THE FRANKLIN TIMES Issued Every Friday ?10 Court Street Telephone 888-1 A. F. JOHNSON, Editor and Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES Om Tear I1JW Bight Month* .... 1.00 ?Six Months 70 Pour Month* BO Foreign Advertising Representative AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION New York City Entered at the Postottiee alt LonJsbnrg, N. C. as second class MMQ matter. THE INEVITABLE EFFECT It is no wonder that the Senate W'ar Mobilization Committee in a recent report declared that the home front is "sagging dangerously." A free people have found themselves shackled by. bureaucratic red tape at almost every turn. They try to increase production? .they try to get a war job ? they try to raise crops ? and in many instan ces they are slowed down or actually stopped by some restriction, decree or law that has so complicated our economic life that a citizen used to doing things for himself is stumped by a multiplicity of bosses. Don't forget that the success of our war effort has been due to the drive of free private enterprise. Don't expect to hamstring that enterprise and not confuse and bewilder, and even destroy, the spirit of individual ini tiative and independence which built, maintained and must perpetuate this nation if our country remains as "we have known it. uOQ A SAFE BET Secretary of the Navy Knox has predicted a crude oil shortage within a year, and exhaustion in 14 to 20 yeaVs of present known supplies. Almost these same words were used during the last .World War, and then the oil industry evolved new drilling methods, found new fields, greatly increased the products taken from crude oil, and gave our nation the greatest supply of oil products on record. There was incentive to do the job. If our lawmakers and regulators will but give the oil industry half a chance and allow a fair return for the risk involved, it is a safe bet that this country won't be out of oil in one year, or twenty years. Cut the red tape before an artificial shortage iscrea ted, and give American enterprise a chance to meet any emergency. Any other policy will be fatal to a nation that uses gasoline and oil products almost as freely as water. ooo A FEW FACTS TO REMEMBER Since the last World War, $10,000,000,000 has been spent for improvements to American railroads. For ...every dollar of additional stocks and bonds, the railroads have spent $10 for additions and betterments. In 1918 there was an average of $10,000\vorth of railroad equip ment for each man employed. Now each man uses $20,000 worth. Moving fijjhting equipment and fighting men, war ma terials, food and fuel has been the biggest transportation job in history. Railroads ifi 1943 are moving twice as many ton-miles of freight as in croresponding period in 1918. . ? Freight rates generally are no higher now than when the war started. There are 600,000 fewer freight cars in service today than in 1918, but thpy carry 22 per cent more. The av erage freight train does more than twice as much work in an hour. There are 26,000 fewer locomotives than during the first World War, but they are better loeonffltives and turn out more work per day. In the first three months of 1943, passenger traffic was virtually double that of the corresponding period in 1918. Troop movements quadrupled those in the fiijst \yorld War. Tfie general level of railway travel costs in recent years has been the lowest in railway history. Railroad employes in 1942 averaged 1,271,000, as con trasted with 1,842,000 in 1918, and in 1942 employes re ceived in wages $2,932,000,000, as against $2,614,000,000 in 1918. Railroad taxes, per dollar of revenue, increased from 4.6c in 1918, to 16.1c in 1942. THE LOW DOWN from HICKORY GROVE I get Borta in a lather about a sales tax every time I see people spending money like it might grow on a tree. A sales tax ?would cost me some muz uina but in the long ran it will cost me and every body else more, if we don't hare a tax now. It Uncle Samuel don't this surplus dinero, somebody else will. The night Jo Son spot*, or any place tnat will open I tip a door , gets business. , A llUmj g?nt making 100 per riuRt j&'jns r.*i 4 dollars. Or a dinner at 85 cents, If It was 95 cents by tack ing on a 10 per cent tax, would not slow down anybody. You could set up a roulette wheel, and 1( the police did not get you. you would go to town. 1 But I am hopeful. Congress has its tail over the dashboard tand is showing a touch of ginger and gumption. They are start ing to trim off a few Govt, frills and fancy notions ? maybe a sales tax will be next. Yours with the lown down, JO SERRA. o There are apparently sufficient amounts of nitrogen and phos phate fertilizers for all food and feed production in 1844. but there may be a slight {ItortuCe of potash to meet :i<wal raMlr< mente. . *?? ** ? o ? Wheat and wheat floor export programs, in operation since 1938, will not be renewed for the coming flical year because of 1 shortages In the TJ. 8., say# 44* 1 PICKING DAISIES ? 4. FRANKLIN COUNTY HISTORY By REV. E. H. DAVIS The Union soldiers left this section in May 1865 after a few days of peaceful occupancy with no damning record of spoliation | or violence in the life of our peo ple which synchronizing with their appearance here were after wards identified by the name of Sherman. The freshet in the streams of the Eastern Carolinas and Virginia in the early spring of that year the highest of record up to that time was for years re membered as the Sherman fresh et. In that same spring or sum mer there appeared here for the first time the collard bug or pest afterwards known as the Sher man beetle ? the vanguard of a horde of similar destroyers that have depredated upon us regular ly since. And then there was what came closer to all thau either of these ? that leveler of all distinction and non-respecter of persons, scabies ? the Itch. That able and victorious Union General throughout thts section was best and longest remember ed as associated with one of these ? the Sherman freshet. The Sherman terrapin bug. the Sher man itch. President Lincoln's Emancipation proclamation com ing Jan. 1, 1883 had little or no effect in the slave holding States while the war for their emancipa tio nwas still in progress. For the most part throughout this section, notably" in Franklin the condition of the ante-bellum ne (Ko or slav6 was not one of hard ship, cruelty and degrading pov erty. The masters were not all tyrants ? the overseers were not all Simon Legrees. There are those living here today who eas ily recall the sight of the old plantation with the cabins scat tered over it not always In rows or groups but located generally on the acreage its occupants were expected to cultivate ? the cabins built generally of oak logs, with stick or rock chimney and con sisting of one big room and attic aoove wun noara lean-to Denina. There was always a garden en closed by a rail fence in which not only the familiar vegetables of that day were grown but also flowers. The first Princess feath ers this writer ever saw and the most luxuriant were grown in the gardens of slaves and orna mented their humble but some times really attractive homes. The same conditions obtained in large measure after the- surren der. With the bestowment of freedom and the ballot the negro as a race did not lose its head and run amuck. The sudden transition from slavery to free dom and the ballot was attended with far less disruption and iriction than so great a change would seem to necessitate. Be yond the possession of the ballot, its well nigh universal exerciso and with but very few exceptions unvariabiy in the same direction there was comparatively little change to be noted. Many of them, possibly most of them con tinued-right where they were be fore, living in same Cabin, culti vating same ground, even plow ing same team. The work day began with the rising of the sun and terminated as before with the going down of the same. Every member of the family able to work did work. There were no schools for the younger ones of the race to attend. They came afterwards as the necessary and inevitable consequent of the right of suffrage. That one should continue to jcast a ballot that he was not able to read was incon sistent and should be made im possible even in the estimate of th? former slave owner. Negroes i wW*rtor to 1868 learned to read : anfc'wite as some did acquired i that ^knowledge not through I schools but climbed up some oth- ] er way. John H. Williamson, of : Franklin, who for a number ot < years represented the county in ' slave in the State of Georgia in 1844, the property of Gen. John N. Williamson and his wife Tem perance Boddle Perry, of Frank lin. On the death of Gen. Wil liamson the family came back to Franklin bringing young John with them and made their home in Loulsburg. Speaking of him self and his early struggles to learn John says this in his diary. "Although I had learned the al phabet I could neither read nor write. So knowing this Sam (?) teased me and said no Georgia nigger had sense enough to read. Naturally proud and resentful those words stung me. So I re solved then and there not to rest until I could read and write. I had a Webster blue back speller and was advised by Mrs. Shaw to get the Ajjgell's series. She started me off in the first book and in one. wepk I could spelt any word and read any line in it. And then the second and third and on lintll iV*6 . months I' had mastered tllte of Ave. At this tinfe Mr. Shaw then u boy of 10 was attending s?hool at the Academy. He generally placed his books on the bureau on going to bed ? Webster's dic tionary and Morse's geography, end I would slip them out to the wood house to read and return. It was one of my duties to play with him and as he would 140 over liis logons I would go with him. in this way I got all he had learned." These words from this ambitious and determined negro boy born in slavery who despite all handicaps achieved honor and distinction deserve a place here antjt.are worthy the | study of our youth today, white and black, whose lives are crow ded with opportunities utterly dented him but which they so frequently ignore and sometimes despise. Williamson represented the County in the Legislature for a number of terms. Of his career there J. 0. Hamilton In his book "Reconstruction in N. C." says, "he was the ablest representative of his race ever ln.that body and often took prominent part in its debates." More than once he was a delegate from the 4th N. C. District (o the Republican Na tional Convention. He was how ever too much in sympathy with his friends and neighbors in the opposite party who however regularly voted against him to be in entire accord with the- leaders of his own party and so for one reason or another they steadily pulled against him. This culmi nated in 1892 when he came out as an independent candidate for Congress against the? regalar Democratic candidate and the machine candidate of his own party. He ran on a platform of his own election showing the same Independence in thought that ever characterized him even whep classified as a party regu lar. Two planks in that plat form were (1) payment by the National government of $1,000 for every formef slave still living ? to be divided equally between that slave himself and his form er Master, if living; (2) the open ing of Tar River for navigation of vessels of light, draft as far as Loulsburg. That last plank may seem well night ludicrous to us now but for a long time before Williamson's day, before the rails were ever laid to our town that matter had been one of real Importance and -fttfeived serious thought. Witness this ? Tar River Navigation Company At a meeting of the President md Directors of the Tar River Vavlgatlon Company held at Louisburg on the 13th of March Instant it was resolved that five per cent be paid on or before the 1st of May nett bj the stockhold ers In said Company t6 the Treasurer. The stockholders are lereby notified tp pay the same l?$>rdln*ly. Those failing to mspty- with this' ?rder will be proceeded against according to h :he provisions of the Act of in corporation. e Joel King, Treasurer. g March 14, 1821. ^ The slaves were never paid (or J ind their emancipation, according a to Williamson's ideology was an e ict of Confiscation by the parent a Sovernment of the private prop erty of a large body of its citizens tl ? he himself never found his way g [o Washington as Representative j from the 4th N. C. District and j the Tar remains to this day un- <j navigable for vessels of any draft ( to Louisburg. After his retire- c ment from politics and the Re- r publican party Williamson be- , came Editor of a paper in Raleigh where the same fluency and ? brightness characterised h 1 s printed words that he had shown on the stump and in the Legisla ture. He was ever a fluent speaker and an effective cam paigner who did not hesitate to tackle any adversary the opposi tion might send against him. He was easily the ablest, leader of his race in the county and de serves high place among those who led them in the entire State. MITCHELL-SHANNON HOUSE Miss Dorothy Ann Shannon house, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Granberry Shannonhouse, of Raleigh, became the bride of Lt. Jerry Mitchell, Jr., of Charl eston, W. Va., and Wilmington, Del., son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Mitchell, of Charleston, W. Va., Saturday afternoon at 5:30 o'clock at the First Presbyterian Church. The Rev. M. 0. Sommers, pas tor, was the officiating minister, and the wedding music was ren dered by Mrs. C. P. Wharton, organist, and Edward Hill, voca list. The bride was given in mar riage by her father. Her white, floor length gown was fashioned with a sweetheart neckline, and three-quarter length sleeves. The bodice was of lace with long torso, and the skirt was of mar quisette over taffeta. Her finger tip veil of illusion fell from a tiarra of mother of pearl orange blossoms. She carried a shower bouquet of white stephanotis, cen tered with a purple orchid. Mrs. Henry J. Wiemann wasj matron-of-honor and her sister's1 only attendant. She wore a floor length dress of pink, fashioned like that of the bride and her bonnet was of pink marquisette edged with a narrow ruffle. She carried a shower bouquet of mix ed pink and blue flowers. Honorary bridesmaids were Misses Mary Evelyn Mitchell, of Charleston, W. Va., sister of the bride-groom; Catherine Nichol son, of Troy; Peggy Massey, Hel en Andrews, Dorothy Durfey, An abel Standi!, ' Elizabeth Bolton and Betty Miller. Jack Darden of Farmville at tended Lieutenant Mitchell as best man, and ushers were A. i W. George and Henry J. Wie- 1 mann. The bride's mother wore a dusty rose two-piece dress of shadow crepe with matching ac cessories. Her corsage was of pink roses. The bridegroom's mother wore a navy chiffon dress with white accessories, and her flowers were gardenias. After the ceremony, the couple left for awedding trip to New York City. j For traveling, the bride wore a two-piece, navy corded silk ) dress edged, at the neck and; sleeves with white organdy ruf fles. Her small white hat was trimmed with navy bows and a veil. Her accessories were white, and she wore the orchid from er bridal bouquet. Mrs. Mitchell attended the Kal igji public schoola. She Is a raduafe of Needham Broughton j Ilgh School and attended Peace) unior College. For the past year nd a half she has been employ d by the Equitable Life Assur nce Society. Lieutenant Mitchell attended he Charleston schools and was raduated from the Charleston ligb School. Before entering the Irmy Air Forces, he was a stu lent at North Carolina State College, where he was a member >f Delta Sifema Phi social frater ilty. He is now stationed with he Army Air Transport Com mand in Wilmington, Del., where be and Mrs. Mitchell will make their home. ? News-Observer. r Lt. Mitchell is the nephew oC Mrs. W. B. Barrow, of Loulsburg, and a grandson of the late Rev. J. R. Jones, who resided near Louisburg. A total ot 249 beef and dairy cattle have recently been placed In Warren County. FOR SALE One good Milk Cow. Milking two and a half gallons daily, See P. W. Justice, R. 1, Louisburg, N. C. 7-30-lt ALL STRAW HATS ... AT ? HALF - PRICE THE STERLING STORE COMPANY Franklinton's Shopping Center What Your Bank Means To You: YODR ; CHILD'S EDUCATION! FqgyiCTOKY BUY UNITED ?TATBS WAR b/BONDS B AMD ^STAMPS Don't wait till your son or daughter graduates from high school to start saving for his college education. Putting away a moderate amount regularly all through the years will relieve you of the strain of sudden ex penses. Teach the children to save with you in a sav ings account. FIRST - CITIZENS BANK & TRUST COMPANY Memlpr Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Corner Main A Hash Sts. Louisburg, N. Carolina Banking Honrs: 9:0Q A. M. to 2:00 P. M.

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