'Cap' Eagles Elected President of N.C. Farm Bureau, 1946

“Carolina Farm Comment” by F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the March 11, 1946, issue of the Fayetteville Observer

William Wooten Eagles of Crisp is not only a distinguished citizen of Edgecombe County, but he is also a distinguished citizen of North Carolina. His elevation to the presidency of the North Carolina Farm Bureau at its 10^th annual convention in Winston-Salem was in fitting recognition of his interest in cooperative farm effort, of his success as a practical farmer, and of his wider interest in the business and financial affairs of the rural people about him. “Cap” Eagles, as he is more affectionately known by those who have been intimately associated with him, is a natural leader. Not that he demands or pushes or shouts, but through quiet, natural ability and sincere interest, he stimulates the best in those with whom he is associated.

I have known “Cap” for many years. I have visited him in his home and on his farm where I have seen the fine cooperative attitude which has been developed between him and the 17 or more white tenants and seven Negro tenants who have worked there for so many years. Mr. Eagles began farming back in 1908 on the same family-owned plantation, in the Crisp neighborhood, which had been farmed by his father and earlier kinsmen. He attended the first farmers meeting out of which grew the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation. He has not missed a meeting of his Farm Bureau since, unless he was out of state.

HELPED SET UP COTTON GROWERS ASSOCIATON

Mr. Eagles also was one of the signers of the first note for $10,000 which set up the North Carolina Cooperative Cotton Growers Association. He served as vice president of that organization for many years and more lately has been president of the North Carolina Cooperative Farm Exchange. His belief in the value of these two organizations to the farmers of the state has led him to support both of them until they have become able to stand on their own merits. His interest in the welfare of his tenants is well known. His landlord-tenant program in which he has developed a spirit of cooperation and achievement is a model for other large plantation owners. It was my good fortune to attend one of his annual meetings a few years ago when he rewarded those tenants who had done unusually good jobs in that season. They were first served an old-fashioned barbecue and were then given cash prizes for improved farm and home practices. These prizes were awarded on the basis of a score card worked out by Brooks James, farm management specialist.

This landlord-tenant idea is to be pushed throughout eastern North Carolina, incidentally, as trained persons can be found to carry it along. In Edgecombe County, H.C. Scott and Miss Athlae Boone, the assistant farm and home agents, have been designated to give their full time to this work.

On the Eagles farm, there are tenants who have been on the place for 45 to 50 years. Most of them, of course, do not have the young labor that they had in other days, but the older ones still carry on and are doing good farming to the best of their ability. Much of this is due, of course, to the sympathetic attitude of the owner. As a matter of fact, Mr. Eagles got his nickname of “Cap” from the tenants on the place.

SUPPORTS LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION

It is interesting to note that “Cap” supports the Edgecombe County Livestock Association, a going concern formed years ago by those who wanted to market their fat hogs, beef cattle, lambs, wool, and other livestock products cooperatively in pools.

Not only is Mr. Eagles a good farmers and a model landlord, but he also is known as a good businessman. He is president of the Farmers Bank of Macclesfield, the post office of his home community of Crisp. The bank there came through the great depression as sound as a new hickory nut. The state’s leading farmer also entered politics for a brief spell and served as a member of the General Assembly for four terms. As was natural, he was a member of the committee on agriculture and banking. He belongs to many orders and organizations, but is proudest of being chairman of the Soil Conservation District, comprising the counties of Edgecombe, Greene, Pitt, and Martin. Some excellent work in forest fire control and in drainage has been done in these counties under his direction. “Cap” believes that the soil is the basis of all of North Carolina’s farming future.

“Building the soil is the greatest thing that we can do,” he said recently. In this work with the Soil Conservation District, he and his associates in the four counties cooperate with the Extension Service, the REA, the FSA, the Land Bank of Columbia, and all state and governmental agencies formed to be of help to the farmer. Tom Buie, head of the Soil Conservation work in the Southeast, says this group headed by Mr. Eagles is doing an excellent job.

AT HOME

But Mr. Eagles also is concerned about the Christian and home life influences around him. He has been superintendent of the local Baptist Sunday School since 1919, and chairman of the Board of Deacons of the Crisp Baptist Church since 1922. He has an ardent supporter and partner in Mrs. Eagles, the former Miss Dairy McLean who is known throughout all that section for her ability as a homemaker and a gracious hostess. They have a modern farm home, completely equipped with all the conveniences. Mrs. Eagles sees that the home runs smoothly while Cap is out attending to his farm or is helping to look after the affairs of the farm organization with which he is connected.

All in all, if the Farm Bureau Federation continues to select its leaders as wisely as it did in selecting Jasper E. Winslow who served as president for the past years, and then as it did in getting its new leader, W.W. “Cap” Eagles, who is now president, the people of North Carolina will have cause to believe in and to support this organization to the fullest. It should serve our farming people with ability and success.