THE ROANOKE R
By Mail — $2. Yearly — In Advance
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 offic
at Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, under Act of March 3rd, 1879.
OFFICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES
ADVERTISING - PRINTING - EMBOSSING
• • Carl Goerch, in the current issue of The
State, says:
WE’RE AT THE BOTTOM
To say that we were slightly surprised at
reading these figures in the Charlotte Observer
recently would be putting it mildly.
The National Industrial Conference, accord
ing to the Observer, has just made an exhaustive
study of business recovery in six countries of the
world following the international depression which
set in during the decade beginning 1930. The
striking fact brought out by this index is the sub
sequent degree of recovery in production. The
latest index figures, which are for the first quar
ter of 1939 or thereabouts, are as follows:
uermany_ 134
United Kingdom_118
Italy_ 107
Canada_ 90
France _ 82
United States_ 77
We are confident that there will be all kinds
of explanations by our political leaders about that
situation, and all kinds of efforts to establish an
alibi. But the figures, as prepared by an unbiased
authority, speak for themselves.
Despite all of the billions of dollars that we
have spent in an effort to bring about recovery,
despite all of the new and radical schemes which
have been put into effect, we are still at the bottom
of the list, so far as actual results are concerned.
That’s a rather bitter pill to swallow. Regard
less of whether we swallow it or not, the pill is still
bitter.
We believe we have the answer to the nation’s
problem, Carl. There are too many politicians in
Congress and in executive positions of the country
. . and not enough business men.
Good business, full time, good wages and
working conditions depend upon how a business
is operated and managed and no crack-pot, hand
shaking, loud-long-talking, job-seeking politician
has the ability, the inclination or the time to
properly operate and manage a successful pop
stand, much less the U. S. government, the largest
business in the nation.
NO U-TURN AT 1()TII& 11TH
• • The City Board of Commissioners in regu
lar monthly session this week ordered that No-U
Turn signals be painted at 10th and 11th Streets
on Roanoke Avenue and stop signs on entering the
Avenue.
We have never been told, nor do we under
stand, the motive of those who opposed this move
ment for the bettering of traffic conditions at the
city’s two busiest intersections.
There is no real inconvenience to anyone as
southbound traffic can still U-turn at 9th and
northbound at 12th. Of course, that means trav
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HARVEST TIME
eling a block farther, but it also means that those
desiring to U-turn are turning at safer points for
themselves, for other drivers and for pedestrians.
After a few days, we believe everyone will be
as pleased with the new traffic rules as they are
at Second Street where the plan has been in force
several weeks. Of course, the police can help along
by calling attention to the signs of those few, who
because they cant or wont read, fail to abide.
ON FISHING
• • Some of our friends like to kid us about our
love for fishing and it is right hard to explain why
a man will cast his arm off all day long with rod
and reel and maybe not get strike one.
Maybe this will help explain it. We were
drifting along in a boat with a fishing friend and
for hours neither of us had spoken. We drifted
and cast to the bank hundreds of times. It was
cool and shady on that side of the creek, the sun
faintly filtering thru the high trees; birds sang to
jus; once.in a while a busy squirrel squatted on a
; limb and chattered at us . . . still we drifted along
j. . must have been a couple of hours. We broke
jthe silence, “What are you thinking about?” . . .
| The answer was like a long-released sigh of
! thanksgiving, “Nothing”.
There’s our only answer to the joy real fish
ermen enjoy. The release from the manifold cares
of the world. The enchantment of silence of and
the beauty of Nature. The sublime forgetfulness
of all our worries. The hours when one has to
think of “nothing” . . but fishing.
MALARIAL CONTROL
© ® Upon recommendation of the Health offi
cials, the city and county this week agreed to split
the cost of cleaning out Chockoyotte Creek in the
interest of malarial control. It was a small item
because control of malaria fever in Roanoke Rap
ids has been carried on so effectively in the past
several years. One rarely hears of it these days.
Yet old timers tell us of the time in Roanoke
Rapids when the whole town was suffering from
the disease and there were days when the mills
had to shut down because there were not enough
well people to operate them.
It is a far cry from that day to this and a real
credit to the value of science and the practical ap
plication of that science for the elimination of
dreaded diseases. The health of the public should
be the paramount interest of all who are in posi
tion to care for the public.
CRASH!
• Crash! And the first
accident had happened
on newly-paved Jackson
Street. Glass chattered
on the pavement, cars
skewed grotesquely a
round, and- a girl in
white was thrown to the
walk unconscious. As it
turned out damages
were not great, injuries
were not fatal. But the
potentialities were
there. Easily one or
more might have been
killed, even as specta
tors marveled that no
one was.
To establish blame aft
er the accident was sim
ply a n afterthought.
There was blame, to be
sure, but blame does not
mend broken heads,
crippled bodies, and dis
figured faces. They are
there, and no amount of
punishment dealt out to
the perpetrator will
right them again.
That first accident
made a resounding
crash. Perhaps it was
heard all around the
town—to the extent that
we, when we are sailing
along on the city’s new
and beautiful streets
with our foot getting
heavier and heavier on
the pedal, will remem
ber that danger lurks at
every corner and at ev
ery mid-block, that the
life of a man, woman, or
child hides beneath that
foot.
You and I are the driv
ers. It is up to us.
Negro Found III
Lee Chancel, of Emporia, who
was arrested here last week on a
charge of drunken driving, com
plained of a headache after a
hearing Monday morning and was
taken to the Roanoke Rapids Hos
pital. There an examination was
made and an X-ray showed that
he was suffering from a blow on
the head received many years ago.
He was put under guard until ar
rangements were made with the
county to take care of him at Hal
ifax.
NOTICE
NORTH CAROLINA,
HALIFAX COUNTY.
In the Superior Court
LUCY KEARNEY SHEARIN,
Plaintiff
-VS
PEARLIE SHEARIN.
Defendant.
The defendant above named will
take notice that an action entitled
as above has been commenced in
the Superior Court of Halifax
County, by the plaintiff against
the defendant, to secure an abso
lute divorce on statutory grounds,
and that he is required to be and
appear at the office of the Clerk
of the Superior Court for the
County of Halifax, in the town of
Halifax, North Carolina, within
thirty (30) days from the 14th day
of August, 1939, and answer or de
mur to the complaint which has
been filed in the office of the Clerk
of the Superior Court of said coun
ty, as provided by law in such
cases, and let the defendant fur
ther take notice that if he fails
to answer or demur to said com
plaint before the 14th day of Sep
tember, 1939, the plaintiff will ap
ply to the court for the relief de
manded in the complaint.
This the 13th day of July, 1939.
A. L. Hux, Clerk of the Superior
Court of Halifax County,
North Carolina
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