Newspapers / The News & Observer … / Nov. 20, 1904, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The News and Observer. Volume LVI. No. 63. [L®®!!© ®OD ©subdOSem [Psipstp© Bod [JB®{£Qd affitiu II BIG DM DUKE Erwin Cotton Mill Started With Capacity of 35,- 000 Spindles. Splendid |School in Operation— k ßig Department Store- New Church es—Fine Bank Building—and Everything For Modern Man ufacturing Town. (Special to News and Observer.) Duke, N. C., Nov. 19.—Thursday was a great day .for Duke. Erwin Cotton Mills Company’s people and their many friends and neighbors saw the engine start which will run the new No. 2 mill. Since the summer of 1902 this company has been at work building the town and this new mill. The people have watched the progress with keen interest, and Thursday a large crowd gathered to see steam turned on for the first time. They were not disappointed for at 2:30 o’clock the engine started, cheered by the clapping of hands from the visi tors. As a result of eighteen months of labor and the expenditure of a large sum of money, what was a well tim bered woodland has been converted into a town, now ready to accommo date three thousand people. In the centre of the town stands? the Erwin Cotton Mills No. 2 now ready to begin operations which will soon give em ployment to a thousand hands. Duke fifty miles from Raleigh on the Cape Fear & Northern Railroad, four miles out from Dunn. Situated on a high plateau( shaded by long leaf pines, and having a climate similar to that of Pinehurst and Southern Pines -—a healthier place could not be found. In fact, the town was laid off with the idea of having an up to date city and nothing has been omitted. The streets are one hundred feet wide. There are about three hundred houses, ranging in size from three to ten rooms. These were built by the company and are most substantially constructed by modern plans and painted in various tasty colors. Each house is provided with a lot large enough for a garden and every house affords a comfortable and convenient home desirably located for the opera tives. In fact nothing fcas been left undone for the comfort of those who are to live in these houses. The Cole-Johnson Co., run a large department store and keep everything for sale that is needed for a good sub stantial living. They occupy the tirst tloor of the store building, which is 100 feet square, built of brick. The second story is fitted up for a graded school and auditorium. The school department is made into five large rooms. The auditorium is fitted with all the up to date equipments and has a seating capacity of 1,250. Finished in native pine, hard oiled, lighted by electricity, heated by steam, well ven tilated and protected from fire by ap proved appliances—a more attractive auditorium and school rooms could scarcely be found. The mills, which are the centre of attraction, were planned by one of the best mill architects in the New England States. The buildings are beautiful. The smoke stack stands one hundred and sixty-one feet high as a monument to American enter prise, not only to the capitalists, and to the inhabitants of Duke, but to the country around. The outside of the mill looks good but the interior is bet ter. Well lighted and ventilated, equipped with electric lights, steam heat and the sprinkler system for fire protection. So complete is the fire protection that if a fire should be kindled inside the buildings and left alone it wold have great difficulty in doing much damage. The mill ma chinery is all entirely modern in every detail and each machine is so arrang ed with reference to the other that a minimum handling of the stock will he necessary. The capacity of the mill will be 3,500 spindles and sufficient looms to consume their product. The latest system of Humidifiers has been install ed which facilitates the manufacture of the goods. A handsome bank building is soon to be built for the Bank of Harnett, which is at present doing business in the store building. The people here have always been busy, that is a char acteristic of the Duke people, but with the opening of the bank, the open ing of the new store, the starting of the school, and the increased force in the mill help in making Duke quite a busy centre. Two feathers have charge of the school and are making a success of it. The' number of students have been doubled in three weeks. The church people have not been idle. They have a live Sunday school and are hard at work on their church which they expect to have completed by Christmas. This will he one of the prettiest village churches any where to be found and will seat 400 people. The Baptists have a preacher here and a good Sunday school. They, too, are raising money to build a church. In less than a year we expect to see four live, working churches — Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopal. The Episcopal congrega tion have their plans and are almost ready to begin their building and they will have regular services when the church is completed. Puke is not cut off from the sur rounding country, but has graded macadamized roads leading out in dif ferent directions. A magnificent drive leading from the mill to the new iron bridge which spans the Cape Fear river at Smiley’s Fall, a mile and a half away, is one of the leading fea tures. „ , In Harnett county live some of the best people of the State. Farmers wlo have been successful have branched out into other lines of trade and have made themselves independ -it and are broad gauged and liberal inded men. To visit their homes ' || m i —MM ■ Washington Post. reminds one of' the hospitality that Thos. Nelson Page loves so much to write about that existed in the South before and just after the war. One only has to visit Duke to be convinced that it is the busiest, most progressive and up to date town in the State. One thing that appeals to the peo ple and makes them feel proud of Duke is that only Southern money is invested there and that Southern men have the management of its affairs. The officers and managers of the Erwin Cotton Mill Company, at Duke are as follows: B. N. Duke, presi dent; Geo. W. Watts, vice-pr /ddent; W. A. Erwin secretary-treasurer; Thos. H. Webb, manager; F. P. Tate, civil engineer and superintendent of construction. The officers of the Bank of Har nett are: B. N. Duke, president; W. A. Erwin, vice-president; E. R. Has kins, cashier and E. P. Davis, assist ant cashier. The officers of the Cole-Johnson Company are: R. F. J. Johnson, pres ident: E. S. Yarbrough, vice-president, and L. G. Cole, secretary-treasurer. TWO NOTABLE BOOKS. A Review of "The Law of the Land’’ and of “God’s Good Man.” By FRED B. WARREN. Philadelphia. Pa., Nov. 12. —Mr. Emerson Hough, author of “The Mis sissippi Bubble.’ allows himself to wax exceeding melodramatic in his last novel, “The Law of the Land,” which I have just read. This melodramatic element, in conjunction with two oth er reprehensible errors in good judg ment. comes very near to spoiling the story. The author has chosen for h!s mo tive a question which must be handled with very soft gloves under all cir cumstances—the present day race problem in the far South. Further, he has not approached his subject in an equal spirit of non-partisanship; in too many places the glaze of fiction runs very thin and- impassioned ar gument betrays the personal opinions of the writer undisguised. Os course, some of the greatest novels have been aimed at the correction of social wrong and it is considered well with in the province of the story writer to turn his pen to this high aim, but it is a grave question whether or not Mr. Hough has shown good taste in thus running a rancorous probe into the very center of one of the sore spots of our national social structure. The greater part of the tale’s action has for its theater the plantation of one Calvin’s Blount, situated in the very heart of the "Black Belt’ in the river bottoms of Northern Mississ ippi, where, as that fiery gentleman himself says, the whites are living on the top of a black volcano The author has conjured tip a sit uation—not unusual, I admit —where- in the brutal negroes under the lead ership of a voodooistic “queen” com- I mits acts of desperate fiendishness against the handful of whites who represent the thin line of law and or der in the district. In retaliation the whites even exceed the blacks In the cruelty of their reprisals and to the uninitiated dweller beyond the border it seems that “the law of the land” is nothing but the conspicuous ab sence of all law. Against misdirected enthusiasts of the North, who are constantly urging upon the negro his right to share in the government. Hough lays all the | blame for the conditions he depicts in his novel. He says that such agi tators have even wrought in the minds of the blacks the dream of a black re ' public in the South; that they have RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 20, 1904. After the Avalanche. caused the negroes to have faith in a John Brown redivivus. Here is what Hough gives as the Southerners’ protest against the attitude of the North: “But wo denounce and always will denounce that false decree which says that black is white; that inequality is equality; that lack of manhood is manhood itself; that the absence of a heartstone can mean a home; that the absence of a home can mean a permanent society.” This particular paragraph is not so bad. Hough is evidently sincere in these sentiments and there can he de tected nothing of the poseur in his attitude. But nl the working out of the clash between white and black in the story he introduces situations which certainly would well adapt themselves to the 10. 20 and 30 cent “home of refined melodrama.” A score of murdered negroes sit stark along the benches of their Hooded .meeting house, with alligators rasping their grisly way across the slimy floor. (Green calcium and shiv ery music.) Or again, the booming of an African war drum in a cane brake and the chanting of barbaric tribal incantations by citizens of the United States, black albeit. This bor ders on the sensational to say the least. Bobbs-Merrill. of Cincinnati, are the publishers of this story of the law of black against white. God’s Good Man. I approach the task of criticising Marie Corelli’s new book, “God’s Good man.” in a manner which 1 believe is the most practical, yet not the most orthodox. I intend to handle the book in terms of bulk just as one would figure upon a carload of potatoes or invoice a shipment of sheep. The story comprises 523 pages of fine print, closely set in type, about 450 words to the page being the average arrangement; in somo of the dialogues i each of the interlocutors delivers him- I self of from 300 to 500 words with | out pause for breath; many of the I author’s reflections upon life and | tilings occupy space of 1,000 words !or more. Gigantic is the word to be I properly used in describing this lit- I erary effort. Though t have had this book on my desk for three weeks, a recent night of strenuous reading barely suf ficed to close the six day’s effort at completing it—and that with several jumps over Miss Corelli’s assertions not related to the thread of the story, numerously bespattered throughout the hook. In a liturgical preface of some length Miss Corelli prays sarcastically to be delivered from the hands of the critics. “From willful misquotations, from sentences garbled and randomly set forth to the public without con text. continuation or conclusion, in a'ttempt to do injury to both the story and the writer, from the novel-skim mer’s epitome, abridgement synopsis or running commentary may an hon est press deliver me.” This is comprehensive enough, bit ter enough, hearing enough of Corelli’s egotistic stamp, and of course the dis honest critic shrivels before it and draws in his horns. In all contri tion then, and with due humility, I venture topropound several questions which I think the author owes it to the ever critical book and news paper fraternity to answer as their small intellect has been sadly dis turbed by a. reading Os her book: Is the Good Man in her story the only “Churchman” Miss Corelli could ever tolerate, and if so. was it because he read Epictetus? Did the Rev. John Walden’s good ness Jie in finding utter abomination in everything appertaining to the leisure class? If the Rev. John Walden shared Miss Corelli’s beliefs concerning the present condition and future spirit ual state of orthodox religionists would he long be holding that com fortable “living” at St. Rest? And lastly in my cross fire of ques tions —did Maryilia have apnendicitis? What is the plot of the book? But that is interdicted by the author’s litany in the front of the book: "from the novel-skimmer’s epitome, etc.” However, there is a plot and it is rich in incident. Miss Corelli calls her work a simple love story— and simple it is. The story differs from many of Miss Corelli’s former novels in that it does not contain any burning messages of redemption to a sin-ridden world. No opportunity is avoided by the author for getting in a slap at some of her favorite scapegoats. She is a sterling good hater and now that the good Queen Victoria is no longer able to stand sponsor for her literary style by marked favor, the lady who con ceived in one of her books of the sorrows of Beelzebub, finding her sef without royal protection in a harsh world, assumes the offensive and. forsooth, is able to do battle quite ably. LARGE ADVANCE. Viriiinia-C;* , *oliim Chemical Co.'s Busi ness Make Improvements Tills Fiscal Year. (Wall Street Journal.) The securities of the Virginia-Caro lina Chemical Company have had a large advance recently, based largely on the improvement in ihe company's business so far this fiscal year. It will be remembered that a few months ago the company supplied it self with an additional working capi tal by th» sale of $6,000,000 f pre ferred stock, which was sold principal -1; to Blair <<• Cn. The raising of this add'tional capital piaced the company in a stronger position than it had ever been in before as regards its finances, and the management has been able to show better results in the way of earnings by having ample funds with which to carry on the business. There has been a larger demand for the company s product this season owing to the prosperous’condition of the South res lting from the la pe cot ton crop the past year. Cotton grow er? have had more money with which to purchase 'ortilizers, which is one of the Company’s principal products. It is stated on good authority that while there are no prospects of the common stock receiving a dividend again for possibly a year or longer, the earnings are at the rate of 8 per cent per annum on this issue. If the remainder of the fiscal year shows earnings as good as the pact few months, the total results, for the fiscal year will in ali probability be the bes. in the company’s history. The bankers who became interested in th» company during the past year are giving close attention to the af fairs of the company, having sufficient i < present xtives on the board of direc tors to dictate its policy in all essen tial matters. Gems in Macon County. The Asheville Citizen quotes Mr. /Henry G. Robertson, of Macon county, saying: “Gems have been mined in Macon countv that have brought fortunes and one gem company now; owns hundreds of acres in the county. Besides ame 16 Pages—SECTION One— Pages lto 8. thysts the celebrated Oriental ruby has been found, and many other prec ious stones. I know of one man who made a million and a half dollars out of gem mines In the county and can state that the most expert corundum miners and manufacturers in the world are to be f ound in Macon county. These men are of the opinion that in the near future there' will be an open ing in Macon county for a really abras ive material.” JURY WAS DISCHARGED. Tlie Judge Wouldn’t Try Case With Jury That Would Not Receive The Law :»s Char -ed by The Court. Chatham Record. State against J. A. Cresswell: unlaw fully selling whiskey: verdict of not guilty. There were six of these cases and in the first four of them the defendant was acquitted. In the fifth case the Judge charged the jury that if they believed the witness, whose evidence was not contradicted, they should find the defendant guilty. The jury retired for a few moments and then rendered a verdict of not vuilty. whereupon the Judge at once discharged them, say ing that he would not try oases with a jury who would not receive the law as charged by the court. In the sixth case the defendant testified for himself and was acquitted. COL. CRAIG NOT PLEASED. He “Will Proceed to Vindicate Him self.” (Reidsville Review.) Colonel J. N. Craig is very much displeased at the finding of the mili tary court-martial in the case of the soldiers who were killed while en route home from the encampment at Morehead City. Their verdict that “the colonel and other regimental offi cers were remiss in the performance of their duties,” he thinks, is an un just one, and he will proceed to vin divate himself. He informed a rep resentative of this paper the other day that he was not even on the train at the time of the accident; that the men who met their deaths had orders not to leave the car. and he is any thing but pleased with the court’s find ings. Arnold’s Explanation Made Matters Worse. The New York Sun alluding to Hunter Arnold’s dismissal from the po sition as inspector of rural free deliv ery says: “Arnold’s explanation con vulsed the postal authorities. It ap pears he became enamored of an at tractive widow in Asheville and ad dressed a letter to her. By some means the billet doux got into the hands of the colored woman and the trouble began. The inspector stat ed that the letter, which invited the woman to meet him a* a certain place, was meant for a white woman, and not for the wife of a negro pastor. This made matters worse, in the opin ion of the officials, and accordingly Arnold’s official head aropped into the basket.” Terrible Storm :»t Oeracoke. (Washington Messenger.) From private sources we learn that the inhabitants of OcraCoke say that the storm that visited that island on Sunday last was the severest in some time. We hear the wind reached the greatest velocity known to the island ;rs in over 20 years. Price Five Cents. BLACK A BOLTER Much Depends Upon Can non as to Extra Session. Statue to Frederick the Great. John C. Dancey's Opponent—Cockrell's j Retirement—Taft and His Tar* |iff Reduction Proposi*; tion. BY CICERO W. HARRIS. (Special to News and Observer.) Washington, Nov. 19.—The mention so prominently here of Gen. Black, of Illinois, as the coming Commissioner of Pensions recalls the career of this gentleman and excites research as to his political status. John C. Black was appointed to the Civil Service Commission as a Democrat. But he supported Palmer and Buckner and is not regarded as a thick-and-thin ad herent of regular Democracy. The comment is made by some Republi cans that if Black is made Commis sioner of Pensions it will show that the President has determined to be pretty independent during his term of office, A Republican who is a very in telligent and fair-minded man who has served in a responsible expert po sition in the Pension Bureau under half dozen Commissioners, says that Black is perhaps the most conserva tive and just to all interests con cerned, veterans and public, of all the heads of the office he has known. There has been a little talk here of the Republican legislature choosing Senator Cockrell to succeed himself. ' This is all in the air and merely caps j the good opinion held in this city ! among all classes and parties of the distinguished Senator from Missouri. There is general regret at the prospect of his leaving public life. That is all that is meant by the gossip alluded to. A Republican far inferior to Gen eral Cockrell will be elected Senator and the Democrats will have to re deem the State in order to return Francis M. Cockrell to the place he has so much adorned and in which he has been so useful for many years. By that time, however, he may have be come superannuated and tired of life’s ' struggles or have passed off the stage jof action altogether. A great deal depends on what Speaker Cannon advises as to the call ing of an extra session pf Congress to consider the, revision of the tariff schedules. lam informed that a bus iness man who visited the White House yesterday ascertained that Mr. Roosevelt had a very decided incli nation to an extra session at that time. It would seem, if this informa tion is correct, that the arguments of Payne and Dalzell had made no deep impression upon the executive mind. Certainly there is no doubt enter tained here by any well-posted person that the President personally approves of an early revision of the tariff. The question is, can he resist the pressure against revision brought by the great body of the stand pat leaders of his party. They are the sinews of the or ganization. They furnish the heavy ordnance and the munitions. The unveiling yesterday of a statue of Frederick the Great of Prussia, in this city was an event of something more than ordinary significance. The President could not. well refuse the gift of the statue of the great conquerer, and although he was not in any pe culiar sense the friend of our people in the Revolution, he was a great military man whom the country re spects as the ally of England in the seven years’ war with France which the colonies waged along with Eng land. Frederick was one of the very greatest except Bonaparte and Marl borough. He is to be named after the class of military commanders in which Epanimondas’ Alexander, Han nibal, Caesar, in ancient times, and Gustavus, Adolphus, Torstenson, Conde, Frederick. Moreau and Moltke, in modern, are the leading names. It is said a strong fight is to be made by influential Western Senators to displace John C. Dancy as register i of deeds of the District of Columbia, j in favor of Charles Cotterelt, a prom j Inent negro of Toledo. Ohio. Nothing is known as to the President's inten ' tions. j There is likely to be a big row at the j approaching session of Congress over , the proposition of Secretary Taft to ; reduce the tariff from 75 to 50 per cent iof the Dingley rates. The tobacco , trusts wish the tobacco duties to re main as they are. that is at 75 per cent. They will decidedly oppose the proposed reduction to 50 per cent., or I less. They admit such reduction would not be ruinous, but say it would ibe harmful to them. They are not backward in declaring that they will fight the proposed reduction. Quota tions from the leading tobacco journal are reprinted here at full length In the city newspapers. It Is likely there will be great excitement when the subject I comes up in Congress. Two additional city carriers have been given by the Postmaster General to Charlotte post office, to begin ser vice December 1. i Cartilage News Notes. (Carthage Blade.) The Tyson & Jones Buggy Co., is receiving twice the orders and turn out far more work than ever before in its history. Center church is to be dedicated on Friday before the fourth Sunday. Rev. S. T. Hoyle of the Sanford Cir quit, is to preach. Two services may be expected. A cordial invitation is extended the general public. A fight is on among local Republi cans for the Carthage postoffice. L. R. Ritter, the present incumbent, is not an applicant, we understand, and the fight is among C. McLeod, R. S. Shields and P. R. Pleasants, all whom are good citizens.
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 20, 1904, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75