The farmer and mechanic. [volume], December 08, 1914, Image 1

About The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??

Image provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

                
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Established 1877.
RALEIGH, N. 0, DECEMBER 8, 1914.
VOL. C. NO. 55.
PF.OPLE HAVE FOUND WHAT THF
SAND HILL COUNTRY WILL DO
Tiwy Have Told What They Have Learned-That Has
Led to Development and the Section Is Now a Land
of Promise.
0. HENRY THE GIFT OF NORTH CAROLINA AS THE
MOST POPULAR WRITER OF SHORT STORIES
HION IL BUTLKIl.
i:aford, Dec. 5. The success that
ha followed the efforts of the peo
ple of the Sandhills country to de
velop their territory is a pretty good
pointer o the entire State of North
Carolina as to what can be done if
the proper course will be followed.
Twenty-five years ago the territory
included in the lines drawn from Fay
etteville to Hamlet, Troy, and Jones
!oro included what was looked on
sixty cents a year on the acre, and
that is not a very big sum.
But suppose the farmer is a man
who has bought the farm and paid
a hundred and fifty dollars for it. His
interest charge is nine dollars an acre
on that farm; and his taxes are big
ger in proportion because he has put
a new rating on his ' farm's value.
The chances are that he does not use
all the land to make crops, so the
land that is tilla
. . I - AAftu DWvLSCLY nit: 111
a one 01 ine most unpromising sec- terest charges on the land thnt i t
lwvn of the entire habitable globe, tilled, and counting ne-f-K
l . 1 . . . I . . ' 7 " - - vn mc
aouuy iiixi same country is creanea
with being one of the most promising
part;-: of the whole earth.
Yet the truth -is that this Sandhill
country is exactly what it was in all
the previous time, a sandy, thin soil,
a land of wire grass and black jacks,
weak In some respects, yet in others a
valuable field for agriculture. The
whole truth is that people have found
what the Sandhill country is good for,
and they have told it, and that has
interested development and the Sand
hills today are a land of promise.
The Sandhills have not thrived be
cause of any superior advantages,, but
because the attention of the world
has been called to thi3 part of the
United States.
The virtue of North Carolina as an
ftgricultural country Is In the ex
tremely favorable climate and the
rainfall. The combination of rainfall
and climate seem here in North Caro
lina to make about the best average
Tto be found in the United States, if
any better is found in any place.
M'ith this for a beginning we have a
jsoil that is nearly all tillable except
te'here we grot into the mountains or
that part of the low land that is not
susceptible of drainage.
No Limit To Productivity.
In consequence North Carolina is
capable of becoming a farm and gar-
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lana as idle for wood lot. water
courses, roads, and waste land there
is an annual fixed charge each year
against each tilled acre of fifteen dollars.
That is to be set against about a
dollar of an interest charge on a
North Carolina farm bought at fifteen
dollars an acre. Maine, New Hamp
shire and Vermont are the only States,
of the North that have farm land as
cheap on the average as the farm
land of North Carolina. Anybodv
who has ever seen those States knows
why the land has a low average price.
home or the land is good and it is
high, but the poor land makes the
average low.
Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi
are southern atates with land as
cheap as that in North Carolina.
Texas and Arkansas have some lands
cheaper than North Carolina, but the
Pacific coast, the mountain States and
even Utah, Arizona, Colorado and
Idaho put a higher value on their in
hospitable, arid lands than North
Carolina does, and the singular thing
is that people pay the money.
Sandhill Land Cheap.
One of the reasons the Sandhill
country has come to the front so rap
idly is its cheap land. The people
of this section have made known to
people everywhere that land here
:-.v;. v -rf . . - -v
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den State of such hih productive could be had for little money, and
power that we can not see any prac
tical limit. If our population, was as
dense as that of some of the Euro
pean countries North Carolina would
:Jhive from twenty to thirty million
'people. England is just about the
tize of North Carolina, yet with two
or three times as many people in the
ne city of London as we have in
ur whole State.
that little money is shown to De a
good investment. If land in Iowa can
pay an interest charge on the money
invested in a farm the interest run
ningr from ten to twenty dollars on
an acre of crops produced, land in
North Carolina starts out at the be
ginning with that amount of interest
charge in its favor.
At present prices It is doubtful n
That Kt nnmiiaHAK kvas anH Yii4vai I farms in the States ' where land is
I hiirh can pay such interest charges
(0uces more in a year than we do in and make any money unless prices of
tour state in possibly a lire time. Yet iarm crops bo up. iiwt
rncHm i. ,.f,,T-iitr l Kit fter nrobably a safe statement that men
endowed than North Carolina. ,Eng- who are buying farms in the States
land simply has more people -engaged where land is high are not likely to
in producing things. Nobody thinks find the purchase very profitable un-
England is wowded. for It Is not. So til the cheaper lands are stopped from
am not so foolish as it sounds when raising cheaper Products.
say that North Carolina can easily Or, if we go at ".the other way,
All t,s nr. aa if the man who has bought the high-
grjbfi "a you Wre To
The limit I put on the possibility is wno , n. n - ;
one bieeer than it is any use to en
tertain for in our day we will never
upproach the Inside lines of It.
State With a Possibility.
North Carolina has the possibility,
of becoming one of the foremost of
the farm States of the Union. Natural
conditions invite such a stand. The
price of land alone should fill the
State with people if the price of land
wero known to people who are look
ing for farms. At the last census
the average value of farm land in
North Carolina was less than sixteen
dollars an flrft. At the same time
the averaere value of farm land all
through the United States was over
forty-six dollars an acre. It had in
creased from a little over twenty-four
dollars, or oyer ninety-one per cent
in ten years. There is no reason to
suspect that th increase in the value
of farm property is any less at the
present than it has been in me pasu
It is a nrettv well known fact that In
much of the North and West land
nas gone up until in many places farm
property is held at a hundred to two
hundred dollars an acre.
Now it does not matter what land is
held at if it is held by a farmer who
has bought it when it was cheap, for
his increase in value is purely one of
a speculative character. If he bought
the land years ago when It was ten
dollars an acre he still has -as. invest -
Tient of; ten dollars -an acre in the
Vw4 aul hiw interest -charge is about i
This O. TTonry Memorial Tablet Was Unveiled Wednesday Night in the XortJi
Carolina Administration Building At The Annual Meeting of the North
Carolina Historical and Literary Association In Italeigli.
History of Efforts to Raise
The O. Henry Memorial
interest on can make much more to
the acre with the same outlay.
Low Land Prices an Advantage.
One of the biggest advantages
North Carolina offers new settlers at
the present imie is m
land. If land can be held down for
a few years that advantage will be of
ineetimable value in developing in
resources of the State. The tremend
ous advance in land values through
out the United States is one of the big
problems that confront the whole peo
ple now, for the investment in land
affects the price of products from the
In 1910 the value of land in the
farms of the United States had in
creased from thirteen billion dollars
to ver twenty-eight billion dollars,
or a bigger increase in ten years than
in all the four hundred years since
Columbus came. The increase in value
is still going on. .
If the rate of increase is the same
now as during the preceding ten
years we are adding to the farm lands
of the United States each year a. price
of a billion and a half of dollars,
and that simply means we are re
quiring people who want farms to
nut up that added amount of money
each year before they can get farms.
In the ten years Iowa added over a
billion and a half to the price of the
farms in the State Illinois pushed
prices up an equal figure, and Texaf,
' (Continued o p-Je Two
At the thirteenth annual session of
the State Literary and Historical As
sociation of North Carolina, on De
cember 4, 1912. Archibald Hender
son, moved a series of resolutions,
which were adopted. Resolution 3
read as follows:
"That this Association appoint a
committee, consisting of five mem
bers, men and women, to petition the
Building Committee for the reserva
tion of adequate space in the pro
jected new Hall of Historyt to be used
permanently as a section devoted to
the literature of North Carolina.
Furthermore, that this committee be
permanent, having for its objects: to
honor in tangible form the literary
achievements of our people, and to
preserve the' literary remains of our
native writers of eminence. That this
be done through thefjpreservatiorwand
display, in the section before Tfien
tioned in the new Hall of History, of
portraits of our men and women of
letters, autographed sets of their
works, original manuscripts, letters
from eminent men and women of let
ters testifying to the value of such
literary works, medallions, busts, and
all forms of suitable memorials which
may keep green the memory of noble
works, finely concerned and artfully
executed."
The moveren of the resolution felt
that the new spirit in North Carolina,
giving life and impetus to the intellec
tual, literary, and cultural forces in
the commonwealth, could best find
significant expression in the desire
and purpose to erect a menxorial to
"O. Henry,' the greatest short-story
writer of our day. Such a memorial,
erected in the Hall of History in Ral
eigh, would serve a double purpose:
to commemorate the greatest writer
of the short-story America has pro
duced since Edgar Allan Toe; and to
serve as an incentive to our people to
erect memorials to other literary fig
ures in our past history who have
achieved true art and won the loving
aDnreciation of posterity.
Animated with this feeling and this
belief. Archibald Henderson, acting
uDon his own initiation and having
the sanction and support of the State
Literary and Historical Association of
North Carolina, sent out his nrst ap
neal for funds to all the members of
this association on eoruary 1310
This was followed by an appeal to
the North Carolina Society of New
York. It was felt that this society
had a two-fold interest in O. Henry:
first, because he was a native North
Carolinian; and second, because New
York City was celebrated ana inter
preted more graphically and more
masterfully by O. Henry than by any
one who had preceded him. ine pro
ject was energetically taken up the
Hon. George Gordon Battle, presidint
nt the society. Mr. Louis Grava gave
lavishly of his time and his attention
to all the details or the unaeriarfin
and in this he was ably assisted by
Mr. James A. Gwyn. On the evening
of Mpjrch 15, IMS, as the result of the
effort of the?e three mc, an u.
Henry HmoTier was held at the Hi.el
Woodstock. The principal speaker
were Mr. Walter II. Page, of the firm
of Doubleday. Page & Co., and editor
of "The World's Work," now Ambas
sador to Great Hritaln; Mr. Richard
Duffy, editor of Ainslee's Magazine;
Mr. Oilman Hall, editor of Kvery
body's Magazine; and Mr. CJilett Bur
gess, the humorist. One of O. Henry'
stories, "The lto? of Dixie," was read
by Mr. Francis (ludger. As the re
sult of that meeting, and the thorough
canvass of the members of the society
afterwards indefatigably made by Mr.
Graves arid Mr. Gwyn, more than
three hundred dollars was subscribed.
An appeal was next made to the
students of the University of North
Carolina, directly by means of an ad
dress to the student body, and al?-j
through the clas organization?.
From time to time, letters were ad
dressed to friends and admirers of O.
Henry, and lovers of his writings, in
different parts of the United States.
On July 10. 1913, Archibald Hen
derson, with the co-operation of Dr.
W. P. Beall, personal friend of Wil.
liam Sidney Porter, established the
O. Henry Memorial Association at
Greensboro, N. C. Dr. Beall wa
elected president of the association;
Miss Emma King, of the State Normal
College faculty, secretary; and Mrs.
Waldo Porter, treasurer. Mrs. AI.
Fairbrother has been active and ea
thusiastic in the movement. A com
mittee was subsequently appointed by
the president of the association. Dr.
Beall, to make an active canvass of
Greensboro and of Guilford county.
On October 1, 1913, an a peal wu
made to all of the Federated Wom
an s GluDs in rsonn uaronna. as wen
as to a number of other clubs. men'.
and woman's, under the conviction
that the memorial to O. Henry repre
sents a cau?e which should claim th
support of every literary club in th
State. The movement was endorsed
by the Literature Section of the Fed
eration, and Mtes Hendren. chair
woman of that section, lent all the as
sistance in her power to stimulate
contributions on the part of every fed
erated club. The result of Mi?3 Hen
dren's efforts were entirely gratifying.
Another considerable addition to
the memorial fund followed the tour
of Mr. Norman Hackett through
North Carolina in A Double Decrircr.
the dramatization by Professor Don
ald Stuart, of Princeton University, of
O. Henry's short-story, A Donblc
Dyed Deceiver. The active interest
of Mrs. W. S. Porter in the memorUL
which took the form of this valuable
suggestion; the generous response of
Mrs. Hackett to the proposal, and th
active labors of Mrs. Henderson were
all met together in this unique way to
further the cause of raising the me
morial fund. Mr. Henderson gave the
widest publicity to Mr. Hackett'
tour, through the State press and by
correspondence with score of people
in the places to be visited; clubs were
appealed to: organizations asked for
their support. In returne Mr. lla-V-(Contiuued
on I'j;- Twy
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