North Carolina Newspapers

Wsnmmm New NRA Atmosphere Removing Obstacles Housing Work Booms Now A Cotton Poll Editors Report Find ings The most noticeable thing in the National Capital these days is the comparative peace that has de scended upon the city since the re tirement of General Johnson, from control of the NRA. A new at mosphere. calmer and apparently more deliberate and reasonable, has already become noticeable in the . j.' . a a__ tion. Business and industrial lead ers who have had business at NRA headquarters in the past week or two report that what they had tc sav was listened to with apparent respect. This is held to be en couraging to the belief that the Government may not, after all, frown upon the making of profits in business, and may be more in clined to modify some of the re strictions which have prevented the making of profits. Chief among these obstacles, it is realized now, was the effort to put wages ahead of increase in business. The President’s proposal for a "labor truce” in his recent radio address is being interpreted as indi cating that the Government will not use its influence to force union ization, and will help to prevent the forcing of workers into unions by intimidation. The most recent interpretation of the famous "7a” clause of the Recovery Act is that, while a ma jority of the workers in any indus try may elect to join and be re presented by any labor union or or ganization they prefer, that does not compel the minority to go a long. Every worker rejtains hi: right of individual bargaining, and a minority group can set up theii own collective bargaining organiza tion. On this matter of labor and , wages, there is a good deal of talk ing and some deep thinking gotng on about the suggestion made by the President that perhaps the best way to aproach the subject is from the point of view of annual incomi of the workers, rather than ratt per hour or week. That has a de finite bearing on the building trades, which are traditionally sea sonal, and the high wages whicl are justified by labor on the grount that they don’t work all the yeai around. The President’s referenci to England as an example of re covery has led to inquiries aboui British wages. After making du< allowance for difference in costs o: living, which are not great, i seems to be the fact that buildinj trades workers in England do no enjoy a much higher rate per hou than other industry workers. The matter of wages in tb building trades has a bearing on tb program oi me rcucrai nuusmj Administration. That is startinj out to be the most successful of al the Administration’s plans so far Applications for "modernizing’ loans are increasing at the rate o: 40 percent a week, and the out look for widespread new horn building activity gets distincl; brighter from day to day. The question of labor costs wil shortly become a distinct concen of the Housing board. The aver age annual income of industria workers in this country is estimat ed, in the best of times, at $ 1,50< a year or thereabouts. Can build ing labor be spread out over a grea number of operations so as to giv every one of the four or five mil lion unemployed in the buildin: trades an annual income of tha much or more, without loading la bor costs too heavily on individua houses? In the AAA they have just beei taking a vote of farmers in th corn-hog belt, to see how many o them want to go along next seasoi in the matter of crop reduction an< birth-control in the hog family The replies received so far indicat that more than 80 percent of th farmers are for the continuance o the plan. Another vote of farmers is to b called for soon, under the Bank head cotton control law. As th law stands, the total production o cotton is limited to 10,000,001 bales a year, with exact quotas al lotted to each grower and a fine o $20 a bale for growing more tHai one’s quota. But unless two-third of all cotton growers vote for (Continued on page four) The Carolina Watchman j i I103RD YEAR _ SALISBURY, FRIDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 19, 1934 VOL. 103 NO. 12 PRICE 5 CENTS Drainage Work In Rowan County Will Start Soon $300,000 Project Is Approved Huge Sum Will Be Spent To Dredge Creeks In the County BUILD BOATS Work on the $300,000 Rowan county drainage project is expect ed to get underway in the near future, according to plans just an nounced. The first item will be the j construction of dredge boats, it is ! stated. j Approval of the project for the uiamagc ui occviiu, imiu aiiu iFourth Creeks, which involves ani jexpenditude of $300,000, was ob-j ! tained early this week from the FERA headquarters. It is estimated that it will re-1 quire two years to complete the work and will give employment to 25 0 men from relief rolls. Drain age of approximately 75 miles will be included in the project. The project was approved fol lowing conference in Washington j by local officials with Congressman R. L. Doughton, respresentativej from this district. Local officials,, headed by Mos. M. O. Linton, j county welfare officer, and Dr. C. j W. Armstrong, county health of-i ficer, have been working on the i project for some time. They were assisted by Dr. L. L. Williams andi Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, who were! delegated by Harry Hopkins, na- i tional FERA' administrator, in co-"T operation with Mrs. O’Berry, state; FERA administrator. The drainage project will be supervised by W. D. Alexander,! district drainage engineer of the1 state board of health, and M. E. i Miller, county drainage supervisor.' County officials and Rowan county citizens are delighted that ’ the project has been approved as it will eliminate ar^as which have: been breeding places for malarial fever for many years and will re claim 9,000 acres of valuable land heretofore not cultivated. The drainage will be beneficial to cover 25,000 people. j -- Extortionist Is Given 5 Years ’ Carl Poplin, Stanly county man f charged with attempt to extort $1, 000 from A. J. Jolly, Albemarle i merchant, by writing him two : threatening letters and demanding that the money be placed in a mail box, was sentenced to five years in ’ the federal prison at Chillicothe, lohio, in federal court here. [! James Griffin, likewise charged, Jwas released on a directed verdict of not guilty by Judge Johnson J. j Hayes. j Cases against A. F. Furr and C. pj. Rogers, Concord merchants who are charged with possession and concealment of stolen government property consisting of shot gun shells and cartridges, were contin ued. >_ j Reynolds 1 o Make Several Speeches : Senator Robert R. Reynolds, i now in Mexico on a short trip, will 1 arrive in North Carolina Novem . her 1 and make a whirlwind speak ; ing campaign across the state in ;, behalf of the Democratic nomi : nees. j He will speak November 1 at !Clinton in Sampson cour*y and at ; the following other places: Lex . ington, November 2; Henderson ; ville, November 3; and Burnsville, [jNovember 5, the night before the ) election. _j _ [[FAREWELL TO THEE i j "Dear, if you’d only grow your i I hair longer I’d marry you.” i, "Thankis; I prefer to remain 1 shingle.”—Tit-Bits. Isenhour Again Heads Lutheran Brotherhoods H. E. ISENHOUR H. E. Isenhour, of Salisbury, N. C., was reelected president of the Brotherhood of the United Luther an Church in America, in the clos ing sessions of the ninth biennial I convention held in Atlanta this week. I Democratic j Speakings Announced Chairman Ress M. Sigmon, of the Rowan County Democratic Executive Committee, has an nounced the following speaking en gagements in the Democratic campaign: Oct. 19, Mt. Ulla school, Charles Price and B. D. McCubbins. Oct. 22, Woodleaf school T. G. Furr and Charles Price. Oct. 28, Spencer high school, R. L. Doughton. Oct. 24, Kannapolis, Woodrow Wilson school, J. Allan Dunn and Hayden Clement. Oct. 25, China Grove school, Charles Coggin. . Oct. 26, Landis school, Charles Price and B. D. McCubbins. Oct. 29, Cleveland school, Hay den Clement and John Kesler. Oct. 30, Franklin township, Ellis school building, T. F. Hudson. Oct. 31, Miranda school, J. Allan Dunn and W. V. Harris. Nov. 1, East Spencer school, John C. Kesler and Kern Carlton. Nov. 2, Court house, Salisbury, Harold D. Cooley, member of con gress, Nashville, N. C. Nov. 3, Bostian X Roads, J. Al lan Dunn and George Uzzel. Nov. 5, Court house, Salisbury, (speaker to be selected). Highway Lops Not To Chase Bootleg Booze Raleigh.—The State Highway Patrol is not to be converted into a booze-chasing patrol, but will con tinue to devote its attention to thr enforcement of the highway and motor vehicle laws only, Governor J. C. B. Ehringhaus said. The 56 patrolmen already have more than they can do in trying to patrol 5 0,000 miles of highway and regulate some 45 0,000 automobiles and trucks, Governor Ehringhaus maintains, without having any ad ditional duties put on them. The last legislature increased their duties by requiring them to act as reve nue collectors and gasoline inspec tors in addition to patrolling the highways. The patrol, of course, will con tinue to cooperate with both state and federal officers in every way possible in the enforcement of all of the laws, the governor said. But its primary duty will continue to be the enforcement of the highway and motor laws. The Cotton Program Possibly one of the most important and most interesting topics being discussed today in the farming population is the so-called Bankhead cotton bill. Let us examine somewhat into this bill and into the agricultural relief problems that have arisen during the past several admihistrations as well as the present cotton situation and attempt to see just what the Bankhead cotton bill is and what it stands fcjr. The Bankhead (bill is the effort made by the administration of President Roosevelt to bring about better prices of farming pro ducts and improve the living conditions of the farming population in general. Before this bill was enacted questionnaires were sent throughout the country to cotton associations, farmer unions, granges, outstanding leaders and representatives of the farmers and every effort was made to ascertain from the farmer himself just what sort of legislation would be beneficial and bring about the most widely spread relief. Practically all the farm organizations joined in an expression for the relief later embodied in the Bank head bill. This bill is new both in thought and-in operation and in pur pose. Experienca had taught that large surpluses of crops would never bring relief, but on the other hand would cause low prices and that the onlyjdirect and practical manner of controlling prices was to bring about a balance between production and consumption and avoid the large surpluses that inevitably lead to stagnate —tu:. e-i___j_•__.__• the very heart of the Bankhead bill and its direct purpose is to limit the production of crops to meet the consumption. Let us take a glance at an instance of actual operation of this bill. In 193 2, a farmer raised six bales of cotton. He sold it at the prevailing price of six cents a pound. He received for the lint cotton_$180.00 He sold his cotton seed from the six bales for the sum of 25.00 . This made a total of _$205.00 He paid for the ginning the sum of_ 12.00 And his total net income from the six bales realized him $193.00 In 1934, under the operation of the Bankhead cotton bill, the same farmer sells the same number, six bales of cotton, at a price of twelve and one-half cents a pound. He receives the sum of_.__$375.00 He markets his seed and receives_76.00 _ Making a gross of_451.00 For ginning the six bales he pays the sum of_ 18.00 And this leaves him_ 433.00 However, he has signed up not to raise more than 4 bales and his allotment has been exceeded by two bales. In this situation, he can go to the local farm agent’s office and upon payment of 4 cents a pound secure a permit to go ahead and sell the excess. This permit <W*ts him— ___$ 40.00 And if he elects to do this, then his net income is__ 393.00 AND EXACTLY $200 MORE THAN HE RECEIVED FOR HIS COTTON IN 1932 before the passage of the Bankhead cot ton bill. Even though he has paid for exceeding his allotment, __1_ 1.1 1 1*11.1 :• r .1 • « -if juiwj ut .iisa utfcu iki^u uy me uptiduun ux kills um. The 4 cents that the farmer pays has often been referred to as a Government tax that goes into the coffers of the Treasury. This is entirely a mistake. The 4 cents in turn is paid to other cotton growing farmers in Rowan and elsewhere who produced less than their alloted quota and in this way serves to equalize their situa tion in a fair and reasonable manner. Any farmer who has failed to produce his alloted quota gets the benefit of this 4 cents, and two farmers, one growing more than his allotment and one glow ing less than his allotment, can trade among themselves for the 4 cents excess certificates at any price agreed upon between them provided they make it a matter of record in the office of the local farm agent. It must be borne in mind that this relief legislation was passed at the request of agriculture and is agriculture’s own bill and is new in operation. While there may be details in operation that may cause confusion in the main it has already been of tremendous benefit and has been the means of increasing the price of farm products 100 per cent and in the case of tobacco nearly 400 per cent. In 1932, the value of the Rowan cotton crop, was $322,882.00 In 1934, the value of the Rowan cotton crop is estimated at- $807,000.00 An increase of-$484,118.00 Rowan County farmers are receivine cotton rental checks to the amount of $94,248.00 on the 1934 crop, in addition to the regular market price that they receive for their cotton. These rental payments come from the government through a processing tax that is added to the price of all cotton cloth and paid for by every citizen of the U. S. as a purchase of cotton goods. Rowan farmers received in 193 3 the cotton rental payments totaling $94,8 57.00, in addition to what they received for the crop. These payments were received front the processing tax as the quota therefrom in 1933. Rowan County farmers received in 193 3 on their reduction of wheat acreage, wheat rentals totaling $10,254.00 and for 1934 crop will receive wheat rentals totaling $12,3 00.00. These rental payments supplement the amount of money that the farmers re ceived in addition to the sale price of the crops sold. These pay ments to the farmers were both the result of the present Adminis tration’s effort to assist agriculture to recover. The agricultural relief bill passed during the administration preceding the present made no attempt to balance the level be tween production and consumption and the result was a huge sur plus of crops, notably, corn, cotton, wheat and tobacco. We can recall that the Government Board bought up great surpluses of wheat and cotton, but the more surplus that was taken over it seemed that the more surplus appeared and the result was huge amounts of wheat and cotton on hand. Piles of wheat were burned in the streets of Western towns and much was abandoned and left to ret for the reason that it cost the farmer more to harvest than he could realize in price and he saw the fruit of his toil turn to ashes and distress and poverty that stared him in the face became a reality. In 1932, fifteen million people were estimat ed to be out of employment and many of these were farmers who had lost their homes through mortgage foreclosures due to low prices of farm products. When we realize the fact that most crops have Increased in price one hundred per cent, cotton as well, is the effort of the ad ministration not a step in the right direction? Which is better, six cents cotton under the old deal or 12 54 cents cotton under the NEW DEAL? . Doughton Speaks At Spencer On _Tuesday Night Farmer “Bob” Speaks Again In Rowan Co. I———B HON. ROBERT L. DOUGHTON Quail, Rabbit, j Dove Season To ! Open Nov. 30 I - Gam* Warden Gives Few Pointers. And Urges All Get Hunting Licenses HUNT SQUIRRELS The hunting season is in full blast in this section and scores of sportsmen have purchased hunting licenses this year to participate in the killing of game. The season is open now for kill ing squirrels and most other ani jmals and nearly all birds, ine sea-j i son for hunting quail and doves and I rabbits will not be open again until j November 30, however, j J. D. Chalk of Raleigh, commis sioner of fish and game for North Carolina department of conserva tion and development, has issued the folowing department list of i'donf’s” for hunters to follow: ; "Don’t keep your gun loaded ex cept when you are actually hunting, but handle it at all times as if it: were loaded. "Don’t point your gun at any lone even if you are sure it is emp ty. j "Don’t carry your gun when climbing fences or brush piles. "Don’t handle a gun by the muz zle or pull it toward you. 1 "Don’t carry your gun so that an accidental discharge might shoot i Amur rnmnnnmn i "Don’t shoot at any game unless you can see it clearly enough to positively identify it. There is safety in our North Carolina deer law in that the deer you can shoot must be a buck and all bucks have horns. "Don’t violate the farmer’s hos pitality by leaving gates open, cut ting fences, or destroying his prop erty. "Don’t throw your smoke out of the car or into the brush without putting it out. "Don’t hunt without a license— the game warden may get you at tta time you are enjoying the hunt most.’’ Report O’Neal Given New Federal Position Alan S. O’Neal of Winston Salem, former state director of the Home Owners Loan corporation here, has accepted a position with the housing - administration in Washington, according to infor mation received here. _ He is on the staff of the chief appraiser of the construction and real estate division of the building • administration. Mr. O’Neal was | succeeded in the Home Owners Loan Corporation position, by an other Winston-Salem man, Scott i Noble. Will Ajlress Voted League A jj Public Zt_ Delivered Fine Address Here Monday Night, Courthouse Jammed LAUDS NEW DEAL Hon. R. L. Doughton, congress man from this district, will address the voters of Rowan county at the Spencer high school Tuesday night at 7:30 o’clock. He will speak und er the auspices of the Rowan Coun ty Voters League in cooperation with the Democratic campaign. Music will be furnished by the Spencer Glee club and also by the Salisbury high school band. The public is cordially invited. New Deal Has Brought Hope, Doughton Says Congressman Robert L. Dough ton of the Ninth district opened the Rowan Democratic campaign here Monday night at the court house before an overflowing crowd and emphatically acclaimed the New Deal, as contrasted with the old, as bringing new hope, new op portunity, better confidence and more abundant life to a nation that was in distress. The congressman, chairman of the house ways and means com mittee, discussed the banking sit uation, public debt, the recovery acts, the farm administration, and other phases of government, and said the net results had been a revival of business, and greatly improved conditions. The Bankhead cotton bill was passed at the insistence of the farmers, he declared, and had re sulted in far higher prices for cot ton anu oeiter incomes. me eur* tailment programs also brought about bettered conditions and prices for all other farm commodi ties, he said. Charles L. Coggin, nominee for solicitor of the fifteenth judicial district, introduced Mr. Doughton, while the meeting was presided over by Ross M. Sigmon, county Democratic chairman. Mr. Doughton expressed his ap preciation for the large crowd, and called attention to the banner dis played behind the speaker’s stand which showed that Rowan was the banner county in the 9th con gressional district in 1932. He thanked the voters for the majority of more than 5,000 given him in Rowan county, and for the major ity of over 22,000 given him in the district over his Republican oppon ent. He praised the Democratic ad ministration iq North Carolina dur ing the past 34 years, declaring it has given to this state an honest, efficient and capable government, and he bespoke for county officials as well as state and national, con tinued support of the voters. Mr. Doughton said on March 4, 1933, when the president was in augurated, credit had collapsed, in dustry was paralyzed, farmers were bankrupt, millions were out of wark, ana nnanciai aisaster iacea the nation. Under Roosevelt’s leadership, the banks have been made safe, deposit insurance makes banks the safest place for money, and confidence has been restored, he said. Deposits in banks have jumped over five billion dollars as a result, he continued. Mr. Doughton also said that the bank check tax, which he declared obnoxious and irritable as well as unnecessary, will be taken off fan. 1, 193 S. This bill was sponsored by Mr. Doughton. | He next discussed the AAA which was set up to help bring about a balance between consump tion and production, and was enact ed at the instance of leaders in j (Continued on page eight)