THE ROANOKE RAPIDS
Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina
THE LARGEST NEWSPAPER IN HALIFAX COUNTY
Member North Carolina Press Association
CARROLL WILSON, Owner and Editor
:-*-—
Entered as Second Class matter April 3rd, 1914, at the post office
at Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, under Act of March 3rd, 1879.
ADVERTISING - PRINTING - EMBOSSING
TOO BIG YET FOR US
• • Those quick-on-the-trigger boys, whose know
ledge and experience apparently fits them to de
termine matters of public consequence as soon as
problems arise, have been wondering why we have
not written an editorial on the Supreme Court
question which now holds the spotlight for the mo
ment. A big flood or another big strike would
soon put it in the shade but at the moment nothing
of proportion has happened to crowd the question
from the fast-changing front page.
Partly because of this tendency to get all hot
and bothered for the moment and then forget so
quickly, we have not commented on the Supreme
Court issue; partly, (this is a frank statement we
wish some others would also admit) because we do
not know enough about the subject yet to arrive at
definite conclusions on which to base a course
which, once taken, we intend to pursue to the end.
me questions, me pro Diems, me iuture conse
quences in this Supreme Court issue are so great,
so comprehensive and so vitally important to our
country that we hesitate to assert our puny ideas
on something which evidently is puzzling the best
minds of the country.
When progressives like Senators Borah, Nor
ris, Nye, Wagner, Johnson and LaFollette cannot
agree; when we read of Southern Senators who
have always followed the President and the Dem
ocratic Party, leaving him on this issue; when we
recall that the Democratic National platform
promised this question would be settled by consti
tutional amendment;—all this makes us feel like
there is more to this question than most of us can
comprehend in a short time.
Our impulse is to go along with the President;
our calmer judgment tells us to wait, hear all the
facts, the arguments on both sides, if we want to
arrive at an honest opinion and one which is best
for our country tomorrow as well as today.
The President has us in the position of one
who wants to get religion, who is anxious to go
down front, but who just hasn’t received the mov
ing power.
This is one of those editorials which will satis
fy neither friend nor critic. In frankly stating our
dilemma, we satisfy only our own conscience.
i
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
he “Don’t Quote Me” column in this issue
ing statement by a convict at Caledonia
i Camp in this county that the guards
make $40 per month. Following the
Tict who made the statement is un
itement has beeh checked and again
Carolina learn that the men who
lesperate characters of the State,
■il repeaters, are paid a miserly
1CARO-GRAPHICS — bjSS,
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•
• THE EOlTORS OF CARCVORftPHICS INVITE VOt> TO SEND IN INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOOR. COMPiJNITY * |
pittance that even High School Seniors, green of
experience and still wet behind the ears, would
scoff at. As an added inducement they get a house
or, if single, a barracks bunk.
We are getting what we pay for. A shopper
in a Roanoke Rapids store wants a good pair of
shoes but she limits the price to a certain amount.
She wants a $5 pair of shoes but she only wants to
pay $2.00. The chances are she gets just what she
asked for: a pair of shoes worth $2 and no more.
The biggest department store in the world cannot
sell $5 merchandise for $2 and stay in business
long. The advantage of buying nationally adver
tised products is that you get your money’s worth;
an advertiser can’t fool the public long.
If the State of North Carolina refuses to pay
more than $40 per month to prison guards, the
State is getting exactly what it pays for and no
more; need expect no more.
i ms matter was orougnt up two years ago and
a lot was said but nothing done about it. We ap
point the head of the new State liquor board at a
salary of $6,000 per year; that is wise; we need an
efficient and capable man for that job and so we
are paying to get a good man; but we leave our
State prison camp guards at $40 per month; men
with dangerous jobs, dealing with dangerous peo
ple daily, uncomfortable, thankless jobs. And we
expect them to stay honest on $40 a month when
many criminals under their watch have incomes of
ten times as much from unlawful practices which
continue while they pay their toll to the State. We
do not know what the legislature will do about
this; we know they should raise that meager pav.
It is a lot more pleasant and a lot more lucra
tive to work in a cotton mill in Roanoke Rapids. In
this job, you do not kiss your family goodbye in
the morning not knowing whether they will bring
you in on a stretcher for supper or not; working in
a cotton mill here you have the best medical and
surgical attention for you and your family, good
schools to send your children to, good churches to
attend on Sunday, good shows and recreation clubs
in which to spend your leisure time, decent hours
of labor,—and a lot more pay.
It is not uncommon for a family in
Roanoke Rapids, working in these mills, to have an
income of from $200 to $300 per month on a four
week month, according to how many in the family
are working.
And the State pays $40 per month. The only
surprising thing is that there have not been more
“Caledonia breaks” and we say this as a tribute to
the honesty and integrity of our underpaid prison
guards.
Don't Quote Me
i
0 RALEIGH, N. C„ Feb. 25— (UP)
—Back into the legislative spot
light this week came jthe issue of
pay for convict guards,.
Brought to the fore by the sen
sational escape of sevejn dangerous
criminals at Caleddnia Prison
Farm, low pay of North Carolina
prison guards became ^debate for a
legislative penal committee.
Two years ago the j same issue
confronted a state g ;?aeral assem
bly when two negro convicts at a
Mecklenburg County prison camp
lost their feet fro:n] “inhumane
treatment.” A legislative investi
gation disclosed that prison guards
were underpaid.
Nothing, however, v, -as done to
correct,' what some egislators said
was, “a menace to i ur prison sys
tem.”
I ' ■
0 Ringing in the e; .rs; of members
of the 1937 North Carolina House
penal committee are th e words of a
Caledonia prisoner vh ose name is
being protected.
“Humph,” he said ‘ if I was on
the outside I could ge t a machine
gun in here. I’ve go;; s ense enough
to know you can’t liir e brains for
$40 a month.”
And that furnished ; i new wrin
kle for legislators to ii -on out. But
the convict continual to interest
the lawmakers.
"I ain’t saying that ; my or all of
the guards is crooke 3,” he said,
“but a $10 or $20 bill s hoved in the
face of an average fell ow who gets
s6 little pay is a migh ty big temp
tation.”
The prisoner maybe i i right, some
legislators say.
“It’s getting bad,” sai d one, “when
guards are so poorly p aid that they
might resort to somet hing like ac
cepting a bribe.”
If the situation e: cists in one
camp, is it not likel; r to exist in
them all ? questions tl le legislator.
Question has arisen , too, wheth
er, after all, honor men can be
trusted.
• It is known th it in many
camps, personnel d irectors and
camp superintendents don’t always
agree on which prisor lers should be
promoted to the hono r grade.
Regardless of pri son records,
some penal officials j idhere to the
system that “you can look at a man
and tell what he is,”
Other penal officials staunch and
steady in fact rather than theory
are positive, “ a man’s actions re
veal that which his 1c oks do not.”
Thus two schools of selecting
honor grade prisonei -s are some
times used.
• Back of the Caledonia prison
break, no doubt, was a well-laid
plan. j
(Continued ton next page)