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
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Entered as second-class mail matter at the postoffice at Salis
bury, N. C., under the act of March 3, 1879.
"If the choice were lefi to me whether to have a
free press or a free government, I would choose a
free press.”—Thomas Jefferson.
FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL 22, 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 _ 1,3 88 Kannapolis _ 13,912
TOWNSHIPS
Atwell _ 2,619 Morgan .. 1,327
China Grove_ 8,990 Mt. Ulla —. 1,3 89
Cleveland _ 1,445 Providence - 2,5 89
Franklin _ 2,246 Salisbury .i.- 25,15 3
Gold Hill _ 2,642 S. Irish _ 1,251
Litaker_ 2,562 Steele - 1,142
Locke_ 1,904 Unity- 1,406
ROWAN COUNTY_56,665
THE FIGHT GOES ON
From every section of the country the tax
revolt is gaining momentum. Every day of
Congressional action finds the people, and
champions of the people, making more deter
mined fights to get federal expenses cut to a
reasonable sum. Protests are reaching the ears
of the law makers, and wher£ Congress a few
short weeks ago was talking only of more taxes,
we now find its memebrs looking to plans for
cutting the costs.
To be sure, the people know that the budget
must be balanced. But they are in a mood to
hold somebody responsible for unbalancing it.
They know, too, that there are two ways to
balance budgets, and that one of them is to re
duce expenses.
They also know that the government must
pay its running expenses. But they do not be
lieve it is necessary to tax the people to death
in order to get enough money to pay the es
sential expenses of good government. There
are other ways to get funds in an emergency
like the present. The Boston Post suggests one:
"A bond issue of $'500,000,000 may be nec
essary if the Senate believes that business can
not stand the drastic House levies. It may be
better in the long run to raise part of the mon
ey needed this year by a bond issue.
The government could borrow money at a
very low rate, perhaps as low as 2 1-2 and 3 per
cent., if the bonds are made attractive to in
vestors. The ordinary bond issue, subject to
income, inheritance and gift taxes, would
hardly have a wide appeal. The interest rate
would need to be around 4 1-2 per cent, to in
sure a successful sale, and even then there
might be some difficulty in marketing it.
"But a bond free from all government taxes,
and also receivable at par in payment for taxes
imposed by the government, would be absorbed
quickly at a low interest rate.
"Balancing the budget by extremely heavy
tax levies is a painful process in a time of de
pression. And the more business is hit, the less
revenue to the government from taxation.
"Adding to the public debt is frowned upon
by the administration and leaders in Congress.
Yet, we surely went to extremes in rapid cut
ting down of the public debt in the past year,
and we might, with a safety, go just a little in
he opposite direction.
"A bond issue, at any rate, is worth consid
ering before we decide this whole question of
raising money this year. And a bond issue, to
be successful, must be attractive to large in
vestors.”
It is ridiculous to say that the government
cannot cut expenses, for it means certain dis
aster unless this is done. We can’t maintain
the present system of spending. We can’t con
tinue our policy of tax increasing without seri
ous effort to curtail. Senator Borah doesn’t al
ways speak a language we like but he speaks
the truth when he says:
"I think that the gentlemen who defeated
the sales tax did a fine and patriotic piece of
work. Now let us realize that there is one other
way of balancing the budget than that of levy
ing taxes, and that is to cut governmental ex
penses.
"If we had entered upon this field of taxa
tion, this painless system as they call it, it
would have been an invitation for greater gov
ernment extravagance. We should balance the
budget and we can do it by cutting expenses.
"It is said that we cannot cut expenses. I
wonder if we have built up a bureaucracy
which is master of both the executive and the
Congress, and which in this time of distress is
not going to share with the taxpayers the bur
den they carry?—If we fail to cut expenses,
it will be proof positive that bureaucracy is in
control of the government.”
LEADERSHIP LACKING IN THE
WHITE HOUSE
Nothing more strikingly demonstrates the
lack of leadership in Washington during the
Hoover administration than the present plight
of the treasury. Year after year we have seen
our national government disregad its budget
and pile up debt; year after year we have seen
income shrink and expenses increase; and year
after year Mr. Hoover has offered nothing
more than a mild rebuke.
A fighting, wide-awake, energetic President
would have stopped the dangerous practice of
spending more than we were earning right at
the start. It will help some to get the matter
straightened out now but many of our present
ills could have been prevented, and our tax
load made much lighter had the Chief Execu
tive acted at the beginning instead of waiting
until dire disaster itself faces the Nation.
"It is an executive responsibility in a case of
this kind to endeavor to provide some leader
ship in a definite program of action rather than
confining remarks to generalities,” as The
Greenville News says. "One might turn to the
recent histofy of a number of State govern
ments and find instances where executive lead
ership has come into play courageously and in
telligently to bring about legislative approval
of drastic reorganization programs that have
saved the government substantial sums of mon
ey besides providing it with a simpler and
more effective machinery. The problem in the
federal government is perhaps even more com
plicated than in most of the State govern
ments, for the federal organization has grown
like a mushroom during the last decade or so,
acquiring a complicated arrangement of wheels
within wheels. The Chief Executive, head of
the administrative branch of the government
in a more real sense than is the case with the
head of the average State government, and
dealing more or less directly with all this intri
cate mechanism day in and day out, should be
in better position to suggest proper names for
its simplification than anybody else in the gov
ernment.
"Mr. Hoover has been head of the federal
administration for three years. If, as he indi
cates, he is genuinely convinced of the advis
ability and feasibility of far-reaching organi
zations, the responsibility is clearly upon him
to suggest a program. He might, indeed, look
to the career of Governor Smith in New York,
Governor Byrd in Virginia and Governor Rus
sell in Georgia, just to mention a few, for shin
ing examples of how a chief executive can
take an effective leadership in bringing about
intelligent and constructive reorganization for
greater economy in the branch of the govern
ment for whose administration he is respon
sible.”
A NEW ORDER OF GOVERNMENT
At a meeting in New York, held in the in
terest of relief work and charity, the plea for
a new order of government was the dominat
ing note. Cardinal Hayes expressed it by say
ing:
"Love of my country and love for our
fellow men will be most effective when
they impel our leaders in national and in
dustrial life to concentrate their thought
and effort upon measures to rebuild our
economic system on a firmer foundation.
"The great classes of our working peo
ple depend upon industry for their life.
Industry has a duty to them. It must be
conducted in a manner which will pro
mote the common good.”
Governor Franklin Roosevelt, who was one
of the principal speakers, said:
"You may work untiringly to amass
wealth and power for epiirely selfish pur
poses, but society cannot endure forever
on such foundations, for the whole struc
ture of our social life depends on this real
ization of the fact of neighborliness, that
we must be interested in the welfare of
others.”
[ Doesn’t It Make You Dizzy? — Br Alhert z RM
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OElTICAL NIAGARA
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Mr. Grover Marsh,
Salisbury, N. C.
My dear Mr. Marsh:
I desire to commend you on, your
spirit of generosity in donating the
several score of evergreen trees to the
Chestnut Hill cemetery.
In the years to come these trees will
stand as a silent tribute to the one who
was endowed with the true spirit of 1
giving.
I feel certain that those who have '
loved ones there, as well as the casual
passerby, will have occasion to com
ment on your selection of a gift that ;
was appropriate to the location.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
Dr. Howard R. Omwake,
President of Catawba College,
Salisbury, N. C.
My dear Dr. Omwake:
I desire to congratulate you upon
the decided stand you have taken for
the improvement of Catawba College.
This institution is dear to the hearts
of the citizens of Salisbury, both those
who have attended it and those who
have done everything in their power
to foster it. Under your capable lead
ership I feel certain that it will reach
untold heights as an educational insti
tution.
You, with your wide experience in '
the educational field, are highly pre- ‘
pared to supervise this vast field of '
endeavor.
I extend to you my heartiest co- 1
operation, and it will be my rare pleas
ure to serve you in any capacity pos- 1
sible. (
Governor Matthew Rowan. '
——— 3
To "A Citizen”: 1
I should have been glad to publish 1
your very interesting letter on this
page today, but I could not Mse it be
cause you failed to let me know who
wrote it. If you will let me know
your name, I shall be glad to publish 1
your letter next week, as it is timely :
and pertinent, but I cannot make use |
of any letter without knowing the (
name of the author. s
Governor Matthew Rowan, j
Mr. E. B. Jeffress, Chairman,
State Highway Commission;
Capt. C. D. Farmer, Chief,
State Highway Patrol.
Gentlemen:
. Reports of the past week to the ef
fect that the state highway patrol, in
its state-wide check-up on school buses,
finds many of them defective, em
phasize the importance of the work
being done to safeguard the tens of
thousands of school children who are
riding in these vehicles daily.
It is highly important that the
school buses throughout the state be
kept in safe condition the year round.
That means they must be inspected
frequently and carefully, by compe
tent persons. While the state highway
patrol is rendering a valuable service
in making the inspections, it should
not be permanently burdened with
th's duty, in view of the small num
ber of men in the force, considerably
less than an average of a man to the
county. The inspection ought to be
made by some county authority
charged with the responsibility of
keeping the buses in safe condition.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
COMMENTS
Plenty Of Capital, But No Market For
The Products Of Industry.
]~o the Editor:
And now we have the sage Mr. Mills
hampioning the cause of the overtaxed
ich man. Because of a small taxation
>n stock transfers, estates, incomes in
he higher brackets, etc., the proposed
aw would stifle the flow of capital
nto industry, he says. Will some one
isk Mr. Mills why he wants capital to
low into industry. At the present
ime it appears that it is flooded. He
ertainly can’t mean that capital will
)ut its money into industry for the
;ake of putting labor back to work,
mowing as he does that there is no
narket for the products of industry.
What we need is buying power, not
iive:>uneniiLLie more money in
:he hands of millions of spenders, not
nillions in the hands of a few mves
:ors. Let the big boys pay the piper
ind keep hands off the few dollars
abor has to spend.
If big industry would do some of the
Lings Mr. Mills insinuates, that is,
jutting some-of its capital into in
lustry in the form of employing ad
litional help, thereby restoring confi
lence among the, workers, we would
velcome his suggestions; but try to
ind such an industry.
There is no lack of capital, as wit
lessed by the recent oversubscription
if Government bonds. There is a de
eded lack of buying power, so let a
;ood tax bill go through and stop all
his sympathetic mollycoddling of the
>oor rich man. C. D.
A Veteran’s Com plaint.
ro the Editor:
Please allow me a little space in your
raluable paper, to express a few words
bout the bonus. To begin with, I ex
iect to benefit by the bonus to the
xtent of about $600, now that isn’t
uch a great amount of money to some
leople but to me it is. It is only nat
HIS OLD MOSS TILL
THEY PUT A TAX ON
OATS ...
A STARLING’S SPRING RONDEL
By James Cousins
I clink my castanet
And beat my little drum;
For Spring at last has come,
And on my parapet
Of chestnut, gummy-wet,
Where bees begin to hum,
I clink my Castanet,
And beat my little drum.
"Spring goes,” you say, "suns set.”
So be it! Why be glum?
Enough, the spring has come;
And without fear or fret
I clink my castanet,
And beat my little drum.
ural for me to want what belongs to
me.
During tihe time I was in the ser
vice of my country, I received the
magnificent sum of $33 a month and
this so-called bonus is the difference
between $33 a month and what the
most common day labor was getting at
that time.
Last year when we were granted the
privilege of borrowing half of our own
money, I did, being out of work at
that time. Now times being as it is
I can’t pay it back, so if it is not paid
now, I might as well forget it, because
the interest will eat up the balance.
Now that is high finance, but a very
shabby way for such a great country
as this is, to treat its ex-soldier’s who
served so well in its service. No one
denies that the veterans claim is right,
so why not pay him now when it will
do the most good.
This money put into circulation at
this time will go a long way towards
restoring prosperity, it will enable the
veteran to pay up his debts, to buy
ood and clothing, to pay on that
mortgage on a home, to do a hundred
things that are out of reach now, as so
many of us are out of work and nearly
out of mind trying to make both ends
meet.
It won’t only help the veteran but
everybody will benefit, because the
money will be put back into circula
tion, and that is what is needed. Mon
ey spent with the farmer, the grocer
man, the clothier, the real estate man,
in fact everybody is the only way pros
perity will ever return. Pay it now
and we will all benefit.
M. L. Mr-T WTVD r
PROMPT SERVICE
■ FU u'?!lier: "Are y°u sufe this milk
is fresh?
Milkman: "Lady, half an hour ago
it was grass!” °
Do you know what
POPPY DAY
means?