls. OF this amour
it produces about one and o half nail
lion dollars worth. Here fs a dedci
lof nearly one and half million dol
liars The largest cotton crop tha
Wayne County has ever produced wa
r about 35 900 bales. That $4,000 bale
n iproduced thi year is selling for abou
i Is to S11a cents per pound. But suppos
r that it had averaged $50 per bale; the
j. it would take about 10000 bales to pa
Q for the deficit in the food and feet
e lstuffs needed for consumption With
lc the county.
OF the total acreage under cultiv:
ton in the county about Sc Per cent
b used annually for the production I
{. cotton and tobacco alone. In 191
which was one OF the most favorab
years we have ever had for thel
N crops, the cotton and tobacco sold fl
m nearly $2,295,O After deducting Il
& cost of production OF these crops fro
st this amount: wages 1925 700, fertiliz
tf $4,000. feed for farm animals $7t
900; the cotton and tobacco would n
[G pay for the deficit in home-raised fot
q supplies.