HISTORICAL AND INDUSTRIAL EDITION OF THE GASTON PROGRESS
Seventeen
in all walks of life is interested in it,
to a greater or lesser extent, but the
men who keep their fingers on the
pulse of the market with a more cer
tain and intelligent touch than any
other class are the cotton brokers who
sell the mills their raw material.
Among the leading brokers having
offices here is the firm of W. L. Balthis
& Co., whose offices are located at
231 west Main street. The firm is one
of the most extensive buyers and sell
ers in the market, and has among its
patrons most of the leading mills in
Gastonia and this section of the big
cotton belt. Its facilities for handling
the great staple are unsurpassed, and
these are backed up by long experience
and years of study of the market. A
specialty is made by this firm of
handling Mississippi bender, extra
staples, sea islands and Egyptians.
The firm of W. L. Balthis & Company
began business in Gastonia in 1905,
and has had a most successful career
during the seven years of its existence.
It is composed of W. L. & L. H. Balthis,
two young men and brothers, who are
natives of Staunton, Va. They have
thoroughly identified themselves with
the business and social life of the
city, and are progressive and public
spirited, being always ready and will
ing to lend a helping hand to any
cause that is for the welfare of Gas
tonia.
the work done or the accommodations
furnished. In these respects compari
son with much more expensive insti
tutions is challenged. While cheap
enough for the poorest it is good
enough for any. All Healing Springs
has peculiar and most desirable ad
vantages as a site for a college. The
quiet and seclusion afforded and the
absence of the distracting infiuence of
town or village, so fatal to all habits
of study, the beautiful history all ren
der this a delightful place for study
and mental improvement. It is in the
famous Piedmont region universally
conceded, to be one of the healthiest
regions in this world, being entirely
free from the malaria of the coast ana
the cold fogs of the higher altitudes.
The health record of the school is most
remarkable, there never having been
in its entire history, a death, or even
a dangerous case of illness among the
jnipils. The medicinal and restorative
value of the water of All Healing
Springs is attested by some of the
leading physicians of the country. It
is the aim of those in charge of Lin-
wood Female College to educate young
women in the truest sense; and in ac
complishing this result the faculty are
very much favored by the size of the
school. It is not so large as is fre
quently the case to make it impossible
for pupils to know their teachers per
sonally and intimately, and thus the
Latin and French; Miss Janet Alexan
der, Mathematics; Miss Eunice
Helmes, English and Science; Miss
Bertha M. Massey, Art and History;
Miss Annie Kirk Rowan, Piano; Miss
Helen Galloway, Voice and Expres
sion; Miss Sallie Holland, Head Mat
ron. All communications should be
addressed to the President, Gastonia,
N. C.
JOHN C. RANKIN.
A Leader in the Cotton World and
Public Spirited Gentleman.
Among the men of Gaston county
few stand higher for personal integ
rity, sound common sense and untiring
progressiveness than John C. Rankin,
a gentleman whose name is well and
favorably known throughout all this
section of North Carolina. He has led
a busy life, and is held in the highest
respect by all who have the honor of
his acquaintance. The reason for this
is not far to seek, and illustrates
better than anything else what a
-modest and unassuming man, square
and true, imbued with the determina
tion to succeed, and knows no such
word as fail, can accomplish in. a
country like ours. Mr. Rankin is a
native of Gaston county, and a mem
ber of the prominent family here by
that name. He has always been look-
NEW DORMITORY OF THE LINWOOD FEMALE COLLEGE
has always had the greatest confi
dence in its future. During his career
he has seen many changes here, has
seen it grow from a slumbering sec
tion, with hardly anything but mem
ories of the past, into a live and hust
ling county with scores of great in
dustries, in many of which he was the
prime mover, and at the present time
is the head of many of them, and so it
can be said with-out fear of contradic
tion that no man has done his part
better than he has in this great work.
Among other things Mr. Rankin is the
president and superintendent of the
Spencer Mountain Cotton Mills, at
which pretty little town he makes his
home, he is also president and super
intendent of the Lowell Cotton Mills,
which were incorporated in 1900 with
a paid in capital stock of $100,000.
The equipment of this plant consists
of 9,200 spindles and both steam and
electricity is the power used. The
product is cotton yarns in skeins,
warps, coyes and tubes. The works
weresjKih a signal success that a
seooIlC structure known as No. 2 was
eredted in 1908, and this is one of the
modgi^mills of the country, being
equipped with the latest improved
machinery. There are 12,280 spindles,
ajj#^he two mills combined have a
floOT\_^ace of 160,000 square feet.
About sb^people are employed, who
live for the most part in the little vil
lage surrounding the mills, and they
appear to be a contented and happy
lot. Mr. Rankin is also president and
superintendent of the Peerless Manu
facturing Co. (Mill No. 3), of Lowell,
where cotton yarns are made. It was
established in 1906, and is located a
short distance to the east of Mill No.
1, and has 6,000 spindles. Mr. Rankin
is also president and superintendent
of the Dorothy Manufacturing Com
pany, of Dallas, and of the McCombs
City Mills. So it will be seen by this
that he must be a very busy man far
out of the ordinary and, one that we
may well term our foremost and most
beloved citizen.
ago and the difference is nothing more
or less than amazing. But for that mat
ter it is typographically one of the best
made up and cleanest papers in the
THE GASTON PROGRESS.
Probably in no other field of human
endeavor has a greater advance been
made during the last few decades than
that occupied by the country press;
that is, in papers printed in towns of
the size of Gastonia, and in those
much smaller. This is true both in an
editorial sense and typographically.
MOORE, Editor.
country. Modesty would prevent any
but a passing reference to its enter
prise in printing “all the news that’s
fit to print,” and to its editorial course
regarding local as well as State and
National questions. It is an indepen
dent Democratic newspaper, a believer
in true Jeffersonian Democratic prin
ciples, and that they are bound to be
victorious in the end. The history of
The Progress does not take long to
record, for its life began in the Fall
of 1911, when the Progress Publish
ing Company was incorporated, with
some of the best known bankers, law
yers and business men as its direct
ors. Since its organization the Pro-
.gress has continued to grow in circu
lation and influence. It has gained the
confidence and support of a loyal con-
.stituency of subscribers and adver
tisers and retains them. This is be
cause it has always stood for high
ideals and not mere commercialism
like some journals, who sell not only
their advertising columns, which are
of course for sale, but their news and
editorial columns as well. There can
be no doubt of the fact that today the
clean, incorruptible, well-edited news
paper is a factor for good that it
would be almost impossible to over
estimate. It is to this class of news
papers that The Progress has con
scientiously endeavored to belong,
and no effort on the part of the-pub
lisher and his staff has been lacking
to keep it in the very front rank of
country newspapers. Mr. C. A. Eury
the president and general manager of
The Progress Publishing Company, is
a native of Cabarrus county, N. C.,
where he was born Oct. 18, 1880. After
securing a good education he was em
ployed by W. F. Marshall on the
Gazette of this city in 1905, a sketch
of which newspaper will be found on
another page of this issue. From the
Gazette he went to the Charlotte
Observer, and from there to the King’s
Mountain Herald, which he edited and
published for several years. At the
present time among other things he
is the general manager of the Carolina
Union Farmer, a bright paper pub
lished at Raleigh. Mr. Odus L. Moore,
the secretary and treasurer of the
company, is a native of Cleveland
county, this State, and received the
major portion of his education at the
Boiling Springs High School, and at
Wake Forest College. Mr. Moore
taught school for two years and began
his newspaper career in the summer of
.1910 at Shelby, N. C., and on the
inh day of March, 1912, became the
editor of the Progress. Mr. W. Darius
Beam, the superintendent of the
press and composing departments, was
formerly connected with the Gazette.
Notwithstanding that he is quite a
young man he has been a printer for
8 years, and is regarded as one of
Gastonia’s bright and promising citi
zens.
LINWOOD FEMALE COLLEGE.
Schvols- --.vhich
are among the best to be found any
where, Gaston county has but one in
stitute of learning that ranks above
them. This is Linwood Female Col
lege, located about 6 miles from the
city, but what it lacks in number is
amply made up for in quality. Lin
wood College is located at All Healing
Springs, and its organization was per
fected 29 years ago. Under its present
management, however, new life has
been infused in the old institution
which is the alma mater of so many of
the most cultured women of the two
Carolinas. Rev. A. T. Lindsay, the
president, has been at the head of the
faculty for a dozen years, and under
his able direction the college is en
joying the most prosperous years in its
history. Linwood College is not, as
seme suppose, a preparatory or high
school. It is a college indeed as well
as in name, and the advantages offered
at a most reasonable cost, will com
pare most favorably with any of the
institutions of the Sfcuth. It should be
distinctly understood that though
cheapness is one of its peculiarities,
this does not consist in the quality of
ideal of a thorough home school is
fully realized, every pupil being a mem
ber of the family. The constant, c^-^
talct and intercourse of pupils with
educated and refined teachers is often
of much more value to them than what
they derive from books. The members
of the faculty are': Rev. A. T. Lindsay,
president, Bible and Psychology; Miss
Bessie May Davis, Lady Principal,
ed upon as a leader, by reason of K1
unselfish interest he has taken in the
progress of t^is locaUty, his succe^
in business,' t^e aid he has alw^s
been ready to extend to others less
fortunate, and the many attributes
that go towards making up the best
type of the American citizen. Mr.
Rankin has taken the most intense in
terest in the life of Gaston county, and
L
C. A. EURY
Editor and Publisher of the Progress
As regards the latter the advance has,
perhaps, been greater than in the
former on account of the vast im
provements that have been made in
printing machinery. Take this issue
of The Progress for instance and com
pare it with a paper issued a decade
HOME OF THE GASTON PROGRESS
PIEDMONT TRACTION COMPANY
BETWEEN GASTONIA AND CHARLOTTE
A Long Felt Want That is Receiving a Most
Liberal Patronage.
No enterprise is doing more toward
the development of the resources of
this vicinity than the Piedmont Trac
tion Company whose cars ply hourly
from 7:00 a. m. until 10:55 p. m., be
tween Gastonia and Charlotte, a dis
tance of 23 1-2 miles. It is one of our
greatest blessings, and all who reside,
or have enterprises along its line, are
greatly benefited. The policy - of the
company is one of co-operation with
patrons, and is most liberal. The
rates are low, the schedule fixed to
suit the convenience of the majority
of the people, the equipment is the
most modern, and the officials earnest
ly endeavor to remedy any faults in
the service that may have escaped
their notice, and are brought to their
attention. As a result of this policy
a very satisfactory service is furnish
ed the public, and it has responded
with a liberal patronage and loyal sup
port. This spirit of mutual assistance
is observable in all branches of the ser
vice, and a more courteous and oblig
ing corps of conductors and motormen
cannot be found on any road in the
country. The Piedmont Traction
Company is a part of the Piedmont &
Northern lines, the great electric sys
tem of the South, comprising the
Greenville, Spartanburg & Anderson
Railway Company, Greenville Traction
Company, and the Charlotte Electric
Railway Company. The officials are:
J. B. Duke, president; W. S. Lee, vice-
president; E. Thomason, treasurer and
general manager; N. A. Cocke, secre
tary Piedmont Traction Company; T.
F. Hill, secretary G. S. & A. Ry. Com
pany; T. L. Black, auditor; C. V.
Palmer, general freight and passenger
agent; W. C. Murphy, superintendent;
O. J. Copeland, land and industrial
agent; W. R. Cornell, purchasing
agent. Trains arrive in and depart
from Gastonia at the fine new station
on Airline avenue, as follows:
Leave Gastonia
No. 2-
4-
7:00 a.m.
8:15 a.m.
6— 9:30 a.m.
8—10:25 a.m.
10—11:50 a.m.
12— 1:30 p.m.
16— 3:20 p.m.
18— 4:40 p.m.
20— 5:35 p.m.
22— 6:30 p.m.
24— 7:50 p.m.
26— 9:10 p.m.
28—10:55 p.m.
Connection is made at Mount Holly,
N. C., with Seaboard Air Line to the
East and West, at Gastonia, N. C., with
Southern Railway and Carolina and
North-Western Railway. The officials
one 'and all are public spirited and
ever progressive, and to them is due
the thanks of the people of this sec
tion for the adequate transportation
facilities which is so necessary to the
growth and prosperity of every com
munity. Patronize the Piedmont Trac
tion line.
Arrive Gastonia
No. 1— 7:53 a.m.
3— 9:15 a.m.
5 5—10:15 a.m.
7—11:25 a.m.
9—12:50 a.m.
11— 2:30 p.m.
15— 4:20 p.m.
17— 5:33 p.m.
19— 6:28 p.m.
21— 7:40 p.m.
23— 8:45 p.m.
25—10:10 p.m.
27—11:55 p.m.
ONE OF THE SPLENDID NEW CARS OF THE PIEDMONT TRACTION CO