North Carolina Newspapers

... .- IP" r r - ! j ! qQ)G"3 G 3E'raG:":jr GjjT lis3 Wl ff 11? VOLUME XXXI. MR. T. LANIER IS ALARMED THE LEARNED LAWYER QUOT STATUES I He Argues That if The People Them selves Had the Opportunity T'hey Would Oppose the Modus-opeandi To the Editor of Public Ledger: Sir: I note with regret, that the Town Commisisoners have seen fit to grant the petition for laying asphalt pavement on four blocks of the streets m South Oxford and this without asking for bids on the work. " -""'vu emu. a. LaAyaj CI x Ul.ti.tJ this means of entering my protest 6aiusL any sucn proceeaurp. I think that any fair minded per son who will examine, carefully, the law under which this action is taken Will afirree that it is nfnfv'nf tVio mftct unjust and iniquituous pieces of leg islation that has been foisted upon cue peopie or jNortn Carolina for many vears. No more evidence of this is want ed than the petition presented for the paving of the four blocks Men tioned. ' Here we have twenty-two taxpay ers ana i am mtormea that some of these did not want to sign the pe tition) levying tribute UDon the bal ance of the community for a long perioa oi years, ior tneir own per sonal benefit. These petitioners must know that a great majority of the taxpayers will never use or be benefited, in the least by this work, and that if they had the opportunity to express them selves they would oppose such an ex penditure, of their hard earned mon ey. I have always thought, and espec ially in matters of taxation, that the theory of government in this country was in a measure, at least, based on the idea, of the greatest good to the greatest number, but here we have this reversed and the great majority made to pay taxes without their con sent for the personal benefit of a very small minority. It might be well, right here, not as an authority against this ordinance, but to show how political power should be exercised, 4 to call attention , to- Sec. 2 .of-the declaration jo& rights, contained in the constitution of North Carolina, Political power and gov ernment "That all political power is vested in, and derived from the peo ple; all government of right origin ates from the people; is founded up on their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole." Here we have an ordinance institu ted, as I believe against the will of the people and solely for the good of the few instead of the whole." From a business standpoint there can arise no advantage to the town from this action. The outsiders and strangers who come into our town on business, as a rule, see only the business section and their impression cf the town is formed from this. This being true, why not begin the paving in the business section where the strangers who come will see it and where all of the citizens will get some benefit, at least from the expen diture of their money. Again, I would ask, if this scheme is everything that it should be and will result in such great good to the town, why are its advocates so deathly afraid to submit it to the taxpayers and why this unseemly haste and special meetings of the Commissioners to get it through in stead of giving time for the people to discuss the matter and express their deliberate judgment on it. I have heard some of the advocates of this measure, during an election year declaim loud and long upon the right, the privilege and the duty of the citizen to vote and vote for Yhat why for them to hold office. If the citizens are qualified to vote for these men to hold office surely they are not disqualified to vote on the expenditure of their money. The advocates of this measure will prohblv say. that all of the people may have this paving by petitioning for it. But this is not so for on ac count of the limitation placed on the issueing of bonds by the law of North Carolina, all of the streets of the town cannot be paved under this scheme, even if a petition were filed for the same. Therefore, the re sult will be, that the paving will be put down in the better residential sections of the town where the peo ple are able to stand the assessment and a large portion of the taxes on the bonds will fall on the poorer peo ple who will get no benefit, I ask the signers of this petition, frankly, are you willing to compel the wage earn er and laborer, who by his industry nas been able to purchase him a lit tle home to contribute of his wage, to pave in front of your residence, against his will, when by no possibil ity can he have any paving In front of his humble home. I think in matters of this kind ev eryone interested should express themselves freely, and therefore I say, that I feel these petitioners are taking my money, against my will, for their personal "benefit, when OXFORD, NORTH RESIGNS FROM COUNTY BOARD THE MEMBER FROM OAK HILL QUITS THE COMMISSION After the Closing Hour of the Session of the Board of County Commis sioners Monday, Commissioner R. S. Hart Tendered His Resignation. Once upon a time the Hon. Wil liam Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State, resigned his office and gave his reason. But on Monday last, Mr. R: S. Hart, the member from Oak Hill township the old historic center of the county handed his resignation to the chairman of the Board immed iately after the closing hour and for reason better known to himself he failed to disclose his reasons. There not being a quorum present at the hour when Commissioner Hart tend ered his resignation, no action could be taken. Mr. Hart was a vigorous commis sioner. He never failed to register his protest when in his opinion the issue was not for the interest of the county. The Public Ledger always regarded Mr. Hart as being absoulte ly honest in his convictions, nor does the Public Ledger or the members of the Board believe that any ulterior motive is responsible for Mr. Hart's resignation1. At best, the office of county com missioner is a thankless job, and only a few men can survive the strain for nnir orroot 1 OT1 crVl ff timO "Rll n OTOr. theless,the county is the corne4ur. most progressive cities looks like stone of our State and National gov??! - jJwn Clt an spending ernments, and as such, in the event Mr. Hart knows, or believes, there exist at the foundation any inferior stone it is his duty to point it out. That is exactly what the voters of the county elected him to perform. If there is anything wrong at the county seat it was Mr. Hart's duty to remain on the Board and endeavor as far as was in his power to right the wrong. The Public Ledger is in close touch with the affairs of the county, and we know for a certainty that there is not a single book, paper or document in the old Temple of Justice that we may not examine to our heart's con tent, and ..; the same privilege is ac eorded to-every other ci jteen.. :;'4- In any event, we believe that the public is entitled to know why Mr. Hart tendered. his resignation. The columns of the Public Ledger are open to Mr. Hart at any time he de sires to use them. CLEMENT-WEBB MARRIAGE The Happy Couple Off Moon. On Honey Mr. Samuel Webb,of this place, and Miss Annie J. Clement were quietly married' at the home of her brother, Mr. W. J. Clement on Broad street, Wednesday morning, the 9th inst. at 10:40 o'clock. Only the members of the families of the con tracting parties were present. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. John E. Wool, of Derita, N. C, Mr. Webb's brother-in-law, and the wed ding march was played by Miss Mary Webb. Immediately after the mar riage the bridal party went to Dick erson, where Mr. and Mrs. Webb took the train for a trip to Washington and Richmond. Mr. Webb is the son of the late John H. Webb, who was one of the large farmers of Tally Ho Township in this county. He holds a responsi ble position with Horner Bros. Com pany and is a man of tine character and sterling worth. Mrs. weDD is the daughter of the late Amos G Clement, also a large farmer of Tally Ho Township. They were reared on nlantations and have known each other all their lives. After a ten days or two weeks trip Mr: and Mrs. Webb will make their home for the present with Mr. W. J Clement on Broad street. OUT IN OLD TALLY HO The Good Citizens Are Going to Name a Good Man. The Public Ledger is reliably in formed that the good people in Tally Ho have selected a mighty fine man for County Commissioner. The citi zens are trying to keep it a secret from the gentleman . they have de signs upon, but they went a step too far when they revealed their inten tions to the Public Ledger. We deem it such an excellent piece of news that we feel compelled to pass it a long. We are quite sure that Mr. Luther Daniels can have the place if he wants. We have heard hundreds of men commend him and we havf never heard one say "nay" there can be no resultant good come. This may be legally right but it is certainly indefensible on moral grounds. For one, and I do not say this as a threat, but as an assured fact, that the taker of the bonds under this scheme will never collect one cent on them except at the uttermost end of the law. T. LANIER. CAROLINA, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1916 OXFORD ASIA TIDY TOWN PROPERTY OAVNERS SHOULD USE MORE PAINT . Old Fashioned Show Windows and Antediluaian Upper Story Windows Ought to Give ;A way to the Modern Kind. I One of the things that is sure to follow in the wake of good streets is a more attractive appearance of the commercial district of Oxford. A tidy city gives one a pleasant impres sion of a city, anp streets which look bright and cleanare striking eviden ces of thrift. f We know of no greater force to unite, the owners-of stores in a policy of givingan artistic and more busi ness like aspect to the show windows of the mercantile establishments than the Civic League, and the Com mercial Club has a fine opportunity to join in with the Civic League and emphasize the importance of beauti fying the show windows and a pret tier town generally. In this connec tion it is well to statje that only a few of the stores in Oxford are own ed by the merchants who occupy them, and in many cases it is im possible for the-merchants to make a creditable display, however fine the goods, unless they have more mod ern windows. We are reminded of this because we have just been looking over one of the leading magazines of this coun try and in it observed several pages of illustrationsishowing what one of $1,500,000 for, wood block, brick bitulithic, rocks asphalt, bituminous concrete, vobrolithic and cement concrete-paving. The pictures were ta ken to contrast the immensely im proved streets with those which have been blotted out by progress Nevertheless, that city should have had a clean-up, paint-up campaign before it had -its picture taken. Eye sore buildings, and bum signs were entirely too conspicious along with the beautifully paved streets which were illustrated. They could not help being taken by the photographer, but certainly the things which do not comport with those modern streets should have Jten , removed.. We get the impresislm' that th6 city has just waked up and was not fully dressed up for the occasion A picture of any of the streets of Oxford are liable to be taken at any time after they receive the dressing up, and, if not. visitors are sure to make a close observation when they come to our city. Shoddy signs should give way to the artistic kind, and it is easy enough to take a survey of the whole shopping district and de tect what should be removed or gloss ed over. There are some things that are seen because they are there, but thev surely ought to be eliminated We are going to have a thousand of visitors to Oxford this summer, so now is the time to enter upon a gen eral beautification movement Above all, let us have a town that our country cousins will be glad to look in upon NOBLE WOMAN LAID TO REST MRS. CHARLES G. ROYSTER, . OF BULLOCK PASSES TO HER REWARD There passed to rest at Bullock last Monday Mrs. Missouri Catherine "Anrdews Royster. the beloved wife of Mr. Charles G. Royster. Mrs. Royster was the daughter of David and Pattie Andrews, of Rox boro. She was married to Charles G. Royster October 7th, 1902. Death claimed her in the 35th year of her age. She is survived by a father, mother and one brother and a de voted husband and five children, who call her name blessed. Mrs. Royster joined the Methodist church in early life and it was al ways her delight to serve her Master The funeral services were held at Stovall Methodist church Tuesday, conducted by her pastor, Rev. C. A. Jones, assisted by Dr. R. H. Marsh, and the interment was at the Bullock cemetery. The funeral and burial services were largely attended. The floral tributes were beautiful and profuse and attested the high esteem in which she was held. The floral bearers were: Mrs. El len Vaughan, Mrs. J. G. Royster, Mrs. Sam Davis, Miss Jessie Pittard, Miss Nellie Hunt, Miss Norma Fullerton, Miss Virginia Crenshaw, Miss Bessie Hester. The pallbearers were: Judge Wood and Charles Morton, of Virginia; Gen. B, S. Royster, W. H. Hunt, D. C. Hunt, Will Landis, Arthur Cul breth, of Oxford, and T. C. Scoggin, of Durham. Missionary Society There will be a meeting of the Young Woman's Misisonary Society of the Methodist Church on Monday afternoon, February 14th at 3:30 P. M. at the residence of Mrs. D. G. Brummitt. Hostess: Miss Annie V. Crews. All members are requested to be present. A. V. C. Cor. S. MEETING OF TOWjy BOARD GEN. B. S. ROYSTER ELECTED CITY ATTORNEY A Majority of Property Owners Have Signed Petitions for Good Streets in the Business District, Embrac ing One Block on Main, Two on Hillsboro and One on CoUege Street. At a meeting of the Town Board of Commissioners Tuesday night a petition was presented by a majority of the property holders in the busi ness district of Oxford praying for better streets. Said petition em braces one square east, west and south of the monument at the head of Main street and one square on College street north of Hillsboro street. Another petition was hand ed in by a majority of the property holders on Raleigh street, requesting that their street would have the same consideration as that on Spring, Gilliam and High Streets. The pe titions met the approval of the Board and the work in the busi ness section will have precedence over some of the other territory em braced in other petitions. At a former meeting of the Board of Town Commisisoners, General Royster was unanimously elected city attorney, but he requested time to .consider the matter. He notified the Board Tuesday that he would ac cept the office, and the oath of office was accordingly administered Tues day night. General Royster will give he attention to all legal papers bearing upon the street paving con tract. The Board named a committee to procure the services of a competitive civil engineer and report at the next meeting. It is understood that the services of the engineer will only be required during the life of the street contracts. The engineer will be un der the supervision of the Street Committee, of which Commissioner Usry is the chairman, the other two members being Messrs. Powell and Parham. Commissioner McFarland asked for certain improvements on Asylum street and the same was referred to the Street Committee. - The Board ordered that the trees in Elmwood Cemetery be trimmed. SAVE THE TREES An Asset of Enormous Value to the Town. One of the chief beauties of Ox ford consists in the rows of stately trees that line our streets. Here is a real community asset of enromous value. But this canopy of living green is passing away. Many trees that flourished a few years ,ago ' are now unsightly snags. Many have bowed to the ax. If we would pass our blessings to our children nay, if we would save them for ourselves it is time to be about the business. The Public Ledger is not unduly alarmed about how the shade trees will fare in the onward march, but we trust that Mayor Stem will advise the street commissioner to stay the axe wherever it is possible to pre serve the life of a good healthy tree. Many of the trees were planted by individulas who are yet living. We will admit that there are some old trees that are unsightly and should be removed, but this thing of cutting down everything in sight is all wrong. THE ARMS OF THE LAW Whiskey to Be Made an Issue in the Campaign. The Public Ledger is reliably in formed that the drinkers of whiskey in Oxford and Granville county pro pose to fight all offcers who are in svmDathv with the prohibition laws and that they will throw their stren gth to the candidates who are known to be less vigilant. This beins: the case it is incumbent upon the Law and Order League and all lawabiding citizens to strengthen the arms of the officers who are try ing to enforce the prohibition law. The law is based on public opinion and it is up to the good people to see that the prohibition law is not to suffer in the coming campaign by inuendo or otherwise. It is not a question of politics with us. but it is a question of vile poison that no man should handle. WHITE SALE And Extraordinary Values in Other Good's. The announcement of Landis & Easton on the last page of this pa per is of extraordinary interest just at this time when the dye stuff situ ation is critical. Many of the best grades of goods have advanced, but contracts placed by Landis & Easton enables them to handle the goods at prices that should appeal to the buy ing public. Whether you buy or not, you should read the announcement for the sake of being well informed. NUMBER 12 AFFAIRS OF TEE CODNTY COMMISSIONERS ENDORSE NATIONAL HIGHWAY THE Roads, Bridges and Other Important Items Receive the Attention of the Commissioners. The honorable Board of County Commissioners met in monthly ses sion Monday, February 7th, with the following members present: Messrs. B. I. Breedlove, chairman; H. C. Floyd, R. S. Hart, J. L. Peed. Mr. R.. W. Harris was before the Board asking for a public road from Jim Jones place to the National High way near Mr. Dud Wheeler's place. Action was postponed until first Mon day in March in order to hear from all parties concerned. Joe James was granted special al lowance of $8,00, he being physically unable to work. Permission was granted the Sunset Telephone Company to construct, operate and maintain a telephone line along the public roads of Gran ville county, the line in no way to in terfere with the public road. Eugene Smith, colored, was grant ed rebate on poll tax. Upon motion of Commissioner Peed it was ordered that the county donate $60.00 per mile toward main taining the National Highway. Car ried, Commissioner Hart voting a gainst the proposition. Chairman Breedlove was appoint ed a committee to locate a public road from Bullock to: near Grassy Creek Church. 1,5 ' The motion of Chairman Breedlove to let contract for bridge across Big Island Creek was carried. R. C. Smith was exempt from road duty for year 1916. There was a special allowance made Graham Daniel of $15.00. By order of the Board the road be ginning at Oak Grove church on the survey running to Howard Store, was declared a public road. General B. S. Royster was before the Board representing Mr. W. H. Russell in regard to the valuation of his land in Sassafras Fork Township. f-fter comparing the values of other property the Board granted a rebate on $2,750. The motion of Commissioner Peed, naming Chairman Breedlove as the proper official to sign the petition on the part of the county, granting the petition circulated by the citizens of Oxford asking that the streets around v the Court House be improved was carried and the petition signed ac cordingly by Chairman Breedlove. Commissioner Hart voted against the petition. The motion to start the road at Oak Grove church going toward Howard store was changed to read: Beginning at the oak tree at Sheriff Smith's place. This being the date provided by the -Act to consider the question of abolishing the office of County Treas- urer, the Commissioners discussed the question at some length. The Act provides that the office may be abolished, providing a banking house or trust company discharge the du ties of treasurer without compensa- , tion other than that obtained by the deposits. The Chairman stated that he had conferred with the banks and that they would not agree to assume the duties, therefore the office does not stand abolished. After the Board adjourned Com missioner Hart tendered to the Chair man his resignation. The Board hav ing adjourned and there being no quorum there could be no action taken on Mr. Hart's resignation. 'COMRADE JOHN Fine Bill at the Orpheum Theatre All Star Casts. Elsewhere 'in this issue of the Public Ledger will be found a pro gram covering the feautres at jthe Orpheum Theatre for the week be ginning February 14th. In looking over the list we find that the Gold Rooster feature, en titled "Comrade John," is one of the splendid numbers. It will also be seen that William Fox presents Bet tie Nansen in "Should a Mother Tell." If you should fail to see any one of the serials or other features, let out. your girth and see Charlie Chaplin Friday night, which is desig nated "Funny night." On and after next Monday the per formances at the Orpheum will be gin at 7:30 in the evening, Southern City Calls Minister The Public Ledger learns that a large Southern city has designs on one of Oxford's very fine ministers and that the minister has the ques tion under consideration. We were in hopes that a sufficient number of old sinners would be dashed ashore on the recent religious tidal wave to cause all of our ministers to remain with us. What's the Matter? Our corres pondents throughout the country are reporting very few marriages now. Possibly the maidens are looking well before leaping. 1 i If ! i. 1 i il r; ! n - 1 i 'I 1 ill i ii i ;5 ! ft I f -, 1 it i I ! . r ' 1 ni