Fe 



ending echo 



From ancient times tobacco, in its social uses, had 

 been a promoter of harmony and fellowship. It seemed 

 a strange contradiction that it should have been the 

 center of violent conflict in modern times. The real cause 

 of the discord was economic, the same element that had 

 brought about other instances of violence in the field 

 of tobacco agriculture. The Culpeper Rebellion in North 

 Carolina, 1677-1679, had its roots in the demand of 

 tobacco planters for a free market. In an effort to curb 

 overproduction of tobacco in Virginia, farmers had de- 

 stroyed their own and their neighbors' plants in 1682, 

 and tobacco-cutting riots had taken place in Maryland 

 in the early 1730's. 



With changes in buying practices after 1911, and the 

 high prices that prevailed during World War I, the bru- 

 talities of the pooling combines were largely forgotten. 

 Yet a native son of Kentucky, Irvin Cobb, may have had 

 the war partly in mind when he wrote his pseudo-guide 

 to Kentucky. He must also have been aware, too, of the 

 provocative character of some place names in the 

 Bluegrass State, among them Contrary, Disputanta, 

 Squabble, Hazard, Mad Dog, Viper, Rowdy. 

 Cobb remarked: 



The crest of the state shows two gentlemen . . . 

 holding each other firmly . . . The intent of the 

 picture is plain. So long as they hold hands, 

 neither can reach for his hardware. The mot- 

 to which goes with this device is "United We 

 Stand, Divided We Fall To." By an oversight 

 the designers left the word "To" off the end 

 of the phrase. 



54 



