18 December 1861: “Everyone wants salt . . .”

Item description: “Salt,” Semi-Weekly Standard (Raleigh, N. C.), 18 December 1861, page 3, column 6.

Dr. Worth, mentioned in the article, is North Carolina Salt Commissioner John Milton Worth.  At the time Worth was colonel of the 63rd North Carolina Militia Regiment; he resigned his commission on 20 December 1861, however, to dedicate his efforts to the duties of salt commissioner.  He was the brother of North Carolina state senator Jonathan Worth.

On 6 December 1861, the North Carolina Convention ratified “An Ordinance in Regard to the Supply of Salt,” which established the position of salt commissioner.

Item transcription:

SALT.—Few matters now concern farmers more than salt.  Everyone wants salt—cheap if possible; but it must be had.  The Convention resolved to invest at least $100,000 in its manufacture on the sea coast, in order to relieve the people.  Dr. Worth, the commissioner, who is a man of energy and business tact, will go to work in earnest to produce the largest quantity in the shortest period.  But there must be some necessary delay, and we fear the people will have salt to a certain extent, at any price.  In the meantime private parties are boiling salt on Currituck Sound, on Bogue Sound, and on Topsail Sound, if not at other points.  The Newbern Progress speaks highly of the quality of the salt made near Carolina City by Mr. J. M. Oliver, of Newbern, and it says that in a few days the several makers near Morehead City will be able to turn out 200 bushels per day.

Let the farmers delay killing their pork for a short time, until salt can be obtained at a living price.  Corn is plentiful, and the free use of corn to hogs a few weeks longer will make better pork, and greatly increase the quantity.  Prudence therefore, as well as economy, would seem to dictate that our farmers should not be hasty in killing pork this season.

Item citation: “Salt,” Semi-Weekly Standard (Raleigh, N. C.), 18 December 1861, page 3, column 6. Bound in North Carolina Newspapers /  1861 (spine title), call number C071 Z, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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