Newspapers / The Johnstonian-Sun (Selma, N.C.) / Feb. 10, 1944, edition 1 / Page 2
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r' 'I, \ FACE TWC THE JOHNSTONIAN - SUN, SELMA, N. C. — THURSDAY, FEB. 10, 1944. WAR BRINGS MANY CHANGES TO PEOPLE OF FLORIDA TOWN Milton’s Population Is Traditionally Democratic but New Dealers and Others Have Split; Taxes Chief Issue. I By BARROW LYONS j _ (EDITOR’S NOTE—This is one of a series of articles written for I thh paper by Barrow Lyons, staff correspondent of Western Newspaper I Union. He lias just completed an extended trip through the nation and ! in these reports gives his first-hand impressions of what rural America i is thinking as we enter the third year of war and the first weeks of a i presidential election year. Any opinions expressed are the writer s and j not necessarily those of this newspaper.) I MILTON, FLORIDA.—About 27 miles northeast of Pensacola, Florida, is this neat little town of Milton, the county seat of Santa 1 Rosa county. The 1940 census counted 1,840 inhabitants. The I population has about doubled since then because the navy has ’ ringed the village with flying fields auxiliary to the great Pensa cola pilot training center. Much of the new population of Milton is transient, remaining only for construction work. But many civilian workers at the I airfields have rented houses or rooms for the duration. Perma- 'nent residents have taken many as boarders in the interest of ' winning the war. «>- Despite this increase in size and [Importance, no one expects Milton [soon to regain its erstwhile glory as j the principal port through which j most of southeast Alabama once I shipped its cotton and timber to the I world and received supplies. Those \ were the days when sailing ships slid I up the Blackwater river from the I Gulf of Mexico to pick up the cotton ! bales piled three miles .along the river at Milton awaiting shipment. The ships came also to get pine lum ber. Old inhabitants can remember I timbers two feet square and a hun- :dred feet long hewn from the giants that once stood along the river. Ox I teams carted away into the interior 'supplies brought for Alabama farms. But the sailing vessels long since have disappeared, and the cotton goes by rail elsewhere, and the mighty pine forests have been cut dcwn, and only three years ago, the big sawmill of the Bagdad Land and ' Lumber company sawed its last log, I while the newsreel cameramen ground out “finis.” Even before the Bagdad mill end ed its long usefulness, many of the more ambitious young men of the county began to drift from Milton to places that were growing. With the exception of the merchant-bank er-professional group left in Milton, I those who remained were, on the whole, the older people. During the depression, a very large part of the inhabitants of Santa Rosa county were on relief.- One man placed the proportion at 75 per cent. Dairy Farming Is Gaining Headway In the northern part of the county, there is fairly rich farming land. Cotton is raised; also beef cattle, peanuts, hogs, corn, and cane syrup. Government authorities have urged the farmers to go in for dairy farm ing, and that is beginning to gain headway. Most of them are tra ditionally Democrats. But in recent years, a sharp split has come about in the kind of Dem ocrats they are. Those who have made money in business or profes sional work, are as violently anti- ALA» \ GA« MILTON federal operating statement. A con siderable proportion cannot read or write. At present, about 1,600 per sons in the county have received collectively $117,250 » year in wel fare money in recent years. In Sep tember there were 621 who received a total of $9,771 in old age assist ance, 45 who received aid to the blind, and 49 families with 110 chil dren who were recipients of aid to dependent children. The federal government and state share 50-50 in this distribution of financial aid. Yet a great many of the poor folk in and around Milton take so little interest in political issues that they are ready to sell their votes for a small sum around election time, ac cording to observers who have had ample opportunity to know what goes on. Perhaps, if they thought the New Deal really were threat ened, they might come to its rescue; but as it is, they can hardly be called New Deal liberals. Left, S. D. Stewart, Milton, Fla., town clerk; right, J. J. Wilson, edi tor Milton Gazette. New Deal Democrats as can be found anywhere. Apparently, it is paying large taxes that galls them most. The city of Milton was an incorporated town before Florida was a state. It doesn’t levy very heavy taxes. Occupational licenses, liquor licenses, and a moderate per sonal property tax—now 21 mills— has paid the cost of local govern- rneitt. —....... •»-"Tllere is now a sewer rental tax because of the $43,000 sewer proj ect which the Public Works admin istration made possible in the early New Deal days. So it is natural that those who are profiting from the huge expenditures of the federal government should rebel against the tremendous income taxes that are recovering some of those expendi tures. A large number of Miiton folk, and many in the county, are rrore likely to be on the other side of the War Eases Criticism Of Tax Burden S. D. Stewart, Milton town clerk, summed up the Milton attitude thus: “If it wasn’t for the war, most of the people would be against the tax ing problem. The higher taxes you get, the more you find against it. Personally, I’m an administration man. I think the New Deal has done a good thing with the banking law. I don’t mean their regulation of Wall Street; I don’t know any- ttiing about that. Pensions to the blind and guaranteeing the poor peo ple up to a certain amount is good. “Lots of people around here now think that with all the help they are giving to the poor, the government is trying to get control of politics— centralized power—and ' they don’t like that. But most of the kicks you hear are because of income taxes and other kinds of taxes.” The most outspoken New Dealer in Milton is Joseph J. Wilson^ editor of the Milton Gazette. He recently sold his interest in the paper and intends to move further west. “There is a small group of old timers here, who are pretty prosper ous. They are strongly Democratic but they would like to continue to pay people $1 a day and work them 12 hours. They never miss a chance to call the President the worst pos sible names. “On the other hand, are the peo ple who remained after 125 years of sawmilling faded out. Most of the skilled workers have gone else where. Those who earned 15 cents an hour remained because they couldn’t get away. Illiteracy is ap palling among the older people, but the younger people are learning. “I think congress is making the worst ass of itself. It appears to have taken the attitude that no mat ter what Roosevelt wants, it is going to repudiate it. If they don’t com promise on the food subsidy plan, prices will get out of hand, and the farmer is going to be the chief suf ferer when the bubble bursts.” As Milton, Florida, Views It... ■ Around Milton farmers and busi ness men who have lived longest in the town, are chiefly descendants of English people. There are few oth er than Anglo-Saxon names on the registration rolls. Most of them are traditionally Democrats. .J BEHIND THE SCENES IN American Business By JOHN CRADDOCK New York, Feb. 7. — Confusion has been growing in the last several months as to where business was going — and when. Now the fog is beginning to clear and some definite patterns are appearing; some of them pleasing and some that we’ll take gladly enough because we have to if we’re going to win the war. Here are a few: pieces, which are now worth a total of $275,000 at wholesale. Teachers Deserve More Pay Says Mrs. Roosevelt Civilian goods are beginning to get a “break,” but don’t expect any great increase in either the volume or the kinds of things that will be available again. Flatirons, razor blades, baby carriages with metal frames, alumi num collapsible tubes for dentrifices and a number of medicinal items (for which you no longer have to turn in used tubes) are a few of the civilian items that are coming back — but gradually. Return of the manufacture of washing machines and refrigera tors will come more slowly. Meanwhile, some war plants are be ing cut back but they are not neces sarily going back into civilian pro duction. Where they’re in “tight” labor areas, they can’t go very far. If their normal products require mater ials which are still scarce, they’re also likely to find hard sledding. ’This simmers down to the fact that some metals are now in “excess supply” — that is, supply in excess of strictly ' military needs — but there’s not enough manpower. Where there’s manpower, there isn’t necessarily the needed material. To make a refriger ator, for instance, you need more than steel. You have to have motors, thermostats, bearings, etc., which are still needed for war. SPREAD YOUR VACATIONS — while it may seem a bit early to be thinking about vacations this year, vacation planning right now will help considerably in easing transportation pressure later this year, in the opin ion of George A. Kelly, vice president of 'The Pullman Company. He believes that the railroad transportation bur den is likely to reach its maximum in i 1944, possibly reaching the stagger ing total of 100 billion' passenger- miles. Kelly says that later in the year the industry may he able to build its first new equipment of the war and that this will begin to ease the pressure, but meanwhile, he urges business and the public in general to spread 1944 vacations as generously over the entire year as possible. THINGS TO COME — Men’s bath ing suits of corduroy — vat-dyed and sanforized .... The first college course in television programming technique — at New York University with Thomas H. Hutchinson, who is j in the business himself, as- teacher . .: Glues, adhesives and paper-sizing' solutions made of wheat instead of i corn starch and tapioca . . . An in sulation for office safes which pre vents valuable papers from becoming charred during fires. OLDER MEN REGAIN STAND ING — Older men, even those whose ages range as high as 80 years, have pun^-hed holes in the pre-war opinions that men over 40 years of age cannot keep step with factory hands who are many years younger, according to foremen and executives of the Brown Instrument division of the Minneapo- Ps - Honeywell Regulator Company. The Brown Instrument Company has many employees whose ages range from 50 to 80 years. Most of these ; older men, the company has discover ed, can turn out as high quality or even better work as men from one- half to one-quarter their ages. Most of the older workers, is was pointed out, have very low absentee records, are seldom, late and where they may lack the speed of young people, they more than make up this deficiency in experience and the quality of their output. New York, Feb. 5. — Due to the increasingly important position in society which schoolteachers hold in helping straighten out war and post war problems, the community must revise its attitude toward the teach ing profession, according to Mrs. I Franklin D. Roosevelt, wife of the President. This change should be brought about chiefly in higher sala ries in some sections and the grant ing of greater freedom in teaching young people to think for themselves, she holds. Speaking before the Progressive Education Association at its regional conference at the Pennsylvania Hotel here last night, Mrs. Roosevelt pre sented the Edward L. Bernays award of $1,000 for “outstanding contribu tion to democratic education in 1943” to Miss Adele Franklin, Director of the All-Day Neighborhood Schools. These schools, located in problem areas of Manhattan, offer a special type of character-building education under the joint auspices of the Board of Education and the Progressive Ed ucation Association. Increased Responsibility “It seems to me we are putting too much upon educators today,” Mrs. Roosevelt declared, “but, nevertheless they have to do the thinking through of many problems which other people are shrugging off their own should- ders by saying, “these are things the educators must do.’ ” The increased responsibility Ameri can teachers must assume in world affairs, since this is the only great democratic nation in which the civil ian population has not been visited by actual war will mean a greater need for teachers to be upheld by the com munity, she stressed. “If we put the mark of importance on people through certain material returns, we are going to have to re vise the way in which we pay our teachers,” Mrs. Roosevelt added. “In addition, we have to make the com munities realize that if teachers are to achieve what we expect of them, the position of the teacher must change.” Greater Freedom Advocating a greater freedom for teachers, Mrs. Roosevelt emphasized that in some places teachers find themselves “controlled” or forced to leave their positions when they place before pupils the whole picture of what is going on in the world. “Teachers have to have freedom— not the kind that permits them to indoctrinate young people in Nazi teachings, but to spread before young people the whole picture and then in sist that they think through what these facts mean today,” she declared. “This ability to analyze is the most important tool of youth. Peace is not going to come unless the individuals we train today are people of real in tegrity and real character.” Too many teachers are “cowed” to day, Dr. Robert K. Speer of New York University, declared at an af ternoon panel, and have been made to feel like “inferior citizens” by those in authority. Dr. Frank Baker, President of State Teachers College in Milwaukee Wis., was elected President of the Association. J. C. Avery Gets Report On China Relief Fund United China Relief sent to China for its 1943 relief program amounted to $8,612,155.02, it is announced by J. C. Avery, Chairman of the United China Relief Committee in Selma. This is an increase of more than three and a half million over the sum sent in 1942, almost five million more than was sent in 1941. Administrative cost for 1943 was 5.92 per cent, in cluding servicing the relief program in China, as compared with 8.73 per cent in 1942. The 1943 relief program covered five fields of effort: education, medi cine and public health, child care, di rect relief and self-help projects. Inflation, which has brought spe cial hardships to the white collar class living on fixed incomes, made assistance to teachers and students of primary importance in 1943. Through the Associated Boards for Christian Colleges in China, the Church Commitee for China Relief and the National Student Relief Com mittee, United China Relief gave aid in the form of scholarships, “rice sub sidies” and other grants to 3,000 fa culty members and 20,000 students in middle schools and colleges. In the field of medicine and public health. United China Relief continued Its support of army and civilian hos pitals and emergency medical service training schools; aided the transpor tation of medical supplies and gave assistance to the personnel training program and the anti-epidemic work of the Chinese Health Administration. Members of the Friends Ambulance Unit, supported by United China Re lief funds, transported drugs and medical suj>plies and maintained mo bile medical and surgical teams on various fighting fronts. Through China Relief gave help to the Inter national Peace Hospitals of the guer rilla areas, and the clinics and medi cal teams serving the guerilla soldiers and civilians. Mission hospitals, cli nics and health stations received help through the Church Committee for China Relief. Army hospitals and training schools, government medical schools and projects of the National Health Administration, were support ed by the American Bureau for Medi cal Aid to China, which also set up a Blood Bank for the Chinese Armies, which after being successfully tried out in New York City from June un til November, is now en route to China. Training schools, nurseries and or phanages and health nutritional pro jects for children received support through China Aid Council, the the Church Committee for China Re- . , lief, the Associated Boards for Chris tian Colleges in China, China Child ' Welfare, and China’s Children Fund. I Famines and floods, which took a heavy toll of lives in 1943, notably in Honan and Kwangtung provinces, i called ^or special grants from funds reserved for emergencies. Other di rect relief included aid to refugees and soldiers, grants to lepersariums and assistance in emergencies of many kinds, administered through the Church Committee for China Relief and the China Defense League. Self-help projects — the industrial cooperatives, trade schools for refu gees and orphaned boys and girls seeking means of livelihood, the smuggling of workers from occupied to Free China, and rehabilitation pro jects for disabled soldiers were supported through Indusco, the Amer ican Committee in Aid of Chinese In dustrial Cooperatives, and the Board of Custody for projects supported by the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O. “The past year, during which China was virtually blockaded by the Japa nese, and great natural disasters brought tremendous additional suf fering to the Chinese people, has been a test of our relief program in China,” Chairman J. C. Avery said. “We rejoice that, through our affilia ted groups in China which have built up through the war years, an ever growing chain of trained and willing helpers throughout the length and breadth of the country, we have been able to meet many difficult situations promptly and effectively,” Produce Market In Benson 20 Years Ago The following is taken from a copy of The Eastern News, published in Benson, N. C., on January 31, 1924: Cotton 32c Corn, per bushel $1.15 Peas, per bushel $3.50 Eggs, per dozen 35c Sides and shoulders per lb 17 1-2 to 18c Hams, per lb 27 l-2c Young chickens, lb 25c Butter, lb 40c Fat cattle, on foot, lb 5c Fat cattle, dressed, lb. .. 10c Flour, bbl $6.50 to $7.50 Rutherford county doubled its pulp- wood production last year, shipping 6 861 cords, reports County Agent F. E. Patton. Greatly increased quan tities are needed for war purposes. ELECTRICITY The average farm consumption of electricity has increased by 14 kilo watt hours in one year, as much as 26 hours in some cases, says REA re ports. North Carolina Milk Producers— Look to the Future PRODUCE GRADE A—Increase Your Incomes UNGRADED Pfcducer Daily Selling Daily Output Price Income (per gal.) •^10 Gal. 34e $3.40 h^lO Gal. 24c $2.40 Yearly Income Extra Income from GRADE A $1.00 ^^Incom^ "Make North Carolina a Leading FIGHTS] , lot ffMOom] Dairy State" J. J. Wilson has urged the business men of Milton to form a chamber of commerce in order that the fed eral authorities may have a central group to deal with in working out relations with the town made neces- sary by the new airfields which sur round it. Such a chamber also would bring in new industries and build up fte town s facilities for vacationers t, Pff^*"™“ary organization fund of $2,7M was raised, mostly from con tractors on government work. WARTIME SWAPSHOP — The pioneer tradition of getting together to solve problems is still in force in America. In Chicago, someone figur ed a lot of people had electric ap pliances that were out of repair and therefore stored away unused, while a lot of others were in dire need. So Commonwealth Edison conceived a plan to do something about it. Using Commonwealth as a “moderator,” dealers agreed to buy out-of-service appliances for war stamps, put them into shape for use again, and re-sell them to busy families. In the first three months, more than 10,000 ap pliances appeared — with electric ' irons accounting for 50 per cent of them. Toasters, vacuum cleaners, waffle irons were high on the list, too. Some 326 stores are cooperating, and many dealers now have waiting lists of customers who are ready to | buy popular items when “swap” mer chandise appears. BITS O’ BUSINESS — Cancella tion of General Electric’s war con tracts in 1943 amounted to $450 mil lions, but it had a year’s production ' in unfilled orders at the beginning of 1944 . . . General Motors is ready to ^ make 1942 model cars as soon as the signal comes, perhaps before the end of the year, but they won’t sell for $400; they’ll run about 20 per cent higher than pre-war prices . . . Harry j Winston, New York diamond mer-1 chant, cut the 155-carat Liberator diamond, worth $200,000 into three i Ladies! Ladies! YOU ARE INVITED TO VISIT OUR BIG DISPLAY OF LADIES’ READY-TO-WEAR ON OUR SECOND FLOOR. WE HAVE RE CENTLY MOVED OUR BIG STOCK OF DRESSES, COATS, SUITS, ETC., TO OUR NEWLY FURNISHED QUARTERS ON THE SEC OND FLOOR OF OUR BIG STORE. HERE YOU WILL FIND MANY NEW ARTICLES OF WEAR JUST RECEIVED FOR SPRING. DON’T BUY UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER YOU. OUR DISPLAY IS SECOND TO NONE IN JOHNSTON COUN TY. COME AND SEE FOR YOUR SELF. WALT GODWIN Selma, North Carolina \
The Johnstonian-Sun (Selma, N.C.)
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Feb. 10, 1944, edition 1
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