rs3n ' 77-V-C4
Noell Bros., Propriejtors
Home First Abroad Next
$1100 Per Year in Advanced fe"
VOL XXXIV
ROXBORO, NORTH CAROLINifedneiday EyeAing March! 14, 19Y1
Number 11
MR. K. P- READE DISCUSSES THE
BOND ISSUE
pL.ar Mr. Editor:
The friends of Person county now
livinvr in other Counties and enjoying
t;.. benefits of good roads await with
t01.e?t the result of the contest for
',0CKi roads in Person county. One
r.inln!ar with the conditions in the
(.runty realizes that ,it is lacking in
tVto things that mean much to the
life of the county; good roads and
tur school facilities. Much has
been done in the past year or two
in Roxboro township in the matter
0f road building, but in the other
townships the roads are little if any
better than they were twenty five
veins ago, this I know is true of
3It. Tirzah and Flat River. I am
not unmindful of what has been done
to improve the schools in some of the
country districts, notably, Bethel Hill
Bushy Fork, Allensville and the vot
ing cf a recent special school tax in
part cf Mt. Tirzah and Flat River
township. There may be other spe
cial school tax districts in the coun
ty that I do not know of, still, I
know much remains to be done to
Dlace Person county in the fore
front with other progressive coun
ties in the state. Every resident of
the county has a just right to feel
proud of what the progressive people
of Allensville township are doing for
public education in that part of the
county. If I am correctly informed
about what they have done I am sure
that it is almost without paralell in
the history of public education in few
if any of the counties in the state.
It speaks well for the citizens of any
community who are willing to be
come jointly liable on a note for
$2300.00 to secure funds with which
to build a public school in their
neighborhood. It will not be long
before an act of this kind will bear
good fruit, and men who are looking
for homes in which to rear- their
children will do well to seek men of
this type as neighbors and buy land
in their midst. Flat River and Mt.
Tirzah have caught the spirit and.' I
hope that vjryr&m&gS
Vioase m this -JAWS-art taffistrict
house" - in this ewT6cal "tax district
that will be a source of pride to the
residents of this district and a credit
to the county. But when we get the
house the roads are almost so bad
m winter that the little boys and
sirls cannot get to school. After all,
we come to the question of roads;
nothing is so essential to the life of
the community as good reads. The
life of the school and the church is
almost entirely dependent upon the
roads; there is no other thing that
so affects the life of the whole coun
ty. All admit the desirability of hav
ing good roads. : L know, of no -one
who is entirely satisfied with the
Toads as they are n6w; so about the
only thing we differ in is the method
to be adopted by which we are to
get them. It is useless to talk of'
"working the roads by free labor as
did twenty-five years ago, and all
agree that we are not getting results
from our present system. It is ab
solutely impossible to work them by
the present system. The county road
force would attract almost as much
attention in some sections of the
county as a circus parade, because
they are seen there so seldom. It
is not the fault of the county com
missioners, it is the fault oi the sys
tem. You cannot expect the impos
sible of any set of county officials.
The only other method is by a bond
'-'ssue. A number of people say they
would favor a proper bond issue but
that they are not satisfied with the
Present bill. I have read the bill
carefully and I am convinced that it
s eminently fair to the entire coun
ty Under the provision each town
ship will receive not less than $25,
f,00.00 for immediate use to be spent
in grading and improving its roads.
The bill says it shall receive it, not
that it may do so. The road commis
sioners can be compelled ,by the court
to spend the amount of money in any
'given township.
The three principal objections to
he bill, I have heard, are as follows:
First. That Roxboro township will
get $100,000 .00 nf fVia mnnpv
r Second. That the chairman of the
road commission must come from
Roxboro in Roxboro township.
Ahird. The statement, that Rox-
uu" townships will, pay fifty cents
n the one hundred dollars valuation
and all other townships will pay
seventy-five cents.
1 shall discuss thes objections in
vraer named, v I assume that in
broaching the consideration of a
fatter so vitally important as this
s to the entire county that -a majori
y f the people in the county are
willing to do so in a spirit of abso
lute frankness. I cannot be accused
of being partial to Roxboro or Rox
boro township for all the members of
my immediate family who' now live
in Person county are in Mt. Tirzah or
Flat River townships and all tho
property I own in the county is in
Flat River and Mt. Tirzah town
ships. Now as'to the amount Rox
boro is to receive out of the bond
issue. I am told Roxboro pays 45 per
cent of the entire taxes paid in the
county; within 5 per cent of one-half
oi the total taxes paid and one
would think that in order that Rox
boro township might have an equi
table division of the money arising
from the sale of the bonds it would
get $135,000.00 which would be 45
per cent of the total bond issue. But
it receives only $100,000.00, exactly
one-third of the bond issue; when
it is paying nearly one-half of the
taxes of the county and will of course
pay nearly one-half of this $300,
000.00 back upon the maturity of the
bonds. Then, too, it must be borne
in mind that at present the tax rate
in vRoxboro , township for road pur
poses is forty cents arid that if the
proposed bond issue is adopted it
will be fifty cents. So to my mind,
Mr. Editor, the man who says that
Roxboro township is in a hole and
wants the rest of the county to pull
it out will have to revise his figures.
I might also say in this connection
that while the town of Roxboro pays
one-half the taxes paid in the town
ship not one dollar of this road mon
ey can be spent in the corporate lim
its of the town. To my mind the
eountry has all of the advantage. In
addition to the fact that 'Roxboro
township pays nearly one half of the
taxes of the county, it has roads run
ning into it from all directions, it
has need for more money because
the cost for construction and main
tenance wiH be so much heavier in
this township. The roads are also
traveled more, because the people
of the entire county have to go to
Roxboro at sometime, either to. court,
witnesses
Nome county 6ff icer
nty officer or market their
crops, and I am satisfied that they
will get as much or more benefit
from the money spent for good roads
in Roxboro township as the Roxboro
township people will for the money
spent in the other townships of tne
county. Now my friend think
this matter over, if you are open to
conviction, but if you are not and
have just made up your mind to vote
against good roads anyway, do so,
but do not assign as your excuse for
opposing a measure which means so
much to your community a reason
which does not now and never has
existed. If you believe the state
ment about the amount of taxes paid
by Roxboro township don't you real
ly think that Roxboro township
which pays 45 per cent of the taxes
is really right liberal after all with
the other townships in the county?,
and that'iihe. town of Roxboro which
pays more taxes than any one town
ship and possibly more than any two
and does not get a dollar of the road
money back for street purposes is
really liberal? The majority of the
voters in Roxboro will on Tuesday
March 20th, vote to tax themselves
to help build roads in your town
ship. Some of the roads will be
ten to fifteen miles away from Rox
boro, will you let them help you? I
urge you not only to accept the of
fer to help you build roads in your
township, but do your part to carry
this bond issue. It is not true that
Roxboro township is trying to get
the balance of the townships to help
them pay their bond issue for they
are increasing their tax ten cents
and getting less in proportion to
taxes naid than any other township
in the county. And when you are
told that Roxboro township is in a
hole and wants to get the other town
ships to help pay their debt, the one
who tells you is either not informed
or is trying to mislead you, and he
is not a safe man to follow, for it
he is not informed he certainly can
not safely advise others and if he is
seeking to mislead by predujice and
misrepresentation he, of course, does
not deserve to lead. I urge the vot
ers of the. county to investigate this
first criticism of the bill and de
cide for themselves whether or not
"there is any merit to it, and when
you have done so I am certain that
you will arrive at the same conclus
ion I- have; that this criticism, is
whollv without foundation, f
7 The next criticism? deserves ,v but. a
f aw words. They say that the bill
nrnvides . that the chairman , the
road commissioners snail come from
, jurors or iuigaoi5,iopav ioe -required w anve over,4 wer enure
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rW:C;r;v,T': 'v-T- '
, - : .,'
Sand Clay Road in
Roxboro township and suppose itlitelds, large reWiis on ;the irivest-
does, is this sufficient reason to de
feat the good roads bill for your
county? I can assure you that the
man who is selected as chairman ,of
the commission will not do so for
the money he will get out of it, but
rather from a desire to render some
service to his county. His compen-jham; than to drive them from my
sation is fixed I think at $3.00 per.;fa$) to the Durham county line. No
day. In order for him to render the aunt of argument can make me'
best service to the entire county he befeve it would not be good busi
ought to c centrally located where -and SOund financing for me to
he may be accessible to people from
all parts of the county. And for the
convenience cf all the people I think
the bill wis'ely provides that the
chairman of the commission should
come from Roxboro township, not be
cause any mre capable man can be
found there but for the convenience
of the people who have to transact
business with him. If this provision
of the bill should prove unwise I take
it that it might be changed by some
subsequent Legislature, but if it is:
I think that whoever is elected chair
man of the commission ought t6 be
required to maintain an office in the
rcouity - seat, so that people " will not'
The last'vof tha three objections is
the statement that Roxboro town
ship will pay fifty cents on the hun
dred and all other townships will pay
seventy five cents on the hundred
dollars of value, this absolutely un
true and any opponent of the bill who
is informed will tell you that it is
not true. The law is 'perfectly clear
on this question and clearly repeals
the old road tax if the bond issue
is carried.
There are those who honestly op
pose all bond issues because they say
we should adhere to the maxim "Pay
as you go", this, of course, is safe
financing if we have the money, but
in the matter of road building if we
try this in Person county we would
not only "not go far" we could not
get started, and if we do not issue
bonds we can never have any better
roads. If none of us had ever bor
rowed any money fewer people would
own their own homes today and there
wquld be precious few investments
made as compared with those made.
If the great railroad builders had
adhered to this policy, instead of
having several lines of railway stret
ching from coast to coast, making
it possible for one to go across the
continent in a few hours, in perfect
comfort, and even luxury, we would
be crossing the prairies in one of
Buffalo Bill's stage coaches; and in
stead of crossing the ocean in. float
ing palaces, we would probably be
crossing in the same kind of vessels
that the Puritians came over in when
they settled the Plymouth Colony.
Practically all the railroad compan
ies are bonded and I suppose it is
true of the steamship companies, cer-
tainly it is true of many big indus-
1 trial corporations like the American
Tobacco Company and the Standard;
Oil Company and many others too
numerous to mention. Person county
cannot build its roads by paying for
them out of the general taxes and no
other county ni the state that has a
system of good roads is doing so.
Durham county is not doing it al
though it has a tax assessment of
thirty million dollars, many times the
tax assessment of Person county. In
less than ten years Durham county
has bas borrowed for roads and brid
ges $275,000,00 and for its magnifi
cent new court house it has borrowr
ed about $300,000.00 and although
we have recently gone through a po
litical campaign not : one wort") of
criticism did I hear of the party in
power . f qr these expenditures. ;. The I
trutn is tnere if no tax so popular
in our county as the road tax Our
people are .glad to pay it because
Ijfrxboro Township
nrit," ana it will do so in Person
colinty.. 1 1 hafe a farm three miles
the Durham macadam road,
jut over in the, edge of Person
county and I had rather drive my
mules today with a, loaded wagon
avliislance of nineteen miles to Dur-
invest a little money in some, good
roaftibonds. The increase in my tax
w.ujd be insignificant but the bene-'
fifcfto" all, oi. us would be immense.
Almost every year some good farmer
leaves Person
county for Durham
or&soxne other county because he is
seeing a more progressive qommu-
nilfy. in which to rear j
hi:family. They' "will,
and educate
continue to
leave tQo unless something is done
tOjrevent it I know houses in Per
so;kcounty that are today occupied
by negroes and half breeds that were
at 'ene time the very centers of cul
tar i Cand refinement, and I " think' I
Icn v Kat has brought this thing to
f"
soxe of the others pretty soon un
less the people in the county who
have its best interest at heart are
aroused to the seriousness of the
situation. To .the careless and indif
ferent it is probably a matter of
small concern, but to the serious and
thoughtful men of the county it is
a matter of grave concern. The
churches and schools of the country
are today suffernig because some of
the leaders in various communities
have moved to more favored sections,
and when the churches and schools
begin to go down men with fami
lies to raise and educate soon leave
too unless in doing so they have to
make too great sacrifice.
I have not written, Mr. Editor, in
a spirit of unfriendly criticism. I
love Person county and the people
of the county. My people for
more than one hundred yaers have
lived in Mt. Tirzah township, and I
long to see the day come when Per
son county will be classed with the
progressive counties in the state, but
before it c;:i ever hope for this, it
must do something to improve the
terrible condition of the roads. I
sincerely hope the people will pass
the good road bill, if they do, Per
son county will take on new life, if
they do not, despair will be written
in the faces of the hopeful and pro
gressive citizens of the county who
are ambitious for its future. I urge
the friends of good roads in the coun
ty to quit their farms and stores and
other places of business on election
day and do one good day's work for
the roads of the county. If you djo
and carry the bond . isssue the good
roads will be a monument to your
wisdom and you will have the thanks
of those who are living and of gene
rations yet unborn.
Yours truly,
R. P. READE.
Presbyterian Announcements
Prayer-meeting tonight at 7:30 o'
clock. Next Sunday Sunday school 9:45
A. M. Preaching at 11 A. M. and 7:
30 P. M. The evening service will
be evangelistic. A short song ser
vice will precede sermon. The pub
lic is cordially invited to all these
services.
"Wrenn School House. Rev Carle-
ton E." White will preach at. Wrenn
school house at 3:30 o'clock in the
afternoon.
.Mr. H. G. - Clayton; Jr., returned
to Roxboro . last week from Green
ville, Tenn. "He W the, first o the
'': ' ' L - , . - .''J V1 - 1 4
week ior Winston-JSaiem. .
Trf"TT!p ronritv TtnTTho TnioJ-P xXd- -woiiwio, utr- wiui wiv win-1 imaging roaa ..paioing ana xne omy - r'-mv :.
THE LATEST r'
1 . . . t ...-... 'v -
. N -
The Bond Issue Will Carry in Coun
ty By a Safe Majority. '
" We have just received a message
over our own specially leased grape
vine that there is no question as to
the result of the election, on next
Tuesday, it being .-only a question of
the size ofthe majority which the is-"
sue is to receive. From the infor
mation coming over this specially
leased grape, vine it leads us to be
lieve that every township in the
County will cast a majority. for the
measure, save one, that being 'Woods
dayle. While it would , too much to
hope for a .majority for the bonds
from, this township we are assured
that there will be a gain at Woods
dale the town, . not the township,
will make a gain of more than 100
per. cent over the vote cast two years
agoand there will be a gain as a
whole front the township, .
In Cunningham township the gain
will be of a .decided nature. We can
predict this .with certainty, as on the
first; vote for bonds, the bond bill
did not receive a single vote, while
on next Tuesday many of the live,
wide-awake citizens are enthusias
tic for the bill. In all of the town
ships, save one, it , is conceded that
the bond bill will receive a flattering
vote, even the opponents only claim
ing and hoping to keep the majorities
as small as possible,, every one ,ad-:
mitting the adoption of the bill. Only
in Bushy Fork do we hear of much
opposition. . From some cause ...there
is some; opposition to the bill,' and
the friends of the measure are not
making enthusiastic claim as jtQ the
making big gains there, though.there
is hardly any doubt but what the bill
will receive a small majority:
It is going to be nip and tuek with
Olive Hill, Allensville, Mt.; Tirzah -and
Hojloway as to, which wil show 'the
greatest- gain since the former, elec
tion and regardless ' of which wins
they are, all; going to come up with
a .showing which ,will make Person
ning side, you must vote for the
bonds. At least that is the way we
have it over ojir own specially leased
grape vine.
TO THE VOTERS
OF PERSON COUNTY
Please read carefully before vot
ing against good roads bond for
$300,000. Suppose a man in the
lumber business has 250,000 feet of
lumber to haul to market. It will
cost him 3.00 per thousand to haul
it over such roads as: we have now,
and with the bonds and good roads
it will cost him $2.00 per thousand.
So you see he will have saved $1.00
on the thousand, which will be a sav
ing of $250.00. The same profit for
forty years will be $10,000.00. Take
out the $1,600.00 that Mr. E. R.
Bradsher says you will pay and you
will have net profit of $8,400.00.
LET'S VOTE FOR THE BONDS
AND SAVE MONEY. W. T. Buch
anan, Mill Creek; N. C.
To the Voters of Person County:
Mr. E. R. Bradsher's article in
last week's Courier is very imprac
tical, to say the least, because there
is not one man in the county that
is going to contribute $600 to a road
fund of $300,000.. He evidently for
gets the interest value of his $600
which at simple interest would
amount to $36 per year at 6 per
cent and would amount to 1440 in
forty years. Now add the $600 to
that and you would have $2040 that
it will have cost him. If the interest
had been compounded as it should
have been, it will amount to much
-t ill T J 4-
more. isieverrniess, i aare say mat
the $36 a year interest would pay
his road taxes and no doubt he would
have enough left to buy himself a
plug of tobacco once in a while to
chew on as he rides contentedly on
the good roads that the bonds have
built, thanking his lucky stars that
the people thought enough of him to
pass the bond issue and let him keep
his $600. J. I. Hawkins, Hurdle
Mills, N. C. '
MILLINERY OPENING Mrs Pal
lie Yancey Pass will on Friday and
Saturday, March 23rd and 24th, 1917
display her Gage Hats, Samuel Ach
Sterne hats arid other exhibits. :
I I have spent some time in New
York arid other, cities and I feel that
I have all thot can be offered, so call
and see niy display. Mrs. - Pallie
Yancey Pass. r
'Dr. E. J; Tucker spent" Sunday in
Yanceville. ' , '
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Front- Our County Commissioners,
J
.After being in office as Countyv
Commissioners for three months, and
having had, the experience of direct
ing, the road work of Person punr
ty, it is our opinion that the amount
of money available frpmi the '( pre
sent tax levy is aDsolutelyinspfir
cient to maintain our present .roads
or do any permanent work 'under
our present system of working roadst.
:A STATEMENT ::
We makethis statement: in justice -'ff
to ourselves, as the'responsibiUtyfoi? f
maintaining the roads of . Person
County, outside of ; Roxboro Town?
ship, rests wthitua. ,r ,''7 -t 7'7r
H. J. WHITE, " ,
R. D. BAILEY, 7
DANIEL LONG, 7
. ;
'V
p
7 , : Commissioners. !
You see the statement , above made
by your County . Commissioners. .It
should be ;yery gravely considered
by every voter in the County! These
men have the management of your '
County. '"TlieyM were elected by the ;
people and deserve your highest trust 7
and confidence. ' ":! ' 7--7
In justice to themselves as the res-"
ponsible heads, they tell you tjiat
they cannot hope to maintain thip.
present roads, much less build per- :
manent ones, with the "small amount . '
of money received by direct taxation
under the present system. ' 7 V
Suppose your taxes should be doub .
led 'j and the road 'work Icbhtiiiued un- 77
der the present systeni. I How would ) I ;
you. line mat 4 jot ax. an," oi course,
for you can never, neverj' get any
permanent benefit from roads nnifcil 1
the roads arepef manently built.
kYour county cbiissloners teU you
that you carinotf" liope" for 'this under:
the present system They are doing
toe . oest luai is : possiuic lor you in;.
should, belcjo
VThere isC&rSedy and it omebei-
practical way! It is the only way
to finance anything that would be
burdensome under direct taxation,.
The United States Government is
sued bonds to build the Panama Can
al. The State of North Carolina, in
the past legislative session, was au
thorized to issue bonds to help the
rflad work of the counties. Shall we
say our government and state are
wrong and we are right ?
Let us get out of the rut we have
been in for so long and by an over
whelming vote for-the bond issue,
March 20th, show the people of th"!T"
state that we are to De reckoned: .
with and have one of the mdstj pro-
. :
gressive and prosperous counties i. to '.
be found.
KILLED WHEN
WALL COLLAPSED
Jesse. Copley Killed and Several
Others Injured' When Wall of Old
Post-Office Buildnig Collapsed last
Wednesday.
Jesse Copley, a brickmason of Dur
ham, was instantly killed, and Tom
Garrett and Yancey Carver serious
ly injured last Wednesday afternoon
about 4 o'clock when part of the side
wall of the old post-office building
unexpectedly collapsed.
Several of the heavy steel girders
which supported the building had
been removed a short while previous
ly, leaving the rear corner of the
old wall, on Depot Street, in a weak
ened condition. . Copley, Garrett and
Carver, together with Bob Thorpe,
were at work on the girders, inside
the wall, when the heavy pillars,
crashed down upon them. Copley
and Carver were completely buried
under the debris, and were uncons
cious when found. Garrett was struck
on the right shoulder and arm and
suffered a dislocation of the shoulder.
His injuries are more painful than
serious. Thorpe succeeded in jump
ing to safety and escaped unhurt
The body of Copley was earned
to Durham on. the night train and
interred in the cemetery there Fri
day. He leaves a father, three bro-
thrs and three sisters, all of whom
reside in South 'Boston. .
Coming: to Roxboro
fryingTto worllf the' -Tokd.vm. ybtt,-.- Atfi
cant ;expecm;to:- do" xnpre;It;T 7 C:77;.
the ;Vsteiftf4att$S;wro it . 1;'7'5S:7
rreciea. t
fore you7foi Consideration Marc:
Mrs. Jack jElhot joi South Boston
will . be in RoxboroKon' the20th of
this month' and Will remain here1 for
the balance 'of thweek, demohstra- 1
ting, and, fitting, the famous Spirella
corsets7 She -will be" at the home of V
Mrs. & B. Davis. 7 7 "
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