The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1917-01-18
GOV. 7. ". B|CKETT'S
INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Raleigh.-Thomas Walter Beckett,
governor of North Carolina, delivered
is inaugural address to the Assembly
as follows:
Gentlemen of the General Assembly:
have no genius for destruction.
Sense and poetry agree that man
must follow his natural bent. It re-
ru,ts that the activities of this ad-
ministration must be exertsd along
constructive lines. If there be a man
IN North Carolina who desires to
drain swamp or terrace hillside: if
there be farmer who is struggling to
escape from the crop liens deadly
clutch: if there be a tenant who hun
GERS for vine and fig tree he may
call his own, l want all such to know
that the Governor of the State will
count it honor and joy to rise up at
midnight and lend helping hand.
If there be man or combination of
men who want to build factories that
will multiply the value of our raw pro-
ducts; to harness our streams and re-
deem the sad waste of the waters; to
construct or equip railroads that will
insure adequate transportation for our
growing commerce; to form or main
tain insurance companies that will
keep at home the Niagara of gold
that has been flowing out of the State,
| want these men to feel that the
State recognizes their wisdom and
their worth, and places no discount on
their patriotism.
If there be physicians whom with
that divine self forgetfulness that is
the birthmark of their calling, are
willing to trace disease to it's most
hidden lair, and plant the banners of
life in the very stronghold of death,
| want them to know that the State
sees a new salvation in their sacrificial
labors, and stands ready to clothe
them with all needful authority, and
place an unlimited armamentarium at
their command.
For four years l want labor and cap
ital, learning and art, and the life and
letter of the law to be devoted to
making every acre and every stream,
every human and every mechanical
unit in the Commonwealth be and do
its level best.
l doubt not that with the wheat will
spring up the tares, and to some sue
cessor of mine who glories in crema-
ton, shall bequeath the joy of
gathering the tares into bundles and
burning them in unquechable fire. To
me the call is definite and despotic,
to toll and tire not that all the fields
may came white to the harvest.
Such are my hopes and high re-
solves. But in civic life aspirations
and ideals are without value save as
they inspire measures that make for
the common good. Living problems
confront us. Ills that hurt require
remedies that heal. The hour calls
for action and Faith without works
Is dead"
The Translation of a Tenant Into
Landlord.
The first and dearest work of this
administration will be a supreme eff
fort to translate the tenants OF the
State into landlords Here and now.
in the presence of God and these
witnesses, consecrate myself, and all
the power and prestige of my office to
this endeavor. / shall neither rest
nor permit the State to rest, until
every honest, industrious and frugal
man who tills the soil, has a decent
chance to own it. l am driven to this
undertaking by the tyranny of a con-
Tiction that such a work is essential
not alone to the wholesome develop
ment, but to the enduring safety of
the State That wizard OF the
northwest, James J. Hill, once said,
Land without population is wilder
ness, population without land IS
mob" Today eighty-four per cent OF
the people Of Mexico are without
land, and riots and revolutions result
as the sparks fly upward. There can
be no government for the many while
the lands belong to the few, for the
history of the world teaches that the
men who own the land will rule it. **""
A Crusade Against the Crop Lien.
The crop lien is the boil weevil of
North Carolina. It is "the pest1lence
that walketh in darkness" It is the
destruction that wasteth at noon day..
How man can carry q crop lien ana
escape both the poor house ana the
penitentiary "passeth all understand
ing"
The merchant is no more to blame
for this evil than the farmer. Both
are victims of system that rewards
laziness and extravaganza, and pun
ishes industry and economy. The man
who pays at all pays twice, for him.
self and for his neighbcr who does
not pay. The moment this ceases to
be true the tome merchant goes into |
bankruptcy Time prices are not nix
ed with reference to a reasonable prof
it on the article sold, but are based i