The Carolina Watchman
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY MORNING BY
The Carolina Watchman Publishing Cg>.
SALISBURY, NORTH CAROLINA
Established In 1832 108th Year of Publication o
E. W. G. Huffman_:-Editor
S. Holmes Plexico-Business Manager
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Entered as second-class mail matter at the posteffioe at Salis
bury. N. C., under the act of March 8, 1878.
"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, MAY 6, 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 - 1,389
Cleveland _ 1,445 Providence- 2,589
Franklin_ 2,246 Salisbury-25,153
Gold Hill _ 2,642 S. Irish- 1,251
Litaker_ 2,562 Steele - 1,142
Locke_ 1,904 Unity- 1,406
ROWAN COUNTY_56,665
CHILD LABOR DECREASES IN STATE
The number of children employed in in
dustry in North Carolina has decreased 70
per cent, in the last ten years, so that the prob
lem of child labor is becoming less of a prob
lem every year, according to E. F. Carter,
head of the Division of Standards and Inspec
tion in the Department of Labor, which has
charge of the enforcement of the State’s child
labor laws, replacing the former Child Wel
fare Commission, of which Mr. Carter was ex
ecutive secretary.
The largest number of children certified by
the State as eligible for employment in indus
try, and under 16 years of Age, waj in 1922
1 4 A iAO 1*11 IV . J „
wiicii cuuui cii wcic uucu, v-»ax
ter said. Since that time the number has de
creased 70 per cent., so that at the present
time only 3,096 chidren under 16 years of
age are certified for employment in industry
in North Carolina. At the present time, the
majority of the 3,096 children certified are
between 14 and 16 years old, while in 1922-23
most df the 10,423 children certified then
were between 12 and 14 years did.
During the peak years of 1922-23 a child
could be found employed on an average of
every six miles travelled by one of the inspec
tors, but today, or for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1931, only one child could be found
employed every 43 miles travelled by the in
spectors.
The decrease in the numbers of children em
ployed in industry is attributed by Mr. Car
ter to the increasingly better legislation that
has been enacted by successive legislatures,
to the better schools and the realization of
parents that it is better to keep their children
in schooil than to put them to work, and to
the realization on the part of employers that
adult workers are more efficient and econom
ic, even if it is necessary to pay them more
than child workers.
SHORT SELLING
There are some people who think it is a ter
rible thing to sell something you haven’t got
in the hope or expectation that before you
have to deliver it you can buy it at a price
lower than you have agreed to sdll it for.
That is what so-called “short selling” on the
stock market means. Nobody quarrels with
the man who contracts to deliver a hundred
head of cattle, for example, at the present
market price, because he believes that the price
is going down and that he will be able to buy
them for less and make a profit.
Congress has been investigating short sell
ing on the Stock Exchange. It has not found
any evidence that anybody engaged in short
selling operations was doing anything more
serious than betting that the prices of stocks
would go down still farther. Sometimes they
did and sometimes they didn’t. Several mil
lion people lost a lot of money in 1929 by
betting that stocks would go higher. That is
all that most of the transactions on the Stock
Exchange mean—betting that the market will
go higher or lower. Pery A. Rockefeller told
the investigators that he had lost "many, many
millions” betting that the market would rise
and had succeeded in winning only $'550,
000 of it back by betting that the ^market
would go down. Mr. C. Brush, probably the
biggest of all the stock market operators,
frankly admitted that the business of Wall
Street is "a racket like Al Capone’s,” and he
confirmed what we have llong suspected, that
people who are not professional traders in se
curities are simply suckers when they dabble
in stocks and are sure to lose in the long run,
no matter which way the market goes.
We think one of the principal troubles of
the United States these days arises from the
extension to every corner of the country of
facilities for gambling on the stock market.
Of course, there must be an open market for
the purchase and sale of stocks and bonds,
and we don’t know any way to stop human
beings from gambling, in one form or another.
But we do think that it is just as reprehensible
to tempt the unwary into speculating on the
stock market, as it is to try to take their mon
ey away from them by selling them lottery
tickets.
WE’LL SOON KNOW THE WORST
We are cheered by the news from Wash
ington that Congress expects to finish its
work by the early part of June and shut down
shop until next December. We have no inside
information as to what the ultimate tax pro
gram will be, or how the proposed reductions
in government expenditures will finally come
out. But we have lived in this world long en
ough to know that any certainty, even the
worst, is better than an uncertainty. We know
and hear of many businesses and industries
which are marking time, waiting to find out
for sure what Congress is going to do about
taxes, before they can make their plans intel
ligently for going ahead. It may make all the
difference in the world whether one kind of
a tax or another kind is finally decided upon.
But American business men and manufactur
ers have always had a happy faculty of ad
justing themselves to conditions as they are,
and when they know exactly what the con
ditions are we believe that there will be a
rapid and generall revival in manufacturing
and trade.
Before the end of June the Presidential con
ventions will have been held and we will know
exactly what each party promises in its plat
form, and who it offers as its candidate for
the Presidency. That will remove another un
certainty. And we can then enjoy a pleasant
summer, hoeing corn and fishing and talking
politics, with the satisfyig knowledge that
there isn’t any more that we, as individuals,
can do about the situation until election day.
So we might as well tend strictly to our own
business from the fourth of July to the eighth
of November.
THE FRIENDS OF DEPRESSION
Idle dollars are the best friends of depres
sion.
They do no one good. Stuck away in strong
boxes—or socks!—they are entirely worth
less. They are unable to do their bit in carry
ing on the financial work of the world. They
are a sign of fear, of a hysterical kind of con
servatism that mistakes hoarding for thrift.
True thrift is a fine thing. It is the source
of the money that builds plants, buys and op
erates machinery, employs men, keeps the
wheels of industry going.
As an advertisement of the Northern States
Power Company recently said: "The oppor
tunity to earn a return on investment is bet
ter today than for years. Banks pay interest
on deposits regularly. Sound securities earn,
and pay, a regular, safe income.”
The hoarder is cheating himself—of great
er importance, he is cheating us all. He is
prolonging unemployment, profitless prices,
the accumulation of goods for which there is
no market because people have no money to
buy. He is, in the full sense of the word, an
ti-social.
This is worth remembering: Idle dollars are
the best friends of depression.
SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE
One extremely important phase of the rail
road probllem—that of competition arising
from new carriers which have been mainly
developed since the war—is fundamentally as
simple as the alphabet.
The problem is this: If one common carrier i
is regulated by the Federal Government,
through the Interstate Commerce Commis- j
sion, why shouldn’t the others be? If one form
Of transportation is taxed heavilly by all forms 1
of government, why shouldn’t the others be
taxed on the same basis? ,
Simple justice dictates that all important '
forms of transport, railroads, buses, trnrlrs i
and waterways, be placed under an identical 5
type of regulation. This would make for fair ‘
competition and the effects of that would be ,
feilt, beneficially, throughout the nation. Un- i
fair competition has brought the railroads to j
the verge of ruin. i
What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the 1
gander. And what is considered good for the '
railroads, should likewise be good for their
competitors. c
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I The |
| Watchman l
i Tower j
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To the Parents of Young
Children in Salisbury:
Now that spring time is here with
its invitation to the children to play
out of doors, motorists, -traffic offi
cials and parents again face the per
plexing problem of children playing
in the streets, frequently in crowds,
endangering their lives. I doubt not
that during the recent fine, warm af
ternoons groups of children could have
been found playing on other streets
than on the one which I saw them.
In the meantime, parents are warn
ed that if their little ones are permit
ted to congregate in the streets to
play without official regulation or
adult supervision, they may expect
some fatal or otherwise serious acci
dents before the practice continues
long.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
To the Householders of Salisbury
and Rowan County.
At this time of year many of you
doubtless are finding upon examina
tion that you have old clothing, hats,
shoes, dresses and other garments on
hand that you will not use this spring
and summer, even though you have
kept them over from last year. You
will be rendering a real service to those
in need if you will get together all
wearing apparel that you no longer
will use and telephone the Salvation
Army or the County Welfare office,
so that it may be distributed by the
agency among those who need it
worst.
None of the relief agencies have
funds with which to buy clothing,
and many women, children and men
being aded by these agencies are in
need of all sorts of garments, hats and
>hoes.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
Vfr. E. B. feffress, Chairman,
State-Highway Commission-,
Zapt. Chas. D. Farmer, Chief,
State Highway Patrol.
bentlemen:
The report of the patrol for the
nonth of March, showing almost
>40,000 in money collected as a mere
ncident of the activities of the force,,
ndicates that the organization is not
learly so expensive as those opposing
he maintenance of a highway patrol
vould have the public believe. More
mportant, however, is the record
howing 972 arrests and 843 court
onviotions for violations of the traf
ic laws, including many for driving
fhile drunk, reckless driving, speed
ig and other practices highly dan
erous to thousands of other motor
>ts. No one can ever know how many
ves were saved by the arrests of the
90 drivers charged with the three
ffenses just mentioned.
The fact that more than 15,000
rivers were stopped and warned of
violations of the law during the mont'
indicates that the patrolmen are no
idle.
Governor Matthew Rowat
Mr. R. K. Johnson,
Salisbury, N. C.
My dear Mr. Johnson:
The recent honor conferred on yo
by the Royal Arcanum in re-electin,
you to the post of Grand Regent i
evidence of the esteem in which yo
are held.
I understand you are a member o:
long standing, and that your time anc
efforts have been freely given for the
betterment of your organization.
Allow me to congratulate you and
extend my heartiest wishes for a suc
cessful term of office.
Governor Matthew Rowan.
COMMENTS
Her Panacea Is To Scrap The Labor
Saving Machines.
To the Editor:
Five years ago every man and wo
man who wanted to work had a job,
with a fair salary. Where are the jobs
today?
I have read that overproduction was
the cause of this horrible depression.
But what is the cause of overproduc
tion?
First, one man invents a device tak
ing fewer -men to operate and produc
ing more in shorter time. The large
manufacturer thereby makes more
money. The manufacturer that is so
small financially that it cannot be
equipped finally closes its doors—out
of business!
We must go back a few years to the
_J 1 1 1 1 1. i
5WU \aayz WIICU WUih. U1U CA15
If everything that is made and wait
ing to be sold were destroyed fo lid
some people of the overproducti m
idea, it would be of no avail, for the
factories as they are equipped today
could replace everything within a
short time and business would again
be dead.
Every country should improve its
ideas until there is work for every
working man, but when they get so
smart that they can put nearly every
one out of employment and produce
just the same, it’s time to stop and
think. No matter how cheap articles
are offered, they simply cannot be
bought without a wage earner in the
home, and soon there is no home—
nothing but disappointment and sor
1
t
| MAY
5 By Henry Sylvester Cornwell
Come walk with me along this
wil'lowed line,
Where, like lost coinage from some
miser’s store,
The golden dandelions more and
more
Glow, as the warm sun kisses them
again!
For this is May! who with a daisy
chain
Leads on the laughing Hours; for
now is o’er
Long winter’s trance. No longer rise
ana roar
His forest-wrenching blasts. The
hopeful swain,
Along the furrow, sings behind his
team;
Loud pipes the red breast—
troubadour of spring,
And vocal all the morning copses
ring;
More blue the skies in lucent lakelets
ring;
And the glad earth, caressed by
murmuring showers,
Wakes like a bride, to deck
Herselk with flowers!
row to rack the minds and bodies of
thousands who are not to blame. This
world of so-called industry must slow
up, go back and pick up where they
were when everyone was happy and
hold to it to save all of us, rich and
poor alike, ^ith everything mechani
cal, where can a mere man hope to
find a job?
Depression can be lif ted for all time
/-»_ « •
^vYwiuutm wuuiu aixaw no
more inventors to put their ideas on
the market, and put such a heavy tax
on every manufacturer that used these
labor and time saving machines that
it would justify them to install the
older machinery, hire the dependable
human force instead of mechanical
force, which has already brought
thousands to destruction, and forced
them to stop buying. Then in return
these firms will be able to sell their
products promptly.
Of course, our Government law
makers in Washington could coincide
and have everyone back to work in a
short time.
A Housewife With Her Own Ideas.
Birth Control Might Help.
To the Editors ,
The world, as well as the United
States, is becoming overpopulated.
Owing to modern discoveries in baf
fling disease people live longer. Be
tween inventions and this overpopu
lation there will not be enough gain
ful occupations to go around.
Just how to remedy conditions at
present I do not know, but we can.
help the future by spreading the
knowledge of birth control.
Any law opposing this measure will
be responsible for the sufferings of
future generations. M. R.
work J mo body cases
WHETHER THE ALARM
CLocKS BRoKE or mot.
Mother’s Day ~ T'^~"— ' 1 % Albert T. Reid
' A«r»eAncN,