THE DANBURY REPORTER.
Established 1872 Volume 66
An Editorial
The Cross = Examination
Question —You say you live near Germanton?
Answer—That's what I said.
Q —Big shot in that bailiwick, ain't you?
A—Beg your pardon?
Q —l mean you are the chief guy in the neigh
borhood, a successful farmer, a large landown
er, a religious and political leader, and a fellow j
the boys have to see before they put anything
across? Am I right?
A—l have never set myself up like that.
Q —Why, haven't you boasted that you were
the bear-cat in at the kill when the "late lament
ed" crop control became a "corpse," and you
threatened that if the majority who voted for
control should succeed in its resurrection pro
gram you would give them a worse dose next
December?
A—We will do it, too.
Q —You can't tolerate majority rule, can you?
A—The majority that voted for crop control
were misguided, in my opinion.
Q —Just when did you first discover "control"
was such a fraud?
A—l did not say it was a fraud.
Q —You said it was an imaginary mess of pot
tage—isn't that deceit and fraud?
A—You are saying it.
Q—And that it was managed by a bunch of
politicians in Washington who have practically
bankrupted t!»«a govWnment-Miidn't "you say
that? "
A—Yes, and I reiterate it. After 3 years un
der it I saw that honest producers got no benefi
cial results.
Q —What do you mean by "honest producers"—
does that imply that those farmers who favor
crop control are dishonest?
A—You have my newspaper articles, answer
the question yourself.
■Q —Please define a "dishonest producer."
A—l meant those who claim benefits under
control that we have not received.
Q —And you charge that those farmers who
claim benefits under crop control are dishonest?
A—l have not said it in those words.
Q —Do you claim to be fair in your statements?
A—l certainly do.
Q—Then please see if you are able to reconcile
your claims and your attitude with the following
figures sent out by the N. C. Extension Service
at State College, Raleigh, which show:
AVERAGE RECEIVED BY N. C. FARMERS
FROM TOBACCO UNDER NO CONTROL:
Year 1928 18.9
Year 1929 18.0
Year 1930 12.0
Year 1931 8.4
Year 1932 11.6
AVERAGE RECEIVED BY N. C. FARMERS
FROM TOBACCO UNDER CONTROL:
Year 1933 15.3
Year 1934 27.3
Year 1935 20.0
Year 1936 22.1
Year 1937 23.0
Do these figures not establish that for the
above five years under NO control the farmers
an average of 13.7, while for the five years
sir the government has aided the farmers
wvi crop programs, they received an average of
. 21 7
A—l : ited that in 1926, 1927 and 1928 I re
ceived • . average of 28 cents, while in 1929,
4iii9Bo. 1L "1, 1932 and 1933 I received an average
of only 13 cents.
you happen to have this evidence with
Danbury, N. C., Thursday, March 9, 1939.
A—No, but I can produce the figures from my
records.
Judge—"Sheriff, bring that man back thai* up
here before my Honor". (The Sheriff esorts up
a trembling prisoner.) "Whadda you mean
kicking my dog?" "Your Honor, I was asleep."
"Two dollars and the cost, take him to jail. Go
ahead, boys."
Q —You are one of the de luxe kind of farmers
in Stokes, aren't you?
A—Do which?
Q —l mean you are a farmer who produces to
bacco of a type which commands fancy prices on
the markets, much higher than anybody's else,
due to your superior judgment and skill. Is that
correct?
A—l have never made any such exaggerated
claims.
Q —Don't you claim that you can get a bigger
price than the State's average by 7 or 8 cents?
A—l deny it.
Q —How much did you claim in your exhaustive
discourse in the papers the other day that you
got in 1926, 1927 and 1928?
A—l said I got 28 cents average.
Q —Are you as inaccurate in your crop figures
as you are in your statements about the great
government debt?
A—l have not erred in my statement about
the government debt. It is 45 billions under this
administration, which is bankrupting the nation.
Q —You declare that you got 28 cents average
in the years 1926, 1927 and 1928. Please tell us
how you justify this claim with the State's av
erage, which the North Carolina crop service
station reports as follows:
For 1926 24.9
For 1927 21.0
For 1928 19.1
This gives the State's average at 21.6, would it
not, while you got 28. Is this on account of your
de luxe methods in farming? Please explain.
Opposing l Lawyer—"Your Honor, my client
wants a drink of water."
Judge—"Sheriff, bring the witness some
water. Bring me a drink, too. Git a whole
bucketful."
Q —Now on account of your bitterness toward
crop control, you have been charged with politi
cal prejudice, have you not?
A—Yes, by some small newspapers like the
Danbury Reporter.
•Q —Why did you make the assertion in your
newspaper articles that the benefits which farm
ers have failed to receive under crop control,
happened "under the present administration?"
A—l may have said that.
Q —But I asked you why?
A—Do which?
Q —Do nothing, except answer my plain ques -
tion. Does not the expression "the present ad
ministration" betray the political animus you
feel against the efforts made by the government
to help the farmer through the control of pro
duction?
A—l don't know that it does.
Q —Since you yourself even in your first arti
cles put the argument largely on political
grounds, I ask you if you did not make an im
portant political blunder when you designated
the* years under which you say you received only
131 ents average?
A—l fail to comprcl tiu y ur drift.
Q—l will try to m; 'it Has it occur
red to you that the cents smaH average was
received by you und. : Hoover years?
A—l was not considering politics.
Q —But you do consider politics?
A —Not in business.
Q— Don't you consider this tremendously vital
tobacco situation as business?
A—Oh, of course I do that.
Q —Then why do you turn your economical dis
cussions in the papers to a condemnation of the
"present administration," and almost lose your
temper in flaying the New Deal?
A—My critics are responsible for that.
Q —l ask you if in your first article in a Wins
con paper in your expressions of joy over the
"corpse*' of control in Stokes county, that in
stead of a dispassionate non-partisan discus
sion of an economical question, that you used a
lot of your space to excoriate the "gang of
politicians in Washington who have practically
bankrupted the government." Now didn't you
do that, showing yourself to be political-minded
in this thing, when nobody had said anything
about politics? Please answer, yes or no.
A—l do say the government is practically
bankrupted.
Q —Yes and most of your long-winded argu
ments are aimed to show the iniquities of the
New Deal—ain't that so?
A—l do contend that it is an iniquity.
Q—Why?
A—Because, I reiterate that the bunch of poli -
ticians have practically bankrupted the. govern
ment.
Q—How?
A—They are handing out the people's hard
earned tax money in wasteful extravagance and
mismanagement, and corruption.
Q —Do you love chocolate pie?
A—Do which? . j
o—Do nothimr. only answer my question.
A—J think your question is silly.
O—Do you love chocolate pie?
A—Sure, do you?
Q —You charge corruption and mismanage
ment and wasteful extravagance on the part of
the government. But somo of these hand-outs
| taste like chocolate pie, don't thc-y?
A—What do you mean?
Q —l mean your pai't of the hand-outs.
Opposing Lawyer—"Your Honor, I protest at
the flippancy and the irrelevancy of the coun
sel s questions, and enter my objection."
Questioner—"May it please the court, the art
and the finesse required to twist indispensable
testimony from a prejudiced witness is some
times as abstruse as the Einstein theory. I pray
you, can we go on with this ride?"
Judg;e—"l'll see what the law is on that fellow
ironstone. I may send him to jail. You fellows
huiryup. I've got six more cases to try tonight,
sheriff, bring me some matches, this damned
cigar won't stay lit."
Q—How many government parity checks have
you received?
A—Do which?
Q Do that which I have asked you. Has not
'^ e wmipt and wa steful crop administration
it Washington sent you some lithographed
j. nromos good at the bank, and which you put
I »wn ii *our jeans? Please answer yes or no?
' cfji ' like others I have been paid a
: perfect j ' - t - m i f anty ad J* ustm ent, and have a
Q —ls it tai _»d money? ~
A- have ever said so.
aT-" wsno'l7 r 1 of the hand -°"ts?
JL- iMIO-l", if my memory serves me.
(Continued on 2nd Page!) ~ *
Number 3,491