Rural industries: an example from North Carolina

Abstract

Economic philosophers, whose genius is admonitory rather than analytical, have found a peculiar satisfaction in the contemplation of "rural industries." They have generally approached the subject from the sentimental or cultural point of view, which is attracted by decentralised organisation and small units as a means of "uplift" in character, in the fullness and happiness of life, and in democratic government. The attractiveness of this method rests on an emotional repugnance to certain features of industrial economy, which have indeed been correctly observed but incorrectly interpreted.