f
THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PA3AU0UNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
i I - -
RALEIGH, N. C, MARCH 12, 1889.
VoL 4.
No. 5
; to , " .
... ir ; - :: : :
i
DIRECTORY OF FARMERS' OR
- GANIZATIONS.
NORTH CAROLINA FARMERS' STATE ALLIAXCE.
President S. B. Alexander, Charlotte,
IT C
Vice-President T. Ivey, Ashpole.N.C.
Secretary L. L. Polk, Raleigh N. C.
Treasurer J. D. Allen, Falls, N. C.
Lecturer Dr. D. Reid Parker, Trinity
College, N. 0. T
Assistant Lecturer D. D. Mclntyre,
Laurinburg, N. C
" Chaplain Rev. Carr Moore, Towns-
ville, N. C.
Door Keeper W. H. Tomlmson, Fay-
etteTille, N. C.
Assistant Door Keeper R. T. Kusn,
Mt Gilead, N. C.
Sergeant-at-Arms J. S. Holt, Chalk
Level, N.C. J
State Business Agent W . A. Darden.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH CARO
LINA FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE.
Elias Carr, Old Sparta, N. C, Chair
man; Thaddeus Ivey, Ashpole, N. C; J. S.
Johnston, Ruffin, N. C.
THE NORTH CAROLINA FARMERS' ASSOCIATION.
President Elias Carr, Old Sparta,
Edgecombe county.
B. F. Hester, Oxford Secretary; S.
Otho Wilson, Vineyard, and W. E. Ben
bow, Oak Ridge, Assistant Secretaries.
VIRGINIA STATE ALLIANCE.
President O. T. Barbee, Bridgewatar,
Virginia.
Vice-President T. B. Massey, Wash
ington, Virginia.
Secretary J. J. Silvey, Bridgewater,
" Virginia.
Treasurer Isaiah Printz, Luray, Vir
ginia. - Lecturer Q-. H. Chrisman, Chrisman,
Virginia.
Asst. Lecturer J. S. Bradley, Luray,
Virginia.
Chaplain Wm. M. Rosser, Luray,
Virginia.
Door Keeper B. Frank Beahm, Kim
ball, Virginia.
Asst Door Keeper G. E. Brubaker,
Luray, Virginia.
Serg't-at-Arms C. H. Lillard, Wash
ington, Virginia.
State Business Agent S. P. A. Bru
baker, of Luray, Virginia.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
E T. Brumback, Jas. E. Compton and
Geo. H. Chrisman.
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANI
CAL COLLEGES.
The Theory and Management of the
Mississippi A. & M. College.
No. 5.
By Gen. S. D. Lee, of Mississippi.
Mb. Edidor: The A. & M. College,
since its establishment in 1 880, has
not interfered with the attendance of
students at Oxford, and has given such
an impetus to education in the State
as to increase the number of students
at the Baptist Denominational College
at Clinton by about an average of
69 a session and also to increase largely
the attendance at normal colleges and
schools throughout the State. It has
had an average attendance of 311
students a session, and in the session
of 1887 364 more students than at
Oxford and this, too, on an appro
priation of $5,428 less than received
by the University.
In spite of these facts, the last Leg
islature gave the A. & M. College
$21,284 less than that given the State
University for its support for the ses
sions of 1888 and 1889. A discrimi
nating apportionment law also passed
. ii a . i
requiring mat Mississippi Doys, in ex
cess of the quota from the respective
counties, should pay a tuition fee at
the A. & M. College, and this, too,
when students from Tennessee, Louis
iana, Arkansas and other States were
given their tuition free at Oxford.
The money given to the A. & M. Col
lege for its support was hampered,
taking from the trustees the power
given them to fix the' salaries of presi
dent and faculty, and disburse as in
their judgment they thought best.
The act reduced the salaries below
those paid similar omcials at the State
University. Nothing was done about
the salaries at the other State colleges.
In spite of a better record than any
other State institution, these adverse
discriminations were made against the
A. & M. College and violent attacks
were made on its management.
- I propose to examine some of the
objections made in the Legislature,
and by others through the public
prints, believing that a misinformation
as to facts exists, and that the opposi
tion in most cases was honestly enter
tained. Every public institution has
enemies, but public criticism and ex
amination will only strengthen those
that are properly and economically con
ducted. 1st. It was claimed that a great
debt of $40,000 has been saddled on
t ' the State by the establishment and
support of the college for the eight
years of its existence. The same Leg
islature which established the A. & M.
College "acknowledged a debt to the
university 01 tne state of 544.061
I '
The State either had to refuse a bonus
of $227,500 from the general govern
ment, or, if accepting it, obliged itself
to establish the college. She only
had three years in which to decide;
she accepted the conditions of the gift
and has established the college. One
of the conditions of acceptance was to
establish a college, '-when the leading
object should be to teach such branches
of learning as are related to agricul
ture and mechanic arts, etc."
The value of this college property is
now over $206,000 an investment of
the State, for the law prescribed that
the State must provide buildings and
outfit. Then was the State debt also
created "in enlarging the asylum at
Jackson, in building the new asylum
Meridian and in starting the J. H. C.
at Columbus and increasing the com
mon school fund.
2d. It was claimed that the students
attending the A, & M. College were
not equally proportioned to the differ
ent counties, but that twelve counties
had one-half of the students attend
ing, and twenty counties were not rep
resented. Some counties appreciated
education more than others and send
more students, to all colleges and
schools; and no law can compel coun
ties to send students unless they want
to do so. One thing is certain: no
county has ever been refused room for
students, equal to its quota, if they
could otherwise comply with the con
ditions of admission. This was claimed
as a great crime in the management.
The facts are, the A. & M. College
was ahead of the University of the
State in equal distribution and ahead
of colleges in Alabama and any other
State, and even had a better record
than the three most largely attended
A. & M. Colleges in the United States.
Oxford had one-half attendance
(1887) from seven counties and other
States and twenty-seven counties not
represented. ,
The A. & M. College of Alabama
and also the University do not show
as good a record as our A. & M.
Michigan Seven counties and other
States -have one-half and thirty-fpur
counties not represented. Kansas
four counties and other States one
half and twenty -five counties not rep
resented. So it appears that this
objection had no foundation by com
parison. If it is a crime and needs
legislation to correct it, why not apply
to all State Colleges receiving support
from taxation ?
3d. It was claimed that only wealthy
boys can attend the A. & M. College.
The record shows that $124 will cover
all nocessary expenses, and over $25
of this a year is really for clothing,
which is not included- in the necessary
expenses of other colleges in their
published catalogues.
The Board of Trustees carefully
looked into this matter. They say:
"After careful enquiry, we are satis
fied that, while the college is open to
all, yet the son of no rich man attends
it; the boys here are either wholly
destitute of means or are the sons of
farmers of very limited means; it is
erriphaiically a school for the poor, and
we intend, as far as we are able, to
make it subserve their interests." The
fact is any live, industrious boy can
get through on from $75 to $100 a
session for board, books, medical at
tention, fuel and every expense. These
official facts are certainly more reliable
than reckless, careless assertions.
4th. It is claimed that the sons of
farmers do not attend the college. The
record shows that m the last session
82 per cent, of all the students at
tending were the sons of farmers, and
the balance were mostly sons of men
engaged in industrial pursuits.
5th. It was claimed that the salaries
paid the president and professors were
too high, although they were paid the
same salaries as paid at Oxford and at
most first-class colleges. The reduc
tion made by the Legislature caused
the college to lose several of its best
professors, who had mainly contribu
ted to build it up. The salaries of the
professors were reduced from $2,000
to $1,500. Texas took one and paid
him $3,000; West Virginia took an
other and paid him $2,500. One of
our graduates was receiving $800 as
assistant professor and the college
wanted him for one of these vacancies.
Texas offered $2,250 and took him.
Another graduate was receiving
$480; Kentucky offered him $1,200
and took him.. Larger salaries were
offered to two 'other professors, but
they determined to remain by the
Mississippi College, believing the next
Legislature would correct the matter,
and could and would pay her officers
as much as other States. The board
have had to fill the vacancies with
younger men of less reputation and
experience. Even these gentlemen
cannot be kept at their present sala
ries, but will be carried to other States I
in the near future. A few more such
experiments and radical changes will
break up the institution or reduce it
to a second rate college. A man or
commodity is worth what he or it
will bring on the market. Mississippi
cannot keep: .first-class institutions
unless she pays the same price . for
professors as other States do for the
same grade of talent. The most im
portant part of any college is a learned,
earnest and competent faculty. Why
discriminate against the faculty of the
A. & M. College ? Why should the
State not be equally liberal to all her
institutions ? Are they not , all sup
ported by taxation ? Is this any good
reason why the sons of farmers should
have second-rate teaching and the
sons of others have first-class teach
ers ? The State should hold the scales
equally and treat all her sons alike
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.
THOSE THREE LETTERS.
Mb. Editob : Of the many inter
esting articles in The Progressive
Farmer of the 19th instant which,
by the way, is the best number I have
ever read there are three to which 1
wish to call the special ' attention of
all casual readers, viz: "Diamond,
Fogy " and J. B. Smith's. Dia
mond's would be a gem of the first
water, but for the "sand," which
many think ought to have been left
out. The deep growl "- of " Fogy "
is the sort of music to" which we farm
ers ought to ance. It is the right
letter in the right place;" but as to his
" wire grass," I would like to know
whether it is not about as hard to
keep inside the pasture as the " fat
cattle'and sheep " that luxuriate upon
its juicy joints ? as .a slight expe
rience convinces me that " when it
breaks out and anchors in a fellow's
"crap," " All the King's horses can't
pull it up." I quite agree with him
that "crab grass " for hay is the best.
I have never had enongh of it ex
cept at hoeing time.
Brother J B. Smith's letter very
naturally leads one to conclude that
he drilled in the wars, whereto "hep,"
'halt," "right dress," &c, was the
"order of the day;" and whilst many
will agree with him in the main, they
will doubtless think all the same that
a little independent "skrimage" now
and then would greatly enliven the
troops. Does he not well remember
how the battle of "First Manassas"
encouraged the victorious "Old Rebs"
who had not been thoroughly organ
ized? I, too, participated in the "late un
pleasantness" and can testify that some
of the best fighting I ever witnessed
was by gray-headed "Tar Heel" con
scripts, who joined us on a march to
the battlefield. I believe, with "Fogy,"
that "County, State and National
Alliances are and ' can only be what
the Sub-Alliances make them." Bro.
S. evidently thinks the Sub-Alliance
that "resolved to use no guano put up
in other than cotton sacks" ' was most
too previous, inasmuch as no such
order had been sent down from head
quarters. If necessary "for the good
of the order," I could refer him to a
Sub-Alliance that, for its own conven
ince and benefit, set on foot an enter
prise which has naturally benefited
many Alliances in three counties.
"Tall oaks from little acorns grow,"
therefore let us "despise not the day
of small things." The Sub-Alliance
that waits for, the thorough organiza
tion and co-operation of the several
branches of the "Industrial Army"
will be left in the lurch.
Fraternally,
Sub-Alliances.
TALKS BY AN OLD FOGY.
No. 2.
The condition of the public roads in
any country is an index to its pros
perity. This proposition all tourists
will tell you cannot be controverted.
To illustrate what I wish to impress,
I will take the first county on the
Roanoke that has large areas of bottom
lands. By the census of 1880, Halifax
had in round numbers one-fifteenth of
the population of this State. If the
convicts now in the penitentiary or
sentenced thereto were divided pro rata
among the counties, Halifax county
would have twenty-five convicts. Quite
as many more would be added from
short jail sentences. This would give
Halifax fifty convicts and three hun
dred days to the year would give the
commissioners 15,000 days work in
one year. Yes, I heartily favor each
county using her own convicts on
public roads. :
" All roads leadjfco Home."
Put in first class order the roads'
leading, to the county seat to the
various railroad depots to our . facto
ries and 'mills. When once properly
graded and rounded, they would need
but little repairs for years.
It certainly is not just to require a
citizen who owns no land to work the
roads three, six, or more days in the
year; while the citizen who is over
fortyf-five and runs teams and wagons
over. .the roads almost, constantly does
not contribute one hour's labor towards
putting them in good condition.
Buil$ing roads is done at the expense
of the county. the cost of the land and
labor is raised by an equitable tax im
pose on all alike, just in proportion
to their means. Not so when once de
clared public highways. Then the tax
is no longer equal or just.
7,500 days work with a road scraper
and one team would make the roads of
Halifax like boulevards.
I see hundreds of carts and wagons
pass, where l iw write, yearly. The
carts , generally have 600 pounds of
fertilizers or one bale of cotton for a
load, the double teams have about
1,200. pounds of fertilizers or two bales
of cotton for a load.
I ' One of your correspondents'ref erred
to thi roads of Ohio, before they were
piked. I have seen four horses hitched
to an empty wagon and could not
move it The roads were in spring
time almost impassable. They were
gravelled or "piked" at a great-expense
but the lands increased in value
from 20 to 40 per cent.
A r good team ought to pull 3,000
pounds, they do it easily in the North
on roads quite as hilly as any in Wakef
Now, the expense of placing a bale of
cotton at the railroad station where it
takes a day to go and return is about
$1.00 If the roads .were properly
graded and rounded it would not be
over 40 cents per bale for the same
distance. This is a loss of 60 cents
per bale, and in moving the cotton
crop of the county we have taken as
an example amounts to more than it
would;cost to provide for the convicts
(her share) and guards for six years.
rerhaps we think the policy of "saving
at the ;spigot and letting it run at the
bung a good one
When the roads were all adjusted
properly you may ask. what then ?
answer. Let them be employed in
putting up levees or dams along' the
Roanoke river and other large streams
to protect the adjacent lands from
overflow. In a Hand Book published
for distribution by this State, I find :
From Weldon to Palmyra is 60 miles
by the river, and the amount of acre
age that the Roanoke overflows and
renders comparatively worthless, I am
informed by one of the ablest men in
Eastern Carolina, is about 60,000
acres. These lands subject to over
flow are now worth from $5 to $10
per acre, but would be very cheap at
$50 if the river was kept v within
bounds. That is to say, lands now at
the highest estimate that are only
worth $600,000 would then be worth
$3,000,000. But further: Halifax
has about 450,000 acres and a little
over one-fifth of its entire area is
rendered comparatively worthless by
reason of its streams overflowing. 1 If
its streams were dyked the real prop
erty of Halifax would be worth
$6,500,000 more than now.
The time will come, and that soon,
when if . for no other reason this work
will be done from a sanitary stand
point. Nine of our Eastern counties,
with lands as rich as the Mississippi
bottoms, have a combined area of over
1,000,000 acres that to-day is worth
nothing, breeding malaria, a pest, a
stench in the nostrils of the State. .
The reclamation - of these viands
would add $50,000,000 to the wealth
of the State, more than all the debt,
more than the cost of our railroads.
I have purposely taken a county
where the largest area in the State
forms the boundary line; because I
have heard it said if this were "done
Bertie would suffer correspondingly.
That old idea is exploded. The Roan
oke, when doing its best, does not
carry one-tenth part of the water the
Mississippi does, and Capt. Eads deep
ened the channel by jettie3 so that
where once was a bar, now we have
26 feet of water. Holland has dyked
the sea and its wave power is as 1,000
is to 1 compared to the Roanoke at the
foot of the falls at Weldon. All the
water that flows down the Potomac at
ordinary stage passes under one
span of the chain bridge at Washing
ton, D. C, about 100 feet in width,
but it has cut a channel as deep as it
is wide. Let this policy be pursued,
and without aid from the government
our rivers would be navigable and
commerce would largely increase. Ten
years' labor, intelligently directed, by
the convicts of this State would in
crease the real valuation of this State
by over $100,000,000. ,
I b e no axe to grind. I have no
intei in a foot of land Jthat would
thus a dyked or drained. It would
benefit every citizen in the State. To
double the taxable property of this
State would be to lower the tax rate
50 per cent. Will you oppose a meas
ure because Mr. A or B will receive
greater benefits than you? If these
lowlands were enhanced in value,
your uplands would also be worth
more than now.
Think you the people in the West
ern States have grown rich by their
superior farming or because of the
richness of their lands ? I know this
is the general idea, but there is much
of error in it. I have travelled over
all the Western States; I have seen
them develop into greatness. Where
cities are now, I have camped and
slept, while the coyote howled the
night long about me. I have seen the
poor settler suffer as you have never
seen your most indolent negro. No,
sirs; they grew rich by reason of their
environment. A civil township is six
miles square, and if, you and I, kind
reader, were the only two that lived
in that township the lands would only
be worth $1.25 per acre the govern
ment price. But when each section is
occupied, each quarter tilled though
the tiller only, makes a scanty living
yet his land rises in value and is worth
forty-fold. Is land in the city of
Raleigh worth any more than twenty
miles away ? If so, why ? Simply
because of the greater aggregation of
the race.
North Carolina, freed from the nar
row policy that now dominates, would
leap into prosperity. Her capabilities
are not dreamed of; her possibilities
if read aright would sound more mar
vellous than Arabian Tales.
Brethren of the Alliance, to you,
and to you alone, we look for the dis
enthrallment of the Old North State.
Old Fogy.
FROM "OLD" NASH.
Sappony Alliance, No. 724,
Nash County, N. C.
Mb. Editor: Our Alliance was or
ganized with thirteen members; we
now have about sixty of as good mem
bers, I think, as any Alliance in North
Carolina. We are fast working up all
the good material in our reach and
have not yet had any trouble of any
kind. We take hold of things cau
tiously but surely, and we know no
Such word as fail. We intend to raise
every thing at home : make no" debts
- i' t
that we can reasonaoiy avoid ana give
no mortgages; buy little or no guano;
make our lands rich with our barn.
yard, stable litter, scrapings from our
waste places and by carrying in de
composed matter, and a proper survey
- . ..i 1 Ml I J1!i l
of unlevel land witn nnisiae aitcnes
properly arrranged. We intend to
make more cotton on less land; plant
more land in grain, raise more stock
and better stock and not patronize any
trust or combine designed to oppress
the farmer. We are determine to
stand together as a unit in all our im
portant dealings, and we are sure that
a brighter day is just ahead. -Fraternally
yours,
B. H. Hester.
COUNTY ALLIANCE ORGANIZED
IN VIRGINIA.
Courtland, Southampton Co., Va.,
Febuary 16, 1889.
Mr. Editor: Not witl i standing the
incessant ram, G. T. Barber, of
Bridgwater, Va., President of the Vir
ginia State Farmers' . Alliance, filled
his appointment at Courtland, on the
1 6th inst., where he met a goodly
number of his brother delegates, rep
resenting the . SubAlliances of the
county and organized a County Farm
ers' Alliance, with the following offi
cers, viz: G. W. Miller, President; J.
T. Turner, Vice-President; W. W.
Ellis, Secretary; C. Everett, Treasurer;
R. N. Williams, Chaplain, J. R, Bry
ant, Lecturer; John Pretlow, Sr., As
sistant Lecturer; G. W. Williams,
Doorkeeper; W. W. Webb, Assistant
Doorkeeper: W. E. Edwards, Ser
geant at-Arms, and L. H. Gay, Busi
ness Agent, after which this body ad
journed, to meet at Courtland at 10
a. m., February 27th, 1889. That is
the way the noble work is progressing
and it will continue to grow and
flourish as loner as we have such men
for our leaders as G. T. Barbee, our
State President, and Col. L. L. Polk,
editor of The Progressive Farmer.
Brethren, if vou wish the Farmers'
Alliance to be a success, you should
work incessantly for subscribers to
TheProgressiye Farmer. I, for one,
would not be without this paper for
any consideration. ,
Fraternally yours,
1 i W. W. Ellis,
' Sec'y V. F. A.-
Silence is the fence around wisdom.
LETTER FROM MICHIGAN.
A Western Hoosier Solves the South
ern Fertilizer Question.
Davison, Mich., Feb. 19, 1889.
Editor Progressive Farmer. Dear
Sir: I am in receipt of a sample
copy of your paper, for which accept
thanks. It is quite acceptable, giving,
as it does, an insight into the affairs
of a region of country of which we,
in this section, know about as little as ,
we do of the Transval. The article
on "Alliance Factories," that by Gen.
Lee, of Mississippi, the work and
aims of your farmer societies are very
able and interesting. The Alliance is
something I know nothing about. I
am a farmer and despise our climate
A blizzard prevails today, with snow
flying at the rate of forty ' miles an
hour. Iam surprised at the small
amount of land advertised for sale...
How are lands down there for price ? '
In looking over your columns, one 61
the most noticeable features is the fre quent
mention of fertilizers, chiefly -commercial.
. It strikes me the South..
has an inexhaustible mine of fertiL.
izers lying unworked at her doors.
With us all the refuse of the great -slaughter-houses
is compounded with
some heavy and cheap substance as
sand, &c, and sold to the farmers.
Leached ashes are shipped from hero
by Car-loads, to be mixed with some
thing else and retailed at $40 a ton.
Farmers sell the ashes to buyers at a
bushel for a bar of soap. State farm
analysis places the value of hard wood
ashes at $1 a barrel. Quotations put
the soap at two to five cents a bar. I
do not doubt that this kind of fer
tilizer is shipped even to Florida at as f
high as $40 a ton.
We are foolish for selling the un-4
leached ashes you are as simple for
buying the leached for on your bor-;
der lies the great gulf, full of animal
life. If dried blood, a little bone and
acid, with whole heaps of sand andV
leached ashes are good, fish composted)'
must be worth something.
There are enough sharks off your
coast to -keep you inr fertilizers; and
more are hatching. It wouldn't re
quire an immense capital to put a,
schooner in the business of catching
them off the Indies for fertilizer man
ufactories. -
It would not require a very costly
dynamo to kill them, with an electric
current, when they have taken the
bait; still less to kill them with a
dynamite cartridge and electric spark
when the bait is swallowed.
Couldn't this fishery, just for fer
tilizers, be made as profitable as whale 1
fisheries ?
The Progressive Farmer speaks of
Alliance factories. Can't your Alli
ance start a co-operative fertilizer fac-'
tory and draw the flesh material from1
the gulf?
Get to the front of the procession;
"there's millions in it." .:;
Sail me a piece of land, some ofv
you, wCLiiS.I come down and truck
farm and help you boom truck, can
neries and shark-ashing for manure I
Ernest Hollenbeck,
Davison,. Mich.
N. B. Have . you any Agricultural
Colleges down South ? Get the Pf b-; ,
fessor of Chemistry to make an analy
sis of shark meat and see what its
value is. From my reading I judge
it is not very oily, is never fished for
its oil product hot bony. ' It musk
be muscle, and, therefore, nitrogen
ous just what your soil needs. Itis-
worth investigation. I believe it can
be made a vast industry and the goods
sold North, too.
A RELIC OF THE WAR.
An Old Check Book of the Quarter
Master General of the Con- .
federacy Found.
In a bundle of papers purchased by'
Mr. E. E. Wheeler, of Washington,
the other day, an old war relic was -discovered.
It was the check book'
used by the quarter-master general of
the Confederacy during the last days
of the war. They were drawn on the -treasurer
ii the Confederacy, and the
dates ran from January 26th to April
1, 1865. Seventy-nine stub3 remain
in the book, representing over $6,000,-
000 in checks. The largest check
was to the treasurer of the Richmond
and Danville road for the transporta
tion of troops and supplies, while the -
Atlantic and Gulf Company got one
check for $583,857.46 for the same -
i T 1 aim nn ri
purposes. j- cnecu: ior -
was jnven to pay a telegraph bilL in -i
some cases the stubs show that the
creditors , haTd no confidence in tho
checks and demanded and got specie
by submitting to a discount of 40 per
cent.' Nearly every railroad company
on the eastern coast of the late Con
federacy received checks: -
f
i