State

August 12, 1933 T H Е STATE HIS TOWN PUTS IT OVER by CHARLES H. DICKEY THE town of Willlomston, in eastern North Carolina, has shoken off its shackles of lethargy and is just naturally booming. Mr. Dickey tells what has taken place down in that section during the last year or two. There's a town down in Eastern North Carolina that lias made unusual strides right on through the late de¬ pression. Today there isn’t a vacant dwelling house in it: its business places are all occupied ; its tobacco warehouses were all rented months in advance of the opening date; its population has grown; its business has expanded; ami the place is chock full of new automo¬ biles right now. It's on a boom. Parking space is at a premium. Business has quickened its pace. New people have been coming to town. New concerns have opened up business. The town’s streets arc cleaner than ever. The houses are in a better state of repair than usual. Old build¬ ings have been revamped, painted up and made over. New structures have gone up. And all of this has taken place during the economic stress that lias hung like a pall over the country. "Where, and what town is this?" some one asks. “It’s Williamston, the metropolis of Martin County.” "When did this expansion get under head!” might be asked. "About the time the depression hit,” would be the answer. “And what accounts for the town's growth right at the period when so many other centers were experiencing till- worst depression in the century?” “Well, it so happened that just about the time the depression was spreading out its dark wings to hover over the town, some business organizations de¬ cided they'd hover there, too. And they did, and have kept going right on through the long period. These new concerns put men to work, then ex¬ panded their businesses and put other men to work, and this tended to over¬ balance the general stagnation that was beginning to be felt." But the town’s unusual ability to weather the economic storm becomes the more remarkable when it is stated that it is not an industrial town. True there are industries there; but not enough to make of it an industrial community. It's an agricultural section that sur¬ rounds Williamston - on - the - Roanoke. And whatever else may In* said about it, its chief support is in the agricultural realm. The very large per cent of the money that flows into the town comes from that source; and nearly all the businesses in the town depend, ultimate¬ ly, upon the agricultural interests of the surrounding territory. But there isn’t anything peculiar about that, for Eastern Carolina is full of towns which depend almost solely upon agriculture and have had very hard sledding during these recent years. “What’s turned the trick then?" somebody wants to know. “And what's kept the town moving along so steadily through these hard times?" “It’s like this,” is the answer. "While so many towns are located in agricul¬ tural sections, few are located in the midst of such unusually good agricul¬ tural areas. For Martin County is not only a farming section, but one of tin- very best to be found.” “It grows practically everything that can be grown in a similar climate. It has all the South’s major crops, and then some more. There’s Obi King Cot¬ ton, and tobacco, and peanuts, and corn. In addition, the section yields splen¬ didly in potatoes of both kinds and is the gardener's paradise. Soy beans are a luxuriant growth there ns well as all tin- legumes. Vegetables of all manner of variety grow easily and there is much more grazing land than is being used.” “It has Im-oii said of Martin County that it is the best diversified county in North Carolina, and it is doubted if there is a more completely diversified Page Nine JOHN L. HASSELL Mayor of Williomston, N. C. one in the nation as a whole. You can grow anything in that county, and make it pay.” “Furthermore, the *live-at-lmme pro¬ gram' has taken well down there. They're growing their own feed stuffs more than ever; they’re making their own bread; corning their own fish; canning their own vegetables; and growing their own meat. They’ve learned how to cure sweet potatoes, how to save their meat and how to just simply beat old man hard times at his own trick." That, in part, is the explanation for the splendid manner in which Williams¬ ton and Martin County have ls-en mak¬ ing the grade. But this isn’t all of tin1 story. They haven’t been notorious grumblers down that way. During the hanking holidays those people met it with a smile. They crabbed but little and just kept marching on. When ma¬ terials got cheap, they said, "Now’s the time for us to make hay while the sun shines. They've just been working hard and have registered a notable vic¬ tory, and in the doing of it have gone on the map. That town on the Roanoke is the nat¬ ural gateway to the great Albemarle region, which is entered from Williams¬ ton over a magnificent bridge. Every road leading into the little city is well paved. It has railroad connections and a boat line that is fast making of this river town a great distributing point for this and far-Huug sections. It (Continued on page twenty-one)