THE ZEBULON RECORD
Volume XXIV. No. 5
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Pictured at a USO Club are a soldier and a Santa Fe Indian, com
pleting a trade of clothing and souvenirs, after a barter session
between the two. Such activities are sponsored by the USO clubs,
supported by the Red Cross, funds for which were raised in part in
the Zebulon campaign completed Tuesday.
Commissioner of Agriculture
Advises Economy This Year
By W. KEKR SCOTT
Prices which farmers throughout the United States receive
this year will run about 10 per cent below those experienced in
the autumn of 1946. It is anticipated that the decline will be
rather sharp next winter, and that the average for the 1947-48
• ~ farm marketing year may be as
Farmers Urged to Keep
By State Forester
Fire Loss Low in '47
Co-operation of Zebulon far
mers in preventing forest fires
during the danger months of Feb
ruary to June is asked by W. K.
Beichler, State Forester.
Most local forest fires the
state forester declared, are the
results of plantbed and new
ground fires getting out of con
trol. “If farmers will exercise a
little extra care in picking calm
days for burning off new ground,”
Beichler continued, “thousands of
dollars will be saved this spring
in the four counties surrounding
Zebulon.”
He declared that if no calm day
(Continued on Page 2)
Crowder Back on Job,
Willie B. Still Ailing
Night Policeman Crowder, in
jured in an automobile crash Sat
urday night, March 1, has been
released from Rex Hospital and
is back on his job again.
Chief of Police Willie B. Hop
kins, injured in the same acci
dent, is still hospitalized, but was
reported by Rex Hospital attend
ants Wednesday to be resting com
fortably.
much as 18 per cent under the
levels of last year.
We should bear in mind, how
ever, that this would not be a
low level of income. It would
be lower than what we have been
accustomed to during the war
years, but still about as high as
any year prior to 1946.
If production costs continue to
climb, the net income of course
will drop lower than the estimates.
This is the crux of the agricul
tural income problem. It isn’t
what we receive for our commod
ities that is so important; but it
is what we receive in relation to
what we must pay to produce
these commodities.
Consequently, farmers should
(Continued on Page 2)
OPA Handles 15,000 Letters Daily
While Congressional commit
tees discuss its future, the Office
of Price Administration still car
ries on a heavy workload in the
Southeast, according to figures
released by the Atlanta Regional
Office.
The rent offices in the eight
Southeastern States received com
plaints from 6,647 tenants during
the past month, and handled 5,-
782 compliance actions, James P.
Davis, Regional Administrator,
reported. During the same per
iod, landlords sought permission
Zebulon, N. C., Friday, March 14,1947
Revolution In Agriculture Seen
For Community In Next Decade
Cotton may again be king in North Carolina, if tobacco prices drop as much as expected and
mechanical devices developed for working the co ton crop prove as successful as the makers claim.
In addition to the mechanical improvements, cotton research workers have developed many
new uses for cotton, both the lint and the seed. Demand for cotton, both domestic and foreign,
is expected to increase rapidly in the next, decade, say such experts as Dr. W. J. Jacobs of Char-
North Carolina Tobacco
Crop Brings Over Six
Hundred Million Dollars
Although North Carolina has
yet to produce a billion-dollar to
bacco crop, the total value of the
weed crop is increasing every
year. In 1946 the tobacco crop in
North Carolina brought farmers
a gross of $640,000,000, over a
hundred million dollars higher
than 1945’s return of $507,000,000.
The cost of producing last year’s
crop—for which no figures have
been obtained from the govern
ment was probably also more
than a hundred million dollars
higher than in 1945, which is
borne out by the average Zebu
lon farmer having no more to
spend this year than last; many a
farmer cashed in some of his war
bonds in December. Certainly the
labor shortage was more severe
last summer than ever, with many
farmers losing much of their crop
in the field in Nash and Wilson
Counties and Wake and Johnston
farmers suffering to a lesser de
gree.
The average price per pound in
1946 was 48 cents, winch was ten
per cent higher than the 1945
average and exactly twice the
average price of 24 cents a pound
paid for the years 1934-38.
Massey Speaks to Local
Rotary Club on War
Caused Booms, Slumps
Dr. L. M. Massey discussed war
| caused periods of prosperity and
recession at the Rotary Club meet
! ing here last Friday night, citing
all major economic swings since
the American Revolution.
Dr. Massey, who is the Rotary
“3-minute speaker,” took the pro
gram on short notice, and brought
an interesting message to the
members. He utilized a chart in
comparing the rising taxation of
our country and the constantly in
creasing public wealth —and debt.
Ferd Davis had the program the
week previous, and spoke on world
trends in government as end prod
ucts of philosophical thought.
from OPA to evict 1,792 families,
and rent offices asked for
rent increases in 5,013 cases, he
said.
OPA’s sugar offices are also
quite active with their regular
duties, Davis pointed out. The
eight branch sugar offices in the
Southeast are receiving an esti
mated total of 83,500 telephone
calls, visitors, letters and post
cards each month, he said.
During the first two months of
this year, OPA granted sugar al
lotments ranging from 10 pounds
lotte and Dr. David Killough of
Texas.
Local attention has been fo
cussed on the mechanical devel
opments by the efforts of Coy
and Thurman Pate, brothers of
Zebulon, Route 4, to obtain a cot
ton picker for this community
from the International Harvest
er Company in Charlotte. Ma
chines of this type are already
in use in Wayne County and at
Red Springs.
Cotton production has been
brought another step closer to an
entirely mechanical process with
the development of a flame
thrower that kills grass
and weeds, but leaves the sturdy
cotton stalk unharmed. It is be
ing manufactured and offered for
sale by the New Holland Manu
facturing Company.
Mechanical cotton choppers
have already been developed, and
are being sold this year by Ral
eigh Alford and other local farm
implement dealers. Their use is
not yet widespread, but the deal
ers declare they are about as
good as the average men at chop
ping cotton —thinning, they hasten
to add.
Many local farmers have simply
quit growing cotton because of the
labor problem involved. This
problem resolves itself into one of
getting the cotton chopped and
picked, since local cotton ginners
have plenty of labor and equip
ment to handle almost any size
crop.
This year many farmers report
ed paying $3.00 and $3.50 per hun
dred pounds for cotton picking,
and some few reported having to
pay $4.00 to $4.50 to get poor
stands of cotton picked. At this
price, it simply is not profitable
to grow cotton in this section.
The Pate brothers hope to alle
viate this situation. The picker
they have in mind will pick 800
pounds of cotton per hour, and
can pick night and day, the dew
making the cotton actually pick
better.
The flame thrower mentioned is
a modification of the army unit.
(The writer has seen this flame
thrower in action on Guadalcanal
and Munda. where the army used
it to kill grass and weeds in camp
areas.) Captain Price C. McEl
more, a Tank Corps reserve offi
cer from Montgomery, Alabama,
(Continued on Page 2)
to several thousand pounds, to
46,396 institutional users, the exe
cutive stated. Sugar rations,
ranging from 100 pounds to fifty
thousand pounds, have also been
granted to 10,318 industrial users
by the Atlanta regional office for
the first quarter of 1947, Davis
added. .
Indicative of the volume of
work still conducted by the agen
cy, the administrator said, is the
mail received by the regional of
fice in Atlanta, averaging 15,000
pieces daily.
Theo. Davis Sons, Telephone 2561
Massey's Hatchery Still
Worked to Capacity
With Other N. C. Units
North Carolina’s poultry busi
ness, which has become big busi
ness in the last decade with a to
tal value of over $16,800 000 this
month, is nonetheless smaller than
it was a year ago, smaller by two
per cent, according to Department
of Agriculture reports.
Massey’s Hatchery reports
heavier hatchings than ever for
the local market, and other hatch
eries throughout the State report
the same thing: for the month of
January there were 44 per cent
more chicks delivered in North
Carolina than for the same month
in 1946. A total of 2,300,000 chicks
were hatched in January of this
year in this state.
One important reason for the
decline in the total value of poul
try is the scarcity of beef and
pork during most of last year,
brought about in part by the un
certainty of whether or not OPA
was to survive. The growth of
the freezer locker system in North
(Continued on Page 2)
Mrs. Sudie Richardson
Dies at Corinth Home
After Lingering Illness
Funeral services for Mrs. Sudie
Richardson, 63, of Wendell, Route
1, were held yesterday afternoon
at 2:30 at the Corinth Baptist
Church, with the Rev. J. N. Stan
cil of Rocky Mount conducting the
services. Burial was in the church
cemetery.
Mrs. Richardson, who died Wed
nesday night following an extend
ed illness, is survived by her hus
band, A. E. Richardson; two sons,
H. O. and Graham Richardson;
four daughters, Mrs. Dillard Tip
pett, Mrs. Dox Willoughby, Mrs.
Ayden Rhodes and Mrs. Fernie
Hocutt, all of Wendell, Route 1.
Two brothers, A. A. Alford and
Donald Alford, both of Wendell,
Route 1; seven sisters, Mrs. J. A.
Phelps of Raleigh, Route 5; Mrs.
Abbie Batchelor of Middlesex, R.
2; Mrs. J. S. Woodruff of Raleigh;
Mrs. Mack Batchelor of Zebulon;
Mrs. G. E. Hocutt and Mrs. Bud
Carroll of Wendell, Route 1; and
12 grandchildren.
Ellington, Davis to Be
On Program for P-TA
Ed Ellington, instructor in agri
culture at Wakelon School, will
present a quartet at the meeting
of the school’s parent-teacher
group next Monday night at 7:30
p. m.
Ferd Davis, editor of The Zebu
lon Record, will speak on the basic
topic of “Firm Foundations,” re
lating ‘nationwide reforms to
progress in our home community.