Unveiling of Marker
(Continued from page 1)
presence and splendid behaviour, sta
tin* that a special table had been set
for the Old Confederates and anoth
er for the World War Veterans, but
that there would be enough for all
to have a snack end after the bene
diction, a sumptuous dinner was serv
ed on the grounds, to which all did a
full share of justice.
Thus closed another great day for
Hertford County.
Speech by Hob. W. R. Johnson
"Friends:?We hava met today in
a common cause. Here we lay aside
all class distinctions and as one big
family gather around the shrine of
partiotism, in one great purpose.
"We have not met to ting the
praises of any dead or living hero?
our cause is common to Hertford
County.
"When civilisation trembled In the
balance and German greed claimed
that nothing would satisfy his in
satiable appetite except to be fed on
nations, empires, and kingdoms;
when nations and kingdoms were bled
white and innocent woman and chil
dren were thrust aside or walked
over rough-shod under the iron heel
of Imperialistic despotism, an dthous
ands were daily fed into famished
: maw of the war god, and its brutal
ity became so monstrous and the
German military forces became too
reckless and unmindful of the rights
of the innocent nations; and Amer
ica was denied the freedom of the
seas and our kith and kin were sent
to the bottom of the Atlantic with
out warning, without excuse or with
out conscience, and civilised warfare
was disregarded and the helples?"na
ti-rns were seised by the throat and
attached, it was then that the eye
cf hope was turned with its pitying
cry to America, to release them from
the grip of the ruthless Hun; it was
then and not until then that to stand
longer idle would be to pass by on the
other ride like the priest and the Le
vite did on the Jerico road as describ
ed in the 10th chapter of St. Lake's
Gospel.
"The war toxin was sounded and
the word was flashed over the wires
that we must get ready, that the en
emy in his dealy march must be stop
ped.
"The response in Hertford County
was determined and heroic and I re
member as Chairman of the Draft
Board for Hertford County, how the
numbers would come before me and
express impatience and at times, by
special request, I entrained them and
let them go in advance of their se
rial numbers and right here I want
to emphasize the fact that no more
loyal and corageoua men were ever
received at the training camp than
those who went from Hertford Coun
ty- ?? .22 ft
"When you answered the call, you
did not answer with the idea of hunt
ing for the fortunes of war. When
Caesar's legions fought they were
looking for the spoils of victory, for
they knew that the vanquished foe
would be brought back in the clank
ing chains of slavery,?but s higher
mission urged you onward and when
the ocean transport swung out in the
channel and its great engines began
to throb and its prow began to cut
through the liquid blue of the mighty
deep, your hearts carried the high
ideal of the great Wilson, the altruis
tic spirit of equal rights to all and
special priveleges to none, with a vis
ion large enough to know that that
phrase was as "sounding brass or a
tinkling cymbal,' unless a world de
mocracy was established, "of the peo
ple, by the people and for the peo
ple."
"Such was your mission and while
the German Monarch fought relent
lessly, it was then when the Ameri
can Expeditionary Forces reached the
other side that his empire began to
totter and fall under the force of the
American valor, in which you veter
ans of Hertford County took pert.
"This coming together is to com
memorate the valor of the dead and
the living soldiers Who went from
Hertford County.
"The marker which will be unveil
ed today wll stand as a monument
to their unflinching faith, to your ma
flinching courage through the ages
and when the tooth of time shall have
gpawed away the inscription chistled
in its side, posterity through whose
veins your Mood will flow will re
place it and hallow today's coining
together, but long before that day
shall come, yea, during the Urea of
some of us who are standing here,
may the ideele of President Wilsoa
be enacted into international law
among all the nationa of the earth,
when the words of the prophet shall
be fufliled, "they shall beat their
?words into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks; nations
shsll not lift up sword against nstion
neither shall they loam war any
to make this possible and when the
uic.s." You veterans did your port
League of Nations is finally adopted
F?T BLj"wv ?t-J?v \ yr+^-iiw--<
then the deed prophet who hM lain
silent in hi* unmarked tomb through
the centurlee will speak In thunder
ous tones: "Proclaim liberty through
out all the land unto all the inhabi
tants thereof."
"A parting word to you veter
ans and then I am done! You answer
ed your country's call and you did it
so proudly and gallantly and this ap
plies to the negro soldier as well as
to you and to them in the near fu
ture will be aho unveiled a marker.
You won the fight and today the Kai
ser is a fugitive. Your work you did
welL Peace has been declared and
you have returned to a grateful peo
ple. We are proud of your record
which you made in that desperate
struggle. It is a part of the history
of Hertford County; it is a part of
the history of your dear old state of
North Carolina; it is a part of the his
tory of your great Nation; yea, it is
a part of the history of the World,
but, remember that "Peace hath her
victories no less renowned than
war. I thank you."
Speech ef Hon J. C. B. Ehringhsus
Winton, N. C., September 27, 1928.
On occasions such as this, though
realising that our ceremonials, given
over largely to speaking, are the best
tribute we can offer, I have been im
pressed with the necessary incom
pleteness of the same. For somehow
it seems incogruous suggestion
that mere words should be the vehicle
of consecration for this symbol of a
peoples pride and patriotism. Noth
ing which we may say can dedicate,
can consecrate this tablet. The ser
vice which it represents, the lives
here symbolically pledged and sym
bolically given to our country's
cause, work in themselves a conse
cration so high and holy as to make
of this ceremony a meaningless and
unnecessary occasion, an almost flip
pant trifling with those vitally real
hut unseen things which are a part
and parcel of man's highest aspira
tions and attainments. The real con
secration lies not iu what we here
say, but in what they aay, whose
stars here shine forth, have done.
Our feeble expressions are but an ef
fort to visualise and vocalize the
spirit behind their nnselfish offer of
strong young bodies as a vicarious
sacrifice to redeem Freedom and
Peace to Mankind.
And so its is to brave hearts and
true, which in the crisis that is past,
flir.ehed not nor faltered no matter
what the call, to those who, having
ever in mind the victory their faitfr
had fashioned clear, fought and bled
through dark and troublous days to
the last glorious day of attainment,
to those who sleep, who proudly paid
the last full price of consecrated love
for freedom's cause with their dear
blood, whose service stars, first blue,
by one grand sacrifice freed of all
alloy, have turned to gold; to those,
too oft forgotten, wno tnrougn no
fault of theirs were not privileged
to see the red glare of war or meas
ure in glorious combat their steel with
steel, but nobly wrought at their post
of duty in the homelands border; to
the mothers, fathers, wives, and
sweethearts who through anxious
days with hearts a-tremble turned
glad eyes always to lighten the hearts
of their solider boys; to those too at
home who unselfishly answered each
call for sacrifice of wealth or com
fort, to these soldiers all, we dedi
cate this tablet and with them pledge
anew our love to thee our dear,
dear country.
In days of storm and days of joy,
"Our hearts, our hopes, our pray
ers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,"
Have ever been with them and Thee.
The months since April 1917 have
been full to overflowing . For the
first time since 1898 we have been
compelled to arm. ourselves and fight
for righteousness sake. Again has the
war tide swept over us and grave as
were the problems which came with
it, today five years after the close, we
are still face to face with several
| of the more intricate problems of re
construction and peace. Those who
met and solved the riddle of the de
vested South in '85 have mostly pass
ed beyond the field of active endeav
or and these problems must therefore
be met, as was the recent one of
furnishing man power for the con
flict, by men of a younger generation.
From the past, we can, in the main,
gather only the inspiration of a
splendid example.
It is impossible on an occasion like
this to attempt an adequate review of
the manifold and complex problems
of the hour. These concern, in the
main, the great toiling masses of the
country though they effect the life of
all. In a Democracy such as ours, in
a land dedicated to equality of op
portunity, any sort of autocracy or
bureaucracy, whether of government
or of social or economic life has no
place. Nor do we need the hyra
headed, self despoiling remedies of
socialism or bolshevism with their
horrible doctrines of racial equality,
abolition of the family; nationala
^^^^_^J^rajjfalUcies.
These indeed ere so repugnant to our:
refined Southern natures that I fear
we are apt to recoil too far towards
the reactionary in attempting to avoid
them. The world i3 still on the
bring of ruin and we must avoid the
maelstrom. We need 'and moat have
clear headed and statesmanlike con
sideration of the problems of the
hour lest we too become prey to the
terrors which have ravaged others.
Pre-war conditions and the demand
by the then bellgerents for certain
commodities necessary for the prose
cution of the war, sent prices for
these higher and higher. Gradually
this condition spread to all other com
modities and our entrance into the
war, having diverted a large part of
our industrial effort to war anter
prises, contibuted to thia general rise.
The abnormal inflation of the curren
cies of the world, made neceaaary to
meet war conditions, played a part
too in the general boosting. Yat, by
the exercise of governmental super
vision and price fixing powers grant
ed or exercised during the war, some
check waa maintained. With the ad
vent of peace came the abandonment
of these governmental restraints and
in the early days of a free and un
hampered market, exhilerated by the
demands of impoverished Europe
clamoring for materials to rebuild
herself and furnish her own peoples,
the cost of living mounted to stagger
ing proportions.
The war profiteer, unleashed, be
came a peace profiteer of stupend
ously insatiable greed and the man
whose ability was measured entirely
by his salary, who lived from hand to
mouth, in the daily grind, was des
perate in his efforts to make both
ends meet. As illustrative of the re
sults which flowed from such condi
tions hear the following.
"According to the report of the
Commissioner of Education the aver
age salary paid teachers in the Upited
States increased from $534.31 in
1915 to 3630.64 in 1918, or 17 per
cent in three years, during which time
the wholesale price of all commodi
ties rose SEVEN TIMES as much/'
This was typical and after four
yean of post war government effort
towards "normalcy" (whatevsr that
word means) we are still grappling
with the problem of the high cost of
living, with conditions, under a re
cently revised and increased tariff
enactment, pointing steadfastly to an
accentuation rather than alleviation
of the problem. And yet under a re
cent date the newspapers of New
York solemnly warn us that the "era
of prosperity" has reached its crest
and is now receding," before we, of
the South, have actually realised its
approach. When I view the still per
sisting chaotic and uncertain condi
tions which surround us, I wonder, in
the light of this intelligence, where
we were when the cyclone of pros
perity struck us.
Again present industrial conditions
are intolerable and while certain
progress has been made readjust
ments are yet necessary. Having
given to the peoples of the world as
a result of our participation in the
war, an opportunity to work out their
own political salvation it is necessary
that we readjust our own scheme of
living to afford to each individual the
opportunity for development to which
of right under a free government, he
is entitled.
From a very thoughtful address de
livered before the War Emergency
Reconstruction Conference of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States, I quote a single paragraph In
an Industrial creed promulgated by
the author and which is the pith of
the entire address:
"I believe that every man is entit
led to an opportunity to earn a living,
to fair wages, to reasonable hours of
work and proper working conditions,
to a decent home, to the opportunity
to play, to learn to worship and to
live, as well as to toil, and that the
responsibility rests as heavily upon
industry as upon government or so
ciety, to see that these conditions and
opportunities prevail."
This my friends is not the lan
guage of some bolshevik recently
escaped from RuMia, but it came
"mirabile dictu" from the lips of a
representative of the very citadel of
privilege, an officer of that chief of
corporation sinners, the Standard Oil
Company of New Jersey, one John D.
Rockfeller, Jr., son and successor to
the great original.
Thus we see that even Privilege
has caught the drift of present day
currents and wisely seeks to grasp
time by the forelock.
These illsutrations I have used,
though typical, are at best mere gen
eralisations. And purposely so for
in this way can I best illustrate the
point I wish to make. What is the
answer? What is the proper method
of solution of these difficulties? Leg
islation?
That is the usual answer and in my
judgment it involves the usual mis
take. We are entirely too prone to
seek through legislation the remedy
for our ills. Do our children stay out
too late? Pass a law to prevent it
N I
kfc ' ' ?
Is our neighbor inclined to open his
windows while his daughter regales
her suitor with the latest Jass se
lections after our sleepy hour ar
rives? An ordinance is passed to
stop it Do our aesthetic sensibili
ties shudder at some incongruous
collections of architectual misfits in a
certain section of our growing town?
The City Council should be called
upon to abolish the nuisance. The
health and well being of the citizen
must be cared for and the police pow
er of the State is broad enough to
cover every conceivable situation.
What is true in the small things is
true as well in matters of greater im
portance. Well considered remedial
legislation is advisable and necessary
of coure but it is not all sufficient.
We must recognize, and I believe we
art coming more and more to realize
that this is not the only method by
which to attack the evils of our in
dustrial and social life. Indeed such
efforts only scratch the surface and
no matter what our religious convict
ion may be, no matter whether we
view the problem from the stand
point of Moses, Saint Paul or Inger
soll, we must and are coming more
and more to realize that the only
sure solvent for most of the ills, in
dustrial, economic and social, with
which the body politic is afflicted, is
a practical application of the moral
code (if you will) of the lowly Naz
arene.
In discreetly striking at these evils
through well considered liegislation
we should and can curb them to a cer
tain point, but beyond this legisla- ,
tion .is futile for you cannot legis
late morality in to the heart of man.
The Code of Moses delivered from the
thonderswept heights of Sinai has not
stopped entirely the evils which it
banned though backed by the sanc
tion of Omnipotence, and drastic
sumptuary legislation, though backed
by the power of a sovereign state, is
foredoomed, in a large measure, to
innocuousness.
Instead of passing laws to keep our
children at home after night we
should control them at home, they
need personal persuasion and exam
ple, not policemen. Make their homes
so attractive that they do not wish to
stray abroad. Instead of controlling
through ordinance the musical offer
ings of our neighbor's daughter, we
should, along with that noighbor,
bend our efforts more and more to
wards incuclating in the hearts of our
young, a wholesome respect for the
rights and feelings of others. In
stead of rushing to the legislative as
sembly with a law for every evil, real
" ' _ V, ?? r
or imagined, we should engage our
energies in the work of teaching hy
precept and example the doctlren of
loving our neighbor and doing unto
him as we would be done by. There
is already too much law and too lit
tle love in the world.
I regard as a most healthful and
helpful sign the ever increasing ac
tivities of the various civic organisa
tions, like the Rotary, Kiwanis, Civi
tans and Lions clubs, throughout the
land. When business and busy men
by common consent lay aside an hour
or more eaeh week to discuss with
sympathetic Intelligence, not the
means of increasing their own profits,
but of improving and bettering the
condition of their leas fortunate fel
lows and unselfishly serving their
brethern, there is room for hope that
(Continued o? page 4)
Subscribe to the HERALD?$1.
Nolle* of Administration
Having qualified as administratrix ;
of the estate of W. E. Sessoms, de
ceased, late of Hertford County, N.
C., this is to notify all persons hold
ing claims against the said estate to
present them to the undersigned ad
ministratrix at Ahoskie, N. C., on or
before the 27th day of August, 1224 #
or this notice will be pleaded in bar
of their recovery. All persons indebt.
ed to said estate will please make im
mediate payment.
This 27th day of August, 1223.
MRS. BEULAH E. SESSOMS, W
Administratrix estate W. E. Sessoms.
8-81-?t
Now is the time to get the winter
garden started. Head lettuce, onion
sets, carrots, beets, turnips, radish,
cabbage, collards, celery, and various
greens may all be planted now.
d Ml II I I
OFFICE NOTICE
ATLANTIC DISTRICT FAIR
ASSOCIATION
AND
Fair Demonstrator Agent's Office
Upstairs in Feldman's Wooden Building
Corner Main and Catherine Street
AHOSKIE, N. C.
- *
Office days of Fair Association: Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday.
Office Day of Demonstration: Every Satur
day.
All farmers are invited to visit this office on
Saturdays. Consultations on all farm problems
invited.
,/ ' v"v?' ? ? ??'
W. D. BROWN, Farm Agent
W. J. JENKINS, President Fair Association
C. E. REYNOLDS, Financial Secretary
? ? 1 " 1 - i i n i i ii ? . ?
I On November 3rd, 19231>
I 11:30 A.M. I
| I will offer for sale at Auction; my farm known as H
fl the Jno. D. Gatling home place, adjoining the Jno. B
|m D. Bridger farm.
'v IfiBI
? This farm contains about 260 acres; six horse crop I
H in high state of cultivation; two good dwellfiig houses 1
Bj and good out buildings. Good growth of timber.
Land adapted to cotton, tobacco, peanuts, corn,
? potatoes and truck. B
Terms to be announced at sale.
Place of sale on the premises. s
I J. C. BRETT I
I AHOSKIE, N.C. I
1BB1
,. ?' ^ x *L <