North Carolina Newspapers

The Carolina Watchman A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE UPBUILDING OF ROWAN COUNTY ___ FOUNDED 1 §32—105TH YEAR SALISBURY, N. C., FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY 8, 1937 VOL. 104 NO. 24 PRICE S CENTS Washington—The 75 th Congress which has just begun its first ses sion, has plenty of real work ahead for it. Like its two predecessors- it will take its guidance from the White House. There will be much talk about "Congressional indepen dence,” but it is a safe assumption that no measures of vital impor tance will be initiated or enacted by Congress without the approval i of the Administration. Also, most' of the new legislation will be on the initiative of the President, j That is quite natural, since the! only pattern of plan for the future is in the President’s keeping. And while th* plan is not yet fully dis-l closed, the general understanding here is that it will move along sub stantially the same lines as during the past four years. Probably fewer new ideas will be put into law. At tention no doubt will be chiefly centered on consolidating the chan ges already made and revising the enactments of the past two Con gresses to make the laws more workable. THE BIG JOB AHEAD One of the important jobs to be^ done is the reorganization of the Executive bureaus and departments! Almost every President has tried to do this, but their efforts have been generally blocked by Congress. j Just before President Hoover went out of office he said that either "Congress must keep its hands off now, or they must give' to my successor much larger pow-j ers of independent action than have; been given to any President.” The! response of Congress was to enact j a law, before Mr. Roosevelt’s inau-j guration, vesting in the Presi-^ dent broad and sweeping authority to consolidate, eliminate and rear range executive bureaus. Last March the President named a committee to study and report to him which of the new agencies should be scrapped or reduced and how the survivors could be con-j solidated. Committees of the House' and Senate also began to study the subject. The outlook now is for a pretty general rearrangement of| ~~gove» nmental departments, with greater efficiency and simplifica tion as the main objective. The main obstacle to a logical re grouping of administrative func tions may be found in Congress it self, for the element of political1 patronage cannot be overlooked. Moreover, most of the government1 departments and bureaus have wellj organized methods of putting pressure on Congress to increase,! rather than cut down, their powers and perquisites. Mr. Roosevelt stands a better chance of getting Congressional support in the face of these power ful "pressure bloc” than any pre vious President ever had. 3 IN urr DvyALj F JLL.L.JUJU' Preparations for the opening ofj Congress were completed by the filing of the two snuff boxes which J stand on either side of the door to the Senate Chamber. This is an, ancient custom, dating from Geo. Washington’s time. There are stilt four or five Senators who are regu lar snuff-takers, and many more who take an occasional pinch from the Senatorial snuff boxes, on the theory that a good sneeze helps to ward off an impending cold and clears the Senatorial head for de bate. The "baby” of the Senate, 30 year old Rush D. Holt, of West Virginia, is being disciplined by his elder colleagues for the insurgency which he displayed last year. Mr. Holt was outspoken in his criticism of Harry Hopkins, Federal Relief Administrator, and during the po litical campaign he also opposed the re-election of Senator M. M. Neely, his Democratic colleague from West Virginia. Mr. 'Holt has now been formally notified by the chairman of the Senate patronage committee, Sena tor Hayden, that he will not be allowed to name any persons for •jobs in the capitol. T. V. A. HAS TROUBLE There is an explosion in prospect inside the T.V.A., which may have wide-spread consequences. It is no secret that Arthur W. Morgan, T.V.A. administrator, and his as sistant, David Lillienthal, are at swords’ points. Their differences are on funda mental issues of policy. Dr. Morgan wants to carry out the Tennessee Valley improvements along sound (Continued on page four) Hoey Asks Liquor Referendum Favors Taking Sales Tax Off Of Necessities New Chief Executive Also Wants Free Textbooks For Children of State Would Reduce Cost Of Auto Tags Raleigh—Gov. Clyde R. Hoey, in his inaugural address before a joint session of the House and Sen ate Thursday, submitted an outline of his program for the next several years, making the following spe cific recommendations: 1. Free public school textbooks. 2. Repeal of the sales tax on necessities. 3. Reorganization of the state highway commission for greater attention to the needs of local roads. 4. Cheaper automobile license tags. 5. Discontinuance of diversion of highway funds to other state purpose's. 6. Cooperation with other South Atlantic states in the passage of agricultural control legislation. 7. Co-ordination of the work of the central state educational ad ministration. 8. Restoration of teacher salaries. 9. Increased vocational training. 10. Adoption of reasonable reg ulations of working conditions. 11. A careful study of the liquor commission report, with no legisla tive abrogation of prohibition un til another opportunity is given for a full and fair expression of public opinion at the ballot box. 12. A long-time program of in creased facilities at state charitable institutions. 13. Additional legislation, ampli fying old age and unemployment compensation regulations adopted at the December special session, to embrace the entire federal social security program. 14. A national exposition, along the lines of the Texas centennial, to advertise North Carolina to the nation. 13. A balanced budget. 16. Reapportionment of legisfa* tive representation. U. S. Treasury May Need Billion U. S. Treasury’s New Bal ance Wheel Plan May Involve a Vast Sum. OPPOSE INFLATION Absorb Foreign Inflow and Keep Excess Re serves From Specula tion Use. Reports from Washington indi cate that the U. S. treasury’s new "balance wheel” plan for curbing credit inflation may involve $ 1 , 000,000,000 borrowing during the coming year. If, however, gold con tinues to flow into the country at the rate of a billion dollars annu ally, the treasury would take a bil lion dollars out of the money mar ket. This would be done to offset ef fects of the gold influx on domestic credit. The borrowing would have no effect on regular government finances. It would be accomplished through the sale of Treasury bills, on which interest might total near $1,000,000 annually. The new program, announced (Continued on page 3) Knotty Problems Face State Solons - i--—-—— Gen. Assembly Met at Noon On Wednesday Sales Tax, Liquor Con trol, Labor Issues, To bacco Crop Regulation and Free Textbooks Head List of Problems. Long Session Predicted Raleigh—The biennial session of the General Assembly convened here Wednesday noon, the legisla tors facing many difficult prob lems and issues. Strife over State control of liq uor or the county option plan is certain to be intense, with drys in sisting upon a state-wide referen dum and the 17 counties now oper ating liquor stores opposing any change. The majority of the state liquor study commission has recom 11 • -.1 _ illdiutu CUU11LJ upuuu, WIUI state getting one-fifth of the prof its from sales. Tobacco crop control, free school textbooks, labor legislation, posssi ble reorganization of the state high way and public works commission, possible "autonomizing” of the three units of the University of North Carolina, and a possible amendment to prohibit diversion of highway funds are among other matters expected to be discussed in the legislative halls. Record appropriations are recom mended to the Assembly in one re port of the advisory budget com mission, now being printed. Re quests for $70,000,000 during each year of the biennium up some $7, 000,000 over current spending are asked. Possible reduction by $2,500,000 annually of revenue from the sales tax may add another problem to the law makers in their attempt to meet recommended appropriations. Senators and representatives are divided in their opinions as to the probable length of the 1937 ses sion. Lieut.-Gov.-elect Horton said the Legislature still woold be in session by May 1, but his chief col league in the Senate, Pres, pro-tem A. Hall Johnston of Asheville, stated that 90 days would be suf ficient to transact the necessary business. Three Factions In Liquor Fight Members of the 1937 general as sembly are already divided into three groups on the liquor question, with the result that the outcome of the prospective fight over the liq uor problem is regarded as being considerably in doubt, according to those who have been studying the situation. The three groups into which the general assembly is di vided are as follows: 1. The county control group, composed of the 17 eastern coun ties which now have county liquoi stores under the control of county ABC boards, and the other eastern counties which want this system extended. 2. The state liquor control group composed of most of the piedmoni and western counties which want liquor stores, but which want i joi«t state and county control sys tem, similar to that advocated b) the state liquor control commis sion. 3. The bone drys who are oppos ed to any form of liquor contro [and who are generally conceded t< | be more numerous than either ol | the other groups and who heno will hold the balance of power ii ( Continued on page Three) 75TH CONGRESS CONVENES U. S. Rushes To Halt Big Plane Shipm’t Bankhead Is Re-elected Speaker and Rayburn Majority Leader. W ashington—Congress conven ed Tuesday and, combining tradi tional ceremony with the easy in formality of a family reunion, pre pared to tackle its first task of 1937. Promptly at noon, Vice-Presi dent Garner called the senate to or der, while simultaneously South Trimble, clerk of the House, con vened that branch of Congress. Organization tasks were completed with dispatch. Vice President Garner had his choice of six gavels and he man aged to use three of them before the day was over. First business was the adminis . . r . i .1 c rr u.i auun kjl Lilt uaui trx uiiiLt LU re-elected or newly elected senators Nominations for the speakership were made without oratorical em bellishments. Bankhead of Alabama was named for the Democrats and Snell of New York for the Repub licans. Bankhead, of course, was re elected 323 to 84. Ten votes were cast for Representative Schneider, named for the Progressives and Farmer-Laborites. With a cordial tribute, Snell in troduced Bankhead, and the latter turned to praising Snell as an able legislator and worthy opponent. Fifteen minutes later he was calling Snell to order and refusing him the floor in the session’s first brisk de bate—a tangle between the Repub lican leader and Representative O’Connor, Democrat of New York The Roosevelt administration raced tonight to get an emergency embargo through Congress in time to stop the shipment of more than $7,000,000 of airplanes and arms to the Spanish loyalist government. GERMAN DOCUMENT MISSING Paris—Disappearance of the doc ument of Germany’s declaration of war on France in 1914 was report-! ed after a checkup on foreign of fice documents in the investigation into an alleged espionage ring. SEES NEW RECOVERY Washington—While hailing bus iness recovery "on all fronts” dur ing 1936, Secretary Roper warned that the importance of lingering as pects of the depression should not be underestimated. In a year-end review, the commerce department chief said that unemployment, while alleviated materially in the past year, is still the paramount problem. HEADS SECRET SERVICE Washington—Frank J. Wilson, former internal revenue bureau investigator, was appointed chief of the secret service by Secretary | Morgenthau. | He succeeds William H. Moran, | who retired after 54 years of ser vice. BUILDING $300,000 PLANT Hendensonville—The* Chipman Lacrosse Hosiery Company has started construction of a $3 00,000 plant at East Flat Rock, which will employ approximately 100 persons and produce 400 dozen pairs of ladies full fashioned silk , hose daily. It will be the company’s ‘ third plant in this section. '_ ■ NATURALLY : Usher: "How far down do you 1 wish to sit, lady?” Lady: "All the way, of course.” PopulationOain Now Showed By Indians No longer A Vanishing Race; In Many Cases Rate Is Higher Than Whites. BETTER MORALE Confidence that his Race Not Doomed Has Giv en Indian Encourage ment. No more need we speak with re gret of the vanishing American or refer to the Indian as a rapidly dwindling race. The truth is, says John Collier, Indian Commission, that in many cases the red brother is now increasing at a faster rate than the white man, and has in the| last few years shown a decided gain’ in numbers. More food, better medical care, increasing resistance to disease, and, above all, the growing knowledge that his race is not doomed, that he has a future, side by side with the white man, have made the Indian more prolific and longer lived. This psycholological reason is most important and significant of all, declared Mr. Collier, for it is a scientific fact that a feeling of racial inferiority and subjudication will deplete population with almost) epidemic speed. This is why, the commissioner believes, that the Indians of the Southwest have led the upswing. Their tribal roots, he said never' have been torn up. More than anyj other tribes, they have preserved their own customs, their racial in dividuality and their independence.) Thus they are the first to expand into the wider horizon which In-J dians generally have been offered: recently. The Navajos, largest or Indian tribes; the Papagos, all of the Pu eblo groups and the one time war like Apaches are on the increase. The Peublos are well in the lead, with a population jump last year of more than 2 per cent. The Nav ajos are not far behind. And peculiarly, said Mr. Collier the pure blooded Indians generally are increasing slightly more than 1 per cent a year—or bettor than the white average—despite the consid erable percentage of pure stock lost annually through intermarriage. Rehabilitation projects, pattern ed after the government’s regular work rebel programs, nave restored the Indian’s self respect, increased the volume of his holdings and taught him valuable trades, said the commissioner. Soil conservation and modern farming methods have increased his food supply. New hospitals and enlarged medical facilities have im proved his health, already naturally bolstered by growing resistance to the white man’s diseases. WANT BERYLLIUM Shelby— Cleveland county of ficials have been asked to assist a French concern in contacting pro ducers of beryllium, a mineral fus ing alloy found in quantity near here but not yet produced commer cially. DU PONT PROTESTS ON TAX Pierre S. DuPont of Wilmington, Del., petitioned the board of tax appeals for redetermination of a ■5238,319 deficiency assessed against his 1932 income by the Internal Revenue bureau. Pres. Plans Federal Agency Help Workers Wants Broader Federal Regulation of Industry With Interstate Busi ness. ACTION BY CONGRESS Seeks to Abolish Child Labor, Shorten Hours, Raise Starvation Wages — President Roosevelt is now con sidering plans for government reg ulation to abolish child labor, short ening working hours and raising wages. The program embodies two main principles, but is not worked out in detail as yet. The first calls for a federal regulatory agency with ex tensive powers to set up minimum wage standards and working hours, applicable to all firms doing an in terstate business. The second prin ciple is intended to bring industrial production as well as distribution under federal control and will re quire action by congress to redefine the meaning of interstate commerce Purely local enterprises would be exempt, but major industries—such as steel, coal, automobiles, and tex tiles—which vitally affect the en tire nation would be defined as part of interstate commerce. An individual firm could escape regulation only by proving to the satisfaction of the commission and the courts that its business was predominantly intrastate. It was reliably reported that con gressional leaders already have as sured the President that the plan might be quickly enacted if it is introduced early in this session. Presidential advisors are confi dent, however that congress can redefine interstate commerce in terms that will be held binding on the courts. Although those who had talked^ to the president said he was strong ly inclined toward this type of leg islation, they made it plain that he was eager to consider any other scheme congress might advance, j Thomas Corcoran, Reconstruc-j tion Finance Corporation attorney 1 t t 11*1 * . XT_ w iiu lias 1V115 huuu 111511 in Deal councils was expected to play a large part in drafting the propos ed law. The program was characterized as an attempt to set an American labor standard, which could not be broken by chiselling competi tion, but to permit unrestricted competition above that level. Mr. Roosevelt was said in usually well-informed sources to oppose any immediate effort to amend the constitution, on the ground that such a procedure would be slow, cumbersome, and unnecessary. Will Discuss Retirement Act A report of much interest to the railroad men in this vicinity is the call meeting with the President soon at which time the chief execu tives of the twenty-one railroad organizations, with the managers will discuss the Railroad Retire ment Act. JANE WITHERS THREATENED Boston—A private detective guarded freckle faced Jane Withers as a result of kidnap threats against the juvenile screen star. INAUGURATED GOV. CLYDE R. HOEY 17 Wet Counties Would Hold Tax Serve Notice On State They Will Protest Tak ing awaytheir Revenue MEET IN RALEIGH The state of North Carolina was left in no doubt as to the sentiment of the 17 "wet” counties that have had liquor stores during the past year. They served formal notice that they would fight any move ment to take their revenue derived from alcoholic beverages from them Opposing state control of liquor sales, representatives of the counties meeting in Raleigh passed a reso lution asserting "management of stores and law enforcement must remain local.” No direct reference was made to i bill drawn up by the majority of i the state liquor-study commission,! svhich recommended state supervi sion of county stores and a division af profits, with the state taking ane-fifth and the counties four fifths. The bill, which will be submitted at the next session of the general assembly, would allow each of the state’s 100 counties to hold separate elections on the liquor question. The text of the resolution fol lows: "Whereas 17 of the counties of North Carolina have pioneered in the matter of legal control and sale of alcoholic beverages, and "Whereas the cause of temper ance has been promoted, bootleg ging and illegal consumption of alcoholic beverages materially re duced, and "Whereas management of local control stores and law enforcement must remain local, and "Whereas the state is, through the sales tax, collecting from 12 to IS per cent of the net profit from the control stores, and "Whereas county revenues will be materially reduced by classifica tion of property and exemption of homesteads from taxation, and "Whereas there is at present ai nntjvr occnrisrinn romno.eed of I all members of the local control boards who are working toward co ordinating prices and putting into effect uniformity of regulations. "Therefore, be it resolved, that the advisory board of 17 legal con trol counties go on record as fol lows: "1. We oppose the creation of any additional offices to be paid for by the state or any political sub division of the state, to perform a duty that is already being, and can best be performed, by agencies al ready existing. "2. We concur in the resolution adopted by the state association of county commissioners at its con vention at Wrightsville in 193 5 and at Asheville in 1936 as follows: "That any revenues derived or to be derived from the legal sale of alcoholic beverages shall remain within the counties where they originate.” “3. That revenues accruing tc the state from the sale of alcoholic beverages be confined solely to the sales tax in alcoholic beverages.”