Oct 29, 1919

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF THE STATE RECONSTRUCTION COMMISSION.

To the People of North Carolina:-

The State Reconstruction Commission created by the General Assembly of 1919, is impressed that the work before the Commission falls naturally into two divisions:-

1. The pressing necessities of the present hour.

2. The needs of the near future.

The comprehensive work the commission proposes to do will be taken up by committees and reports will be made to the full Commission. The Commission will then make specific findings in regard to the several subjects under consideration and these will be given to the public.

The Commission is deeply impressed that there can be no real improvement in the present situation until our people shall hark back to the homely virtues of industry, economy and faith in our fellow men. We call attention to one of the most recent utterances of President Wilson:-

"Only by keeping the cost of production on its present level, by increasing production and by rigid economy and saving on the part of the people can we hope for large decreases in the burdensome cost of living which now weighs us down."

1. WORK This is essential to increased production of those necessities of life, and increased production is the only way to curtail the present excessive high cost of living.

We call your attention further to the most recent utterance of Mr. Herbert Hoover, who has studied the subject more profoundly than any other living man, and he says:-

"It must be founded, too, upon the fundamental fact that every section of this nation, the farmer, the industrial worker, the professional man, the employer, are all absolutely interdependent upon each other in this task of maximum production and the better distribution of its results. It must be founded upon the maximum exertion of every individual within his physical ability, and upon the reduction of waste, nationally and individually."

2. ECONOMY. In the excitement incident to the war, and the intoxication induced by much new money, economy has become a lost art and frugality a forgotten virtue. In the face of the crisis that now confronts us, waste is a crime and improvidence savors of insanity. The Commission urges the people to practice the most rigid economy in personal expenditures and the greatest caution in making investments. If one is not absolutely sure that an investment is sound let him buy a Liberty Bond and our judgment is that the dollar thus invested will, in the not distant future, greatly increase in purchasing power.

We urge the farmers to invest in pure bred live stock, in farming implements that will multiply man power and horse power, in water and light systems that will decrease the burdens and increase the joys of home life.

We submit that it is not an ideal time in which to buy an automobile. It will be entirely safe to "bide a wee." Our conviction is that in a few years you can buy the same machine for about half the money it now costs, and in the meantime one will not be burdened with the cost of up-keep.

In some sections land values are inflated. If one can pay for cash for land it is nearly always a good investment, as he will have the land and be delivered from the temptation of squandering surplus money. If one can pay one half cash it will be fairly safe to invest in land, but if one is able to pay only a small sum down and agrees to pay a fancy price for land at present values he may be handing a mill stone around his neck. Again we say if in doubt buy a Liberty Bond. In this there can be no mistake. Liberty Bonds to the amount of Two Hundred and Fifty dollars per horse ought to be a part of the permanent equipment of every farm.

3. FAITH IN OUR FELLOWS. The times call for faith in our fellows as never before. We must get rid of suspicion and envy and distrust, and all classes and conditions of people must work together in a spirit of mutual helpfulness. We need the elbow touch that our boys had in the trenches and that made them invincible when they faced the foe. Class feeling is the mortal enemy of civilization. Government by groups would surely and early destroy this Republic.

A living working faith in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man will carry us far in the happy solution of the industrial problems that now disturb and distress the nation.

4. During the era of readjustment and reconstruction we ought not to be harassed by hordes of ignorant foreigners who have no knowledge of and little sympathy with American ideals and institutions. We need to be free from these troublesome strangers while we are putting our house in order. Therefore we urge our representatives in Congress to secure the passage of a law prohibiting immigration for at least a period of five years.

5. The farmers will need next year fertilizers to increase production. The proper kind and amount cannot be obtained without aid from the Government in transportation facilities, and we urge our officials, State and Federal, to take instant action to secure such governmental aid.

6. We are facing a coal famine, and we cannot too strongly urge upon individuals and communities the supreme necessity for laying in wood supplies. To fail to do so will be criminal negligence. Begin at once and don't stop until the wood house is full.

A last word:-

While the general situation calls for serious thought, for prudent foresight, for the exercise of the cardinal virtues upon which we have builded this nation, we find no room for despair. The whole world has been hard hit. For four years all the thought and the energies of the world have been devoted to processes of destruction. We may not hope to react from such a calamity in a day, but the forces of growth that yesterday were prostrate under the heels of war are today on their feet. They grope, they stumble, but the general course is forward and upward. Let us all thank God for a truly great deliverance, and face the future unafraid.

T. W. Bickett
Chairman.

This the 29th day of October, 1919.