;. f.-' v;4''-'" ? ' ajr,-, ?i* V? ! ?.*?/,?? ?',??/?'? ? *?-? ^ 50 the Year in Advance in the County Sylva, N. C., Thursday, CLUB SHORT COURSE NOW m SESSION ?.?% * N. C., July 31.? With an attendance of between 800 -.ml 1 .00 for boys. and girls, the an nual 4-H Hub short course held ui Si a !?? College during the week ot'j (l?h to to August 4 will likely be: out ?>i tin- principal farm events in! North Carolina this year. ??our four-H clubs are , better -or ,r;iiii,nl ill ?H |>arts of North Caro lina iliii-i ever before," rays L. R. Hun ill. ?'lub agent. * ' program i?i ?i. ir annual state encampment | |,;is In I'll in the eours# of )>-.-eparation I for some weeks and wc have a bal-' ii.nl meeting iin which play and recreation will take an important j place along with the courses of in- : > traction. for tht boys we shall start the day with a swim at 0:30 oVIiK-k each morning. Then after biv;ikti.st, the young men will go to their classes in poultry, livestock, liiriii >ho|>s and field crops. Games sightseeing rest, and recreation will be tin' program for the afternoons." Mis- Maude K. Wallace, in ehargcj ui ilif jrirls club work, has arranged courses in food and health, olothing.j room improvement, recreation, poul-| try and culture. House mothers who will ha\e charge of the girls during tin- wee). are Misses Mattie Lee Cool c\, Kthel Nice and Daisy Caldwell ami Mrs. Sabrie VVillias Keid. Sev eral ui the home agents have been selected to aid in the teaching woitk also. Miss h'lla Gardner of Washing ton, W. C., will have the coupes in recreation for the girls and Miss Faitiiie Huchanaii of a leading t?lk i' ? machine couifuiiiy will teach music appref iation. Tlit> voung folks will need little s|Hiitlinjr money during the week. The actual cost of the camp is $7.50 per person, this to include all charges for room ami hoard, laboratory fees and other incidentals. The young people will he divided into groups with com petent leaders in charge and some responsible person will be on duty, witli (bem each minute of their stay. ANNUAL FARM MEETING WAS GREAT SUCCESS Ituleigh, N. C., July 31. ? Despite a lower iii tendance than in previous years, the 26th annual State Farm er's* and Farm Women's convention held at State College during the week of July 23 was a great success. Total registration for rooms was about .'{(Ml below that for last sum mer due largely to delayed crops, I lie tobacco harvest and low prices tor early truck crops in eastern Car olina. However, on Thursday, a. few over persons had registered and hundreds of others had driven in tor some part of the program and did not desire rooms. The mlb were prentlv outnumbered by the rural wo men, many of whom left their hus bands at home with the crops And children, so that the advantage might he taken of the annual short course tor farm women which was a part| of the convention exercises this year, j In tact, some of the main features i of the program were arranged for the ladie>. I'ive were honored- with thej title of Master Farm Homemaker. j These were Mrs. J. E. Corriher of China IS rove; Mrs. W B Lamb, Gar-] land; Mrs. A. R. Poyner, Moyock; Mrs. W T Whitsett, Whitsett and iIrs W. 1). -Graham, Mt Ulla. Four others were awarded ceretificates for havinfj attended four short courses, The>e were Mrs. Henry Middleton of Warsaw; Mrs. 8. B. Nash, Frank liliton; Mrs Martha Jackson, Cooper and Mrs. C. M. Rhodes, Zebulon Excellent programs were provided "i each of the sectional meetings. The "vneral meetings held each day eleven o'clock carried the princi pal addresses of the convention. Questions pertaining to all phases of jarni lite wore discussed from feed ,nK ehildreii to forming state organi zations of farmers. The program was almost entirely a made-in-Carolina af ?ir. Only one person from outside 'lie State was invited to speak. Thi; ;,n^ranj was also featured by * '?gress. . . A resume of the past si* months, constituting the Spring Fire Season of 1928, shows the occurrence of 179 fires in the nine cooperating counties of District One. Three of the western counties, Clay, Cherokee and Graham are not now working with the state and no accurate data on fire occur rence in them are kept. Of these 170 fires, Buncombe had the most, with 32, and Macon had the fewest with 10. The other coun ties ranged between these two. How ever, the actual number of fires burn ing does not constitute the best cri terion of a county oiganization 's work, since the more thickly settled counties are much more liable to fire occurrence than those where popula tion is sparse. And this is true be cause about 98 percent of our fires in this part of the United States are man-caused. A better indication, then of a county's standing is found in the figures showing total acreage burned and the average number of acres burned per- fire. Madison coun ty had the best record in total acre age burned, the figure being399 ac res. Swain county, with an average of 34 acres per fire, held the best record in that respect. Incidentally,! Swain's record js noteworthy because the county re-entered the organiza tion in February, after an absence of a year. The average record for the nine counties of the District is as follows: Total acres under protection 1,895,000 j Total acres burned 8,910 I Total number of fires .... 17*3 Average acres per fire . . 49.7 Peraeuf of protected area ' burneS, less than 1-2 of 1 percent. Total actual fire-fighting costs throughout the District amounted to about $1900, or an average of some thing over $10 per fire. The 130 coun ty and District Wardens spent about . $1300 in first prevention, educational, and administrative work looking to ward attanment of the Sorvice's goal of PREVENTING fires An interesting point in connection with finances is the fact that 350 men donated their time and effort on various fires during the season. These men are classed as volunteers, and, the increase in their number during recent seasons indicates growing ap preciation of the work of the Forest Service. * All moneys sj>ent in this work come equally from the various county treas uries and* the State treasury. The State's work with a eounty is always on the basis of a 50-50 maximum ap propriation. This system has the ad vantage of stimulating local interest in the stamping out of fires because local money is invested in the work. It's weak point is, of' course, the fact that cooperation on the part of the county is purely voluntary. Pres ent county annual appropriations in District One are as follows: Buncombe $1000 Haywood 400 Henderson .... 300 Jackson 500 Macon : 400 Madison 500 Polk 300 Swain 500 Transylvania 400 On the whole, these appropriations are low. Their average is much low er than in the eastern part of the State, where appropriations of $2000. and $2500 are not at all uncommon. However, the mountain counties have established very good fire records, despite this handicap. A very important phase of the work of the Forest Service is law enforcement. North Carolina boasts of a good set of laws looking toward the curbing of the fore.1' firemen - the curbing of the forest fire men ace, and this enforcement is left largely to the Forest Wardens. Dis trict One, during this Spring- Season, had 7 prosecutions under these laws, 5 of which were won and 2 ow which are still pending. A total of $58.75 was collected in fines and court costs. This money of course went to the in which collected. Further ? ? . Which Road will Lead To The White House? The Republican and Democratic candidates for the presidency ant] the houses wherein they were hprn are pictured above. As can be easily of a small town and Alfred E. seen, Herbert Hoover is the product Smith the product of a big city. Men from the country and city both have attained the highest office in the land. This year, which wilTbe the victor? a city or a country product? This supreme test ? the contest be tween a Small City and a Big City product ? is engaging the attenfion of the entire country. Everyone is wondering and asking: "Smith or Hoover? Which?" CANTON OFFICER FREED OF MURDER CHARGE Canton Enterprise, Juy 20 According to word received here Thursday noon, Jake B. Parham was found not guilty of the murder of E. W. Bell, whom he shot and killed 1 here on the night of June 2. The ease was begun at the Hay wood County Superior Court in Way- J nesville, Monday morning, and went to the jury Wednesday afternoon. A ' verdict of not guilty was given short ly before noon Thursday. Bell was shot by officer Parham, then night policeman in Canton about ten o'clock on Saturday night,' June 2j following a mix-up between the two when Parham attempted to arrest Bell, alleging the latter to bc| under the influence of whiskey ami , causing a disturbance. On . Monday following the tragedy bond was fixed for Parham at $4,000 pending the hearing of the case at the July term of Court. The State sought to Khow tjhat Bell had stop|ied to rest, and asked a verdict of second degree murder. The defense entered a plea of self defense, showing that Bell stopped in a side street, and the officer testi fied that he thought Bell was about to lunge at him of to draw a gun. Attorneys for the defense were J. Bat Smothers of A she vi lie, S. M. Robinson of Canton and J. W. Fergu son of Waynesville ; while the solic itor was assisted by T. A. C. Clark of Canton, Morgan, Ward and Stanley of Waynesville. This is the second murder case to. be disposed of during the present I term of court. The case of Hopkins vs. Hopkins of the Big Creek sec tion, was completed when a verdict of not guilty was given. The self defnense plea was also offered in this case, more, 11 parties responsible for set-j ting out fire carelessly were billed' for the suppression costs, and paid j a total of $92.76 to the State and county treasuries. The landowners, on whose property fires occurred also paid $13.88 into these treasuries as suppression costs. I In summation, 13 parties ,paid| $106.64 as reimbursement to State! and county for fire-fighting costs. I I The Forest Service, of course, keeps | rather accurate data on each fire | that occurs within a cooperating county, and these figures constitute! one of the best answers to the occa-l sionallv-voiced claim that fines in. the) woods do little or no damage. During the Spring Season, for example, For est Wardens estimated the following damage done by the 179 fires in the District. To merchantable timber $5,246 To young growth ? 13,577 To improvements, crops etc., 5,741 Total $24,564 In other words, the average fire this spring burned 49.7 acres, cost $10.50 to suppress, and did damage to the extent of $137. Is. it to be wondered at that the Forest Service regards Fire Prevention as its pri mary mission, rather than merely fire suppression? The best and eas iest way to fight a fire is to .keep it from starting 0 ' ( \ District Forester W. K. Beichier, SYLVA BAPTIST ENCAMPMENT BEGINS AUGUST 17 A large number of Baptist worker?, pastors, Sunday School and B. Y. P. U. people are expected to be in attendance at the Baptist Encamp ment, beginning at Sylva Collegiate Institute August 17, and continuing through August 24. Dr. A. B Wood, Pastor of the First Church of Maxton, Dr. Fred F. Brown Pastor of the First Church of Knox ville, Miss Gladys H Beck, State Ele mentary Sunday School Secretary, | Perry Morgan, State Sunday School Secretary, A. V. Washburn, State Sun day School and B. Y. P. U worker, Dr. W. R. Cijllnm, of the chair of Bible of Wake Forest College, Miss Winnie Rickett, State Junior and Intermediate B. Y. P. U. worker, and other Baptist leaders of North Caro lina an