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

Page 12 text:

py— , , t— . .-1 i—t r— « I— lii-v i-x;— X y- K— 1 — T r-y i-x r=3 1 H THE WATAUGA CLUB i - I ■ I H - I I - - I I I. tlie spring of 1884 a small gnmp of ak-rt-miinkd, forward-locking, and anti-conventional voung men of Raleigh agreed, on a street eorner near the postoftice, to organize a new cluh. This chih, even m the scarcity ul clnhs, at that time, was to he unlike any other in Xorth Carolina in its spirit and purpose. Its purpose was almost radical enough to he state l m this way; This cluh is out of harmony with the entire economic life of the State. Its memhers arc not vet e.xactlv sure what tliat life ought to he, hut give them time and they will find out. and inform the State. Their mission was to shake old-fogyism into dust, and awaken the State to industrial activity hy gathering and disseminating facts and ideas that might stimulate utilitarian progress! Hear the irreverent words of these young innovators in regard to the State ' s attitude on financial and industrial t|uestions : We proceed, says their prospectus, upon the assumption, wliich cannot he denied, that there is in our communitv a serious lack of accurate and practical information upon the most common economic questions which arise for our consideration. Lest advancing years might ha e de-troyed iconoclastic initiative, no man over thirty-six was eligililc for memliership. The memhers, who were in a few years so widely scattered as to lireak up the cluh, were as follows; W. J. Peele, an altruistic lawyer, who was the sug.gestor and prime iiromoter of the cluh: Walter Mines Page, then editor of the l ' ci ' ,- v Chronicle: . IX Jones, lawyer, and suhsequently consul at Sh;inghai: .Arthur VVinslow, a graduate of tlie .Massiichusetts Institute of Technology, whose successful engineering work led the clul) to duh him Exhihit .A in its endeavors to secure an industrial school: Charles V. Dahney, jr., then State Chemist, later president of the University of Tennessee and of the L ' niversity of Cincinnati: VV. E. .Ashley, an educated contractor: John W. Thompson, who hecamc judge of the Panama Court; George E. Leach, cotton factor, and secretary to tlie cluh: Charles 0. Latta, manufacturer. Later in the cluh ' s career, W. S. Primrose, President of the .Vorth Carolina Home Insurance Coni- |):mv ; ' Thomas W. Dixon, Jr., novelist, playwright and minister: and Josephus Daniels, editor and puhlicist, were elected to memliership. Dr. R. H. Leivis, for so many years executive officer of the State Hoard of Health, was for a -liort time a memher. The club met twice a month, usually al ihe home of one of its memhers, and confined its official disctissions to material questions. Its informal t.ilk, as one easily infers from the versatile minds of its memhers, took each memher gadding over wide ranges of intellectual territory. The clul) soon focalized its efforts on tlie cstahlishment of an industrial school in Xorth Carolina. -At the December, 1884, meeting, a committee was appointed with instructions to present to the cluh a definite repc)rt on the |)racticahility of establishing an industrial school. The report of this commit- tee was to be submitted to the approacliing legislature. Mr. .Arthur Wiiislow drew up a carefully prepared report, and read it to the club. The report met the warm approval of tlie memhers. This was followed on January 15, 1885, by a set of resolutions iiitrodiu-e l by . ir. Walter llines Page. These were :is follows ; Nt-solTcd, That a Commitiee be appointed lo memorialize the Legislature in the name of (he club to estalilish an industrial school in Xorth Carolina, and respectfully offer to the Legislature, or a projier committee thereof, all the information on tlie subject in the possession of the elui) ; that the committee he empowered, if need l)e, to publish such information also. This resolution was adopted, and Messrs. W. H. Page, .Arthur anil W. J. Peele were named as the committee. This committee, with the assistance of Cliarles W. Dabnc , Jr.. l roposed memorial. The memorial embraced tliese suggestions; I ' irst. that as a training place in the wealth-producing arts and sciences. Legislature should establish an industrial scIkioI, equip it properly, and maintain it as a State institution. Sccniicl. that the school should be localed in Raleigh in connection with the State Department of .Agriculture. Thircl. that the instruction should cover courses in wood-work, mining, metallurgy, and practical agriculture, and that necessary shops and laboratories he erected Willsl, lirepared the - i1 - - ■TV — Y If— T V — Y t—X-T=

Page 11 text:

-XI— y T(— rxE PJT7TTTTTTTT TTTT fTTTTT lilill i iii lAlillAlji rrm rTTTT 13 1 Dedication Ii-N f Ike realm ol laiuiniaii acfiyif y, £liere is no no tier service flian mat oil freeing one s fellow man Iroiii me tbraMoim ol igno- rance. In Norm ' Uarolina, suco. an emannpafion ' was nrougnf albouf oy tke fountlers of InJusfrial iidii= ration; and no names are more glor- ious fnan ilkose of ttese pioneers. 1 ney nave fcuildea fneniselves a monument more lasting ttan tronze, more enduring tlian mar- ble, a living monument, ■wlaiclk, growing witlk ine passing years, will serve more ana more picnly t ie lofty purpose so dear to tneir nearts. 3 Xo ike memory of fnese pio- neers. THE WATAUGA CLUJo, tne Dudding of vrnose labors is tne Nortn Uarolma Oiate College of today, tne fruition oi wkose labors vyill oe tne greater State College of ine future, we dedicate tnis, tne twenty- second volume of THE AGROMECK. m

Page 13 text:

T— ' «— • ' — » ' — » — »— it t— y t » t— t — — T y— — f ' — y Tt— x=3: i adjoining tlie Iniildings of the Agricultural Department. I ' oiiitli. that an experi mental farm be established in the vicinity of Raleigh. The club was not daunted 1} - the magnitude of its tasl . Enlisting tlie - N the Board of Agriculture as V. F. D. Smith, and others, the committee Augustus Leazar of Iredell County passed the House by a vote of 51 tlie Senate it was favored by such Williams, Major John Galling, and the Senate on the good will of such progressive members of Green, R. W. Wharton, W. R. Capehart, C. presented its bill to the Legislature. Hon. introduced the Committee ' s bill. This bill for and 11 against. On its appearance in men as Captain S. B. Alexander, W. R. R. W. Winston. The bill became a law by its passage 7th of March, 1885, by a vote of 23 for and 9 against. The main features of the bill as adopted in 1885 were : that tlie Board of .Agriculture sliould locate the school in the town that offered the greatest inducements; that the school should be under the joint control of the Board of - griculture and directors from the town making the successful bid; that instruction sliould include wood-work, mining, metallurgy, practical agricul- ture, and such otlier branches of education as the directors might deem expe- dient ; that the Board of Agriculture should give the new scliool $5,000.00 a year. How little the towns of the State realized what a financial asset to a com- munity this school would eventually become is shown by their bids for the li cation. Charlotte offered a site and $5,000.00 in money. Kinston offered $10.(«HI.OO in money. Raleigh offered $8,000.00, an old building, and the use of 20 acres of land. Then a sudden and broader turn was given to the thought of those that were most interested. The National Congress was considering at that time the passage of what afterwards was known as the Hatch Act, which gave $15,000.00 to each State for an Agricultural Experiment Station. Wliy not take the Landscript Fund ($7,500.00) of 1862, which was then going to the University, combine this and the anticipated proceeds from the Hatch Act, and the money already in sight, and make a greater institution than the one already chartered ? The percolation of tliis thought brought about renewed activity not only on the part of the Watauga Club, but also on the part of the farmers. The club, with the assistance of a committee from tlie city of Raleigh, called a state-wide meeting of the advocates of industrial education. Mr. VV. S. Primrose, who had l)een president of the Exposition of 1884, and Mr. C. G. Latta, represented the city of Raleigh. The meeting was held in Raleigh on Xovember 4th, with Captain Octavius Coke as Chairman. Addresses were made by Dr. Chaney of Atlanta, Major Robert Bingham, W. H. Kerr, W. J. Peele, W. S. Primrose, and others. After endorsing the establishment of an industrial institution at Raleigh, the meeting appointed a committee of 25 members, headed by Mr. Primrose, to appear before the Board of Agriculture with detailed plans as to cost, character, and constitution of the proposed school. For a time after this meeting tlic papers of the State were full of the matter, and it was thoronglily discussed by editors and contributors. At a meeting of the Board of .Agriculture on April 21, 188(i. the committee of citi- zens again urged the matter and the Board finally decided to buy a site and proceed with the liuilding. Messrs. G. E. Leach, F. O. Moring, and J. S. Wynne were appointed directors to represent the city. The directors then bought about three acres of land in the suburb then known as Brooklyn, now a part of Glenwood, as a suitable site. Shortly after the purchase, Mr. R. Stanhope Pullen, a philanthropist of Raleigh, walked over the meager site chosen, and remarked, This will never do. In his quiet way he sought a friend who was interested in the new project and offered 83 acres where the College is now located. Hence a fairly suitable home site was available. Then, under the wise lirection of Col. L. L. Polk, wdio then edited the Proiircssk ' C Furiiwr. the farmers of the State took up through meetings lield over tile State the idea of an Agricultural College. Finally the ideas of an industrial school, as advocated by the Watauga Club, and the vision of an Agricultural College, as urged by the farmers, were fused in a bill which be- came a law on March . rd, 1887. This new institution fell heir to all the legal assets of the industrial school, received the interest from the Landscript Fund, the money from the Hatch Fund, and whate er annual surplus was left in the treasury of the Board of Agriculture. H - N •4 - - ■ m T V — I y— TT— ri— I V— M «— n y— T X — II X =x-l=j