THE ROANOKE RAPIDS
THE LARGEST NEWSPAPER IN HALIFAX COUNTY
By Mail — $2. Yearly — In Advance
ROANOKE RAPIDS, NORTH CAROLINA
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
OFFICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES
ADVERTISING - PRINTING - EMBOSSING
INCREASE IN CRIME ^ .
Crimes of violence and crimes against nature
are on the increase in Halifax County as well as
elsewhere in the nation. With the best of our young
men in the armed forces, it would seem that the
society for which they are fighting is being sub
jected to the perverted ideas and actions of those
who are unfit for service with uniformed men
and are sent back or left to prey on unprotected
children, women and property. Their only hope for
decency and safety now rests with those too old to
fight and with the courts, juries and law enforce
ment officers. Never was there a greater challenge
to those left behind to safeguard life, liberty and
property. Never has a more difficult task faced
parents, teachers and preachers and all those in
terested in the moral, mental and physical well
being of the children of this land.
The armed forces must come in for their share
of the responsibility because they should not turn
back on society those who are incapable of living
with other men; how much more incapable are
those kind of living with women and children. Per
fection in the armed forces will avail nothing if
the home front is permitted to weaken or crumble.
THE CITY ELECTION
We hear and read a lot about what we are fight
ing for in this terrible war which just seems to bfe
getting started good so far as the United States
is concerned and among those things at the top of
the list is usually the right to cast our vote for any
body we please.
We want the right and demand the right to vote
but how many of us will use any kind of excuse to
keep from using that right? The most popular ex
cuse is to say we are not interested in this person
or that person who happens to be running or in
this issue or that in which we are not personally
involved. The result is that only a small percentage
of Americans use the right to vote even though
men are losing their lives to keep that right and
duty for them. Itwill be interesting to see what
number performs that duty and exercises that free
right to vote on next Tuesday, May 4th, when
Roanoke Rapids elects a mayor to serve for the
next two years.
SERVING ON THE JURY
l High on top of the list of things our boys are
fighting and dying for is the right of a jury trial
in a free court and yet it was only this week we
were told that so-called “good citizens” shy away
from jury service when they are chosen. There is
another right which is also a duty for every citi
zen entitled to service which should never be
News from the Front
- ---------
. HUNTING JAPS HERE, REMINDS ME VERV MUCH OF
HUNT/NO* RA£»£H rs AT HOtAB.ONLY THEY CAN RUN V/A
FASTER ANP CLIMES TREE 5^ TELL GRAN PA OUP VA
OUTFIT HAS* THE PEST COOK IN THE SERVICE WE %
'—~p riAP ROAST P&ErF PINNER M
last sun PAy, with all the m
/C—^ r trimmings,eRAuy andevery- VA
y cMSwk THE NATIVES ARE UER/ M
shunned, for with the collapse of our jury system
and our voting system, there is very little left to
distinguish our kind of government from those of
the Japs and Nazis. Good American citizens will
welcome jury duty and exercise the right to vote
whenever called upon.
FUTURE BOND ISSUE
The 2nd War Bond Sale will go way over the
top in Halifax County. The county’s quota was
$695,600. On the surface there is every reason to
be proud of this showing, but we are afraid the
totals will show that very few individuals bought
the bonds. A large percentage of the amount was
bought by the local mills, by banks thruout the
county and by a few investors. The final figures
will show that the small investor and the average
citizen did not purchase many of these 2nd War
Loan Bonds. The big corporations and the banks,
which have taken a lot of cussing in the past, put
the 2nd War Loan Drive over. But they cannot
keep on doing that and the 3rd drive and the 4th
and whatever others are to come must depend on
the average citizen or they will not have the mon
ey necessary to successfully prosecute the war.
The government can get this money from only two
sources: taxes and war loans. If the later war loan
drives are not enough, it just means higher taxes
to make up the difference and the difference be
tween taxes and bonds is that you get your money
back when you lend it by buying bonds but you
kiss it goodbye when you pay it in taxes. '
WAR EFFECT ON ROADS
During the first War year, and the most adverse
year in its history, the State Highway and Public
Works Commission managed to build or definitely
improve 770 miles of road in 416 sections; a dis
tance equivalent to a road longer than from Man
teo to Murphy. At the same time, it maintained
58,508 miles of rural roads, 1,922 miles of city
streets and about 18,000 bridges, of which many
were widened.
rm • i l • i i • . i* •
j.ms wuijs. way awumpiisneu in spite ui. oeiiiiuo
shortages of men, materials and equipment; and
in the face of sharply curtailed revenues. The
majority of the new construction projects were
for access roads to newly developed military camps
and bases; and new war production plants, of
which there are dozens in the State. The number
of miles improved in 1942, however, was in the
order of only about 30 per cent of the average in
the busy years of 1940 and 1941.
Although traffic fell off sharply, there were
more truck and bus miles travelled, by far, than
in any previous years. These heavier vehicles are
naturally more punitive to road surfaces, permit
ting no lowering of road maintenance standards.
A... .-A A
Kiwanis Program
Will Stress Good (
Will With Canada
“United States - Canada Good
Will WeeK will be observed by
the Roanoke Rapids Kiwanis Clufc^
April 25 to May 1”, said J. E.
McGee, President of the Club to
day.
“Thousands of Kiwanis in both
countries will commemorate this
important observance,” he aiij.
nounced. “The Rush-Bagot Agree
ment, which for a century and a
quarter, did away with the build
ing of armed vessels on the Great
Lakes has only now been super
seded and now only because suc^
vessels are being built there b>’
both countries for their mutual
defense.”
president mci^ee aeciarea, rnese
two countries are together in war
as they have been for so manj'.
years together in peace. The Hyde?
Park Declaration, co-ordinated
military and economic warfare,
and the new military highway to
Alaska are practical steps toward
common defense. The success pi
our joint war effort depends upoif
good will and understanding be
tween all Americans and Canad
ians. It is not enough that our
national leaders understand each
other, but that the mass of ovr
people must come to know eac*
other better. "After the war is
over, Canada and the United
States must join with their allies
in creating a lasting peace. We
must cooperate in peace as in
war or we will lose everythi.%
for which we are fighting.”
Kiwanis Clubs in both coun
tries will observe United States
Canada Good Will Week this year.
Kiwanis first observed this event
in 1921 and in 1925 members
the clubs from both nations e
rected the Harding International
Geod Will Memorial in Stanley
Park, Vancouver, B.C. Since tfcen
the organization has erected many
bronze tablets along the bor^r
dedicated to lasting peace and
good will. Owing to the shortage
in metal the last one, however,
was cut from granite.
The program sponsored by the
local Club will be conducted (fjy
Kiwanian W. J. Norwood, Past
Lt. Governor of the Sixth Ki
wanis District, Thursday night,
May 6th. This meeting will be very
interesting and will show you how
two nations can live side by s<|e
without a fence between them.
Halifax Liquor
Sales $68,291. <#
Month Of March
The state ABC Board’s report,
for March shows that sales in the
25 wet counties of the State U>
taled $1,682,430. ®
New Hanover usually No. 1 in
sales, again heads the list, with
$261,020.50 Other leaders were:
Durham, with $194,557.95, and
Wake, with $165, 927.90; and Cum
berland, $150,052.55. W
The smallest total was that of
Tyrell County, with $4,856.85.
Other county totals: Beaufort,
$37,679.15; Bertie, $40,807. 85; Car
teret, $31, 410.35; Chowan, $24,958 -
60; Craven, $52,521.10; Dare, $8,4bW.
30; Edgecombe, $68,562.30; Greene,
$8,455.40; Halifax, $68,291.40; Le
noir, $78,118.55; Martin, $28,604.90;
Moore, $70,379.35; Nash, $52,735.
80; Onslow, $61,529.60; Pasquotai^c,
$55,081.30; Pitt, $60,839.80; • VarM;,
$38,222; Warren, $20,703.05; Wash
ington, $14,622.75; and Wilson
$84,001*70.
Aid to Enemy
"Any American who wilfully
neglects to pay his taxes on
time or to invest every cent he
can in War Bonds is surely giv£
ing aid and comfort to the
enemy . . . We have a job to
do and we are all called for
service to our country. Our
dollars are called to service
too. Let us all ask curselveaA
‘Shall we be more tender wltlr
our dollars than with the lives
of our sons?* " — Secretary
Morgenthau.