The Jonrial - Patriot
INDEPENDENT IN POLITICS
Published Mondays and Thursdays at
North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
JULIUS C. HUBBARD—MRS. D. J. CARTER
Publishers
1932—DANIEL J. CARTER—1941
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
One Year* $2.00
(la Wilkes and Adjoining Counties)
One Year $3.00
(Outside Wilkes and Adjoining Counties)
Rates to Those in Service:
One Year (anywhere) $2.00
Entered at the postofflce at North Wilkesboro,
North Carolina, as Seeond-Class matter
under Act of March 4, 1879.
j Monday, March 7, 1949
Heart Disease Leads
All Causes Of Death
'By William H. Richardson of North Carolina
State Board of Health.
You are invited to picture, in your
mind's eye, a modern American city of
136,151 people. Such a city would contain
skyscrapers, parks and playgrounds,
busses, taxicabs, and all other modern
conveniences. Its main street and those
adjacent to it would be crowded with
shoppers by day and filled with pleasure
seekers by night.
If such a city should start losing population
todav, and within twenty-five years
become extinct, that would be just what
has happened to 136,151 people in North
Carolina who died of heart diseases in the
past quarter of a century. This figure is
a startling one and yet, it is correct, according
to official reports made to the
State Board of Health.
Of the 136,151 heart deaths that have
occurred in North Carolina including and
since 1924, through 1948, 64,781 occurred
during the past ten years. In North
Carolina, during last year alone, 8,202
people were victims of diseases of the
heart.
Deaths from heart diseases have steadily
mounted during the period under consideration.
In 1924, there were 3,465
such deaths reported to the State Board
of Health. Last year led all others during
the intervening period, with 8,202 such
deaths, according to figures just released
by the State Board of Health's Bureau of
Vital Statistics.
All vital statistics for 1948 have now
been compiled, in a provisional report.
During the year, there were 111,963 live
births and $30,560 deaths from all causes.
Of this total, 17,062, or considerably
more than one-half, resulted from just four
causes—diseases of the heart, 8,202; intracranial
vascular lesions, or strokes, 3,449;
cancer, 2,898; Bright's disease, 2,503.
_____ n ■
Red Cross Is A Service
Organization
The Red Cross serves people
in need but, mor£ often than not, their
need is not something popularly considered
"relief"—such as meat and potatoes,
clothing, or money to meet the rent.
Take these examples:
A child swimming at a picnic is caught
in the rapids of a river and screams for
help. A Red Cross-trained lifesaver plunges
in, rescues him, and resuscitates him...
A whole community is stricken with influenza
or typhoid or polio, and scores of
Red Cross-trained nurse's aides are recruited
to assist the graduate nurses available.
. .
Far out in the country a farmer is injured
by his tractor. A son responds to give
him first aid learned in classes taught by a
Red Cross-trained instructor. . .
Near death from loss of blood, a motorcycle
accident victim is given transfusions
of blood supplies from a blood center staffed
and maintained by the Red Cross. . .
A veteran of the war has received all of
the government benefits to which he is entitled,
but something from his harrowing
war experience has retarded his rehabilitation.
He needs no groceries or money or
money or anything that can be handled.
He needs intelligent counsel, sensible sympathy
a friendly hand on the shoulder.
And the Red Cross hospital service worker
does just thai. » •
In every case—the child saved from
drowning, the influenza or polio patients,
the farmer injured by the tractor, the war
veteran needing counsel— all were aided
immeasureably by the Red Cross, but not
without cost in salaries paid to people who
serve these people in need, or who train
or supervise people to serve others in need.
Relief cannot always be wrapped up as
a tangible commodity. Part of the annual
budget of Red Cross is expended for direct
"relief," such as groceries, clothing, and
shelter; but SERVICE, the larger item in
the budget, is just as essential to the welfare
of humanity.
o .
Safety Checkup On
Farms Is Urged
With spring planting just around the
corner, now is the time to make farm machinery
safe and serviceable for the coming
season, points out Paul Choplin, county
agent for the State College Extension
Service.
It is not enough says the agent, to give
machinery "a lick and a promise" and
hope you can get by. Poorly conditioned
equipment reduces an operator's efficiency
and multiplies the chances for accidents.
It is irritating and fatiguing, and
it fosters carelessness.
According to Mr. Choplin, the National
Safety Council recommends that all farm
equipment be checked thoroughly before
field work starts. Look for defects in hitches,
seats, clutches, wheels, brakes,
steering, and unguarded gears or shafts.
Make repairs now and head off costly
breakdown or accidents during the busy
season.
Careful operators will also take time
to equip tractors with fire extinguishers
and provide secure holders for grease guns
,or other servicing tools carried on the
tractor. Loose accessories may lead to
falls or other casualties. A secure step or
grab bar may prevent an accident in getting
on or off the tractor.
See that all fuel lines are tight and
check fuel servicing equipment. A leaky
hose or valve can easily lead to a costly
fire. If the fuel supply is too close to farm
buildings for safety, take time to move it
before an accident occurs.
o
"When You're Green, You Grow" is a
book title with a lot of truth in it. No one
grows mentally after he decides that he
is "ripe" in knowledge and wisdom.—
Winston-Salem Journal.
r%
» LIFE'S BETTER WAY •
WALTER E. ISENHOUR
High Point, N. C., Route 4
BENEATH THE MURMURING PINES
It was some twenty years ago
'Mid Yadkin's lovely hills,
Where summer breezes sweetly blow
And flowers fringe the rills,
I knelt beneath the murm'ring pines
To Talk to God above
Of her who now in glory shines,
With whom I was in love.
I knew she was some miles away,
A sweetheart good and true,
Sweet as the fairest rose of May,
Of which there are but few.
'Twas there I prayed that she might be
The helpmeet of my life —
A dear companion kind to me,
A truly noble wife.
Oh, sacred is that spot to me
Beneath those murm'ring pines,
Where zephyrs passed from tree to tree
And stirred among the vines;
For truly God had met me there
Alone that day, alone,
In answer to my humble prayer
And she became my own
A few short years of married life
And Lela left me here;
She was a true and faiihful wife
Whose me'ry is so dear;
But yonder on the golden strand
Methinks I hear her say,
"Come dearest to this happy land
Where saints and angels stay."
May God who met me 'neath the pines
Of Yadkin's lovely hills,
The God in whom the Christian finds
The balm for all his ills,
So keeu me by His holy grace
Till life on earth is o'er,
That I may see dear Lela's face
Where partings are no more.
This poem is written in memory of my
l dear wife, Lela Henrietta Isenhour, who
departed this life May 27, 1929.
Keep North Carolna
Green
(An address by Hon J. V.
Whitfield Crm. of the N. C. Forestry
Association's Keep North
Carolina Green Committee at the
Association's anuual meeting
Nov. 17, 1948)
It's rarely necessary to tell a
Tar Heel audience about forests.
As North Carolinians you know
they're important and you know
what forests have meant and as
intelligent forward looking Tar
Heels you're as proud of North
Carolinas forests as you are of
her football teams and her traditions.
Since the first colonists settled
on the Chowan River ^ack in
1650, the rich forest resources
of this state have been like
money in the bank to our people.
For three centuries our state's
forests have supplied raw materials
for building North Carolina's
and the Nation's farms, cities
and industries. Forests still
cover three-fifths of the land
area of our state and provide the
raw materials for more than 3500
different wood-using plants
that, employ thousands of our
citizens. In 1947, North Carolina
still ranked seventh in the Nation
in lumber production. Less than
four per cent of our present
stand of timber is virgin growth.
| The wood we harvest today comes
forests that are second, third and
even fourth growth stands— irrefutable
evidence that foreists
are North Carolina's one major
renewable resources.
There is, however, one aspect
of forestry about which none of
us here can talk with pride. That
is the useless, almost always avoidable
waste that results from
forest fire. Last year, according
to late U. S. Forest Service statistics,
188,581 acres of North
Carolina forest land were burned.
Damage, and I'm sure this is
a conservative estimate that does
not take into consideration harm
done to seedlings and young
timber, was placed at more than
one-quarter million dollars.
Fires, and there were more
than 3,000 of them, burned the
potential lumber for veterans
homes; destroyed potential pulpwood
for the paper and rayon industries;
eliminated jobs for
forest workers; and deprived
land owners of legitimate profits.
Every resident of North Carolina
was a loser.
I suppose we might take some
perverse satisfaction in the fact
that North Carolina's forest fire
losses are only a small part of
thd greate? national devastation.
For instance, the average forest
fire in our state burned 61 acres,
about one-half the national loss
of 119 acres per fire. However,
you would have to look a long
time I think, t0 find anyone perverse
of unintelligent enough, to
take satisfaction in this needless
wast
say
tistii
less
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other
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ers,
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ignora:
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waste (because staqulte
plainly that
percent of North
1947 forest fires
natural causes. The
bercent were started
injokers, debris burn■Ists
and other care■t
or malicious peo
the face
gLoofmy forest
s can
e In the
played in
and I public
ter I of for
Aloig with
North Carol:
independence
tike
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picture, we Tar
a great deal of
part onr state has
urthqfrlng education
linking in the taatst
fire prevention.
1 ie other 13 colonies,
aa was battling for
when it enacted its
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