SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1916.
ON SALE AT THE NEWS STANPS ANI ON T BAINS
ESTABLISHED : MAY. fffa."
ELECTORAL COLLEGE WALTiB R M URPHY
EXPLORERS FATE
SCBSCBIPTION $1.00 A TEAK, SINGLE COPT 8 CENTS
of us jrreacn am
Few Practice It
HE Charlotte Observer
explains that within a
week it turned down
with corn over two hun
dred dollars' Vorth of
advertising from 1 vari
ous out-of-town mer
chants who wanted to
get; mail, orders for the Christmas trade. N By
ont of town merchants it " means out of state
tnerchantsrahd brings us hack to the old pro
position "Trade At Home."
Possibly the Observer -carried a dearer con
science by. not inserting in its columns an in
vitation to people to send their money away
from home but we fear it did no good and
lost the two hundred likely plunks.
For years in this white man's town we car
ried on a trade at home campaign. We wrote
and we sent papers everywhere thousands of
them being paid for by merchants' associations
and other organizations. We attended meetings
at different points and pointed out why there
should be a most vigorous campaign against
the catalogue, habit. .
V But it did no good. When we ascertained
that even members of the trade at home organ
ization had sent out of the state even for an
automobile we saw the folly of our way. It
appears that the Almighty Dollar is the lode
stone, .and .that if a bargain is offered else
whereElsewhere gets the coin.
One enthusiastic man who had read our stuff
telling why we should all be loyal and trade
at home wrote us a letter to tell us we were on
the right track. He is a citizen of .means and
altogether enterprising. . But two weeks later
vUift ,4fe tQiaiamazoo;-? or ok, stay and
saAttire saved seven dollars. " .
This only wav to keep the trade at home
andUhat-means in the South is for people to
patrOhize the Southern concerns, and before
we can patronize them we must have them.
Why couldn't the South why couldn t
North Carolina, have a big mail order house
and use the slogan "The South To The South
and The South For The South?" In other
words- there is a certain per centage of people
who arc going away from the home town to
trade and why not go after them?
And yet What's the use? We talk and tell
what we will do and never do it. It was only
a few -weeks ago that a Richmond man show
ed us that he could sell type and supplies as
cheap as any concern in the world, that indeed
he was agent lor the big founders we take
our choice and we could save freight and we
could keep the money in the South to a certain
extents And we confessed that it was even so
and then, to our shame we ordered a big lot
of stuff from a Northern concern and never
said "boo" to the home man. . ,
We pass it up. Theoretically the trade at
home slogan is all right but we notice that
mn.Ksll nf iisi pven those of us who tell oth
ers what they ought to do forget our preach-
ments.: ,.:-i-::;.::.v-. ' - ': ; , ,
For instance there is a half tone establish
mpnt : in this state charsrine perhaps a few
ronte 'nnfp'nn a single cut but most all, if riot
all, the newspapers preaching the theory of
trading at home rush their orders to tne norm.
Search us. . .'v-V v
o- o
Helen Keller To Wed.
Persistent rumors that Helen Keller is to
wed her secretary, Mr. Fagan, will not down
MhfoWon 5 tepplf atro the report that a mar-
Ha license had. been issued leaked out and
mt in the newsoapers. While the announce
ment was declared by the parties interested to
he whnllv without foundation, it bobs up
again 'in a Boston dispatch which says :
Despite the fact that denial of the en
gagement . of Miss Helen Ketler to Peter
Fagan, a socialist worker, has been made
by Miss Keller, Mrs. John A. Macy, her
, lifelong companion and teacher, and by
Mr. Fagan himself, the friends of the three
are still mystified and believe that the
couple will be wed at soriie later date. Mrs.
Macy has left Wentham for Lake Placid
to regain her health. Miss Keller has
departed for Alabama to spend the winter
with her mother and other relatives and
recover her health. Mr. Fagan is at Tam
pa, Fla., with a brother Socialist, who was
announced as the minister who would per
form the wedding ceremony. Mr. ragan
is rib longer the secretary of Miss Keller,
but their friends believe that when the
present affair has blown over the couple
will meet somewhere in the South and wed
- as they had first planned."
Rather out of the ordinary that the mere
contemplation of a marriage approved on all
sides should produce such disastrous effects
as to malco tho whole familvill. Perhaps Miss
Keller does not see why it is any body else's
JiU
business.
Should Go, Says New York
After Losing Out
N D now much is being, written
on the proposed change in the
constitution providing for the
election of president of the United
States by popular vote. We have
referred from time to time to
the agitation of this question;
having its origin with the
World, it appears, and being
by some of the thoughtless
New York
taken up
ones willing to ionow mc iwu . .
supposedly great democratic authority, and
we are glad to note that our own objections
are being sustained by the ablest of the south
ern newspapers finding their way to the edi
toriardesk. The- Danville Register takes a fall out with
the Richmond Journal for its too radical posi
tion along this line and proceeds to show that
enterprising and progressive newspaper
wherein and wherefore it would not do.
"Our very highly esteemed contemporary,
the Richmond Journal, is apparently so de
voted to the cause of equal suffrage," says the
Register, "that it subordinates, if it do not
ignore every other consideration entering into
the agitation for the abolition of the electoral
college and the substitution of a plan for the
election of president by direct popular vote.
The effect of the policv advocated by the
Journal would as effectually wipe out State
lines as any plan we could conceive 01.
"The fundamental objection to tlie popular
plan is that it would strip the several states
01 tne last vestige 01 power secured 10 mem 111
the constitution which they were so influential
in framing:. . It is no argument to refer to that
system as 'antiquated,' as the Journal miscalls
it. Indeed, there is vastly more reason to
JcaU.UJtimerhonored.in&ad ot antiquated., If
the present election plan be antiquated and
should be discarded for that reason, then there
is equal reason for discarding the whole con
stitution, which is equally antiquated. bo
much for that argument against the present
system, if epithet be accepted as arguemnt.
But, other considerations asloe, the real
reason for the perpetuation of the existing
plan is the safeguarding of the interests of the
smaller states, the purpose which the tramers
of the constitution had' in view. It is surpris
ing: also, that a southern newspaper and one
published in the capital of the Confederacy
itself should be found joining in the thought
less clamor of New York newspapers for the
change to the popular plan of electing presi
dents. Every Southern state would lose in
fluence in the choice of a president if the dual
system of having that official chosen by men
representing the various states, plus other men
representing the population 01 the various
states be discarded. We are not surprised to
find the New York World clamoring in a lead
ins: editorial. 'Abolish the Electoral College.'
It is significant, too, that JNew JKorK s clamor
comes immediately after that populous state
. . f . ' a
has been snorn 01 us aominaung power in
choosing a president. New York is no longer
necessary in the election 01 a president, is or
is Pennslyvania, nor Indiana, nor Illinois.
Abolish the electoral college and we yield to
those four states almost absolute power to dic
tate the choice ;.of a president. :
"There are more small states than large
ones, and as three-fourths of the whole num
ber would have to ratify the suggested amend
ment to make it effective, we are the more
hopeful that through a realization of the fact
that the amendment would
that the amendment would snear tnem oi
power, the greater number of states would
stand unalterably- Opposed to the suggested
plan."
. : -o .
We Hope Not.
The Charlotte Observer woridef s "if the con
stitutional amendment of recent adoption will ;
ork to the embarrassment of the altogether
progressive and constructive ideas of the peo-
pie of Greensboro, Who are planning 10 P".
their city with a modern "system of parks and
playgrounds? The Chamber or- Commerce of
that city is framing a Dit.ot local legislation
by which it will be able to create a permanent
park and playgrounds commission, which
would be empowered to selecT sites and order
bond elections for the purchasing of sites. In
this, the people of Greensboro are both fore-cip-hted
and forehanded. Charlotte and other
towns that might entertain any hopes of pro
viding for the future might find it profitable
to follow Greensboro's example m tnis import
ant direction."
: o
i It appears now that the Britt-Weaver con
gest will have to be taken to the Supreme
cOurt for final settlement. And in the mean
time people are wondering why there should
have been a contest. ' V
The Salvation Army is planning on a large
scale to take care of the war widows of Eng
land. Looks like the factories and counting
f oOiri's may be depended upGn- for inat chore.
1
ON. WALT EK MURPHY, of Salisbury,
in the race i ith Hon. Gallatin Roberts, of
Buncombe count!-, for speaker of the House of
the North Carolina General Assembly. Mr.
Murphy is one of the best known and most
popular men in fthe state, with ability to fill
acceptably any position to which he might
aspire. As was mentioned last week, in pre
senting a picture of Mr. Roberts, the race
promises to be of exceptional interest on ac
count of the fine records of both gentlemen
during their terms in public office. Corre
spondents arc busy with forecasts, and each
is betting on his favorite.
r : -
How To" Bring Down Prices.
A man living at Seattle, Washington, has
grown wear)' of the newspaper talk about the
high'cost of living, so he takes his pen in hand
and offers what to him appears to be a simple
solution of a great problem. In reviewing the
situation with which the whole country is just
now confronted, he is forced to the conclusion
reached by other 'students , of .economic condi-.
. . 1 - - . 1 - .
tions that Americans as a peupic nc iuu
pleasure loving, too luxurious. We must cat
meat three times a clay, heat our rooms to ex
cess in the winter, load our bodies with wool
lens and furs, and buy whatever there is in
the market to buv. As a race we are becom
ing weak and effeminate because we deny our
selves nothing. What a spectacle it is to sec
a strong man, his hands encased in thick wool
len mitts, run shivering to the subway on a
fine, bracing winter morning. The poor man
is cold. Pity him, little children who play in
the snow with shouts of delight!
"The price of meat." he admits, "is too high.
Eat less of it, then," is his .advice. "Eat it
once a day instead of three imes a day, or eat
it onlv three or four times a week. ou will
be the healthier for your abstinence, and the
price of meat will come down. The only ones
who .will suffer will be the meat packers, and
the loss of a few thousands will be less to them
than the loss of a dollar to you.
"The price of coal is high. Then go to the
kitchen or to the living room for warmth and
sleep in a cold room. You will save fuel, have
a more robust body, and the price of coal will
come down.
"The price of clothing is high. Then wear
a neat sweater' beneath your waistcoat, or a
heavy set of underwear and a thick suit of
clothes instead of an overcoat. You may make
shift to get along thus one winter, and the
:next winter you may find the price of overcoats
within your means.
"The legitimate exercise of the boycott , is
the only sensible way to lower the high cost of
living. I believe the housewives of California
have recently used the boycott, or have been
.talking about using it to lower tne cost ot Irv
ing.
"Take this matter of the packers charging
for the paper containers of hams on the same
basis as the v charee for the hams. Why cat
pork products at all? An experienced butcher,
farmer and handler of -meat on the hoof in
formed me that the hog packs more disease
than any other domestic animal used tor food
, how many patients die of trichinosis,
la': disease -caused by eating raw and partly
cooked pork, and I think you will be surprised
at the number of deaths from this cause. I do
not consider the eating of ham and bacon to
be as injurious as the eating of pork, but never
theless, though ham and bacon are tasty eat
ing, I do not consider these food products al
together healthful.
"The moral of this little homily is: Deny
yourself, think less of your stomach and your
bodily pleasures and comforts, and the high
cost of living and many other problems will
cease to trouble you." . .
, - ' . o :
Champ Clark claims to have solved the pro
blem of the cost of high living. ' He says to buy
some setting hens and eat more corn products.
But b'gosh, where is a man to secure enough
capital to buy a setting hen these days?
Colonel Tohn Temple Graves continues to ar
range the president's cabinet notwithstanding
his statement that he is well enough. pieaseo
with .the present one.
Are Those Quiel People Who
Shock Communities.
HERE is hardly a community but
has been at some time or other
shocked by the commission of an
act of violence on the part of some
man or woman not known" to be
mentally unbalanced until too late J
to repair the damage. More often
than not the mania is evidenced
; - Arrf Tor self-destruction ; sometimes in
a determination to exterminate an entire fam-
ily of which the afflicted one is a member, or j
to kill the object of his or her atfections as a ;
means of expressing the great love with which !
the over-burdened heart is surcharged.
Such cases have been among the hardest :
to handle by the regular courts of justice,
where fear-of establishing a dangerous pre
cedent has deterred many a conscientious
juryman from leaning to the side of science
rather than to the theory upon which the law
was written that provides punishment for
such crimes. But in criminology as in other
defects of our present system progress is be- j
ing made towards a solution by trying to get
at the source of the trouble, on the good old
proposition of prevention in small doscs as
against cures in wholeale lots. 1 The New
York Sun, discussing a movement now on
foot to that end has the following:
"The recent fatal attack on a defenceless
woman by an insane man brings to mind many
instances of sudden and violent assaults,
usually with fatal results, attempted by per
sons who were regarded as sane, or at least
as eccentric. Last summer a flagrant exam
ple of this kind was published as having oc
curred in Chicago. A colored man suddenly
became insane and after killing several neigh
bors locked himself in his house, resisting a
Urge police force until he was himself killed
by the policemen;' Within" the memory - of
many now living the wife of an eminent phy
sician in this city suddenly became insane and
shot her beautiful children and herself.
"To prevent such appalling incidents a
movement is now on foot to establish bureaus
of mental hygiene in various American cities.
"In a recent bulletin ot the ucpartmeiu 01
Public Health in Philadelphia an outline is
prccnted by Dr. J. Allen Jackson, chief resi
dent physician of the Philadelphia Hospital
for the Insane. Patients who have recovered
sufficiently to become self-supporting and car
ed for at "home are paroled after a trained so
cial worker has investigated the home condi
tions. Such patients arc kept under frequent
observation, so that on the recurrence of the
slightest disturbance of mental equilibrium
thev mav be returned to the hospital. Trained
physicians would seek out the mentally de
fective, just as sanitarians endeavor to detect
contagious diseases. If such a bureau could
be established in every one of the larger cities
the care of the indigent insane would be im
proved, with diminished cost. Many suspici
ous cases would be placed under treatment
before they menace the community. Aside
from the protection against the unsuspected
mentally deranged, there would be offered
better opportunity for successful treatment
and for returning of curable cases to their
homes and occupations. The feeble minded
especially demand constant supervision, be
cause though seemingly harmless they may
suddenly manifest violent derangement re
sulting in destruction of life and property."
Boarding Trinity Students.
Trinity College is about to inaugurate a co
o
operative boarding plan which has been work
ed out most successfully at Guilford College
and at several of our county high schools; A
few years ago an exhibit from - Jamestown
showed the possibility of a student's living un
der this system for less than five dollars a
month, this including room and luei ana
lights, which was cheaper than boarding at
home.
With prevailing prices for everything that
enters into the composition of a square meal
it would, of course, be impossible to get any
where near these figures at the present tirtic.
But above and beyond the cost of it there is
something in the co-operative boarding idea
that gives the touch of home life so much need
ed by the college student, and so we are in
clined to think that this is a progressive step
on the part of Trinity. If team work is good
in other lines why not in housekeeping, even
if there are servants to do. the drudgery? It is
a good discipline for the future family man,
certainly if, as is claimed by some of the wise
ones, that when woman gets into politics the
man will go to the kitchen. But do not these
same wise Ones argue that woman's work in
the kitchen is nothing, and did you ever see a
bachelor man who wasn't fond of boasting of
his culinary accortiplishments. "Make coffee?
Sure. Beat a woman any day."
o
Large gains reported at the Methodist con
ference would indicate that this part of the
world at least, is growing better.
(I
Matter of Concern To
Family and Friends
NXIETV is being felt
as to the. "safety "of "Dry.
Edmund . Otis Hovey,
who headed the relief .ex
pedition sent out in July,
19 1 5, to rescue the Crok
er Land party that
had spent two years .
expected to return to
in the north
He
Ww York in the fall of that same year, but ow
ing to mishaps to the George B. Ciuett, on
which he sailed, he was obliged to winter in
North Star Bay. . . '
In June of this year a second relief ship, the
Danmark, was sent to get Dr. Hovey, but from
present indications it is feared the Danmark
will not be able to get out of the ice this year.
A cable message received by the trustees of
the American Museum from Copenhagen on
November 15 reported that the Danmark had
been observed in Melville Bay. latitude 7$;
steamer had made only 150 miles northward"
From this report it would appear that the
steamer had made only 150 niles northward
in seventeen days since previous messages re
ported her off Upernivik on August 3, 1916. :
This report and her failure to arrive at SydV
ncy or St. John's indicate that the ice condi-'
tions are severe and that the vessel has prob
ably been delayed by ice on her southward,
voyage.
Trustees of the museum express confidence
in the strength of the Danmark to "stand out
against the force of icebergs and other dangers
in frozen seas, it being a staunch ship, well
equipped for such delays. -There is a feeling of ..
uneasiness, however, that plans may have mis--11
carried and those interested in Arctic explora
tion will wait'witbtfagef Jttteresfjinj
of the"" missing" party. -Tlie' fasTnews receve'tl
was from the George B; Cluctt; which left its
winter quarters in North Star Bay the latter,
part of July and arrived at Battle Harbor, Lab-
rador, on September 7. The Ciuett brought out
a letter from Dr. Hovey, dated July 10, 1910,
saying he was in touch with Mr. Rasmusseh;
that the members of the Crocker Land expedi
tion were well; that Mr. McMilian had re
turned to Etah on May 6, 1916, from his 1,500
mile journey to the westward, and that all were
looking forward to the arrival of the second re
lief ship, the Danmark. '. - -"
o- ' - " .
Why Cigars Are Banded.
Somebody, it seems, has gone into the news
papers with the suggestion that bands on
cigars are a "nuisance," that they "tear the
wrappers and inspire profanity," and wonder
ing why they arc necessary in any way. A
New York manufacturer, m a letter to the.
Sun, makes reply interesting in Greensboro
and North Carolina, where the cigar making
industry gives employment to so many ex
pert workers. .
"In the first place," says the writer, "ah ad-1
vance in the price of cigars, or reduction of v
the size, would probably be forced upon the
cigar manufacturers owing to the fact that
tobacco, labor, boxes, chemicals, labels and
bands have-all advanced materially. r It ii
not true that the reason for the advance would .
be because 01 labels ana Danes naving .pre
viously been made in Germany, as only about
10 per cent of the entire quantity of this ma
terial used in this country was ever imported
from Germany. The price of the German ar
ticle has always been considerably higher
than that of American production, and 5we
must admit the German quality was betterr
"We must further take issue with you as
regards the futility of banding and labelling
cigars. This is not done for the purpose of
making the package look 'gaudy.' Cigars, as
well as any other article of individuality, are
banded and labelled for identification and the
, good will of well established quality brands
runs into large figures.
"Some small dealers 'in Philadelphia are
offering as high as 40 cents a thousand for
bands of this brand which have been removed
from cigars without breaking. As the bands
carry no premium value, the fact that there is
a price on the same shows in ftself that boxers
have been restuffed and that the manufacturer
is protecting himself by banding." . '
- o-
The Dog8 fcriend.
When Jack London passed the dog lOStji
eood friend. No man in the world could tell
. about a dog like London and he knew their
every trait. London had many friends in ban
Francisco, and it happened we were there the
morning his death was. announced and it
created a profound impression. It was not un
til he passed, however, that the flowers went
his way.
, : -
The Methodist minister is truly a soldier of
the Cross. Here's hoping that all Stations
will be good stations and that everybody will
' be satisfied.
J