North Carolina Newspapers

SCOTLAND KOKW The County of Scotland has an area of 387 square miles and is made up of the four lower townships of old Rich mond County, Spring Hill, Laurel Hill, Williamson and Stewartsville. She is an offspring of Richmond Coun ty and traces her genealogy back through Richmond, Anson and Bladen Counties to New Hanover. For one hundred and twenty years these low er townships remained politically a part of Richmond County, although divided from Richmond by the then almost impassable barrier, the sand hill, and by a diversity of interests. By an act of the Legislature of 1899, enacted after many years of contro versy over the subject and much hard fighting on the part of these town ships, they were given a political ex istence as a county unit unto them selves, with the name of Scotland County, but it was not until the first Monday in December, 1900, that the county really came into being and became a member of the family of North Carolina as the then baby coun ty of the State. On that date all of the officers for the county qualified in Laurinburg, the county seat, and en tered upon the discharge of their total property values of- the county in 1901: aggregated at least ten mil lion dollars and in 1915 -about thirty million dollars. Perhaps the most wonderfuL.de-.. velopment in the life of the county has been its agricultural development. This has been due to several things, a naturally drained, easily cultivated, remarkably fertile soil, with a climate well suited to the growing of crops, a high degree of intelligence among the farming element of its popula tion, enabling them to appropriate readily the modern scientific princi ples of farming, and the increased transportation facilities which have enabled the farmers of the county to put into practice the principle of di versified crop production. Farm land values have more than doubled during Lhe history of the county and this has come about not as the result of spec ulation in farm lands or by any other artificial means, but is the result of a perfectly normal growth in value, which has accompanied the adoption of modern farming methods with larg er per acre yields. Fifty dollars per acre was consid ered well nigh a maximum price for ty and all that it means for future progress may be slimmed up in ih statement that the value of th pet acre yield of crops grown in Scotland County ia greater than that of any other county in the United- States, being a little over $42.00 jer acre and being more than $7.00 per acre great er than that of any other county in the Union and nearly $10.00 per acre greater than any other county in this State. ' It has been intimated in this arti cle that there has been improvement in transportation facilities. At the time of its creation the county was crossed through the center from East to West by the Seaboard Air Line Railway, running from Hamlet to Wil mington, with a branch line extending from Hamlet to Gibson, while the ex treme lower edge of the county was served by the Atlantic Coast Line, which line also had a branch to Gib son. The town of Wagram was not duties, and Scotland County took her farm lands in the county during the place as one of the units in the State's first year of its existence. The writer political organization. recalls the sale of a small farm of Politically. Scotland County was first-grade lands well located, within and is Democratic. The chief desire a mile and a half of a thriving little of its citizenship, politically, is that town of the county, made in the year good government may be assured and 1903, at the price of seventy-five dol that the public offices shall be filled lars per acre, and this sale, owing to by competent men who administer the the then exceptionally high price, affairs of the county in an efficient created no small astonishment and businesslike way, in order that throughout the community, but it is a they may pursue their several avoca- safe bet that the owner today, not ions in life peacably, quietly and sue- withstanding his misgivings at the cessfully. Local political fights, of a time, would not consider an offer of factional kind, attended by turbulence double the price he paid. This in ane"; turmoil, are distasteful to its stance will serve to illustrate the in citizenship. crease in farm land values in the Of the first board of county com- county during its first sixteen years miiioners only one member is now of existence. living, Mr. John A. McKay, of Spring It has been asserted truthfully that Hill Township. The other two mem- in the year 1910 Scotland County pro bers were the late Rod McRae, of duced two bales of cotton for every Stewartsville Township, and the late man, woman and child in the entire F. B. Gibson, of Williamson. county, and that she received that Mr. G. H. Russell, the first Register year from her agricultural products of Deeds, served three full terms, which went upon the market, without The late H. H. Covington, Scotland's counting those consumed at home, an first Clerk of Court, was re-elected income of $165.00 for every man, wo werv succeeding term and died in of- man and child in the county, a record fice in 1915. The county has never she then challenged any county in the charged Sheriffs. Mr. W. D. McLau- South to meet. It can be said with rin, the first Sheriff of the county, equal truth that inhe year 1914 the has iust been re-nominated to sue- farmers of the county produced not ceec! himself for his ninth consecutive less than two and one-half bales of term of office. cotton for every man, woman and The office of Superintendent of child in the county. The year 1914 Schools was first held by Mr. M. L. was undoubtedly the banner agricul- Jobn, while Mr. G. A. Roper was the tural year in Scotland County, the first Coroner of the county and Mr. yield of cotton alone being 38,000 W. J. Mathews its first county Sur- bales. While the cotton yield for vevoi. 1915 was not so great, there being a In this brief article it will not be considerably smaller acreage planted, possible to go far into detail in the it can be said without extravagence treatment of any phase of the sub- that twice as much corn, wheat, small ject, but it may not be an entire waste grain, peas and hay were produced as of time to present a brief compara- in any other year of the county s his tive statement of the county's re-1 tory. Thousands of bushels of corn sources and developments in the first were shipped out of the county and year of its history and this, the six- the wheat mills had the greatest busi teenth. ness of their existence, being unable Scotland County started upon her to take care of all the wheat offered career with an indebtedness of $48,- for manufacture into flour. This, 000.00, of which $18,000.00 was for her perhaps, had something to do with part of the old Richmond County debt the inspiration which came to some and $30,000.00 for bonds issued for of the enterprising business men of court house, jail and county the town of Laurinburg, to erect the home. During the past six- large new milling concern which now teen years the entire old Richmond turns out a manufactured product of County debt has been paid in full and flour, meal and other grain products $13,000.00 of the bonded indebtedness of a value of over $200,000.00 per an has been paid, making a total of $31,- num. This was the first yeafr in the 000.00 paid and leaving a balance of history of the county when the farm only $17,000.00. The first tax levy ers really gave their serious attention made by the county, that of 1901, for to the growing of corn and small both general and special county pur- grain and their success has demon poses, was forty-eight cents on the strated the fact that in Scotland coun $100 valuation of property. By 1915 ty these crops can be produced with this tax rate had been reduced to less complete success, and it has also given than half that amount, the levy of last impetus to cattle and hog raising, year for general and special county which have been untried experiments purposes being twenty-three cents on in the county heretofore. Unques lhe $100- Notwithstanding the fact tionably more cattle and hogs were that the county has been able to re- raised in the county last year than duce 5ts rate of levy from time to ever before. time during its history and at the The cantaloupe and watermelon in same time to reduce its indebtedness dustry was practically unknown to the from $48,000.00 to $17,000.00, it has people of the county in 1900, but, year never been necessary for the county after year, through good years and to borrow a cent of money to tide over lean, the farmers have continued to a hard place and meet its general increase their acreage, and, with the county needs. This indicates both an coming of better transportation facil efficient government and a splendid ities and of more satisfactory market and wholesome growth in county ing arrangements, the industry has -wealth. The increase in population of the -county since its creation has not been phenomenal but there has been a nor mally steady and constant growth. In 1900 the population of the county was about 12,000, while the census of 1910 gave the county a population of something over 15,000. A conserva tive estimate of the population in the year 1916 would be about 18,000. The county has never had a spasmodic boom, but such growth and develop ment as have come about have done so in a normal but steady and per sistent way. Using the tax books as a basis for an estimate of the growth in wealth, it is found that the total valuation of all property assessed for taxation in the county in the year inm was $2,114,782.00, and in 1915, $6,594,728.00. It would not be an ex travagant statement to bay that the in existence. Laurinburg, the county seat, was without competitive rates. Since that time there has been con structed in the county a railroad from Gibson through the southwestern edge of the county and forming a link in the present Seaboard system, con necting Charleston, South Carolina, with northern points. The Rocking ham Railroad from Rockingham to Gibson has also been constructed; ikewise the Laurinburg & Southern Railroad has been built, extending from Wagram by way of Laurinburg to John Station, giving Laurinburg competitive rates and resulting in great improvement in transportation facilities between Laurinburg and the North, and giving birth to the now prosperous and growing town of Wa gram, and serving, the inhabitants of the county along the line between Laurinburg and Wagram. The Aber deen and Rockfish Railroad has also been extended from Raeford, in Hoke County, to Wagram. The value of in bound and outbound freight traffic done by the transportation companies in Scotland County will aggregate at the present time at least a million dollars per annum. Three cotton mills and one oil mill made up the list of manufacturing en terprises in the county in 1900. It is impossible to get at a reasonable es timate of the value of manufactured products of the county at that time, but there have since been built an additional oil mill, three large cotton mills, fertilizer factories, flour and grain product mills and some other smaller manufacturing plants, and it is safe to say that at the present- time the value of the manufactured products of the cotton mills of the county is at least one and one-quarter million dollars per annum, of the oil mills at least one-half million, of fer tilizer plants at least one-half million, of grist mills, flour and grain product mills at least one-quarter of a million dollars, which gives a total of at least two and one-half million dollars. The coming of electric current over the line of towers stretching from Blew it's Falls on the Pee Dee River to I Laurinburg now affords untold oppor tunities and possibilities for manu facturing development in the county. The sub-station erected at Laurinburg through local enterprise guarantees sufficient electric power at low cost to make it possible for almost unlimited manufacturing development in the county. Perhaps the surest index to the soundness of the commercial life of a community and of the opportunities for future growth and development is to be found in the banking facilities of the community. No institution is so vitally associated with commerce as that of the bank. From the banks of a community are derived the credit and the financial backing which are the life blood of a community's com merce and industry. Without ade quate banking facilities no community can expect to enjoy a normal growth. With adequate banking facilities a community having the necessary nat ural resources can expect to enjoy a steady, persistent and healthy growth. one-quarter million dollars in loans. On this, her sixteenth birthday, Scot land County --has n deposit in her banks the sum of $76.00 for every man, woman and child in the county. But there remains to be noticed that which has so largely contributed to the county's industrial, educational and social welfare and without which her per acre yield of farm products could never have given her first place among all the counties of the Union and without which her banking re sources could not now be told in terms of millions, and, indeed, her educa tional awakening could not have come so soon. No article on Scotland County would be complete without a ' paragraph devoted to the good roads . 1 ?A 1 - movement ana its development in the county. As has been" heretofore intimated, although that part of old Richmond County which is now Scotland, was for a hundred and twenty years po litically a part of Richmond County, it was, nevertheless, cut off and sep arated by an almost impassable bar rier, the sandhills. Today, though politically divided, the people of the two counties know more of each other, see more of each other and are real ly closer together than ever before. Good roads have wrought a change which more than a century of politi cal unity could not accomplish. For three years Scotland County made out with no improved road, but the year 1903 witnessed the begin ning of a new era. By an act of the General Assembly of that year, mak- ing the old Mecklenburg road law ap plicable to Scotland, a special tax was authorized for road construction, and during the next six years a start was made which, though small, was' sufficient to give the people an object lesson in the value and significance of good roads and which led to the crystallization of the growing senti ment among the people in favor of good roads in the enactment of the present Scotland County road law. Under the law of 1903, a road fund of about $5,000.00 was annually col lected and spent in road construction in the county. Only a few miles of of the State in the matter of willing ness to establish and support public schools, as evidenced by the school tax levied. But, with all their industrial activ ity and prosperity, the people of the county have not lost their zeal for the spiritual upbuilding of the community. The several Christian denominations of the county have steadily grown and have met the increased needs for bet ter equipment for church work by the erection of many new houses of wor ship. During the last few years the Methodists have erected two new churches at" St. John and. Gibson. The Presbyterians at Laurinburg and at Wagram have each erected new and MOTHER OF TEN CHILDREN GLAD TO FIND TANLAC Mrs. Sarris Suffered So She Couldn't Remain Still a Minute Lost " Flesh. Mrs. B. A. Sarvis, 119 Red Cross Street, Wilmington, mother of 10 children, enthusiastically endorses Tanlac. "Before taking it I suffered from in tense pains in my back and around my heart and left side," she explained. "I couldn't sleep well and was so nervous I couldn't stand still a min- modern brick churches, while the Bap- j ute. I had to take purgatives and sand-clay roads were constructed during the six years this was in force. The real movement took form and brought about the present law in 1909. Under this law, first adopted by Stewartsville and Williamson Townships, but later by Spring Hill and Laurel Hill, bond issues aggre gating $130,000.00 for the four town ships of the county have been issued and the funds invested in the splendid system of sand-clay roads and con crete bridges of the county. Today prVjgJJ every stream of any con- grown to be one of considerable im portance to our people.- For purpose of comparison let it suffice to say that there was no such industry in the county during the first year of its his tory, but that in 1915 this industry had grown to the point where there were about 1,000 carloads of canta loupes, averaging 400 crates to the car, and representing an acreage of from eighteen hundred to twb thous and acres, and at least 350 carloads of watermelons, representing an acreage of approximately 700 acres shipped from the county, and returning to the farmers no small sum of money. So satisfactory has this industry become that there are planted in the county this year an acreage in cantaloupes and watermelons at least twenty-five per cent larger than last year. The present wholesome condition of the agricultural industry of the coun- It may be worth while to notice a comparative statement of the banking facilities of the countv on its first birthday and its sixteenth. in the year 1900 there was one bank in Scotland County, the Bank of Laurinburg, which later became the present First National Bank. The total resources of banks in the county on January the first, 1901, aggregat ed $163,425.00, and there was on de posit in banks in the county the sum of $137,337.00, with total loans of $109,908.00. Later came the Bank of Gibson and the Scotland County Sav ings Bank, and then the State Bank of Laurinburg, and, more recently still, the Bank of Wagram, giving the county five banks, three of which are in Laurinburg, one in Wagram, and one in Gibson. The banks of the county, on this the sixteenth birthday of Scotland County, have total re sources of about one and three-quarter million dollars, carrying deposits of nearly one and one-half million dol lars, and financing the industries of the county and surrounding sections to the extent of more than one and in Stewartsville Towns-hip is spanned by one of more permanent concrete bridges, and there are ap proximately three hundred miles of sand-clay roads in the county Realizing the value of. the invest ment, most of the townships demand ed and secured legislation enabling them to raise annually sufficient funds to maintain these roads. This fund amounted last year to approximately $14,000.00. On January the first, 1914, in less than five years from the enactment of the law of 1909, Scotland occupied seventh place in the rank of the coun ties of the State in number of miles of improved roads. What this movement has meant to the county in its agricultural and in dustrial development, and, indeed, its educational and social, as well, can hardly be overestimated. Distances have been shortened and transporta tion problems, the great hindrances to successful and profitable farming, solved; the people have been brought closer together, have seen more of each other and come to understand each other better, so that community of interest and unity of sentiment and action have become not only possible but actual, resulting in an educational and civic awakening. As hinted at above, the educational awakening and the good roads move ment in Scotland County seem to be closely connected. It is presumed that to some other has been delegat ed the duty of writing on the educa tional movement in the county and this article will go no further into the subject than to state in a general way some of the facts which show the con trast between the condition of the public school system of the county during its first years and that of the present. At the time of the creation of the county, there was not a special tax school district in the county. Today there are eleven. In the year 1901, there was collected from all sources for the benefit of public education in Scotland County between seven and eight thousand dollars, -and in the year 1915, there was collected from all sources for the same purposes nearly $35,000.00. And, yet, candor compels the writer to admit that according to the census of 1910, Scotland occupied ninetieth place among the then ninety-eight counties of North Carolina in illit eracy among native born whites ten years of age and over and that ac cording to the report of the State Tax Commission of 1913 her - rank was seventy-one among the counties tists at Spring Hill, after building a new church at old Spring Hill, find ing that their opportunities could be better served at the new, live town of Wagram, are now engaged in the erection of a handsome and well planned house of worship there. Both the Methodists and Baptists have caught a vision of their opportunities in East Laurinburg and a new church there has just been completed by each. The Methodists of Caledonia have met the demand at Johns and have just finished a new church there. The Catholics, after a period of many years in which they had no house of worship in Laurinburg, have recently built a very attractive church there. The Methodists of Laurinburg, after a few years of warming up to the proposition, have begun the erection of a new church in Laurinburg to cost thirty odd thousand dollars. The only available figures are those of 1906, and perhaps the county can make a better showing now, but can dor again compels the writer to state that according to those figures, Scot land County occupies twenty-sixth rank among the counties in the State in the proportion of church member ship to the population of the county, having a percentage of forty-nine. The citizenship of Scotland County is non-litigating, quiet, orderly, law abiding, industrious and progressive. The moral fibre of her people is strong. They stand for clean politics and for the things which make for civic righteousness. Their intelligent interest in the things and events of the world is evident from the fact that more daily papers are brought into the county through the mails than are carried into any other county of the State. A community spirit is in process, of development and prom ises to bear rich harvests of com munity upbuilding. Good homes, lighted with electric lights and equip ped with water works and furnished with the comforts of the city home, are scattered far and near over the farms of the county. Scotland Coun ty is a garden spot, rich in her lands, and climate and her intelligent citi zenship, rich in her past achieveinents and in her opportunities for future growth and expansion, fell off in flesh. I also suffered from bowel derangements and pains pecul iar to women and was depressed in spirits for doctors told me there was little chance for relief in my case. "Then I took Tanlac. I have gained wonderfully on it pains are all gone; my appetite is greater than ever; I have gained in weight and strength and can do my housework with ease. I am glad to recommend Tanlac to all sick women." Tanlac is sold in Laurinburg by Blue's Drug Store; Gibson, W. Z. Gibson Drug Co.; Lexington, J. B. Smith Drug Co.; Hamlet, Roy's Phar macy; Fairmont, Fairmont Drug Co.; Maxton, Barnes Bros. Adv. Worn Out? No doubt you are, if you suffer from any of the numerous ailments to which an women are sub ject. Headache, back ache, sideache, nervous ness, weak, tired feeling, are some of the symp toms, and you must rid yourself of them in order to feel well. Thousands of women, who have been benefited by this remedy, urge you to TAKE SEASHORE ROUND TRIP FARE From Pembroke The Woman's Tonic Mrs. Sylvania Woods, of Clifton Mills, Ky., says: "Before taking C a r d u i , 1 was, at times, so weak I could hardly walk, and the pain in my back and head nearly killed me. After taking three bottles ofCardui, the pains dis appeared. Now 1 feel as well as I ever did. Every suffering woman should tryCardui." Get a bottle, loday, WEEK END EXCURSION FARES $3.25 to Wilmington $5.20 to Isle Of Palms $5.20 to Sullivans Island Tickets on sale for all trains on each Saturday and for forenoon trains on each Sunday from May 27 to Sept. 11, inclusive, limited returning to reach original start ing point prior to midnight of Tuesday next following date of sale. SUMMER EXCURSION FARES $7 35 to Isle Of Palms $7.35 to Sullivans Island $4.10 to Myrtle Beach $10.65 to Norfolk Tickets on sale from May 15 to October 15, incluse, limited re turning until October 31. Liberal st6p-over privileges. Schedule and further particu lars cheerfully furnished upon application to, 0. P. FOWLER, Ticket Agent Pembroke, N. C. Car Load Just Received Gibson Bros. Laurinburg, N. C ATLANTIC COAST LINE The Standard Railroad of the South v agnolia Balm FIRE EXSTJUANCE JAS I McNAIR Arent. . T. H. h UNTER, Manager. Full line best companies. Your busi ness will be appreciated and carefully handled. 21- W. C. CALDWELL VETERINARIAN Office on Railroad Street, rear of M. A. McDougalds. Night .Phone 132-L Day "Phone 152 B'ESKIA "ft! Skin sufferers try this new salve compound of healinc herbs. D'Exma pives you instant relief from the distress of eczema and all forms of skin disease. Pimples vanish in a night. a . y . . . , - .aicLuc'iii;iiiii,e. i u in luia inn ii vu. IS the Liquid race rowder Used by famous whom D'Exma, the great herbal balm, can be aecurcL l- ir l c L T Come in today and aek os about our money-back guar- beauties. lr you have sunburn, 1 an or to foing you reljef. freckles try tsiLagnolia ltalm. It quickly stops the burn and removes Tan and ! Blemishes. Makesyour skin soft and i smooth. Easy to use and BLUE'S DRUG STORE. sure to please. Three Colors: While, 'Pink, Rose-ReJ. 75c at Druggists or hy mail direct SAMPLE FREE LYON MFG. CO., 40 So. 5th St Brooklyn, N.Y. rf??T.!!".'"'" ,'"''" WW I Ml lull MMlW 1 IT The Strong Withstand the Heat of Summer Better Than the Weak Old people who are feeble, and younger people who are weak , will be strengthened and enabled to go through the depress ing heat of summer by taking regularly Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic. It purifies and enriches the blood and builds up the whole system. 50c.