The Carolina Watchman
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY MORNING BY
The Carolina Watchman Publishing Co.
SALISBURY, NORTH CAROLINA
Established in 1832 100th Year of Publication
E. W. G. Huffman__ Editor
S. Holmes Plexico_Business Manager
PHONES:
News and editorials-695
Advertising and circulation-532
! Business_532
Locals and Personals-2010-J
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Payable in Advance
i One Year - $1.00
Three Years _ 2.00
| Entered as second-class mail matter at the postoffice at Salis
bury, N. C.f under the act of March 3, 1879. j
"If the choice were left to me whether to have a
free press or a free government, I would choose a
free press.”—Thomas Jefferson.
FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 25, 1932
POPULATION DATA
CITIES AND TOWNS
Salisbury _ 16,951 Gold Hill _ 156
Spencer _:. 3,129 Granite Quarry .... 507
E. Spencer _ 2,098 Rockwell _ 696
China Grove _ 1,25 8 Faith _ 431
Landis _ 1,388 Kannapolis _ 13,912
TOWNSHIPS
Atwell _ 2,619 Morgan _ 1,327
China Grove_ 8,990 Mt. Ulla _1 1,3 89
Cleveland _ 1,445 Providence- 2,5 89
Franklin_ 2,246 Salisbury _ 25,153
Gold Hill _ 2,642 S. Irish_ 1,251
Litaker_ 2,5 62 Steele - 1,142
Locke_ 1,904 Unity- 1,406
ROWAN COUNTY.. 56,665
SHOULD BEGIN AT THE TOP
Commenting on the much-discussed topic
of economy in government the Shelby Star
observes that the greater part of the salary
slashing now in progress is largely confined to
the little fellows. Few of the officers at the
top have yet felt the knife of this economy
operation. The Star figures that the officials
and their numerous assistants in the Cleveland
county court house get salaries and fees total
ing a little over $30,000 a year. To some, the
paper says, this may seem an enormous sum,
but invites attention to the following facts:
The head of the Federal Farm Board
draws a salary of $75,000 per year, more
than twice the amount paid all Cleve
land county officials and their helpers.
In the Federal service are many other
men whose annual salaries are equal to
the combined salaries of all our county
officials.
With conditions as they are the people,
who are the bill payers, are justified in
registering complaint about the cost of
government. But they should not hit out
blindly.
The biggest waste in American gov
ernment today is the Federal service, not
in county and city governments, partic
ularly the smaller cities.
The janitor at the average federal
building draws a monthly salary higher
than the paid men who hold some of the
highest offices in Shelby and Cleveland
county.
The Shelby paper continues:
"Just think it over—in the Cleveland
county court house are seven elective of
* ficers, four appointive officers and four
or five assistants whose combined salaries
run just a little above $30,000 per year,
and that sum includes extra clerical help
ti that is needed at intervals throughout the
; year. Yet in the Federal service one man
draws twice that sum per year, and any
number of men have individual salaries
equal to that figure.
"The cutting should be done at the
top.”
WHAT PRICE AVIATION?
Two recent incidents suggest that aviation,
like many another industry, must face a meas
ure of deflation before it again can set a stride
commensurate with the progress all of us
would like to see in American economic life.
Pilots have declared a strike, protesting the
change of their pay from monthly salaries to
hourly wages. And in Washington, Congress
,is threatening to reduce its subsidies to air
transport lines by trimming appropriations for
air mail contracts.
As it becomes less an infant industry and
more firmly established, and as pilots become
more and more numerous, it seems inevitable
that they will have to accept smaller wages.
This has been the case in other new industries,
and at a time of general strets in virtually all
industries.
Likewise governmental economy, which is
absolutely imperative at this time, cannot well
make an exception of the aviation industry,
which has depended in considerable measure
on Federal,subventions. Retrenchment is the
order of the day in public appropriations. Its
application will have to be rigorous, or there
will be no economy.
Obviously the Nation cannot afford, from
a military standpoint alone, to starve the avia
tion industry. Too much depends for our na
tional "defense as well as for our business en
terprise, on the adequacy of air mail and air
transport routes. But there can be moderate
retrenchment in this direction, as in others,
- without serious impairment of the industry.
^Continuous expansion is the aim in this as in
•all lines of industry and transportation, but in
a regime of rising and falling economic activ
ity, some fluctuations are inevitable in each
individual industry, however essential.
THE WORTH OF A GOOD COW
Just what a bona-fide, state-wide Milk-for
Health campaign will mean to the people of
North Carolina is told in the Inarch issue of
the health bulletin published monthly by the
State Board of Health. Quoting the foreword
of the bulletin, which sets forth the needs as
well as the plan for conducting such a cam
paign:
"It means that happiness and prosper
ity could supplant misery and poverty in
more than a quarter of a million rural
homes. More milk for the people of North
Carolina means better health. A good
milk cow for the tenant farmer, white
and black, would be better for his chil
dren than a government bonus.”
The timeliness of the milk-for-health cam
paign that is being conducted by the State
Board of Health and assisted in by the county
boards of health, public schools, county wel
fare superintendents, county farm and home
demonstration agents, is set forth in the bul
letin as follows:
"In North Carolina we use entirely too
little milk and dairy products. Ours is less
than half the averge milk consumption in
the United Statfes, Result, too much pel
lagra, malnutrition, bad teeth, tubercu
losis, repeaters in schools, and general in
efficiency among adults. By doubling the
consumption of milk the pellagra death
rate could be reduced by half, diseases of
nutrition and tuberculosis greatly reduc
ed, the infant death rate lowered, and the
welfare of the people promoted in every
way.”
In the United States as a whole there is
about one cow for every five people, while in
North Carolina we have but one cow for every
ten people and in Eastern Carolina there is only
one cow„ for every 24 people. More cows and
less cotton and tobacco is the need.
THE LIBRARY THIEF
The harassed librarians who see books dis
appearing from their collections, yet hesitate
to search every visitor, might, as somebody
suggests, apply a racetrack practice to the so
lution of the difficulty: weigh every patron
upon his entrance, give him a ticket with his
heft marked on it, and weigK him again when
he goes out, checking up to see that the figures
agree.
And yet even so simple a scheme as that
might not work. A stealer of rare books could
load himself up with literary litter picked at
random from the ten-cent shelves of second
hand shops, carry them into the library and
there deftly exchange them for an equal
weight of something a thousand times as good.
And there is another point to be thought of:
we fear hat women frequenters of libraries
would submit to being weighed by a total
stranger with as little grace as they would to
search. And searching has such manifest ob
jections that it should be resorted to only when
all other methods of apprehending thieves have
failed.
What the librarian would like to find is a
doorkeeper with an uncanny sixth sense which,
like the X-ray, would detect the superficially
imperceptible and unerringly pick out a thief
from among hundreds of honest readers. And
that is not so easy, for the book-thief seldom
has the ear-marks that betray a member of the
regular profession to the eye of a trained po
lice officer. The chances are that he is a bibli
omaniac, perhaps a scholar and a gentleman,
having no association with habitual criminals,
yielding to an irresistible craving like the dip
somaniac with his unquenchable thirst for
rum.
In the Shadow of the Terror -By Albert T. Reid
' ' " . . ... i jajr , s .
. - )
+♦+♦+♦4 444444444444444444+
! The j
! Watchman !
1 Tower |
* +
++44++++++++++++++++++44++
Dr. A. T. Allen, Superintendent,
State Department of Education;
Mr. E. B. feffress, Chairman,
State Highumy Commission.
GentlemenT-" ifes tSSSpte
The accident near Salisbury the past
week, in which 16 children in a school
bus were burned, several of them se
riously, when the vehicle caught fire,
was a very unfortunate affair, but
contemplation of the horrible tragedy
that was only narrowly averted is en
ough to make one shudder. The acci
dent emphasizes the importance of
regular and rigid inspection of all
school buses, as well as the public bus
es, to safeguard all passengers against
accident resulting from defects.
If, as has been stated within the last
few days, the law requires that school
buses have step doors in the rear, it
should be enforced. If there is no such
law, such requirement should be pro
vided by the next legislature, for the
safety of the school children.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
To the Officers and Directors of the
Salisbury Chamber of Commerce:
I desire to commend you upon the
re-election of R. E. L. Niel as secre
tary of your organization. Mr. Neil’s
excellent work during the past sever
al years in which he has been affiliat
ed with your body is a record of which
any organization can be proud. Mr.
Niel’s re-election not only indicates the
high esteem in which he is held, but is
also an approval of the services he has
rendered in the past.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
Chief W. A. Brown,
Salisbmy Fire Department.
My dear Chief:
You and your organization have an
swered more than the average num
ber of calls, during the past few days
and in each instance your promptness
and efficiency has been noticeable.
I desire to commend you and your
organization on your fine work.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
COMMENTS
Wants Date Changed For License Plate
Sales.
To the Editor:
Something that should interest our
State legislators, without any criticism
or ridicule of any of our State offi
cials. The State should change the sell
ing of license plates for automobiles
back to mid-Summer for several rea
sons.
First. I haven’t any data or statis
tics to support this statement, but
there is at least 75 per cent of the au
tomobile owners who are wage earners,
on a small salary, and a good many
live a distance from their work. Their
automobile helping them to hold their
positions, and at the same time be witl
their families at night.
Second. Winter. We must all speni
more money than at any other time o:
the year. Heavier clothing must b
bought, fuel to keep our home fire
burning.
Third. Christmas. It does not mak
any difference how rich or how poor
there is none of Ss who can hear o:
old Santa missing our little ones.
Fourth. Taxes is no small iterr
which should be payed at this time oi
year. Our State, county and munici
pal governments need this money to
^eet theii^ obligations.
•Fifth. c arc—Still lik.e wKat A.t>e
Lincoln said: "God loved the poor peo
ple, because he made so many of
them.”
I hope some more gifted writer will
take up this subject and give it justice,
if my little write-up does not go into
print. Glenn Ramsey.
Well, Here’s Another Chap To Whom
Some Girl Has Given The Frosty
Mitt.
To the Editor:
The saying goes that "a woman pays
and pays.” My opinion is to the con
trary.
Women in this reckless age have
adopted the ways and habits of men,
but have not unburdened the men.
They smoke and drink, meddle in
politics and are everywhere that a wo
man shouldn’t me.
After all, "a woman is only a wo
man but a good cigar is a smoke.”
Mayo.
Would Have Mortgage Scaled To
Equalize The Rising Value Of The
Dollar.
To the Editor:
Apropos to a dollar being now able
to purchase $1.20 to $1.2 5, would it
not be fitting that all mortgages be
reduced twenty to twenty-five pet
cent, to equalize labor and capital?
One Who Pays and Pays.
He’d Rather Go To Jail Than Fight
To the Editor:
According to the latest news, Con
gress is all set against mixing up in
the Japanese-Chinese argument. (Even
if you don’t believe it, it’s not yet a
war). However, with the generals and
admirals sick of the unemployment
situation and aching for a little im
portance and the big-navy and big
army people just dying to sell a few
ships, guns and bombs and the big
I
l
"TO ONE WHO HAS BEEN LONG
IN CITY PENT”
By John Keats
To one who has been long in city pent,
’Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven—to breathe
a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firma
ment.
Who is more happy, when, with heart’s
content,
Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant
lair
Of wativy grass, and reads a debonair
And gentle tale of love and languish
ment?
Returning home at evening, with an
ear
Catching the notes of Philomel,—and
eye »
Watching the sailing cloudlet’s bright
career,
He mourns that day so soon has glided
by,
E’en like the passage of an angel’s tear
That falls through the clear ether si
lently.
chemical people anxious to try out
some lovely new poison gases, there’s
no telling what kind of pressure will
be exerted on our rather vacillating
Congressmen.
Therefore, I want to take this op
portunity to express my opinion and
that of many of my friends—all young
men. We’re not going to war. We’d
rather* go to jail. If Congress and the
generals and admirals have to do the
fighting, along with the rich old men
who have money invested in China,
I’ll bet on peace. Bill Kane.
Grow Quality Cotton
Is Plea Of M. G. Mann
- i
Raleigh—"Any farmer who plants
to cotton land which under normal
conditions will not produce at least
a bale to the acre is farming at a loss
to begin with,” according to M. G.
Mann, secretary-treasurer of the North
Carolina Cotton Growers Cooperative
Association.
Mr. Mann urged planting of pedi
greed seed, ample fertilization and
proper cultivation to produce the high
quality of cotton that North Carolina
mills demand. He also pointed out the
importance of considering available
plant food as well as price when buy
ing commercial fertilizers.
Tear Gas Drives Elk
To The Tall Timbers
Yakima, Wash.—Roving elk will
not attempt to. get their meals from
County Game Warden Joe Drolet’s hay
stacks for some time.
Drolet rigged a shotgun up with
tear gas, near the hay stack. The next
morning he found slow tracks to
, ward the tall timber.
, . • »
OST FOLKS THAT GO
m For THESE hew
REUalOUS HEVER
GAVE THE OLD CM£
A -FAIR TRIAL.