Thursday, February 7, 1929.
the
CHATHAM RECORD
O. J. PETERSON
Editor and Publisher
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE:
One Year
Si* Months - 7&
Thursday, February 7, 1929-
It would seem that Siler City will
yet justify its name. The “city” is
steadily growing. The latest acqui
sition .is an oil refining plant to cost
$35,000. Also the Rose company
announces the opening of their
handsome Five and Ten-Cent store.
The number of Rose stores is rapid
ly growing. One is opening &>■ Clin
ton. Sanford has had one for two
years.
’ Cudnty Agent Shiver is giving
our readers much valuable and in
teresting matter in his farm depart
ment. We regret that the section
was omitted from last week’s Rec
ord,
• _
The winter has been a very plea
sant one thus far, and if the ground
hog {should go back into his hole
for forty days, the season on the
whole would not be a bad one. How
ever, it would be hard to tind a
period when the weather changed
oftener than it did the last two
weeks in January. The changes
seem to have averaged at least two
a day.
Our printers 'have made a bad
slip twice recently in counting the
napers. and it has happened that
some subscribers missed each time.
The forms were thrown down be
fore our complaint got in, and it
was impossible to get more papers
printed. We are very sorry, and
hope it will not happen again.
Sweet clover, kudzu, lespadeza
and other legumes are making some
counties in North Carolina anew.
Mr. H. G. Beard has taken the kud
zu seed sent the editor by Mr. Ash
craft of Monroe, and will ‘plant a
demonstration plot. But we should
like to see a few farmers plant reg
ular patches this year. Mr. Shiver
gives information about sweet clov
er in this issue. It seems to be
marvelous soil builder and forage
plant. Rowan county is leading, it
vseems, in sweet clover growing in
North Carolina. Rowan will nave a
thousand acres in tha wonderful
legume this year, it is estimated.
Now there is agitation for th<
teaching of all about North Carolina
in the schools, and that is signifi
ent of the modern teaching. In- i
stead of merely helping the stud- i
ent sharpen his axe. the teacher is !
■expec cd to help him cut ail the
■wood he is ever expected to cut. The
paper, the magazines, the moving
pici ires, all, are doing their best to
sho'.v up North Carolina, while tens
of thousands of boys and girls of j
student age have visited more points j
of interest in the state than scarce
ly one in a hundred of the mature j
citizens visit )J in former yearp. !
There is very little wisdom in pay- j
ing high salaries for teachers to
teach what the students can readily ;
learn for themselves, and will learn
if they wish to. and if they don’t
wi?h to, you cannot teach it to
them. The qne big task of the
teacher is to make help the student
to learn to think, and such hash as
a study of North Carolina statistics
is not the thing to develop the
thinking apparatus.
The trouble with the former
teaching of the effects of alcohol
ysjft ifhe 'law required tfie
teacher to teach it in every grade,
and the thing became monotonous.
The Record would be glad to see
the subject taught one session, say
about the 6th or 7th grade, in a
student’s school life. Let the facts
be taught without exaggeration and
without much one year or one
time, and that will do more good
than sickening teacher and stud
ents with a yearly ; repetition of
them. That would mean one book
each year on the subject instead of
seven to eleven, all saying the same
thing.
ROOM FOR ECONOMY
The average man who can support
& family in fair comfort on SI2OO
a year should wonder why it takes
$595 to provide room and instruc
tion for a student at the University,
of which the state pays $398 in di
rect appropriations and in interest
on investments; or $561 at State
College, <sf which the state pays
$362; or $697 at N. C. College for
Women, of 'which the state pays *
i # -
$329; or $514 at E. C. T. C., of
which the state pays $298; or $515
at Cullowhee, of which lithe state
pays $292, etc. At the Appalachian
Training School at Boone, run by
our old chums B. B. and D. D.
Dougherty, the cost per pupil is on
ly $286, of which the state pays on
ly $144, or a difference in total cost
of $309 less than the total cost at
the University. In fact, the total
cost per student at the Appalachian
Training School is sll2 less than the
part of the cost by the state at the
University.
In addition to the costs indicated
above the student must pay his
board, buy his books, and pay for
all the frills and furbelows of the
modern student life. Accordingly
at the University, the total outlay,
for a four-year course per student
mounts up to $3500 to S4OOO, and
if anybody thinks that this is pay
ing the state or the average stu
dent in terms of dollars, he, we be
lieve, is very much mistaken. If
it is paying in terms of morals, that
is yet to be proven.
But the excessive costs are not
confined to the college. It costs for
instruction alone in the high schools
of the state from $6 a month in a
few counties to sl3 a month per
student —for mere instruction, mind
you. And that looks pretty high to
the fellow who for years ran his
own school and was glad to get $3
or $4 a month for high school tui
tion, with the teacher put to the
cost of drumming up the school, fur
nishing the building, wood, jan
itor, and every expense attached to
the school. Mind you, the schools
in which the cost of instruction
runs from $6 to sl3 a month has
provided a comfortable building,
fuel, janitor’s service, and trucks to
haul the students to the school, and
the teacher is not put to a bit of
worry or cost in collecting his sal
ary.
Governor Gardner proposes a
commission, we believe, to inquire
thoroughly into cost and efficiency
of the schools, and the above sug
gestiors imply that there is plenty
of room for such an Investigation.
E. C. Brooks, Jr., of Durham
threw a brick into the education
machinery that was pulling for a
•'tate-wide 8-months school the oth
er day by asking if the most of the
additional money w : ould not have to
be expended in lengthening the
term'- of negro schools. It was so
admitted. But if education is such
a good thing that families must go
hungry and farms be sold to pro
vide it, the negroes hould have their
share of the blossir.g. What is
good for a white child should be good
for the negro child, and he needs
good buildings and veil educated
teachers too. Mgpy o" the negro
c chool buildings <°l n"r>sent are a
disgrace, and it will 1 ke a eonsid-
J crable sure to modernize them.
It seems TkeJy at this writing Con
g;css will force Secretary Mellon to
accept 24 million eiol'arr addition
al prohibition enforcement funds,
.re bill i‘es:"(] the sena'e. lorgelv
by the vote of the and
j Smith sunpor e-s at tint. The House
I has been anrrio’s to get ct i\ but
j Friday tool: steps to overcame an
(objection by Secretary Mc’lon to
‘the effect that the bi 1 ! as w’Htt'm
| wouldn’t allow him to use lb- 5 f *nds
j for some of the most needed efforts
i at enforcement. Democrats o ’
the House will probably vote almost
solidly for the measure, and if pro
hibition F ro f < r ’ v op n cb~nce
to show itself effective, it will be
the fault of the Republicans of the j
House or President Coolidgx who |
has the veto power. The add : t?onal j
appropriation will be almost twic'*
the whole appropriation of previous
years. With the enla’ged vjm it
will be nossib’e to increase the en
forcement forces bv sea and land, j
President ffoolidge spent about
60 hours on the railroad in reach
ing Florida and return to Washing
ton in order to make a six-hour stay
in the Land of Flowers, where he
made the a Vress at the dedica
tion of the Bok singing tower and
bird sanctuary. The singing tower!
contains a carillon of 61 be Is. whose J
music may be heard pealing out i
over many miles. The founder came i
to America as a poo- Trr--*~'o-ant j
child, 'became famous as editor of
the Ladies’ Home. Journal, and rich
enough to retire several years ago.
Mr. Bok was present at the dedica- 1
tion.
THE COMING PROBLEM
It seemed that North Carolina al
ready had a 30-year supply of law
yers, but 117 more secured license
last week, or more than one to each
county in the state. Chatham and
Sampson, we know 1 , have all the law
yers they need, and the most of
them are in their prime, good on the
average, we should say, for thirty
or forty years. What is to become
of the fellows if they continue to
| multiply? But the *same question
1 may be asked about every profes
sion and trade except that of physi
-1 cian.
In medicine the requirements are
J so high and the expense of.prepara
j tion so great that the youngsters
I for the most part, shy round the
profession. f hools are sup
plied with young men in th?ir prime
as superintendents and principals:
the counties have their quota of
farm agents, and the most of them
in their prime: the consolidation of
industrial enterprises, in a measure,
. decrease the demand for higher
placed men: the actual machines are
so simple that a man of ordinary
sense can learn to operate one in a
day or two. and the less sense
the operator bas the better satis
fied he is with the job. since it takes
up all his mental energy and is not
so monotonous as the work is to a
man of greater capacity. The high
way building campaign has turned
a horde of youngsters into engineers
(?), and very few more can expect
immediate employment in that field.
The railroads need fewer engin
eers. firemen and conductors, as the
trains lengthen. The chain -stores are
minimizing the chances of the
youngster entering the mercantile
business on his own, but does sup
ply openings for manages of the
chain stores. Few more filling sta
tions are needed, and the host of
the automobile mechanics is cmn
posed largely of men in their prime.
And the farmers now on the land,
with improved methods, can nrmke
twice as much as they are now mak
ing.
And thus it seems that we are go
ing to have a lot of educated youth
and nowhere for them to work, ex
cept as they, by superior merit,
crowd out the older ones. In Eng
land, today, there are millions who
can no work to do, and are fed
by the government. And it may be
that the government dole will bo
the solution of the problem arising
in America because of the increased
efficiency of machine, men, and
lands. It is no question of producing
enough, but of taking care of the
tens of thousands who will not be
needed to help produce all the mark
et demands.
The six-hour day in industry and
the self-maintaining sn all .farms
are, apparently, factors in the solu
tion.
Some of the proponents of ballot
reform do not seem to relish that
old Grecian Senator Simmons’ bring
ing gifts. The Record called at
tention last summer to the fact that
the hoary politician had (either re
formed or was merely playing the
old game of taking what eve” grist
is most suited to his own mill. A
secret ballot is no more needed now
than it was twenty-five years ago, if
so much. This writer, after seeing
bow a man dared to vote any other
than a Democratic ticket in Robe
sen county 27 years ago was hu
miliated, began agitating* for fair
elections. At the same time he was
refusing liquor advertisements. But
he finds it unnecessary to say much
about either fair elections or tem
perance legislation since it has be
come popular to advocate those
things: that the silent ones of auld
lang syne can do the talking and
writing now. And Senator Sim
mons has come out for honest, or
fair, election!
Senator Sam Hobbs of Sampson
b-s got through the senate his bill
| to muzzle the Agricultural Depart
j '"'"t on the matter of crop guesses.
! Senator Hobbs told them that the
South lost $300,000,000 through a
gn"s~ of Secretary Jardine’s in the
price rs cotton two or three years
rgo. His bill calnnot muzzle the
! Vo on folk, but he pointed out
] that Frank Parker, by predicting a
record dev'berry crop and a whop
r.n r f-i.ca\\oerry crop, had caused
great losses to berry growers, and it
turned out that /the crops were not
Isrre Mr Parker, who has head
ouart-rs ct Raleigh but is paid by
the V. S. government, got himself
into hot water by telling the com
. mittee that it could do nothing with
i him. a? he was paid by the U. S.
! government. But they could, and
! changed the '.bill to make it’ read
! that no ore who occupies space in
i the state buildings at Raleigh can
j lawfully publish crop predictions.
So., if the bill nesses the house, Mr.
I Parker will either have to get a
j private office or keep shy of publi
! cation of crop guesses. <
!
The usually correct Greensboro 1
News has slipped twice recently with
regard to their illiterate voter. The
News thinks the constitution makes 1
no allowance for any such animal, j
But the Grandfather e’ause, which j
so effectively. cut out the negro «
vote, permits all illiterates who were i
registered under the c] 1 ruse before ]
THE CHATHAM RECORD
the expiration of the limit in 190 S
to vote as long as they live, if we
understand the law. But no women
were registered before 1908, and
all illiterate women who h. ve voted
nave voted by courtesy, regardless
of the constitution, which is a small
matter between friends.
An English physician h : s suggest
ed that criminals condemned to
death be permitted to volunteer for
experiments with cancer. The phy
sicians say that experiments with
nimals are unsatisfactory. Dr.
Dreher, doubtless, would have volun
teered, and being a physician could
have studied his own case con
stantly.
Lei s ,iave ... real secret ballot
law, or let the old-time method
continue. Keep helpers out of
the books, and then a person will
vote his choice if he can determine
it, and if not, the odds will be even
between parties in the general elec
tion, the candidate in the pri
mary. A candidate would better
risk guess than the likelihood that
the helpers are loaded against him.
We note by the Standard Oil ad
vertisement appearing in this paper
thi t it and the editor are the same
age. Unfortunately, the editor ir»
not quite so rich as his contempor
ary.
The peculiar appearance of the
sky Frid y and Saturday preceded
disturbances of the radio Friday
night and Saturday night, but
whether the latter was a case of
mere post hoc or of propter hoc
we are not prepared to affirm.
Attorney Dameron of Burlington
has been chosen assistant judge of
the Alam ,nce Recorder’s court. Mr. 1
i
Dameron is one of the original Re
publicans of Sampson county, one of
the very few* who did not pass,
■
through the Populist gate. We are
gl. d of .he recognition given him,
for there is not a more clear-cut
gentleman, we dare say, in Ala
mance county.
One of the leading Republic rs in
this central section candidly states |
that he believes Smith would have
been elected president if he had not
been a. Catholic. Said Republican
says that he was in the midst of the
campaign and he knows what dope
was used and what w.xs effective, j
Some one might page Mr. Cramer,
who informed Mr. Hoover, upon the j
latter’s inquiry as to why North Car
olina gave him its elector*'l vote,
that it was due to the industrial rev
olution in the state, or words to
that effect. The sme Republican
leader predicts that, since the Dem
ocrat party has virtually given up i
the tariff contention, there will be
now more independent voting’ than
ever before.
It is said th ! t Mr. Hoover will
probably retain seven members of
the present cabinet for a while at!
leiist. That looks sensible, as he j
professes to lie following the Cool
idge policies. Besides ,it gives him
a chance to t ike as long as he pleas
es in selecting his permhnent cabi-|
net. But understand, we are not j
worrying about Hoover’s cabinet.!
We are expecting him to be the
whole cheese.
It seems that the safest way to
do one’s killing is to do it in public.
That man down in Nash county
came off clear; “Cap” c me off free
here in Pittsboro, but Lawrence is in
the penitentiary, and that Louisiana, i
couple, despite their protests to the j
very last that they were innocent,,
were hanged. There is nobody, ex- j
cept Lawrence ,who cbn say wheth-j
er he is guilty or innocent, and it
seems* that was the situation in
Louisiana with regard to Dr. Dreher
:nd Mrs. Leßoeuf. Better quit ex
ecuting folk if a large proportion of
those executed must be killed on
circumstantial evidence. There is J
some hope for Lawrence, if he is |
innocent, but none for Dr. Dreher j
and Mrs. Leßouef. They will re- j
main dead even if some one confess-!
es 04 t he committed the crime fori
which they were hanged.
* i.
The Record believes that those i
Chatham county farmers who are <
preparing to plant clover should
thoroughly investigate the merits I
of sweet clover. Mr. Shiver tells ,
us how to plant it in this week’s ,
issue. Sweelt clover, lespedeza,
kudzu and the soy bean can remake \
Chatham county fb'rms.
January was the best subscription ,
month we have h*d in a long time.
When the subscription money comes 1
in sufficiently to help pay bills
it is possible to ma]ce de
spte short advertising due to pinch- 1
ing times. We trust that many <
renewals will come in this month. <
MAKING THE HIGHWAYS
SAFER
1 The Durham Herald points out
'! that “already several bills have
been introduced in the
’ Assembly for the purpose of mak
ing the highways more safe for
j travel,” and quotes Frank Page,
. former highway chairman, as say
,! ing that 90 per cent, of the acci
. j dents of North Carolina highways
.! are due to “inefficiency, poor judg
(! ment and recklessness of the driv
j ers.”
j One of the bills introduced in the
assembly provides for minimum
! fine of S2OO for a person to be con
• victed of driving a car while in
toxicated. Another provides for a
driver’s license, “that license to be
; issued only upon examination as to
I fitness to drive a car. There are
. other bills in the making, it is un
, derstood, and quite likely the As-
I sembly wil lhave a difficult job of
1 i working out a general bill that will
| meet the requirements of the situa
. I tion. y
. j The High Point Enterprise poionts
,' out that during the past year there
I were 4,300 major accidents on State
1 roads. Applying the estimate of
Mr. Page, it would appear that 3,-
! 870 of those accidents could have
been avoided by a control of the
, drivers’ weaknesses. “In those ac
i cidents of the State roads,” says the
I High Point paper, “600 people were
| killed and many injured. Thirty-
I five per cent, of the victims were
| chi’dren under 14 years of age.
i “The property loss was estimated
' at five million dollars.
“With these statistics in mind,
Mr. Page advocates a strict driver
j licensing law and a constabulary to
enforce the law and other traffic
regulations.
“The State should license sober,
! competent and careful drivers and
, it should proceed as rapidly as prac
' ticahle to weed out the holders of
licenses who fail in any of these
qualifications.
1 “Last year 768 drivers were con
! victed of using the State highways
while drunk. Mr. Page observed. It
is reasonable to presume that sever
|al times as many drunken drivers
1 escaped arrest and conviction.
“It might be interesting to know
j how many cases of drunken driving
there were, but of more importance,
perhaps, would be information as to
how many of the 768 convicted were
allowed to resume their places at
the wheels of automobiles.
“The State issues a license to
every individual who applies for it
and who can pay the price. The
public bears the consequences of
this wholesale and unregulated re
lease of incompetents.
“In developing his condition that
the human element is the present
weakness in traffic, Mr. Page as
; serts that the automobile makers
have perfected the machine so that
it is safe under almost any ordinary
conditions with a skillful driver at j
the wheel. The roads have been
improved and marked so that they
have been relieved of many of theie
natural hazards. Yet the great to
tal of accidents and casualties con
tinues to mount.
“Sooner or later the State must
do what Mr. Page proposes. A
strict licensing law will not suffice
but such a law and a police force to
make it effective untimately may be
expected to render the highways of
North arolina reasonably safe.”
Members of the Legislature, it
seems to us, should carry theiir
economy program a Jittle farther
than consideration of financial af
fairs. They should give the State
some law or laws that would re
sult in economy in human life. It
is well and good to save dollars
here and there, but how much bet
ter is it to save human Jives, and
we could save many of these with
a system of highway patrolmen.
SMITS’S MOTIVES"
We are told by Washington news
paper men that Southern members
of Congress are seeking a motive
for the sale of former Governor
Smith’s campaign utterances, with
some of the Congressmen inclined to
believe that the author is just as an
vious to get his messages to the
American people ah he is to pay
off the part debt through the sale
of the books.
In other words, they believe Mr.
Smith is so anxious to get his views
about prohibition before the Ameri
can people that he is willing to lose
what profit he could have gained
through the sale of the books.
And we believe this is far-fetched
because persons who are opposed to
Governor Smith won’t buy his hooks,
and they can’t read what they
haven’t got.
It is true that many Democrats
who don’t want the prohibition law
changed in any manner voted for
Governor Smith and will buy and
read his book, but the reading of it
won’t make them advocates of his
modification program because they
already have heaid his arguments
and haven’t changed their m nds.
But they love their party and
want to have a part in paying off
the debt, so they are ' willing to
pay the $2. And still others who
disagree with him as to other issues
he raised and sponsored in the cam
paign, so they are going to buy his
book so as to have a permanent
record of his campaign.
Will Rogers, who can put into a
humorous letter more sound logic
than the average writer can put in
a serious discussion, answered the
prohibition question aecubatetely
in a recent letter addressed to Mr.
Smith and published in the Satur
day Evening Post. In his letter he
told his friend “Al” that - while
America may drink wet it votes dry
and the votes, not the breaths of
the voters, are counted.
Governor Smith no doubt does
feel he is right about the prohibi
tion law, but we can’t see as his
primary object in offering his
speeches to the public. The form
er Governor has always been per
fectly frank about his motives and
we see no reason now for him ‘to
try to beat about the bush. If he
wanted to get books before the pub
lic as a means of strengthening his
position we believe he would say so.
He didn’t use generalities Jn the
campaign. He was much more
frank about his attitude toward pro
hibition than was Mr. Hoover, and
certanly now *‘chat the election is
over and he is throuh as a Presi
dential possibility, there would be
no reason for him to use trickery
in any cause.
Governor Smith no doubt feels
that he is being held responsible to
a degree at least, for the deficit of
his party, and he wants to do what
he can to wipe out the debt. We
O
(Please Turn to Page Eight)
i
i - ______________
j CUTTER and THOMPSON
Architect & Engineer
Makepeace Building
Sanford, N. C.
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4
PAGE FOUR