ELKIN
The Best Little Town In
North Carolina
THE TRIBUNE
Is A Member of the Audit
Bureau of Circulations
The Elkin Tribune
ELKIN
Gateway to Roaring Gap and
The Blue Ridge
THE TRIBUNE
Serves the Tri-Counties of
Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin
VOL. No. XXXVII No. 13
PUBLISHED MONDAY AND THURSDAY
ELKIN, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1949
£3.00 PER YEfl,R IN NORTH CAROLINA
16 PAGES—TWO SECTIONS
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¥
i
Seen Along...
The Elk Trail
. . . Santa Claus bringing Mrs.
George Willey of State Road two
front teeth for Christmas.
... A definite answer: “Oh,
he'll be back around sometime
afterwhile.”
. . . Daughter with cold unknow
ingly pouring half-gallon of holi
■, day spirits down drain while
washing dishes. Couldn’t smell,
she said.
. . . Forlorn Christmas tree con
taining tattered remnants of foil
icicles, resting lopsidedly in trash
can on Main Street.
. . . Small boy, attired in black
cowboy outfit, including two guns
and lariat swaggering importantly
along the street in front of Surry
Hardware Co.
. . . Local store manager ex
plaining that in addition to all
the other “national weeks" in the
calendar, the week between Christ
mas and New Year's should be
known as “national exchange j
week.”
I. . . Willie Bell packing for
kunting trip.
. . Mrs. Lula Weir reporting
■ her Christmas trip to Bristol,
E
Z
Jig
brc
Boy and girl holding hands
Sunder table at restaurant. Looking
kdreamily into each other’s eyes.
. Heating system going hay
wire setting fire to the house of
liggs, the new puppy Santa Claus
brought Publisher H. F. Laffoon.
.Interested motorists admir
ing the decorations of the Glenn
Baileys, winners of the outside
lighting contest sponsored by the
Junior Woman’s Club.
CHARITY DRIVE
* NEARING GOAL
Campaign Short of Goal By
Only $20.99 As Official
End Draws Near
GIFTS STILL COMING IN
The Community Christian Char
ity drive was short of its $1,000
goal by only $20.99 today as a
number of residents contributed
through Christmas. Good quanti
ties of food, clothing and toys
have also been turned in.
^ Although the drive officially
ends Sunday, gifts of clothing,
money and food will be received
throughout the entire year as
needy families will be supplied as
is deemed advisable.
Approximately 35 families were j
helped during Christmas with
baskets of food, clothes, toys and
articles needed to sustain them.
Those contributing to the cam
paign through the holidays were
as follows:
Miss Clarice Oakley, $5.
Mrs. G. T. Roth, $10.
Mrs. K. V. McLeod, clothing.
Mrs. Sid Hudspeth, clothing.
A friend, $2.
. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh A Royall,
v $10 and clothing.
Mrs. DeWitt Calloway, clothing.
A friend, clothing.
Jonesville Senior Girl Scouts,
food.
Richard T. Collins, Sr., Indian
apolis, Ind., $5.
Elkin Presbyterian Church, food
and clothing.
Mr. and Mrs. Dick Evans, toys.
Dr. and Mrs. R. B. Harrell, $10.
Dr. and Mrs. James A. Harrell,
$10.
^ A friend, $1.
• Contributions will be accepted
at the receiving station at the
Tribune office.
Dobson Farm Bureau
Will Hold Election
Members of the Dobson Com
munity Farm Bureau will hold an
election of officers Monday night
at the courthouse. The meeting
will begin at 7 p. m.
/J. Lee Thompson, president,
l^id that about 50 committees of
three persons each will be selected
also.
In addition, a report on the
recent telephone survey will be
made at the meeting.
BABY BLANKET
PLANT MOVING
IS COMPLETED
Virginia Plant Sold By Chat
ham To Wortendvke Co.
FIRM’S PAYROLL CROWS
Consolidation of Waynesboro
Plant With Main Plant
Here Is Completed
WORK ALREADY BEGUN
Consolidation of Chatham Man
ufacturing Company’s plant in
Waynesboro, Va., with the Elkin
plant has been completed.
Vice-president Hugh Chatham
last week said the company’s Vir
ginia plant has been sold to the
Wortendyke Manufacturing Com
pany of Richmond, Va.. which will
begin using it immediately.
The Bunny Esmond crib blanket,
which has been manufactured by
Chatham at Waynesboro for the
past year, is now coming from
the looms at the local plant.
‘‘We have improved the product
by bringing it to Elkin to make,”
Mr. Chatham said. “And we shall
continue to woik to make it one
of our best products.”
The movement of the Waynes
boro operations to Elkin has caus
(Continued On Page Four)
HUNT MISHAP
KILLS DOCTOR
Dr. J. H. McKnight, Brother
Of Elkin Residents, Ac
cidentally Shot
IN STERLING, COLORADO
Dr. J. H. McKnight of Sterling,
Colo., and brother of T. C. Mc
Knight and Miss Lois McKnight
of this city, was accidentally kill
ed in a hunting accident Monday
afternoon.
Dr. McKnight had visited in this
city on a number of occasions.
In addition to his w'ife, he is!
survived by one son, Jimmy, three
daughters, Mrs. Barbara Mason
of Texas, Sally and Mary Helen,
who at one time attended school
here for several months and is
now' a student at Salem academy
in Winston-Salem; two brothers,
John McKnight of Sumter, S. C„
and T. C. McKnight of this city;
five sisters, Miss Lois McKnight
of this city; Mrs. R. L. Stokely of
Denver, Colo., formerly a resi
dent of Devotion; Mrs. H. L. Tim
mons of Columbia, S. C., Mrs.
H. M. Parker and Dr. Portia Lub
chenco, both of Sterling, Colo.
Miss Lois McKnight and John
McKnight of Sumter, S. C., left
by plane Tuesday for Sterling.
Funeral service was held this
morning at 10 a. m. in Sterling,
Colo.
Five Arrests Made
By lA)cal Officers
Four arrests for drunkenness,
one of them including a charge
of operating a vehicle while in
toxicated, and one apprehension
for reckless driving were reported
by law enforcement officers in
Elkin today.
All of the cases were bound over
to the Recorder’s Court.
IT WAS A CHATHAM HOLIDAY — Throe thousand employees of Chatham Manufacturing Company enjoyed an annual Christmas party at the Gilvin Roth YMCA gym
nasium Friday. Upper left photo. Dick and Hugh Chatham prepare to join in a singing of Christmas Carols. Left to right behind tjiem are Richard G. Chatham. Renee
Gilliam. Charlie Wolfe, .lack Caudill and other employees. Upper right, Albert Butler, president of the company, speaks to the employees. Behind him are Carl Poindex
ter, ivho handled arrangements for the party; Raymond Harris, general superintenden t; and Hugh Chatham, vice-president of the company. Lower left, Clifton Leary,
department head in charge of traffic and shipping; congratulates Daniel J. Burgees upon his completion of 24 years with Chatham. Lower right is part of the crowd
attending the festivities which included handing out of bonus checks. (photos oy redmon)
1950 TAX LIST
PLACES NAMED
Mrs. French Graham Succeeds
The Late L. I. Wade
As Elkin's Lister
PENALTIES POINTED OUT
Mrs. French Graham has been
named tax lister for Elkin Town
ship. succeeding the late L. I.
Wade.
J. Pate Fulk, tax supervisor for
Surry County, announced this
week the appointment and said
that listings for 1950 county tax
es will be held during the month
of January.
In Elkin, listing will be receiv
ed at the County Tax Office on
Main Street during the entire
month.
Mr. Fulk explained that all pro
perty on hand January 1, either
real or personal, is subjected to
taxation and must be listed. Re
turns of all real estate, buildings
and improvements, machinery, fix
tures, merchandise in stocks and
goods in process of manufacture.
Also such items as farm machin
ery, household furniture, office
(Continued On Page Four)
For North Carolina Farmers
Disease - Resistant Tobacco Plants
Under Last Experiments At Oxford
By JESSE MOCK
Final experiments to produce
a more disease-resistance tobacco
plant for North Carolina farm
ers are now being conducted at
the agriculture experiment station
at Oxford, an Agriculture Depart
ment spokesman said in Washing
ton this week.
It is expected that the new line
of tobacco will be available
through regular seed dealers in
time for planting next season, but
the formal announcement will pro
bably not come for some time.
Seed growers already have on
hand several experimental lines
which have been raised in com
mercial quantities, but they know
these only by number. It is pos
sible that only the choice one of
these will be released, the spokes
man said.
The basis of the experiments
has been the cross-breeding of
wild tobacco with the cultivated
species—thus arming the commer
cial crop with hereditary factors
against diseases. This was made
known today in a report by Dr.
E. E. Clayton, Agriculture Depart
ment tobacco breeding specialist,
before the American Association
for the Advancement of Science
in New York.
The report was released in
Washington by the Department.
Experiments have been going on
for some years at the Depart
ment’s Bureau of Flant Chemis
try at Beltsville, Maryland, where
the major strains of the new lines
were developed.
These lines were then sent out
to the various experiment stations
in tobacco-growing states for fur
ther experimentation—and to de
termine the particular line best
adapted to an area.
In outlining the biological
methods of developing the new
lines of tobacco, Clayton told of
one of the problems that had to
be solved. It was found that the
species of wild tobacco known
as “Nicotinana debneyi” has a
high level of resistance to major
tobacco diseases but that crossing
it with domesticated tobacco has
commonly resulted in sterile hy
brids—which at first seemed to
be the end of this tobacco road.
But, according to Dr. Clayton,
exploiation of the various biologi
cal byways has shown that the di
rection of the cross breeding makes
a great deal of difference in the
fertility or lack of it in the crosses
produced.,
It was finally determined that
when the cultivated tobacco was
used as the female parent and
the wild one was used as the
pollen source, the progeny turned
out to be fertile. The tobaccos
used in these experiments were
Nicotiana debneyi (wild) and Nic
otiana tabacum (domesticated).
It was found that favorable
results were also obtained when
the wild variety known as1 Nico
tiana megalosiphon was crossed
with the domesticated species.
These experiments have enabled
the agriculture specialists to keep
(Contifciied 6ii Page/f'bu£j
I Ikin And Vicinity Observe
Quietest, Grandest Yuletide
Business Good, Hearts Generous:
Soberness and Good Will Prevail
Elkin's Christmas was the quiet
est and grandest ever.
Through its streets prior to
Christmas Day the throngs were
Town License
Plates On Sale
With State Tags
The 1950 town license plates
are on sale at Butner-McLeod
Motor Company where state
lags are being sold, Dixie Gra
ham. town clerk, said today.
He explained that the change
of places of sale has been moved
from the Town Hall for the
convenience of those buying
state licenses. He urged that
every person buy town tags be
fore the February 1 deadline.
the largest remembered. Business
was good, buying was sharp and
steady, and there was gaiety and
merriment through the Yule sea
son. Police report little disorder.
Hearts were generous and
churches were filled Christmas
morning following a successful
week of Yule observance which
lead up to Christmas Day. The
poor and unfortunate families of
the vicinity enjoyed full stock
ings . . . thanks to several charity
organizations which received liber
al response from the residents of
the community.
The entire nation followed such
an example, leading some to re
mark that the world was returning
to the appreciation of the very
cause of Christmas. Soberness and
good will prevailed not only here
in the Yadkin Valley, but to all
corners of the nation. And over the
world, a comparative peace contin
ued while the world's great
churchmen prayed for harmony
among men.
The immediate vicinity of Elkin,
though plagued with unfortunate
incidents in December, missed
tragedy - at Christmastime. The
man on the street was quick to
offer his thankfulness for such
quietness.
Supply this year was up. Had
there been the demand for articles
that was made last year, sales
would have broken records dur
ing this shopping season. The in
crease in a great variety of goods
was responsible for the margin
over last year's sales, however, in
spite of decreasing demand.
All-in-all, merchants were grati
fied with business during the rush
which bolstered their yearly sales
to an appreciable level with rec
ord-smashing business of recent
years.
A sign of the tunes and a pro
bable reflection on the soberness
of the nation was evidenced when
shoppers purchased practical gifts.
Little articles were in demand
more than in previous years and
the large articles chiefly consist
ed of household goods or garments
of usual necessity. One merchant
explained that he had bought less
novelty articles this year than any
he remembers, and many of the
same articles remain on his
shelves.
One of 'thje highlights of last
’ ’ "T
> (Continued On Page Four)
•i J? > "J. • v. •
Blue Ridge Loop
Mead Sets Meet
For January 8
The 1950 status ol' the Blue
Ridge League will probably be
determined on January 8 when
members of the loop will con
vene at a special meeting called
by president John Spiers. The
Bluemont Hotel in Galax, Va.,
will be the scene of the meeting.
All of the clubs are expected
to announce their intentions
towards fielding a club this sea
son at this meeting and other
routine business will be attend
ed to. The league will also de
termine the brand baseball it
will use this season, if in op
eration.
Germany’s U-21 was the first
submarine to sink an enemy ship
on the high seas.
COUNTY HAS 18
YULE WEDDINGS
December Rivals June As
Time For Most Wedding's
As Cupid Runs Wild
RANGE FROM 17 TO 51
The month of December is be
ginning to rival June as the time
of most weddings. Eighteen couples
applied for marriage licenses at
the County Courthouse in Dobson
during the last three days before
Christmas.
Little Dan Cupid showed plainly
that he was no respector of ages,
hitting Oliver Mayer, 45, of Ash
kum, 111., and Coppitate Blackman,
51, of Mount Airy, as well as Her
bert Clinton MeCraw, 18, of Mount
Airy, and Annie Lou Gwyn, 17,
also of Mount Airy.
Other licenses issued were to:
Joe Powell, Mount Airy, 23, and
Eleanor Greenwood, Mount Airy,
19. Jack Lawson, Mount Airy, 23,
and Donnie Mills, Mount Airy, 20,
Winfred Roy Goins, Mount Airy,
20, and Helen Jane Tate, Mount
Airy, 19. Roy R. York, Lambsburg,
(Continued On Page Four)
Another Headache
Yadkin Hits New Snag
In Hospital’s Pursuit
Can Yadkin County legally levy
a tax to maintain a hospital?
That’s the next legal barrier
that must be hurtled in the rocky
path traveled by the proposed
$360,000 hospital project approv
ed in a recent Yadkin election.
County Attorney Lafayette Wil
liams said last week that State
and Federal fund regulations, un
der which the structure would be
built, requires that the county
maintain the hospital for at least
two years. He thinks Yadkin can
get by that requirement all right.
Mr. Williams said the part of
the plan that • bothers him is
whether the county legally can
maintain the hospital after the
first two years.
He said that courts have ruled
that a hospital is not a necessary
function of government—thereby
casting doubt on the present legal
ity of a tax levied primarily to
operate it.
He said that after the first of
the year he plans to go deeper
into the subject, seeking rulings
and advice in older that the point
can be cleared up.
The county attorney said that
he advised the Yadkin County
Commissioners to take their action
of December 7 in which they ap
proved a resolution which said:
“It is ordered that the matter
concerning the issuing of bonds
for building a county hospital be
deferred to a later date.”
The resolution brought protests
from Yadkin citizens who had
looked forward to getting a start
on their badly needed hospital
early in 1950.
The plan already has been work
ed out for more than 21 months
since the county approved a pro
gram of co-operation in early 1948
to get the 30-bed hospital.
All along the way, the project
has been sprinkled with headaches
for the Yadkin Countians. At one
time, the proposal had to be taken
before the State Legislature to get
approval for the bond election
which appeared to be in violation
of regulations.
J.4YCEES SEEK
MAIL TO BACK
HOOVER REPORT
Ray Collie Named To Head
Project For Local Chapter
TO FORWARD LETTERS
Goal Is To Secure 10 Per Cent
Of Community’s Citiz
enry To Write
REPORT IS EXPLAINED
Members of the Elkin Junior
Chamber of Commerce have be
gun soliciting letters from com
munity residents supporting the
Hoover Commission’s recommen
dations.
The project, known as “Oper
ation Economy" in the national
Jaycee network, is being headed
in Elkin by Ray Collie. He has
asked all persons in the community
to address their letters to their
congressman or senators in care
of Postoffice Box 5 (Five), El
kin. The letters will be forward
ed to Washington when a special
plane comes to North Carolina to
pick up letters from every town
in the State.
It is the goal of the local chap
ter and of the state and national
organizations to secure letters from
10 per cent of the citizens, Mr.
Collie said.
The Elkin club had earlier gone
on record as favoring the Hoover
Commission’s report as did all
other North Carolina clubs. The
report has outlined a number of
(Continued On Page Four)
A & P MARKET
PLANS OPENING
Lease of Building On Market
Street Secured By A and
I* Tea Company
FEBRUARY POSSESSION
Lease of a building on Market
Street has been secured by the
Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company
for the purpose of installing a su
per market.
Leo Hinshaw, owner of the
building adjacent to The Tribune
office on the west end of Market
Street, revealed this week that
C. G. Foster, an A and P official
had completed negotiations for a
12-year lease of the street floor
of the building.
The grocery company will take
possession of the property Feb
ruary 1, and will be set up in 30
days, Mr. Hinshaw said.
Renovations will include two
double-doors on the front and as
phault tile flooring, Mr. Hinshaw
said.
Mr. Hinshaw added that he in
tends to continue the use of the
building’s basement as a hardware
warehouse. He is now building a
new implement warehouse in the
west end of town.
NC’s New Car Sale Is
83,217 In 11 Months
Raleigh, N. C. — The sale of
9,217 new automobiles in Novem
ber brought to 83,217 the number
sold during the first 11 months of
1949, the North Carolina Depart
ment of Motor Vehicles announc
ed today.
The month’s car sales topped
the 6,338 sold in the same month
last year. A total of 2,944 trucks
were sold during the month,
bringing to 24,566 the number sold
during the year. Last November’s
truck sales were listed at 2,166.
Chevrolet led both car and truck
sales with 2,155 cars and 1,089
trucks marketed. Ford was sec
ond in both categories, reporting
1,831 cars and 689 trucks sold.
Mecklenburg topped other coun
ties with 553 cars sold. Guilford
was second with 518 and Wake
third with 383. Wake led in truck
sales with 558 listed. Mecklenburg
was second with 137 and Guilford
third with 97.
Stores’ Half-Day
Closing To Begin
Here January 4
Stores of Elkin will begin
closing January 4 each Wed
nesday afternoon. The half
day closing will continue
through September.
Mrs. Hugh Greenwood, sec
retary of the Elkin Merchants
Association, announced that
stores would close at 12 noon
as has been customary in the
past.