The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1925-11-13
NORTHERN MILLIONS
MUST COME HERE NOW
Must Come East To Get More Native Labor
And The Cheap Power That Made Pied
mont is Now Available For All Northeast
ern North Carolina
(By W. 0. SAUNDERS)

lnat Eastern North Carolina
is headed for an industrial
boom such as has already hit
the Piedmont section of North
Carolina and made it the most
talked about industrial area i'll
America. is the opinion of
S. Z. Boney, director of the i'll
formation bureau of the South
ern super power group.
Mr.. BOney was in Elizabeth City
this week. He was here for pur-
pose which he did not divulgc. But
he was here for a purpose. lie is
no ordinary person and when he
blows into a town he is looking for
something for the super power mag
mates. He wouldn't disclose the ma
ture of his mission here this week,
but he did make the assertion, in
conversation with me, that Eastern
North Carolina is going to enjoy
something of the same industrial
development that has made Pied
mont Carolina great and rich in Il
marvelously few years.
The thing that has made the Pied
mont region rich and powerful is
cheap electric power generated by
water <driven turbines. Factories
follow cheap power They follow
cheap power if there is cheap labor
also to be had along with the power.
Northern textile manufacturers
have poured millions into new mills
from Raleigh to Greensboro and all
the way down the line to Charlotte
because this cheap power was avail
able for them and there was an
abundance of native labor.
Why We Stood Still
In the meantime none Of this
power was available for Eastern
North Carolina. 1t wasn't practical
to send power SO far and there were
customers i'm the Piedmont to take
all the power that was being pro-
duccd. So the Piedmont region grew
while Eastern Carolina stood still.
But new hydro-elcctric plants arc
being built. The Super-powcr capi-
talistS are already harncssing the
rapids of the Roanoke River. One
great power plant has already been
built ut Roanoke Rapids, barely %
miles i'm IN air line from Elizabeth
city. Another plant of $4,000 horse
power is being built on the Roanoke
Just few miles above the present
plant. Cheap power for Northeast
crn North Carolina is ut last avail
able.
In the meantime something else
lhas been happening. l suspect that
the development of the Piedmont
region has about reached the Satura-
/ tiOn point. Manufacturers sought
the Piedmont region not only for
cheap power. but for desirable ma
I tive labOrs. In North Carolina, with
native labor. they escaped the veXa-
! tion and losses incident to operating
with motley group of foreign
In bnrprS i'm the North
They Must Come To Us.
! But the new industries have ab-
Sorbed about all Of the available
native labor in Western North Caro-
! Iina. TO continue To build more
mills in that region will necessitatc
the importation of the very undesir-
able foreign labor which they have
left in the North. Thoughtful mann-
facturerS foresee grave difficulties
i'm mixing up the foreigners with
native North Carolinians. They
/ forrSee too that the tranSplantins Of
large groups Of foreigners in North
. Carolina will bring to North Caro-
lima the same veXing labor troll
bles that have made industry hap
less in the North.
/ There is one way out for expand
/ ing industries and for new industries
seeking location: that way is to
avoid further congestion of i'll
duStricS in the Piedmont where the
native labor supply is already alb
SOrbrd and scatter their industries
all over the State. There is an
abundance. Of native labor here in
Eastern North Carolina. Dare, Tyr
relI. Currituck. Camden, PasguO-
tank. Pcrquimans, Chowan, Gates
have thousands Of families Strng-
Cling on one horse farms who would
eagerly fOrsake the soil to come TO
town if they could find employment
TO enable them to live in comfort
and educate their young.
The labor is here. And now the
cheap electric power is available.
What's to keep Elizabeth City or
Edenton, or Hcrtford, or Washing
ton from becoming another Gas
tonia? The quiet visit Of 5. T..
Boney to Elizabeth City may be Of
greater significance than any Of us
drGlm.
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