Times,
SON
SUBSCRIPTION $1.00 A YEAR.
WILSON, N. C, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1911.
VOL. 17 NO. 116.
1HE
NEW ASSESSOR
IN EACH CO.
HOUSE BILL TO RAISE REVENUE
AND ARRANGE TAXA
TION WILL THE BILL EQUALIZE?
Raleigh, N. C., Feb. 26. The Rev
enue Act as. it .passed the House con
tained few changes from the old la
and few new subjects of taxation
were included.
The important thing about raising
revenue is the Machinery Act, which
Chairman Doughton, for the Finance
Committee, has reported. It has been
ordered printed and was today placed
on the desk of the members. Chair
man Doughton and the committee be
lieve they have framed a machinery
act that will put proper valuations on
the property and raise the , proper
revenue.
The act makes a radical departure
in the method of assessing property.
Heretofore the system has called for
three assessors in each township
-without the proper direction and aid.
Under the new act very large powers
are given to the Tax Commission.
They are required to visit all the
counties in the State and to give full
instructions, to hear and investigate
complaints, to constitute a State
Board of Equalization "to equalize
the valuations of real property among
the several counties in the State" in
the manner prescribed by the act,
and name county assessors. The most
important and best feature is em
braced in the following, section:
"Section IS. The State .Tax Com
missioners shall, on oibef ore the first
day" of April, one thousand nine hun
dred and eleven, appoint one discreet1
freeholder of each county in the :
State, who shall he an experienced
and practical business man, to be
known as county assessor. Such
county assessor shall "hold his office
for two years, and may devote his
whole time to the duties of the office
for not exceeding three months in
each year, fiom the first day of May
to the thirty-first day of July, and shall
receive such compensation as the
board of county commissioners shall
deem just, not exceeding the sum of
four dollars per day for such time as
he' may actually and necessarily be
engaged in performing the duties of
the office. In the event that the of
fice becomes vacant during the term,
the State Tax Commissioners shall,
as soon as possible, appoint another
person to act as and perform the
duties of county assessor for the bal
ance of that term."
The date of assessing' property Is
changed from June first to May first.
Section 16 provides that the county
commissioners shall name "one dis
creet freeholder in each township"
who shall be known as assistant as
sessor who shall list and assess the
property in that township for taxa
tion. He shall be employed as much
time as may be necessary for two
months May and June. The county
assessor shall meet with the township
essessors and the county assessor
shall visit every township at least one
day during the assessing period and
confer with and instruct them. When
the assistant assessors shall complete
their work "the county and assistant
assessors shall revise such list" and
"make such changes as may be agreed
upon as to the values of the property
listed and assessed by the said as
sistant assesors. In cae . of a dis
agreement, the matter hall be. refer
red to and decided by the county
board of equalization." Here is the
way the township assessors must per
form their duties: : .
"Section 20. The assistant assessor
shall visit each tax-payer 'to-his town
ship between the first and the thirty-
first day -of May and shall obtain.froin
such tax-payer a full, complete, and
detailed statement of each and every
piece and kind of property, real, per
sonal, and mixxed with each tax-payer
shall own on the first day of May, !
together with as near as possible the
true value in money owned by him
or them or, which may be under his
or their control as agent, guardian,
administrator, or otherwise, and which
shall be the duty of said assistant as
sessor to ascertain and place the ac
tual cash value in money opposite
each piece or class of property listed
for taxation. He Is hereby authorized
and empowered to administer oaths
in all cases necessary to obtain full
and correct information concerning
any taxable real and personal proper
ty in his township. In the event that
the assistant assessor has failed to
obtain such a statement from any tax
payers before the first day of June,
because the assistant assessor has
been unable to visit all taxpayers
within the township, of in case the
assistant assessor could not find such
tax-payers, or for any other reason,
it shall be the duty of such tax-payers
to make a return of such statement of
property at the home or office of the
assistant assessor on or before the
fifteenth day of June. And thereafter
the assistant assessor, upon notice
posted in five public places in his
township or given in a newspaper
published in his county, ten days be
fore, the time "named, may require all
persons, delinquent in the matter of
listing their proper' y or who have
failed to list their property for any
cause, to appear at the place and
times stated in such notice, and list
their property. Such notice shall be
posted or published on or before the
tenth day of June."
The township or ward assessor
must discover property not listed and
assess it. The Board of County Com
missioners and the county assessor
shall constitute a Board of Equaliza
tion for the county and shall meet
on the second.. Monday in July. They
have large power "to raise or reduce
assessments as may be shown to Axs
necessary to have all property listed
at its true value in money.
Tax On Banks.
In the section on bank taxation the
same provisions apply as now except
as is added in the black letters in this
new paragraph:.
"Insolvent debts due said institu
tion may he deducted from the items
of undivided profits or surplus, if
items of undivided profi's or surplus,
if itemized and sworn to, and forward
ed to the corporation by the cashier
of such institution, also, accrued and
unearned interest, unpaid taxes, an
amount not exceeding five (5) per
cent of the bills receivable of said in
stitution to cover any other bad or
or insolvent debts, and also an amount
equal to the true value of any shares
stock owned in North Carolina cor
porations upon which the tax is paid
by the corporation issuing same."
Reports From Corporations.
There is no change in this except
after allowing the corporation to de
duct "therefrom the assessed value of
all real and personal estate upon
which the corporation pays tax" this
additional exemption is granted:
"And the value of the shares of
stock legally held by such corpora
tion in other corporations Incorporat
ed in this State and paying taxes on
its capital stock in this State."
Spartanburg, S. C, Feb. 27 While
alone at her home on Union street
Saturday afternoon, a well-known and
prominent white woman was the vic
tim of an attempted criminal assault
by Gary Gist, a negro 22 years of
age. When the 3-year-old child of the
victim cried out, the negro brutally
ehoken him and with him finger nails
cut severe gashes in the baby's
throat and also hurt a three-months-old
infant. . ;
TOfWEAT
"Pair ai4 Colder.
Washington, D. C Fe&.. 27 -F:o
North Carolina : Fair and coJe to
night and Tuesday, with moderate
northwestly winds. . -4 :
WADEWIL-
LIAMSCAUGHT
ANOTHER MEMBER OF WEST GANG
CAPTURED INiHOUSE HERE
TODAY
ONLY ONE MORE LEFT
With information that Wade Wil
liams alias George Brown, was in Wil
son and at the home of Addie Wil
liams, a colored woman who resides
on Smith street and in a house owned
by Rev. O. L. W. Smith, colored,
Sheriff Sharpe, Deputies Howard
Rowe and W. P. Lester and Police
Officer Warren, together with a de
tachment from the Wilson Light In
fantry, all repaired to the house said
to contain the negro wanted.
The military consisted of Sergeants
Wootten and Dunn and Private John
Blount under command of . Lieutenant
W. G. Barnes. These surrounded the
house while the officers entered and
found Williams seated on the side of
the bed. He was promptly put under
arrest and brought to the Court
" r-
House, where in the grand jury room
he was taken and questioned by At
torney F. D. Swindell and O. P
Dickerson, Mr. Swindell representing
the State and gathering evidence for
Solicitor Allsbrook while Mr. Dicker
son represents Chief of Police Glover,
and as such is also assisting the
State.
Williams stated that he came to
Wilson from Norfolk yesterday. Ad
rnitted he was in Wilson on the day
of the shooting when the house was
surrounded and Officer Mumfbrd was
killed find Chief Glover was wounded
H denied, however, being: in the
house, but tells the same tale a
some of the others, namely, that he
was in Jim Home's pool room at the
rime of the shooting;, which occurred
bout three o'clock in-the afternoon
Asked to eive an account of his
movements that day he stated that
he worked for Goodsie Holden, a col
ored man of this city until 11:30 a. m..
and then went to Goodsie's house and
staid there until dinner, when he
went to the pool room and was there
when he heard of the shooting.
There remains only one member of
the gang at large, Matthew Mebane,
and the officers are hot on his trail.
It will be remembered that West in
his confession stated Wade Williams,
Jimbo Taylor, Brodie Mebane and twe
others were in the house when the
shooting occurred.
From the confession of all the par
ties so far captured it is evident tha
they have all been together since the
shooting and concocted a story to tell
at the trial, so their statements
would not be at variance.
It is thought Wade Williams came
to Wilson through curiosity to find
out " how things were going and in
tended to leave Wilson today. The
celerity with which the capture was
effected shows the authorities are
right on the track of the notorious
West gang that made .headquarters in
Payetteville and were preparing to
transfer their base , of operations to
Wilson .when . they were stopped by
their discovery and the tragic events
surrounding it.
COTOUIAHKET
New York, Feb. 27. January open
ed 13.75; March, 13.85; May, 14.12,
July, 14.09; October, .12.70; Decem
ber, 12.C2, and. at noon, was : -March.
J13.94; May, 14.15; July, 14.13; Au
gust, 14.81; October, 12.68.
The market closed much .higher:
March, 14.05; May,' 14.30; : July -14.28 j
August, .13.33; 9ctober, 12.74; Decem
ber, 12.61..-
Spots,. jWlIs market, 14c. "
Mr.. H.
-? con for
Dalrymple
Goldsboro.
left this after-
THE WAKE
PRIMARY BILL
WILL PROBABLY OIVE WAY TO THE
H0BG00D BILL FOR THE EN
TIRE STATE
A WARM DISCUSSION
(News and Observer.)
Former officials of Wake county
Saturday before the Senate Commit
tee on Election .Laws vehemently op
posed the bill of Senator Sikes for a
primary- election law for Wake coun
ty. ' Speaking against it were former
Solicitor Arimstead Jones, former
State Senator William B. Jones, form
er Representative John W. Hinsdale,
Jr., and former Representative Percy
J. Olive. Speaking for the bill were
Senator E. W. Sikes, Representative
E. R. Pace and Mr. J. W. Bailey.
The opposition expressed itself to
various features and sections of the
bill which they criticized. The advo
cates of the bill met each objection
offered by saying that they would
amend the bill so as to meet these
objections and offered to go into con
ference on these objectionable fea
tures and eliminate them. There was
no response to these overtues, stated
to be so as to reach a harmonious
agreement.
Finally after much argument
against the bill by the opposition, and
explanation by its friends that its
basis purpose was to have primaries
on one day and to shout out Republi
cans from the Democratic primaries
an offer was made to the ' opposition
to substitute for it. for nis&ag:e; for
Wake county, the bill for State-wide
primaries introduced by Senator Hob
good, of Guilford, not yet passed for
the State. The opposition refused to
accept it as a Wake county bill and
only for Wake county when passed
by the State. The advocates of the
Sikes bill, on the other hand, agree
that "they would be willing to accept
the Hobgood bill for Wake, though
they preferred the Sikes bill, which
they had agreed to amend to meet all
objections. At one time it was be
lieved that the opposition had agreed
to this, but any agreement was im
mediately disclaimed.
The committee, after having heard
lengthy argument, adjourned to meet
on Monday to take a vote on the bill
for a Wake primary law. In the hear
ing Mr. J. W. Bailey said that it was
a fact that would be conceded by
former Senator W. B.. Jones that Re
publicans had voted in Wake county
Democratic primaries, that this was
common knowledge and Mr. Jones
said that he knew this to be so. He
said that Republicans had voted 800
to 1,000 in the county precincts and
Mr. Bailey said they had also voted
in the city precincts. Mr. Walter
Clark, Jr., made the charge that he
had evidence to show that there had
been repeating.
Believe In Cotton Picker.
(News and Observer.)
"It picked the cotton all right,"
That was the testimony of those
who had the good fortune yesterday
to see the cotton picker, invented by
Goodwin and Harding at work. A
field of cotton unpicked at Mr. S. C.
Hobby's farm had been kept for an
experiment of the machine. Mr.
Harding took several gentlemen out
to the Hobby farm, where Mr. Good
win had athe invention at work actual
ly picking cotton and conveying it to
a storage receptacle. The simplicity
of this machine, coupled with the fact
that it actually will pick cotton rapid
ly janAi .much cleaner that - it can be
picked by .the old method, . warrants
the belief that It will prove to be a
commercial success.
A simple mechanical picker, oper
ated by a small flexible shaft at the
nid of a tuble, in'o which it draws
the staple of the cotton and by a
twisting motion strips it from the sur
rounding boll and trash, realesing it
at an opening into a flexible tube con
veyor, through which it is drawn by a
small revolving fan, and discharged
into the storage receptacle provided
to receive it, is about all the descrip
tion there is to give, and the only
limit to its capacity is the rapidity
with which the picker can be passed
from boll to boll by the operator.
The power was supplied by a very
small gasoline engine, and the whole
apparatus occupied a space about two
by three feet in the back end of a
light one-horse wagon. It does abso
lutely no harm' to the growing stalks.
A small machine of this kind will
operate four pickers, taking both sides
of two rows through the field. One
estimate made on the field as to ef
ficiency of the machine in regular ser
vice was 11,000 pounds per day per
picker, against 150 to 200 pounds per
day the old way, and another was a
cost of 20 cents per 100 pounds picked
against 50 cents per 100 pounds the
old way.
At any rate it certainly does the
picking and storing act to perfec
tion.
Among those who witnesised the de
monstration were Hon. William A.
Graham, Commissioner of Agriculture;
Col. Charles E. Jhonson, Messrs. Alf
A. Thompson, Garland Jones, C. B
Barbee, Millard Mial, Josephus
Daniels, W. A. Simpkins and Fabius
Whitaker, of Raleigh; J. O. McArthur,
of Rowland; J. M. Mitchell, of Golds
boro, and N. D. Tomlin, of Statesville,
the latter three being a committee
from the Agricultural Committee of
the Legislature, invited out by Major
Graham at a meeting of the Board,
after his return from the demonstra
tion.
Prominent North Carolinians To
. Speak In Atlanta.
' . -
Washington, D. C, Feb. 26. J. El
wood Cox, President of the Commer
cial National Bank of High Point, wil
speak for the State of North Carolina
before the Southern Commercial Con
gress in Atlanta March 8th, 9th and
10th. Mr. Cox was appointed a mem
ber of the State commitee for this oc
casion by Governor Kitchin.- He has
had honorable connection with busi
ness affairs in North Carolina since
1883. His speech before the Scuth
era Commercial Congress will be to
the topic "The Solid South of Busi
ness." Equally distinguished men
from each of the other Southern
States will speak to the same topic,
thus bringing together the latest au
thorative word regarding tho business
status of each State in the South
Each of these speeches will later be
used for national distribution.
Mr. Cox was born in Northampton
county. He received his education in
Guilford College, the Business College
cf Baltimore and at Earlham, and
the Friends College of Indiana. He
taught for a short time and in 1883
he associated himself with Capt. W.
H. Snow at High Point in the manu
facture of spokes , handles, shuttle
blocks and bobbin heads. . Some years
ago Mr. Cox sold out lifs speke and
handle business, and has confined his
factory to bobbin, heads and shuttle
blocks. Although he has laid the
basis of his large fortune in this busi
ness, Mr. Cox has been interested fin
ancially in many of the successful en
terprises of his native city and State.
He is a director in the Greensboro
Loan & Trust Company, director in
the Virginia Trust Company of Rich
mond, director in the First National
Bank of Thomasville, the Jefferson
Standard Life , Insurance Company
and is trustee of the Guilford College
endowment fund, the latter position
carrying with it much responsibility.
In 1891 Mr. Cox with Dr. W. G
Bradshaw, organized the Commercial
National Bank, now the largest bank
in the county. At the beginning the
capital- stock of the bank was only
$50,000, but It has continually grown
in strength and usefulness. Mr. Cox
has been president of the bank since
it was chartered and has been ably
assisted by Dr. W. G. Bradshaw, eithe
as cashier or vice-president. He i
FRENCH GOV.
AGAINSHAKY
THE LACK OF CONFIDENCE MAKES
PREMIER BRIAND
SICK
THE COUNTRY ALAPMED
Paris, Feb. 27. Premier Briand and
the members of his cabinet resigned
today. They reached this decision
Saturday afternoon at a conference
in the Premier's office when the poli
tical situation was thoroughly can
vassed from beginning to end. The
bare majority of sixteen, which the
government received Saturday in a
vote of confidence in the Chamber of
Deputies, following the Premier's ar
raignment by the radical socialists,
Louis Malvy and Paul Meunier, was
a sore blow to the Premier and his as.
sociates, who had been sustained
many times in previous crises by
much larger votes. In the end, M.
Briand declared that he was "sick of
it all."
The only reason for waiting until
today to present their, seignations to
the President is that the ministers
wish to show their' respect for the
memory of their late colleague, Gen
eral Brun, whose funeral took place
this morning.
There is much uncertainty as to
what will happen, whether President
Fallaiers, after taking ' counsel with,
the leaders of the Parliamentary
group will ask Mr. Briand to stay in
power or whom he will invite to form
a new ministry.
The decision of the ministry to
withdraw has caused, an enormous
political sensation. The conservative
newspapers are sounding a note of
alarm. They declare that the forces
of extreme radicalism are triumphing
over sane and progressive reform, re
garding the clerical issue, which was
raised Saturday, as a mere pretext to
attain Eriand's downfall. They point
out that it is ridiculous to accuse the
man who constructed the separation
law of clericalism, and now that the
Church and State are completely di
vorced M. Briand has been merely fol
lowing out a general program of "ap
peasement." The vote in the Chamber of Depu
ties therefore is interpreted as the re
sult of an intrigue among Briand's
adversaries in his own party, who1
have been plotting his overthrow
since the great crisis in the railway
strike and blocking the Premier's
program of arbitration in labor dis
putes in connection with public ser
vice corporation.
Physically and mentally, by several
years of uninterrupted labors In of
ficial life, M. Briand is sincerely
anxious ' to retire.
But beyond the matter of his per
sonal inclination there is the unques
tioned weaknening of the Premier's
power and of confidence m his min
istry. The solialists, who have never for
given the Premier for modifying the
extreme solialists views which he
championed when he first gained pub
lic life, attacking him persistently.
Recently Briand was assailed jointly
by the clericals "and socialists. Last
night he was charged with clerical
ism. The discussion arose through
interpretations blaming the govern
ment for not having applied the laws
against religious bodies with proper
severity.
president , of the Globe-Homo Furni
ture Company and owns stock in oth
er factories.
- He is a man of great public spirit,
and his acquaintance extends widely
outside ' of. his native State, having
among his customers and friends
creicn houses.