Spates The Carolina Watchman Ex
rp i _A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE UPBUILDING OF ROWAN COUNTY I
^ | FOUNDED 1^32—105TH YEAR SALISBURY, N. C., FRIDAY MO RNING, AUGUST 14, 1936. VOL. 104 NO. 3 PRICE 2 CENTS
Roosevelt Calls Doughton To Capital
Solon Hurries
To Conference
Theme of Talk With The
President Is Unknown;
Senator Harrison Is
Also Called
Washington, Aug. 12.—With
the ways and means committee
chairman, reported en route to
Washington for a hurriedly called
conference with the President, of
ficial Washington is speculating on
the subjects that will be dis cussed.
Interest was heightened late in the
day by arrival in Washington by
plane of Senator Pat Harrison of
Mississsippi, Senate Finance Com
mittee chairman, who dropped his
campaign for nomination for re
election to hurry to Washington
at the President’s behest for the
conference.
*-r*1 « f r >t i <
aiic ucuci prevails tnat lowering
the tariff on at least 12 or 14 im
portant commodities of life, will
be the chief theme of the confer
ence. The proposal follows some
what alarming conditions that pre
vail in some quarters as to the scar
city of corn, wheat and foods and
feed for man and beast, caused by
the searing drought which for the
past several weeks has gripped the
country in a more devastating man
ner than in 1934. The crop re
port issued this week did not lend
encouragement to the situafcon and,
revealed, for instance, that the
drought had shriveled the nation’s
corn crop to the lowest yield in
modern history of fanning, at 1,
439,13J,6i)0 bushels, or 46.8 per
cent r no^ 'Tl®!,crofh^t
was based onAugust reports from
report
did not indicate any shortage of;
wheat, it is understood that for
September will, and that decided
inroads will be made on the 15 0,
000,000 bushel carry-over that ex
ists, unless drastic action is taken
to conserve food supplies of the
nation. But the fact that the
spring wheat crop was only 32.8
per cent of normal while durum
wheat, used in milling baker’s flour,
was only 20.9 per cent of normal:
crop causes concern. I
The situation is causing a steady
increase of the cost of living, it
was pointed out, with attention
called to the fact that even today
meat markets are pushing the fin
est cuts of fancy beef at unusually
low prices in populated centers,
due' to the fact that farmers are
dumping their cattle on the mar
kets since they have no feed for
them during the remainder of the
summer, and most certainly not un
til the fall round-up.
With this situation facing the ad
ministration, the president, it is
generally believed, proposes to
lower the tariff on certain com
modities to keep down the cost of
living and especially to cause im
portations of heavy grains of all
kinds for hogs and cattle during
:he coming fall and winter, so that
the supply of livestock will not be
depleted. Having worked out a
plan to this end with Senator Har
rison and Mr. Doughton the Chief
Executive, during his coming trip,
will be able to carry a message of
good cheer to the thousands of peo
ple who are struggling for exis
tence on the seared plains of the!
West, .and those on farms of the[
South, where the drought has been!
unrelenting.
BUYS WIFE FOR $5
OID RECORDS SHOW
Jackson, Miss. — According to
'ecords recently unearthed here,
1875 was notable, as far as Jack
son is concerned, for the sale of
jne wife for five dollars—$2 in
:ash and $3 in tools.
John Thompson, of Napoleon,
Vlich., the records relate, took a
fancy that year to the wife of
William Grover, and offered >to
>uy her. The new couple are said
:o have lived happily.
—Buy In Salisbury—
W ashihgton.—How important
a political issue can be made out
of the falling off in exports of
American farm products and the
increase in imports of staple food
supplies is the latest question on
which political observers here are
focusing their attention. How
much of the current situation is
due to natural causes or conditions
outside of government control and
how much to political measures, is
the root of the argument.
The facts as Washington gets
them are something like this:
The oversupply of surplus wheat
which has been depressing the
world market for several years, has
been practically consumed, result
ing in higher prices. The world’s
normal carryover of surplus wheat
is about 300,000,000 bushels. All
the reports which the Department
of Agriculture regards as reliable
indicate that the surplus for the
year to come will be just about this
normal carryover. Of this the
United States crop of 1936, a
mounting to 600,000 bushels, and
the supply of old wheat carried
over, 125,000,000 bushels, will
leave an American surplus of about
100,000,000 bushels.
Wheat consumption is increas
ing all over the world and this
fact, coupled with the world-wide
shortage, will tend to keep prices
up. Of course, it is much too
early to forecast the Argentine and
Australian crops, where it is now
mid-Winter or early Spring.
In the meantime, American
wheat imports are up this year over
last year. These imports are for
special grades of wheat in demand
by millers, which are normally
grown in the Northwest and of
which the crop has been short for
the past six years. In the first six
months of this year official figures
show that 19,805,560 bushels of
wheat were imported from abroad,
compared with 12,839,047 bushels
in the corresponding period ofi
1935.
CORN AND DROUGHT
Officials Washington is more
concerned with the corn crop than1
with the wheat crop. If the
drought continues to the middle of j
this month, the Department of j
Agriculture’s estimate is that the
corn crop will be less than half ofi
the normal 2,500,000,000 bushels,!
and even with good weather and
plenty of rain, the corn crop will |
be about 800,000,000 bushels short!
of the normal 2,5 00,000,000.
So far this year imports of corn|
have been less than one-third of |
what they were in the first half i
of 193 5; 5,662,215 bushels against
17,620,195 in the same period last
year. There has been a sharp de-,
cline in the importation of oats andj
of butter.
On the other side ot tne scaie,
exports of wheat have dropped to
practically nothing, though cotton
exports have been, higher on the
average in 193 6 than in 1933.
It is this falling -off of agricul
tural exports and the rise in agri
cultural imports which gives the
politicians of both parties concern.
The opponents of the Administra
tion assert that exports have fallen
because the Government has creat
ed an artificitl scracity and an art
ificial price level, while imports are
rising not only because of this scai
city but because of the Adminis
tration’s reciprocal tariff policies.!
Administration supporters sayj
that so far as tariff influence goes,
the policy of the previous adminis-j
trations made it difficult for fore-|
ign customers to get dollars witR
which to buy American products,
and that the increase in importa-j
tion is due to the destruction by
drought of crops which the Gov
ernment had sought to adjust to
the situation caused by the loss of
foreign markets.
A SELLER’S MARKET
Whatever the cause, it is the
(Continued from page One)
Business Failures Now At Low Level
__._
Big Decline Is
Shown By Index
Grim Reaper of Com
mercial Ventures Ply
ing His Sickle With
Sparing Hand
New York.—A decline in com
mercial failures to the lowest fig
ures since the post-wy boom days
of 1920 was recorded as an index
of improving business health.
Figures compiled by Dun &
Bradstreet for July made the low
est monthly total since Septem
ber, 1920, and showed a continu
ation of the rate of decline in the
first week of August.
On thg basis of an index kept by
the agency since the end of 1932,
July insolvencies were at the an
nual rate of 3 8.2 for each 10,000
firms in business.
It cpmpared with 4.6 in June
and 52.8 in JuJy, 1935. In Janu
ary, 1933, as business was leading
for the banking holiday, it was
above 170 and a former index com
puted somewhat differently, soar
ed above 200 at the peak of the de
pression epidemic of failures.
July failures numbered 639, a
figure exceeded on the downside
only twice for the month since
1894 despite the growth of popula
tion and business in the meanwhile.
It compared with 902 in the same
month last year and 2,596 in July,
1932^ around, the ffesjk of the de
pression liquidation movement.
Chained Sons to Post
DENVER . . His boys. Jimme, 12.
and Wayne. 10. would not mind
him or their mother, said Ray
Hamblin, 42-year-old Brighton
WPA worker, above, and a3 both
he and his wife bad to work, he
chained them to a post in the
basement of their home. . . . The
court fined him $50 and 60 days
in jail.
I
Old Glory at Berlin
-1 ■
BERLIN'. Germany . . . Here is a
picture of the American flag. Old
Glory, as she was run to the top
of the pole in the American sec
tion of Olympic Village which
houses Uncle Sam’s champion
athletes to the world’s greatest
sport festival.
.. . . . , . ■ .... i
Front Yard Gets
Rain; The Back >
Yard Stays Dry
Galax, Va.—"Spotty” rainfall
has been a feature of the drought
in southwest Virginia, but the cli
max of "spottiness” is behoved to
have been achieved here a Yew da ws
ago when at the home of Paul Dal
ton, in Galax, a good shower fell
in the front yard, Water running
off awnings and wetting the lawn.
Mrs. Dalton was elated and went
to the rear to see how much water
had fallen on her dry garden. It
was as dry as ever.
SIAMESE TWIN PANSY 4
EVOLVED BY WOMAN
Andover, Mass.—For many years
i grower of flowers, Mrs. John
Franklin scaled the heights of suc
cess when sh- displayed a Siamese
twin pansy. Two perfectly form
ed blossoms were growing on the
same stem.
♦
Raleigh.—R. Eugene Brown,
director of institutions and cor
rections of the state welfare de
partment, said that more than one
half of the 100 county jails in
Nortjh Carolina were "inadequate”
as to size, safety and cleanliness.
Girl, 17, Admits Killing Mother with Hatchet
” ' • Gladys McKmght, 1/, and her 18-year-old chons*-,
sweetheart, Donald Wightman (above), revolted this populace, hai..
rvlia0 hbl^.a c"mes’ *“ the confessed murder of the girl's mother
Donald holding the mother while Gladys battered her down and to
death with a hatchet. Jt was all over a trivial quarrel because Gladys
“ early SUPPer for herself so phe might play tennis with
Donald. They say the mother had a knife in her hand.
53 Cents Tax Rate
Retained By County
Rowan County will have the
same tax rate this year as last—that
is<\*3 cents o'er 10,0 yaluatiory ;
detention the same low rate
was made possible by increased col
lections of delinquent taxes and
through economies effected by the
the Board of Commissiners.
The budget is based on a valua
tion of approximately $60,000,000
which includes corporation excess.
Last year the valuation was $58,-|
766,867. Anticipated revenue is
$406,636.85, with $295,315 from
ad valorum taxes and the rest from
miscellaneous revenue.
In 1935 the total budget was
$356,493.31. This year it is $406,
636.8 5. The general fund is
$132,861.25 against $120,820.5o'
last year. Debt service $142,948.74
against $139,136.25. last year.
County Home is $13,640 against
$13,45 5. Current expense of
schools is $16,624 this year and
$15,645 last year. Capital outlay
for schools is $28,324 against $21,
233 last year. Debt service for
schools is $42,607 against $43,171!
last year. Maintenance and fixed
charges-of schools is'$29,630 against
$23„0C(i|last year..--... .
Apportionments of the S3 cents
in the budget are: general fund,
15 cents same as last year; debt
service, 21 cents against 24 cents
last year; debt service for schools,
7 cents, 8 cents last year; capital
outlay for schools, 5 cents, 3,5
cents last year; current expense for
schools, 3 cents, 2.5 cents last year;
county home, 2 cents, included in
general fund last year.
EDUCATED CHICKENS
Oneonta, N. Y.—Mrs. Ardella
Peaslee, of West Laurens, walked
into a local hennery and recovered
five "educated” hens from her
farm. When asked to identify the
birds, Mrs. Peaslee called out "Come
Susie, come Nuisance, come . and
walked from the establishment fol
lowed by five Rhode Island Reds
and State Police arrested a neigh
bor accused of the theft.
N. C. Labor Seeks Farm Coalition
Winston-Salem. — The North
Carolina State Federation of Labor
closed its thirtieth annual conven
tion here Wednesday after elect
ing R. R. Lawrence of Winston
Salem president for the seventh
consecutive year, and selecting
Asheville as the place for the 1937
meeting.
The entire slate of officers, with
the exception of chaplain, was
nominated uIlCl elected without op
position in a speedy session pre
sided over by George L. Googe of
Atlanta, Southern representative of
the American Federation of Labor.
LAWRENCE PRAISED
The officers were installed by
Googe, who praised the work of
President Lawrence in "further
ing the cause of organized labor
and of labor unorganized within
the State of North Carolina during
the years he has served as presi
dent of the State Federation.”
litical and economic ends ill North
Earlier in the day the State Fed
eration made a move toward a
farmer-labor coalition to gain po
Carolina "along non-partisan lines.”
After speakers had pointed out
the difficulty of trying to reach
labor’s objectives through the pres
ent political set-up the convention
voted in favor of a vigorous pro
gram of co-operation between
farmers and labor.
j Tires of Hero Role
! _ _J
I ... vX-JOCS-t.
LONDQX , .
labtwej, ft hstfliugMfesiaatfgri
ms hfs pfsewt way ntorort^ht agpj!
has roarwt the rote of trero r»Th*«r
tryjnsr. Me w die man who Itwhiw*1
'he Sun from the herd of the ee»‘
"as??a, now rharm^t wr'tV*
<»zMiigr JSciwsit! re*
ywt* 't*'-] ---—
fwr. ■, jirnhiifcifiiiiiirrfsWt ,. g Ukta\ ii d iMtt . ,
SET CONFERENCE DATE
! The annual Western North Car
olina Methodist conference will be
held in Salisbury, October 22 and
23 inclusive, it was annunced af
ter a conference between Bishop
Paul B. Kern and Rev. W. A. New
ell, who will be pastor host. The
first date set was October IS,
and was changed at the request of
local hotel men.
Sunday School Convention
At Liberty Meth. Church
Wednesday, August 19th.
The Rowan County Sunday
School Convention, for all deno
minations, will be held n Liberty
Methodist Church, miles East of
Salisbury, on Wednesday, August
19th, with-morning, afternoon and
night sessions. The theme this
year is A NEW CHURCH FOR
THE NEW DAY. There will be
addresses, discussion groups, and
special music, at the morning and
afternoon sessions. These dicus
sion groups will be for everyone
and on every division of the Sun
day School. There will be an inter
esting Religious Dramatization put'
on,at night. The night session will
be especially in the interest of the
young people’s work, but adults are
invited to attend also. Between the
morning and afternoon sessions
there will be a fellowship dinner.
Everyone is urged to come and
bring baskets.
Rev. Shuford Peeler, general sec
retary of the N. C. Sunday School
Asociation, and Frank J. Watson,
also of the State Association, will
be present and take active parts.
Local pastors and others will parti
cipate also. It is hoped that every,
church will send not less than sixj
delegates. They are urged to send
more, if possible. At the close of
the night session, a pennant will be
given to the Sunday School having
the best record of attendance, based
on the number of miles traveled.
Further information about the
Convention may be secured from
Dr. H. H. Neyman, Salisbury, the
county president, or Mrs. H. C.
Agner, Gold Hill, the county sec
retary.
NEW QOTTON PLANT
Wiggins , Miss. — An unusual
species of cotton plant with twin
bolls to the square, no branches on
the stalk and producing an inch
long staple received the attention
of agricultural officials here. The
new growth was discovered by H.
H. Batson.
HABITS . . . nard to break
Man is a creature of habit. Most
of our actions and most of our so
called thinking are what they are
because we have acquired the habit
of going through a fixed routine
and don’t have iniative enough to
change our habits of work and
thinking.
I think this inherent trait of hu
man nature lies at the bottom of
most of the failures to change the
world overnight. Reformers of all
types are prone to overlook the hold
which habit has on the human ani
mal. It would riot be difficult to
make the world a much better place
to live in for everybody, if only
enough people could be jarred out
of their habits of living and made
to see that there are better ways of
doing things than those to which
they are accustomed.
* * *
RUTS . . . get deep
Most of the wtorld runs in ruts.
We stay in our ruts because it is
easier than to try to get out of
them, or because our fathers before
us traveled in the same ruts. The
deeper the rut, the longer people
have moved in it, the harder it is to
get out of it.
The only really free individuals
are those who succeed in getting
out of. the ruts in which their fel
lows are moving. Once in the rut,
ffiSTridividuai~ir ritejgtty gbTSHfoe^1 ;
crowd. He is not free to move ip
any direction except that in which
the crowd is moving. He has to
folow a pattern or a trail marked
out for him by others.
No man is entirely free fitom
some sort of restraints. The worst
slaves, however, are the ones who
could be free but who prefer to
stay in the rut and revile the more
enterprising ones who have suc
ceeded in climbing out of it. Ic
Is human nature never to shoulder
the blame for one’s own condition,
out to try to find a scapegoat who
is responsible for all of one’s indi
vidual troubles.
* * *
STUPIDITY ... an obstacle
Nobody can watch the world
50 by for as many years as I have
been permitted to do so without
coming to the conclusion that the
chief obstacle in the way of human
progress is not greed or tyranny
but stupidity. Show me a man
who prides himself on being con
servative, and, nine times out of
ten, I will show you that this so
called conservatism is merely stup
Idtiy. He has been taught, or has
taught himself, certain fixed rules
which, to his stupid mind, chart
the only perfect course of life. He
refuses to listen to any suggestion
that a new way or a different way
of doing things might be better
for everybody, including himself.
I do not mean to suggest that
the new way or the different way
is always the better way. What I
am trying tx> say is that the true
conservative, if he is intelligentt,
will look at any new ideas with an
open mind and an impartial eye,
instead of dismissing them from all
consideration merely because they
do not conform to his preconceiv
ed ideals.
* * *
LEADERSHIP . . . scarce
The only way the mass of man
kind gets out of the iold ruts and
the habits which handicap it is
when some forceful character who
das set himself free from the inhi
oitions which bind most of us to
the old ways, points out a new way
iO persuasively that first a few
tnd then the many are induced to
try it.
Such leaders are rare. Not very
nany of them are born in any gen
iration. When they do arise they
thange the wtorld.
I have in mind particularly one
roung man who has achieved the
(Continued on page four)