North Carolina Newspapers

Hertford County Herald . THIRD NEWSIEST WEEKLY PAPER IN THE STATE A PAPER WORTH WHILE BEST ADVERTISING MEDIUM IN EASTERN CAROLINA Volume XIII. Eight Pages Ahoskie, North Carolina, Friday, December 22, 1922 One Section No. 33 PAYMENT IS MADE ON TOM SYSTEMS Draft Mailed Thursday Morn ing, December 14th, Cover ing Bond Payment AUDITOR'S REPORT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC A New York sight draft for $5,000, covering a payment of $2,000 on water and sewer bond* and IS,000 interest on the $100,000 issue was mailed to the Hanover National Bank of New York City Thursday morning. The bonds and interest coupons be came due at the New York bank on Friday, Decemby 15, and Ahoskie's check for the amount will be o check for the amount was on hand In time to meet the payment. The Town Council mep in special session Wednesday nifcht and arrang ed to secure the fuda to meet the pay ments and' thus keep inviolate the town's credit. Total tax collections for 1922 amounted to about $4,600. out of which more than one thousand dollars had been paid for coal and other expenses of the light plant On account of the absence of H. A. Yert, plant superintendent, no-collections for lights had been made for Novem ber and it was necessary to advance expense money from the tax collect ions. When a count was taken Wed nesday night ,$1,85Q was sUll lack ing with which to meet the bond pay ment One of the local banks came to the rescue with a loan of that amount Taxpayers have not been as res ponsive as the council had expected, in the light of the action that gave them fifteen extra days in which to > secure a one per cent discount Dur ing the rest of December collections will he pushed, and will be payable at par. On January 1, 1928, collector Britton will begin levying on town property, and 1922 taxes* will - be closed up as soon as possible, in order that the town may meet some of its -bills, and undertake other town work badly needed. Another action of the council Wed nesday night was to order the publi cation of tho report of the town's finances during 1921?-a report that was mailed to the State Corporation. Thig report was publirtied in the last ""Issue of the HEBALD. In this con | nection, it was also voted to make available to the townspeople the aud itor's report of the town's finances. I The report is now open to public in spection in the office of Mayor L. C. Williams, second floor Farmer-At lantic Bank. A quarterly statement of the town's receipts and disbursements will here after be published in the HERAJLD, according to the same motion. This action was taken to give the taxpay er's a full opportunity to see What is becoming of their money, and to as suage some of the criticism hereto r tore mads for keeping the public in the dark about the actions of their officers. CONGRESSMAN WARD COMMITTEE MEMBER i I Highly Gratified With Program That Ha* Bw> MarM Out By _ Progressive* Hallett 8. Ward, congressman from' thi* district, has recently been ap pointed a member of the steering committee of the Progressive non-par tisan bloc in Congress. He joined the Woe, when it was first organised. Its purpose is to promote legislation (non partisan) in the interests of the farm em and laboring man." There Ik a rf similar organisation in the United States Senate. Three of the farm members of the steering committee of the bloc are democrats, Senator Sheppard of Texas, Congressman Huddlestone of Alabama, and Congressman Ward of North Carolina, thy only republican on the committe being, Congressman Frear of Wisconsin. ' - In addition to being on the steer ing committee Congressman Ward has aho been'made a member of the agricultural committee of the bloc. The harm a scrub bull 'does lives ?fter Mm. He brings deem the MpRe of cattle and decreases the } milk flow in.North Carolina. Ha should 4i? replaced with pure bred aires, says extension workers ] ? ???#?*????? * HERTFORD COUNTY IS ? * NOT A SELF FEEDER * Although the first business of * * s farm is to feed the farm fam- * * ily and the farm animal, Hert- ? , * ford County farmers lack al- * ? * most .fifty per cent doing that * * very thing. Statistics have re- * * cently been compiled at the * , * State University for the year ? * 1919, and they show that Hert- * * ford County farmers are pro- * * ducing just a little more than * ^ * half of the feed on their own * * farms, or to be exact, they are * * buying 48.1 per cent of the * * feed tot home consumption * * Bertie buys 29.7 per cent of its * * feed; Gates, 87 per cent; ? * Northampton 88.1 per cent; * * and Halifax 38.8 per cent. * * These figures are further ar- * * gumenta for the production of * * more food and feed crops on * * own farms, and keep at home * * the vast sums of- money that * * go to outside producers each * * year. In 1919 North Carolina * * farmers spent for feed for live- * * stock 812,291,850. ^ * ??see****** Have You Bought Red Cross Seals? Letters going out from Ahoe kie doling the holiday season should be profusely decorated with Red Cross Christmas Seals, and all packages contain ing Christmas gifts should be , well covered with these same little life savers, if we people want to climb out of the posi tion of second place in the tub erculosis death rate among North Carolina counties. Many of the stamps haye been placed in the hands of local people, many of whom have sent their checks to the State Sanitorium. Others probably have not yet sent checks, and may Jbe con ? templating sending the seals back to Dr. McBrayer. When is is thoroughly known throughout Hertford that only one other county in the State, namely, Durham has a larger death rate from tuberculosis, the reason for buying these stamps is apparent. Three , fourths of the money received from the sales of stamps is kept in tltis county for a fight against tuberculosis. Reports from the State Health Department are gratify ing, especially in its statement that deaths from tuberculosis have been cut in half within the past eight years. But for the lagging counties, chief among which is Hertford, an even bet ter percentage could have been - shown. Counties surrounding Hert ford also show a correspond ingly high death rate, although in none is there such a high percentage as in our own. Ber tie has a death rate of 123.4; i Gates, 121,7; and Northamp ton, 98.8. Hertford's rate is 169.8; that is, figured on a basis of 100,000 population. Durham County is the only other county higher than Hert ford (except thode in which ate located sanitariums where deaths are recorded in that county) in percentage of deaths from tuberculosis, having .a ,percentage of 182.8. The State ruts is 101. - *' ??>' As the HERALD has pointed * out in previous issues, Hertford County lacks much being the healthy county some have been led to believe. There is evi dently plenty of work for health work in this county; and the sooner the people recognise the position this County holds in respect with other counties of the State, the popular mind will revolt against any idea of submerging human health to other forms of county work. HAS CONFERENCE Dan. P. Boyette, a member of the Town Council, spent Monday in Nor folk, in conference with the owner of the Columbian Peanut Company's plant here. The town is seeking to sufficient land across which to build a siding to the light plant. a ? . Since last first Monday I have talk ed with many citizens from every i township in the county except Har rellaville. i have yet to see a single I citizen that doee not condemn the i activities "of the new board of County i Commissioners and its chairman on that day. n 1. The Chairman acted contrary 1 to-all precedence and all poriimcntary t kw and usage in voting as a member < to tie a question and then vote to < untie what he had already tied. I respectfully refer the Chairman to i Roberta Revised rules of order. The county will do well to buy one and , keep it on file in the Register's office , for his use. If such procedure was lawful cer- i tainly it would not be morally right or just If such actions are allowed to continue it will require four mem- , bers of the board voting in the affirm ative out of the six to carry any question over the Chairman's head, thereby almost clothing him with the power of a czar. 2. The act of withdrawing the Appropriation of 50 per cent or go fifty-fifty with the State of the cost of an all-time health officer for this County is looked upon with condem nation by all citizens including the doctors whom I have talked with who are at all informed as to the real cost that would be taxed against the prop erty of the poor people of the county say |3,500.00 per year. Figures will tell the truth \f quoted correctly and I propose to quote them correctly and defy any man or set of men to dispute the accuracy of what I shall say. For the benefit of my readers and the poor (so-called) tax payers of my county, I herewith submit some fig ures which will show to them what they have lost or would lose in the absence of an all-time health officer let's see. The total valuation of property listed in the county this year is 510,7693,86, 16 cent county tax on the above valuation will produce 516,161.08; to this add the poll tax for the county 51,341.60, you have a county fund of 517,495.68. Get your pencil now and see if I am not correct. You will find that 16 cents and a small fraction to the 51,000.00 worth of property at the above val uation would produce 31,750.00 or 60 per cent of the cost of an all-time health officer. In other words the amount of taxes against a man listing $1,000.00 worth of property to be applied to the payment of 60 per cent of a whole-time health officer at 38,600.00 J*' year or County's part, 31,760.00 would be the very insig nificant sum of 16 cents or 1 cent and 6-10 to the 51,000.00 worth of prop erty listed. How about that Mr. Tax payer, would that break you? The above is the debit side of the ledger. Now let's turn to the credit side and see something about what you ^rould gain and something about the duties of an all-time health officer. !? Take into consideration the value of your health and the worth of a dollar spent towards the preser vation of health. I think you will agree with me that it is inestimatable and that you would be willing to go down into your pockets and pull out 16 cents a year to save one tingle life a year in your county from the prey of contagious diseases so preva lent In your county tp say nothing about the suffering and time lost that could be prevented In many cases by takiity the proper precautions. Now as to the duties' of an all-time heal til officer let me say thajt his dut ies are mapy and varied and come in such a way that it is impossible to mention all. The most prominent are viz: J. County quarantine officer, the quarantining of all contagious dis eases as required by law. 2. Investigating all epidemics of diseases and applying means for their control. S. Visiting schools, examining schbol children for physical defects and instructing them in public health matters in general. 4. Vaccination against typhoid fev er, small-pox, whooping cough and diphtheria. 5. Visits and instruction to homes where there Is tuberculosis. 6. Origination of clinics for exam ining people snspeeted of having tub erculosis . ? '? -i'f .? t ? 7. Home and office conferences with expectant mothers. 8. Instruction of mid-wives where iy the mid-wives of the county are instructed how to manage a normal rase of labor. 9. Origination of clinics for re moving diseased tonsils and adenoids, treating children for dental defects tad a wi sting in having other physi sal defects in school children reme died If- Examination and treatment for hook worm diseases. 11. Visiting jail, county home tnd convict camps, and giving medi-j cal treatment to the people therein. 12. Consultations with the practic ing physicians. IS. Examination for applicants for marriage. 14. Examinations of school teach ers. 15. Examination of food handlers. 16. Examinations for admission to any state or county institution. 17. Examination of crazy people. 18. Examination of dead bodies as required of county physicians. 19. Attend coroner's inquests. 20. Make physical examination of all adults in the county who want it. 21. Make throat swabs to final diphtheria carriers. 22. Examination of public and pri vate Water supplies. 23. Construction and maintenance of sanitary privies. 24. Abatement of nuisances. Any other circumstances oc die eases that may arrive placing the pub lic health of the county in jeopardy. Those are most of the direct duties of an all-time health officer which I judge will suffice to give reasons why any .county needs a health officer and to justify the appropriating of suffi cient funds to maintain one and that instead of being a burden to the county he would be an asset. How about it taxpayers? Can't you see wherein the pitiful little sum of 16 cents to the $1,000.00 worth of property listed which the three mem bers of the board of County Commis sioners have saved you by their action in casting four votes in favor of with drawing the appropriation for an all time health officer, would have been the very best investment that you have ever made? In my judgment they strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel or as my father used to define such actions as "penny wise and pound foolish," throwing away dol lars to save a cent Now in contrast to what I have said about an all-time health officer for the county, his duties, etc. Let's see something about the present so-called health officer, which office the com missioners propose to continue, his cost and his duties or duties which he actually performs. The present year we have paid out to the health officer $480.50, to other physicians in the anti-typhoid vacci nation $1,026.99 making a total of $1,607.49, the make-shift of county health officer has cost us. Someone will say we only have typhoid vacci nation once in three years. Alright, divide the $1,026.99 by three you will have $342.38. Add that to the $480.50 paid the health officer you have $822.33, which is an average cost of the health officer we have, practically half the cost of an all-time man. So you see Mr. taxpayef, you have beei\ paying 8 cents or half of the tremendous sum of 16 cehta the all-time man would have cost and in turn aot receive one tenth the bene fit the all-time man would be. Now as to the duties which are imposed upon him, they amount to very little. He is required to Visit the county heme and jail only in case of sickness. He is quarantine officer for which the law says we must pay $300.00 and makes the office com pulsory, but is not required to visit and diagnose the cases which jie quarantines, so leave it to the judg ment of the attending physician and mails the quarantine papers. He will vaccinate you when he thinks it necessary and you go to his office, but will charge you for it. He is not required to hunt up contagious dis eases and administer medical aid, in fact he is required to do less in re turn for the amount paid him than any officer I know of. I cannot see where his duties hinder his private practice at all. The present health officer is worth TOBACCO MARKET MAKES | A GOOD RECORD IN 1922 One And Three Quarter Million Pounds Sold Here In Season Of 1922 The Ahoelde tobacco market lacked leae than 9,000 pounds selling one I and three-quarter million pounds of tobacco daring the season of 1922, jlhe warehouses here^losing during November. In November 239,980 f pounds were sold at the two auction \ warehouses. The avenge price paid 1 was 122.10 per hundred pounds. In j 1921 the average price paid was | $20.00 per hundred. , Williams ton, Ahoskie's nearest I rival market, solji 20,854 pounds duf- i ing the month of November, at an i average price of $20, nine cents per 1 pound less than the 1921 average on 1 that market. The season's total for Williamston was 1,890,885 pounds, or 1 about a half million pounds less than i the Ahoskie total. I The sales at Ahoskie do not take 1 into account that marketed here in 1 the Tobacco Growers' Co-Operative Association. Figures for this ware- 1 house are not available, although a 1 count will probably bring the total sales here to two million pounds. This total is one of the highest in recent years on the local market Comments made by the North Car olina Crop Reporting Service upon the open warehouse markets of the State are as follows: "The independent tobacco markets operating in North Carolina this year, have reported 166,500,689 pounds of producers' tobacco sold to December 1st Last season the producers' sales, to the same date, were 179,601,628 pounds, when all the farmers' tobacco was being disposed of at the sales warehouses. "The average price of all sales for the season, to date, is $27.66 per hundred. Last season, all sales for the year averaged $24.67 per hun dred, or 8 cents per pound less than this season. "The government estimates the total crop produced in this state, this year (1922) at about 806,940,000 pounds. The farmers' tobacco sold to Decem ber 1 is 61 per cent of this amount. Reports from the warehouses indicate the majority of the crop has been marketed. They report the quality of the November sales as about an average. Coqimon grades have sold a little better during November, while the better grades dropped off slightly." RECEIVE TOBACCO CHECKS Member* of the Tobacco Grower* Co-operative Association in Hertford County received their eecond payment Wednesday. The checks issued here were slightly larger than those of the flrst advance, and came at a propi tious time. FOR CHRISTMAS TREE C. O. Harris, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, will gladly receive any donations in helping pro vide Santa Clans for the poor children of the town. A big Christmas tree wil be set up in the tobacco ware house Christmas afternoon, and stock ings will be on there for the little boys and girls who are slighted by Santa Claus. The Chamber of Com merce is depending upon a hearty response from those able to help pro vide Santa Claus. bat little more to the county then no office et ell. I long to see the dey when oar county officials will pleee the proper valuation on health and haman life. When they will let proper thought precede action, being considerate in all things. I refuse to believe that the three gentlemen of the Board of Commis sioners who east four votes against the employment of an all-time health officer for the coanty had given the matter proper forethought, that such a vital subject deserves. I do believe that ignorance of facts and lack of foresight is responsible for the existing circumstances. It is poor business to economise at the ex pense of human health and life. I trust that at their next meeting they will be as prompt in rescinding their action at their last meeting as they were In withdrawing the approp riation mode by the former board, i JNO. C. TAYLOR. LIQUOR AND GUNS BRING_A_DISAST?R I. O. Bradley, Colored, Suffers Wound in Jaw; Three Are Arrested ?IREARMS FATAL; HALL IS EXONERATED Moonshine liquor, pistols, and shot runa~have completely changed the fecial expression of J. O. Bradley, rho litres in the Ahoskie colored set lement. He ie now wearing a nice >ig hole in the side of his jaw, and is offering with a badly bunged up nouth all because one Harvey Little, mother colored man, accidentally ihot him with a gun early last Sunday tight. The shooting took place in Little's house. Justice J. R. Garrett's sanctum was the scene of a complete airing of the incidents in connection with the (hotting. At Tuesday's trial, Harvey Little was bound over under bond of 1150;- Stanley Weaver and "Bed" Lewis, two other colored men, were bound .over under $100 bond each for carrying concealed weapons; and George Hall, colored went free. A pistol belonging to Little became the storm center of the argument that began on the Wellington A Powells ville Railroad track Sunday night. According .to the testimony the quin tet had a bottle of liquor in "cahoots", and were feeling pretty well "lit up". Little took the pistol out of his pocket, and placed it in an umbrella, where its peace was soon disturbed by another member of the gang. The argument then began over who was to have the gun,, while in the meantime, the bunch went over to Little's house. Threats were made after the crowd gathered in the house; Stanley Weav er went home after his shotgun, and "Red" Lewis also produced firearms. In a scuffle that followed, in which the object was to gain possession of Lit tle's gun, the trigger was pulled, and the ball got Bradley right in the mouth. Who actually pulled {he trigger was one of those mysteries, none of the crowd wanted to put it on the other, George Hall, the fifth man in the crowd, was first accused of the shooting, but was exonerated in a trial that immediately followed the shooting Sunday night. Other mem bers of the party had shaken Ahoskie dust from their feet, and it was thought they had left for parts un known. However, they returned to Ahoskie for trial Tuesday. Attorney Roswell C. Bridger of Winton repre sented the accused negroes. Bonds have been furnished for all these and they will stand trial at Feb ruary term of Superior Court. LOOK OUT FOR THESE FELLOWS Ingenuity ia born within the ?soul of the despised German. Right at the time when Ameri cans were forgetting some of the bitterness against the "Hun", here come some their tradesmen slapping prohibition right square in the face, and dickering with , American liquor drinkers, for a share of their business. Tbe latest inroad made by Germans into American business is that of liquor extracts?a something that may bring them some nice business from the open prohibitionist (privately a lover of drinks.) Circulars have been received by persons in this country telling of extracts cap able of being regenerated into forbidden beverages. A dollar gets it; and every purchaser is cautioned to use only U. S. cur rency in making remittances. There are many such Arms broadcasting circulars in the United States, according to a re cent warning sent out from the department at Washington. They are fakirs, say the government officials. The HERALD does not have the name of the Arm who can furnish tbe Christmas spirits at such a low cost. This explana tion is made to hedge off any thirsty brother who wants the name and qddreas. If you consider your time, mossy *nd land worth anything, don't waste it by using poor seed next spring.