The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1955-11-18

TO give CnOuSnC TO, is plans IOT
new industries, large or small.
These are different times, and we
need to increase our per capita in
come, which in most of our eastern
counties is below the state average.
We need industries to process
the things we produce. We send
too much stuff away from home
without getting anywhere near the
money out of it we ought to get.
If we had more industries to proc
ess it before. it is sold, a great
amount of labor might find en-
ployment at home-labor that now
has to go away from home in order
to live.
Some good starts have been
made. There are seafood plants at
Wanchese, Engelhard and Belhaven
for instance. A sausage plant at
Pantego, and perhaps some others.
But there is great need for more
of them. One of our great handi-
caps for the development of in
dustries is lack of suitable trans
portation. Rail lines do not extend
too readily into our remote Coast
land. Perhaps ways can be found
around bottlenecks of this kind.
One possibility might be the de-
velopment of freezer plants to
assure our fishermen of more
money for their products. When
there is an abundance of seafood,
the market is low. Too often with
our commercial fishermen it is a
feast or a famine. This is neither
sound nor satisfactory.
Too often with us, our troubles
come from lack of vision. Too
often we fail to look ahead, to
plan for the future and when the
bottom drops out, we haven't a
single back log to fall upon, and
then it is, that too many of our
people have to scurry away from
home to seek employment by day
or week or month in some distant
place.
This is bad for the community
which loses citizen now and then;
worse when whole families must
leave, and in many instances leave
good homes and premises to de-
preciate in value. Should they be
fortunate in saving something for
a rainy day, it takes it all later
to repair their homes so the family
is financially no better off. And
saddest of all, in many cases the
homes don't get repaired, and the
family continues to stay away and
to pay rent in some place where
they don't want to live, and where
they are never happy.
One of our great failings is the
tendency of the people to put all
their eggs in one basket. When a
few made money with "long-nets, y
everyone flocked into long-netting
and sometimes went heavily in
debt. When shrimping picked up,
everyone who could do so, bought
a shrimp boat, and spent heavily
to get into shrimping. And so il
went; and when everybody was in
one thing and that thing failed
truly all were in the same boat
and broke to boot.
Right now we are enjoying a
nice business from tourist trade
or we did until the hurricane
broadcasters ballyhooed US out of
it before the season got we'll un-
derway. We got lot of money
from the development of beach
property. Lots of money was in
circulation, spent by visitors who
came to enjoy their summer homes.
Like all other booms, we never
stop to think that such prosperity
brought thereby may not last for
ever. We begin to buy more things
for all purposes. We spend to the
limit personally; and in public
affairs our officials indulge in
spending more than they would
ever dream of at any other time.
We keep pushing taxes up, and
finally we are getting nearly all
of our taxes from our newcomers.
1t looks easy because we don't feel
the load ourselves.
Then there comes another day.
We have seen in the great depres-
sion how resort property was the
first thing given up. We saw lots
of it sold for taxes because the
owners couldn't find anyone to
buy it, and they couldn't have the
money to pay the taxes. They were
too busy at home struggling to
save what they had, for what they
had back home came first. We are
making a bad mistake in the
Coastland whenever we attempt to
support the bulk of the cost of
Government on a tax structure so
flimsy as that afforded BY any
boom in beach property. We have
no fear so long as times stay
good, but one never knows. 1t has
failed before, and it can fail again.
Again we make a mistake in our
local governments when we spend
and spend up to the limit of antici-
no rod ipcopoo without cattipn q eide