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Entered at the poatofflce at
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MEMBER NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION
NORTH CAROLINA PRESS ASSOCIATION
?
NE, NORTH CAROLINA. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1M1
Bell To Be Judge
iLiS
J. Spencer Bell, prominent Charlotte
attorney and legislator, and outspoken
advocate of court reform in the State,
will be the new judge for the fourth
circuit court of appeals, according to
word coming from Washington, and it
is presumed that the Senate will go
along and confirm Mr. Bell.
Under the set procedure the recom
mendation goes to the White House, and
then President Kennedy will submit a
nomination to the U. S. Senate for con
firmation.
The circuit court covers the five
states of North Carolina, South Carolina,
Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland,
and appointment to the court is regarded
as a choice designation.
A veteran State legislator he has been
active in the religious, business and civic
life of Mecklenburg and Charlotte.
Within the Democratic party in the
State, all hands should be able to agree
that Spencer Bell will wear the judicial
robes with dignity and with honor to
his country, and that he is eminently
qualified for the high position.
It also indicates to a further degree
how well North Carolina stands in with
the National administration. Mr. Bell
went to Los ^Angeles to support Presi
dent Kennedy for the nomination, as did
we, and ten more. So not only from the
standpoint of his commanding ability
but from the rules of party politics the
way we were taught them at the feet of
men now gone, Spencer Bell was the
logical choice of the administration.
We're glad he got the nod.
Blue Laws Return
It used to be considered a mortal sin
around our ancestral household to toil
on Sundays, and the matter of cutting a
smidgen of stove wood for dinner some
times was a matter for discontent on the
part of our mom. In those gasolineless
days there was little cause for mercan
tile establishments to be open on the
sabbath, and the afternoons were given
over to naps by the oldsters and foot
excursions by the youngsters to How
ard's Knob, Winkler's Creek, or some
other point of scenic interest.
With the coming of the automobiles
and the gas stations and the drug stores,
it seemed essential to abandon the old
notions against commercialization of
Sunday, and there was a general relax
ation of the so-called blue laws. It came
to be the custom to help the ox out of
the ditch, even when he'd been pushed
a little to get him in the dilemma in the
first place.
But now, we read, there's a trend
developing back toward Sunday laws.
But drug stores, eating establishments
and service stations seem to enjoy a
general immunity from the provisions of
such enactments. Sunday movies also
seem to have won public acceptance in
most cases. But we'd think that fishing
and other outdoor sports on Sunday
will continue to be smiled upon.
We used to go up to the M. B. Black
burn store, once in a while, on a Sunday
morning, to get some necessity which
hadn't been provided earlier for the
household, and we recall the dry humor
of the proprietor, when he said, "Al
ways come on Sunday, I'm not so busy
then."
By and large, six days should be
enough for business activity. But it's
going to be hard to turn back the prac
tices of a generation and enforce any
sort of rigid blue law.
In Behalf Of The Goober
Senator Jordan says that plans are
being made to wage an all-out campaign
to get the Europeans in the habit of eat
ing peanuts and peanut products.
There is every indication that peanuts
could become a major food item in most
of the European nations, and with the
favorable economic situation that exists
in most of Western Europe, there is al
most unlimited opportunity to increase
the dollar sales of peanuts in this area
of the world. At the present time we
are exporting, mostly in the form of oil,
about 60 million pounds of peanuts a
year and Senator Jordan believes that
if proper emphasis is placed on peanut
promotions, our total exports could dou
ble or treble in ? very short time.
Senator Jordan adds:
"There should also be a good oppor
tunity for expanding the consumption
of peanuts and peanut products in many
of the underdeveloped countries of the
world. To my knowledge, no real effort
haa been made to move peanuta into ex
port channels through Public Law 480,
under which we sell surplus farm pro
ducts to foreign nations for local cur
rency. Since there is a substantial sur
plus of certain types of peanuts, there
should be no reason why we could not
utilize Public Law 480 as a vehicle to
introduce peanuts to many areas o I the
world where we cannot sell them for
dollars."
We are all for the building up of
exports, particularly from our own
State, but greater than that, the peace
potential of peanuts should be consider
able. Small wonder Europeans are tra
ditionally in the stew, since they have
never savored the goodness of a goober
pea, warm from the roaster or nibbled
a cracker neatly pasted with peanut
butter. Goobers not only build up bus
iness. They contribute greatly to inner
satisfaction and to a happy belief in
the eternal goodness of things.
Lived A Fruitful Life
(Lenoir Newi-Topic)
. . but their priceless contributions
will endure," wrote Millican Moore in a
feature story in the Lenoir News-Topic
20 years ago this week.
The former editor and publisher of
this newspaper was writing about the
noble men who pioneered the schools in
Caldwell county and especialy those of
the Oktbe community where he was
born and reared. The interesting story,
beautifully written, was published in the
centennial edition of the News-Topic in
observance of the 100th anniversary of
the founding of this county.
It is fitting that we use Mr. Moore's
expression because there is no question
about the priceless contribution which
he has made, not only in his adopted
county of Iredell, but during his many
H| years In his home-county of Caldwell.
It was also appropriate that Mr. Moore
should contribute a historical feature
for the Caldwell centennial edition be
$ ? ? .fe
cause he and member* of his family, and
that of his wife's, the Steeles, have been
prominent in the religious, educational,
cultural, and community life of Cald
well county since prior to the Revolu
tion. Their contributions have gone be
yond the borders of this Stat* in such
influential educators and religious lead
ers as Hight C. Moore, for many years
secretary of the Southern Baptist Sun
day School Board and R. L. Moore,,
president of Mars Hill College for ap
proximately 50 years, and there are
many more.
Millican Moore was a dedicated news
paperman, school teacher, and Baptist
lay-leader who made many valuable and
enduring contributions to his commun
ity and State. It is with personal regret
that we note his passing and extend
sympathy to his devoted wife and their
fine children.
i ?
Like Any Other Bank
From Early Democrat Files
Sixty Years Ago
September 19, 1901.
Mercury registered at 48 yester
day morning, and good fires are
rather comfortable Just now.
Friend Martin of the Lenoir
News has announced that he has
put in a new press and that the
paper will be enlarged to a seven
column folio.
On Wednesday of last week the
boiler of a steam engine burst and
seriously, if not fatally, injured
Mr. Alfonso Ward, one of the saw
mill operatives. The accident oc
curred on Laurel Creek, this coun
ty.
For Sale: 60,000 white pine
shingles at our mill on Beech Creek
at $2 per thousand. A. B. and
W. S. Harmon.
M. A. Teague, who was the low
est and successful bidder for the
keeping of the county poor for a
period of two years, has sold his
right title and claim in said con
tract to F. M. Hodges for the
consideration of a one-hoss wagon,
valued at $39.
On Wednesday evening of last
week, while the Democrat was go
ing through the press, telling of
the hopeless condition of Mr. J. T.
Winkler, death, with stealthy step,
entered his home, while he was
surrounded by loved ones and
sympathising relatives and friends,
and claimed him as ita victim.
John was a broad minded, ener
getic an! thrifty citizen and was
much liked (or his many enviable
traits of character. He leaves a
wife, six children and a host of
friends to mourn his departure.
After the hopeful bulletins of
the first few days, the news of
President McKinley's death was
almost as great a shock to the
people as the report of his assas
ination. , . .
It is worth mentioning that the
only member of Congress who said
anything unpleasant about the
shooting of President McKinley
was a Republican and not a Dem
ocrat ? Mr. Wellington of Mary
land.
The County Board of Education
was in session on last Saturday,
and apportioned the school fund
of the county for 1901, which
amounts to $1.10 per capita, against
$1.19 last year.
Thirty-Nine Year* Ago
September 21, 1922.
C. A. Ellis of Johnson City,
Tenn., was in town a few hours
yesterday. He is now in the em
ploy of the Reynolds Tobacco Co.
County Agent John B. Steele
has moved his family to Boone.
They are occupying Pine Crest,
the beautiful home of Mrs. Emma
Moore.
Just One Thing
By CARL GOERCH
Mrs. John H. Nelms calls our
attention to the (act that there'* a
perpetual Sabbath on this world
of oun. She says that the Greeks
observe Monday as the Sabbath
day; the Persians, Tuesday: the
Assyrians, Wednesday; the Egypt
ians, Thursday; the Turks, Friday;
the Jews, Saturday; and the Christ
ians, Sunday.
G. L. House, of Winterville,
calls our attention to some unusu
al words that are in use down in
his section of the state. A few of
them we have heard of before, but
there are two which are new. One
is "sn? thing," meaning in a biased
position; and another is "aerag
iny," meaning a quanity, or a
whole lot of something.
Thomas W. Catea, of Burlington
sends in a question; A squirrel
found twenty-one ears of corn in
a field and decided that he would
carry them to his nest for the win
ter. If he carries three ears at a
time and makes one trip day,
how many days before he . all
the corn in his nest?"
Naturally, upon having read
that far, we immediately surmised
that It would take the squirrel
seven days to complete his task,
but Mr. Cates says no; it would
take him twenty-one days, because
on each trip he carries his own
two ears and one ear of corn.
Do you know how the word
"cocktail" came into being?
During the American Revolu
tionary period it waa the custom
to stir a mixed drink with the fea
ther from a rooster's tail; hence
the name. I thought it had become
a part of our vocabulary a lot more
recMtly than that.
"Most any man," say* the Whlte
vllle News-Reporter," can be an
editor. All an editor has to do 1*
AFTER ANOTHER
to sit at a desk six days a week,
(our weeks to ? month and twelve
months a year and edit such stuff
as this:
"Mra. Jones of Cactus Creek
let a can-opener slip last week
and cut herself in the pantry . . .
John Doe climbed on the roof of
his house last week, looking for
a leak, and fell, landing on his
back porch . . . While Harold
Green was escorting Miss Violet
Wise from the church social last
Sunday night, a savage dog at
tacked them and bit Mr. Green on
the public square . . . Jim Frang,
while harnessing a broncho last
Saturday, was kicked just south
of his coracrib.' "
?
An automobile passed us on the
highway not long ago and above
Ita state license tag was another
plate inscribed "Benton Heights."
That one had us stumped. So far
as we knew, we never had heard
of Benton Heights before, and
we've found out that the dozen or
more people whom we've asked
about It since were in the same
position that we were.
It's in Union County, adjoining
Monroe, although it is a separate
corporation. And it's a pretty fair
sized place, too, with a population
of around 1,000.
Mr. J. W. Dailey Is in the real
estate business in Wilson. Not long
ago he decided to have a new sign
painted on the door of his office.
He gave instructions to the sign
painter and then want out to look
at a piece of property.
When he returned to the office,
the painter had finished his work
and had left, fbe sl?n read:
J. W. DAILEY HEALTTY CO.
WILSON, N. C.
Mr. Dailey started to have it
corrected, but finally decidcd to
let It stay as It ia. If real estate
i^nt a reality, what to it?
Mr. Ralph Winkler, the Fire
stone tire dealer, hai installed a
full line of cord and fabric truck
tires, possibly the largest and most
complete in the county, ranging
in sizes from 30x4 to 40x8.
James Councill, who has been
engineering on the roads of Hay
wood county during vacation, has
returned, and will leave for Cha
pel Hill the last of the week
to take up his studies at the Uni
versity. Fred Hodges, son of Ex
Sheriff John W. Hodges, will also
enter the fall term at the Uni
versity.
W. R. Lovill is taking a course of
treatments at Johns Hopkins Hos
pital in Baltimore.
Mr. J. Parks Gwaltney, of Char
lotte, with his wife and brother,
was a week end visitor to Boone.
Two crews of men and teams
are now putting down a stone sur
face on the roads leading out of
Boone. Mr. Roy Johnson, with hi?
men, having recently completed
the hard surface on the Boone
Trail to the river bridge, where
it intersects with the gravel road,
is now at work on the Boone
Blowing Rock road, and ii making
splendid headway. Mr. Clementi,
another experienced road man,
with a crew of men, trucki, etc.,
is on the Boone Trail going west
with the top of the Rich Moun
tain as his objective this fall,
and if he keeps up at his present
rate, he is sure to make it. The
road making program in Watauga
looks encouraging.
The Farmers' County Picnic
held last Thursday at Silverstone,
was a very pretty success, owing
largely to the untiring efforts put
forth by our active county agent,
Mr. John B. Steele.
Misa Anna Blair, daughter of
Dr. and Mrs. McG. Anders,. is off
for Durham, where she will enter
Trinity College.
Fifteen Yeart Ago
September 19, 1946.
Congressman Sam J. Ervin of
Morganton, tenth diitriet repre
sentative, has accepted an invita
tion to deliver an address at the
Democratic county convention
which will be held at the court
house next Saturday afternoon* at
2 o'clock.
Dr. W. J. Love, 74, died Sep
tember 1 at the home at Sugar
Grove, after an illness of several
months. Funeral aervices were
held Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock
by Rev. R. J. Starling and Rev.
W. C. Payne. Interment was in
the family cemetery. Dr. Love,
who was a son of the late James
and Emmaline Pennington Love,
received his education in Knox
ville, Tenn. For many years he
practiced his profession In Wa
tauga and Avery counties. Ill
health forced him to retire in
1936.
Crafts House, Watauga Indus
tries, opened its doors Tuesday,
September 10, for its annual fall
program of weaving, under new
management. Miss Elizabeth Lord,
who for the past eight years was
the capable director, has accepted
a position with Berea College, Be
rea, Ky? as assistant professor of
weaving. Mrs. Wm. J. Kelsey was
unanimously appointed by the
board to succeed Miis Lord.
Mrs. Margaret Bohnert of Miami,
Fla., Is spending two weeks with
her daughter, Mrs. Joe Condcrman,
and Mr. Conderman.
Miss Christine Eggert, daughter
of Mr. and Mr*. S.'C. Ecgers. has
been named principal of the Tab
ernacle School, Vincentown, N. J.
KING STREET
By ROB RIVERS
Would Change Name . . "Boone City" Maybe
Col. Clyde C. Miller, native Wataugan, who's been away
most of the time for more than four decades, comes back
to visit his folks every summer, and is building at the old
home place, where doubtless he will be living before too
long... . It's always good to see Col. Miller, who invariably
stops by to pass the time of day. ... He continues to express
nniazement at the progress of the town of Boone and sug
gests that it might add some prestige to call the place Boone
City, rather than just Boone. . . . Could be. . . . Incidentally,
Colonel Miller left his home in Watauga county in 1913 to
attend the University of North Carolina, where he was grad
uated in the same class with U. S. Senator Sam Ervin. . . .
He served in the first world war after graduation, and later
lived in Cleveland and Dayton. . . . After Pearl Harbor he
returned to the service and served through the second war,
retiring as a full Colonel. ... We are glad that signs are
accumulating that the Colonel and Mrs. Miller are going to
come back home.
* * ? ? ? ;
Good Salesman . . Odds And Ends
Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges thinks what's
the matter with the country is a dearth of salesmanship. . . .
A thing happened in Boone which made us agree. ... A
well-groomed man on crutches came to town the other day,
offering these little metal hammers, whose handles unscrew
to provide sets of screwdrivers. . . . Mrs. Rivers has had
one- of these for a great many years, and wouldn't live
without it. . . . She laid in a couple more for the daughters.
. . . Some of the men in the composing room bought the handy
gadget*, he supplied some of the public officials, retail mer
chants and men on the street, and perhaps disposed of a
hundred or more during the day. ... It was like the traditional
selling of hot cakes. . . . It's possible that the hammer-screw
driver units are for sale at more than one of our stores, but
the people didn't know it, and of course none of our stores
knew there was an appreciable demand. . . . But the fact
is, the folks wanted the ingenious little tools ? wanted 'em
bad ? they only needed to hear of 'em.
George W. Main, who's taken the Watauga Democrat for
thirty years, came by the other day and subscribed for his
three children: George W. Jr., Rantoul, 111.; Randel, Panama
City, Fla.; Mrs. Herbert West, Durham. . . . The sons and
daughter had never known a home without the Democrat so
George suppplied the need. Thanks.
Woodrow Roberts, a good gardener and fruit tree sales
man, gives us a twin squash, two which grew together from
the same stem.
Summer resident of the community drops by to say
breathlessly she's just escaped being hit by an automobile.
. . . "Never have I seen a city before where motorists made
u-turns in the middle of a business block," she complained.
Emery Joines, with whom we've duffed around the golf
course on many a happy day, and who's been hitting 'em
especially good lately, we hear, says he broke a record on
the Blowing Rock course the other day, when he hit a ball
onto a load of cabbage speeding down highway 321. . . . The
truck bore the. markings of a produce dealer in South Caro
lina, and Emory says he's probably the only man around
who's hit a ball which came to rest in Columbia.
Dr. I. G. Greer told us one time about hearing a rugged
old mountain man testifying as to the character of a man
who was being tried in Watauga Superior Court, in that far
away day when hill men shot straight from the shoulder, so to
speak, with words and bare knuckles too, if necessary. . . . The
witness said the character of the defendant was good, that
he'd known him all his life. . . The Judge asked the witness
by what he judged the character of a citizen. . . . The witness
turned his furrowed face to the bench: "Your honor," he
said, "I judge a man by the sort of liquor he makes."
One fisherman said to another, according to Alfred
Adams, one of our foursome Sunday: "I caught a catfish that
weighed 65 pounds." ... "I booked only a lantern," said the
other fisherman, "which I lost in the lake in 1917, and it
was still burning." . . . First fisherman: "Tell you what. I'll
cut 25 or 30 pounds off the weight of my catfish if you will
blow out that danged lantern."
Uncle Pinkney
(Mac Knight Syndicate)
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
I see by the paper* where
ichool houses in a heap of placet
is so crowded fer space this year
they're operating on two shifts.
And the same piece says some of
the schools in Chicago is serving
breakfast in the school lunch
rooms.
In one generation this country
has come up with no-shift auto
mobiles and two-shift schools. It
looks to me like that people,
somewhere along the line, is git
ting progress sll twisted up. Or
maybe the crowded school situ
ation com* about on account of
folks not being able to settle a
arguement between their consci
ence and their pocket book There
ain't nothing that makes a feller
any madder than fer his consci
ence to interrupt when his money
is talking.
And me snd my old lady, got
in an arguement over this school
breakfast item. When I was git
ting what little schooling I got,
I went to bed early so'i I could
git up esrly and help milk the
cow*, churn, and bring in ttte
wood fer the day. Then I set
down to a solid mesl. Now they're
fixing it so's the kids can stay
out half the night and git some
watered orange juice and a piece
of toast.
My old lady says they take
care of these things now with
vitamins, that folks doti't need
the same eating habits they did
in the old days. Could be. Mister
Editor. Science has pervided so
many substitutes far things that
HIS PALAVARIN'S
it's sitting hard fer me to re
collect what it was we needed in
the first place.
Speaking of scientists, I see
where our missile experts claim
two miles is about as close to the
target as we can be sure of with
our long range shots. I don't
think two miles will make much
difference. We got so many of
them foreign countries saying
"Yankee Go Home" that we're
bound to hit one right on the
barrel-head ever time we shoot.
I see where the column writ
ers is still discussing President
Kennedy's health. That can work
both days. I never knowed a fel
ler that had a operation or spent
time in the hospital that didn't
brag about it. Whenever he hears
about another feller that has .
been in similar toils, he feels
tojvard him like a long lost bro
ther. A heap of folks that was
Democrats shifted to Ike after
he had his operation. And they
say, fer instant, that when Sen
ator Kefauver was trying to git
to the White Houm. he begun
to slip when it was found out he
hadn't never had no operation or
been sick a day In his life.
Well, I see where the Census
Bureau come out last week with
some mora figgars on various
things they has put together
from the 1900 census. I was in
terested 1b one item that said a
million and a half Americana
quit smoking from IMS to 1980.
I reckon this was only a small
fraction ot them that swere off.