North Carolina Newspapers

PAGE FOUR THE CONCORD TIMES PUBLISHED MONDAYS AND THURSDAYS a« second cla*»- mailjnatfer at the poat offii-e at Concord. N. C.< umler the Act of March 3. 1879. J SHERRILL. Editor and Pnh!i-*her W. M. SHERRILL. Associate Editor Special Representative: FROST. LANDIS & KOHN Jfew York, Atlanta. St. Louis, Kansas City, San Francisco, Los Anyelee and Seattle i.. ■>- -v. ■ TRIBUTE WHERE TRIBUTE IS DUE. Vice President Dawes was one of the speakers at a banquet held on the steam ship Leviathan several days ago for Leg ionnaires going on their second trip to France. In his address the Vice Presi dent praised President \\ ilson and Sec retary Baker and his utterances have caused no little comment. It’s quite unusual for a Republican to say anything nice about Democrats. What he said other Republicans knew in 1919 when they set out to break President Wilson and defeat the Democratic par ty, but they hadn’t the courage to speak as he did. ' Quoting Mr. Dawes’ speech The New York World says: This fine tribute comes from the sec ond member, in official rank, of the Re publican Party, not all of whose leaders have been as complimentary. And no body is better qualified than this war time member of the Military Board of Allied Supply to judge the effort and the efficiency of these “two great men.” Nobody, that is, with one single excep tion. The one exception is General Per shing, who on the same occasion deplor de the fact that Secretary Baker had been blamed, “most unjustly, most unfairly.” for the difficulties of “a state of unprepar edness which was almost hopejess.” Ac cording to General Pershipg, Mr. Baker “met the situation with great courage, with great intelligence, and kept us pro vided at the front with the men and the materials we needed.’’ Mr. Wilson has gone to his last rest ing place, secure of the judgment of im partial history. It is good to note that Mr. Baker, still in the prime of his use ful career, is thus defended against cal umny by the testimony of two men so admirably qualified to anticipate that im partial arbitrament of time. The New York Times also recalls Gen-‘ eral Pershing's recommendation, along with that of the Vice-President, and adds: What a just and authoritative rebuke to those who have sought to belittle them! The slings and arrows of outrag eous partisanship have been aimed often at Mr. Baker. Even so responsible an au thority as the Encyclopedia Britannica at first dismissed his record as that of a “politician” and “pacifist,” whose “career generally as Secretary was widely con demned throughout the United States as lacking in energy, foresight and ability” In a later edition the Encyclopedia modi fied, somewhat grudgingly, that utterly one-sided estimate. Senator Wadsworth, a partisan Republican but an honest one, came to the defense of the man whose work he had been able to watch at close quarters from his post as Chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee. .But the full story of Mr. Baker’s contribution to victory, after the country had taken up the gage of war, has yet to be writ ten. HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES IN STATE. Cabarrus county ranked 90th in the State in the number of white high school graduates in 1927. The total for the county represents 30 graduates per 10,- 000 white population and this is less than the State average. * The figures wpre carried in a recent issue of the University News Letter. Pamlico ranks first with a rate of 143.0 graduates per ten thousand white popula tion. The actual number of graduates was eighty-three. Pamlico ranked first last year also. Stokes ranks last with 24 graduates, or 12.8 graduates for 10,000 white population. The total number of white public high-school graduates in the state was 10,587, or 63.4 graduates per 10,000 white population. The previous year there were 9,166 graduates, or 47 per 10,000 white population. it is significant that 6,702 or 63.3 per cent. of the graduates of the white public high schools were girls, the proportion of girl graduates being slightly higher than it was a year ago. The number of girls graduating exceeded the number of boys in every county except Avery and Chero kee. In several counties there were twice as many girjs as boys and in a few instances the disproportion was even more pronounced. This condition is no doubt due to the fact that many boys are obliged to drop out of school to work or at least do so. It is rather interesting to note that 32 of the 49 counties which graduated more pupils than the state average are located in the eastern half of the state, known as the Coastal Plains area. Two groups of high-ranking counties are conspicuous, namely, the northeast Tidewater group and another around the Sand Hills. The counties which fall below the state average of 53.4 white high-school grad uates per 10,000 white population lie mostly in two distinct areas, namely, the combination cotton and tobacco belt cen tering around Wilson, and the tier of counties along the Virginia and Tenn nessee line, stretching all the way from Caswell to Cherokee, with the exceptions of Allghany and Watauga which barely make the higher bracket. In other words, this group includes most of the northern Piedmont counties and most of the Mountain counties. The low-ranking counties are the excessively rural coun ties of the west and the combination cot ton-tobacco counties of the east with high white tenancy ratios. It is rather surprising that many of the counties which rank high in high-school graduates are rural, and that some of the urban counties rank relatively low. The five highest-ranking counties are all rural counties, though ..two urban coun ties appear among the highest ten. Mecklenburg ranks 27th, Buncombe 35th, Wake 37th, Guilford 44th, and Gas ton 73rd. Although the urban counties usually have superior scho'ol systems, the mortality among high-school stu dents is high. Some of the counties ranking high last year rank low this year and vice versa, indicating that there is a great deal of fluctuation in ths number of graduates. For instance, Durham had 129 last year and 305 this year; New Hanover had 77 last year, 225 this year; Edgecombe had 32 last year and 52 this year. 1 WHAT ABOUT THE HOODS? Several meetings sponsored by the Ku Klux Klan have been held in the State this week and the speakers addressing the meetings have eloquently pleaded their cause. .They have denied that the Klan tolerates tar, feathers and floggings. They insist that members of the order are strong believers in law enforcement and they have taken to task persons and agencies opposed to them. At Hickory the Klan speaker was bit ter toward the Hickory Record as the result of an editorial appearing in that newspaper and threats of law suits were hurled during the meeting. The speakers, we reiterate, have made eloquent appeals but they have not touched on the subject the public is es pecially interested in when the Klan is mentioned—hoods and masks. We do not pretend to understand the rules and regulations of the Klan, and for that reason we would admit the ac curacy of the speakers who denounce the law violations under cover and who in sist that the Klan does not sponsor such violations. The Klan may be' all that the speakers say it is, but that doesn’t answer the important question—why the hoods and masks? Just, what feature of the work of the Klan makes it necessary for the members to cover their faces? Just why is it that ( the members do not want the public to know who they are? That’s the‘chief -complaint we have made with the Klan all along. If the Klan doesn’t tolerate tar and feathers and floggings, then why don’t the members appear before the public with .their faces uncovered? Why don’t the leaders and members of the Klan understand that the hood and mask are in 99 cases out of every 100 used by persons who use tar and feathers and who flog persons at night. If the Klan has nothing to do with such things it should clear itself by ap pearing without hoods and masks. The public will always be uncertain about the work of the organization so long as its members follow the present practice of concealing their identity when appear ing in public. RANK OF SCHOOL SYSTEMS. Taking the State as a whole for the year 1925-26, Cabarrus ranked near the bottom in school systems. This county ranked 88th, under the following fac tors : . _ » Percentage of enrollment in average daily attendance. Average length of term. Scholarship of teachers. Percentage* of enrollment in high school. Percentage of enrollment normal and under age. Average annual salary of teacher. Per capita cost of instruction based on enrollment. Total per capita cost of current ex pense. Total current expense per teacher and principal. Valuation of school property per child enrolled. According to the ten f.ictors used in this study as outlined in State School Facts, New Hanover county ranked first among the 100 counties with a general efficiency index of 85.4. The index for Cabarrus was 47.5. New Hanover has held this leading place each of the three years the sys tems have been measured. Currituck County system remains at second place which she took from Pamlico in 1924- 25. Pamlico remains at third place and Durham at fourth place. These four named counties were the only counties in 1924-25 to be placed in “Efficiency Group A” by making a general index of 70.0 or more. The past year, 1925-26, ■ four more counties came into this group: Vance, Granville, Craven and Northamp ton. The progress of; Vance County is the more noticeable of the four additional counties. At 19th place, in 1923-24; at 12th place in 1924-25; and now at sth place. This progress is largely account ed for by the fact that this county dur ing this period voted a county-wide tax to extend the term of eight months. The progress made by Greenville is well worth noticing, while Craven made re markable progress from 1923-24 to 1924- 25. Only six counties had a general index lower in 1925-26 than in 1924-25; Wash ington, Person, Alexander, Randolph, Caldwell, and Bruns^rtck —these indices being only slightly lower. The counties making the greatest change to a better rank from 1924-25 to 1925-26 were the following: Transylvania from 32nd to 20th place. Anson from 46th to 34th place. .Perquimans from 53rd to 40th place. Rutherford from 72nd to 49th place. Lee from 73rd to 54th p’ace. Iredell from 10th *to 58th place. Johnston from 81st to 65th place. Watauga from 93rd to 78th place. Those counties taking a much lower rank were: Wake from 31st to 43rd place. Forsyth from 33rd to 48th place. Carteret from 35th to 51st place. Moore from 35th to 52nd place. Person from 54th to 74th place. Alexander from 60th to 77th place. Randolph from 60th to 83rd place. Caldwell from 60th to 86th place. Ten counties made no change in their relative standing among the other coun ties : New Hanover, Ist; Currituck, 2nd; Pamlico. 3rd; Durham. 4th; Mecklen burg, 13th; Scotland, 15th; Macon, 89th; Surry, 98th; Yadkin, 99th; Cherokee, 11th. Yet all the rural systems except six made an actual increase in the general index, some even changing from a, lower group to a higher group. Greensboro still retains the lead among the city systems measured, with a gen eral index of 94.6. Salisbury led the city systems in Group 11 for the second suc cessive -year, and Hickory making the second highest index for the cities taxes the lead of City Group 111. The changes among, the relative standing of city sys tems are not as great as among rural sys tems measured 12 retained the "standing they had in 1924-25. GROWTH OF POULTRY IN STATE. The present poultry crop in North Carolina is worth in round figures 30 million dollars. The increase in this in dustry has been phenomenal during the past several years but with the increas ed production has come the cry of low prices for the products now and in the future, state V. W. Lewis, senior mar keting specialist for the State Division of Markets. According to Mr. Lewis, the present poultry production together with a large increase can be well taken care of with proper handling and marketing. A few years ago the state had reached the saturation point in poultry produc tion and farmers were selling good flocks because there was no market at reason able prices. The system of shipping live poultry in carlots came just in time to keep up interest in production. “We are again facing the saturation point—this time in egg production,” says Mr. Lewis, “and the solution lies in selL ing only quality eggs and being able to assemble these in order to take care of the quantity.” Mr. Lewis states that the biggest prob fem is to get the producers to offer only eggs of good quality. To handle eggs in a definite manner, it is necessary to know the quality and then have volume enough to make up a standard pack whether in case or car lots. The problem of the poultry producer is akin to the problem of other producers. It is not always easy to get a market for the goods. Poultry experts in the State can be of great value to the State by aid ing in the distribution of the poultry and eggs. There is money in the; busi ness, as many have learned, but / there would be more money for the producer if some way could be devised whereby his produce would always find a ready mar ket. LINDBERGH TALKS ABOUT FLIGHTS. “Hazardous flights should not be pro hibited, but they should be attempted only after careful study by experienced personnel with the best*of modern flying equipment and for a definite purpose. In the future expeditions should be organiz ed and prizes offered under conditions which promote the development of safer travel.” This is the comment of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, the first man to fly from New York to Paris, and it will find favor with those persons who realize aviation must be advanced, but that the advancement must come along sane and practical lines. We do not argue that there should be no trans-oceanic flights but we do argue that such flights should be restricted to competent aviators. They should be un der' government supervision so that there * ) T . fitiE CONCORD TIMES could be no mistake about the fitness of the plane as well as the sfficiency of the pilot. Too, there should be competent navigators and radio men, for unless there are such expertS/along, to note#what is taking place, then the flight is of no value . The building of the railroads, the per fecting of automobiles and advancement along other lines has resulted in heavy loss of life, but the loss was worth-while in view of the accomplishments. There will have to be lives lost in the develop ment of aviation, but it is little less than criminal to allow just anybody with a plane to start off on some hazardous flight across the ocean. Such flights will benefit no one. CONSTRUCTION COSTS. The cost of construction remained un changed during August, holding the po sition it reached following declines in May and July, according to statistics compiled by the Associated General Con tractors of America. The average of costs for the first eight months of this year is slightly high er than the average covering the corre sponding period of 1926. During the last six months, the cost o[ construction has been virtually twice as qreat as the 1913 average. No increase has occurred since March. Successive rises were noted in January, February and March. August was the seventh successive month to pass without witnessing a change in the average of wages in the construction industry. This average holds virtually the same position it occu-' pied during the mid-summer months of 1925 and 1926. A scale which places the 1913 average at 100 as its basis shows the index number for the August wage aver age to be 227. Only two changes in the wage average have been noted since June, 1926. A slight decline occurred in October, 1926. while an off-setting rise took place last February. The average of prices paid by con tractors for the basic construction mater ials showed no change during August, the index number continuing to be 181. Index numbers covering the cost of ma terials during other months are: Jan uary, 179; February, 181; March, 183; April 183; May, 182; June 182, and July, 181. INCREASE IN ELECTRICAL OUT PUT. Electrical output from North Carolina generating plants in. 1926 amounted to 1,- 730,861,570 killowat hours, an increase of 17 per cent, over the previous year, ac cording to figures compiled by the water resources division of the Department of Conservation and Development. This increase was the greatest in per centage of any Southern State, with the exception of Alabama, says Thorndike Saville, chief hydraulic engineer of the department. The total output from water power only in 1926, amounting to 1,025,778,570 kilowatt hours, is an increase 0f’11.7 per cent, than the 918,419,840 of 1925 from the same source, according to the figures of the department, but has not reached the maximum figure of 1,243,798,240 kilo watt hours of 1924. In 1926, 57.9 per cent, of the total pow er produced in North Carolina was gen erated by hydro-electric plants, while in 1925, 61.1 per cent, of the total output was from hydro plants. A maximtim of water power production, in proportion to total output, was experienced in 1920. when this proportion was 93 per cent, of the total output. Both droughts and the construction of large steam generating plants were instrumental in the decreas ed proportion of water power output of 4,741,739 kilowatt hours as compared with electrical power during the last year was 4,053,588 for 1925. December was the peak month in production of power, 192, 198,070 kilowatt hours being reported for that month; March came second with 165,685,860, followed by November with 154,954,240. The average monthly pow er output by month for the year amount ed to 144,277,900. March experienced the high tide in production from water power, 128,639,- 860 kilowatt hours being reported for that month; February came second with 125,- 025,510; and April, third, with 122,567,- 180. Heaviest output from fuel genera tion came in the month of November, Oc toger, and December, respectively. THE SECRET IS OUT. Congressman R. L. Doughton while in Concord several days ago, was asked about important matters expected to be taken up at the next session of Congress. He mentioned as two of the most import ant tax reductions and flood relief legis lation, and then, we believe, let out the secret about the President’s attitude about flood relief by connecting the two In other words. Mr. Doughton thinks the amount of the tax reduction will be determined by the amount appropriated for the flood district. And that, in our opinion, is the reason the President, Sec retary Hoover and others are not anx ious for a special session of Congress. They don t want this flood relief busi ness to come up too prominently until after the election next year. It makes no difference that thousands are still without adequate living facili ties in the flooded regions. It makes no difference that they are still faced with the menace of another flood. Next year’s an election year and the politicians, and especially those who would occupy the White House, must give first thought to getting the votes. We have a great surplus in the treas ury, but that can’t be spent for the hu manitarian work of relieving suffering until it is definitely decided that taxes can be reduced, and especially the taxes of those who make the most money. The flood is gone now and another is not like ly to come along until next year at the earliest. Why worry then about making the Mississippi safe? The more import ant task of pacifying the voters is at hand. That’s the whole thing in a nut-shell. If the President called Congress in spec ial session the members would not dare adjourn without making some provision for the safety of the people who live along the Father of Waters. They know something must be done but they are putting it off as long as possible, hoping thereby that the perplexing question of taxes can be settled first. MUCH ABOUT NOTHING. A checkup shows that more than 2,- 000.000 words were sent from the Black HJlls this summer while the President was there. The total was 2,100,000 to be exact, and in our opinion the vast ma jority of the stuff was not worth print ing. This is not meant a&a reflection on the President, for Mr. Coolidge had nothing to do with the vast majority of the stuff. Special writers were there and they felt that something had to be sent back home for the readers, whether it was some im portant statement by the President or some mere detail about some fish the President caught. The whole thing shows the exaggerat ed idea Americans have about things. President Coolidge was the one import ant personage in the Black Hills inso far as the general public was concerned, and his stories would not make more than a column a day. Yet, we find many columns being sent out daily simply to meet the public’s demand for something. There was only one really important development in the summer white house and that has resulted in so much confus ion that nobody seems to know just what was meant. We refer to the Pres ident’s statement about his future polit ical ambitions. That was important, de spite its element of uncertainty, but there was about as much written about the President’s fish, his cowboy outfit and other stuff of no importance as about the statement. MAY LEAD TO SOMETHING. Friends of Sacco and Yanzetti, who were put to death recently after court delays of more than seven years, are to keep up the fight, we are told, to prove to the world that the two men were not guilty. \\ e do not know what methods are to be pursued but we. hope they will be dif ferent from those used before the men were executed. We hope the prolonged investigation will not include any bomb ings and other law violations. Friends of radicals would have ac complished more in the beginning if they had been more temperate. They sought to secure freedom for the condemned men through violence and threats and such tactics proved worthless and they should have. The investigation, regard less of its findings, will not restore the men nor will it convince the majority of the people that Sacco and Yanzetti were guiltless, but it may prove after all that all of the friends of the convicted mur derers were not themselves murderous ly inclined. That is all the investigation can hope to accomplish, for certainly in the seven years they fought friends of Sacco and \ anzetti did not overlook anything that would aid the radicals. Every process of law was resorted to and every iota of evidence possible to secure was presnted. But the investigation may lead to some thing-evidence that all of the radicals’ friends did not think criminal measures should have been provoked in their be half. Things might happen sure enough should Tam Bowie move to Charlotte and enter., the Senatorial race. Such a possibility has been suggested, this be *ng given as one reason for his resigna tion from the Superior Court bench, ?and if he and former Governor of fer from the same county the State may have one of the hardest fought primaries in recent years. IS McADOO COMING BACK? Asheville Times. Representative Weaver tells Washington news paper men his belief that the nomination of Gov ernor Smith would cause a great political revolt in North Carolina. In the State it is being suggested that Governor McLean failed to appoint Judge Tam Bowie as Judge Barker s successor because the West Jeffer son jufist had publicly proclaimed himself a Smith supporter. More gossip has it that Governor Mc- Lean has given his allegiance to Mr. McAdoo. Does K«f 8 JH Democratic organisation will battle for McAdoo? The talk about the Bowie appointment must surely do Governor McLean a great injustice, by the way. V„,J A ’ir i,l r S vacation ha? r ' ‘Hk * pieces with rl r ..i. Pr *kibi t jH telegrams and J Protesting that * tf > therj ities. BU <4 fr» Bkj > Hprp was the P . «pace; Here* a ;r ri "S <» »rriv. rh <* voters that at 3 not be. under with two column ■ An O ns Prohibition enfj "T h *'!"« SSSf 58 Tragedy ensued 7 *»d2 determination t 0 ’ troublesome Mr u Ukj "V v f™‘ v, art of saying on ] T Y B nJ it so that it could pretation or transW b ' £ material against r tlon ** a? YYj'Y, abru Pt taking off Yj* < regretted? Was he "y a Mr. Coolidge had said b -v the pul motor of ~'v And he was ea'nv" mTV Rf ‘Publiea n ■ • Mr. Lowman has an authority on the ch **** '"O' Mellon tive reflection. p r n h the man who linTS studied silence and tion enforcement is > enness an graft and pronounce only the ~n pT shoulder by our ancient t Official Spokesman" nothingness, all pepN *M and employing a H the tr l'> famous while operating i enthusiastically o n the The fruits o, hi „ ■ Ore .-e know it. „ JJ..N *”'**?“. ,h„ ,**„*>• Republicanism is so pe r ** virtuous that „ lk would be a* lire,, , nine-year-old child to pi ck tion of the Spokesman me»„2 and openness of dealing in CO Z tion enforcement. "SODILLA^, Salisbury Post, “Johnny and Mary arejntt|, They seem to be behind the Y everything. And William » The mother is talking to >j,j very favorable report nn the tb» well, it could be worse! I)r. Catherine Cox, of Cag find the precious stuff of which gq for four years studied theliTcirfg She found that as children ujti been reported dull. She says: “The poet Goldsmith's teacher never was so dull a boy.' Iu tt; that Daniel Webster was si*- fc Now let's look at the real facts: shown signs of genius at an age * scarcely write, and he was imp verse before he was ten years di I poorly prepared in Latin aod Gnit he started to Dartmouth (’<%k indicated that he had had pmrh “I found all through my mopdi schooling, and poor home ttiiug occurred, were undoubtedly i hull geniuses. In some cases, too.:: m chance opportunities had played 11 their success. Karl Weber's(itteH ly to make him a second Mont 4 of five was being exhibited si i ■ all over Europe. When littleErd father gave up the experiment Hi Some years later the boy, tka a accord, went back to music, distinguished composer. “Parents should hold up aodeifli their children but should not try» into cheap imitations. The grain out the individuality of each dfli REED AND A BETAS I Charity and Children. Senator James A. Reed, of the other day remarked, in pw the credit for the Federal R««*] to Senator Glass and to some of the newspapers haiY* Reed had a good word for W# was praise. Jim Reed UD l llfß Y son to this day, and with Y others hate him, and with eq is unfortunately true that inflict injury on *ome , true that that hard-fisted PraT*® right and left. Jim Y s i during the war, but nfTe u.p defeatist, and if he got a t from the war President he k( cidentally, he earned the « who has the same r<>asor „ ( , s)g j has to hate policemen, performed some valuaWepY * but he has also ralhe ‘ his German brewers. * makes FalstafFs army „ Kindly oblivion disaffection during 1 f memory only of ridiculous to believe chance that he will ev. ft of the calibre of to praise A^ odr ° rhovr .> remarking that R musician. LIES AREj^'* Charity and i? to The news that Ch £ * jj| school histories wbi« does at least show only place in whiob $ away with 111 JT 1 writte® that the new political demagogue ~ as history tex* use now—that ne rtr Vi that the laited *- t rirwjj did anything not But to stuff cbdlr is not P at . r ‘ 0t f r n g n d greater and fine t 0 dofY but how is 'l* it knows what t y.- tk*, No country b« d history, and to P foolish but Ha»^ M ate error. -l ne n(H , at urs P atr f iS “ The man country. 1 y '*S a wrong '“"f, „,t < own country. t 0 cry d trary. he rf>fltenS to his country >h hjnf verf^J injustira it Loyalty to tra * unless we »<!"> * loyalty to tt“' b , ,hal country ts Mr favorite Germany mere f country. ( - lar I have died 80 ' no terrors for ® • I from the noos«*' I