The Polk County News
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE NEWS PUBLISHING COMPANY
LOUIS LEHMAN, Editor
Entered at the l'ostofflco at Tryon, N. C., as Second-Class Mail Matter
Under Act of Congress.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
One Year 2.00
Six Months 1.25
Three Months 1.00
DISPLAY ADVERTISING RATE
Fortv Cents Per Column Inch, Flat
Legal
Advertising, One cent Per Word, Cash In Advance
-
THE MEXICAN TROUBLE
The last communication from Secretary Kellogg to the Mexican
Ambassador regarding land laws affecting American oil
leases, contains a threat on the part of the United States to withdraw
recognition from Mexico.
The real source of the trouble dates back to the Diaz, reigme
when great land estates were built up at the expense of the Indians
who were forced to }>eonage. Many of thse estates were
leased to foreign oil interests and some of them became great
oil fields. Then followed what resulted in three or four internal
revolutions said to have been financed in the United States.
Concessions granted by the party in power were repudiated by
the next party in power until the new constitution was adopted
in 1917. _ .
The constitution proposed a change in subsoil ownership by
returning the land to thy Indians with compensation to ail for"*
\
eigners affected and during President Obregon s list term taws
were enacted to enforce the constitutional provisions on January
1st 1927. Under the new laws the government claims title to
the subsoil. Those who had worked it might continue in control
as long as they lived- but at their death must either dispose of
the property to Mexicans or else live up to the laws of Mexico
regarding citizenship and land ownership. Those who have not
developed the subsoil have forfeited their privilege, moreover no
property in t he future was to be sold to foreigners. Foreign
companies were given a period of years to comply with the law
and show that at least a majority of their capital to be Mixican.
These requirements have not been met by American lease
owners; hence the action of the State Department. While the
United States disclaims any intention to interfere with domestic
policies in Mexico the protection of American investments is
looked upon as an international question, and Mexico may be
forced to grant their concessions.
Mexico has been making, a heroic attempt to get rid of foreign
influences?just us Japan q?d Italy has done, and China and
several other nationa arc attempting to do. Mexico takes the
position that their courts are adequate and agrieved parties have
a legal remedy. The internal church and state controversy added
to a costly Indian war and threatened insurrection puts the
screws on Mexico with no light hand because the question of
credit is all important.
If one puts poison in a man's coffee to kill him it is a crime.
If one puts poison in himself and kills another?its reckless
driving.
The United States Supreme Court has decided that an automobile
used for illegal transportation of liquor, even without the
knowledge or consent of the owner, may be confiscated.
The yellow-back (Lime novel, once considered wicked, is light
reading now. The real naughty books are not new either; they've
just moved from hidden recesses to the living room.
fTHE
OLD FASHIONED HOME
Say, what has become of the old-fashioned house, with its
sweet perfumed flowers round the door? Oh what has become of
the calico blouse, that mother and sister Sue wore?
Say, what has become of the love and the care, that affection
made too strong to roam? And where is the family whose absence
was rare, in that quaint little old-fashioned home?
I'll ask just once more of that old-fashioned place, where fortunes
and sorrows were wed; and I'll find not the answer till I
see the trace, of the romance that long since has fled.
But it's no use to sing of the old-fashioned things, that progress
replaces with new; for our grandsons will weep o'er the
things they can't keep- and their grandsons will do as they do.
What has become of the old-fashioned home? It was a wooden
wash-tub or a porcelain bath tub or refreshing shower. It has
changed the splintered flooring and a patch of rich design. It
has witnessed the old hot cook stove turn into a modern gas
range or fireless cooker. It has seen a thousand house flies reduced
to a struggling few which the good wife soon puts to rout
V with a silver-handled swatter.
What has beccftne of the old-fashioned home? It has seen the
old organ on which sister played "Tra, la, la, la," turn into a
radio that chooses the finest compositions from the ethereal
vastness. It has seen disease diminished and longevity produced.
It has seen the musty stall where the family mare
dreamed of oats and hay, turned into a concrete-floored garage
where the plush-lined motor car honks for gas and oil and trembles
to be out on the road.
This has,been a wonderful transformation! And in the modern
home with all of its conveniences, love still exists and waxes
warm where the heart is open and the spirit is right. Righteousness
does not diminish with accomodation. The test of virtue
ig not of mechanics. Invention has not changed human
Qrvnnrl av?/-l oonifnliov. V? *- J-_ J
tdi atici. up,cu, ciixi* naniwjuuii iictve nut contnoutea
to moral delinquency.
r'
j* ;
r*_
THE NEWS EDITO
i
i . >
THE PQLK CQUxYTY news, TRYOn! n. c., thursda
I It is to rejoice that materia] welfare has thus advanced.
|Mans attitude toward, and action in, life has not gone wronjg:
I it has but changed to meet new conditions. Attractions outside
It e an(j means of obtaining them, are the real teits
of whether or not native virtue can withstand temptation atid
I the pull of intemperance. Modern life is dangerous? Yes. So
I is a violin. For it can make an audience pray or swear, depending
upon the manner and the skill or lack of it, with which the
Player draws the bow. It is not the instruments of life, but the
I way we play on them, that counts for good or ill.
SQUIBITORIALS
If it's fit to print we print to fit.
I A Japanese steamship ocmpany has declared an 8 percent dividend,
thus showing that it is able to paddle its own canoes.
The ill-fated Hawaiian plane expedition, followed with the atI
tempt of Com. Harold T. Bartlett to reach Colon from Hampton
Roads in non-stop flight. proves that air transportation is
generally limited only to the amount of fuel that can be carried.
\
The Studebaker company proposes to buy a bale of cotton for
I every Studebaker car sold in the South. This will enable the
I cotton planter who is broke to buy a motor car on time to get rid
of a bale of cotton that cost him what he borrowed from the
bank to produce.
A rattlesnake will at least give warning before it strikes, but
I a slandered against character and virtue inserts his poisonous
fangs in secerecy and at will.
It is hoped to have finished the Fall-Doheny oil conspiracy
trial by Christmas. Twelve men will have to have good memories
to decide the case after several week of listening to evidence.
? * cimnTT/l.i
COST OF COAL siuiivt,
With the approaching end of the British coal mining trouble
government experts are endeavoring to ascertain the approximate
cost and loss due to the struggle. This has been fixed at
two thousand million dollars. More than 1,000,000 mine workers
were idle for the first four months of the stoppage, and nearly
800,000 for the whole period and a still larger number are on
short time. The workers loss is estimated at 30O millions.
It will be many years before this damage can be repaired?if
ever, because the purchasing power of the people has been reduced
to a point of merest sustenance. Judging from American |
standards and methods one cannont refrain from picturing what;
the result might have been if even half of this great loss had
been paid to the million miners in wages?in consuming power.'
I The pitiful part of the whole proceeding is that it is not settled,
j Nothing is settled until it is settled right.
i
57,889 SLAVES FREED
i After six years of persistent effort the Maharaja of Nepel,
India, all slaves in that country of 5,500,00 population are now
| free. The plan pursued was for government purchase of these I
slaves, but over 4,000 of the 15,000 slave owners refused to accept
any compensation. The result is that for a sum equal to less I
j than $2,000,000 American dollars 57,889 slaves have obtained j
I their freedom. The Maharaja has thrown open for the benefit
i of the emancipated slaves available tracts of cultivable waste
lands in the hills. The freed men will further receive loans from
! the State Treasury to enable them to cultivate their fields and
earn their own living and no disturbance to the life or trade of
the country is anticipated.
RADIO CONGESTION ,
Because Congress failed to adopt some rule regarding broadcasting'
raidio's domain is warming with conflicting stations on
their own wave-lenghts. Judge Wilson of the Illinois State Circuit
Court, recently enjoined one broadcasting statiph from using
a wave-length that would interfere with the programs sent from
another nearby station .holding that the investment in property
and the education of the receiving public establishes a superiority
of right in the particular ether affected.
The situation in radio affairs is rapidly growing worse. Mr.
Hoover says that among the 615 stations now operating about
115 should be discontinued to insure orderly broadcasting and
the maximum of service to the public.
Besides the"numerous land stations some 15,000 vessels plying
the seas, send and receive entertainment programs and all
sorts of messages. It is altogether probable that no law can
evet avoid all the trouble, any more than lawn can rule congestion
off the streets and sidwalks.
THE MEDICAL LIQUOR PROBLEM
It may surprise many people to kn?w that over three million
rrnllAno r\f urVtiolrii'ir ov*n rnnnirnr? f Ai? TY1 nrlinol nilTTlAGPC in t Vl 1Q
? CWll/llO Wi TT11U3A.VJ U1 ^ IV-^UliVU iVi ?1IVU1\.U1 1^"* *"
country, and that bonded warehouses now carry in stock over
15 million gallons, of the 60 million on hand when'prohibition
was adopted.
General Andrews in charge of enforcement, says that this
stock will be depleted within five years, and that the government
must arrange for the manufacture of at least three million gallons
in order to give it necesary age before being called upon.
General Andrews favors the plan of government manufacture
and control. Under the present system this liquor finds its way
to illegitimate trade, is diluted or "cut" and then resold.
Secretary Mellon is opposed to putting the government into
the liquor business and suggests a privately financed corporation
which would buy all privately owned liquor in stock and
manufacture additional liquor as demanded. At prevailing prices
this would require at least $150,000,000 besides the financing of
six or eight warehouses. This would relieve the capital now tied
up in bonded whiskey and the banks holding certificates as collateral.
The plan will be presented to Congress which will be compelled
to take action if decent whiskey is to be available five years
hence. Whether the plan will remedy the conditions complained
of is another question?a question that may be solved by a rigid
| guvraiimran, uisiriuuuun Systran.
RIAL PAGE IS FO
![, DECEMBER 23, 1926.
Quake Destroys "Go
?: :'xW?w :
Rule urpiiaiiiiBc, Near
East Relief Institutions In Lenl
nakan, formerly Alexandropol, Ai
menia. has been destroyed by th
series of earthquakes tftat cost bun
dreds of lives and made thousands o
persons homeless.
The above picture was taken a shor
time before the earthquake and wa
Intended In the nature of an appea
to the people of America to observi
International Golden Rule Shnda;
again this year in order that fund
might be provided for the maintenanci
of the orphanage.
The building in the picture has beei
wrecked and the six hundred chii
drea who framed the message an
living in tents with snowstorms rag
ing and the temperature at zero.
i m y"
In that papt of Southern Illino:!
known as Egypt, where Cairo, Kar
nak, Thebes, Delta and others o
Pharaoh's towns contend with Her
rin and Marion for local supremacy
there is a small, compact manu
facturink town of industry and cul
tare. 'f?^this town twenty yean
ago came a young man fresh fron
an tasti+n college, strikingly capable
and industrious and good looking. Il<
secured employment in tile one in
dustry upon which the whole towi
depended. He worked his way to t
positon' second in importance onl;
to that of the president and chie
owner, and became engaged to tin
president's daughetcr. The match was
considered ideal. Roth the youiif
people we're social favorites; iiott
were of high character.
When the time came for the younf
man to ask his employer for th<
hand of his daughter, the young mai
explained that he knew nothing
about his parents except that Ifh
mother, who was the only parent h<
had ever known, had taken him tc
a far away town when he was f
child and had lived there under at
assumed name. When she died, ht
had worked his way through college
and had come west.
His employer, who was a man o!
strong convictions and democrat!<
opinions, asked him to state thes?
facts clearly to his wife, and also tc
his daughter. lie did this. All three
agreed that the young man's storj
was true and thafr, as his lite among
them had been without blemish foi
many years and his cliaractei
apparently above/ reproach, the ques
tio'n of whether lie was a legitimate
or illegitimate child ought not to In
terfere with their happiness and the
engagement was therefore announced
Shortly after this, a strangei
came to town, looking for the young
man, and within twenty-four hours
both the young mall and' the strangei
had disappeared. His sweetheart
received from him a brief note, ev*
dently written under the stress ol
great emotion, telling her that for
reasons he could never explain tc
her he could never see her again
Foul play was suspected, and a na
tion-wide search for the young man
FEDERAL GUARANr
Edwin T. Meredith, former S
that a price-fixing commission
charged with the duty of nam
farmer on cotton, wool, wheat, 1
proposes that the commission ii
thereof, until one year after hi
at the price bid for shipment
prices of these crops from ye;
would be firmly established aftt
tariff keeping out imports unt
sorbed. Mr. Meredith also favo:
six prnna +Viq -i? ?
mviic^ LU gO mtO 4
any losses on any unforseen sur
From the consumers' standpo;
ness through stabilizing agricul
Iized steady employment of la
should be a business and not a g
j*
Nature gives back what she
he gets.
r~
R YOU T
l required to aid the oartnquaKe victims
e and to care for the 9,000 children in
I- Near East Relief care in Leninakan
- until June.
e To aid them people are asked to ob'
serve Golden Rule Sunday by serving
' the simple menu of a Near East Relief
orphanage in their- homes and- then
1 contributing to the organization at 151
j Fifth avenue, N'ew; York City.
e Official reports confirm a total of at
Y least 500 dead, 80,000 homeless, the
s destruction of 12,000 homes, much
e property and a large part of the country's
food supply. Again the Armenia
ans win their sad distinction to the
1- title of the "martyr nation." But alb
ready the work of reconstruction has
; commenced, under American leadership.
HinkJ
ir/an Fugene Read
hades of Color
-Partly Black
3 was made, but he could not be
i
i found.
t Twenty years later he returned to
''ste his sweetheart, who had re,
m .lined unmarried and was on her
-; deathbed.
:-! lie stated that the stranger who
3 , had come to see him was a lawyer
i who cleared up the mystery of hts
i j birth by revealing to ]iim that he
: : was heir to an estate of many mit
lions left to him by a grandfather
i who was oneieighth negro,
i As his mother and his grandmother
were f'.tll-blooded whites, he was
f therefore one thirty-second negro, a
; I fact of which he had no suspicion
3 until the appearance of the stranger,
? ! whose, interest in the case was that
i he could secure a large fee by locat!
ing the heir.
! The young man, horrified beyond
^ : imagination, had endeavored to get
* j rid of the unwelcome acquaintance by
, giving him, if necessary, all .-of the
fortune involved, but this could not
he done. Moreover, the fact that he
himself now knew that he had negro
blood in him, made it impossible for
him to marry the girl he loved. He
j only sought in this extremity to find
^ ! how to get out of his difficulty withj
out revealing to his promised bride
j the fact that had so filled him with
| with horror. His immediate and
s unxepplained disappearance was the
>' only solution of the problem of which
> | he could think.
What would you do in a case like
! this? Or, to put the matter in a less
embarassing manner, what do you
think he should have done? He could
have arranged with his persecutor
> for absolute silence and thus could
have secured his fortune, and mar
ried his sweetheart. Or he could
have secured the fortune and then
proposed to her to go ahead with
; their plans to marry. He rejected
i these plans because he did not want
lier to know the facts.
Possibly he hoped his disappear*
ance in brutal and summary fashion
!j would put and end to her love for
j him. It is probable that at his re|
turn at the end of twenty years it
. had not, because he had not told her
the facts.
i What do you think about the case?
' S
TEE OF CROP PRICES
ecretary of Agriculture, proposes
i be appointed by the president,
ling prices to be guaranteed the
autter, sugar and corn. The plan
3 not to buy any crop, or portion
irvest, and then only the surplus
abroad. By raising or lowering
ar to year a production balance
:r two or three years a protective
i -
ii our domestic production is abred
a tax of one percent on these
a special guarantee fund to meet
plus?a sort of mutual insurance,
int this plan would stabilize busiture
and this would mean stabiibor.
All agree that agriculture
amble as it now is.
takes?but man tries to keep all j
0 READ
By
\ VI >T wlNS1 \
\ ?vl his K.-..t vinu 1
\ place ami la l is V.j, stfei;
1 ah expn-ssl. *.l.ut ty^
1 {ore noticed. *
1 "Get":," -ca5 sarin;
1 told > ?? 11 ?,-"'v i-'mn.s
\ loved you and waucd ?si
\ my wife."
I "1 (ll'ln't promise 1 *0^
\ hastily Itiicrpuscd ''.(::.c.
1 "^o and 1 am g'.ad jou ^
\ don't want to laarrj- jot
\ have d?:M l"l''d Into t t6, joM
type "f Kl-1 f'"w ??
\ loved. I '. .. ! V.-. v,v ^188,^^*1
1 Chandler': 'V.yoj^^^y
l mistaken In u.e v'T.derM
\ was watching \\ lover's UUa?
\ u\Vi.n "
? '? ifsKen w* ^ fl
the first Instill i i ' *
0 mnn- If yo :
preclute hdnp i,.ft ., ; ,5'
were c!?-n.;l.. ^ttq^^Bi
Knapped in -VHs
I beg
way Insulted io.!",,s!sB
i the truth j.!,0 ?"t-1 t#ii I^^Hn
Is no (librae ?.?**
for atnuset
and racing cars and t'oh^'.
the move. Tic -e ir. ' *
arenw^t,.
and certainly w- ,.,-v v;
pier with ?f
than con' 1 ^
would make hi.a If ?? **nt^^B
slbly could ,." mV
tremendotn-:-. ?.*a
have loved the glfi ~rT'1 I
months ago *6r(
and I shall h ?ri"
will be to me all ;!:f,Ih8^^K
would." Mat '" er.t out ,c4 Sji
door gently bat fea!y t,rt. , r"*
When herlh-Manrerc^L^K
went out b.r a b ,.?aIk
her mind. s;... hav.
cleaning of ti e t..er.tal side ot
ture and try set"I
ca,,,t *? < < '- r:.-ar thirty^Me
this awful tr.ent of
. strings pulllnt ere.,
at once.
"In tbe first p'-ace" -.-^^^B
with herself. "I am very fed of
Chandler, at. ', f It ?c> :J, ^^B
two little d :' I
! tomorrow as he <!raai;dt ir-B
! Gene's thoughts ?'. > fe ty ;;:aB
| arrested by a *-( .:! child I
; along be-ide her mother.
one -hand the nil-wonderfd atl?B
1 hand and In the other dstthl^uB
rtnll lTur ??v*K cVc^Atr^ H
-..uuv?u.
thinks they're a bother?it 'nggB
first. Mat - ^I Hi
heart of a child. i, lovely r^i^H
tlful garden and :rl;..s off to mwratH
silence of the hills. Miitsiytuinl
remade close to t.. ^rest uihos'
Gene laughed sh.'.klly.
"Tom, on the other haoi tattl
take me tei Part* fur s tlate. thflvtB
tire of Paris, on to UonttOuiiuiB
then?well, when we hive ahinlH
everything we can surt cur <|cl
There's no dot:h' I would (raids o(H
and have a grand a:d (lorlni h>-H
If I marry Totu." .
And behind all Gene's I
: the fact that'the lor.? r.!gfcuc! Jet I
i lng und short hours el sire; to.'* I
i blng her cheeks of their glohom toty I
| "Mat would order me to btl*ibt H
: laughed to herself. He :r? ?51
allow mo to tire myself aid I i5!*B
after nil, go-d health Is tin*1* B
1 blessing In the world. 'Oh deu'^B
sighed, "I wish T kr.ew whit sfc'l
She would have smoked ? f|rt> I
1 but suddenly' she realized thtt * * I
one of the habits that btl **"B
j Mat's lore.
It was a rather Intolerable 1*01 H
that some other girl wottld i4 * B
the great cozy love r.est thit hint
, been building for his mate-thlllf I B
1 who would love children ul
VttA t'
I would not smoke m.u
Joy going for ::.,-!r Iddsu ~3j1
the great sllvi.ee <1 the h."Ji *1 B
wag suddenlr frightened it & ^^^B
I thought of a world Id which Kit Sri B
/wlthjOnother woman. ^^^B
"Whom could I run to with 149 H B
tronblos?" she asked herself >1^ I B
"Somehow I don't think Ton ^ ^^B
straighten the kinks out u JlilJ*B B
However, r tLir.k I had better
on for unothcf few mouthi ait *
/where really ;m H
talnly I could i not make Mai
while?"
And In the distance snddenlj G* M H
caught sight of Mat's famlilif Wl B
frame. He Wat walking easily iWtB B
toward her hut Just behind br ^
running to catch up with his
I Helen Vane.
I Helen was the nearest apfwa^'^^B
Mat's Ideals that Gene could f'ctfl
/ Given a month or two art ^^B
I would he walk.':.? up the alilt ^^B
I Mat. Even now alio had taker til19
I and they w, Wf-J
/art '* ''^^B
not being a eowurd she weri M*'
on. In her vivid Imagination, tt*. I H
the cleaning was dare art ^J^^B
looked n bit chare-, she f?:ci*. .
saw a little child rllr.flr.lt to ** hand
and also to Mat's tig one
1 Gene dug her heels Into tj>f^^^B
I and walked a hit quicker, ??*
I three drew nearer Gme s3-"
I fully and very happily ^^B
I swiftly softened eyes. After fn**
I Helen, Gene said: ^^^B
I "Mat, I'm lUklr.g a trip ha
I six months?r-wnnt very or' ^^B
there?safely. Will you?" ^
I And over Mat's face ca13* B
* ~..n e0r his mate- ^^B
Q1 , U,. f H
k': 1
The Ani. r..:>.i > ^ ^ m
as a Gorman tako> x.^cA^T I
One roimil
Jean Nathan. ^ ^ i I
Any nn.n - ^p^l
takes a smart j P*
J chance <"it at ' > ,
Will Rogers. I
.READ ]IB