Hon. James Raynor Will Speak In the Courthouse Saturday Night, Nov. 1, 7:30
VO^^,UME 13.
SELMA, N. C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1930.
NUMBER 44.
^ , • s
, I .
■■5—
Elder H. C. Johnson
This Veteran Preacher Says:
“Some time ago a prominent
Democrat asked me to tell what
it would take to bring me back
to the Democratic party. I told
him to just show me one thing
"that the Republicans had done
so'bad that the Democrats had
not been guilty of something
just as dirty, and that would
bring me back.
“I asked him if the Demo
crats had ever changed the tax
lists after people had listed
their taxes, so that the value
of the property showed on the
records different from the way
it had been given in, and he
told me they had.
“I have found by investiga
tion that instead of my taxes
having been raised as the Dem
ocrats had told me, the Repub
licans have actually lowered
them considerably by reducing
the tax rate $2.00 on each
$1,000.00 worth of property.
This $85,000.00 reduction in
the taxes of the people of John
ston County that the Republi
cans are giving us this year, is
something that we have never
enjoyed before in all our lives,
and we appreciate it.”
WELL KNOWN MINISTER GIVES HIS
VIEWS ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION
Well-Known Minister Gives His
Views on the Political Situa
tion, Stresses the Need of
More Love, Truth and Hon
esty in Politics—Urges Tax
payers to Stand by Their
Friends.
■ (By REV. D. C. JOHNSON)
Editor Johnstonian-Sun:
Please allow me space in your
paper in which to express to your
many readers some of my views in
regard to the present political situa
tion in Johnston County.
I am not a candidate for any
office either by election or apppoint-
ment, and I am not a politician, but
as a citizen I desire to see rig-ht
and justice prevail. I had been a
Democrat until 1928, when at the
age of 74 years I decided that it was
my duty as a citizen and a man who
was trying to serve God to make a
change. During the last two years
a number of things have transpired
to cause me to fully realize that I
did the right thing when I changed
my support from the Democrats to
the Republicans. I did not change
because I hated the Democrats; I
love the old true Democratic prin
ciples.
For several years I had realized
that the Democratic leaders were
straying off from the great prin
ciples advocated by George Wash
ington, Thomas Jeffereson, and oth
er great statesmen, which principles'
I had loved; but I had tried to over
look the many faults of the Demo
crats until 1928, when they deserted
all good things about the party ex
cept the name, and then allowed Tam
many Hall with its 100 years of
crime, theft, and corruption, to take
full charge of - the name “Democrat’
and use it in an effort to put in
the Whitehouse as President of the
United States a wet Roman Catho
lie leader of the New York Tam
many organization, which organiza-
mn is looked upon as an agency
the Pope of Rome,
is year the Tammany follow-
Jam j Bailey as their can-
Roge. - . jj g Senator to succeed
Bettie Ware;
Senator Simmons. Bailey was man
ager in North Carolina for A1 Smith
in 1928, and now the whole Tam
many outfit is trying to elect Bailey,
and evidently depending on his sup
port in the senate, if he should be
elected, to help them in their ef
forts to gain control of our govern
ment.
The Republicans have in Congress
man George M. Pritchard, a candi
date for Senator who is a Christian
gentleman and statesman. I con
sider him worthy of the vote of
every man and woman in the state
of North Carolina. I would just as
soon vote for A1 Smith as Josiah
W. Bailey, as they are both work
ing together, and Bailey is indebted
to A1 Smith; chairman Raskob and
the whole Tammany crowd, for the
aid they gave him in defeating Sen
ator Simmons in the June primary.
After reading the disgusting stuff
that has been printed in the Smith-
field Herald lately, and noticing the
kind of campaign, that the Demo
cratic leaders are conducting in John
ston County this year, I am bound
to say that if they have any good
principles, or any regard at all for
truth and honesty, they have a poor
way of showing it.
Last week one Democrat t'old me
that the value of my personal prop
erty had been raised since I listed
it last April. I made a trip to
Smithfield, went into the County
Auditor’s office, looked at the records
and found everything just as I had
listed it. Then they told me that
my taxes would be much higher
this year than in 1929. One Demo
crat told me that he knew that the
taxes would be higher because he
had already received his notice show
ing the amount of his 1930 taxes.
I then went to the office of D. W.
Parker, county tax collector, and told
him what I had heard. Mr. Park
er said that nobody in Johnston
Counity had received a tax notice
for 1930, because at that time none
had been made out; and that they
were waiting on superintendent H,
B. Marrow who had delayed the
work of getting out the tax notices
by failing to furnish the County
Commissioners with the tax rates for
the special tax school districts of
the County, which rates it was his
duty to have furnished several
months ago. The Democrats were
telling the taxpayers that the Re
publicans were holding back the tax
notices, when according to Mr. Park
er Mr. Marrow, one of the Demo
crats, was holding back this work
by failing to furnish the rates.
A few days ago a Democrat said
to me that if I was going to vote
as a 'Democrat this year he wanted
me to help him to get appointed as
keepr of the County home. I told
him I was going to vote the Repub
lican ticket, and that ended our con
versation.
Some time ago a prominent Dem
ocrat asked me to tell him what
it would take to bring me back to
the Democratic party. I told him
to just show me one thing that the
Republicans had done so bad the
Democrats had not been guilty of
something just as dirty, and that
would bring me back.
I ask^d him if the Democrats had
ever changed the tax lists after
people had listed their taxes, so
that the 'Value of the property
showed on the irecords different from
the way it had been given in, and
he told me they had. There seems
to be just a plenty of evidence that
the Democrats have made such
changes without giving any hearings
in the matter. I have found by in
vestigation that instead of my taxes
having been raised as the Demo
crats had told me, the Republicans
have actually lowered them consid
erably by reducing the tax rate
$2.00 on each thousand dollars worth
of property, which is a great help
in this period of low prices.
This $85,000.00 reduction in the
taxes of the people of Johnston
County that the Republicans are giv
ing us this year, is something that
we have .never enjoyed before in
all our lives, and we appreciate it.
The Democrats are now going over
the County abusing the Republicans
and telling the people that the Re
publicans have made changes in their
tax lists for 1930.
If the Republicans have made
changes, why in the namie of high
heavens is all this stir about it,
when it is a well known fact that
the Democrats have done the same
thing; and likely much more of it,
as they have served longer in office.
The laws of our state provide for
the County Commissioners to sit as
an equalizing board each year for
the purpose of e(|ualizirig the prop
erty values, and it is right that they
should be equalized. The right thing
is what we should all stand for.
If the Republicans were guilty of
everything that the Democrats have
charged against them in this cam
paign, and the sum and substance
of the whole thing was set down by
the side of the Democratic record
■for the last 30 years in Johnston
County, I think the Republicans
would then be fully as well fixed
as the Democrats are at this time.
Now my Christian friends' and fel
low citizens, these things are not
pleasant to talk about, or to think
about ,but when we go back and
look at the past records, we have
to face the facts as they are.
I came near leaving the Democrat
ic party during the days of the
red shirt mobs. My old friend
George Wilson was also about to
leave and hundreds of others did
go over to the Republicans because
of the bad things done in the name
of democracy.
In 1924 the voters turned the
County over to the Republicans and
when the records of the former Dem
ocratic officials were checked up by
the expert accountants, and they re
ported shortages in the public funds
of more than $160,000.00 in the
clerk’s office, sheriff’s office, and
Register of Deeds office, and W. T.
Adams, former Register of Deeds,
was sent to the state penitentiary,
that gaye me the greatest political
shock of my life, and it caused me
to think more seriously than ever
before about what my duty was as
a Christian and an honest and pa
triotic citizen.
In 1926 the Democrats came back
into office with another batch of fine
piomises and we surely did expect
that they would keep straigh for
at least two years and try to econ
omize, but they immediately began
raising salaries, creating new politi
cal jobs and then made a great raise
in taxes, some people’s taxes be
ing about doubled.
A little later there began to be
complaints similar to those that were
common several years ago about
drunkenness and neglest of duty in
connection with the Register of
Deeds office, and this gre-w worse
until a few weeks before the 1928
election when Neil Barnes whose sal
ary had been raised from $3,000.00
to $4,000.00 a year, got out, or was
put out, lea-ving a reported short
age in his marriage license account
with the state of North Carolina
Amounting to about $1,400.00 and it
is understood that about half of
this is yet unpaid.
Previous to the 1924 election it had
been the boast of the Democratic
politicians that no shortage had ever
been found in the accounts of any
Democratic County officials. The
publishers of The Smithfield Herald
never tired of repeating this as
their glad refrain, and warning the
voters aaginst taking any chances,
on changing their politics for fear
of making a mistake. They used
that sort of stuff right up to the
1924 election, and the publishers and
every Democratic leader in the
County must have known of thd
shortage existing in the various offic
es, and especially of the hidden re
port of A. M. Pullen & Co., who had
audited the clerk’s office, which re
ports was said to have been hidden
away in a vault instead of being
published and letting the taxpayers
know that there was a shortage in
that office of more than $37,000.00.
Now the question arises, if these
Democratic leaders and publishers
deceived us tjlen, what reason have
we now to trust them or to believe
what they are saying about the
Republicans ? They stand before
the public discredited by their o-wn
records.
It is not reasonable to expect the
Republicans to undo in two years all
the mischief that the Democrats had
done in 30 years before the Republi
cans came into office. Vie were
already loaded down with Demo
cratic debts when the Republicans
came in.
To every voter I want to say.
Consider well the issues before cast-
your ballot. If you are not
satisfied that the Republicans are
the friends of the taxpayers, go to
the court house as I did and see for
yourself what the records there show.
Don’t listen to this talk about taxes
being higher. Go and see about it.
We all know that instead of reduc
ing taxes the Democrats have kept
on putting them up higher.
Now that we have in office men
who are giving us some real tax re
duction, let’s not let the Democrats
by false and misleading statements
divert our minds from the facts or
cause us to vote aaginst the best
friends that
we, as taxpayers, have
ever had in the court house. I fear
that a great many people will allow
themselves to be fooled into voting
the Democratic ticket who will
later find out that they have voted
against their o-wn interest.
We need in politics more love,
truth, and honesty. ^
To the boxholders I wish to say
on the 4th of November give us a
fair deal and then you will be able
to lift up your heads and number
the Republicans among your friends
and to taste the pleasure that it
will bring, you will then be able to
sing.
How happy are they
Who the laws obey
And tongues cannot express the
sweet comfort and peace of a
soul in its earliest love.
That sweet comfort is mine
When there favor I find
And fall at his feet
And the sweet story repeat,
That the w,orld is under His feet.
Who Are Respon
sible For High
Taxes ?
Tax Question
Chief
Issue
The chief issue in this
this campaign in the tax
question.
If you want higher taxes
vote the. Democratic tick
et, but if you want lower
taxes vote the Republican
ticket.
The Republicans have
this year given us the first
.tax reduction we ever had.
BE SURE TO VOTE NEXT
TUESDAY. VOTE EARLY
The new balloting law will
require more time to vote than
usual and for that reason you
should go to the polls early and
cast your ballot in order to get
through with it before the day
is too far spent. If you wait
too long you may not get the
chance to vote in this impor
tant election.
The good citizens of Johnstou
County are discussing among them
selves the different issues that the
two political parties are bringing be
fore them, and my observations of
the whole matter is that our Demo
cratic friends are seeking office, not
on their past record in Johnston
county, but are raising lots of gos
sip about taxes. That seems to be
the main issue. Well, let’s see who
is responsible for high taxes in
Johnston County. Have you good
people in Johnston county forgotten
who it was that valued your prop
erty in 1927 when tax values took
another leap skyward ? I ask you
good people if the last one of them
were not Democrats ? Certainly they
were. The people in my o'wn town
ship are now, and have been grumb
ling over hig'h taxes and it has
reached the point under such high
valuations on real estate that the
taxes are more than they can bear.
When the valuation on our porperty
was placed there by the Democratic
appraisers themselves without con
sulting we land owners about it. I
own a very small portion of real
estate to compare with others, I
know, but the taxes I pay now have
increased over twenty times since
1910, and each time these values
have been raised they were raised
by Democrats just as has been done
in the case of every other tax payer
in Johnston county, as the Republi
cans have never valued our real
estate. The Democrats have been in
power in Johnston county ever since
I can remember with the exception
of 1925-26 and from December, 1928
up until the present. When the
Republicans came into power in John
ston county in 1924 they found the
affairs of our county in the rotten-
est condition of a.ny county in the
state, so far as has been revealed.
From the clerk of the court all the
way down the line there was short
ages in the account of the county
officials running up to about $170,-
000. I don’t blame them to go from
house to house, repenting before
the people asking the people to give
them another trial. I have always
stood for a square' deal for every
man, regardless of his political affiil-
iations, because it has always' been
a custom in the United States to
have two political parties, and it
should be the desire of each party
when in power to give the people
the best service they possibly can,
and this the Republican party in
Johnston county has tried to do.
The citizens of this county are
entitle to good roads and schools,
but when we arrive at the point
where we can’t pay the required
amount of taxes to maintain them,
what will be the remedy? We see
what is happening in Wake county
where people’s homes are being sold
for taxes and will not bring enough
to pay the taxes on them.
The Democrats promise to reduce
taxes, but they never have, nor
never will. The Republicans cut
salaries in the administrative offices
of Johnston county over which they
had absolute authority, but the Dem
ocrats refused to co-operate with
them in their economy program. The
Democrats went before a Democratic
legislature and had a law passed
fixing their salaries so that no cut
could be made by the Republican
county commissioners.
As Road Commissioners for the
Fourth District I have done my
best to see that all sections of my
district has had an equal share of
these road taxes. I have not dis
criminated against anyone on ac
count of his' or her political affiilia-
tions. The employees in my dis
trict have discharged their duties re
markably well. Some shifting of
employ was made on account of
booz-e, but I didn’t think too much
booze would meet the approval of
our good citizens in the county. I
like to see people stay sober when
they are drawing a salary from the
county.
Mr. Taxpayer, on November *he
go to the polls and vote for
i
;4i
Ml>s 1 I '1 \ MI. VMIJ
The above picture is that of Miss
Luma McLamb, who is the very
efficient Register of Deeds of John
ston County, and who is again run
ning on the Republican ticket for
re-election in this coming election^
Miss McLamb’s work has been very
efficient throughout her entire 'term
and at no time has the Register of
Deeds office been better kept or
prompter service been given through
that office than during her -term.
She states that all papers filed in
that office each day are promtiy
recorded the same day they are re
ceived and ready to be returned to
the owners of same, which is a rec
ord to be envied by any Register of
Deeds office, as it would be hard to
find another to measure up to this
point of high efficiency. Miss Mc
Lamb, during the past two years,
has begun and has haif completed,
a new typewritten indext system
which she says she expects to do
nate to Johnston County when she
retires from that office, if she is
retianed two more years. Before be
ginning this work she asked one or
two concerns who do indexing as to
what they would charge for a sys-
tme such as she is putting in and
was told that it was worth about
$3,300, so it ■will be seen that if
she completes this work and give it
to the county free of charge she is
rendering a great service to the tax
payers of the county.
4th,
the men you honestly believe will
give you the best administration, and
if you’ll do that, I am sure that
Johnston County will remain in the
hands of the Republican party.
WALTER BATTEN.
Micro, N. C.
W. H. MASSEY
The above is a photograph of Wil
liam Henry Massey of Princeton,
N. C., who is a candidate on the
Republican ticket for Clerk of Su
perior Court of Johnston County.
At the present time Mr. Massey
is engaged in farming and practicing
law. He was bom and raised in
Boon Hill Township and still lives
there. Having served the County
two years, 1925 and 1926 as Solicitor
of Recorder’s Court he is 'Wisll kno'wn
throughout the County. If elected
he will of necessity have to move
to the County Seat and devote his
entire time to the duties of the
office. Realizing the fact that the
Office of Clerk of Superior Court
is one of the most important and
busiest of all public offices in the
County, and realizing that the office
requires efficient and honorable per
sons to fulfil and discharge the
duties of said office, Mr. Massey is
highly recommended by those that
know him in common, to be capable
in every way and deserves the re
spect and support of the citizens of
Johnston County on November 4th
when they go to cast their ballots.
The confidence and support of the
people on election day will be
gratefully appreciated by Mr. Massey
and he promises if elected, that he
will serve the people with the very
best of his ability to do so.
■il'