81 Ole m m $1.25 Sy I van Valley News y-ott Can'f Keep "Dotetn a . Tiofson; Lefj Vxilt Toge JJ. MINER, Mgr. BREVARD, TRANSYLVANIA CO., N. C., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, T908. VOL. XIII. NO. 38. 11 NORTH STATE HAPPENINGS Occurrcsvces ^ Interest Gle^Lived From All SectiotM ^ tKe Busy Tatr Heel State Legislation is As^ed. Kaleigh, Special.—At the Fish and Oyster Convention recently held at ;Mi)rehead City, of which Joseph Hyde Tratt, State Geologist, was chairman, and W. J. Tate, of Carrituck county, was secretary, it was unanimously ;i( kiiowledged that the supply of edi ble fish in the waters of North Car olina has for a number years past become less and less and that there :ire two facts which are responsible for this condition: First, insufficiency of laws for the protection of the fish, and sccond, non-enforcement of such law- that have been passed. State Geologist Pratt, in speaking of the proposed legislation said: ‘'The State has placed little or no restriction on the amount of appara tus that can be fished in the waters of the State and made hardly any at tempt, except in a small territoiy, to enforce the laws that have been ]vassed with a view to protect the fish. It is not putting it too strong to say that if the commercial fisher men will not consult their own in terests enough to protect the fishing industry of their own accord, they should be made to do it because they are not the only ones that have an interest in the fishes of North Caro lina. ‘^Careful consideration was given by the convention to legislation which it Avas considered would best protect the fish and oyster i*dustries and build these up to the place where they would be a source of considera ble n-venue to the State. The in terests of the commercial fishei'men were carefully considered and the committee believes that the le^sla- tion recommended is in* every case to the best interests of the tishermen, nnd that if laws are passed regulating fisliing and oystering, acc’oTding to these recommendations, that in a few years both these industries will be very much improved and the com mercial fisheraian will find that with the same amount of labor and expense Iw can make considerable more profit. “It was the unanimous opinion that the oyster industry in the State nocds much more thorougli protection, not only from the shipment of oys ters outside the State, but the taking off of the beds and selling of oysters smaller than the law allov/s. If the laws recomraonded for the cultivation of the oyster are passed, it will bo ])ossi])lo for those desiring to enter thi' ])u’shiess to obtain an incontest able tillo to a bottom suitable for the growing of oysters and, as this indus try is introduced, it Avill m.ean an in crease in the iiroductivity of the natural oyst-''r bottoms. “A general closed season of three months was recommended for frgsli water fish that are being caught in eastern North Carolina by netters for commercial purposes.” The convention, outside of legisla tion that is recommended, was of considerable value to the fishing in dustries of North Carolina inasmuch as it brought together between 50 and GO delegates, representing nearly ev- county in eastern North Carolina. These not only exchanged ideas, but v.ore biought into a much closer t'lneh with the fishing industry of tlie Slate as a whole and they have seen more clearly than ever before the value ff this industry’' to the State and the need of fostering- and pro tecting it. FUTURE FLOOD DANGER ' YOUNG LADY KILLED Will be Amicably Adjusted. Washington, pecial.—Health Officei Woodward, of Washington, returned from his vacation and has taken charge of the leper case. He says he met Dr. Lewis, chairman of the North Carolina board of health, out West and told him he would have a leper , to turn over to him upon his return to Washington. Dr. Lewis replied, says Mr. Woodward, that North Carolina would take ^ervices whenever needed as a cam paign speaker to the chairman of the National Democratic committee. Quartermaster General Francis Ma- <^on says that the cost of the encamp ment of the National Guard this year, including the rifle shooting, was about ^34,000. The War Department pays all this. Dr. F. H. Hawkins, a negro physi cian, has located in Concord to practice his profession. He is a graduate of Biddle University, al so of the medical department of Shaw University. He is the only negro doctor in that city. Car Inspector Killed. Hamlet, N. C., Special—W. A. Mel ton, car inspector for the Seaboard Air Line, was run over and instant ly killed here by train No. 44. No one seems able to state the exact manner in which he met his death, but it is supposed that he was on the front platform of the rear car and when the train started to pull out he slipped and fell under the caj". Mr. Melton was a young man, 25 years old. North State Items. T. H. Vanderford, North Carolina agent for the Bryan campaign fund, secured $100 in Winston-Salem. He has $1,500 in all so far. The farmers along the Cape Fear river report that all the cotton and com that was covered by water dur ing the recent freshet is a total loss, and some of them will sustain a great loss. There are about 67 candidates for the ministry at Davicfson College. A large per cent of this number ^ is furnished by the senior class, which as campared with the junier is rich in such material. Salem Female Academy, of Win ston-Salem, began its one hundred and seventh year with appropriate exer cises. The attendance is large, in cluding representatives from many States and some foreign countries. An interesting experiment will be tried this year, that of having Mon day for holiday instead of Saturday. The new city hall at High Point is nearing completion and will probably be ready for occupancy within three weeks, tl is located on Jordan street and will be used for mayor's office, police, light and water departments and as headquarters ofr the North- side fire department. Are the River Floods Becoming High er? The question naturally arises in connection with the recent floods what has been the cause of the enormous increase in the height of floods in the Southern States during the pase de cade? W. W. Ashe, State Forresier of North Carolina, ascribes it largely to the destruction of the leaf mold by to te destruction of the leaf mold by forest fires, and to te large areas of washed and gullied land which sheds the heavy rains in place of absorbing them. The increase both in the number and the height of the floods has been remarkable during the past fifteen years. That it is not due to climate is shown by the weather bureau data, which shows no noticeable change in climate since the bureau has been in operation. The higher rises of the floods in the Cape Fear and the Sa vannah rivers may be taken - as ex amples. The flood of 1S60 of 53 feet was the highest in the Cape Fear riv er up to that time. In 1903 a heigh-t of 63 feet was reached, while the present freshet w^as 8 feet higher or 71 feet. The same gradual increase in the height of the floods can be traced on the Savannah. For many years the flood of 1S30 was the standard, but those of the past de cade have been higher, culminating, up to the present, in the one which has just cost the city of Augusta a million dollars and the loss of two score of lives. The same rccord e.~- ists on many other Southern streams the Yadkin, Catawba, Pacolet, Ohio, Cumberland, Alabama and Santee. Cailse of the River Floods. There is'no doubt that both ^the height of the floods has increased, and that the actual number has in creased during the past fifteen years and that the same amount of rain fall now produces a much higher flooc^ crest than formerly. The destruction of the forests on the headwaters of the rivers has undoubtedly been one of the important car.scs. The area of forest land on the steep slopes has been rapidly decreasing during the past fifteen years. There has also been a large area of forest land lum bered and burned destroying the leaf p]old which kept the soil open and norous and in a condition to nbsoib heavy rains. There is in addition to tl'.is about 2,000,000 acres of waste farming land from Virginia to Geor- iria. having a hard baked soil, which does not ab'=ori) one-half of the water which it would vrero it cither in cul tivation or in timber. These unfav orable conditions increase every year. Less of every heavy rain is absorbed and a larger portion runs rapidlv of? resuUiT’'" in li’S’her and more destrue- tive Ifoods. The upland soils of the ‘Piedmont are heavy clays, naturally inper\’ious, unless kept porous by deep plowinc’ or by the cover of for est litter. When dry and baked bv the sun this clay is as nnabson^tive as a brick. It is the additional five or ten feet of flood water Avhich causes the destruction, and this is the water which these soils would ab=^orb if thev were resenta-1 , , tives in 1S90, elected State Senator ' f, in 1892 and served a» Commissioner September 14, h,ii. iho tniimph _ of Agricnlture from 1893 to 1S97. He the American army <«nfi™ed uy was again elected to the Legislature force of ;inr.s tiicle Sams title to in 1900 and Commissioner of Agiicul- the vast- conquered ' ture in 1905, which office he held to forma, Nevada, Ltah, ^,>ymlng, Lol- the time of his death. ' orado, Arizona and New Mexico.