North Carolina Newspapers

The Rocky Mount Herald VOLUME 4, NO. 9 INCOME FOR UTILITIES IS _ SHOWING WELL "V As Lower Rates Start City's Power Revenue Is Above Expectations V i \ ■income from utilities, which fur nish the city just about twice as much clear revenue as all the city taxes and fines, had reached two thirds of the expected year's figure when the year had gone only one „ month past the half-way mark, ac cording to City Manager L. B. Ay cock's financial report released for January. Of the $596,000 expected income from utilities during the 1936-37 fis cal year, 67 per cent had been re ceived at the end of January, the seventh month. The fact that utili ties revenuo has been running above the city's anticipations all year en abled officials to make the $60,000 electricity rate reduction which they announced in January. . The effect of the reduced rate on f utilities income had not yet appear ed in the monthly reports, because the reduction was to become effec tive with the February meter read ings. At the end of January, 70 per cent of the $358,000 revenue expected to come from the light and power de i partment before June 30 had already been received. Five months remained for the reduced electricity rate to 'j,. bring in the remaining 30 per cent. b Special assessments had already brought in through January more than five times tho $2,000 expected from them this fiscal year, and both building permits ($82.25 already) and sanitary taxes ($33 already) had passed the anticipated amount for | the year. y The bond fund bank balance Feb ruary 1 of $115,036.23 was $3,000 less than ago, and the gen eral fund balance of $57,657,78 was 28 per cent more than last month. At the .end of January the gen eral administration branches of the f. city had spent less than 55 per ' cent of their $313,437 appropriation for the year. The four utilities de partments had spent less than 65 per cent of their $390,960 appropria tion. FORD TO BUILD , INDUSTRY IN SO. GEORGIA Ways, Ga., Feb. 23.—Henry Ford revealed today plans to establish an "industry" her t . as a part of his broad program for this rural rtfoutli Georgia community. ''We'll have an industry here," the Detroit automobile manufacturer said "a draftsman is at work now on preliminary plans. Automobile parts will be manufactured, but we hav en't determined what kind. It all depends on what fits." The Ways plant, he explained, will bo closely afliliated with Ford's newly-completed manual arts school here and workers will have farms nearby. j "This leads into our whole scheme •'of things," he said, some time ago he predicted that industries of the future will consist of small units " surrounded by farms able to sustain them. The plant will be located on Ford's Bryan county property, which includes about 70,000 acres and borders both banks of the Ogeechee river, 18 miles south of Savannah, Georgia's chief seaport. Ford said he considered the loca tion "ideal" from every standpoint. "Look at this growth of timber," he said, waving his hand in the di rection of tall pines. "It's a great source of fertilizer, power and re venue. We're near the railroads here too." College To Give Fashion Show Fri. Greensboro, Feb. 24. —A fashion show will be presented by the stu dent government association of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina Friday, Febru ary 27, at 12:15 in Aycock auditor ium. College girls mil be models, and the clothes worn will be from various department stores in Greens- Jboro. Students who will model are: Miss es Geraldine Bonkemeyer, of Greens boro; Hortonse Jones, of Greensboro; Daniel, of Wilson; Anne B ..on, of Winston-Salem; Margaret Brothers and Calena Brothers, both of Rocky Mount; Anne Watkins, of Doris Cockerham, of 1 Mount Airy; Geraldine Spinks, of Raleigh; Linda Mitchell, of Fair mont; Sußan Sweet, of Southern Pines; Laura Abernathy, of Hick ory; Mary Elizabeth Sanders, of Roxboro; and Virginia Tatum, of Raleigh. Miss Isabelie Moseley, of Kinston, a home economics major, is assisting in arranging the pro gram. Mountain farmers say the S2O al lowance for small farms under the 1937 farm program will give them a better chance to improve their farms than under the 1936 program. Thirteen Haywood farmers have or dered 55 tons of limestone to be r 4 sed for soil treatment this season. . ffa f? . UNITED STATES*SENAfOR ****** The next four months may prove to be one of the most eventful periods in the Seventy-fifth Con gress. Tho legislation passed and the issues raised will certainly have a sweeping 'ffeet on the whole func tions of the Federal Government. Few onu predict anywhere near ac curately what that effect will be. Will tho President's Supreme Court plan pass through opposition which, to say the least, is formidable 1 Will reorganization of the executive branch of the government, as recom mended by the President, withstand objections raised, or will it survive 1 Will the new farm proposals solve agricultural ills in the way propon ents claim f Will the President's ideas for relief funds prevail or will the bloc seeking larger amounts win outf Let me hasten to say that I cannot answer those questions. Weeks of committee studies, hearings, public sentiment and many other factors enter into tho situation and must bo considered before the answers are found. However, it may be said that the individual members of Congresß, perhaps as never before, appreciate the grave significance of the ques tions and "behind the scones"—in the quiet of offices and committee rooms—are giving all facts studied attention. At tho moment the Suprome Court proposal is far and away ahead of all other issues from the standpoint of importance and public interest. Throughout our whole history any suggestion affecting the nation's highest tribunal has brought a bar rage of public sentiments. Fortu nately, the radio offers a new form of discussion and, with. tho press, gives our people ample means of hearing and reading both sides of the question. Whatever may be said, for or against tho President's court plan, there should be kept in mind the fact that the Chief Executive was given a tremendous vote of confi dence last November. The majority of our people tendered this vote of confidence. Therefore, any recom mendation made by the President de serves to be weighed on its merits and given the acid test of "value to the public good," rather than be affected by snap judgment. Tho people, with their views reflected in Congress, will be the final arbiter. It is an axiom in political economy that the masses will, in the final analysis, find the correct answer to any question. For the moment, the proposal for reorganization of the executive branches of tho Government is in the background. Direetly, it may carry aB much significance to our poople as tho Supremo Court plan, although it does not stand out near so high in public interest. With regard to the agricultural problem, messages already sent to Congress by the President and re ports of those yet to come indicate, that from the point of agriculture generally the "ever-normal granary" idea—a plan for storage of sur pluses in normal times to meet times of distress —and an effort to solve the far tenantry conditions will be the highlights. The latter plan may go so far as to include all rural citizens now suffering low standards of living. In connection with these situations and problems, it seems unusually significant that the Congress should bo considering grave constitutional questions in tho same year we begin observance of the 150 th anniversary of the constitution. It may be that tho Seventy-fifth may leave its foot prints on tho sands of time from tho standpoint of constitutional ac tion. Therefore, these problems should be considered without hysteria, with out swayed public opinion, and with out political bias. What is best for our people? How can that best be attained? Those are the real ques tions as Congress comes from around the curves of organization and pre liminaries and enters the gruelling speedway stretch of the next four months. Large Enrollment At W.C. of U.N.C. Greonsboro, Feb. 24.—Enrollment at the Woman's College of the Uni versity of North Carolina has reach ed 1,829 with the registration of a number of now students at the be ginning of the spring semester. This is the first time since the academ ic year 1929-30 that the enrollment has passed 1,800. During the past semester there wore 1,793 students at the college. All of the twelve residence halls on the college campus are filled to ca pacity, and day students at the col ROCKY MOUNT, NORTH CAROLINA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1937 LOUISBURG TO HAVE SUMMER SCHOOL TERM Is First In History Of College Special Courses To Be Given I.ouisliurg, Feb. 20. —.Students from Wake County now enrolled at Louis burg College and others from this section who desire Summer training in business subjects, farm and in dustrial mechanics and regular col lege credit courses will be inter ested in the announcement made this week that Louisburg College will hold its first summer session this year. The sumer school will be held as a result of the demand on the part of students now attending the col lege and also many other persons in this part of North Carolina who desire short term subjects that can be completed within a period of five or six weeks. Another feature of the summer session will be its self-help plan. Under this procedure, every person desiring to take up work during the summer term will be given some form of self-help work that will materially aid them in defraying their expenses. Courses to be offered include those in such business subjects as book-keeping, shorthand and typing, piano and music, including public school music and the usual collego courses such as science, English, his tory, government, languages, psy chology and other subjects. EDGECOMBE . BOY HOLDS 4 H RECORD Tarboro, Feb. 23. —Braxton Frye youth of No. 7 township of Edge combe county, was announced today as the 4-H club member with the best all-round record in the county for 1936 and us such the winner of a free scholarship in the 1937 short courao to be held at State College next July. Frye'a record has been forwarded to State College where it will be considered in connection with similar records from other counties in the State for the four year scholarship at State College offered by the Chi lean Nitrate Educational bureau to the boy selected as the outstanding 4-H club member of the state. Negro Schools Hold Contests In observance of tho North Caro lina centennial celebration of pub lic education, the Lincoln and An nie W. Holland Negro schools hero will hold a declamation contest at 8 o'clock Thursday night, Princi pal B. L. Ancrum has announced. The winners of the contests will recoive n bronze key emblem. Principal Ancrum has invited the public to attend the contests. Marriage Laws In Nation Vary Only Tennessee Has No Age Limit But New York Permits A Girl To Marry Who Is 14 Years Old Romantically-inclined couples in the United States find a variety of marriage laws confronting their al tur-bound intentions. A veritable legal patchwork of inconsistencies is reflected in the many requirements on age limits, health restrictions, and license reg ulations for matrimony. In Tennessee, where nine year old Eunice Winstead married a 22 year old mountaineer, Charlie Johns, there are no statutory provisions governing marriage. The Tennessee child marriage brought a move in that state's leg islature to set up laws to prevent such weddings and elicited a call from government officials and others for uniform state laws. The Tennessee case has a counter part in the marriago of 12 year old Leona Elizabeth Roshia to Stanley P. Backus, 18, in Watertown, N. Y. The minimum age in New York State is 14 years for a girl, but the youthful bride gave her age as 18 at the time of her marriago. Nebraska, Ohio, Wyoming and West Virginia offer the sternest ago tests, requiring both parties to be 21 years of age to marry without consent, and setting a minimum of 18 years for men and 16 for women with consent. Wyoming, in addition, calls for health certificates from male appli cants, and requires a five day wait between issuance of the license and the marriage ceremony. Thirty states set age limits with out required consent at 21 for men and 18 for women, the nearest thing to a uniform scale in the nation. The range downward is an intricate puzzle. So-called "gin" or "cocktail" laws to prevent hasty and ill-considered marriages are in force in five states, three of them demanding a five day wait to wed after a licenno is obtain ed and in two specifying a three-day interval. A Champion and His Family Champion Freelands Farmer, shown in this unusual picture, as he wheeled some of his youngsters to the recent cocker spaniel show in Chicago. Railroad Revtoval $3,659,750 In seeking to give facts on the important question of the removal of the railroad from the business section of Rocky Mount, we estimated that the cost would be not less than $2,000,000, while the so-called Citizen's Com mittee had presented estimates of $600,000. The actual figures and estimates presented, by the railroad accord ing to reliable information, to the city is that it will cost $3,659,750, which does not include the cost of right-of way, eight and three-eighths miles long, 130 feet wide, being 132 acres of land. Now, who is expected to bear this burden? We are informed that the railroad states that they are not in financial shape to bear the part which is expected of them. It is well known that the property owners who front Main street are not going to do it. Who else is there to do it but the already heavily burden ed tax payer. We are having a terrible time in getting a small gymnasium built and buying a proper site for the location of it, which is a mustard s§ed in comparison to the cost of this stupendous undertaking. Those who are leading this movement should visit Greensboro and get first-hand information. The mayor, E. B. Jeffries present ed a budget of $900,000; when the work was complet ed to the consternation and amazement of its citizens of Greensboro, it had cost $2,900,000, resulting therefrom the credit of Greensboro was practically destroyed. The bonds could not be sold and its leading financial institu tion was crippled. The proposition in Greensboro was not nearly as large as the undertaking in Rocky Mount. Greensboro was able to overcome this because it is a city several times larger than Rocky Mount and has factories and industries which we do not. We must not let our zeal run away with our judgment. Greensboro undertook to run the Southern Railroad on the backs of its tax payers. Do not let us place the burden of the railroad operation on the backs of our poor tax payers. SHOULD A TAX BE LEVIED THAT EMBARASSES THE LEGISLATURE BEFORE THE PEOPLE? It clearly appears that it is not the intention of the leg islature to carry out. the Democratic platform prjomises of abandoning the sales tax on necessities. It must be in deed embarassing to members of the General Assembly and to the public who took part in the last campaign in the general election, since they read in the hearing of the people the platform promises of the party and asked them to support the party upon that platform. We can appreciate the confused condition of the Sena tor whose statement was recorded on Saturday morning last in the press of the State, which is as follows: " 'I fell in line against my best judgment and voted for the three per cent tax with exemptions,' Senator Noell confessed. 'Now I've got to go home like a cow ardly liar, if I vote for this tax on building materials and add to the sales tax.'" Representatives and senators have been humiliated as this distinguished Senator was. Many of them have been embarrassed to. such an extent that they feared to be come candidates to succeed themselves —good men—all because they had been forced to renounce their sacred promise to the people. The few exmptions such as fat back, molasses, coffee, meat, meal, and self-rising flour do not meet the platform pledge of removing the sales tax on all necessities, for certainly the scale of living in North Carolina is beyond this low level. We do not believe that it is necessary for North Caro lina, with all its resources and its wealth to continue to levy the sales tax, which is embarrassing to all of our good citizens. WASHINGTON STREET IMPROVED The removal of the dilapidated old store building on Washington street, opposite the Daniel's Building has made quite an improvement on Washington street. While we have never been one to believe that every-body was in sufficient financial shape to make repairs, solely for beau ty, yet we do feel that where a building has fallen into decay and it is not the intention of the owner to ever re pair it that this character of building that has become an eye-sore to the public and a drawback to adjoining prop erty should be removed. There are many buildings in Rocky Mount in the same condition to such an extent that they are not habitable or useable and it is clearly the intention of the owner not to abandon them. In justice to other property owners these buildings (Please torn to page two) FATHER AND 2 SONS ARE HURT IN ACCIDENT Three Members of Greathouae Fam ily In Hospital With Painful Injuries Frank L. Greathousc, a partner in a prominent accounting firm here, and his two sons, Frank Lee, Jr., and Bill, were all painfully injur ed when Mr. Greathouse's car smash ed head-on into a tree on Sunset avenue after a slight collision with another car. None of the three was in a criti cal condition it was reported at a local hospital. Mr. Greathouse, who was driving his car, received chest and nose in juries, hospital attendants said. Frank Lee, Jr., suffered injuries to the upper jaw including the loss of two teeth, other injuries about the face and head, and bruises. Bill re ceived a fracture of the left thigh. Mr. Greathouse's car collided with a car driven by W. W. Ricks, a member o fthe Nash county ABC board, and then rammed into a tree in the 400 block of Sunset avenue about 8:45 o'clock. Mr. Ricks was unhurt. As Mr. Greathouse was driving east on Sunset taking his sons to high school, Mr. Ricks turned into Sunset from Grace street, according to a police report of the accident. Apparently trying to miss Mr. Ricks' car, Mr. Greathouse swerved left. The Greathouse car was un able to miss the Ricks' car entire ly and, according to a police re port, hit the left rear corner of the Ricks' car, swung left across Sun set and 32 yards farther folded against a tree on the left side of the street. Ricks' car had entered Sunset, turning east, and had gone about eight yards on Sunset at the time of the collision, police said. After the collision, Mr. Ricks' drove his car over to the right curb. Eyewitnesses said that the collision of the two cars the steer ing gear of Mr. Greathouse's car ap peared not to be operating and that the sun directly in the eyes of both drivers may have been partially re sponsible for the accident. The front end of Mr. Greathouse's car was crushed and half the front bumper was found on the steps of a nearby house. HALF BILLION LOST IN FLOOD Between 100 And 500 Known Dead And More Than A Million Per sons Left Homeless By Turbulent Waters Which Swept Ohio Valley. The mid continental "super-flood" is receding slowly along the course; of the Mississippi river leaving be hind 460 known dead and property damage estimated at a half billion dollars. More than 1,000,000 persons were left homeless by the turbulent flood waters which swept the Ohio valley and carried destruction on into the fertile Mississippi valley. Included in the huge flood loss was such items as evacuation, homes and furnishings swept away, live stock drowned, and maintenance of rescue and relief forces which drew into the heroic fight tho army, navy, coast guard, national guard, CCC, WPA and the Red Cross. The Red Cross announce its cam paign for relief funds ncared the $20,000,000 mark. Some estimates placed the loss at nearly $500,000,000 in the Ohio valley alone. . When tho overtaxed Ohio river dumped its load into the Mississ ippi at Cario, 111., the amount in creased. Although tho government's billion dollar levee system erected on the Mississippi following the dis astrous 1927 flood hold, thousands of acres of land were inundated. Despite the indications of a bat tle won, army engineers have not relaxed their close watch along le vees on the lower Mississippi, still brimming with flood wators head ed for the gulf. The flood crest, in passing Chick asaw Bluffs guarding Memphis' busi ness district from the ravagos of the muddy stream, established a rec ord height—more than three feet above the level of the 1913 waters and stilly higher than tlio stages reached in 1927. "There are no critical points at this time," said Lieut. Col. Eugene Reynolds, district engineer. "Levees throughout the district remain in good shape." o Alamance County farmers are pruning their muscadine type of grapes before spring growth be gins. NOTICE Those desiring to subscribe to Hie Rocky Mount Herald may do so by sending SI.OO with name and address to The Rocky Mount Herald, Rocky Mount, N. C. Name : Town State , Route No i. r ... , J ..... . ' I SI.OO PER YEAH HIGH COURT HANDS DOWN 29 DFCISIONS Decisions in three cases of interest in Kocky Mount were handed down by the North Carolina supreme court, one of the decisions uphold ing a city ordinance here, one in favor of a local hospital clarifying an old state law giving medical ex penses preferred claim on insolvent estates, and ono in favor of a lo cal branch of a mail order hout>o which was sued for false arrest. The supreme court held valid a city ordinance imposing a tax on bakeries operated in the city, and held that the tax was applicable to selling bakery products in the city from the truck of an out of town bakery. In the case, State vs. Bridgers, the city charged that I. \V. Bridgers, driver of a truck from Staudt's Bakery in Raleigh who was selling bakery products in Rocky Mount, should pay the bakery tax. The city's position was uphold in the supreme court, and previously in Nash superior court and recorder's court here. The fact that hospital expenses are included in the medical expens es which have preferred claim on insolvent estates was established by the supreme court in a friendly suit brought by Park View Hospi tal here against the People's Bank, as administrators of an estate. The verdict for Montgomery Ward's store here, which was sued by a Mr. Wolfe for false arrest af ter he claimed he was charged with stealing merchandise, was upheld by the supreme court. CUTCHIN IS IN ALDERMANIC RACE FROM 3RD Heniy \V. Cutchin has made the third announcement of candidacy for one of the five seats on the board of aldermen which will b e vacated this year. He will run for reelec tion as aldermen from the third ward. "I am tremeudously interested in city affairs and in community proj ects which have been begun," Mr. Cutchin declared, "and I want to contiuue in oflU'e to see them through to their finish." The term of one aldermen each from Hie first, the second, the third, the fourth and the seventh wards will expire this year. Can didates who announced before today were Julian L. Williams incumbent ill the first ward and J. R. Bob bitt in the fourth ward. LOWER LICENSE FEES PROPOSED Minimum Price For License Tag On Passenger Would Be $6 Under New Bill Raleigh, Feb. 24.—Minimum price for the license tag on a passenger automobile will be st>, if the Admin istration-backed Motor Vehicle act, just introduced by Representative Con C. Johnson, of Iredell, be comes a law, as it is expected it will. The bill, which is extremely vol uminous, re-codifies existing regu lations and laws regarding motor ve hicles, and sets up new license tag rates. It was introduced Monday night by its author, who express ed the opinion it will pass almost without amendment. License fees on private passenger vehicles would be reduced to thirty cents per hundred pounds, with tho minimum, as stated, of $6. Motor vehicle dealers would pay s2."> for their first set of plates and $5 for each additional set. The following rates would be ap plicable to property haulers: Vehicles' not over 4,500 pounds, tax per hundred pounds: private haulers 30 cents, commercial haul ers 60 cents, contract haulers 75 cents, franchise haulers 60 cents. From 4,501 to 8,500 pounds, pri vate haulers 40 cents, commercial haulers 60 cents, contract haulers 75 cents, and franchise haulers 60 cents. 8,501 to 12,500 pounds, private 50 cents, commercial 75 cents, contract one dollar, franchise 60 cents. 12,501 to 16,000 pounds, private 60 cents, commercial one dollar, con tract $1.15, franchise 60 cents. Over 16,000 private 70 cents, com mercial $1.25, contract, $1.40, fran chise 60 cents. Five Nash County farmers have agreed to run five-year crop rota tions on their farms and to keep records on the results.