auga Democrat
k m
THURSDAY BY RIVERS PRINTING COMPANY
H. C. KIVBtt, JR., PUBLISHER
J?f4 AB WilHhrt Waekly Newspaper
U IM miUW for 49 yam by the late Robert C. Rivera, Sr.
? SUBSCRIPTION RATES
County: Om year, $2JS0- six months, $1-80; lour month*, $100. OutsltU Watauca
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TO SUBSCRIBERS? la requesting change of address. it la Important to mention the
OLD, aa well aa the NEW address. ' ll 7
af?nr? -
? in i i H
?attar, under the act of Congrats \
BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY U, 1980
Brotherhood Week
Mrw Beffgatfl; HMWBiam''' "jgsn
Nationwide obaervance of Brother
s' h??d Week, sponsored by the National
Conference of Christian* and Jews, will
be held February 2MB. W '
Special eventa in more than 10,000
communities throughout the United
Statei will mark Brotherhood Week.
Program* will extend the work of the
National Conference which stimulates
year-round project* in school* and col
leges, churchea and synagogues, labor
management and community organiza
tions, and in newspapers, magazines,
motion pictures, radio and television.
The purposes of Brotherhood Week,
according to Dr. Lewis Webster Jones,
President of the National Conference,
are to give people an opportunity to re
ded lea te themselves as individuals to the
ideals of respect for people and human
rights. "We try to dramatize the practical
things that people can do to promote
understanding and realization of thoae
ideals. Brotherhood Week is essentially
a campaign against the prejudices and
bigotries that disfigure and distort re
ligious, business, social and political
relations." |r; . ^8' '.t.; -fiC-Siti
The big promotion during Brother
hood Week, according to Dr. Jones, will
be to urge people to do more than give
the principles of brotherhood mere lip
service. "By getting to know the other
fellow, the one who has a different
creed, race or national origin than
yours, by understanding his viewpoint,
his ambitions and goals, you will find
old prejudices disappear. You'll find
that we are all one family made strong
and great by the very differences that
so many times divide us as individuals
and groups. You'll learn to accept or
reject a person strictly on his merits as
a human being and not because he hap
pens to be different from you."
"We hope that during Brotherhood
Week people will begin to get to know
and appreciate each other ? to make
Brotherhood a year-round practice."
Fabulous Motor Car Age
The automobile was such a novelty In
1890 that the Barnum and Bailey Circus
displayed one as its main oddity.
Today there are more than 80 million
passenger care traveling or the world's
roads, according to statisticians. And
about 98 million are owned by Ameri
cans.
That's enough cars to take every man,
woman and child in the U. S. lor a Sun
day drive at one time . . . with room
left over for all the people of Great
Britain and France. And even then,
there would be 15 million empty seats.
Here are some other interesting facts
about automobiles:
England tried to discourage the use of
cart in 1865 by passing the Red Flag
Law. The lew required that sonteoa*k
carrying a red flag in the daJrtlAe* and
a lantern at night walk ahead of any
steam carriage traveling on the high
way!.
The first president to ride in a car
was William McKinley. He was taken to
a hospital in an electric ambulance after
being shot by an assassin in 1901.
A Cadillac was driven up the steps of
the Capitol in Washington, D. C., in 1905
to prove the car'p power.
The average car lasted 6.5 years in
1925. Today it lasts more than 12 years.
The average 1925 car traveled 25,750
miles before it was scrapped. The aver
age car today travels 110,000 miles.
Private passenger cars in the U. S.
travel more than 500 billion miles a
year ... a distance greater than 2,700
round trips to the sun.
Billions Of Good Turns
This old earth of ours has turned
around on Its axis 18,262 times and has
completed fifty trips around the sun
since February 8, 1910, the day Scouting
was born in the United States.
In the past fifty years, thirty-three
and a half million Americans have been
identified with the Boy Scouts of Ameri
ca. Each member accepted the obligation
to do a Good Turn to someone every day.
This Good Turn, meaning doing some
thing useful, or something extra ? be
yond mere courtesy, has a very special
place in Scouting.
The Boy Scouts of America came into
being through the Good Turn of an un
known British Boy Scout. A large bronze
buffalo statue stands at the Gilwell train
ing center near London, bearing this
simple but eloquent inscription:
"To the Unknown Scout whose faith
fulness in the performance of the 'Daily
Good Turn' brought the Scout Move
ment to the United States of America."
William D. Boyce, Chicago publisher,
was bewildered in foggy London in 1909
while seeking an address. The British
lad offered his services. The boy led the
American to the address and when Mr.
Boyce offered a shilling tip to the lad,
the boy saluted, thanked him, and said,
"Sir, I am a Scout. A Scout does not
accept tips for courtesies and Good
Turns."
Mr. Boyce, who had twenty to thirty
thousand boys on his sales force, was
dumbfounded. After he completed his
errand, he accompanied the British Scout
to the office of Lord Baden - Powell,
founder of the Scout idea. Here he
caught the vision of Baden-Powell. He
returned to America and incorporated
the Boy Scouts of America. /
As they go forward with new billions
of Good Turns to be performed, we salute
the Boy Scouts of America. This helping
other people, helping the community and
the nation, is giving boys a worthwhile
experience in citizenship.
In Defense Of Farmers
(The Tarheel Banker)
Exclude us, please, from the doctrin
aire attitude of so many of our urban
economists wbn ore two-fisted about
what they regard as farm socialism. Too
often, the spokesmen against farm sub
sidies manage a rather cavalier attitude
when non-farm subsidies are mentioned.
Repeatedly we have stated that the
American farmer was the original indi
vidualist. Not only that, he comes from
a line of forebears who demonstrated re
markable courage in making a living in
spite of the elements, up-and-down mar
kets, and low potential income.
And >o we repeat our wager that the
American farm community will be glad
to take its chances In a completely free
economy. That means, mind you, that
everybody else will have to surrender
their subsidies; everybody else will have
to forego the "advantages" of govern
ment paternalism
That's a pretty fair proposition, as we
""I " MBWlBh,
pretty interesting
this posi
years, for every
$1,000 spent by the Federal Government
for subsidies, the farmer received |70.
Airlines, schools, the petroleum indus
try, housing, shipping ? ail of these made
the farmers look like pikers in the gov
ernment hand-out department.
The taxpayers pick up the tab, for
example, on a Urge percentage of the
cost of mailing newspapers and maga
zines. The Tarheel Banker doesn't pay
in postage nearly what it actually costs
the post-office department to distribute
our journal. On a grander scale, the tax
payers in 1962 paid about $8 million of
the cost of mailing Life Magazine alone.
One man's gravy is no defense of an
other man's subsidy. The point is that
all subsidies are everybody's poison ? in
the long run.
The government as a Daddy Rabbit
has lost much of its bounce. The prob
lems of debt management, much less
debt retirement, are upon us. And un
less there Is an across-the-board realiza
tion that freedom needs free enterprise
to survive^ we can expect nothing from
our problems except a worsening.
One Of Our Underprivileged
Just One Thing After Another
By CARL GOERCH
A former resident of S?lma,
Alabama called me up after my
radio program aeveral weeks ago
and aald that at one time two
gentlemen by the name of Morgan
and Pettua were in the U. S. Sen
ate from Selma, Alabama and that
thia wai the only time such a
thing ever happened in the hiatory
of the country.
I told him (thanki to informa
tion given me tome time before
by the late Willi! Brigga of Ra
leigh) that he waa miataken. In
IBIS Nathaniel Macon, of Warren
County, wai elected to the U. S.
Senate and aerved until 1823.
Jamei Turner, alao of Warren
County waa elected to the Senate
in 1815 and aerved through 1818.
Not only that but In 1814 William
Miller, likewiae of Warren County,
waa elected Governor of North
Carolina and aerved until 1817. So,
you aee, for a brief period of time.
Warren County had both Senators
and alao the Governor. All three
men lived in Warrenton or Just ?
few miles outside of town.
Next time you want ?ome child
ish amuaement with waich to en
tertain your guesta, you might try
the aciaaors game on them. First
time I was educated to it waa in
George McNeiU'a home down In
Morehead City several suramera
ago.
You and your gueata are seated
In a circle. A pair of aeisaora are
the only props that are needed.
In starting the game, you get some
one to band you the scissors. When
this is done, you look at them
carefully and say: "I receive them
open." Then you change the posi
tion of the scissors and pass them
to the person on your right, saying
while doing so: "And I pass them
closed."
The others are requested to do
the same thing in the same manner
that you did it. As a general thing,
it is best to have someone else,
preferably sitting across the circle
from you, who is wise to the
stunt.
The others will twist the scissors
around in every way imaginable
and will announce that they're re
ceiving them open, passing them
closed, or receiving them closed
and passing them open.
The scissors have nothing to do
with the way they are received or
the way they are passed. It's the
position of your legs that counts.
If your legs are separated, then it
means that you are receiving the
acissors open. Then, while looking
at the scissors very carefully and,
changing the arrangement of the
blades, you cross your legs or
your feet and say: "And I'm pass
ing them closed."
Or, if you want to, you can pass
them open. It's a hard stunt to
catch onto.
Mr. J. M. White of the Norfolk
Southern, was eating lunch in the
SAW Cafeteria up in Washington,
D. C. not long ago. At the table
next to him were four people and,
of all things, they were discussing
The State Magazine. One of them
apoke up and, referring to the
former editor of the publication,
remarked: "That'i the craziest guy
in the world."
Mr. White didn't know who they
were, but as be got up to leave
he leaned over their table and
said: "I'll probably see Carl in the
morning and 111 tell him what you
think of him."
He said their faces turned red
in wonderful fashion.
Several years ago we went into
the Sir Walter Hotel Barber Shop
and observed that Barber McCurdy
was busily engaged in shaving
Jack Dempsey. Inasmuch as we
were leaving town in a few min
utes, we walked over and said
goodby to Dempsey. And then, with
a somewhat puzzled look at Mr.
McGrudy, we remarked: "You sure
are an inconsistent sort of person.
Here you are shaving Dempsey to
, day, and only yesterday we heard
say that he was a no-account
drunkard and ought to be shot."
Dempsey looked at McCurdy.
McCurdy held out both his hands
beseechingly. "Before God, Mr.
Dempsey," he exclaimed, "I didn't
say any such a thing. He'a making
the whole thing up."
Jack laughed and McCurdy went
on with his shaving after easting a
most reproachful look in my direc
tion.
Incidentally, we might add that
Mr. Dempsey doesn't drink.
SOME LOCAL HISTORICAL SKETCHES
From Early Democrat Files
Sixty Years Ago
Fehrmary IS, MM.
Mia* Julia, daughter of Mr. J.
H* Hardin of Sutherland, has en
tered achool here.
Sorry to hear of the illneas of
Ex-Sheriff Hayet, but hope he
will aoon be better.
Mr. F. D. Bingham of Pine Run
waa up and entered a son and
daughter In achool.
Meaari I. S. Coffey and J. M.
Morels are In Virginia thia week
for Um purpose of buying some
wagon and saddle horses for their
own use.
Little Ralph, infant son of Mr.
and Mrs. Thomas Greer, died of
whooping cough on the fifth inst.
Rev. Mr. Stanford informs us
that his collections so far for the
new church at Blowing Rock are
$230 and that the good people
continue to drop in their mitea.
When in town, hand him a dollar,
or more, and help push the enter
prise to completion.
Mrs. Nancy Mitchell. 70 years
of age, who live* oa the Beech
Mountain, muat be a remarkable
woman. She ttres 11 miles from
Cranberry and it la aald she walks
there and back as often as seventy
trips a year, and carries from
forty to seventy peuads at a load.
She deals in vegetables, chickens,
ens, ate. and is said to be perfect
ly upright in all her business
VaUe Cnicis Items: Miss Addie
C. Mast of Sugar Grove spent sev
eral days here last week ... Or.
Vsnce Sherrill passed through
Friday on his way to see his fath
er, who is wry ill ... Mr. Hayea
and Mies Laaa Maat who have
keen attending achool at Blowing
Rock, have returned ... J. T. Tay
lor af Lenoir paaaad through last
week ?n hie way to Elk Park. . . .
James Maat was in the valley
Thirty-Nine Years Ago
February 10, 1921.
After ? stay of more than two
weeks in Raleigh, taking after the
interests of the ATS, Capt. Lovill
has returned.
Mr. Bynum Gross, who for sev
eral years has been in the coal
fields of Virginia, has returned
with his family end looted on his
valuable Ueat Camp property,
purchased of Mr. Jesse Ragan two
year* ago.
A new switch board has been in
stalled at Central Phone Office
and several linemen, under the di
rection of Mr. Tester of Vail*
Crucis, are putting in first class
condition the liaea through the
county, with outside connections,
just as rapidly as poaaible, and ere
long it ia hoped the service in Wa
tauga will be of the best
Mr. Carter Cook has bought the
barber business in Boone owned
by Mr. Moreiand of Cranberry, and
took charge of the shop Tuesday.
His wife will join him here next
week and for the prcoent they will
take board at the Crtcher Hotel.
"Within the next thirty days,"
says Jim Todd, the plumber, "I
hope to have the water main laid
from the cistern to Main Street
and down the same as far as the
Baptist Church; in the direction
of the schol as far as Cottrell's
Store." The county and Mr. J. M.
Morett are financing the water ?
system and certainly it is the best
move yet made for our good little
town. The material for the cistern
i? all delivered, the piping all paid
aad covered from the water on the
mountain thereto and from the
cistern site to the courthouse,
where moet of the plumbing has
been done. The cistern will be
erected just as sooa as 'he weath
er will permit, and the idea ia to
be ready to supply the town with
water when the cistern to filled.
Fifteen Years Ago
February S, IMS.
Charles Norton, 34 yean old,
ion of the late Professor A. M.
Norton of Appalachian College
and Mrs. Norton, died at Grace
Hoapital, Banner Elk, Tuesday
evening after an illness which be
gan several years ago . . .
The body of L R. (Bus) Cro
well, manager of Belk's Depart
ment Store here, and one of the
leaders in the business, civic and
religious activities of the com
munity, was found in the basement
section of the big retail store at
2 o'clock this morning, a bullet
wound in the chest and s 32 cali
bre revolver lying sear the body
. . . Cornor J. V. Caudill investi
gated the death and impanelled a
jury which decided that death
was csused by a gun shot wound
in the chest, inflicted by deceased
or from accidental causes. There
is no indication of foul play."
Mrs. Susan A. Spainhour, pro
minent Morganton citiaen, sister
of Mrs. E. S. Coffey of Boone, and
many years ago a resident of this
city, died Saturday at a Morgan
ton Hospital from an etxended
illness . . .
With no indication of any early
alleviation of the cigarette short
age, the office Of price admini
stration has decided to give amok
ers a break. Effective Monday,
lower price ceilings on smoking
pipes have been ordered. The or
der waa made possible by reduc
tioas in prices paid by pipe manu
facturers and importers of Span
ish briarwood.
Mr. Frank M. Payne, local in
surance man, haa been named to
the chairmanship of the cavity
salvage comaoittee, it is announced
by Dr. D. J. Whitenor, head of the
civilian defenae committee for the
county.
KING STREET
By ROB RIVERS
?t ST
|End Of Landmark . . Old Shoemakers
Contrary to the understanding of many of our friends, the
old building vacated last week by the City Shoe Shop is not
the original Democrat building, and while it can lay claim
to being something of a landmark hereabouts, it is not rooted
in antiquity to the degree that it should be preserved, as
some have suggested.
The Watauga Democrat had its shaky beginnings in a build
ing on the site of the present structure, a two-story four-room
brick dwelling house owned by Joe Councill, pioneer watch
maker, whose widow later sold the building to R. C. Rivers,
the first. ... In 1921 or 1922, Mr. Rivers had a big auction
sale for that day and sold out the newspaper office with about
three acres of land adjoining for around six thousand dollars,
an unheard of price for the time. . . . The Advent Christian
Church had bought the house and lot and it was necessary
that the Democrat office be moved, so our daddy built the
brick annex on to the frame structure which had actually
been erected in 1913 for the Boone postoffice, and the print
ing office was hastily moved to the other side of middle
branch. . . In 1937 we erected the present Democrat building
and the business again changed sides of the creek. . . . Since,
the old building has been used as a woodworking shop, a
furniture store, and for a great many years as the shoe shop
of Will Jones and Herbert. . . . The building has seen its best
days and will shortly be taken away in the march of modern
business establishments. . . . Meantime, the Messrs Jones
Have reestablished their business in the Linney store building
across the Street.
Of course a volume could be written about things that have
happened during the years the county newspaper was pub
lished in the drafty old structure, where in summer time, in
his later years, Bob Rivers held forth a good deal of his time
under the spreading maple tree and discussed community
events, politics, and what not with all and sundry who came
by on their unhurried errands.
Looking at Boone's two fine shoe shops, however, we are
reminded of the days when it was fairly difficult to get one's
soles mended and when new shoes even at two dollars a pair
were hard for most folks to come by. . . Mr. Smith Watts of
Blowing Rock was a fine shoemaker and a lot of people had
their work done there and as a matter of fact Mr. Watts could
fashion one a fine pair of shoes or a sleek new pair of boots
right from the side of leather. ... In Boone Mr. William T.
Blair sometimes mended shoes, more as favor to his neighbors,
but we remember mostly Riley Horton, strong, active negro
man, who'd gather up the shoes from about the town, buy
himself some leather, sprigs and shoe thread at Blackburns
and hie away to his home on the side of Howard's Knob
where he'd hammer and sew by lamplight, getting as many
pairs as possible ready for the next morning delivery. . . .
Riley did a good job of work, whether one wanted the half
soles nailed on, or wished them to be securely fastened with
a waxed end ? wooden shoe pegs had gone out of use by
then, we suppose. ... It was told once that Riley lost the
paper on which he had written the names of a group of
dormitory girls for whom he had fixed a sack full of shoes,
and had endless trouble in, getting the shoes and their owners
together. . . . Anyway, whoever finally gets down to writing!
about Boone and her folks, could scarcely escape some words'
about Riley whose work was so essential to the well-being
of the community in his day and time.
* * * *
Donald J. Boyden . . Gentleman Of Old School
Donald Boyden, who went away the other day, was con
nected with -one of the pioneer families of the community, and
we can recall him in our shortbreeches days as he went about
the community. ... In his adulthood he was prominent in the
hotel business in Blowing Rock and did much to develop the
tourist resources of the area. . . . Recently as Preacher Trout
man said, he became a man of silence. ... Ill health, changing
fortunes and a changed community perhaps made him lone
some along the Street where he once knew all. ... Be that
as it may, wise men and philosophers often hold high com
munion in their innermost silences. . . . Donald Boyden,
it always appeared to us, was one of the most polite men
we've ever known, in his associations with all people. . . .
For one to be so generous and so courteous and so consid
erate of others, he must have held an undying love for people,
for his neighbors, which is linked firmly with a love for the
Great Teacher. ... To say that one lives gentilely, with a
genuine affection and respect for his associates, makes a
pretty fair encomium for any man.
Uncle Pinkney
CMcKnifht ByndtoaM
HIS PALAV ARM'S
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
I didn't git to the lestion at
the country store Saturday night
?n account of my young neighbor
down the road a piece come by
to tell me hii family troubles.
Him and hia wife haa been fuss
ing and squabbling since the day
they was married 17 years ago.
I recollect onet about 10 year ago
when ha said ha was going to git
a court enter to restrain his
mother-in-law from brainwashing
his wife.
As I've watched this fight
down through the yean ? they've
got seven kids ? I see fault oa
both sides. One thing I've noted
about him, ever misfortune he
has had in life he has took it
like a man ? Warned it on his
wife. On the other hand 111 have
to say that she's a very ornery
crittar. She la the kind that shifts
her brain into neutral and just
lets her tongue idle on, making
a U-turn in the middle of ever
conversation. And she's got a
tongue as sharp u one of them
ranar blades you see advertised
on television She told her old
man onct that she hoped to live
to see the day when electric blan
kets would replace husbands in
this world. If you can git any
saarper than that, I ain't heard it
1 tried to console him the beat
I could. Mister Editor. I told him
wimmen and mules is a pritty
contrary proposition to handle. I
give him the example of that
feller that shaved his wife's head
on account of her running around
with other men and she put on a
wig and went right back into
business. I recommended to him
that he be consoled to his lot, that
the greatest optimists in this gen
eration was those fellers you read,
about in the papers swapping
wives. I think he went home feel
ing a little better about the situa
tion. Anyhow he's made it fer 17
year, m I figger somebody Up
There likes him.
Speaking of wimmen, I'm go
ing to quit buying the Sunday
edition of these big daily news
papers U they dont quit using
all the space fer the wimmen's
section. Back in the days when
things was in their right pro
portion, paper* tacked a page on
to the end of the paper fer wim
men. Now they use half the paper
fer that aection and put it up
front ahead of such important
departments as the comics and
politic*. It seems to me that
journalism b sitting all out of
shape in the big papers with this
new allotment of junk they're
calling the wimmen's section.