THE ZEBULON RECORD
Carolina
/mss ASSOCIATION >.
Published’Bvery Friday By
THE RECORD PUBLISHING COMPANY
Zebulon, North Carolina
THEO. B. DAVIS, Editor
MRS, THEO. B. DAVIS, Associate Editor
Entered as second class mail matter June 26, 1925, at the
Postoffice at Zebulon, North Carolina.
Subscription Rates: 1 Year SI.OO 6 Months 60c,
3 Months 40c. All subscriptions due and payable in advance
Advertising Rates On Request
Death notices as news, first publication free. Obituaries
tributes, cards of thanks, published at a minimum charge
of 13c per column inch.
ADVERTISING RUINING ZEBULON’S
BUSINESS
o
A citizen of Zebulon told the editor
a few days ago that he heard a certain
business man of the town that ad
vertising and free prizes were ruining the
business of the community. We have no
argument to make with the gentleman.
Two years ago the business people of Zeb
ulon did more advertising than any other
year since the depression.
That firm doing the most advertising
did by far the best business. Numbers of
others told the editor that their trade was
better than for years.
For the last three months the Record
has carried less local advertising than ev
er before during the summer, and busi
ness has been at a lower point than for
years. Note two concerns have adver
tised regularly during this time—A. G.
Kemp and Philip Massey. Mr. Kemp says
his business has been as good if not bet
ter than it ever was during the summer.
Mr. Massey says that up to the time
farmers began housing tobacco his trade
was twice as go<>d as it was la c t year dur
ing this period.
Two other firms have run small ads
regularly—The Zebulon Supply Co. and
the City Market. And the reader will
confirm our opinion that their business
has been good. What the ads contributed
to this we do not say.
“The proof of the pudding is in the
eating.”
“Advertising pays,” is a truism out
of years of experience and observation.
A national concern says that the weekly
newspaper is the best medium of adver
>. ) Using in America. If Zebulon business
■ men will place a reasonable amount of
advertising in this paper during the fall,
fall trade will boom. If they do not,
\ business will continue going to other
/• towns that do advertise.
' , A * ~ai 000
; Equality before the majesty
OF THE LAW
< o
Up in Raleigh the authorities are having the
same trouble in law enforcement as we have in
smaller towns. A certain man was haled before
the courts for selling groceries on Sunday. To
square accounts he reported a number of other
businesses that operated on Sunday. But the
city Charter allows the sale of drugs, confec
tions, driqks, . gas, and other “necessary” com
modities on Sunday. But if one is hungry it is
a violation of the law to sell him meat or drink
from a grocery store.
We have aways felt that there was unfair
discrimination in allowing a man to use a hot
dog as a pretext for running a general store on
Sunday, Instead of arguing in favor of opening
up grocery stores on Sunday because these oth
er less necessary businesses are allowed, we
believe a better thing would be to close them all.
JULY BIRTHS HIGH
• •.
More bfrtfcs occured in July 1936
in the United States than in any
other month during that year, the
U. S. Census Bureau reports.
~ ~r 7~jg
THE ZEBULON RECORD, ZEBULON, NORTH CA RQLINA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1938
LIGHTNING STRIKES
Lightning was fatal to 409 per
sons in the United States in 1936,
the U. S. Census Bureau reports.
Sunday, as the News and Observer fitly says,
aside from the religious aspect, is a day of rest
needed for man as well as beast.
oOo
THANKS WITH APPRECIATION
o
Fine citizen, man of good judgment, Pitt
man Stell stopped ye editor on the street the
other morning and said: “I want to congratu
late you on your paper. It is 100 per cent better
than it was a year ago.” We asked in what way,
and he replied: “In every way.” And we said:
"It must have been mighty sorry a year ago!”
This leads us to saying we are trying to
make the Zebulon Record the best little rural
newspaper in North Carolina. To do this it
takes a lot of work on our part and dollars paid
in by subscribers. Just send in your dollar and
pay up to date, or join our reading public We
promise you that every cent we get on subscrip
tions will be given back to our readers in a bet
ter paper.
oOo
PLACING RESPONSIBILITY
—o
A drunken driver just outside the city lim
its of Durham ran into a number of people last
week, killing three and injuring several others
badly. There has been considerable discussion
as to who was to blame. It seems the driver had
been in the asylum for drink craze not so long
ago. He still retains his driver’s license. So
the question is who was responsible for the
deaths? Our answer would be: Whoever sold
the man the liquor that made him drunk. And
our best guess would be Durham county. In all
probability an ABC store of that county sold the
drink that made the man drunk who killed these
innocent people. If true, then the people of
Durham county are responsible for the injury
of several and the killing of three.
oOo
MAKING ELECTIONS SAFE FOR
REPUBLICANS
o
In the Deane-Burgin election contest at
torneys for Burgin state that the “threatened
action” of the state board of elections would
make North Carolina primaries “safe for Re
publicans.” Our opinion is that nothing would
be quite so conducive towards getting offices
filled by the best men. We have felt for years
that any political machinery which forces a citi
zen to vote in the regular election for the man of
the same party that he voted for in the Primary
was all wrong.
At least once in our life, when two men
were running for an office,, did we vote for the
better man. The other was “rotten” in his pri
vate life and he won in the Primary. In the
regular election his opponent was a Republican
but a splendid man. We voted for him. We
have followed this policy since. Os course par
ty leaders would say the voting was irregular
and illegal, and perhaps much worse things. If
two men of equal merit run for office, one a
democrat and the other a republican, we voie
for the democrat. But if the democrat chances
to be a man of inferior quality of character, the
better man gets our vote, regardless of party.
And so by a process of elimination we reach the
polls at the final election and vote for the best
man regardless of his party name. North Caro
lina not only needs to be made safe for Republi
cans, but especially for the party that dominates
politics in every phase of public life.
The only way by which our democratic prin
ciples may be preserved and the best men placed
at the head of our government is to make our
elections safe for every citizen regardless of
party affiliations. When a citizen can go to
the polls, whether primary or regular election,
and vote his convictions as to the qualities and
qualifications of the man he would have repre
sent him in the government, only then will our
elections be safe for every citizen and our public
institutions safe in a government that represents
the untrammelled will of the people.
The “Closing Out Sale” running
at Antone’s Department Store has
been changed by erasing the “C”
at the beginning of each ad and is
now a Losing Out Sale.
Nature of Competition Vastly
Changed From Former Days
Development of New Product* and Raw Materials Added
to Price Rivalry
Washington—Are our “giant” cor
porations holding down living stand
ards by holding up prices, in an
effort to make exorbitant profits?
Has competition declined so that the
production and distribution of goods
needed for higher living standards
is being hindered?
A study which has Just been com
pleted at the Brookings Institution
found that competition is as real as
in former days —perhaps more real.
But it operates in a different way.
Weekly Wages and Wholesale Price* of Manufactured Products
INDEX numbers
INDEX NUMBERS .COO
too |
MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS I „
— , o°
N— —wades
so .
_ I . -Jo
IBTO 1880 1890 1900 1910 I9to 1930 1940
The Amount That Could Be Bought a eek s
index numbers index numbers
iso \' 50
too to °
nL . ....... 1 ■... i.... I. ....I. ...» -
IBTO 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940
These charts indicate in general how living standards have risen since
1870, during which years there have occurred the greatest development of
machine production and the growth of large corporations. The upper
chart shows that, although the wholesale prices of manufactured goods
were about 9 per cent lower in 1937 than In 1870, the weekly wage had
increased more than 150 per cent. The lower chart shows how much a
worker could purchase with his weekly wage, assuming that retail price*
kept in step with wholesale figures; In 1937 it was nearly three times as
much as in 1870. This increase came in spite of the fact that the length of
the working week was reduced by approximately one-third during thia
period.
Manufacturers today compete not
only in the pricing of their products,
but also in the development of new
products and new uses for raw mate
rials. The result may be even more
useful to the people as a whole than
in the days when the prices of near
ly all goods were fixed by direct
bargaining in the market.
The making of prices over a large
part of industry is vastly changed
from what it used to be. The pro
ducer estimates in advance a price
at which an article can be bought by
an expanding number of people and
then finds a w r ay to turn out a prod
uct within that price.
Almost everyone is aware that
this is the way automobile prices
are set, and the study found that the
three largest concerns in this indus
try have set the high water mark of
competition thus far.
Today, it is almost impossible for
so-called monopolies to keep prices
unduly high in order to make big
profits. Advances in physics, chem
istry, and engineering have been so
great in recent years that, whenever
a corporation tries to do this, some
one comes along with a satisfactory
substitute at a lower price.
Previous studies made at the
Brookings Institution indicated that
the best method of passing on to the
public the benefits of improved pro
ductive efficiency is by giving the
consumer lower prices.
Policies of Many Corporations
Are Examined
In the latest study, entitled ‘‘ln
dustrial Price Policies and Eco
nomic Progress,” specific inquiries
were made into the policies of many
manufacturing concerns to find out
whether they were aimed in this di
rection. The study was made by Dr.
Edwin G. Ncurse, director of eco
nomic research, and Dr. Horace B.
Drury, a member of the staff. It was
financed under a grant by the Mau
rice and Laura Falk Foundation of
Pittsburgh.
Big corporations since the World
War have sought to effect econo-
Recent heavy rains damaged the
Martin county tobacco crop con
siderably.
A peanut dusting demonstration
with sulphur on the farm of R. C.
Mason, Hertford County, resulted
in a 600 to 700 pounds increase per
acre.
mies and promote efficiency, the
study found. This is in contrast to
the aim of combinations of a gen
©ration ago, which was chiefly to
control markets, suppress competi
tion and raise prices. Some of these
older combinations were able to
hold up prices for a time, but even
tually such attempts broke down or
aroused so much resentment that
the combinations were dissolved by
governmental actions.
The study did not find that the
percentage of the nation’s business
done by “giant” corporations has
been increasing. Production by such
large enterprises comprises about 40
per cent of the total, which is about
the same percentage as obtained a
generation ago.
Big and Little Companies Work
Together
The study shows how big and lit
tle companies work together to the
advantage of both. Large corpora
tions are generally able to spend
more freely to maintain competent
technical and management staffs,
and these companies have usually
been in the front of price reduction.
But smaller concerns also benefit
from this large-scale production.
With larger concerns purchasing
their supplies in large quantities
and planning production far in ad
vance, smaller companies which sell
them supplies and raw materials are
in turn able to plan production on
the most economical basis. Many
small concerns also find it easier to
borrow money from local banks and
other sources when they have con
tracts with large corporations.
Operation of industrial enter
prises at their practical capacity is
necessary if the nation ts to have
maximum production of goods, the
report of the study says. Forward
looking price policies, constantly
aiming toward giving the consumer
more for his money, were found to
be the most important factor in
bringing about capacity operation.
The high level of employment
which would come with such capaci
ty operation would have far greater
effect in raising living standards
than any employment which the
government could provide.
Since 1870, while our large cor
porations have been developing,
the amount of manufactured goods
which the average worker’s weekly
wage would buy was multiplied by
two and a half. At the same time, the
working week reduced by about
one-third.
If Interested in Life Insurance or
Hospital Insurance, consult
R. L. HARPER