McDowell
County’s
Leading
Newspaper
MARION PROGRESS
Advertising
in the
Progress
Pays
ESTABLISHED 1896
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE OF MARION AND McDOWELL COUNTY
MARION. N. C., THURSDAY. JANUARY 25. 1940
VOL. XLIV—NO. 26
MAKION KIWANIS
HOLD FINE MEET
TUESDAY EVENING
Largest Number Present For
New Club Year. President
Cecil Dobson Presided
The regular weekly meeting of
the Kiwanis club was held in the
Qommunity building Tuesday even
ing at 6:30 o’clock. The meal was
served by the ladies of the Presby
terian church. Despite the heavy
snow which fell during the day the
meeting was well attended with the
largest number of Kiwanians being
present for the new club year.
The president, Cecil Dobson, pre
sided and announced that due to
weather conditions Horace Easom,
lieutenant-governor for the Caroli
na District, from Shelby, could not
be present. Kiwanian Easom is
scheduled to be present for his offi
cial visit at the meeting to be held
next Tuesday.
J. G. Beaman, program chairman
for January, presented Hugh Beam
who reviewed Kiwanis activities
during the past year. Mr. Beam’s re
port listed activities as follows: Do
nation to pay the tuition of a child
at the Crossnore school; co-opera-
tive program with S. L. Homewood,
McDowell county farm agent, for
pure bred livestock; the donation of
a baby incubator to the Marion Gen
eral Hospital; contribution to the
soft ball league under the direction
of Norman Kinzie for ten weeks
during the past summer; sponsorship
of the McDowell county horse and
cattle show; contribution of forty
dollars to assist in the transporta
tion of high school boys and girls to
the state music contest held irt
Greensboro; planned booster trip
composed of 20. cars whjgji visited
McDowell anij surrounding counties;
joint sponsors with the Francis Mar
ion, Rotary, and Junior Woman’s
clubs in holding a Christmas party
MARTIN DISCUSSES
FLORIDA TOUR WITH
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
At the final meetings of the pres
ent board of directors of the Cham
ber of Commerce last Thursday
morning. Mayor Zeno Martin dis
cussed the proposed Western Caro-
linas’ Mayors’ Tour of Florida.
Mr. Martin told the directors that
all the mayors of the principle cities
from the piedmont section west in
North Carolina and the northwest
section of South Carolina would
make this tour at the height of the
tourist season to extend a first hand
invitation to Florida tourists to visit
our section of the Carolinas on their
return trip north this spring.
“The uniqueness of the plan will
in itself attract wide publicity and
with the cooperation of the mayors
of Florida, we will be able to reach
hundreds of thousands of visitors
that otherwise would never visit this
section,” Mr. Martin said.
The trip scheduled for February
12-23 will be made in two stream
lined- buses and they will leave out
of Asheville and Charlotte on the 12
and meet at Augusta for a late lunch,
there to be entertained by the mayor
of Augusta and the Chamber of Com
merce. Mayors, presidents of colleges,
secretaries of chambers of commerce
and newspaper publishers will make
the trip, which will require ten or
twelve days.
Expenses have been estimated at
$85 per city, that is covering the
publishing and distribution of maps.
Stops will be made at Lake City,
Ocala, Clearwater, St. Petersburg,
Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Fort
Myers, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm
Beach, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Day
tona Beach and Jacksonville, Flori
da; Brunswick, and Savannah, Ga.,
and Columbia, S. C. The party will
return to Marion on the night of
January 23.
Plans were made at the Thursday
meeting for the Chamber of Com
merce to publish separate literature
to be distributed pertaining to and
directed at Marion individually. This
matter was left in the hands of Oliver
Cross and J. D. Henry.
Hugh Beam, national counselor for
for approximately 250 underprivi
leged boys and girls in the town and j chamber, presented two refer-
county; the dontaion of twenty-sev-[ concerning the NLRB
en Christmas baskets to needy fami- j other relating to the regula-
lies during the Christmas season ,1 ■ competition. A special call
and ten speakers were supplied to *^^®6ting will be held later in the
the high school during Vocational | deal with the two referen-
Week to discuss the advantages and j^'^“'®‘
the disadvantages of various trades |
and vocations. ' w
The program was concluded by a ( MNrHp|FI I) m\\\
very interesting talk by Kiwanian
M. W. Gordon. Mr. Gordon’s ad
CHAMBER COMMERCE
DIRECTORS ARE
ELECTED FOR 1940
Recently Organized Chamber
Commerce Prepare For New
Year; Directors Elected.
In the recent election of directors
of the Marion Chamber of Conunerce,
J. D. Henry, A. S. Bradford, Zeno
Martin, and Dean Tainter were
elected to serve as directors at large
for 1940.
Three directors were also elected
from each of the six departments of
the Chamber of Commerce. In the
convention and publicity department,
J. G. Beaman was elected chairman
and Eugene Cross, Jr., and J. E.
Neal, Jr., were elected as the other
two directors.
Barron Caldwell was elected as
chairman of the Civic and Public
Affairs Department with Hugh Beam
and Robert Proctor as directors.
W. S. Shiflet, chairman; Robert
J. Noyes, and S. R. Cross were elec^
ted to represent the Industrial De
partment on the Board of Directors.
S. L. Homewood was elected chair
man of the Agricultural and Rural
Department. W. C. Mclver .and
Clarence Rabb elected to fill the oth
er two directorshipe from the de
partment.
R. L. Conley, chairman; W. G.
Ballew, and R. B. Smith were eleo.
ted in the Transportation Depart
ment.
Vernon T. Eckerd was elected as
chairman of the Merchants and
Credits Department, which is also
the Marion Merchants Association,
with H. D. Bishop and Cato Holler
as the other two representatives to
the Board of Directors.
Officers for the Chamber of Com
merce for the ensuing year will be
elected from this Board of Direc
tors at a meeting of this body.
WINTER SPREADS
INTO DEEP SOUTH,
DAMAGING CROPS
Over 250 Deaths Attributed to
Severe Weather In The Past
Ten Days
SPRING PROGRAMS COUNTY
SCHOOLS ARE ANOUNCED
dress listed several activities to be
stressed during the coming year. Ob
jectives listed were: a greater de
gree of friendliness to strangers,
visitors and newcomers to Marion;
work in manual arts at the high
school; and a program of better re
lations of farmers and town men.
COUNTY SCHOOLS CLOSED
All schools of the county system
were closed on Tuesday by order of
county superintendent N. F. Steppe
until Monday, January 29, on ac
count of the heavy snow that made
highways unsafe for bus travel with
school children.
Action was taken by the school
board at 1:00 o’clock Tuesday after
noon when reports from over the
county showed that a six-inch snow
had made the highways, especially in
the higher altitudes, unsafe for transT
portation of school children, about
two-thirds of whom are dependent
on the busses.
The order will remain in effect, the
superintendent said, until the high
ways are thought to be in a safe
condition.
DREXEL PLANT INSTALLS
NEW HEATING SYSTEM
Installation of a new steam heating
system which has been in process at
the Drexel Furniture company plant
for several yeeks has been completed,
it was announced from the company
offices Wednesday.
The approximate cost of the im
provements could not be learned at
this time, but representatives of a
Charlotte firm which has the contract
for the work estimated a cost of over
$40,000 for boiler and steam connec
tions completed.
Advertise in The ProcrcM.
•ivertising medium.
B«(tf
HOLDS ANNUAL
DIRECTORS MEET
All Directors and Officers Are
Re-elected; School Rhythm
Band Entertains.
The annual meeting of the stock
holders and directors of the Clinch-
field Manufacturing Company was
held at the office of the company on
Tuesday morning and afternoon.
The Clinchfield Mills make up one
of the largest manufacturing plants
in this section.
Reports and other items of busi
ness of a routine nature came before
the board which were approved.
Directors elected were: C. A.
Johnson, Tarboro, N. C., chairman;
H. V. Brumley, H. M. Leslie, Fiank
Leslie, I. H. Rosenwasser, M. Rosen-
wasser, and R. D. Scott of New
York City; E. F. Smith, Jersey City,
N. J.; J. W. Pless, Asheville; J. T.
Rich and John H. Rodgers, Norfolk,*
Va.; J. W. Winbome, Raleigh; W.
R. Chambers, W. L. Morris and John
Yancey of Marion.
In organizing the board of direc
tors all officers were re-elected as
follows: W. L. Morris, president
and treasurer; H. M. Leslie, vice-
president; T. V. Ellis, secretary and
assistant treasurer; W. R. Chambers,
attorney.
President W. L. Morris entertain
ed the directors at lunch at his home
Immediately preceding lunch the
Clinchfield School Rhythm band gave
several musical selections. The board
was well received as the directors
were elaborate in their praise. A
contribution was given to the musi
cal organization.
Announcement is made by the
county superintendent of schools of
the spring activities covering certain
contests. The first progi-am will be
: a recitation-declamation contest for
i grammar grades to be held at the
I Glenwood High School on Monday
I evening, March 4th. This contest is
I open to all pupils in the grammar
' grades but ii^ order tq participate in
ithe finals, an elimination contest will
! take place at the various schools and
I representatives will be selected to
engage in th final contst.
The High School Recitation-Decla-
jmation contest will be given at the
■Nebo High School on Friday evening,
March 8th, The various high schools
jwill be represented in this program.
The winners in both grammar grade
land high school finals will be award
ed gold medals.
The music program will be held at
Pleasant Gardens High School on
March 22nd. This program has been
given annually for a number of years
and has proven to be popular with
jthe public and school people in gen
eral.
The basketball tournament will be?
gin on the evening of Februray 29th,
running through March 1st and 2nd,
at the Old Fort High School gym
nasium. The tournament will be held
according to rules and regulations
adopted by the principals and coach
es.
All of the high schools will partici
pate in the state-wide debating con
test. The schedule will be worked out
whereby each high school will debate
both sides of the state-wide subject.
The school winnig both sides will be
eligible to enter the contest at Chapel
Hill, the other winning teams com
ing from different parts of the state.
Wintry winds kept virtually the
entire nation on the cold standard
Monday, according to Associated
Press reports.
Although many areas enjoyed
moderation, subzero readings were
recorded in a dozen states, subfreez
ing lows were reported in 29 others,
and subnormal temperatures were
registered at a number of points
outside the frigid zones.
A recapitulation of deaths attrib
uted to the severe weather since the
waves of cold moved east and south
from the northwest 10 days ago,
showed that 57 had perished in 32
states.
The heaviest snow in a decade
swept across most of Texas. It ran
ged from three to seven inches. It
was the first fall in ten years in San
Antonio and Houston. An inch an
hour piled up in Texarkana. The
storm reached Little Rock, Ark., on
its eastward fling.
Freezing conditions, tempered
somewhat by rain, chilled the citrus
fruit groves in the lower Rio Grande
valley for the fifth consecutive day.
Crop damage in Texas was reported
to be extensive, particularly to the
fruits, vegetables and small grains,
but I. R. Castleman, plant supervisor
for the Rio Grande Citrus Exchange,
opined the citrus damage would be
light.
I Clouds and wind saved most of
1 Florida’s citrus crop from destruc-
jtion, but J. W. Milligan of the Fed-
! eral-State Frost Protection service,
j estimated that about half the beans,
i peas, and tomatoes in the Lake
j Okeechobee sector would be lost as
ja result of heavy frost and in a few
i districts, ice. The minimum temper-
I ature in that region was 27.8 degi*ees
!above zero.
Ice hindered shipping on the Cape
i Cod canal on the direct route from
! New York to Boston. Watertown, N.
;Y., had a fresh 12-incJi collar of
I snow. The fall there since last Thurs
day measured 64 inches. A milk
' shortage in snowbound Buffalo was
.alleviated, however.
! A heavy snow blanketed the Caro-
‘ linas Tuesday, hampering traffice.
; grounding airplanes, and closing ru
ral schools in some sections of the
■ state.
SECOND GOLDEN GLOVES
BOXING .TOURNAMENT
PROVES GREAT SUCCESS
More than two hundred and fifty
people witnessed the final bouts of
the Francis Marion Club’s second
annual Golden Gloves Tournament
at the Community building Saturday
night. In the last night of the three-
night tournament, winners were
crowned in eight divisions.
Forty boxers from ten counties of
Western North Carolina participated
in the tournament.
The tournament was termed a
great success and plans are already
under way for continuing the tour
nament next year.
Dick Maney of Asheville gained a
decision over last year’s tournament
champion, James Whitesides of For
est City, to take the title in the Fly
weight Division.
In the Bantamweight Division,
Sprugeon Whitesides of the C.C.C.
won from Jess Sherlin of Cross Mill
by a TKO in the first round to cap
ture the title.
Carl Westbrook of C.C.C. out
pointed Earl Grant of Forest City
to garner the title in the Feather
weight Division.
GRADY, SMITH
ARE EXPECTED
TO ENTER RACE
It Both Enter, the Democratic
Field For Governor Will Be
Increased to Six
Raleigh, Jan. 22.—Paul Grady of
Kenly and Willis Smith of Raleigh,
indicated today they would an
nounce formally this week their can
didacies for Governor.
Grady said he intended to enter
the race Thursday or Friday, and
would make public his platform at
that time. Smith’s announcement
originally was scheduled for last
week, but was deferred because his
platform was not completed, friends
said.
If both run, the Democratic field
of six will be the largest in the
state’s history. The four announced
candidates are J. M. Broughton of
Garret Rice, Marion, in a fast first I Gravely of Rocky
round, defeated Charles Condry ofj„ ' f
Forest City by a TKO in tlia Light- “"‘I Revenue
weight Division. I Comm.ss.oner A. J. Maxwell of Ral-
In the Welterweight Division, Jake
Bowman of Hickory, decisioned Hal
Cooper of Valdese.
Middleweight Z. V. Britt of Boone
gained the title on a forfeit by Ed
ward Huffman of Marion who was
eigh.
Then, too, there is still a definite
possibility that Mayor Thomas E.
Cooper of Wilmington may get in
and make it seven.
Five of the six men supported
jf J . XV i. 4. u • i Governor Hoey in the second prima-
forced out of the tour„an.ent by
“jX‘ Rackley of Boone won the'^’"' McDonald against
Light-Weight title on a forfeit by! j j
Tommy Seals of Boone.* j ^ ° ^ oppon-
In the Heavyweight Division, Tedjf"*^ ■” «36 pnmar.es for Lieu-
T m 1 -11 xu 4.-4.1 tenant governor and Horton emer-
Little of Taylorsville won the title; j ^ ^
£ T Tir J ^ 4.V. o Victor in a photo finish. Gra-
from James Wood of the C.C.C. viai“ , • .
the TKO route. ' ^ utilities commissioner
T .V i- I- J itwo years ago and was defeated by
Leather traveling bags were award-: ; t,t- v ^
J • . V. J- • • J i Stanley Winbome, the incumbent,
ed the winners in each division and] rr.u j j? ,ei- ^ ^ ^
! , . J The deadline for filing for state
posts is March 16, and the State
I^^ErButler of Morganton, of Elections will meet on that
i captain of the University of North j
; Carolina boxing team, refereed the |
j bouts. ; ~
i Plans are being made to send COMPLETE ON TWO
I team chosen from borers who par-| BASINS AT RESERVOIR
I ticipated in this tournament, to the i
I Golden Gloves Tournament in Char- | Work to re-line, rebottom, and top
i lotte. The team will represent Mar- ‘ the three basis at the city reservoir
lion and the Francis Marion, Club at,has just been completed on two of
the Charlotte Tournament
MINOR ACCIDENTS OCCUR
AS RESULT FROM SNOW
Among a number of minor acci
dents on the streets and highways
resulting from the snow Tuesday,
was a collision on Main street be
tween Clyde Norton of the Laugh-
ridge Furniture company and a
truck of the Beaman Lumber com
pany.
Norton’s ear, a late miodel Chrys
ler, was badly crushed. A new body
will be required, it was said, in mak
ing repairs.
HICKORY MAN TO SPEAK
TO CHAMBER COMMERCE
Mr. J. E. Coad, secretary of the
Hickory Chamber of Commerce, will
be the principal speaker at the gen
eral , meeting of the entire member
ship of the Marion Chamber of Com
merce which will be held Thursday
night, February 1st, at So’clock in
the Community Building.
Mr. Coad will discuss the plans
and preparation for the Western
North Carolina Mayor’s Tour of
Florida which will set out on Febru
ary 13 th.
Also at this meeting the new of
ficers for the coming year will be
present and will assume their duties.
WORK IS BEGUN
ON ADDITION TO
; the largest basis, each having a ca-
jpacity of 500,000 gallons, and wa-
j ter was turned into them yesterday
,for the first time since August 18,
•when work was begun.
I Since last August, the city water
• supply has come through the single
PTn/k'TlAXl a capacity of. 300,000
UUlVt while work was being done
1 on the other two, and it is predicted
;that two and one-half months will be
. _ required for the completion of the
New Power Lme to Connect basin.
Marion With Duke Power The re-lining and topping of the
Plant at Cliffside ^ basins is considered one of the great-
i est improvements in the city’s water
system. The degree of sanitation will
^ J 1 • u • J ii-- he greatly facilitated by the topping
Ground work is being done this V ,
, . i X- J? J which has not heretofore been had.
I week for the construction of an ad-; .
1. 4.1. U 4. 4.- 4! 4.U 1 Where the city has been confined
dition to the substation of the Duke , oaa nnn n -i. i. -
D 1 4. J 4.U 300,000 gallon capacity basin, 1,-
Power company located on Ruther-; „»_ ,, ^
4rjTjj-r4.lv/r- ' 000,000 gallons will be available now
ford Road in East Marion. 4.-1 xu 4.1.- j 1. • • , ^ .
rr,. . . .J . ! until the third basin is complete and
The extension will provide for!., .. , ««««««
X- -4.1- 4.V then it Will increase to 1,300,000.
line connection with the $10,000,-1 ^ r> - ■ I „ ^
nnn J. i 4. i. • I Charles G. Canon is superintendent
000 steam power plant being con- - i j xr 4^
, X J 4. .J % 4.1. ' of the WPA work and E. R. Keeter,
structed at Chftside as one of the: - 4. j ^ j* 4.1. -4. x ,
, , , . ^ 4.U 1 I superintendent of the city water de
latest enterprises of the Duke com-
SEED AND CROP LOANS TO
AGAIN BE AVAILABLE
Shelby, Jan. 21.—Burke, McDow
ell, Polk, Rutherford, Lincoln and
Cleveland county farmers have been
assured that emergency crop and
feed loans would again be available
through the Farm Credit administra
tion, Finis T. Wagoner, field super
visor for the six counties, said that
plans for making the loans are now
being formulated and that farmers
would probably be able to start fil
ing their applications by February
first.
Arrangements will be made for re
ceiving the applications at Shelby,
Morganton, Marion, Tryon, Ruther-
fordton, Lincolnton and other places
The short term loans are made
through the emergency crop and
feed loan division of the FCA.
pany in Western North , Carolina.
Current through this connection
will be used as necessary to supple-
hment the Bridgewater plant which
is often overtaxed when the lake
drops to the lower level through a
protracted drought.
The improvements here will in
clude an office building and switch
board besides the additional steel
frame work.
Workmen engaged on the project
said construction of the new line
to connect the Marion station with
ClifFside would be started as soon as
weather conditions are favorable.
partment, represents the town on the
project.
HEAVIEST SNOWFALL
HERE IN FOUR YEARS
ESCAPED PRISONER IS
CAPTURED IN M’DOWELL
American and Canadian fishermen
take an annual haul of approximate
ly 3,300,000,000 pounds.
Earl Hardin, who recently es
caped from the Catawba county
prison camp, was captured by Mc
Dowell officers here Sunday night.
Sheriff Grady Nichols said they
found Hardin in the “Hammertown”
section where two houses were be
ing searched. Hardin was returned
to the prison camp to serve out a
two-year sentence on a charge of
assault on a female.
This section was visited Tuesday
with the deepest snow of this seasoji,
and the heaviest snow in Marion in
four years. Snow began falling about
seven o’clock in the morning and con
tinued throughout the day, reaching
a depth of 6 1-2 inches by nightfall.
Traffic movely slowly and with dif
ficulty as street and highway forces
tried vainly to keep the heavier trav-
eled roads partly cleared.
The county schools were suspended
Tuesday inasmuch as school buses
could not operate with safety.
TO OUR READERS
Owing to the illness of the
publisher and a limited force
The Progress was issued last
week and this week under dif
ficulties. Due to this fact many
items may have been omitted.
However, we hope to be in posi
tion to give better service after
this week.