Newspapers / The Chapel Hill Weekly … / Oct. 23, 1925, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page Two TkCMHfetMf LOUIS GRAVES Editor SUM s Tear k. a Copy fltli— mil counumkatiaßS to Tfce Ckaval HiQ Weekly. Chapel Hill, K. C < ftkrmtrr 2t» Ita, mda limikw m HK. K-ctk OMfim —ex «fc* aa •* U mh V I*7*. A Ghit of Speech taking Why is it that people who ar range celebrations seerfi never to know when to stop in laying out the speeckmaking program? is it fair to bring hundreds of people together, on the assump tion that they are coming to enjoy themselveh, and then suf focate them with endless talk? Every man of intelligence takes pleasure from a good speech, as he does from a good play or a good story. Nor should he demand that every speaker be a marvel as an orator and raconteur. A short and simple talk by a distinguished any other person held in high esteem —this is received with good-will. But enough is a feast. When the speech-making is strung out through a whole day and half through the night, the affair develops into an ordeal. We are moved to theSe obser vations by the recent celebra tion of University Day here in Chapel Hill. And, having dis cussed this event with perhaps two or three score individuals who attended—alumni, members of the faculty, students, an<f townsmen—we know that our ' feeling about it is not due to any eccentricity on our own part. We have not found one single dissenter from the opinion that there was too much talk. It is hardly necessary to say that there were some excellent speeches. Everybody knows that We are not here discussing the quality of the flow, but thq superabundance of it. When a member of the news paper fraternity decries anv sort of advertising he is, as it were, taking a tilt at his own profession. Yet we suspect that, in a case like this, advertising is carried too far. The Univer sity decides to celebrate the fif tieth anniversary of its reopen ing. Which is a splendid idea. Then the announcement is broadcast through the country. Formal invitations are sent to dozens of institutions, and dele gates come to bring greetings. Home folks and strangers rise to proclaim the virtues and achievements of North Carolina and its University. And the proclaiming takes time, and as it proceeds, hour after hour, the spirit and the flesh grow weary under it. How would it do, on an occa sion like this, to aim at a more balanced celebration, with many of the same features that we had on the 12th—music, march ing, and feasting—but with a smaller volume of talk and with more liberal breathing spells during which the visitors could go about the village and the' campus and chat with one an other? It may seem ungracious to suggest that the total strangers, who have no interest in the institution, be dispensed with. But, since they have de parted to their distant states and none of them is likely to see this paper, we make bold t© advance this suggestion. Ma dame Roland deplored the crimes committed in the name of liber . ty. Well, there are crimes com mitted in the name of hos pitality, too. Why should we force well-meaning, inoffensive men, who have done us no hkrm, to spend from one to three nights off sleeping ears and endure the dthdf discomforts of a long journey, jurft to dbme here for a few hours and tell us what a great outfit we are. Call it by whatever name you please, but assembling these men here is advertising pure and simple nothing else. And the price, in weariness, is too high. We seem to hear someone re mark: ‘’but your kick comes too late. The thing’s all over— why talk about it now?” Well, there will be other celebrations of one kind or another; and we want to put in our wee small voice to beseech more humane treatment next time. When Edwin A. Alderman Is President {Continued from fege one) parts something still more valu able—good luck. * • • Successful men who proffer advice to the young are fond of declaring that luck does not count much in success. Os course nothing is sillier than that. Luck is § big factor in most triumphant* careers. And Mr. Alderman will need luck to be nominated and to be elected — assuming that he will allow his name to be presented. For him to be nominated it is necessary that the party political bosses, who always would rather have a politician in the White House, see the only chance of victory in the naming of a non gangster of power and eminence. And for him or any other Dem ocrat to be elected it is necessary that there be some upset, ap proaching the nature of a cata clysm, to overcome the attach ment of the voters to the pres ent stand-pat regime. • • * Some such upset may occur. A storm is often just ahead when (there is not a cloud in the sky, and so it may be for the Repub licans. For example, an inde pendent movement within their party, like the one led by Theo dore Roosevelt in 1912, might develop . The Roosevelt rebellion caused Wilson’s election. No in surgent of Roosevelt’s stature is in sight now, but it is possible that there may arise out of the mist some bronco-buster capa ble of smashing, as he smashed, the Republican organization . It is not probable, but it is conceiv able. Maybe Edwin A. Aider man is tjje nian of destiny to rise upon the ruin. • p * 9- _ If enough voters could hear him speak he ought to get a ! 1 remendous vote. He is a wiz ard as a public speaker. • * • But I have let myself be led astray into a more or less se rious discussion of presidential chances. What I set out to do was to indulge in a few fancies about the status of Chapel Hill when Mr. Alderman becomes President of the United States. • * * We will then come into nation al fame as the Village Where the President Used to Live. Magazine writers will flock here to write the place up, and roto gravure sections all over the country will carry photographs of the Well that Mr. Alderman had built, the South building l where his office was, and the walks he trdd. Inhabitants will be interviewed for reminiscences of him. All the old jokes about i him and the negro barber Tom ; Dunstan, so well known to those of us who were here in the I period 1890-1900, will be circu lated from Maine to California. • • * For instance, there is the one | about the hat. Two persons be sides Mr. Alderman figured in this. One was Kenneth Dunstan, . the barber’s son, who had a head of abundant kinky hair. An other was Noyes Long, who was known for one of the most styl iah dressers in the village. One Saturday when Mr. Al derman came home from being •haved by Tom Dunstan, he THE CHAPEL HILL WEEKLY I Random Shots j BT HALIT AX JOSES A despatch from Washington says the “back-to-the-f arm' movement is not panning out in the United States.” Every now, and then somebody begins to mourn publicly because the farming population, in propor-, tion to the Arhole, becomes smaller. Yet there often are long periods when there is such' an over-supply of corn, wheat, cotton, and other crops, and in consequence such a drop in prices, that the majority of the farmers in the country have a hard job to come out even. It would therefore be a misfortune, instead of a blessing, if there should be a big increase in tbe farming population. “Quantity production” in farming, especi ally in the Middle West, and modern methods of preparation and storage, have brought about a condition in which the feeding of the country calls for far few er farm workers, relatively, than used to be the case. To add tq the number is to make things harder for them all. • • • It js true that the crowding in some cities has its bad aspects, but there are vast sections of the United States where the real need is not fo* more farmers but for a greater number of found that he had brought away somebody else’s hat. Looking inside it, he saw written on the band the name Noyes Long. Nobody need be ashamed to wear a hat belonging to a glass of fashion like Noyes, and so the president of th.e University was not disturbed by the mistake. It was before the day of tele phones, and the owner could not be communicated with conve niently. Saturday night and Sum day the borrowed hat was a source of much idle merriment in the boarding house where Mr. Alderman had his apartment. He would perch it upon his head at various angles for the amuse ment of the household. There were two or three young women in the house at the time, and they would putflt on and stru{ back and forth. Monday morn ing Mr. Long was told of the error and called at Mr. Alder man’s office. He gave one look at the hat and smiled. “Mr. President,”, he said, “you haven't been wearing my hat but Kenneth Dunstan’s; I gave it to him two months ago.” * • * There are a lot of Republicans in the Chapel Hill election dis | trict, but the honor of having a former fellow townsman as a .candidate will still the voice of party. While the campaign is on we will have a great proces sion with bands and banners, and the banners will bear de vices such as: Breathes there a man 1 with soul so dead Who will not casC his vote . for Ed? * * * After the election there may be any number of the Presi dent’s old friends willing to be come ambassadors, revenue col- PARIS THEATRE DURHAM Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Oct. 26, 27, 28, 29 DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS “DON Q” SON OF ZORRO •%M• 1 i 1 people engaged in industry and other pursuits that are carried on in towns. In North Carolina, for example, thousands of men and women who have turned from fanning to mill-working are better off than they used to be. This is not saying that the conditions of life in mill villages are all they ought to be by any means, that attempts should not be made to improve them. But the fact remains that, as regards physical comfort, edu cation, pleasures, and social ad vantages in general, the change to industrial work has been a fortunate release for many a farm worker whose utmost ef forts in plowing and hoeing barely saved hfm from starva tion. • • • I recall that, when I was an officer in the Army, in a pamp in the South, I found the poorest, most underfed, most illiterate and altogether the most unfor tunate soldiers came not from the towns but from the farms. * * * In individual instances, of course, to embark upon farming is a sensible procedure. There are men and women who prefer it to other occupations and who are better fitted for it than for anything else. But organized “back-to-the-farm’ propaganda, artificial stimulation that aims to increase the farm population —this is silly business. lectors, and prohibition enforce ment agents. Then, with plums being dished out, the sentiment toward Mr. Alderman will be: “Should auld acquaintance be forgot ?” ** * I have been wondering what job I will ask' him for, and I have reached a decisipn. I want him to have an act put through Congress creating a Department for the Control of Men’s Dress and then to appoint me the re gional director for North Caro lina. When I take office I will issue a decree that pajamas shall be the regulation attire, out of doors as well as in, during the hot months. This order may be contested by old fogies, on the ground that it is an infringe ment of personal liberty, but governmental authority will give me such prestige that I will be able to put the reform through and thus inaugurate a new era of comfort for Southern males. « * * When Mr. Alderman is elected we certainly ought to have bet ter success in getting the Presi dent of the United States to visit us than we had this year. A delegation of North Carolinians, including President Chase, went to Washington several months ago to ask Mr. Coolidge to at tend the University Day celebra tion on the 12th of October. In expectation of his coming I pub lished an article entitled “When Coolidge Comes to Chapel Hill,” describing the greeting we would give him; and then he turned us down flat. It will be different when we have one of our former citizens in the White House. We will send S. Noble there as our official emissary, and a few words from him will put Chapel Hill on the presidential schedule. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS of the MAIL ORDER HOUSE A Writer in “The Prairie Lumberman” Says This is the Advice Offered by the Mail-Order Houses 1. You shall sell your farm pro duce for cash, for we buy nothing from you. 2. You shall believe in us, be cause we do not know you personally. 3. You shall send your money to us in advance, so we can buy the goods from the factory with your money; you may have to wait a few weeks, but that is our business meth od. 4. You shall get help from your nearest City or Village to build good roads, so you may easily haul our goods from the depot, but do not ask help from us—we don’t help to build good roads. 5. You may buy Church Bells and Altar utensils from us, and send the money in advance—that’s our rule. 6. You shall get all the help you can from the business men in your neighborhood; although we may have more profit from you than they have, it is against our rules to give to your churches. 7. You shall convert your neigh bors also to your faith in us, for we have room for more money. 8. You shall look at the pretty pic tures in our catalogue as often as you can, so as to strengthen your desire for things you do not need, but which you may order with other goods to save freight. Send us all your ready cash so that you may not have any left to buy necessities from your home dealers. 9. You shall believe us rather than your home business men, for we want your trade. We get to be millionaires on your support. Don’t be bluffed. 10. You shall call on the business people of your own vicinity for help and credit if you meet with hard luck or sickness. It’s your money we want. We don’t know you unless your orders are accompanied by cash. FOR YOUR OWN BENEFIT AND YOUR TOWN’S BENEFIT TRADE In Your Own HOME TOWN Friday, October 23, 1925
The Chapel Hill Weekly (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 23, 1925, edition 1
2
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