Elias Carr was an American politician and governor of North Carolina. Altogether his public career exemplified the least selfish and most constructive phases of the agrarian movement. At the same time (1893 - 97), he was serving as first president of the North Carolina Sons of the American Revolution, of which he was a charter member.
Background
Elias Carr was born on February 25, 1839 on the extensive and fertile "Bracebridge Farm, " near Tarboro in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. His parents, Jonas Johnston Carr and Elizabeth Jane (Hilliard) Carr, traced their lineage back through Revolutionary fighters to Virginia emigrants who received land patents direct from the Lords Proprietors.
Education
Carr attended school in Warren County and also the famous William James Bingham School at the Oaks in Orange County. His higher education was acquired at The University of North Carolina (1855–57) and later at the University of Virginia.
Career
The Farmers' Alliance movement catapulted Carr into the limelight. The Southern Alliance was established in North Carolina in 1887 and in January 1888 absorbed the Farmer's Association. An early leader in the movement, Carr was president of his sub-alliance, Sparta, No. 218, and of the Edgecombe County Alliance. He served on the first executive committee of the NCSFA until August 1889, when he was elected president of the organization. Reelected in 1890, he served the maximum term of two years. His leadership helped to secure the passage of an act to increase the school tax for improved schools. As an Allianceman he was instrumental in drafting the Ocala platform, adopted at the Ocala, Fla. , convention in 1890. However, he opposed the 1892 St. Louis platform, which ignored the protective tariff (an issue important to Carr) and substituted government ownership and operation of railroads for government regulation and control. A staunch Democrat, he opposed the third-party movement that developed among Alliancemen and ultimately resulted in the formation of the Populist party.
In 1892 the Democratic party nominated Carr for governor. Politically unambitious, he accepted nonetheless, agreeing that he seemed the likely candidate to unify farmers behind the Democratic ticket. He received 135, 519 votes; Republican candidate David M. Furches received 94, 684; and Populist candidate Wyatt Exum, 47, 840.
Lack of political experience did not lessen Carr's firmness and decisiveness in the gubernatorial office. His management of public affairs was as meticulous, efficient, and responsible as his handling of private affairs. His appointments generally were men of high caliber, and he periodically visited and inspected the state's educational, eleemosynary, and penal institutions. During the last years of his administration the penitentiary was self-supporting for the first time in its history. Some of his policies smacked of Bourbon democracy. He sought to publicize the resources of his state so as to attract both immigrants and capital. Accordingly, he published two articles: "North Carolina's Resources, " in Southern States 1 (1893), and "Some Advantages Offered by the Southern States, " in Harper's Weekly, 11 Nov. 1893. He encouraged the state's participation in such fairs as the Atlanta Exposition (1895) and the Baltimore Centennial Exposition (1897). He also supported the state geological survey, an Alliance achievement, and he regarded the money appropriated as the best investment made by the state for any single purpose.
Carr retired to the farm life he loved at Bracebridge Hall, where he died. He was buried in the family cemetery there.
Achievements
Politics
The policies he advocated were enlightened, progressive, and humane. He attempted to improve the state's schools and roads. In his inaugural address he termed the roads "a disgrace to civilization. " His main concern was the establishment of better rural schools, and he advocated both increased taxation and compulsory education. His desire to expand public services was somewhat restrained by his reluctance to impose a heavier tax burden on the people, especially farmers, during a period of depression. The most controversial action of his administration was the lease in August 1895 of the North Carolina Railroad to the Southern Railway for ninety-nine years. He was often at odds with the Fusionist legislature of 1895, and when his term ended, the Fusionists had won control of all three branches of state government. But his message to the General Assembly of 1897, just prior to leaving office, was dignified and free of partisan rancor.
Membership
He was first president of the Farmer's Institute of Edgecombe County, established for the purpose of instructing farmers in better methods. He was commissioned by the governor as a state delegate in 1886 to the National Farmer's Congress in St. Paul, Minn. , and in 1893 to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. From 1891 to 1893 he served as a member of the board of managers of the North Carolina Geological Survey.
Carr was a member of the first board of trustees of the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanic College.
Connections
On 24 May 1859, Carr married Eleanor Kearny, born on 1 March 1840 at Shocco Springs in Warren County, the daughter of William Kinchin and Maria Alston Kearny. She was well educated and of distinguished lineage. Elias and Eleanor Kearny Carr had six children.