THE DANBURY REPORTER
Established 1872
The Passing Show Of '43
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US
Seventy-one years ago, come next Monday, this
newspaper was born.
Much water has slipped down the Dan since
January 25, 1872.
Danbury was only a small town, not much lar
ger than it is today. There were about 27 residen
ces, a shoemaker's shop, a smithy, two stores, a
tavern, a church, a court house and jail, and 3
barrooms.
It was a lively and business-like frontier town
with a thrifty countryside that never came to
town to get drunk (with us) except on week days.
Under an old dispensation the saloons, being
without juke boxes, stayed shut on Sundays.
Whether this was because the proprietors were
usually feeling bad from Saturday's rush, we do
not know.
In those days there were trails but no roads.
There were no automobiles nor buggies. People
traveled generally on foot or cattle-drawn ve
hicles. But there were many slick paths that led
down to beautiful branches in the hollows.
, The topic for conversation was genially poli
tics or crops or taxes, till the Danbury Reporter
was launched to give a good line of news.
The people's diversion was hunting, fishing and
fighting.
i It is with an acute degree of pardonable pride
that we review the checkered career of the Re
porter as it lived on through the years, and has
always been read by the people. The Reporter is
not only one of the oldest newspapers in the
State but also one of the most distinguished, in
that it has lived so long without advertising sup
port from its own community. The life-blood and
prosperity of newspapers in general come prin
cipally from advertising. Subscriptions pay for
the white paper used.
This distinguishing characteristic of the Re
, porter while possibly not an enviable one to other
publications, is certainly a unique one. And the
reason is not that the Reporter is not and has al
ways been a valuable advertising medium, but
because this is 95 per cent, an agricultural coun -
' ty with few advertisers.
~v In looking back over the departed years and re
membering the true friendship and loyalty of
many readers, we feel thankful.
DR. PAUL NEAL
The" State sustained a distinct loss last week in
the untimely death of Dr. Paul Neal of Raleigh.
*He was stricken down in the very prime of his
life and usefulness. Splendidly endowed by na
ture, liberally educated, specially trained, Paul
added to his accomplishments a fine personality
that won for him hosts of true friends every
where he was known. After finishing his educa
tion at Duke university, he took later courses in
New York and Boston, and had extensive medi
cal and surgical experience dating in and from
the first world war. Since his location in Raleigh
\ in association with his brother Dr. Kemp Neal
he has been very, successful in a wide practice.
Paul was a Stokes county boy, born at Mea
dows, the son of Dr. and Mrs. John W. Neal. His
mother Chattie Pepper Neal died in the year
1903. Hia father lives and is still in active prac
tice at Monroe.
Volume 71
Danbury, N. C., Thursday, Jan. 21, 1943 * * *
HOW DANGEROUS AFTER ALL IS WAR?,
Are we fully justified in so much tears and sad
ness when the boys are leaving home for the
camps ?
Have you ever figured how small a chance a boy
has to get killed or wounded in this war ?
We have now an army of more than 7,000,000.
Suppose in a great battle America should lose
10,000 men. What proportion of the gigantic ar
my would this casualty list be? About one-six
teenth of one per cent.
What would Stokes county's proportion of the
loss be ? Hardly one man. We are speaking in
averages, of course.
Every year in the United States about 60,000
people are killed by automobiles, and many
more than 100,000 injured.
Is war after all so much more dangerous than
home casualties? Uncounted thousands of peo
ple are killed and injured in the factories and
workshops of the nation, even in normal times.
Millions of boys now being numbered in the
armies will never go across, or ever see action on
the fighting front.
The average boy in the hosts that go across
will have only a small chance to get killed or
wounded.
Maybe we should not be so anxious and nervous
when the boys leave home.
There are many chances in favor of their com
ing back —finely trained, healthful, handsome
and happy.
THE SPOTS OF THE LEOPARD
Senator Burton K. Wheeler and his seditionist
pal Senator Nye are demanding an investigation
of the Department of Justice and its prosecu
tion of a bunch of Hitler stooges in the United
States.
The Washington Merry-Go-Round says the
reason the two Senators are after the Justice De
partment is that they know the Department—
which is ever on the trail of crooks and sedition
ists—has in its files some very embarassing evi
dence of their activities in behalf of those dis
loyals who are now indicted.
Frank K Ferenz, one of those indicted for se
dition, that "America First" rally for
Wheeler before the election.
Nye, it appears, has i>e'n doing some under
cover work in aiding the appeal of George Syl
vester Viereck, already convicted.
Recent evidence before the Justice Depart
ment from an American long resident in Berlin
quotes high-ranking Nazis as saying that if war
came, they had the U. S. A. organized and that
Wheeler was their favorite senator.
The Reporter has always believed that Wheeler
and Nye should be investigated and prosecuted
for their disloyal attitudes, and their malicious
remarks tending to injure America's war effort,
amounting to sedition.
Wheeler and Nye were the head and front of
that Fifth Column of themselves, Ham Fish,
Lindbergh, et al, who are responsible for the
tragic and pitiful unpreparedness of this coun
try when war came, and upon whose heads his
tory will record the stigma of near-traitors.
EDITORIALS
Published Thursdays
, THE WOUNDED TIGER
There is no question in the minds of :i majori
ty of the world's leading military authorities
that the Tiger of Berlin has received vital shots
in his anatomy and that he is staggering for his
fall.
James A. Farley is the latest authority to agree
that Hitler will crack this year.
We have seen no augury so advanced as ours
that this beast will be down by Easter, April 25,
1943. But we see no reason yet to revise our pre
diction. The gieat Russian armies with ever
gathering fury and momentum are pushing him
back steadily, taking thousands of prisoners and
killing other thousands daily and nightly.
In Africa Rommel is still sprinting, breaking
all speed records to reach Tunisia before the al
lies, who are on his tail, can destroy him.
In the meantime, scenting the sickening smell
of disaster in the wind, Rumania and Bulgaria,
Hitler's slave allies, are rebelling and refusing
to be cannon fodder any more.
In Italy and France the populations are seeth
ing with disaffection and hopelessness, and
would quit now but for the guns and the halters
held over their necks.
Big times are coming, my dearies, and that
soon. Watch, wait, but continue to pass the am
munition.
INCOME TAXES LOOMING
Income taxes, the heaviest in the history of
the nation, are approaching closely. The cost of
the most terrible war in history is to be paid.
Without the money, the productive power and
the great armies of America, there is no ques
tion but that the days of freedom in the world
would be over.
Taxes will be burdensome from now on, but
when we consider what other nations and other
people are giving up to save civilization, our bur
den will be less hard to tote. Vi •
'-Lr
THE LEGISLATURE
The Assembly is now getting into high gear.
The body means strictly business, and the ses
sion will doubtless be shortest for years.
Looks like the bill for a 9-month school is go
ing to pass, also more pay for the teachers.
About 22 millions out of the huge State cash
reserve will be set aside for the purchase of war
bonds.
All this looks constructive and good.
We hope the bill to outlaw the firecrackers, in
fact make illegal the sale or use of fireworks in
any form, may become a law.
Fireworks in the hands of wild, irresponsible
youngsters are a first class nuisance, .and a men
ace to life and property.
Stokes is being conscientiously and ably repre
sented by our W. F. Marshall, who is level-head
ed business-like and alert to our county's best
interests.
* * * Number 5,687.