North Carolina Newspapers

Established 1899 THE SOUTH AND THE CURRENCY QUESTION. HOW THE COTTON CROP AIDS IN MOVING MONEY AT HOME AND ABROAD. PROSPEROUS DITIONS REVIEWED SHOWING AD- ' VANCES MADE IN 1907. (Written especially for "The Financier" by S. A. Ashe, Editor Biographical History of North Carolina. The year just ended has been one of notable progress in the Southern States. - There has been more than the normal ad dition to population, a consider able increase in agricultural and and lumbering development, a continued enlargement of milling enterprises, and the construction of new railway lines costing manv millions ©f dollars. While much of the eapital in vested has come from the North, a large part of it represents tne earnings of the Southern people themselves. The immense cotton crop 1906 sold at a high price and sold at a yield of over seven hundred million dollars. With this substantial basis for trade, business was steady and profit able; the people prosperous and happy. Labor was better paid than even before, and the demand because of increased activities, being abnormal, all were employed and at an advance in wages. The negroes, whether tenants, croppers or laborers, shared in the general prosperity and con tentment. Indeed it is to be doubted whether in any country, at any time, a similar population has been so happy as the ne groes of the South- have been during the past year. Compared with the negro residents of the Northern States, the record is remarkable; for, having regard to numbers, where one negro at the South has been punished criminally, one hundred at the North have suffered at the hands of justice. Busy and contented men are not usually criminals. Pari passu with this industrial progress have been some educa tional and social movements. Still greater efforts have been made in educational lines, while the extension of the antiliquor sentiment arrests attention. The South has been pictured as of a rollicking temperament in a loose way, people speak of the cavliers as the original of Southern pop ulation. Virginia alone had much of that element. But there did spring up in colonial days at the South a class of American gent ry, wealthy, dominant and masterful, who have been wrong fully associated with the frolick ing cavaliers of historic fame. On the contrary they were rather of the Calhoun type—determined in action but always demanding a clean life. Bnt whatever was the in fluence, the event speaks for itself. A large part of the South is already prohibition territory, and apparently before another decade has passed no ardent spirits will be sold, except in sports, between the Rio Grande and Potomac. Thus busy and sober, the cheerful South is mak ing great crops and amassing wealth that finds profitable in vestment in new factories and others industries. The cotton crops is now grown on some thirtv millions of acres. It employs tha bulk of th* ne groes and a constantly increasing number of whites, probably one half of it being alreadv made by white labor. Aspopulaticn thick er and the needs of the world require it, others millions of acres will be brought under cultivation, so that in time a crop of twenty millions of bales will excite nc more remark than that of last year. Nor are there crops oi interest only to the South; they are a precious gifts to the whole nation. Nearly two-thirds of the production goes abroad, and country an annual trifcut® that :: afc'.v;-.«• ■*&&*•*****«** i ■•*ssr#r*i*tK:-*• sr*z>-*ijk -TO* « --a- pun mi ii immn n i •»- -:* - * ---• •» *•-■ THE HICKORY DEMOCRAT. *>„«. -/ >— • --' »*• ' -.u>, V?:- .... - plays an important part in ouj national housekeeping. Lasi year our cotton exports broughl us, perhaps, four hundred mil lion dollars in .gold. In a decade this item will give jus a balance of trade approximat ing four billions of dollars. Whal an important asset to the credit of the nation abroad! In times papt the South has prided itself on the contribution to the nation in men; on the superb sons who framed the I Declaration of Independence, and 'who fought on the battlefield; Washington and Jefferson; on Monroe, who formulated the doctrine of the Americrs for Americans; on the addition of nearly all the whole territory west of the Mississippi to our national domain by Southern men; but now the South plumes her feathers and takes pride in her contribution to national prosperity and in securing commercial and financial in dependence. Nor is the practical advantage to the industrial life of the na tion to be overlooked. Our cur rency has long been ill-justed to the needs of oar growing coun try, and sometimes the pressure for funds is so severely felt that we mvst look to gold imports to maintain the equilibrium. Dur ing the year 1906 the South bare ly averted a disastrous stringency by transferring 148,000,000 of yellow bops from the vaults of Europe to New York. That was possible only because of the cot ton crop. The currency famine through which the country has passed would have been suffi ciently remedied, perhaps, in the same; although it would have in volved something of a sacrifice in hastily moving the crop t market. Indeed, the currency matter is a condition which threatens to become an acute trouble orfclight provocation. While we have, say, $2,800,000,000 of currency outside of the treasury vaults, the vast harvests of our great country have increased the bank deposits to fifteen billions, and the bank reserves must need be more- than two billions of dol lars, leaving only some SBOO,OOO, 000 free currency. That may have sufficed in a less prosperous era; but now, with prices of pro visions, labor, materials and real estate advanced soma thirty , per cent, the slightest deviation from the normal adjustment produces an irregularity. There is not «ough margin for a play of ose forces which constantly ef fect a disturbance Jn business; and until this condition be reme died by some device allowing some elasticity to the currency, there will be repeated returns of a currencv famine, threatening to close all factories and putting in peril. the industries of the whole country. In the past, the cotton exports have given us a credit abroad, aiding substantial ly in applying a hasty remedy to avert the peril; and to this ex tent, the entire business of the United States is debtor to the fleecy staple; Recognizing the thus conferred, the South must be congratulated on the circumstances that afford her the ability to render the service tc the nation at large. Miss Blanch Bailey, of Winston N. C. Miss Lois Stewart, of Salisbury and Dr. Brown, of Philadelphia spent the holidays with the family of Mr. H. D. Abernethy, HICKORY, N. C.,-THURSDAY, JANUARY3rf9OB. Morally a Woman Has Just as Much Right to Make a Fool of Herself as a Man Has. Has a woman a right to make a fool of herself if a man does? This would make a good subject for debating societies. A man will stay around nights, visit the gambling dens, play poker and lose money that he ought to spend for theeomforts of his fam ily. At the same time the wife is staying home sitting by a cheerless fire and taking care of a number of children, that she has only a half interest in. The man will visit the saiooas, smoke cigars, play the wheel, drink poor whiskey, and occasionally goes and plays with the girls that are not of his own family, whiie his wife is home trying- to save mon ey for the family by patching, darning and going without things for herself and the house. , A man at the same time will "go out with tie boys" and spend $25. Is it right? Sunposfng we , turn the tables around and what will happen? Supposing the wife takes a notion to have a little time of her own ? Let her goto the bowling ally, billiard hall, the saloon. Go off to a convention or some other place f with a lot of gay girls and have, a goodtime," spend the money that ought to go toward paying expenses, smoke cigars, drink several different kinds of booze 1 and come home with a bad taste in her mouth and in a generally stained condition, wouldn't it break every link that binds the home circle together? Morally, she has just as much right as a man to do these things. She has just as good a right to be a fool is a man, but what would happen € f she would? It is easy enough I :o guess. There would be c iivorces and other things too r lumerous to mention.—Ex. li p Some Observations on Adver- c tising. t [lndiana Retail Merchant.] \ The mah who does not adver- * L ;ise because his grandfather did a lot, ought to wear lmeabreeshes c md a queue. ' s The man who does not adver- c ,ise because it cost money, should juite quite paying rent for the >ame reason. The man who does not adver tise because he tried it and failed, should throw away his cigar, be lause the.light went out. who does not adver ;ise because he doesn't know how limself, ought to stop eating be- ] 2ause he can't cook. The man who does not adver- ] tise because sorrysbody said it did not pay, ought not to believe that ; the world is round because the ancients said it was flat. N. C. Moonshiner Caught Yesterday. Dec, 27—Oscar Sisk, the Stokes, county moonshiner who, it is alleged, shot and killed United States revenue officer J. W. Hendricks, from Ambush last Friday, was captured today in the mountain fastness of Stokes by two mountainers and tak«n to Danbury, the county set. The United States government offered a reward of one thousand! dollars for Sisk's capture. Hendricks was slain while lead ing a raiding party near Smith town, the stronghold of blockade distillery. Sisk will be taken to Greensboro tomorrow and it i& like a special term of federal court will be called to try him, as the regular term is not held | until April.—Asheville Citizen. "If two-thirds of the girls who go on would go to the kitchen instead, there would be a whole lot more happiness in the world," says the Birmingham Age-Herald. But not if their i cooking is as bad as their acting. The Labor Proble ?. The labor problem is btu.-.g dip cussed pro and con by every one that is trying to run a business enterprise. Those experts on what mikes prosperity and hap piness among the masses declare that we are on it, their sure sisrn is that when one job is hunting ing four men as against the old rule wnen four men tried to get the same job. Now we think the present *s worse than the past. Both are e*?t of the normal, our idea of bu. ii ess and a good time for body is to have a job for every man and a man for every job. Competition is the life of trade this maxim will fit the industrial as well as the commercial. The man who poses as a laborer can't stand much pressure, he soon demoralizes or as it is sometimes called he gets too big tor his Dants, he has nothing to lose, he has too much freedom to move costs him nothing. Just talk out his fire And call his dog (so to speak) Somehow the contingent known as laboring men Is a contradiction in N, C. The able-bodied citizen That goes and gets a wife A scholar and a gentleman And then hires out for life. To always have to have a boss And come at some ones call He might as well be dog or horse He arnt no man at all. No never in this favored land Land of the brave and free With opportunities so grand And great big fprn\s for thee. . Cut out all this rot about for eign labor serf, peasant and pau per coming in competition with our free American labor. Re member we live in the South land fraught with the largest possibilities known to the agri cultural world but since before the days of the patriotic cap re volutionary fathers we have been handicaped by the incubus of slavery and all its evil following of worthless free negro citizen ship. We are tired of present conditions. Baring Booker Washington And Nigger Bishop Wood With here and there a good old one The rest are all no good. They're vieios and they're lazy They wont'work any more Just export them seems best to me Back to dark Africa's shore. We say ocen wide our southern ports anu bid ihem welcome in vite emigrants from tha rural and agricultural districts of France, Belgium, Sweden and Germany and all the old world that speak the English language Owe mean white folks first last and all tne time) the Lord knows we have enough of the colored kind. And now you mud head smart Alec Just hist your crooked legs and kick At the foreign emigrants Cbunt backwards and you'll find perhaps That peasant men were your grand paps And their wives were your great aunts. Lets have them come and set the pace Of energv for our white race And develop our great wealth And cross our y»ung ones with thur blood They're brainy and the stack is good And learn from them the guide of health. The -Charleston News and Courier proposes this new year toast: "Here's to our noble selves. D d few like ust" Teachers' Meeting. The teachers of Catawba County are requested to attend the meeting to be held at Newton on Jan. 4th 1908, in the Graded School building. The Teachers meeting is che most helpful agency; and it is being so recognized by the teach ers. The following are the subjects for discussion; 1. The Secret of Holding the Pupils Attention. Profs Lewis Bolick and A. P. Whisenhunt 2. How to Secure and run a Rural Library. Miss Emma Lutz, Mr. John She ri 1. 3. The best Method of teach ing English. Rev. P. C. Henry and Prof. Chas. M. Staley. 4. How to Secure the best Results in Teaching Arithmetic. Profs. A. C. Sherill and Chas E. Mcintosh. 5. What Class of work should pupils do at home. Rev. C. 0. Smith anH Prof. G. W. Hahn. Drill Class in Writing by Miss Olive Duke. Etta Raker. Sec, Christmas passed off very quietly. There was a shooting match for chickens and turkeys at E. S. Sherrills store. There was a Christmas tree at Rocky-Mount church and a treat of apples, candy and oranges for the Sunday school. The tree was well loaded with presents, some quite nice and costly. In the absence of the pastor, wl*> had been invited to attend, a short address was made by Dr. B. G. Flowers, after which the presents and treat were destriout ed. The large crowd present seemed to enjoy themselves to the full est. Mr. and Mis. D. S. Hetikel left Thursday for Charlotte to spend a few days with relatives and friends. Mrs. L. D. Sherrill and chil dren, of Hickory, jpent last week in the country visiting relatives ind friends. Mr. and Mrs. John Turner, of lear Hickory, visited relatives md friends in this vicinity the latter part of last week. Mr. John Mackie, of Texas, is risiting his parents and friends n this county. He has been in Texas for thirteen years. He has been very successful iince he left North Carolina,- laving accumulated quite a little fortune. He reports a stringen cy in financial matters in Texas is well as in North Carolina. Farmers in texas are holding their cotton for better prices. Mr. Mackie" s brothers speak strongly >f going with him when he returns to Texas, which will be ibout the middle of January. Mrs. J. S. Mull died at her home in Lenoir Friday night and was burried at Poovey's Grove Sunday evening. She had not been in the best of health for some time, but retired Friday night apparently as well as usual, and was found dead in tier bed Saturday morning about 2 o'clock. She leaves a husband and several children to whom we extend sympathy. Mr. R. W. »Sherrill, who has been away for a year or two was at "home during Christmas. Mr? and Mrs. Will Link, of Lenoir are on a visit to relatives and friends in this community. They expect to remain several days. Mr. R. P. Huffman has return ed to his work in Lenoir after spending the holidays with his family and friends. A. happy new year to one and all December 30, 1907. RABUNTA. An entire new schedule will gc into effect on the Southern aftei Jan sth. No 21 and 22 will be discontinued. The C. & N. W. will also change schedule. Democrat and Press, Consolidated 1905. A Happy New Year to All. A happy new year to you, child of today! May you know more of sunshine than of cloud, and more joy than of sorrow; may your tumbles and bumps be few, your laughter be frequen and long, your play be unre strained, your sleep refreshing I your dreams pleasant. A happy new year to you, bright youth and rosy cheeked maiden of our city and country— all happiness in the ambition, the joy, the friendship, the competitions and the rewards of social life. Success to you in the endeavor whereby the firm, en during basis of true manhsou and of noble womanhood are laid; with which success comes twofol happines—happiness to i thers and happiness to yourselves. ,Go forth gaily and confidently into the new y°ar, 0, you who art beiutiful in the fresh vigor of vour youth! _ To you, whose lives are hallow ed with the grace of maternity, not one but many, many years of happiness! Live long, wives and mothers of this land, to sea the lives you have cherished expand into beauty and usefulness; live long to know and feel the sweet rewards of gratitude, of venera tion and of love. Survive those hours of pain, of cruelty, of watching and of sacrifice—live through it all, dear, patient martyrs, to share the peace, the repose, the contentment, the compensations of the future, ;hat surely wait for such as you. A happy new year, too, to you, grandmothers and grandfathers sverywhere! LOOK out upon all iround you and see how passing J air the evening is; and all that s to be heard invites content nent and repose. You hear voices, too that we do not hear— hey have never been quite for rotten, and they speak to >ou in he sweetly solemn twilight of he morning that followeth the ivening, and of the waking that ometh after the folding of the lands to sleep. Yes, to tJl—the young, the old, he hight, the low—a happy new ear, a happiness arising from nd tempered with wisdom, aith, hope and charity. ■f A Card. This is to certify that all drug :ists are authorized to refund our money if Foley's Honey nd Tar fails to cure your cough >r cold. It stops the cough, heals he lungs and prevents serious esults from a cold. Cures la frippe coughs and prevents meumonia and consumption. Contains n© opiates. The genu ne is in a yell6w package. Re fuse substitutes. W. S. Martin 5: Co. Christmas at the Reformed Church. The services at the Reformed ihurch, was a most delight ful one. The church was beau tifully decorated with ever greens and palms with candles arranged so as to give a most pleasing effect The program was well rendered and consisted &f a very high order of music. The church orchestra added much to the music. The attend ance was large, the church be ing crowded even the standing room being taken. This sh o'clock service has become t fixed part of the Christmas ex e:cises of the city. ■v Statement Gccepted. We note that Henry Killiai emphatically denies coming bac] to the old party. Mr. Setzer says that he wi gladly accept the last statemer as the truth, for- it leaves th party in better shape than : would have been otherwise. Professional Cards. ; D. L. RUSbELL j AT rVOKNBY'AT'LAW ; Prompt attention given to all matters - of Legal Nature Office: Main St., Russell 81dg.,. Hickory Dr. T. F, Stevenson PHYSICIAN AND SLRBtON Office at Home % Calls answered at all hours Phone 295 - Hickory, N. C. Dr. Walter A. White DENTIST Office over Menzies Drug Store Hickory, N. C. j % DR. W. B. RAMSAY DEN J IST Office: Second-story Post Office Hickory, N. C. K. A. PRICE, M. D. PHYSICIAN & SERGON Calls answered night and day. Office at Residence 1203 6th St. Phone 94 - HICKORY, N. C. Hickory Markets. PRODUCE , Corrected every week by the leading grocerymen BUYING PICES BASED ON FIST-CLASS QUAL H Y Corn, per bushel 70 Oats, per bushel 65 Peas, per bushel 1.25 to 1.50 Potatoes, Irish, per bu 75 Potatoes, sweet " 40' Onious, per bushel 70 'l Spring Chickens 12 1-2 Hens, per pound .8 Roosters, per pound .03 Butter, per pound, 12 1-2 to 20 Eggs, per dozen 20 Wheat, per bushel 1.00 COTTON MARKET Strict Good iddling 11.60 Good iddling 11 1-8 These are prices paid to wagons. The General ' Accident Special Deposit With N. Y. 1 Insurance Dept $250,000.00 Change of occupation does . not forfeit your policy. Claims are not reduced by - reason of other insurance All honest claims positively paid at sight. Increased Benefit: Ten per cent is added to all benefits on claims originating after the payment of one year's premium in advance. Double Death Benefit and Ac cident Monthly Indemnities are paid if injuries are received while on pas senger conveyances propelled by steam, cable, electricity or compressed air. Health and Accident Insur ance combined in one Policy.Month -1 lv Indemnities graced according to the * hazar| of the occupation and amount of premium paid. - s Absolutely the most popular form of insurance offered to the public. A policy that any wage earner can afford, and will make him independent. It pays for rent, living, clothing and fuel while disabled from » accident or sickness. It gives a man ( food, solid comfort and confidence in 1 the event of disability to know that his " household is not deprived of its usual comforts. Our policies provide indem nity 24 months for accident and 6 months for sickness. It is cheaper and safer to have it always and not need h, than to need it once and not have it. The B. & P. Policy paying SIOO per month, cost $2 per month. le s WALTER E. SLOAN it Gca. Mgr. Statesville, N. C» W. A. HALL, AGENT