?OTTON NEARER 30-CENT LEVEL
Beth Spot and Option Prices Establish
New High Records, Though
Setback Follows.
With a further early setback all op
tions beyond October fully $5 under
last week's top levels, some of those
who have been predicting decisive re
adjustment in cotton secaned to think
that the turning point had been defi
nitely reached. But the market soon
reversed its position and in most de
liveries new high records were quick
ly established, with October crossing
29 1-2 cents during Wednesday's short
session and the local spot quotation
touching 29.90 cents on the same day.
The best figures for the rest of th*>
list were 28.12 cents for December,
27.45 cents for January and 27.14
cents "for March, but there was a sub
sequent leaction of about $4 and some
months ended on Friday somewhat be
low last Saturday's closing, though
spots gained $1.50.
It is a matter for regret, except to
some speculators, that the weather
has continued very mifch against the
crop, and it now appears that at the
best only a moderate production is to
be expected. Further reports of kill
ing frost came from different sections
of the belt this week, and more fre
quently are estimates heard of but
11,000,000 bales, not counting linters,
.for th's season's yield. This means
that in the opinion of some people the
crop will be about 1,000,000 }>ales less
than was indicated by the last official
forecast, issued before the frost came,
and it is to be remembered that this
is the third successive year in which
the crop has been disappointingly
small. Yet somo experienced rnd con
servative cotton men not only think
that the present position of the mar
ket discounts all the bad features in
the crop situation, but they also con
sider prices too high under existing
war conditions, and, while more new
records were registered after Monday,
the occasional lr.ck of response to
bullish news was regarded as signifi
cant. The real test will come when
the crop begins to move in volume, as
has been intimated before. Mean
while, it is observed that the ginning
to Octobcr 18 proved larger than had
been expected, though the total of 5,
571,024 bales is well below the 7,291,
733 bales reported a year ago. But
'this does not necessarily mean that
the yield is actually smaller, for the
crop lias been unusually backward this
season^? Dun's Review.
The Army and Navy Insurance Law.
A division of military and naval in
surance of the Bureau of War Risk
Insurance has been organized as a
part of the Treasury Department and
is in active operation. A number of
policies on the lives of soldiers have
already been issued, aggregating
nearly $25,000,000 in insurance. The
benefits cf the law are available to all
of the members of the United States
Army, Navy, and Nurses' Corps.
A short summary of some of the
main features of the law follows:
Premiums for a $10,000 policy be
gin with $6.30 per month at ages 15,
16, and 17; increase to $6.40 per
month for the ages 18, 19, and 20; to
$6.50 per month for the ages 21, 22,
and 23; to $6.40 per month for the
ages of 24 and 25; $6.70 per month
for the ages of 26 and 27; to $6.80
per month for the age of 28; to $6.90
per month for the ages of 29 and 30;
to $7 per month for the age of 31,
with progressive increases for ages
above those given. The minimum
amount of insurance that may be tak
en out is $1,000.
The compulsory allotment to a wife
or childrtn, whi^h is separate from the j
insurance, shall not be less than $15 a ,
month, and shall not exceed one-half |
of a man's pay. A voluntary allot- j
ment, subject to regulations, may be
large as the insured desires, within j
the limits of his pay.
In addition, the Government will
pay monthly allowances as follows: '
Class A. In the case of a man to his j
wife (including a former wife divorc- j
ed) and to his child or children:
(a) If there be a wife but no chil
dren, $15.
(b) If there be a wife and one
child, $25.
(e) If there be a wife and two ehil- j
dren, $32.50, with $5 per month ad
ditional for caeh additional child.
(d) If there be no vife but onf I
child, $5.00. , |
(e) If there be no wife but two
children. $12.50.
(f) If there be no wife but three i
children. $20.
(pr) If there be no wife but four,
children, $30, with $5 per month ad
ditional for each additional child.
Class B. In the case of a man or
woman, to a rmnchild, a parent,
brother, or sister:
(a) If there be one parent, $10.
(b) If there be two psren*s, $20.
(c) For each prandchild, brother,
sister, : nd additional parent, $5.00.
Tn the rase of a women to a child
or children:
(d) If there two chib'r
(f) If there be three children, $20.
(g) If there be four children, ?30,
with $5 per month additional for each
additional child.
If the man makes an allotment to
certain other dependent relatives the
Government will also pay them an
allowance which may ei;ual the allot
ment, bat this shall not te more than
the difference between $50 and the
allow:, nee p:id to the wife and chil
dren.
The increased compensation in case
of death runs from a minimum of $20
monthly to a motherless child, or $25
monthly to a childless widow, to a
maximum of ?75 monthly to a widow
and several children. The widowed
mother may participate in the com
pensation
In cr.se of total disability the
monthly compensation runs from a
minimum of $30, if the injured man
lias neither wife nor child living, to
a maximum of $75 if he has a wife
and three or piore children living,
with $10 a month extra if he has a
widowed mother dependent up?n him.
The maximum is enlarged still fur
ther, for when the disabled man con
stantly requires a nurse or attendant
$20 monthly may be added. If the dis
ability is due to the loss of both feet,
both hands, or total blindness of both
eyes, or if he is helpless or perman
ently bedridden, $100 monthly is
granted.
The lr w contemplates future legisla
tion for re-education and vocational
training for the disabled. ? It gives
them fulu pay and their families the
same allowance as for the last month
of actual service during the term of
re-education.
The Carolina Alumni Banquet.
At a recent meeting: of the John
ston County Club at the University,
it was unanimously decided to have
the annual alumni banquet some time
during the Christmas Jpolidays.
There are more students at the
University this year than there has
been for some time, and with the co
operation of every loyal Caroling
alumnus, there is no reason why we
should not get together, and each
alumnus assume the responsibility of
making this the best banquet known
in the history of the Johnston County
Alumni Association.
With the co-operation, support and
attendance of every Carolina man we
can make the Johnston County Alum
ni Banquet shine with all its radiance
and splendor as Guilford, Wake, Dur
ham, and Mecklenburg.
All together, every man's sheulder
to the wheel, let's go and make John
ston County a model for the other
(counties!
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
Chapel Hill, N. C., Oct. 31, 1917.
BETHANY NEWS.
Rev. W. D. Staneil filled his ap
pointment at Bethany Saturday and
Sunday. The attendance Saturday was
unusually large. It was election uay
and Mr. Staneil was unanimously
chosen for the next year.
Mrs. Winnie Edwards is quite sick.
Her health has been failing since her
husband left for Camp Jackson.
Mrs. Elizabeth Staneil has been
very sick for some time.
Cotton in this section is poor, only
about half a crop will be saved. Corn
is good. Peas are very scarce.
Talk about being saving, we have
been practicing economy in these parts
for a long time.
Mr. and Mrs. E. Creech, of Middle
sex, spent the week-end in this sec
tion.
Miss Lola Peele, of Rocky Mount,
spent Saturday night with the family
of Mr. Kirkman Creech.
A great many people from this
section attended the Association at
Beulah. We hear of some getting hurt
by being run over. Let me tell you,
if you own an automobile, 'tis no use
to try to drive so fast to make a show.
The other fellow has a car that may
be just as fine as yours and maybe
it cost more. So just go slow and
don't hurt anybody.
Mr. Tyner and son, Miss Kate
Tyner and Mrs. Olive, of Four Oaks,
spent the week-end with the family of
hi i
ur. .viosfs i reecn.
Mrs. Jones, of Kenly, visited her
mother, Mrs. Watkins, Saturday and
Sunday.
Mr. Herman Edwards, who has been
at Camp Jackson, has been spending
a few days at home.
Mrs. Lena Creech, of Raleigh, has
been spending some time with her
father, Mr. A. B. Atkinson.
Mr. W. T. Durham and Miss Ma
nolia Creech were married Sunday at
12 o'clock at Bethany church, by Rev.
W. D. Stancil, the bride's pastor. The
attendants were: Miss Sadie Creech
with Mr. Harvey Atkinson; Miss Bel
vn Batten with Mr. Frank Creech;
Miss Lillian Creech with Mr. Otho
Purham. The wedding march was
beautifully played by Miss Emma
One?l. Many beautiful and useful
pri sents were given to the bride.
Miss Petronia Boykin, the music
teacher of Buckhorn school, spent last
?ve k in the home of Mr. Moses Creech.
BETH.
Kenly, Route No. 2.
RESTRAINTS ON CORN TRADING.
New Buying of December Contracts j
Prohibited. Some Advance in
Prices.
Because of recent intimations th'at
restrictions might be placed on corn
trading, the action of the Chicago
Board of Trade this week in prohib
iting new buying of December con
tracts did not come wholly in the na
ture of a surprise. This has naturally
tended to limit business in that^de
livery, but th eimmediate effect of the
decision was to cause a strengthen
ing of prices, as the December posi
tion had apparently become oversold
and shorts were anxious to cover. The
continued smallness of receipts and
the scarcity of old corn were also fac
tors making for higher prices, and
Friday ended. with the option list con
siderably above last Saturday's clos
ing figures. At one time, the Decem
ber delivery reached $lv21, but final
quotations were somewhat under the
best. The meagerness of rural offer
ings had a steadying influence ' on
oats, and on occasions there was a
fair export inquiry. But prices moved
over a narrow range, the highest level
in December being 59 7-8 cents and
the lowest (58 1-8 cents, and showed
comparatively little net alteration.
The wheat crop, as all know, has
been estimated by the Government to
exceed last year's meager harvest by
about 20,000,000 bushels, but it is still
slow in coming forward. As an illus
tration of this, receipts at western
points continue to fall far behind
those of 1916, and this week are only
6,900,000 bushels, against 10,000,000
in the earlier period. Some complaints
were heard during the week because
of dry weather; yet prospects, on the
whole, ;.re considered very promising
and it is said that the crop will start
the new season under unusually fav
orable conditions. The expected sharp
reduction in flour output, due to thf
request of the Food Administration
that the mills run at only 60 per cent
? of capacity, appears in the compilation
of the Northwestern Miller, which
shows bul 17,000 barrels for the lat
est week, as compared with 525,000
in the previous week and 429,000 bar
rels last year at Minneapolis, Milwau
kee and Duluth. ? Dun's Review, Oc
tODer z/tn.
Rotation As a Soil Rest.
Rotation of crops is the best way
out of a lot of difficulties the farmer
must face. One of them especially,
the, fertility problem, cannot well Be
handled any other way; while weeds,
insect pests and plant diseases, ask
no safer breeding ground than the
field which is continually cropped with
one thing.
We are rapidly learning that good
physical condition of the soil is as
important as fertility. A hard, lumpy,
soil may contain plant food in large
quantities ? so may a rock ? but plant
roots cannot penetrate h rock, and,
they cannol^lo so very much more in
a seed bed filled with baked chunks
and simply washed over by the rains.
Rotation is a "friend in need," of
good tillage. The change from shal
low rooted, surface feeding crops ty
thost; having extensive subsoil roots,
together with the varying mctjiods of
cultivation required by each, assists
greatly in maintaining that deep, mel
low, condition of the soil upon which
profitable farming largely depends.
A proper rotation is virtually giving
your surface soil an occasional rest.
Not entirely so perhaps, but to a
large degree. Say that after a crop
of corn and another of oats or wheat,
the soil is seeded to clover; for two
seasons the surface soil has been
drawn on pretty heavily. Fertilizers
may have been applied but a certain
amount of them leached down. The
clover as soon as it is fairly establish
ed strikes into the subsoil. It feeds
near the surface to some extent but
mostly in an independent way; it
feeds on the air for nitrogen ? a trick
the corn or wheat never learned ? and
goes five or six feet into the subsoil
for a lot of its potash afnd other ma
terials. Some of that material you
probably paid for and applied to the
surface but the rr.in stole it and ran
away with it; th;; clover plays detec
tive admirably in finding it out and
bringing it up to the top again. All
of this rests the surface soil; the
plant. food which is being continually
broken down from the soil grains is
iriven a chance to accumulate for the
next crop And fhorc than that, when
the clover is plowed down and decays,
it will form a fence of humus that the
rain drops will have a hard time to
leach through with their stolen parti
cles of precious fertility. The long
roots that decay in the soil will form
air tubes and the aid that filters down
them will assist in making available
some of the crude subsoil fertility
for your gext crop of clover, and it
will be healthier and more "rugged.
So much for the clover part ? the
most important part of rotation.
\Yhat*7?r the rest of it may be let it
include, a cultivajod cjop if possible.
Abundant tillage helps along the clo
ver's good work. Land that is given
/ \ V
* I
frequent cultivation, such as that '
planted to corn or potatoes, requires
one year in clover in every three or
four. Then it will hold up to an aver
age of yield well above similar soil
devoted simply to clover and prrain. '
The reasons are evident; manure and
other organic matter in the soil is
more quickly and thoroughly rotted.
The process of forming plant food in
i ho soil by bacteria and nitrofication
is aided, and the tendency of the clo
vi r to mellow the soil is established.
The top foot or two of your soil is
.- our farm 'proper but the subsoil be- j
neuth, and the air, are reservoirs
from which much fertility that would
otherwise .cost hard dollars may be
drawn. Clover is the means, rota
tion the way. Save every forkful of
manure by all means aud buy fertil
izers, temporarily, if you must, but
so farm ? rotate -that not a penny's
worth of fertility .goes to waste. The
wisdom of nature in providing differ
ent jtrairs, and plants requiring: dif
ferent elements, made such fanning
possible. ? W. Johnson, in Indiana
Farmer. \
A Look Ahead.
That American brokers of live
stock inny look forward to a long pe
riod of prosperity is no prediction of
a wild-eyed fortune teller. It's as sure
as higher taxes. The world must
have meat, and the countries whose
herds and flocks have been decimated
will be anxious to net them back to
their former strength. This country
will be the biggest source of meat
and breeding^animals. Even the high
market prices of the present should
not blind us to the prospects cf the
next ten years.
Our Government estimates that
since the war the herds* of Europe
have been reduced by 28,000,000 cat
tle, 54,000,000 sheep and 32,000,000
hogs. These are astounding figures.
They mean that there arc twenty per
cent fewer cattle, thirty-three per
cent fewer sheep and about forty
five per cent fewer hogs in those
countries than there were three years
ago. And the rate of decrease is be
coming greater each month.
While we arc supplying a big pres
ent demand we must not destroy our
foundation stock. Animals in sections
where roughage is not plentiful must
be shipped to other parts of the coun
try where they can be maintained.
Stock from the range country, where
roughage is scarce, can l>e handled in
the Middle West and South where
there are good supplies.
There is no sense in the argunu nt
put up by many misinformed patriots
that all animals should be raised to
maturity. Animals that we know are
not going to be economic producers
ought to go the regular way. The
usual profitable market weights ?
seventy-pound lambs and two-hun
dred-pound hogs, for example ? must
remain about the same if feed is to
be used to the best advantage, but
the herds should be increased and
losses through carelessness; and dis
ease should be cut down. Hog cholera
can be prevented; a lot of young pigs
can be saved by watchfulness and
proper equipment at farrowing time;
cows properly treated will recover
from rnilk fever; a newborn, v/ell
warnied-up lamh is half grown.
This sort of thing is not war sac
rifice. Every man who builds up a
herd now is going to help himself
just as much as he helps the big
cause. ? Country Gentleman.
LOWER JOHNSTON ITEMS.
Mrs. Russel Parker end children, of
Middlesex, spent several days in this
section last w.-ek visiting Mr. and
Mrs. T. A. Lee, and others
Elder Xure Lee and family spent
Sunda^ and Monday near Four Oaks
with their mother, Mrs. J. F. Bare
foot.
Mr. Ernest Johnson, of New Hope
section, spent Saturday nifjht and
Sunday in Lower Johnston.
Elder Smith, from near Benson,
preached at Reedy Pronjr Primitive
church Sunday, in the absence of the
pastor, Elder L. A. Johnson, who was
elsewhere.
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Jones, of Sr.iilh
field, spent Sr.turday night and Sun
day with Mrs. Jones' mother, Mrs.
L. D. Johnson, Saturday ?nd Sunday.
Mr. C. M. Johns ;n spent Sunday
near Clinton and other point-; in
Sampson County.
Mr. Allen Rnmon Johnson left last
week for the tr .ininp camp in South
Carolin*..
Efder Xure Ix preached a vc y able
jcrmon last Thursday nipht at Mrs.
L. I). Johnson's, for lh^- benefit of Mrs.
Johnson who is confincd to li< r bed.
A goodly number were present.
Mr. J. M. Johnsor, Misses Mildred
.nd Eva Lee and Georgia Maie Wntr
st.?fT sp.'nt Sr^urday and Sunday near
Oakland school, Sampson County.
Several people in this section will
attend the Sampson County Fair at
Clinton this week.
Mr. Jasper Lee and family, of Pea
cock's Cross Roads, ?pent Sund.y at
Mrs. I.. 1) .Johnson's.
BOWSER.
Coming \\ ith Mults
Mr. J. A. Galbraith is coming to my stables with
mules and horses about Dec 10th. Mr. Gal
braith has written me that he has bought 100
head of splendid Tennessee mules. These
mules will sell $25 a head cheaper and $50 a
head better than western mules.
1 invite all those who are interested to wait and
call at my stables to see Mr. Galbraith s
mules.
W. M. SANDERS .
Smithfield, N.
When you think of GROCERIES? let your
thoughts turn to
TURNAGE
Smithfield's Leading Grocer
The Best is None Too Good For OUR Customers !
S. C. T urnage
Smith field. N. C.
Books at 60 Cents Each !
INSIDE THE CUP, by Winston Churchill. i
THi- CRISIS, by Winston Churchill. I
A FAR COUNTRY, by Winston Churchill.
CONTRARY MARY, bv Temple Bailey.
THE EYES OF THE WORLD, bv Harold Bell Wrbrht.
THE WOMAN OF MYSTERY, by Maurice LeBlanc.
T. TEMBAROM, by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
THE DAREDEVIL, by Marie Thompson Daviess.
DAVID HARUM, by E. N. Westcott.
THE IRON TRAIL, by Rex Beach.
REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM, by Kate Douglas j
Wiggin.
LADDIE, bv Gene Stratton Porter.
MISS BILLIE'S DECISION, by Eleanor H. Porter.
THE CLARION, by Samuel Hopkins Adams.
THE TURMOIL, by Booth Tarkington.
HEPSEY BURKE, by F. N. Westcott.
RED PEPPER BURNS, by Grace Richmond.
DEAR ENEMY, by Jean Webster.
THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS, by H. Bell Wright.
PRUDENCE OF THE PARSONAGE, by Ethel Hueston.
THE HOOSIER SCHOOL MASTER, by Edward Eggles
ton.
BEN HUR, by Lew Wallace.
And a Hundred other Titles ? Come and see for yourself.
Herald Book Store
Smithfield, N. C.
FURNITURE!!
? ~~ ? . ? ?
We have our Furniture space filled with the best bar
gains in both prices aftd values, consisting of all styles
of Furniture from a 50-cent Kitchen Chair to the finest
Parlor or Red Room Suit. The Furniture is new, as most
of it has just reached the store. The prices are ?
OLD PRICES
?
aS we bought some of this Furniture most a year ago.
It must go, and you will save some money if you will
investigate the prices and quality of our line of Furni
ture, Mattresses Springs, Chairs, Rockers and Floor Cov
erings.
Cotter-Underwood.
Smithfield, N. C.