Newspapers / The Albemarle Observer (Edenton, … / Aug. 7, 1914, edition 1 / Page 1
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North Carolina Sloppy ; With f Opportu nities; What Can The Press Do In Developing Them?'- : . Bion H. Butler Before Recently I said one day in the News and Obesever that North Carolina is sloppy ' with opportu nity. That expression Has been brought back" to me to set the pleasant task ot pointing out some of those, opportunities and telling how the newspaper men may help in' the development of them. thirty-two years ago tnis sum mer 1 caught my first glimpse ' of fNorth Carolina. At that? time T had seen enough of the indus trial develonment . and nrnarpw of the United States from Texas, Kansas and Minnesota east to lew England to "appreciate what development means and to recog nize the opportunity for devel opment where it appeared, Fif teen years of my newspaper work was passed as a writer of the progress of the big industrial ex pansion in the Pittsburg territcuy where big things are done. That gave me further insight; into what opportunity is and what jit is worth, it is more than, twenty years ago that I commenced to write in the Pittsburgh Times stories bfr Carolina.: In. that twenty years I have been showing people what I see here, and, in going out to show them I continally fall over jmore things to show - I did not discover North Carolina all of a sudden. It has been a gradual finding of , new possibilities until it is easy to see that no "State in the Union today-can present so mach of opportunity as North Carolina; This is said in all de- liberation, for unsupported claims aie of no use to anybody . It is folly to deceive ourselves. 1 make this claim after an acquaint ance with almost every commun lty of consequence " in the United States. - The chief factors that' are nut- tine North Carolina in the front are climate, rainfall, waterpower, transportation, convenience f to the markets of the United .States - . - - - and of the world, the permanent supply of raw material for factory use, and a population of intelli gence and upright character. I do not include those temporary re sources like timber, mineral de- posits, etc., which, valuable in themselves, and of great import tance,are still temporary, and not in the same class with those per manent things that are of ever lasting -worth. In hunting a place for a. per manent home for myself and fam ily.I picked North Carolina de liberately from all the rest of the country because it offered a big ger inducement in natural advan. tages. It has the best climate and the best rainfall. Climate makes a State fit to live in. Rain fall and mild climate makes it an agricultural possibility. Soil lVa factor, but fertility can be made Kansas and California and other States of the West are not so fertile now as when I first knew them . North . Carolina is more fertile. Fertility , is , under the control of man, climate and rain fall are not. ' Aheretore we must regard N. C. Presis Association. North Carolina as one of the fore most agricultural pbssibilities on earth. The story of the last fif teen years bears this out. In the last census period the State more than doubled its farm products. In the last five years' it has al most doubled again. This surpris ing record if kept up another ten years will put North Carolina a- mong the first three or four States of the Union. Mill development is fully as rapid. Fourteen years ago the State factories produced about 86 million dollars worth ot eoods. Now they make three, times that value Factories are v SDrinsrinp- up to build the" widest variety of products. The factories' are de- versified to scores - of different lines. . They will diversi fy more because they have the power. In a dozen years the development of waterpower in North Carolina has been one of the marvels of the industrial world. What is a- head nobody can guess, but al most any guess seems safe ' e- nough The State is gridironed respect has no peer-on-the globe. Ours is one4 State that is self contained and self providing. , It has the farms on which to feed the people, the factories in which to employ them, the powerjto run the mills, the yearly crop of raw material for the factory, the river and sea tor carry the frieght to market, .the railroads in all direc tions,' besides, the surplus of pro duct eagerly sought by other States. " . Risirig in the ; highest moun tains east of the Rockies, North Carolina rivers have more fall to the sea, a greater distance to the sea, a greater annual rainfall to carry down, and a greater area to .drain water from than any other State of the East. How much power that means is purt guess. It is a limit we cannot overtake for years. We have no idea of the limit of our ability- to produce cotton for the ever grow' ing Northor of any thing. We have no idea where we are going, but we are headed somewhere, and are running away on half a dozen roads at one time. - It is no use for me to point out to you the opportunities of North Carolina. Five thousaud people could find opportunity in Jones County to go to raising cotton. As many more could go to the mountains to raise cattle. As many more could go -to Guil ford to raise corn, to Moore to raise scuppernongs for the grape juice plant starting there, to Hen derson to raise apples, to Rober son to raise cantaloupes, to Cum berland to raise tobacco, peanuts for oil, sweet potatoes to retake starch for the cotton mills and al cohol for the; arts and for the automobiles when gasolene is scarcer. '. ' - - :r Every ; county -i in the - State could place ten thousand people as fast as they could come and opportunity would await; thenr One Of the . greatest : "advantages is that our resources -are so dis- tributed that in every - township in the State-it is possible to' es tablish a varied r industry. Here is one State that has power avail able in every localityr raw mater ial in very locality, transport? tion in every locality. . We dp not have to; bunch our indartries in cities where coal and iron and shop room can be had, as is the case in otHer States where the utilities must be assemblecL :We are not compelled to xrowd jnto centers of population, look at the cotton mills -development that lines. the Southern Railway from the Virginia boundary to the South Carolina frontier.. It is a continuation of' mill communities with their farm settlements about them. . ; At the last - census North Carolina ranked eighth among the States in its rural population. Only seven other States are de veloped all through "the rural re gions more than ours. In city population this State ranks thirty first, but we are practically alone' in having farm and factory prop erty development scattered over the entire State . . The farm is where it can feed the factory and "supply -such raw material as cotton and tobacco and the factory is where itcan benefit by- the farm, and find labor and subsistence and afford a market: North Carolina - is sloppy with: opportunity. I cart no more tell,xou , the Umit ofithi xfrfrtrm tffe" liniitof ttiewaterfiof thWt oceaii out there . in front of f usi This one single thing of electrical development that has commenc ed in the State means a revolu tion in industrial things, with a , North Carolina as a cradle of ex pansion and ; a training ground. Ten years from now the electrical atmosphere ot industrial North Carolina will be a marvel. You realize the opportunities. How can the press help to de velop them? By becoming 1 tho roughly familiar with what is here. We know of many opporU tunities, but there are many op: portunities we have overlooked ; We must become familiar with' as many as possible, and get our people to kuow and appreciate them My people laughed at me for' an enthusiast when I told them North Carolina, has thi best climate in the United States. I showed them the weather statistics which tell that. in every State along the Canadian frontier ' - . - " except New York and New Eng land the thermometer goes high er in summer than in North Car olina. They are surprised when I tell them the Catawba has power enough to turn -the - wheels of Connecticut, a prominent factory State, or that one big dam build ing on the Yadkin would run two. thirds of all the wheels in Yer mont. The newspapers put these things before the people vigor ously. In the North and East North Carolina is an unknown region, almost as far out of pub lie knowledge .as Roosevelt V river of doubt in the Amazon country. Every. North Carolina newspaper should have" several exchanges in the North and in New England that what ; is printed might be passed along to people elsewhere The newspaper must be a clear inghouse for information concern ing the State, the county. and the town. Every new farm,- every new factory, every new thing that tells of development iapd icrri- sion should get a puce on . tn fir8. Page;-witK a, twostack head.' ?r??re that in ;eur. paper ;t6at uiMIhg a dozen netr. tobacco arpes; on Pinbluff Jarjn Js of more consequence than the vote of the candidate for Congress or Governor. to : . , i , A? exampie pi this helpful en thusiasm is .the Southern Piries Touris one of the most aggres ave :.y development .-; factors, in (he Sate, as well as a model village newspaper. , r , . - J don't mind telling you a trade 1 secret if you will ; go home and profit by iu Every time" we start something new over in Hoke cdunty we try to tell; it, to the ,Qb?eryer, the News and Observer the Star and ajl he other papers that want to know what, is .going on in the .State.' They .'can't epra seqret and they tell it to tejr readers and every few days you v notice something new :is breaking loose in sthe sandhills. I don't :knQw -whether pur sec tion, is any better than yours, but we go or. the, theory Jbat.our sec tipiti. is the best: on earth, and our favored bird is not the Amencuh gle,Jbutxtheiiwise;oldihen who makes a .note of. the . occurrence every time she'lays :aii , egg, and Mdej toiveralimes rJuring ;0a befpre .and after ; laying e ,beleive in adyertisiig ItJi useless tof enumerate ftfie rfoould accommodate in tbS State 4man rmllioni ' of tpeople People is what we - lack-1 We lack people because the rest of the tbuntry which is supplying settlers tor tne united btates and Canada, does not know North Carolina. Within the next year, and, nearly every year, a million or more Americans will hunt new homes. They will 'not1 fino any thing better ttfori but they " will go eisewhere ior want of knowledge of Aorth Car olina. ; You who ?rint papers in the tobacco telt should get some ofiypur afiefs - into' the hands of people in the tobacco sections of ensylvaniaV Ohio Wisconsin; and elsewhere. " -t.'i You m the corn counties should be in touch with the peo- pt. in the !corhTcountry of ! the North and West. The climate of the Nortbt an'd West :; isl-fierce and peopled ,are unniog aWay from it constantly. Our climate is one of our greatest assets and when it is known what a climate we have and - what other ad van tageS" we will get people. . " i. ' We should have an aggressive publicity bureau in . the associa tion. The Western, States spend hundreds of thousands of, ? dollars to settle their country which is not half so attractive as ourslbut they settle it, and get their money back in the increased business. rteygtearvSou aif'Qapid' reslilti If aafifernil vs?ith the hustle those folHs : thavef should unite the,? rainfall; ;pf North Caro lina and the climate to their, kus4 tie.. they rwpuld make 1 five , mifiion .bales pi jcpttpn a year and spin At On the sandy lands of rthis;&tate could be .niacle s cotton. tPcdothe millions of the people ?;of Europe if farmers were jaere -.to use the aylibteJijcheaM The United SUtes akes.ihfteen xnil- lion bales of cotton a year. The Btte-tidirrdf the gloe t-neslaenougl islsixneja average of about thirty pounds of cotton a : year.--Tn most of the world the average : amount for each individual is not above three pounds. : To provide the world liberally with cotton; would take a 'crop iofa- hundred" - and fifty million , bales a year. '.North Carolina is the safest cotton tJtate on earth, and raises more io the acre than any other State. "Half the world has never yet had half enough clothes : to be comfort able 'because there was 1 never enough - North Carolina is mak ing more cotton goods every day, and every day the commerce, of the world fs expanding " into the figures of gigantic importance. The work is - to be done. We need more people to do it. "As far as we can see we will never reach our limit in this State. We need to show people that anything that can be done in any section of the United States can be done to a little better advan tage here, with few exceptions. We ' can make as good can tat loupes as Colorado, and a thous and mile? nearer m'artcet. Yet Rocky Ford -melons' are known everywhere and Scotland county melbns sell for Ebcky Ford. Think what rainless Montana or Idaho would do WUh our rain- all 7 and convience . to market; Yel those people are no more in telligent org industrio us than -our e he vi stmolV vhaveP to un'orr tlrown ou thre, Jarid they pump and show ' other peo- pie they j can pump. The Lord has been! too good to this State. Here it is not so neccessary to pump, and we overlook the amazing advantages. We do not appreciate them sufficiently to talk of them to others. I think you understand as well X can tell VOU that here i V InnH of boundless possibilities If I were, to.be asked how many peo ple North Carolina could sustain ui Luuuuii 1 yvuuiu say cnat oei- gium sustains thirteen ; rimes as many, people to , the j square mile as we do, and they seem to live in comfort, and with riot; so much of natural . advantage to depend on. ; Using Belgium as an illus tration I would say that thirteen times as many people as we .have now, or about twenty-five, mill ions, would be about the figure I would . recommend to start with. When we get that many we coulcj figure on how many more to, think about. ' Belgium has about as much territory as the coastal plain of North Carolina, and as many people as both Carolinas, Virginia an d Maryland, which , is all that need 'be said about the room for, people- in this State. To promote development we must get people. I dont count myself an old man.. yet X remem ber when we spoke: of Ohio as out West. ; From the day when this government was; established it has been an average of i only as little more than three years be ,t ween new States. Thepeople who make 'new j States; are x increasing faster now than ever. The new States, are. all madeH The people will go on making farms and fac tories and towns and communities and they will f ollow the ' ines:'pf least; resistance! in finding the place if they know" where those lines are. To show them is our ; tsk. ; . To. get those pe'ople is our need. V Jhere are plenty 6t them to"beJiaclggi7 i fhc:rst;part ofUictwrki to become thoroughly familiar with theworFpurselvesrlie to show our , honie people d we have here somthing ' that should be made known to those. rot the big world who are looking for a chancer do sonlelKingVor-tliem-selves. We must'ardtTse 'buVown State that itwitf eirtuS at tract attention' ; Then f we must must fdrntstiihfdrffiatldtC'.Tlie' papers bust arouse the enthusi- asm must ity. y ou must eacn one, cdflstitute yourself the aggressive ageVit of development of ybpr county and your community," make your paper its enthusiastic, -.organ and then as one of my dariie&isaid one day while wrestling . with . a piece of obstreperous beef, you must chaw for godsake. When jou gptyqur job. star ted stay with itr Of all the remarks that have ever been made about me as long as h can remember the one that . pleased me ? most was that of a man who said of me, ''That; man never knows when to quit - Friends, let us go home from here determined to cut out the mufler, open the throttle wide, advising, the. rest of thek world to UK t t-ut t)uZJ.iUitt -.JUS itii excuse the. dust as . North Car- olina whips past..; i.i - . . rutfea una- inven entcd Cleveland Plai Dealer. ? ti CharlesTeller the inventor . of cold storage, starred to death in Paris last October. He; had pawned all his property, 1 and at last perished. lijeragy from lack of food. Shortly before he died Teller was presented' with the decoration - of the Legion- of Honor, but this was wn6t a edible. After his death the government slipped a lf006ffanc riotb' be tween his cold fingers, and gave hirb a fine funeral. '; France has now completed her measure pf generosity by having a Jmedal struck in wHis honor. Teller left an invalid son; The young man, now 22 years of age will never be able to work It appears that he mighty for all France has done ur his. . behalf suffer a fate similar? to that of his father. I But the Ihteroation al Cold Storage Corpar'atioh has proved more generous than; the nation. It has collected 110,000 francs for young Teller ; and all but 6,000 francs of the sum was raised in Argentina and Uruguay. With, this to fall back hpo& the son of the man who: ilic -spimuch to solve the: phjB il the world's food, sujplytjL not likely tbdie'idrlacof'fbjodr The Teller case istaieresting, not because it is 'typical' but be cause it-is almost ' unique. y The French are the iost generous of the services of their fellow-coun trymen ' No bther- natfori pre sents so many tfledals more 'eager to give material liid io.hosd who have1 achieved Vgceatness.xyTeller was.merely footten. .J ofjthe people Then the 'faper lead the carbli&n 6f oiiblic- j
The Albemarle Observer (Edenton, N.C.)
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Aug. 7, 1914, edition 1
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