PAGE FOUR
THE
CHATBAM RECORD
O. J. PETERSON
Editor and Publisher
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THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1929.
BLIND PHYSICIANS
—s —
observations and con
clusions of this series of articles
may seem very obvious to some
readers and scarcely worth the
effort and space. Yet it is the
obvious that is often overlook
ed till, some one stumbles over
it. From Hippocrates to Har
vey all physicians failed to dis
cover that the blood circulates,
though it was pulsing through
the body of each every second.
Tens of thousands, doubtless,
died in the meantime because
of failure of the world to rec
ognize this, one of the most
obvious, apparently, of all
body functions.
England, for several* reigns
after parliamentary govern
ment, became established,
could not discover the simple
means of harmonizing the min
istry and parliament till Lord
Sunderland suggested the ob
vious method of choosing the
ministry from the majority
party of parliament.
As a matter of fact, those
nearest often are prepared to
see least. The fat business man
couldn’t play golf since if he
got near enough to hit the ball
he couldn’t see it, and if he got
far enough away to see it he
couldn’t hit it. Our statesmen,
as the average of the ages, are
practically blind/ to the real
problems of their times. While
many an isolated thinker sees
clearly the looming shadows,
but is too remote, like the fat
golf-player, to play the game.
Rut if even two-hundred in
telligent citizens read these
articles carefully, we shall feel
compensated for the effort,
while personally we shall have
the advantage of having
thought through the conditions
as they appear to exist. We
do not expect all our subscrib
ers to read them. More people
know how to read them than
ever before, but real reading
and thinking are limited to just
about the same proportion of
the folk. The consequence is
that when tendencies of the
times approach their climax,
the masses, mob-like, will be
in no position to see clearly and
act intelligently. Even many
of those who should be in
position to take a broad view
of the drift of the times do not
distinguish between symptoms
and causes. Our statesmen
when they undertake an in
vestigation into strike condi
tions in a mill town are acting
as futilely as the physician of
fifty years ago who gave a
lotion for “foot-itch,” knowing
nothing of the real menace of
the hook worm which was sap
ping the lives of hundreds of
thousands and was largely re
sponsible for the existence of
the “pore white trash” element
in the South. The writer, he
now knows, suffered from a
bad case of adenoids as a lad.
His eye teeth appeared as
tusks. The family physician,
dentist as well as medical prac
tician, pulled out his eye teeth,
while the adenoids remained to
shorten his breath and to
hinder the development of ab
dominal muscles, which neces
sarily caused a slumping of the
form, and which, together with
the hookworm, so impoverished
and debilitated his body that
he could ogfc run scarcely a
hundred yards without panting
like a lizard. Accordingly,
then, it need not surprise you
that the writer, isolated though
he is, has little faith in the
theory or practice of the aver
age doctor of political or eco
nomic ills. For as the writer’s
• body today bears the conse
quences of the ignorance of the
physicians of his youth, so this
very day the masses of the
people are suffering from ig
norance, on the part of states
men, of the underlying causes
of poverty. Doctoring the sore
spot at Gastonia or at Eliza
bethton is as effective as pull
ing our eyeteeth or giving a
k lotion for foot-itch. The knife
is necessary to prevent the ills
j of adenoids, and the essential
drug to reach down into the in
| nards of the body and eradi
cate the blood-sucking horde, j
The writer as a consequence
of the two destroyers of vitality
weighs 125 pounds and is
sway-backed and round-shoul
dered, while the condition of
his youth naturally begot an
1 inferiority complex that has
effected the whole tenor of his j
life. On the other hand, his
one full brother is over six-feet
tall, as straight as % a board,
weighs 175 pounds without a
pound of surplus fat, and has
never suffered a minute from
an inferiority complex. Yet he
had the hook worm, although
his system was able to over
come one evil, but the writer’s
not the two, and only the fact
that adenoids had been so long
hereditary in the paternal side
of the family that the strong
vitality of the primitive stock
enabled the writer’s system
to outgrow finally the adenoids
in the greatest measure, though
the effects, as indicated, still
remain,saved him from a more
disastrous consequence. Also
he has outgrown his inferiority
complex, else these articles
would not be written.
Similarly, a part of the pop
ulation will be able to survive
among the worst possible of
economic ills and even to pros
per, but the welfare of the
masses in the near future, even
of the existing generation, 4s
as vitally dependant upon the
early discovery of remedies for
ills which already exist as the
physical w r ell-being of the pres
ent generation in the South was
dependent upon the discovery
and application of the hook
worm remedy. The pale and
puny that characterized, the
South of fifty years ago are no
more, and the beneficient work
of the Rockefeller Institution
has been extended to remote
India and the isles of the sea.
Similarly may poverty be ban
ished when the right economic,
prescription shall have been
written and a Rockefeller shall
have set afoot its application. .
The world can make, ab
solutely, enough and to spare
for every person in it, and for j
the dogs too. Comfort may'
abound without any one’s over
working himself. But such a
Utopian condition cannot be
brought about by mere local
poultices. Indeed, the effective
remedy must extend in its ap
plication and effects beyond j
the borders of the nation. Ulti-1
mately, the world’s resources
should form a unit, and inter-,
change of products should be
as free as privilege and modern I
means of transportation and an
improved system of distribu-|
tion can make them.
Thus far in this series of
articles, it has been demon- j
strated that the sources of i
wealth are not only passing!
into the hands ofa mere coterie j
of the people but have already j
largely so passed. The present j
rate, however, brings the men-;
ace of complete monopoliza-.
tion hazardously near. It is ■
stated that in 1914 there were
seven thousand millionaires in
this county and that today
there are three or four times
as many. But while the writer,
deplores the condition that is
enabling the few to garner
the control of all means of ;
livelihood and to reduce the;
masses to the state of hirelings,
which, as pointed out last
week, is now so largely a fact,
he does not desire to suggest
any curtailment of the rewards
of true and serviceable initi
ative and enterprise.
The writer does not wish to
see incentive, nor even ro
mance, eliminated from busi
ness. Let the stalwart have his
opportunity for achievement.
But what we do wish to see- is
fair-play. We have referred
in this series of articles to Rob
ert Guiscard’s hewing out a
kingdom for himself in Italy
after leaving France with only
suit of mail, sword, and war
steed. He won by brain and
brawn. His knightly oppon
ents were on equal footings.
But there is no chivalry, no re
nown, no fairness in a mailed
knight’s overriding an unarm
ed peasant or routing a hun
dred of the rabble. The writer
has never decried a fair fist
fight when the circumstances
demanded it. But when one
fellow slips a set of brass
knucks upon his hand and at
tacks his bare-fisted opponent, l ,
or draws a pistol and fires a.
ball into his unsuspecting an
tagonist, the mob is in order
if ever. Likewise, when a
THE CHATHAM' KECQBP. MTTaBORO, N. CK_
|||j|
Rockefeller starts out at $6.00
a month and discovers a means
of enriching himself and sup
plying the people with a cheap
er necessity at the same time,
we applaud him; similarly a
Ford. They fight on equal
terms with their competitors,
and pay their way through the
world, howsoever expensive a
way, with benefits to the
people. But if they have be
come so strong and ruthless
that they disregard fair-play
and the rights of the people it
is another matter.
What we are undertaking
now to do is to point out the
unfair conditions that have
been taken advantage of by
men to build up fortunes and
thus to draw undeserved trib
ute from the people. In our
last week’s article, we showed
that many fortunes have been
fouhded upon unearned incre
ments in land values. The. pur
chase of a post office lot in
Greensboro at the cost of
$240,000 is a perfect illustra
tion of the evil, the robbery of
the people who made the addi
tional values. That lot was a
; part of a hundred-acre tract
' that sold for a dollar an acre
: in 1800. The only value that
could have been added by the
owners since that date is in the
actual improvements that were
placed upon it. The public did
the rest, the state primarily, in
i building the N. C. Railroad
'through that section, and now
I the nation is paying for the
value which the state and the
1 public have created.
| There is scarcely a question
that many of the ills of the
! present monopoly of the re
! sources of wealth so menacing
today can be traced to the
; accidental holding of lands
j which have thus been aug
! mented in value. Such good
; fortune has not befallen the
• farmers as a class. They, as
; a rule, could thus benefit by
1 the development only of the
| country as a whole. But like
I the inroads of adenoids and
hookworm, youth was the time
to correct the evils. The coun
try is now approaching ma
turity and prevention is now
; largely impossible. Yet a tax
of three per cent upon later
unearned increments would
j take away the brass knucks
| from many a future battler
in the economic battle. But
enough for this time.
It is time for the Pittsboro
school to a domestic
science class. The writer from
observation is assured that
such a class under a competent
teacher would be of invaluable
benefit to the community. It is
admitted that room has been
lacking for such a department,
but if any rooms at all are to
be built additional to the pres
ent school building, provision
should be made fdr a domestic
science department. The school
has had a teacher training
class, which has cost the state
as much as a domestic science
department would cost, while
it has been of benefit to
very few of Chatham coun
ty’s young people. Moreover,
the cost per pupil has been al
most enough to pay the full
expenses of a student at Boone,
for instance. This year, the
cost per pupil has been near
S3OO, while the boarding
pupils had to pay their board.
The sum of S2OOO spent in
-former years for the training
class would mean much more,
we feel confident, to the com
munity if expended in a do
mestic science department.
MORE ABOUT “R”
—o—
“ There is no contention,”
says the Greensboro News
philogist, commenting upon
our squib in the last issue, “that
the native vocal equipment
cannot handle “r,” merely that
it does not ordinarily use this
consonant in an intermediate or
final syllable when it can be
avoided.” But hasn’t the
gentleman been led into this
assumption by the Northern
fable that the Southerner says
“suh” for “sir”? The writer
happens to have lived in four
Southern states, and several
places in this one and Louisi
ana, but if he has ever detected
such a general usage he has
forgotten it. But we do recall
as if it w T ere yesterday how
i “Uncle Jacky” Vann, the pa
triarch of Buckhorn and owner
of the only big white house on
I the old creek, had a by-word,
“Hock, Sir,” in which s-i-r was
pronounced clearly and dis
tinctly. It is just now that it
has occurred to us that his
I “hock” was for “ha’k” (hark) ,
but we doubt his knowing it
! anymore than the writer and
Ahe otner people of the com
jmunity who used the expres
sion after him in fun knew
| what he was striking at.
j “Hark” was foreign to the
• Sampsonian language. The
writer, though he has written
columns, does not recall having
eVer used it before this minute.
But recurring to “sir”; not
only was it pronounced with
the full “r” sound, but in cases
of enthusiasm or emphasis was
made into “Yes, sir-ree,” or
“yes, sirree bob”—why the
“bob” this writer qualifieth
not. We grant, however, that
when the stress is moved from
the syllable, it is shortened,
the vowel sound practically dis
appearing, and the “r” being
greatly clipped. But that fact
need not be attributed to any
tendency in any sloven pro
inclination against “r”. The
nunciation is to slur unaccent
ed syllables. It is a rare Tar
heel who pronounces distinctly
the “g’Sin final “ing”, and the
“i” gets the veriest touch. In
“Carolina”, whose rhyming
with “finer” by a poet brought
up the question oj: the omission
of r’s by Carolinians, the raw
native pronunciation omits
the “o” rather than the “r”;
the same omission occurs in
Caroline, a woman’s name. It
was “old Miss Car’line Carter”,
in which the “Car” is pro
nouncjed “care”, and thus in
“Car’lina”.
We further aver that there
is no particular prejudice
against “r”, that it is seldom as
a final sound lost altogether,
though the fact that “er”, “or”,
“ur”, and “ir” occur so often
in unaccented final syllables,
accounts for the slurring of
such syllables more frequently
than that of almost any other
kind. But it is only an occa
sional person in our observa
tion who loses the “r” sound
altogether and makes “sir” in
to “suh”, and “mister” into
mistuh”; while practically all
of us eliminate entirely not
only the “g” in “ing” but also
the nasal character of the “n”
before “g”. While we should
leave it to a test to prove that
the, “o” in “Carolina” is omit
ted oftener than the “r”.
We not only disclaim any
unusual prejudice against “r”,
but go further and insist that
there is a tendency, and a
strong one, to add a shadowy
“r” sound to words ending in
“a”, and even in other vowels.
Let our Greensboro brother ask
the first dozen aged men he
meets who managed McKin
ley's campaign and wore the
dollar-mark coats in the car
toons, keeping his ears attuned,
and see what answers he gets.
The writer's paternal grand
father owned only o*ne slave,
and though master and slave
have been dead nigh a hun
dred years, the writer knows
full well that the slave was
“old Hanner." In fact, the
family name of Hanna is spell
ed in this section with an “er",
while in Waynesville the fam
ily, probably a part of the
Sandy Creek dispersion after
Alamance, spells it “Hannah".
Now, there is no* disposition
here to contend that Southern
folk roll their “r", but only
that they do retain at least the
shadow, and not only so but
add shadowy r’s to words end
ing in “a" and sometimes to
other final vowels. In the cur
rent Pathfinder is found a
statement that a Florida citizen
took notes on the streets of
Miami as to the number of the
pronunciations he heard of the
word Miami. He heard 19
different variations, and what
is in point here, eight of the
variations he spells with a final
“er”, and another with a final
“our," while an “r" is intro
duced into the middle of them.
That certainly indicates a
strong inclination to give a
final “r" sound to one word
ending in a vowel, but the
people who so called the words
were probably representative
of the whole country, showing
that the tendency mentioned is
not confined to North Carolina.
But referring again to the
rhyme Carolina and finer, .it is
a double-syllable ryhme and
the accented syllables of the
rhyme are “lin" and “fin". In
such case ony a very slight
variation of the final a toward
er would perfect, or at least
make passable the rhyme.
Helen-Maria if it doesn’t
rhyme with friar. And the fact
that “en" was taken by Mr.
Dawes’ hearers for “and" in
dicates that the dropping or
elision of “d" is as common as
that of “g", and certainly that
of “r”. No, Sir; there is no
special pique against ol’ r.
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THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1929
YOUR CHILD AND MY CHILD
Fear Cultivation
“The other night," said Jane, “I
was over at Lauose Prince’s house,
and her llittle Kenneth started to
kick and stamp because she couldn’t
go out with us. You know Louise
prides herself on not standing any
nonsense from her children. “Ken
neth,’ she said, ‘if you don’t stop this
minute and behave, I’ll call o police
man, and he’ll put you into a big
black prison.’ N
/“ ‘ A prison wiv a bear in it?’ fal
tered Kenneth—his eyes big with
fear.
“ ‘Yes, a great big black bear, who
aets naughty boys,’ said Louise in
her most awe-inspiring voice.
v “‘Oh, I be dood! I be dood!’
wailed Kenn .hetioLuse
wailed Kenneth. Louise seemed to
think she had managed him very
well.’’
“How about their older boy,
George?’’ asked Jane’s sister. “I
met Kenneth, Senior, yesterday and
he told me they were quite worried
about George. He’s a great boy of
fourteen and yet he is horribly afraid
of the dark and so nervous and ex
citable they don’t know what to do
with him. They’re talking of taking
him to Dr. W. —the big nerve special
ist, you know.”
“That’s just my point,” rejoined
Jane. “I suppose when he was a
baby like Kenneth, Louise made him
mind by treating him. to tales of dark
prisons and big black bears. Os
course, he’s nervous, who wouldn’t
be? Really, it’s amazing in a sensi
ble woman like Louise, isn’t it? She
doesn’t plant deadly nightshade in
her garden and expect.it to bear ro
ses. She doesn’t feed her family on
arsenic and expect them to wax
strong and grow fat on it. Yet she
plants fear in her babies’ minds and
then wonders why her children are
nervous cowards!” —Mary S. Havi
land, in “the Parents’ Magazine.”
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