The Progressive Farmer, June 13, 1901.
State News.
FROM CUBBITTJCK TO CHEROKEE.
Itimi of Interest Gleaned From our Corres
pondents and Exchanges in all
Farts of the State.
J. T. Dawson has been appointed
postmaster at Halifax to succeed a
negro who was in the office for two
or three years.
Greensboro will probably secure a
large silk factory, the chief induce
ment being exemption from taxation
for number of years.
The Concord Times has recently
put in a new outfit. From a typo
graphical standpoint The Times has
no superior among North Carolina
newspapers.
Clinton Democrat : Congressman
Charles R. Thomas has appointed
Mr. Walter E. Pridgen, of Kerr, to a
West Point cadetship. The appoint
ment was made on competitive
examination.
In the list of newly appointed ca
dets to West Point are the following
from North Carolina: Hugh H.
Broadhnrst, R. I; Howard, T. W.
Jones, Jr., St. Clair Newborne, W. E.
Pridgen, L. P. Sohoenmaker.
The President has commuted the
sentence of Nicholas Politz, who was
convicted in North Carolina, of
counterfeiting, and sentenced to
serve six years in prison. His sen
tence is commuted to expire June 13,
at which time he will have served
two years.
Reidsville Revi6w : Petitions have
been circulated for a route of rural
free mail delivery from Reidsville to
a number of points in the eastern
part of the county, and it is highly
probable that this popular service
will be recommended by the post
office officials.
Charity and Children : The vale
dictorian at Wake Forest this year
was Mr. Rooke, a poor boy, who
could not afford to board at a board
ing house, but bought his his rations
and did his own cooking. We have
heard that his record as a student
was the best ever made at the col
lege. The world will hear from the
young man is his life is spared.
At the University commencement
this week the following changes in
the faculty were announced : Char
les Lee Raper, elected associate pro-
fessor of economics and history.
Dr. Isaac H. Manning, elected pro
fessor of physiology. Eight instruct
ors and assistants have been chosen
and the executive committee is au
thorized to elect a professor of the
Romance languages.
Raleigh iV to have an auditorium.
At a recent meeting, the directors of
the company were authorized and
directed to purchase the Academy of
Music from the trustees of the Meth
odist Orphanage ; also to purchase
the building adjoining so as to in
crease the width of the building 22
feet and give it a seating capacity of
2,000. The stage will be so spacious
as to seat 350 persons. There is
10,000 in cash available.
Monroe Journal : Mr. John H.
Benton sold and caused to be sold in
Union county last year about 73,000
fruit cans. That means 75,000 quarts
of fruit, vegetables and berries saved
that otherwise would have been lost.
At ten cents a can, the value of this
fruit, etc., is 7,500. More fruit and
vegetables were saved in the county
last year than five preceding years,
and nearly all this has been and is
Uing consumed by the producers.
At their recent commencement the
faculty and students of the North
Carolina Baptist Female University
1 n--eiited gold medals inscribed,
F'lr heroic service, February, 1U00,"
to two young lady students who
volunteered to nurse another student
-..-ho hud bimtllpox in the month
n.-nti-.iKMl on the medal. The peo
... nl t o d.iy honor noble deeds no
h-s than did our ancestors. Nor ure
- -pp rti:nit:es for doing knightly
.v'is rarer than in the "bravo days
, ; .j
'jari.tte Observtr: Mr. Will Van
: j und Mr. Warren Koark spent
y -terduy at Tuckuseege Ferry, on
:. r.-itawba, where the recent Hood
vercd a lot of Indian graves.
Vhey were searching for relics and
v.vro quite successful, securing a
tomahawk, an iron axe, several clay
pots, pipes, arrows heads and several
Spanish coins. The graves of the
Indians are cn a hillside, about 50
yards from the banks of the river.
The recent freshet washed away the
earth in such a manner as to leave
the skeletons of six Indians exposed
from the feet to the shoulders. All
the Indians were buried with their
tcet to the river.
The S. H. Lof tin bank failure at
Kinston has many distressing fea
tures, that of the numerous small
depositors being greatest, as some of
these had their all in the bank. The
Great Eastern Railway is generally
credited as being the cause of the
failure. Money was heavily ad
vanced to build the road, and the
road was not collateral against over
drawn acoounts. There is a report
that the Vanderbilt interests would
absorb the Great Eastern.
What has become of all the copies
of the Bragg fraud commission re
port on the "special tax" bonds? A
State official wants a copy. He was
told yesterday there was not one in
the library. A lot of people, good,
bad and indifferent, were more or
less interested in getting that report
out of circulation. There is a supply,
but a limited one of the Shipp "fraud
commission" report, but these have
for years been secured and destroyed
whenever practicable. Ex.
Col. Olds : Governor Aycock to
day received a letter from Miss Hen
rietta Aiken Kelley, now in Italy,
and also a number of packages of the
seed of the white Italian mulberry
(the best for silk worms), which she
requests the Governor to distribute
through the Agricultural Depart
ment to the people of the State, with
a view to the promotion of silk worm
culture. It is a wonder that the
people in North Carolina do not de
vote more time and care to this in
dustry. Bishop Cheshire in his annual ad
dress to the North Carolina Episco
pal convention, which met recently
in Durham, stated that the total
number of clergy in the diocese is
now 45, with cures embracing 8,000
souls. St. Mary's school for girls,
he reported to be in such a flourish
ing condition that it is now an im
portant question how the students
shall be accommodated another year.
The debt on the property has by the
energetic efforts of the financial
agent, Rev. A. A. Pruden, been re
duced to $17,000, in the past two
years. Ex.
Wilmington Messenger : The Mes
senger's Raleigh letter of yesterday's
paper gave a statement made by a
person who had made calculations as
to the cost of the penitentiary, and
he is probably accurate or not far
from the mark of expenditures. He
said that "if the money which the
legislature has in the last 32 years
expended on the penitentiary had
been applied to the public debt, it
would have entirely extinguished the
latter, including the $1,500,000 mort
gage on the North Carolina rail
way." Salisbury Sun : A corps of experts,
consisting of eight men, sent out by
the U. S. Agricultural Department,
are making a soil survey in West
ern Rowan. The gentlemen now
have their headquarters in Salisbury.
They examine the soil in different
localities and classify it. The object
is to find what kind of fertilizers are
best suited to various soils and what
crops are most adapted to the soil.
Samples of the soil are taken and
sent to Washington for analysis.
The corps is working in connection
with the State Agricultural Depart
ment. Rowan has set a good example to
the other counties of the State in
building a county asylum for the
care of its insane who cannot be
gotten into the Stite Hospital at
Morganton. It is on the jail prem
ises but apart from the jail, so that
none of the opprobrium which at
taches to jail confinement will attach
to the inmates of the asylum. It
appears that provision for all the in
sane in North Carolina will never be
made by the State, and in this case it
behooves the counties to look around
and determine what they will do
themselves about this class of their
unfortunates. Charlotte Observer.
At its recent meeting President
Winston, of the Agricultural and
Mechanical College, made a report to
tho board of agriculture, showing
that the enrollment was 302, re pre
senting M counties and the States of
Virginia, West Virginia, South Caro
lina, Alabama and Florida. One
third of the students are self-supporting.
They earned $2,464 last session.
Nine -tenths of the students work all
their spare time. There are 10 post
graduates, 2G seniors, 13 juniors, C2
sophomorers, 71 freshmen, 71 short
course students, 17 special students
and 32 taking irregular courses. In
the college courses 37 are taking
agriculture, 5 scientific (now abolish
ed), 47 textile, 121 engineering and
82 mechanic art. In his report
tVcsidt lit Winston said: 'I iinLii
speak too highly of the conduct of
the students during the year. The
faculty unites in declaring that the
year's record for character, conduct,
scholarship and efficient performance
of duties generally has far surpassed
that of any other year in the history
of the college."
Fayetteville Observer : Fayette
ville is to have a negro exhibit at
the Charleston Interstate and West
Indies Exposition that will be a
credit to the State and to the South.
Rev. T. W. Thurston, Superintend
ent of the Ashley Bailey Silk Mill in
this city, has been appointed Chief
Director of the Manufacturing De
partment of the Negro Buildings at
this great exposition. Superintend
ent Thurston will send several of
his best machines to the exposition
in charge of a number of his picked
employes, and will thus give practi
cal demonstrations of silk manufac
tuaing by negroes. The cloth which
is woven there will be cut into num
erous pieces and distributed to
visitors.
A textile school is already operat
ing in connection with the North
Carolina Agricultural and Mechani
cal College at Raleigh and is being
greatly enlarged and improved. Its
new building is now approaching
completion. In its construction, ar
rangement and equipment it will be
a model. Instruction in North Caro
lina's textile school is already both
technical and practical, but the prac
tical operations will be much more
extended when the new building is
opened. The State gave $20,000 for
this structure and it will receive
much from individuals in North
Carolina and outside friends of tex
tile education in the State. Georgia
has one of the best textile schools in
the country as a department of her
School of Technology, and we are
glad to know that North Carolina
will soon have a first class establish
ment of like character. Atlanta
Journal.
OUB TRUCKING INTERESTS.
Wilmington Messenger : The pa
pers outside are finding out that big
trucking is done in North Carolina.
It may be mentioned that the straw
berry men have, had a good run with
good average prices. The lowest
prices have been about $1.50 per
crate, delivered at the railroad plat-,
form. We find the following appear
ing outside :
"The trucking industry in North
Carolina is assuming immense pro
portions. The official figures show
that last year 66,495 packages of
vegetables. 4,544,050 pounds, 48 cars,
12,504 crates of canteloupes ; 23 cars,
4,153, crates of dewberries; 55 cars,
32,840 crates of beans ; and 349,9S9
crates, 17,499,450 pounds of straw
berries were shipped from Wilming
ton section alone."
If North Carolina's great capabili
ties could be fully developed in all
of its manifold interests it would
astonish the natives and arouse the
curiosity of the people beyond.
NORTH CAROLINA RESOURCES.
We find the following in an ex
change. It is a condensation, we
suppose, of a report sont out from
one of the State departments at
Raleigh :
"North Carolina has 153 varieties
of native woods, 177 varieties of
minerals, 20 kinds of gems, and im
mense stores of mica and corundum.
"North Carolina has 3,300 miles
of rivers, of which 1,100 miles are
navigible. North Carolina has pro
duced in the past century $21,700,000
in gold.
'North Carolina, it is estimated,
could furnish 5,229,000,000 feet of
long leafed pine."
We may add that there are eighty
rivers and innumerable lakes, sounds
and canals. It is possibly the best
watered State of all in the American
union, now. Wilmington Messen
ger. GOOD SCHOOLS AND GOOD ROADS.
We have declared many times be
fore that good roads and good schools
are the two great needs of our peo
ple. It must rejoice the heart of
every loyal North Carolinian to see
nope for these ripening into reality.
Never before in the State's history
has there been such interest in these
two lines of permanent progress.
Especially has the news from the
May elections all over the State on
graded schools been gratifying. On
every hand we are hearing and read
ing of more schools more books,
more libraries all of which means
a freer, greater, and more enlight
ened popple. Uustoma Gazette.
General News.
'ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT."
The Facts Boiled Down and Presented in
Convenient Form for Bnsy
Readers.
The slight improvement in Mrs.
McKinley's health which manifested
itself about a week ago continues
and hope begins to be felt that she
may after all recover from the pres
ent, attack.
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Lease has filed
a petition in bankruptcy. Her assets
are $2,298.75 and her liabilities
$3,247.55. This is the Mrs. Lease
who canvassed with Gen. Jas. B.
Weaver in 1892.
Hon. Charles Foster, of Fostoria,
Ohio, ex-Secretary of the Treasury,
has made application in the United
States Court there as a voluntary
bankrupt. His debts are set down
at $747,700, and there are no assets.
Rather complete failure.
John D. Rockefeller has agreed to
give $15,000 to Carson and Newman
College of Mossy Creek, Tenh., pro
vided the trustees raise $50,000 ad
ditional by 1905. Carson and New
man is a Baptist college, co-educational,
supported by the Baptists of
East Tennessee. It has about three
hundred students.
One of the ablest of English re
views is authority for the statement
that the English Government has al
ready spent over $725,000,000 in
South Africa, and that the present
rate of expenditure is something like
$30,000,000 a month. It estimates
that the eventual cost of the war
will be about $1,000,000,000.
Ex-Senator Charles A. Towne, of
Minnesota, last week announced that
he is out of politics for good and that
henceforth he will devote all of his
to business. Former Governor Hogg
made a similar announcement a few
weeks ago soon after he began mak
ing big money in the Beaumont oil
field, and a declaration of the same
kind is expected soon from Governor
McMillan.
The Cabinet last week unanimously
decided that existing conditions do
not warrant the calling of an extra
session of Congress this summer.
Secretary Root and Attorney-General
Knox bother rendered opinions
to the effect that the authority to
govern the Philippines vested in the
President by the Spooner amend
ment is ample. These opinions were
concurred in by all the members of
the Cabinet.
There seems to be a general under
standing among the Democratic rep
resentatives who have from time to
time visited Washington since the
adjournment of Congress that there
will be no contest next December
for the minority leadership such as
marked the scramble for the honor
two years ago. There was much op
position to Representative Richard
son, of Tennessee, who received the
nomination last time after a rather
sharp campaign. This year, how
ever, it is asserted that Mr. Richard
son will be unanimously nominated
just as will be Mr. Henderson, who
was Speaker in the last Congress.
PUNISHMENT OF WEST POINT CADETS.
In the dismissal of five cadets from
the Military Academy at West Point
and the suspension of six others for
one year, it has come to light that
the pledge given by cadets to the
congressional committee on January
19, to abstain from having, has not
been kept. The hazing since that
date, it is said, has been less severe,
so much so, in fact, that the cadets
consider that they were living up to
the spirit of the pledge ; but the
academy authorities understood the
pledge to mean that all hazing was
to cease, and took measures to en
force the law forbidding it. This
strict enforcement made Colonel
Mills, the superintendent of the
academy, unpopular with some of
the cadets, and, after two of their
number had been punished for haz
ing, a large number of them, on the
evening of April 16, "engaged in an
insubordinate demonstration direc
ted at the superintendent of the Mil
itary Academy," as Colonel Mills
says in his report of the affairs, and
the demonstration culminated in
"the moving of the reveille gun
from its accustomed place to a posi
tion on the plain immediately in
front of the superintendent's quar
ters, at the doer of which the muz
zle was pointed." This led to an
official investigation by a board of
officers, who reported all the facts
obtainable to the superintendent,
and the superintendent made his re
port and recommendations to the
Dvutciury ui War, uud upon tai re
port the Secretary acted as related
above. The eleven thus punished
are said to be the ringleaders, and
and the others who took p.irt in the
demonstration are to be dealt with
later, with less severity. Literary
Digest.
FROM FIVE TO TEN PER CENT.
This Seems to be the Increase in the Cotton
Acreage.
New York, June 15. Dispatches
to Dun's Review from the entire cot
ton belt make a most satisfactory
showing. Unfavorable weather con
dition during the opening weeks of
the season injured much of the seed
and made replanting necessary. This
adds to the cost of the crop, but does
not prevent a full yield. There
seems to be from five to ten per cent
increase in the acreage under culti
vation, and while damage undoubt
edly has been severe in some sec
tions, fairly good weather from now
to tle beginning of picking would
insure an abundant yield. Excessive
rain has made the growth of grass
unusually rapid, and the scarcity of
labor, together with large grain
crops, makes it difficult and expen
sive to keep the fields in good con
dition. Injury from insects is light
in most States, except for boll weevil
in parts of Texas, and lice in regions
where moisture has been exception
ally heavy. These pests are not as
harmtul as usual, however, and aside
from the probable increase in cost,
the planters have cause for gratifi
cation. WHY TEXAS IS WILD WITH THE OIL
FEVER.
The Recently Discovered Beaumont Wells
Yield More Oil Per Day Than All Other
American Wells Combined Aladdin's
Lamp Outdone.
Baltimore, June 15. In editorial
correspondence in a recent issue of
the Manufacturers' Record Mr. Rich
ard H. Edmonds summarizes the re
sults of his observations in the Beau
mont oil field. He traces the events
which in four months have given
what was known to a few as an im
portant lumber and rice center a
national and world-wide name. He
shows the marked difference be
tween the circumstances surround
ing the search for gold in Califor
nia and the Klondike and the dis
covery of oil in Pennsylvania and
those connected with the Beaumont
developments. He describes the
leading features of the speculation
in the new field, and he gives a
warning of the dangers involved,
although for the time speculation
has halted. Regarding the present
situation and the prospects of the
field Mr. Edmonds says :
"The gushers which have been
struck so far are all within a small
area, probably half a mile in diame
ter. The smallest is said to have
a capacity of 35,000 barrels a day,
and it is claimed that the largest can
produce 50,000 barrels a day. But
suppose that all were turned on at
the same time and that their aggre
gate output was 100,000 to 200,000
barrels a day, that would be greater
than the total product of the 70,000
or 80,000 wells now in operation in
the United States. In other words,
these Texas wells may be able to
produce more oil than the entire out
put of the United States at present.
But nobody expects them to continue
to have such an enormous flow.
When the tremendous pressure
which forced the oil 150 feet or more
into the air in a great stream has
been relieved, pumping will doubt
less be necessary as in other places ;
but, admitting this, we will have a
condition that i3 of world-wide im
portance and influence, The new
wells now being bored will soon
prove the extent of the field. If it
be confined to the narrow area where
all the gushers have been found,
then we have a remarkable discov
ery of immense value ; but if the
field is broad and over a great area
aDd the only final test, the drill,
proves that oil exists in anything
like the quantity to be reasonably
expected from the conditions already
known then we have a proposition,
which, as has well been said, must
stagger the world's oil trade. If it
is found that as much as 200,000 bar
rels a day can be safely depended
upon from this field, then possibly
$100,000,000 or more will need to be
invested in order to provide ample
pipe lines, storage facilities and tank
steamers, of which more would be
needed than the whole tank steamer
fleet of the Standard Oil Company.
"Of course, there has been a
wild speculation in land and in
stock companies. Land within the
onarmed circle of the 'gushers',
which was worth $5 to $10 an acre
four mouths ago, now commands
$75,000 an acre spot cash. The ac
tual cash sales of land sinoe the
boom commenced four months ago
havejbeen over $10,000,000, so a lead
ing banker informed me, all of the
transactions having been for full
cash, no deferred payment sales
having been made. Many fortunes
have been made and stories without
end could be told of individual profits.
"A Southern Pacific Railroad me
chanic who moved to California a
year ago tried without success to
sell a small tract of land near Beau
mont for $500. Unable to find a
buyer he kept the land and when
first well was strdck he returned
and sold his $500 property for $160,
000 cash. A friend from Mobile who
was with me met an old acquaint
ance who had gone out with money
to invest but had refused to pay
$5,000 for a tract of land only to see
it sell for $240,000 within a week.
"Such fairy tales are heard every
where, but unlike fairy tales they
are true. But speculation has reached
a dangerous point and conservative
investors are now holding off. While
many sound oil companies have been
organized a great many wild cat
companies have been started to catch
unwary buyers.
"Wherever there are chances for
such enormous profits there must be
corresponding chances of loss, and
hence oil stocks are hardly a wise
purchase for any one who cannot
afford to lose his entire investment.
The buyer of stocks may win heav
ily, but he may also lose and hence
such operations are not suitable for
people of limited means. It is really
a rich man's game because he can
afford to take the chances of loss
for the chance of making a big strike.
"All Texas is stirred up over the
oil business and the aotivity which
it h.s started will spread .o neigh
boring States and inaugurate a
greater general industrial and rail
road activity in that section than
the South has ever witnessed. These
things suggest that the whole South
should make a careful investigation
of its undeveloped wealth, for it
may find riches as little dreamed of
now as was Texas oil six months
ago."
PLATT AMENDMENT ADOPTED.
The Cnbans Agree, by a Vote of 16 to 11, to
Make It a Part of Their Constitntion.
Havana, June 12. The Cuban con
stitutional convention today aocepted
the Piatt amendment by a vote of 16
to 11. A resolution to accept was
carried without discussion. Immedi
ately after the opening of the ses
sion Senores Tamayo, Villuendas and
Quesada, constituting a majority of
the committee on relations, submit
ted as a substitute for the commit
tee's former report the Piatt amend
ment as passed by Congress, recom
mending that it be accepted and
made an appendix to the constitution.
In the vote on the resolution the 27
delegates present divided as follows :
In favor of acceptance : Senore
Capote, Villuendas, Jose M. Gomez,
Tamayo, Monteaguedo, Delgado,
Betancourt, Qibera, Luorente, Que
sada, Sanguilly, Nunez, Rodrigues,
Buerriel, Juilez and Ferrer.
Opposed to acceptance : Senores
Zayas, Aleman, Eudaldo, Tamayo,
Juan Gualberto Gomez, Cisneros,
Silva, Fortun, Lacret, Portuondo,
Castro and Manduley.
Senores Rivera, Correoso, Gener
and Robau were absent. The latter
two voted against acceptance in the
previous division. Senor Ferrer
voted with the Conservatives, ex
plaining his change of attitude by
asserting that he believed acceptance
would be the best solution of the
problem. The convention will now
appoint a commission to draw up the
electoral law.
WASHINGTON OFFK.'A LS GRATIFIED AT
THE NEWS.
Washington, Juce YZ The news
of the adoption of the Piatt amend
ment by the Cuban constitutional
convention was received with gen
uine gratification here. The admin
istration officials all along have felt
confident that its ratification would
be accomplised when the Cubans
realized that this government was
firm in its attitude regarding the
amendment and it acceptance would
be necessary before the United States
would consent to withdraw its super
vision from the island. Now that
tho Cuoans have demonstrated their
good faith in the United States it is
expected that a fairly speedy evacu
ation of the island wiil follow, con
tingent only upon the establishment
of a stable government in the island.