Rutherford
County Offers
Unequalled
Opportunities To
Manufacturers
and Others
VOL. XII—No. 48.
LOWER TAX RATE IF UTILITY PLANTS ARE SOLD
Former Banker Dies After Long Illness
JAMES MINER THOMAS
CLAIMED BY DEATH
THURSDAY MORNING
Stricken With Paralysis in
July, —Buried in Kentucky
Saturday by Masons.
[ Leaves Large
Sums To Banks
Mr. J. H. Thomas, late offi
cial of the Farmers Bank and
Trust Company, left a large sum
of money, in the form of insur
ance policies to the banks of this
county. The Farmers Bank was
carrying a policy of $60,000 on
the life of Mr. Thomas, in addi
tion to this he assigne,d a policy
of $50,000 payable to this bank;
a policy of £30,000 payable to
the Rutherford County Bank &
Trust Company; one policy of
SIO,OOO payable to the Chimney
Rock Trust Company and $30,-
000 to the Mooresboro Bank, at
Mooresboro —a total of SIBO,-
000 which will be, collected by
those four institutions.
A policy was left to Mrs.
Thomas, also a policy which will
pay $l5O per month during Mrs.
Thomas' life.
James Hiner Thomas, former
president of the Farmers Bank &
Trust Co., and who before losing
his health was one of Rutherford
county's biggest business men, died
at his home here last Thursday
am el'fart to regain his health Mr:h
[Thomas went ;to Fltorida anfi ire
[turned to his home here feltfghtly
improved. On July 24th Mr. Thom
[as was suddenly stricken with
!paralysis and from then until his
death last Thursday he was con
lined to his bed and could talk but
| very little and that was almost a
whisper
Funeral services were held at his
home Friday afternoon at 2 p. m. with
Rev. M. F. Moores, pastor of the
First Methodist church, in charge.
The Spindale Quartette, composed
of Messrs. G. B. Howard, D. C.
Cole, T. 0 Hendrix and J. W.
Starnes, had charge of the music
and they rendered three selections
in a most beautiful manner. At
the beginning of the service they
sang, '|lt Is Not Death to Die," af
ter which Mr. Moores read two pas
morning at 6:20 o'clock. Mr. Thom
'f a d been in ill health for about
two years, his condition becoming
rtrious in January of this year. In
Scripture. A beautiful
.Piay-.r was offered by Mr. Moores for
ipe family and other relatives of
debased. The Spindale Quar-
L ' then sang, "Sometime We'll
■Understand."
glowing words Rev. Moores
wonderful tribute to Mr.
1 -ling the great char—
L.V,, ll . ?s v> hich he possessed, his
- rsonality, his great
lirj/ V- abilit y aiK l last but not
-"I. his democratic friendship for
■;-•! i". Thomas did not extend his
~* tn ''-" ill P to only the big man, but
h'in , Un est an d lowest could call
: i nend. stated Mr. Moores. He
told of Mr. Thomas' Christian
; i( - ind how interested he was in
" e Wol 'k >f his church.
Is t Jl p f B " formerly of For
or>A x'' .^ )Ut now superin
iivi- -»°* She] by schools, then
' 'p. Mr. Smith also told of some
J .the tine things in Mr. Thomas'
Ul , u 'hich he was 'familiar,
'1 " *" at he had known him for
l \ e . years and that never in all
•v lle had he, by any act of Mr.
was. any cause to think any less
him. He told of Mr. Thomas'
nd + / ym P ath Y f° r the unfortunate
those in sorrow, saying that he
l °- le p remarked on this great
h I ac "t ristic of the deceased. At
Z C Q or ! csupi °n of Mr. Smith's talk
'pmdale Quartette, in closing
sang, "Does Jesus care."
• body of the aeceased was
l* n ; to Asheville and placed
V'uL '  ar °li n a Special of the
h, - in Railroad and shipped to
~ " n,e °1 Mrs. Thomas, at Plea-
L r " ! "' R y- Services were held
( Saturday by the Pleasureville
hil 6 Nn - 410 ' A. F. & A. M.,
:oiiw i aVfc a Masonic burial as a
?o 10 Forest City Lodge
kO A »*}, A. F. & A. M.
, tllve pallbearers for the service
v. ,Vei 'e : R. L. Reinhardt, J A.
C - King, E. G. Aber-
L. Hicks, and F. I. Bar
rvc> On Ppcre Four)
FOREST CITY COURIER
FOREST CITY—"ONE OF THE TEN BEST PLANNED AND MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES IN THE U. S. A." U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE" SURVEY.
SUCCUMBS
ill 1 - - I f-jSiwfiiffijMl^^
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JIB ./ ?yf : jg ' ; aSll 1
iit 5 ' "''^ : : ; C : ' ,: ■■ .itdjy * '^iiiE|BMß!iW
JAMES HINER THOMAS.
Party To Honor
Chairman Mull
Asheville, Sept. 2.—Dem««cr*tic
leaders from the ninth and tenth
congressional districts have been in
cited to attend a banquet to be giv
en at the George Vanderbilt hotel
here, September 19, in honor of
Odus M. Mull, state Democratic chair
man. The banquet is being arranged
by local Democrats and Robert R.
Reynolds, attorney, is in charge oi>
the arrangements. He says he ex
pects to have 250 prominent western
state democrats at the banquet. King
land Can Winkle, Asheville lawyer,
and president of the Buncombe coun
ty Bar association, will act as toast
master. Among the prominent
leaders who will be honor guests
are Governor Max Gardner, form
er Congressman Clyde Hoey of
Shelby; Josiah W. Baijey, Ra
leigh, nominee for United States
senate; Zebulon Weaver former
10th district congressman; A. L.
Bulwinkle of the ninth district;
and Senator Lee Overman.
THIEVES ABANDON CAR
AND STEAL ANOTHER
Chief Charles R. Price found an
abandoned tudor Whippet car on
Cherry Mountain street Monday even
ing about ~ighi o'clock. The car had
a Kentucky license tag on it, and
was stolen from Asa- Barber, 'of
Winchester, Ky. The thieves run out
of gas on Cherry Mountain street,
and abandoned the car, and took a
Buick sedan, parked nearby. The
Buick belonged to Mr. Ezra Moore,
of Alexander. The motor number of
the Buick is 1888679 and the li
cense is N. C. 331-356.
MISS EUNICE HICKS AND
HOWARD CLARK ARE WED
Cliffside, Sept. 2.—Mount Plea
sant church, near here, was the scene
of a beautiful wedding August 24,
when Miss Eunice Grace Hicks be
came the bride of Howard Clark at
High noon. The church was beau
tifully and attractively decorated in
native evergreens, ferns and lilies.
The ceremony was impressively
performed by Dr. T. C. Holland pro
fessor of Wake Forest college and
formerly of Porto Rico.
Mrs. Clark is an attractive and
cultured young lady. She was edu
cated at Limestone college, Gaffney,
S. C., and Lenoir-Rhyne, Hickory.
She has been a successful teacher in
the Rutherford school.
Mr, Clark is the oldest son of
Haywood Clark of Lenoir. He was
educated at N. C. State college and
is now- employed in Martinsville,
Va., as an electrical engineer.
Immediately} after the wedding
Mr. and Mrs. Clark left for Virginia.
You vpll find a complete line of
school sfipplies at all times, quality
and prices right, at Scanl's 5-10-25 c
Stores.
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF FOR EST CITY AND RUTHERFORD COUNTY
ROMINA THEATRE
IS RE-OPENED
First-Show Monday Nifht by
B. & A. Amusement Corp.
—New Sound Equip
ment Installed.
Much interest was shown in the
re-opening of the Romina Theatre
under new management Monday
evening. Interest developed swiftly
during the past week while the house
was closed for the installation of
new talking equipment which stands
pre-eminent among the finest equip
ment made.
The Romina will be under the per
sonal supervision of Mr. E. F. Dar
dine, who has been in active asso
ciation with the picture business
since its inception.
Mr. Dardine comes to Forest City
with a reputation and prestige in
the motion picture circles that count
for as much as any other one indi
vidual in the business. He is virtual
ly known to every exhibitor, produc
er and film booking house represen
tative in the Southeast, and knows
the theatre as few people do. His
knowledge, along with the benefit
of his long practical experience, will
unquestionably be reflected at the
local playhouse.
Mr. Dardine has a fixed idea about
ideals of service and responsibility
to the community, and that is to
create a distinctive and homelike
atmosphere to the theatre, and to
stabilize admission prices. The admis
sion prices under the new regime will
be ten and thirty cents to all.
Associated with Mr. Dardine will
be his assistant manager, Mr. Dick
Chastaine. To him goes the credit
for the wonderful sound installation
which was so agreeably received by
the first night audience Monday
night. Mr. Chastaine has risen to
his position through application of
himself and a studiousness that has
revealed a native ability and talent
for the things that are entrusted
to his direction. In addition to being
assistant manager, Mr. Chastaine,
will be in personal charge of the pro
jection department, as he is fully
grounded in the? fundamentals tof
projection and theatre technology.
* * *
(By C. C. Whitacre.)
On Monday night the Romina
Theatre opened to the public for the
first time under the new manage
ment of the B. & A. Amusement
Corporation. ,Mr. E. F. Dardine, of
Charlotte, one of the owners, is the
new manager of this popular play
house and in coming to Forest City
will give this town the benefit of his
long experience in the motion pic
ture wcrld. Mr. Dardine has been
connected with moving pictures since
their beginning, having owned and
run one of the first theatres in Chi
cago, 111. For the past eighteen years
Mr. Dardine has lived in Charlotte,
where he was both a distributor and
FOREST CITY, NORTH CAROLINA, * THURSDAY, SEPT. 4, 1930.
VOTERS REGISTER
FOR UTILITIES
SALE EECTION
*1 • '
Nearly 900 Register in Spin
dale and Rutherfordton—
Believe Towns Will Sell.
Four hundred and sixty voters
registered to vote in the special
election to be held in Rutherford
ton next Tuesday to determine
whether the public utilities plants
shall be sold or retained. A total of
480 voters registered in Spindale to
vbte on the same question.
. The election on the utilities sale
will be held next Tuesday in those
■•two towns. Mr. Baylus Justice was
registrar in Rutherfordton and Mr.
J. H. Hill was. registrar at Spindale.
Indications are that, the elections
ifi the two towns will be overwhel
mingly in favor of the sale. Accord
ing to reports, eighty percent or
more of the Spindale voters are in
favor of the sale, while it is thought
that the greater portion of the Ruth
erfordton voters are heartily in fav
or of the sale of their plants to the
Southern Public Utilities Company.
The registration books closed at
Rutherfordton and Spindale Saturday
evening. Much interest was shown
during the last day. Several advocates
for sale of the plants singled out
unregistered voters and carried them
to the place of registration, where
they registered to vote. Superinten
oents of the Spindale textile plants
Saturday morning urged their em
ployees to register for the election.
First Pale, Of Cotton
Ginrted Tuesday
• ,/ ♦\ f . *ri > « ■ 1 - A . y* V
* Mr. *W. %**&arrill, of near Avon*
dale, Hid m bale of cotton ginned at
the Ayondtele Mills gin Tuesday
morning. This is the first bale of cot
ton reported ginned this year.
MR. B. H. LONG RESIGNS.
Mr. B. H. Long, who has been con
nected with the First Industrial
Bank, of Rutherfordton, as Cashier,
during the past two years, resigned
his position September Ist. Mr. Long
is one of tjie best bankers in the
State, as well as one of our most
substantial citizens. He will take a
short vacation before assuming a new
position.
BIG GOLF TOURNAMENT.
On September 11, 12, 13 Ruth-
I orford Country Club will stage its
| first invitational golf tournament.
Golfers from ail of the nearby clubr
have been invited to participate in
this tournament, and it is expected
j to be the largest golf event in the
! history of the local club. Suitable
' and valuable prizes will be awarded
! to, the winner and runner-up in each
j of the four flights.
The tournament is arranged m
1 such a manner that regardless ot
whether you are very efficient at th-e
! game or just an ordinary dubber,
| you will be placed in the tournament
| in proper company. For that reason
! it. is expected that a large number
will enter.
The public is cordially invited to
witness this event and see some real
golf matches by such well known
players as Allen Smith, of Asheville,
Fred Webb, of Shelby, who were so
prominent in the lime'light during
the southern tournament at Sedge
field this spring.
The local club has experienced its
most successful year. The course is
in the best shape in the history of
the club and many more are palying
daily than ever before.
NUMBERING HOUSES.
The Town of Forest City is having
all houses and places of business in j
Forest City numbered, in anticipation
of securing free mail delivery in the
city. The work oi placing the num
bers began last week, and will be
finished within a short time.
%
an exhibitor' in the motion picture
world.
The Romina has installed new!
sound equipment and the friends and
patrons of this popular theatre will
be most agreeably surprised at the
improvement of the new sound. The
Romina will bring to Forest City
only the latest and best in talking
pictures, comedies and news and will
give the people of Rutherford coun
ty the best in amusement at popular
prices.
WOULD ALSO BENEFIT
RURAL COMMUNITIES
Many Other Advantages Seen In Proposed Sale
of Water and Light Plants to Southern
Public Utilities Company.
■*>; —r— — - •
By W. L. HORN.
(The following article, with a lit
tle resume of his experience with
the light and water systems of the
town will be of interest, and more
convincing, since Mr. Horn has been
on the job for a long time and has
the interest of the town and county
fully at heart. Furthermore, Mr. Horn
is one of our largest taxpayers and is
vitally interested in the progress and
prosperity of this city. Every voter
should read and ponder Mr. Horn's
article before making up his or her
mind as to the sale of the utility
plants.—Ed.)
In the year 1907 the writer pon- j
dered how convenient electric lights
would be for all who used the old I
time oil lamps, more on account of I
having to clean some of this type in |
the store, opened a correspondence
with the Piedmont Electric Co., of
Asheville, N. C., asking them to send
catalogues of their electric plants,
and also asked them to send best
prices on same. In about four days,
Mr. Farr, the president of the com
pany, bounced my heart into my
throat, when he came into the store
asking for W. L. Horn. Introducing
himself as the president of the Elec
tric Co., he looked down on me; the
more he looked, the more he had to
look down, for I drew myself up to
about the size of a number six shot.
I explained I only wanted the cata
logue and prices to look over and
did not wish to put him to the trouble
of coming down to see about it.
In less than two years I had the
privilege to vote for the small sys-»
tern", only a part of cfur present sys
tem, which operated from about 5
to at night.
... . elected to my fix&t
term Of office, niy this
type of work caused the board to
designate the electric plant as my
duty to look after. Electric irons be
came a vogue, and hearing com
plaints that night service only caus
ed them to have to stay up so late
to • -do their ironing, and operating
the/plant'just to let them iron would
be very taxing on the town coal
bill, and also the cpst of an extri?
fireman • -woe
,M Alcn Oo .
H. P., to run their cloth room. As j
they had their engine overtaxed, too,
this gave us a revenue of about
$400.00 per month, and let tht
house-wives do their ironing in day
time, which brought about a slight
increase from light consumers, but
we were up against it having to run
the same little engine 24 hours per
day, from Monday morning till Sat
urday night. A cross pin flew out the
engine during day run "vhich shut
down the ironing and the Florence
Mills cloth room for a short while,
and it was realized that the engine,
with no time to rest, would not hold
up long, and the writer again opened
correspondence with the Southern j
Power Co., and in answer, received •
Mr. Jno. W. Fox, special represent
tative for Southern Power-Co. Char-:
lotte, N. C. Our troubles and predica- J
ment were unfolded to him. After go- J
ing over the matter, he assured me i
it he could get the mills and some ot i
the other towns interested so k j
would justify their building line*-, j
he would be glad to furnish power
to us. A canvas was made and th:
Florence Mills dropped into line anu
on down the line till up came the line,
and the day we got hooked on to
their line our worries disappeaied,
and you know the service we have
been receiving since. These lines
have been instrumental in bringing
many large plants to Rutherfox d
county, and other counties through
which these lines were run.
So much for the efforts in getting
these improvements in our individual
towns. Comes now anotner pi oposi- (
tion which I consider means morei
than our first light plant, and get-1
ting our engine replaced with South
ern power current.
Forest City has spent hundreds of
dollars in the endeavor to get out
side money, with manufacturing (
plants, bakeries, laundries, etc., to
give employment and get more peo
ple. We have succeeded in getting
the people, as our population incieas
ed 75 per cent plus in the last ten
years.
We should consider this proposi-,
tion an answer to part of this ao- J
vertising, for there are more dol
lars and cents involved in this deal
than we could expect from any en
terprise we could avail ourselves ot
for some time. It should not be look
ed on as a mere sale of the system,
as it will mean greater expenditures
later, and constructive, more em
ployment, more conveniences for
our countrv neighbors. I would re- j
fer you to Mr. Holler's letter in las
week's Courier. It will give them a)
16 Pages
96 COLUMNS
SI.OO Per Year in Advance
Markers Arriving For
Confederate Veterans
J
Bills of lading on government
markers for graves of Confed
erate soldiers have been re,ceiv>-
j ed by a number of local peo
ple, These monuments are be
ing shipped to applicants through
out the country, and are expect
ed to arrive this week.
More than five hundred ap
plications for markers for Con
federate Veterans have been.
; made by Clarence Griffin during
the past eighteen months. The
I markers expected this week are
the first skipped into the county
by the War Department in res
ponse to the applications.
chance to have water works in their
homes as well as the light, as com
plete systems are now manufactured
! driven with small motors which will
! give them the same pressure as we
get from our lines in town. This will
mean better homes with nyore con
veniences than they can now have,
J as S. P. U. aims to go out into every
settled nook, which means more prop
erty in the county. Would it not be
more reasonable to expect a better
feeling toward us. from our near
neighbors should our vote for sale be
cast so they can be reached by these
conveniences? They can follow elec
tric lines into town mentally, as well
as they can our roads. Let's continue
to throw the lines to make our town
the centre, which is considered by
S. P. U. in caae of puju-ba^,
Their «ertice»-^ih A t)e more uni
form, as they contemplate
ing a regulator for our light lines,
which will save the up-flaring of the
lights and dimming which is so hard
on radios and light bulbs, motors,
etc. This will entail a considerable
outlay of cash. y
We can remember too that we are
in the throes of the most severe de
gression of us has ever ex
>„u. There are more sales
[ 01 land, houses and lots advertised by
! the Sheriff for sale for the taxes than
has ever been recorded for the coun
ty. When taxes are not collected it
naturally puts the municipalities in
a prospective emba v,, assing position
to meet for bond ma
turities and interest on bonds which
are due at certain intervals, and they
are cold maturities at this time as
there are no bank resources to fall
back on for a tide-over.
Now for the monetary advantages'
Refer to Mr. Stratford's figures in
The Courier, August 28th.
: He shows an advantage to the
| town with S. P. U. as owner of $5.-
[•>01.00. The writer considers his
;pj ibable tax fiom S P. U. under
, estimated $2.0-17.00.
; Out of 700 light users it is esti
| ». ated 400 are around 25 to 50 Kw
1 i.sers S. P. U. rate in this bracke
| is 2 cents per Kw. under town rate,
i which cn 2b Kw t-ntailing 50c p'"
| month per ct:. toln?r, or $2,400 per
: month, which makes a total savins
j t J tov.n and the people of $10,0.'J8.00
Thoi will 1)0 an additional anioun.
spved in county taxes which will be
u saving to every tax payer in the
county on account of this sale as the
total bid for all this property is
$920,000, which will automatically
change from non-tax to a taxpaying
enterprise.
Some opposition to the sale is.
made on the surmise that should S.
P, U. own the plant the rates can b r i
raised on the consumer, who has to
pay the piper. This company, I deem,
is like any other enterprise sarvint;
the public. They want to please, they
want to create a demand, and they
want to fill the demand in the line
which they are dealing, and as we
are just one in the hundreds of towm
which they operate, and they will
not take any more advantage of the
consumer than they would of
town, and from this point you should
be worrying under the same fear. If
they wanted to raise, if they were
permitted to, they could raise on the
towns and the towns would natural
ly raise on you, so one of the fears
couid be balanced against the oth
er and it amounts to nothing in that
respect.
Now, in conclusion, would say my
connection with the town in an of
ficial way is longer than any person
in town, and no one has ever ac
cused me to my face of working any
selfish interest in all my connections
with the town, and the foregoing are
earnest and hortest convictions.
But all of us, as separate indi
viduals, have the right to vote as he
or she pleases.