North Carolina State University - Agromeck Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

Page 14 text:

Benjamin Rice Lacy IH.W ' E been asked by the young men conducting the Ac.ko.mkck in write a siiort sketch of the life and character of my friend, Benjamin R. Lacy, to whom this issue of the Annual is dedicated. They have furnished nie with a few facts relative to ?ilr. Lacx ' s life. He was born in the cit ni Ralei.yh on June 19, 1854. He is a son of the late Reverend l)rur - Lacy, a distin!.;uishe(l and learned Presbyterian minister, who was f(ir several years President of Davidson College. Both of Mr. Lacy ' s grandfathers were Presbyterian ministers. On his mother ' s side he comes of a long line of notaljle preachers. At the age of 15 he went into the Raleigh and Gaston R. R. shops in Raleigh as an a])])rentice. P ' or about fifteen years he was a locomotive engineer. He became a prominent member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and holds his connection with that compact and wisely managed organization. As a member of the Broth- erhood, he served for a number of years on the Grievance Committee, and his wise and considerate conduct in that delicate position gained for him and he now holds the love and confidence of the men to a degree rarely e(|nalle(l, and he always enjoyed the respect of the officials of the railroads. He served six years as Commissioner of Labor, having been first appointed to that office by the late Governor Elias Carr. He has twice been elected State Treasurer, being nominated to that high office the last time by acclamation. Mr. Lacy spent some months of his life on the plains of Te.xas and in the South west. where he became acquainted with r anch life, and contributed his part In the history of those brave men who combine sound judgment with an attractive dare-devil recklessness. These meager facts furnished to me dn not make Mr. Lacy ' s career or his character understandable. To those of us who know hnn best, he yet remains something of a mystery. Simple in his life, a (|uiet and orderly man, with only such knowledge of books as he has picked up at intervals in a busy life, what is it that has won for him such distinguished lionors. and enables him to count the whole population as his friends ? An intimate association with him for four years has solved this cpiestion for me to my entire satisfaction. He is, in the first ])lace, a man of fine natural .sense, but beyond and above this, he is possessed of a warm he;irt which never lires in serx ' ice for nthers. Tic takes the minutest interesl in all lliat (.-nncerns his frii ' uds and ac(|n;iinl;mces. He knows children, mU (inl h sij;lu and faN ' nr, hut 1) ' name, lie knnws the working people nf ilu ' i-niiiiiiunitN in which lu ' li -es and calls them by their Christian names, not as ,1 m.atter of cimdescensidn nv patronage, bin ;is a ni.-irk of his sense of i ' (|uality and friendliness, lie is nn terms of friendship and intimacy with tlie learned and powerfid. He sees things from tlie point of view of the wage-earner, and realizes how the employer looks at the matter from his nosition. I lis concern aboiU the interests of those with whom he comes in