? ' 9
IMPORTANT road measures.
One Provides for Highway Commis
sion to Handle Auto Tax. House
Urged to Give Same Commission
$73,000 Annually to Be Spent In
Koad Building. Consideration on
County Education Board Postponed
a Week. #
Raleigh, Jan. 24. ? There were most
important bills affecting road build
ing in the State today in both houses
of the Legislature. Senator Cameron,
who is a member of the State High
way Commission, introduced a bill to
provide that the State Highway Com
mission handle the automobile license
tax fund so that the commission shall
expend 70 per cent of the fund in the
counties in which the licenses are
taken out for road maintenance and
that the remaining 30 per cent be
used in the expense of collection with
the residue, which will be consider
able, to be expended in the weaker
counties. The special purposes of the
bill is to enable the State to get the
Federal fund for road building which
in process of multiplication will in a
few years grow to as much as $2,
000,000.
In the House Representative
Doughton introduced a bill to make
the appropriation for the work of the
Highway Commission $75,000.
The Senate had its first show down
as to the status of the fight over elec
tion or appointment of the county
school boards and voted 23 to 22 to
defer consideration of any of these
bills until next Wednesday, awaiting
action by the joint committee of edu
cation. Advocates of county election
were trying to force immediate ac
tion on bills to give additional coun
ties the right to elect and Senator
Turner had just introduced what may
be termed the administration bill to
have the Legislature elect a central
State commission to elect the county
boards which would in turn select the
county superintendents. He and oth
er advocates of appointment of coun
ty boards, wanted all action deferred
until the joint :ommittee acts and
they carried their point.
In the House the Hoyle bill to al
low verdicts of guilty of capital of
fenses with recommendations of mer
cy, permitting the judge to impose
life imprisonment instead of death
in his discretion, came from the com
mittee with favorable report, as did
a bill to regulate artificially bleached
flour.
The Senate committee on appro
priations, Senator Holderness chair
man, gave a lengthy hearing this
afternoon on the Scales bill to reor
ganize the State Board of Charities
into a State Board of Public Welfare
and voted a favorable report unani
mously leaving the mater of the ap
propriation open for adjustment la
ter in the session, the plan being to
appropriate $20,000. The bill would
add two members to the present board
and provide a specialist to direct the
enlarged work. The special work
will be the improvement of living
conditions in those fields not already
covered by boards of education and
health and others in conjunction with
subsidiary county welfare organiza
tions, and have a special oversight
of the various State institutions,
spending $2,000,000 annually. The
bill was advocated and explained by
Senator Scales, President Graham, of
the State University, and Mr. Mc
Allister, of Greensboro.
The joint committee on health de
cided tonight to vote on the pending
open formula proprietary medicine
bill next Wednesday, there being un
derstood to be a probability that the
druggists and the State Board of
Health and physicians will get to
gether on a compromise bill by that
time. ? Charlotte Observer.
Provide Good Reading Matter for
the Family.
Books and papers and magazines
are the windows through which we
look out upon the world and its prog
ress. Five dollars a year for books
and five dollars for papers and maga
zines for each farmer, twenty dollars
for the two-horse farmer, and so on,
is a safe rule and one by which wr
may well guide oruselves. Let's nev
er forget that the child brought up
with a love for good reading matter
is most likely to develop into the ed
ucated, thinking, successful man or
woman. ? The Progresiire Farmer.
Economy and ?ornme?l mush go to
gether* ? Baltimore Sun.
TO CONSIDER REVENUE BILL.
Ways and Means Committee Demo
crats Approve Measure. It Provides
Increased Inheritance Tax and New
Excess Profits Tax and Authorizes
$100,900,000 Canal Bond Issue.
Washington, Jan. 23. ? Democrats
of the House Ways and Means com
mittee late today approved a sub
committee's draft of the administra
tion revenue bill, and a caucus of the
House majority was called for Thurs
day night to consider the measure.
As it will go before the caucus the
measure provides for an increased in
heritance tax and a new tax on ex
cess profits of corporations and co
partnerships; authorizes an issue of
$231,000,000 already authorized but
not issued; and empowers the secre
tary of the treasury to put out cer
tificates of indebtedness up to $300,
000,000 and to increase, if emergency
demands, the income tax. By specific
provision, the bill is entitled an act
to raise revenue on account of army
and navy.
The new excess profits tax would
be at the rate of 8 per cent, and is
designed to produce $220,000,000 to
$226,000,000 annually. The bill makes
a flat exemption of $5,000 of annual
net income and an additional exemp
tion of eight per cent of the profits
on the actual capital invested. In
comes derived solely from agricul
ture and solely from personal ser
vices like professional duties also
would be exempt.
The inheritance tax would be rais
ed by a scale beginning with an in
crease from one per cent to one and
one-half per cent on the minimum
feable estate of $50,000 and extending
to a fifty per cent increase in the rate
on all estates valued at $5,000,000
and over. The inheritance tax in
creases are expected to produce $22,
000,000 annually.
Momentous Statement of John Dillon.
?
Dublin, Jan. 24. ? John Dillon, na
tionalist member of parliament for
East Mayo, in a statement to the As
siciated Press today, said:
"The speech of President Wilson is
unquestionably the most remarkable
and momentous uttered by the ruler
of a great power for more than 100
years. There cannot be the slightest
doubt in some definitions of the prin.
ciples laid down that he is speaking
for liberals and the friends of hu
manity in every nation. No peace can
last, or ought to last, which does not
recognize and accept the principle
that governments derive all their
just powers from the consent of the
governed.
"Coming at such a crisis from the
President of the United States, these
words will strike deep into the hearts
of all lovers of liberty throughout
the world. The President quotes the
case of Poland. Surely the case of
Ireland is much stronger and more to
the point. Reaction in Russia is but
fierce pressure on the emperor to
break his pledge to Poland; reaction
in Great Britain has dominated the
government so far as Ireland is con
cerned.
"The only criticism I feel called on
to make of the President's great ut
terance is that the world is very far
from being ripe for the great ideals
it sets forth. The policy of the con
ference at Paris is absolutely consist
ent with any general league for the
maintenance of the world's peace. Re
action is still strong in Europe and is
inevitably growing stronger as the
war goes on and people become more
militarized. We must wait to see af
ter this war is over to what extent
democracies will be able to emanci
pate themselves from the yoke of mil
itarism before it will be possible to
judge whether any progress can be
made in our time towards the reali
zation of the great ideals of freedom
and peace held up by President Wil
son before the tortured peoples of
Europe."
Sets Light on His Stomach.
A tired old darkey who had re
turned from 'possum hunting placed
his game on the fire to cook and went
off to sleep. A friend came in and ate
the 'possum and smeared some of
the gravy on the old darkey's lips
and fingers. When he awoke he tasted
the gravy on his lips and said: "Well,
if I'se done eat dat 'possum it sets
lighter on my stomach and gives me
less satisfaction than any 'possum
I'se ever eat." ? State/ Journal.
HILL FACES HOUGH SAILING.
Druggists and Proprietary Interests
Oppose; Medical Profession Sup
port Secret Medicine Measure.
Special Committee to Probe Alleg
ed Deplorable Conditions Existing
on State Farm.
Raleigh, N. C., Jan. 23. ? The joint
committee on health gave the open
ing hearing this afternoon on the
Scales bill for requiring proprietary
medicines to show medicinal contents
on the label and to create a State in
spector for drugs and levy a license
tax. The bill evidently will have
rough sailing, with the State Board
of Health and the medical profession
supporting it and the druggists and
the proprietary medicine interests
lined up against it.
Senator Scales explained his bill to
the committee and pleaded earnestly
for it, insisting that this inspection
and publicity of contents should be
required as a protection to the people.
Dr. W. S. Rankin, secretary of the
Board of Health, spoke at consider
able length, insisting that it is a fight
to the death folr the "secret remedy"
wfl.
Senator Jones, of buncombe, spoke
in the interest of the position assum
ed by the druggists. He charged that
the bill was largely in the interest
of the physicians rather than for the
protection of the people.
H. B. Thompson, as counsel for the
National Proprietary Association,
1 spoke in opposition, insisting that the
bill bears no real relation to health,
in that to have the contents on the
label would mean nothing to the av
erage user, and that the Federal laws
1 already afford every needed protec
tion.
Dr. Cyrus Thompson, member of
the State Board of Health, made a
stirring speech for the bill, backing
up the arguments presented by Dr.
Rankin in his presentation of the ne
cessity for such legislation.
The committee announced that the
public hearings are closed and that
the committee will meet later to vote
on favorable or unfavorable report.
The joint committee on penal insti
tutions heard this afternoon a re
1 markable series of charges and com
ments on the conditions at the State
Farm and arraignment of the man
agement of convicts there, by Roy
Trawick, of Union County, presented
through Representative Beasley of
Union. It was to the general effect
that the convict quarters are unfit
for human habitation, that the white
prisoners are made to use a water
pail in common with negroes, eat in
the same room, and that the super
visors and guards are cruel and that
the whole atmosphere of the place
hardens the convicts and intensifies
their hatred of society, making them
worse than when they were sent to
the farm.
Trawick is a young white man who
became involved in some insurance
1 high financing in Union County with
' others and received a penitentiary
1 sentence. Forgery was 'among the
charges involved in the conviction and
sentence. He was pardoned by Gov
ernor Craig just before Christmas.
Chairman Turner, Senator Jones
and others commented on the repre
' sentation of conditions, and all agreed
that investigation should be made.
1 A special committee was appointed
to investigate and report, this being
Senators Brenizer and Holdemess,
Representatives Griqr, Beasley and
Renfrow, of Mecklenburg. ? W. J.
Martin, in Wilmington Star.
A Fine Example of Thrift.
Fransyskak Sodlowska, a young
Polish-speaking woman, earning $13
a week in the mill of the Manhasset
Manufacturing Company, Pittman,
has just completed a $5,000 four
tenement house not far from the mill
in which she works.
. The young woman does not speak
English. She has seen the possibility
of renting tenements in Putnam,
where tenements are scarce. She liv
ed frugally, saved every penny she
could a. id as soon as she had $1,000
to her credit began her building. To
I complete the structure she sought as
sistance from a building and loan as
' sociation, which loaned her $4,000.
Miss Sodlowska has tenants al
1 ready in her building. ? Worcester
I Telegram. A
Small portable electric generating
plants are used to supply electric
1 lights to the German troops in the
trachM.
THE CITIZEN'S MASS MEETING.
Good Attendance at Court House
Tuesday Night to Hear the Street
Paving Matter Discussed by Mr.
Gilbert C. White. Some Estimates
of Probable Cost Given. Kind of
Paving Recommended.
The Mass Meeting of the citizens of
the town was held in the Court House
Tuesday night to consider the paving
proposition. Quite a good crowd of
the men of the town were present.
Hon. J. W. Stephenson, Mayor of
Smithfield, in calling the meeting to
order, said that Smithfield was one of
the oldest towns in the State; that if
the people who settled Smithfield
were here tonight th?y would be on
the river bank eating supper by light
wood knot fire and drinking spring
water. Instead, those people have
passed away ? peace to their ashes ?
and a more progressive spirited set
of men are filling their places and
tonight we have river water cours
ing through our homes and ate our
supper by elcctric lights. ?
' The Mayor then presented Mr. Gil
bert C. White, of Durham, as prin
cipal speaker of the evening.
Mr. Gilbert C. White, consulting
Engineer for Durham, in rising to
address the meeting, said: "Six years
ago I was here to address the peo
ple of your town on the question of
lighting your town with electricity
and putting in a water and sewage
system. I rather hesitated in present
ing the matter ? for there were more
people in the audience who were op
posed to this than there are here to
night who are opposed to paving your
streets, as I can judge from the dis
cussions I've heard. I knew Neuse
river water could be made fit for use,
but I doubted my ability to convince
the people of Smithfield of this fact."
Mr. White called attention to Chap
ter 56 of Public Laws of 1915 pro
viding methods for improving streets,
and he stated that Kinston was the
first town in the State to take advan
tage of the provisions of this Act and
has spent $600,000 in street paving.
Durham, Raleigh, Jlurlington, Wilson,
Rocky Mount, Dunn and other towns
have taken up the matter and built
miles of streets.
Mr. White entered into general dis
cussion of different kinds of pave
ment, dwelling at length on sheet
asphalt for street paving, arguing
that sheet asphalt is the best pave
ment and most satisfactory in every
respect; that Vermont Avenue in
Washington, paved with sheet as
phalt in 1878, is still in good condi
tion; that Fifth Avenue in New
York is paved with sheet asphalt;
that pavement is being used in Dunn,
N. C. They started out in Dunn to
pave four ? blocks. They now have
contracted for $150,000 of pavement.
Two or three years ago we had a
price of $1.53 per square yard for
sheet asphalt. In Kinston last year
we had a price of $1.65 per square
yard. At Dunn we pay $1.39 per
square yard. Prices are up now and
I use $1.50 per square yard as unit
for my discussion. From the ques
tion of prevention of dust alone,
pavement is worth the cost. The fol
lowing figures were then given:
On a 37-foot street, 25 foot lot
would be $51.25, or $5.12 per year for
10 years.
On a 50-foot lot $102.50, or $10.25
per year.
On a GO-foot street, cost for 25
foot lot wo'Jd be $83.00 for each
third, or one-third to property owner
on each side and one-third to town.
On n. 24-foot street 100-foot lot,
$107.00 and $85.50 for 50-foot lot.
This includes granite curb.
This to be divided into 10-year pay
ments.
There is much interest here in the
street paving proposition. A commit
tee had already been appointed by the
Mayor to ascertain what steps are to
be taken to get the matter in the
proper shape to be brought before the
Town Commissioners at an early date.
The plan as outlined at the meeting
Tuesday -night is to proceed under a
law passed by the Legislature of
1915. This plan provides that where
a majority of the owners of property
abutting on the streets of a certain
district may petition the town au
thorities and ask them to pave streets
of the district, taxing said property
owners with one-third cost on each
side of street with the town paying
the cost of paving the remaining
third, that the town authorities may
grant the petition. To do this the
town would have to issue bonds and
MORE WHISKEY IS CONSUMED.
Greatest Amount Drunk the Past
Year by Americans Than During
Any Year Since 1909, So Tax Re
turns Show. Consumption of Cigar
ettes About 40 Per Cent Over 1915.
Washington, Jan. 24. ? The amount
of whiskey consumed by the Ameri
can people in 1916 apparently was
greater than in any previous year
since 1909, according to tax returns
to the treasury department, compiled
today, and the amolint of revenue
collected by the government on whis
key, beer and cigarettes during the
year was the greatest on record.
While returns show that the ten
dency toward prohibition has not low
ered the government's revenue from
whiskey, officials believe that the por
tion of the increase ? nearly $24,000,
000 more than in 1915 ? is attribut
able to the fact the government is
at present collecting taxes on all the
whiskey produced in the country,
whereas, because of extensive frauds,
such was not the case a few years
ago.
Consumption of cigarettes in 1916
reached the highest market ever re
corded. The tremendous increase,
more than 40 per cent over 1915, is
attributed to two main causes: In
creased prosperity of the country and
growth of the cigarette habit among
women. Many millions of cigarettes
made for feminine users were pro
duced in this country and imported
during the past year, whereas a few
?years ago production and importation
of such cigarettes were negligible by
comparison.
The number of paper-wrapper ci
garettes upon which the government
levied a tax during the year reached
the grand total of 25,232,960,928, as
compared with 17,939,234,208 in 1915.
These figures cover only manufactur
ed paper-wrapped cigarettes and do
not include tobacco used by smokers
who roll their own cigarettes.
Records show that the government
collected a tax of $1.10 per gallon on
146,355,146 gallons of whiskey during
the year, a total of $160,990,660, as
compared with 124,549,210 gallons
and a tax yield of $137,004,131 in
1915. Beer consumption, according to
the records, was 61,145,583 barrels,
or 1,895,513,073 gallons, in 1916, as
against 57,805,869 barrels, or 1,791,
981,939 gallons, the previous year.
The tax yield on beer during 1916
was $91,718,375; in 1915, $86,708,803.
Total revenue on beer and whiskey
during 1916 was $252,708,935 as com
pared with $223,712,934 in 1915. Ci
garettes yielded internal revenue to
the amount of $31,541,200 last year
and $22,424,042 the year before, mak
ing the total revenue to the govern
ment from these three sources $284,
250,235 in 1916 and $246,136,976 in
1915, an increase last year of $38,
113,239.
Beer consumption, although greater
last year than in 1915, fell nearly 5,
000,000 barrels below the high level
of 66,000,000 barrels in 1914, and was
exceeded by the consumption of beer
in 1911, 1912 and 1913. The nearest
approach since 1909 to last year's con
sumption of whiskey was in 1913
when consumption reached a total of
approximately 143,000,000 barrels.
Monthly comparison of records dis
closed that the American people ap
parently drink nearly 80 per cent
more whiskey in November and De
cember than in midsummer and 5C
per cent more beer in summer than
in winter. Wide fluctuations in the
number of cigarettes consumed from
month to month also are disclosed, the
minimum, in April, being 45 per cent
below the maximum, in August.
Box Party.
There will be a box party at the
Massey school house district No. 11,
Boon Hill township, near J. T. Mas
sey's, Friday night, February 2, 1917.
Girls, bring baskets; boys, come with
a purse filled with silver and preen
backs.
(Miss) PAULINE GARDNER,
Teacher
do the work, taxing the property and
collecting the amount assessed
against the owners during a certair
period of time in equal annual install
ments, just as other taxes are col
lected. Before such a course can be
taken there must be a majority of the
lineal feet abutting the streets ir
question, as well as a majority of the
property owners, in favor of the prop,
osition.
CZAR'S FORCES WIN AND LOSE.
Russia's Men Badly Beaten by Ger
mans but Win Success Over Bulga
rian*. Austrians Storm Italian Po
sition. Take Trench on Gorizia
Front and Capture Prisoners.
Wednesday's war summary is thus
given in yesterday's Columbia State:
Victories of considerable propor
tions have been achieved by the Ger
mans over the Russians and by the
Russians over the Bulgarians.
The German success occurred in
the region of Riga, where in violent
fighting they drove back the Russians
for a distance of a mile and a half
between the Tirul swrmps and the Aa
river and east of the village of Kaln
zem. Russians to the number of 1,500
were made prisoners during the fight.
A night surprise attack gave the
Russians the victory over the Bul
garians. The scene of this fight was
the southern arm of the Danube es
tuary near Tuitcha, where the Bulga
rians had made an advance Tuesday
with Bessarabia their object. While
Berlin only mentions the abandon
ment of the position Petrograd says
the Bulgarian force, a battalion
strong, was destroyed except five of
ficers and 332 men, who were made
prisoner.
Bombardments and operations by
raiding parties continue to feature
the fighting on the other fronts, al
though in the Austro-Itanian theatre
the Austrians, in the vicinity of Go
rizia, in an attack have captured an
Italian trench, made prisoner 137
men and captured three machine
guns.
Considerable aerial activity has
been in progress on the front in
France in which both sides lost ma
chines in fights in the air.
President Wilson's address in the
senate has received its first official
notice from Andrew Bonar Law, the
British chancellor of the exchequer.
The chancellor, in a speech, said the
president's peace aims were shared
by the entente allies, but that in view
of Germany's manner of conducting
the war and thp fact that neutral na
tions had failed to protest against her
methods, other steps than those out
lined by the president were necessary
to obtain peace.
An unofficial dispatch from Berlin
says the American ambassador to
Germany has conferred with the im
perial chancellor respecting the presi
dent's address and that later the am
bassador at the "urgent request of the
German government" sent a long
wireless dispatch to Washington.
PRODUCTION OF QUICK SILVER.
Large Increases in Quantity and
Value for the Year 1916.
The domestic output of quicksilver
in 191(5, according to preliminary fig
ures collected from the individual
producers by H. D. McCaskey, of
the United States Geological Survey,
Department of the Interior, was 28,
942 flasks of 75 pounds each, valued
at the average domestic price for the
year at San Francisco (estimated at
$125.90 a flask), at $3,643,800. This
1 was the greatest output in quantity
since 1905 and not only the greatest
in value since 1875 but, except the
value of $4,228,538 for that year, was
the greatest in the history of the do
mestic industry, dating back to 1850.
? Compared with the Survey's final fig
1 ures of output for 1915, which gave
1 a production of 21,033 flasks, valued
! at $1,826,912, the preliminary fig
1 ures for 1916 show an increase of
1 7,909 flasks, or 38 per cent, in quan
: tity and of $1,826,888, or 99 per cent,
in value.
The productive States, named in or
der of rank, were California, Tex??,
Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and
' Arizona, all of which increased their
, output except Nevada, although Ari
? zona has produced only a nominal
, quantity to date and Washington had
i produced none prior to 1916.
Practical Farmer in Durham County.
Miss Lillian Fuller, a practical
. woman agriculturist of Durham Coun
| ty, and daughter of Frank L. Fuller,
| a former chief counsel of the Ameri
i can Tobacco Company of New York
. City, is among1 the members of Dur
. ham County's agricultural board. Miss
? Fuller is conducting a scientific farm
> three miles out from Durham, near
i Bragtown. She was trained at Cornell
? University and by her own volition
. adopted diversified farming as her
vocation. -State Journal.