IS A DEAD MULE-DEDUCTIBLE?:
. . . Perhaps the letter printed be
low will prove helpful at this time
f
of year. The letter, according to
the man who handed it to us, is a
tax expert’s reply to a farmer who
was facing his first income tax re
port.
Dear sir: f
I acknowledge receipt of your
letter asking whether or not your
dead mule, is.' a proper deduction on
your income tax report.
You did not state whether you
operate under..a. calendar, year or
a fiscal year, or whether the. mule
died within your taxable year.
You did not state the date of
acquisition of said mule or the
manner of acquirement, whether
mule was born on your farm or
acquired by purchase.
You failed to state whether you
charged him to expense or set him
up as a capital asset, or whether
he was fully or partially depreciat
ed at date of demise.
You have not given me the cost
or value of the mule, Whichever is
lowest, nor the rate used for the
depreciation basis on a predicated
life of that type of mule.
xuu uiu not state now uie mine
met his death, therefore it is hard
to draw a conclusion as to whether
he was abandoned or scrapped, or
whether he died after living a nor
mal life according to the mortality
statistics upon which you must
have based your estimate of life to
arrive at an annual depreciation
figure, if you did charge to op
erations such a figure each year.
If the mule died before being
fully depreciated then you would
be entitled to deduct the difference
between the depreciation reserve
on the mule and the remainder of
the asset on your books at the
time of his decease. This, of course,
would be a loss for the taxable year
if he died during the taxable year.
Of course the above is subject to
further restriction. What did the
mule do when living? If you used
him for riding to and from your
work, or for driving him to
church, he is not deductable as ex
pense or otherwise. Otherwise he
is deductable.
Was the mule abandoned through
deterioration, so that you could
report him as a scrapped asset?
If you adopted this method, that of
scrapping, did you credit the sale
of the scrap against the fixed asset
accounts or did you credit it to
junk sales, so that you could estab
lish beyond question that the mule
was scrapped? In case scraps are
not reduced to money values, it is
safest to have the abandonment of
scraps to take place in the woods
or on a high cliff where the buz
ards would carry the dead mule
off, which would tend to prove to
the tax authorities that your mule
at least was gone.
When you have disclosed from
your records the facts herein be
fore required, you have derived the
point of tangency between your
dead mule and your income tax
returns.
I trust I have made myself per
fectly clear.
Respectfully submitted,
X-X
WELL WORTH READING: “Your
German-American Neighbor”, by
Wolfgang zu Putlitz, in the Febru
ary Harpers Magazine.
Woodard Named
To Ricks1 Post
J. R. Woodard, Conway mer
chant and former school teacher
and principal, last week was ap
pointed by the Northampton
County Democratic Executive Com
mittee to succeed Ben F. Ricks on
the County Board of Education.
Ricks resigned several days ago to
join the Naval Reserve as an as
sistant pharmacist mate.
It--;
Woodard, who taught for several
years in the schools of the state,
returned to Conway some time
ago to enter the mercantile busi
ness with his brother, D. M. Wood
ard, Jr., who also joined the Naval
Reserve as. a storekeeper recently.
He graduated at Conway High
School and Wake Forest College.
Woodard is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. D. W. Woodard, of Conway.
W. E. DEBNAM
1214 Cowper Drive
Raleigh, North Carolina
February 21, 1942
Mr. Carroll Wilson, Publisher,
The Herald, Roanoke Rapids, N. C.
Thanks very much for your
words of commendation in your
editorial: “The Dark Truth Hurts”.
As you said in that editorial, we
who attempt to present the true
picture have been condemned by
those individuals who, drugged with
the opiate of over-confidence, con
tinue even now to sit on the side
lines and try to win this war by
waving the flag.
I thoroughly agree with you that
unless we go all out for war in
every part of the nation, we face
possible defeat.
Once the American people are
fully aroused, we all know they are
unconquerable.
Our only weakness is the iner
tia of an over-confident people who
believe too much in happy endings.
May I congratulate The Herald
on continuing to present the true
picture as a warning to our peo
ple; the time for lip-service and
business as usual has long since
passed and we must—all of us—
roll up our sleeves and go to work.
Yours sincerely,
W. E. DEBNAM,
12:25 News Commentator WPTF
*■»»»+♦♦»»♦♦♦♦ i i ♦♦
:: lOcldon i:
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦«*
John Riddle Jr. of Raleigh spent
the week-end with his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. J. W. Riddle.
Mr. and Mrs. Sam Underwood
of Greenville were guests of Mr.
and Mrs. J. I. Wyche Sunday and
Monday.
Miss Frances King has returned
home from a trip to Florida.
Vincent Wyche of Chapel Hill
spent the past week-end at his
home here.
Miss Mary Elizabeth Moore of
Washington, D. C., visited her
mother, Mrs. Phillip Moore, last
week.
Miss Edith May Alston of E.C.T.
C., Greenville, spent the week-end
at her home here.
Henry Grant visited his daugh
ter, Mrs. H. R. Seder, Sunday.
Mrs. James Tilghman Jr. left Sat
urday for Savannah, Ga., where she
will spend several days.
Mrs. C. R. Daniel left Monday
for Jacksonville, Florida, for a
visit.
Miss Emilie Crouch spent Sun
day in Enfield.
Dutch Seifert of Chapel Hill
spent the week-end at his home
here.
Mrs. H. G. Rowe returned home
from a visit to Norfolk Sunday.
Mrs. Florence House of Winston
Salem is the guest of Mrs. H. G.
Rowe.
Bicket Hawkins of Fort Bragg
spent the week-end at his home
\
here.
Mr. and Mrs. Collins Cuthrell of
Enfield visited Mrs. Nellie Garner
Sunday.
George Campbell of Fort Bragg
was a visitor in Weldon over the
week-end.
Swift Employees
At Emporia 100%
On Borsd Program
The eight employes of the Swift
& Company, Emporia, Va., Plant
have subscribed 100% for the pur
chase of U. S. Defense Bonds.
This was announced today by
Mr. Bland Harding, manager of
the Emporia plant, as the culmina
tion of a special campaign begun
less than two weeks tgo. All of
the employes have become mem
bers of the Swift Defense Bond
Savings Plan, which mans that
they have requested the company
to make weekly deductions from
their pay checks and apply them
to the purchase of Defense Bonds.
Grady Harper
Funeral Held
Funeral services were conducted
from the residence here Thursday
afternoon for Grady Harper, 54,
who died after a short illness of
pneumonia. The rites were by the
Rev. W ,W. Finlator and inter
ment. followed in Cedarwood Cem
etery.
Mr. Harper was born near Hali
fax but had been a resident of
Weldon for a number of years.
He is survived by his wife, Mary
Harper, and two brothers, Joe and
A1 Harper, both of Halifax.
Rites Held For
J. A. Ferrell
J. A. Ferrell of this city died at
his home Sunday morning follow
ing a heart attack. He was 66
years of age.
Funeral services were conducted
Monday afternoon at the home,
with Rev. S. A. Fann, pastor of the
local Pentecostal Holiness church,
in charge of the last rites. Inter
ment followed in Cedarwood cem
etery.
Surviving are his wife, three
daughters, Mrs. Harvy Barbour of
Durham, Mrs. C. J. Seuis and Mrs.
A. W. Wright; five sons, Rupert,
Henry, James, Russell and Rufus,
all of Roanoke Rapids; and the
following brothers and sisters:
Mrs. P. M. White of Roxboro, Mrs.
Roy Bell, Mrs. A. D. Matthews of
Tarboro, Bunn Ferrell, Clayton, A.
O. Ferrell of Charlotte, and John
Ferrell of Roanoke Rapids.
CARD OF THANKS
I wish to take this means of
thanking our many friends for
their kindness to me during the
illness and death of my husband,
and also for the many beautiful
floral offerings.
Mrs. J. A. Ferrell.
HOSTESS AT BRIDGE
Enfield — Mrs. Sam Arrington
Dunn was hostess to her bridge
club on Tuesday afternoon. Early
spring blossoms decorated the liv
ing rooms.
Five tables were in play at pro
gressive contract with Mrs. R. T.
Beal winning high score prize.
Mrs. Ivey Watson won the bingo
hand prize.
After the game Mrs. Dunn serv
ed an assortment of sandwiches
and cookies with hot tea.
Guests were Mrs. Sidney Ran
dolph, Mrs. R. W. Baugham, Mrs.
Garland Taylor, Mrs. R. T. Beal,
Mrs. Waverly White, Mrs. I. J.
Gillette, Mrs. R. E. Shervette, Jr.,
Mrs. Eugene Wood, Mrs. Hugh
Sherrod, Mrs. S. W. Dickens, Mrs.
J. F. White, Mrs. Hunter Pope,
Mrs. Ivey Watson, Mrs. A. S.
Harrison, Mrs. R. F. Shaw, Mrs.
J. R. Matthews, Mrs. P. W. Joyner,
Mrs. J. B. Britt, Mrs. Joe Edwards,
and Mrs. A. C. Nichols, Jr.
>s. ‘
Iona Plain or Self Risuig i i I .,
FLOUR |
ANN PAGE ASSORTED 1 *’♦ <; ft'
PRESERVES 2 Z ml
STRAWBERRY & RASPBERRY 2-lb, Jf^Tc I
DATED - ENRICHED * . *”
Marvel Bread
8 O'CLOCK 2 £ m\:•
I MILD AMERICAN I
CHEESE ib. 3ic I
ANN PAGE SPAGHETTI, NOODLES or ' *
MACARONI Z 5c
ANN PAGE GRAPE
JAM 2 25c
Mil 1/ White O I-;irK,‘ «ip.
IVBlklV House O Cans ‘25®
OAT MEALs~rk3 ,CI9c '
LIMA BEANS T'Zr 19c
Baked Beans Z 3 Z 20c
crackers 23c
Pure Lard s“ 4 Z 57c
FLOUR szr 4 Z 25c
Starting Mash ^25 h B*‘ 80c
* •"""T 15'\
\"”K¥ois!tf 1°"“ 33\
»S2SjS|i-v— 58 V
\“'Ki lards"1 ‘ 2"“ ’,«\
1 COLLAR^3 4 lbs. 14C1
\ RUTABA&« „^.„. |
1 JWJ POKM^ 0m°" _
IH
*MARKET DEPARTMENT I.
PORK CHOPS —-3ic I
HAMS s“n"s,l"d',b 35c I
PICNICS Sunnynew’ p®* ib- I •
CHUCK ROAST ” “ 29® I
SPRING LAMB ^ b 33c I
SAUSAGE p"reprlt b 27c I '
BACON WWte - 3ic I;;
Fresh Fish & Chickens |'