XV., NO. 784 ^^"kntXth ?? "t ;L%/itofc* ELIZABETH CITY, N. C., FRIDAY, DEC. 29, 1922 ??"yciff ff/ a B"1"J"' PRICE 5 CENT|| fEveryday, inevery way we're growing bigger Being An Attempt to Sketch SSmething of the Progress Made by Elizabeth City $n 1922 By VICTOR MEEKINS B The tAsk of reviewing: Eliz progress during HEhe year 1922 is no small one. ^BThere is no gainsaying the fact that in the past year Eliz ^ abeth City ? has made the greatest strides in every parti cular, of any year in its his-1 tory,?bearing in mind that the nation had not recovered from the after-war period of financial depression, prevalent in every section, and the con sequent state of mind among the people. These same condi tions have proved a handicap I to the ordinary development m of every other section as well as Elizabeth City. There hare been so many thiugs of major and minor importance to H occur during the past year. which H have marked Elizabeth City as a ? wide awake, progressive town, that a V summary of aH of them would re quire many pages. So leaving the & minor things aside, it is considered best to chronicle only Hiese outstand ing things which senfe as an index to Elizabeth City's progress and prostjprity. tTo begin with. Elizabeth City is Z?'' agricultural town. and its welfare de|>ends mostly on the productiveness of its thousands of outlying acres, j and the welfare of the farmers who . till them. The situation has had its ? influence in nearly every important development iu Elizabeth City during : th? year, and there have been few projects which did not have, as their inspiration or object, something of mlue to the agricultural development Of the section. Highways To Market The most progressive ami perma nent feature of benefit to both city Ami county has been the money spent for good roads. Pasquotank County farmers have lost thousands, perhaps millious of dollars in years gone by. because of the lack of good roads- 011 which to transport their crops to town for sale or shipment. I>ozc?s of investors have shied at Elizabeth City because the section was cursed f J ft some of the worst roads in xtern North Carolina. There are so ne who say thut the lack of roads has held back the progress of Eliz abeth City a hundred years. Pasquotank County has spent ami Is spending nearly all of its bond is sue of $7o0.lM?t for roads. Hard-sur J faced highways with Elizabeth City hs the terminal lead from practically every section of the county. In ad ditioii to what the -county has spent, the state is now linking Jilizaimrh City with the county seats of Cho wan. dates, Perquimans, Camden and Currituck Counties, liceause Eliza - v ? beth City is the largest town in this section between Xorfulk and New Bern, it is the trading center of all" these counties and more. With its many miles of good, roads completed, it will be opened tu new territories which before could not be .tributary to its growth. Better Live StdW The farmers about Elizabeth City have paid more attcutiou to livestock growing during the.past year. And they are not trying to make any thing out of scrub stock. Pure bred hogs aud cattle are being added to the herds, the extent of good stock Increasing as the value becomes ap Ls who come in ?ss of the pion ingle livestock The Foreman a result of the e farmers, aud rther progress, acquired two the year, s, the l'asquo i-gau business year. It has pounds of pork her plant was it ley & Co. of ild, Va. It is and has a ca ts of hams and ion has been the past year, l.Jiave stiiuu a model dairy ich now serves lizabeth City. Dairy, owned Elizabeth City, [(wards of 30 which, add in I gallons a day k supply. Still [ is being pro ;'age 3) MAY DIMINISH j WATER SUPPLY ' Drainage of Knobbs Creek Water Shed Might Be Undesirable The petition of Chairman j Frank Page of the North Car olina Highway Commission for a drainage district taking in [ thousands of acres of the Knobbs Creek watershed near Elizabeth City, is viewed with considerable alarm by many thoughtful citizens. It is from Knobbs Creek tluit Elizabeth C!ty gets its public water | supply and recent reports of engi neers indicate that the supply at pre sent is hardly all that could be de sired. The city lias no assurau-e of Pasquotank ltivcr affording a satis factory water supply for more than afew years, on account of the l>is lual Swamp Canal. The Dismal Swamp Canal will either be made a sea level government waterway, turn ing the salt water of Chesapeake l'?a\ into Pasquotank River, or it may ul timately become a part of a great Dsmal Swamp drainage project which will do the same thing. Eliz abeth City has no near-by water sup 1 ply other than that of Knobbs Creek. l>r. I.. S. Eludes, a well informed citizen who has given considerable thought to the city's water problem, is one of those who believes that any drainage project taking in a con siderable part of the Knobbs Creek watershe?l would be disastrous to the city. There are upwards of lo.lHNt acres ;n the contemplated Knobbs Creek drainage project, and the drainage of that vast acreage would empty the Knobbs Creek watershed | of millions and millions of gallons 'of the reserve suppl'cs now constant ; ty trailiibk1. "I was born aud laiscd on t'*e side ' ??f a snamii," says I.V. I'ladcs. "ami I know what drainage does for a wa ter supply. My |?cople operated botli a saw mill and a grist mill from the water in our swamp. In twenty years the ditching and draining of the water power of that swamp that lands in that vicinity so diminished : the saw mill had to lie abandoned and the grist mill could he operated only a few mouths iu the year. "I do not want to he misundcr , stood as opposed to drainage or to tl" greatest possible agricultural progress of our section, but I am wondering if any Knohbs ('reek drain age project should not be carefully iconsidered in connection with the iin ' pcratire needs of the city's popula tion dependent" upon Knohbs Creek for its water?" The petition, signed by Chairman J'age ami now iu the hands of the Clerk of the Superior Court of this 1 County has not yet been filed. If [ describes the area it is proposed to ; drain as fAllows: "All those certain lands located in j Pasquotank Count, ami on the water ; shed of the southern fork, or 'branch - of Knohbs Creek. The lands to be iuelurtqd in the proposed district, are all such lands as naturally drain into the said South fork of Knohbs Creek at or near the bridge on the public road 6f Pasquotank County, its the same crosses the itmin stream of Knohbs Creek, or -what is known as , the 'Creek road*, and thence W'est ? ward, along the various courses or tributaries.of the said South fork, or Itranch of Kuobbs Creek to include all the lauds.which naturally drain I into said stream as aforesaid." I . THE FARM THAT FAILS (From The Ashovillc Citizen) j ? Nearly half the farms in North j Carolina buy feed for livestock. ' spending for it over a i year. Such was the census report for 1010, as compiled in The Univer sity News Letter. I'uneombc County farms purchased iu that year 01.3 per | cent, of their feed; Swain only 10.7 per cent: Nash 77.S and Dare N-l.S. | Says George Sparrow, writing for The News Letter: "The first business j of a farm is to feed the farm family and the farm animals. If it fails to do this, it runs the risk of failing al [ together." A farm that cannot feed Itself is as uneconomic' as a farm that allows half its productive acreage to lie ful Heads Merchants' Association I???? E. F. SPENCER MR. SPENCER was recently elect ed president of the Elizabeth City Merchants' Association and he is al ready beginning to put energy and enthusiasm into the office. He is surrounding himself with carefully chcscn committees for the various departments of the Association's ac tivities and there will be no dull days in the organization in 1923. REX BEACH DROPPED INTO TOWN YESTERDAY Famous Author Has Been Shooting N. C. Wild Fowl Twelvo Years Hex Uracil, world famous author, playwright, .sport-man was among itlic notable visitors to Klizabcth City this week, passing thru Kliza bcth City yesterday from an outing iu I'amliro Sound where he has been shooting wild geese, brant and ducks. This makes the author's twelfth vis t to the North ( aroliim game coun try. It was on his outing iu l'am lieo Sound li.st winter that lie got his material for luic.uf his latest sto ries. "The White ltrant." Kex lo ach is forty five years old. ipparentl.v six feet ill height, weighs close to -ft' pounds and has the looks md actions of a regular fellow. What most folks don't know about him is *ha: lie wasn't originally cut out for t writer at all. but was educated for the law. taking law courses in two colleges. After ' graduating in law he decided he wouldn't be a law yer at a!! and bad a notion lie would ?ell insurance, lie got cold feet, in he insurance business and decided to go on the road as a salesman foi i fire brick manufacturer. While waiting on the fire brick job he trial his band at writing a short story.! Me sold the story and found sueli easy money thereby that lie decided to keep on writing, lie lias since I put over a number of successful nov els and is putting bis stuff on tlicj ! screen as well. >> > nmrc tSE.33 LUDD lVI/\|\rVIE.,3 SALISBURY, N. C. MAN Popular Elizabeth City Girl Surpris es Friends Here by Marriage in Norfolk i A wedding <>f unusual interest to in :ity Elizabeth City folk was solem nized in Norfolk. Va. Wednesday I morning. Dec. 27 when Miss Mary Klizabclii Cobb, a daughter of Mrs. Margaret Cobb of this city became the bride of Mr. Gerald F. Laughlin, ? formerly of Boise City, Idaho, but now a resident of Salisbury. X. C. j I'.css Cobb, as she is better known I in Elizabeth City was one of Eliza beth City's most attractive, interest j ng. vivacious, lovable girls. As a teacher in the primary department of the city's public schools for several terms, she won her way into the hearts of hundreds of children ami parents in the town. Less than two years ago she accepted a position as secretary to It. A. Kohloss, Federal | litoliibition Commissioner for North Ciaroliua, whose offices are in Salis bury. Elizabeth City had not seen much of her since, and few of her friends here suspected that she would ever consent to be uuything more than a delightful maid. She fooled 'em. The marriage was performed at the home of the bride's sister, Mrs. \V. J. Garris, 510. Virginia Ave., Co lonial Place, Norfolk, at eight o'clock Wednesday morning. 15 ride and groom left immediately ou a bridal tour which will cover the principal Florida East Coast resorts, Cuba aud New York City. They will be at home in Salisbury, N. C., March 1. 102.'!. Mr. Laughliu is president of the Sal isbury Itubbcr Mfg. Co. (). Where can one obtain a direc tory giving all hospitals for the in sane? A. From the American Medical j Association, 555 North Dearborn SI.. | Chicago, 111. . For your eyes' sake see Dr. J. D. [ Hathaway, Optometrist, Bradford I Blug., Elizabeth City, N. C. ?r. ('. It. Williams, County j Health Officer. Or. Williams stated j that about S.1 per cent, of the people to die in this county from tuberculo-1 sis. are negroes. Or. Williams sag-' gested that this condition promises to menace the health of the county, .iiul at any rate would prove extreme ly expensive unless something is done to alleviate it. The Bulletin of the State Hoard of Health gives Pasquotank's deaths from tuberculosis last year as L!4 ne groes and four whites. A perusal of flic county death records will reveal, many more death from kindred ills. | The poor living conditions of the negroes in this couuty; their poorly heated, ill ventilated huts and poor food all aggravate tuberculosis. "Fresh air, sunshine and nourish ing foods are the things which lialp most in combatting the disease,", states Dr. Williams. "People do not take so much no tice of such conditions when they ex ist among negroes. Nor do they of ten get to the attention of the pub lie. Put the increase of tuberculo sis can do a lot of injury to the county. "It is the poorer people afflicted with disease who work the greatest hardship on 4lie community. The wealthy people are able to get treat ment and food. "Tubercular cases should be segre gated. not only because contact with them is not for the best, .but because they seldom get the attention they need. It is nearly always the case that people living in the same house and even relatives of the afflicted person, try to avoid hi in, between one another. "What this county really needs, al tlio it may be slow to get it, is a sana torium of its own, where these eas es can be isolated from the rest of the community, and given the proper attention. It would be feasible for two counties or even three, to bu'ld a jointly owned sanatorium, if one county was not justified, or was un able to finance it." The ISureau of Tuberculosis of the State Hoard of Health lias prepared plans for a tuberculosis camp in counties, where only a limited amount of money is available. The ]? aiu building is very simple in construction, and can be erected at a cost of approximately $5,100. This estimate of course, is for a wooden building. The unit will ac comodate 12 patients, six of each sex. It is built with a men's and wo men's dressing rooms, and living rooms, and a screened sleeping porch for each sex. There is a dining room, kitchen and nurses' room. The j dining room and kitchen will cost ? f 1 about $1.7o0. It is proposed to heat tlu> main building ami dining room by an Areola heater located in the men's dressing room, so that the men pa tients could help to look after the fires. ELIZABETH CITY HAD A SWEET TOOTH XMAS Enormous Sales of Chocolates And Bon Bons Reported By Dealers Elizabeth City had a sweet tooth for Christmas. A canvas of the sev eral stores in Elizabeth City spec ializing in the better grades of fan cy chocolates and boii bons brings out the fact that sales of these spe cialties far exceeded any previous Yulelide season. It is estimated that more than three thousand pounds of the higher priced candies were sold over the counters of four stores in Elizabeth City Christmas week. Sales of the cheaper varieties of candies probably ran into tons. All stores did a thriving business. The greatest demand of Christmas shoppers appeared to he for candy, perfumery, neck ties, silk socks, silk hosiery and silk undcr-thiugs for wo men; but there was also a strong de mand for jewelry, furniture, over coats, and things of genuine useful ness. There was very little evidence of drinking, tho nearly every adult one met wanted to tell you about the egg nog or champagne he had just Imbibed or was expecting to imbibe. It was not an unusual sight, to see neighbor carrying a glass of egg nog to neighbor on Christmas morn ing, utterly unmindful of the fact that such an expression of Christmas cheer was just as much a violation of the Volstead Act as the transpor tation of a jug of Monkey Hutu in it flivver. Excepting a few headaches and tummy-aches, the whole town surviv ed tin; big feast day gloriously. BEREA YOUNG WOMAN A VICTIM OF LOVE Josiah Bray Held In Bond of $1,000 on Seduction Charge Josiah llray, until u few months ago a fanner in the Iterea section of this county is in trouble on ac I count of an alleged affair with a young woman of the neighborhood who says she will become a mother by Bray in February. The woman in the case is Miss Louie ltelfe, a (laughter of Joshua ltelfe of the Be ? rea neighborhood. She claims to I have given herself to Bray under a | promise of marriage, but when the undesirable happened Bray left the neighborhood, moving to another ! state. Bray has been living in Nor folk for several months. lie was brought back here and given a prc j liminary bearing ,'u the ltccorder's Court Tuesday morning. He_ was placed under a $1,000 bond for ap pearance at the next term of the Superior Court. KILLS A RARE BIRD L. Curtis I'aum of the Buxton White Seed Co. brings back a strange bird which lie killed on the Currituck Marshes this week. The bird is about ithe size of a black duck, resembles a wild goose, but has the distinctive head of a brant. The bird when killed was in the company of a large i wild goose." Mr. Bauin thinks it was | a cross between a brant and a goose, ?but never heard of such a cross be fore. Good eyesight is inexpensive. Se? Dr. J. D. Hathaway, Optometrist, Elizabeth City, N. C. __ adv, may mean big j j loss for city; Loss of Coast Guard Supply Boat May Mean More Than Shows on Its Face The removal of the U. S. | Coast Guard Supply Boat No. 1949 from Elizabeth City to Mantco may be only the first | step in a political scheme to | remove Coast Guard Hcad | quarters from Elizabeth City | to Mantco, is the opinion of men in close touch with such i things. There lives on Itoauokc Island one j of the blandest, smoothest, most ef ficient political wire pullers in Northeastern North Carolina?Tlieo jdore S. Meekins. And this Theodore j Meekins lies awake nights scheming j what government activities nmd uion | eys can be diverted to Itoauokc Isl ! and next. Mr. Meekins has been j trying for a long time to get the Coast Guard headquarters removed to his happy island. He stands in with Congressman II. S. Ward and he stands in with the Const Guard ! Division Commander at Norfolk. The ordering of the Coast Guard supply boat to Mantco has the imme diate effect of crippling the Coast Guard office at Elizabeth City and impairing its efficiency. The boat is indispensable to the Elizabeth City headquarters. Either the boat will have to be returned to Elizabeth City 1 Ellin,bet li Citv headquarters will eventually have to go where it has a boat. The transfer of the supply boat to Manteo takes four Elizabeth Cvt.v men of families along with it. They arc C. (). Miller, Osoar Salter, .1. 0. Gray and Guy F. Iludgius. These men are not at all pleased with the transfer. Congressman Ward, who is sus pected of having had a hand in the j business, could not be reached this week. lie is down on the Panama Canal, studying the needs and possi bilities of that distant enterprise am' | not worrying much about problems at home. I ; WILL ELECT FOUR NEW C. OF C. DIRECTORS Names of Nine Strong Nominees Now Before The Membership Body ! Members of the Elizabeth City Chamber of Commerce have nine strong men from whom to select four new directors of that organization | to succeed J. C. 11. Ehringhaus, S. | II. Johnson, L. R. Foreman and II. IG. Kramer whose "terms of office have expired. The nine nominees for | the four vacancies are Camden Blades. W. T. Culperper, W. 1'. Duff, A. II. Iloutz, F. G. J acock s, J. T. Mc Cabc, X. II. Smith, 1'. II. Williams and Buxton White. Ballots con I taining the names of the nominees were mailed to members of the Cham ber of Commerce Wednesday night, and on the opening of the ballots on Jan. 2 the four receiving the highest number of votes will be declared . elected for the ensuing year. , Nominees for directorship in the Chamber of Commerce are chosen by the members from the entire membership list. Each member picks his own nominees; those nominees receiving the largest number of votes , i are placed on the final ticket. i ^ > ?* > i i v i ELIZABETH CITY V. U. i TAKES 1ST. CLASS RANtt Business of Local Post Office For the Calendar I Year Exceeds Requirements For First Class Office ? J Elizabeth City's post oflicci will take first class rank be-1 ginning July 1, 1923, this office I having qualified as a first class! office'on the business oI tmi present calendar year, whichl will exceed $40,(X)QaX). J The class of a post /ofcee i-' deter J mined by the volume of sub - "f pos4 tngo stumps and stumped pni>erT|B sales of the local po^ of&gfl exceeded the $40,000*M^B ment of a first class ofl'mBB than $2,000 to date, and business will not be over uuiilB urday night. There are 200 post offices is .lfl Carolina and Ellxabeth City *il^| one of fifteen first class office*. H others are Asheville, Charlotte. I^B ham, Fayettcville, flastouia. boro, Greensboro, Iligb I'oint, Bern, Ilaleigle, Itoeky Mount, bury, Wilmington, Wilson and ston-Salem. JH Kli/.abeth City's entry t^H rank of post offices of the first means improved postal scrv.v" ^B Elizabeth City; it mean^ that ?lfl additional clerks or carriers, ? [4JH iniprovement in Scrviec is deiiBud.^l Elizabeth City can now first consideration, tbe denumdiH first class offices always being } A preference over the demends f-5^B OO0 per annum in the salary of I'o^J Master J. A. Iloopcr. His sidaiH will be $.'{,200 per year. The A t-;-H tant Post Master, Win. A. Il'dii < a^B so comes in for a raise, lb- ;n< salary is $2,100 a year. The business of tbe post office shows an increu i f ..femiH 12 per cent this year over eaJI says Mr. Iloopcr. This im-rrcn 'J^H come largely thru the. parcel |<>-H business. Not noly are the Mail imt^B chants doing a larger l?a:>- AH business all the time, but ui"i -.n^H merchants, jobbers and hwuVn mail I ufaeturers are using the parcel postal extensively in place of the railwt>^B express. It is not an iiiia-ual .vnifl at the Elizabeth City port office a single firm to send a truck ln;iOB'>H parcels for one mailing. ? Figures showing the number 1 (<^B pieces of mail handled in ai?l ??< <'fH tliis post office in a year would n a^B into millions. No effort is mu le j^B keep such a count, bec; i ? t?< von clerks employed have enough tM do to dispatch and distribute tlt< promptly, but Post Master IUmf^^H going iuto the first class, l'tst >fl ter Hooper is going to nsk fe^B additional clerk to facilitate tributiou of mail uud sale efotgi^B There are only seven clerk* i" office at the present time at*} work of putting up the m?ibl selling stamps falls upon tlire'^B these. A fourth clerk is uceded this work right now. NEW BERN THANKS ? ELIZABETH CH? Elizabeth City's ContributD" to F*H Sufferers Included $f,421.67 I . In Cash H GeneralVle^ilquarters ^ Disaster Belief^Coiiiuutta^^BB Bern sends tbo fejjH| Secret nev T..I, ..t Chamber of Coi?^| Dear Sir: We have rijtf r.^H suffering ing to asl^B express t'fl our most 1 hanks a^H ti.'s iVa ? ? u^H of ou^| by the that hu^| of the ? eontrihati??^H very best #""wH the stiff''1"* are within ",ir JH VV? (spm I In.a.hiiUo: sent? a t# "fl iwas, raiseil thrjithc ChawM I Is The Bride of Atlanta Man '?mhmhhbhhHHI} I MRS. HARVEY C. PORTER SHE was, until Tuesday morning, Dec. 26, Miss Willie Lumsden Fear-! ing of this city. She was married to Rev. Harvey Coleman Porter, Sec retary of Emory University, Atlan ta. Ga., at the First M. E. Church South in this city at 6 o'clock Tues day morning. After the ceremony, j the young couple left on their hon eymoon. The honeymoon includes a | visit to the grooms' parents in Ala- 1 bama, after which the couple will be ; at home in Atlanta. The bride is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. G. Fearing of this city and one of the town's sweetest and most attractive girls. Zoellcr photo. THEY LIKE TO READ THE SMALL TOWN LIFE STUFF Elizabeth City May Even Get Out side Capital as a Result of Saunders' Articles Articles by the editor of THE IX- J DEPENDENT appearing in The American Magazine arc putting) Elizabeth City on the map in red j letters. The editor receives many | letters from all sections of the conn-j try and from foreign lands, from in teresting men and women ho read; these articles. Here are a couple of; letters from the week's mail. The first letter is from the publisher of one of the big daily newspapers in New York City, whose name is with held for obvious reasons. The New 1 York publisher says: My dear Mr. Saunders: I have just finished enjoying "What I like?and Don't Like ?about Life in a One Ilorse Town", and 1 wonder if you know how every one in a large place yearns to wear their hat brim out. The thought occurred to me that perhaps sometime you may see one of those good small town opportunities for making money, requiring capital, and if you will tell inc about it we might possibly go into business together. This is just a thought, but the impulse behind it is strong and fundamental. Sincerely The second letter referred to is from the Manager of the Chamber of Commerce of Adrian, Mich, lie writes: M. W. O. Saunders, Editor. The Independent, Elizabeth City, N. C. My Dear Sir: Your treatise on the small tiAvn appearing in the January issue of the American Magazine is so tremendously interesting to me that I cannot refrain from writing you a word of commenda tion. I could not help hut apply your sincere thoughts to many small communities with which I am fa miliar. In fact, Adrian, with lii, 000 people, offers a fitting ex ample of the city you refer to. We are "blessed" here with over organization much in the same way you are in Elizabeth City. Yet despite this and other short comings we feel we have a place to live in that^ surpasses the bright lights and entertainment advantages of the larger city. I shall _usc this information in trying to mould a better public opinion in- Adrian jn favor of unity of effort. Your story has done me a lot of good. Very truly yours, C. E. NOYJBS ? Dou't neglect your eyes. See , Hatkawaj, lie Knows. .