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VOLUME 38. THE SMITHFIELD HERALD TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1910 Number 24 SMITHFIELD BOY IN LAST DAYS FIGHTING From Private William I. Barbour Now With Battery B. 124th Field Artil lery Thirty-Third Division Ameri can Expeditionary Forces. The following extracts are. taken from a letter leceived a few days ago from a Smithfield boy, William I. Barbour, written from Luxembourg: “I left Smithfield for Camp Jack son May 25, 1918, and remained in camp until August 1. I then went to Camp Kill, near Portsmouth, and re mained there several days. On Au gust 22 we sailed for France. We made the trip with little excitement, arriving at Brest, France, on Septem ber 3rd. We went to Camp Hunt, about forty miles below Bordeaux, where we stayed about fifteen days. We then bdarded box cars for the front and after traveling about 85 hours we stopped at a small town. Here we loaded in motor trucks for some point unknown to us. In about an hour we landed at a place called Brocourt. This place was so muddy the boys nicknamed it Camp de Mud, and'that was a real name fcr it, it was real mud about four inches deep. At this place I was assigned to Bat tery B, 124th Field Artillery. A.s well as I can remember wc left Camp De Mud about October 20 for the lines. We marched all day and nearly all night, all the time in hearing of vhe big*guns'. We stocked in the morning about 3 o’clock arid camped the re mainder of the night and that day and the next night. We pulled our guns up to a small town by the name of Roemain. After getting in position we stayed there with our guns until November 1, and a*. 10 o clock in the morning we began to put a barrage over on Fritz, the enemy being just over h?n from us. We nut the barrage" ever -till 6 a. m. end the dougftboys wont over the top and ran Fritz back until about nine o’clock in the morning. We could see great droves of prisoners coming back. We kept up this drive until November il, at 11 a. m., when we got orders to stop firing, that the Germans had signed the armistice. During those eleven days we had driven them back from Roemain to the Meuse river, our last gun position being just across the river. During these eleven days we drove the enemy back a distance ox 48 miles. So you can see we did not let the enemy stay long in one place. “In this drive we were not with our division, the 33rd. We were called the 58th Brigade of Artillery and backed up the 89th division dough boys all through the last drive, and when the armistice was signed we went to a small town by the name of Wispe, France, on the Meuse river. There we stayed for some time, as most all the battery had cooties, which is no unusual thing for soldiers to have when they have been fighting and sleping in dugouts. We stayed in this town until we were rid of those bugs, so we could sleep well at night. I can say for myself that I was great ly relieved when I got rid of the bugs. Just to look at me one would not thmk I had a million bugs on me, but I guess I did or they made me think I had a million. “Well, about the fourth of Janury we left Wisepe for Moesdorf, Luxem bourg. Here we joined our division and now we are waiting for orders to go home. If seems that orders of the 33rd Division to go homes come very slow, but all the boys are in good heart and hope to go home soon. You can hear them singing all through the day, “Won’t it be a wonderful day when the 33rd Division goes home?” “We are in good billets here and do not have much work to do except to shine up our guns and horses for in spection, and believe me. we sure do have big inspections weekly by gen erals with stars on their shoulders. “I am lorrging to see the day when I can walk on the streets of old Smith field and think wc have fought a good fight and won a great victory, and to think the world is set free again. We have won a victory that will last for some time, as Germany can’t fight any more for years to come if she wanted to. She has had too good a licking to want to fight any more. It is a com plete victory for the Stars and Stripes. ‘Long may they wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave.’ ” Moesdorf, Luxemburg, Feb. 18. French Youngsters Get Cake First Time. Thousands c.f children, up to French children, up to five years, are just be ginning to learn what a cake is. There have been no cakes, for the poor of France at least, during the war. Now the sugar.ration is going up and sugar is easier to get.—Paris dispatch. Money invested in War Savings Stamps never stops working for you SLEEPING SICKNESS CAME FROM ENGLAND U. S. Health Service Called in to Help Virginia Find Cause and Cure Richmond, Va., March 22.—The epi-1 demie of “sleeping sickness’’ now j prevalent in several cities is a “hang | over” from the flu. That’s the decision reached by the | committee of the Virginia State Board| j of health which has be3n investigating the new disease. The United States Public Health service i3 to be called upon by the Virginia authorities to help find out what causes it and what will cure it. Dr. E. G. Williams, Virginia health commissioner, said there was no doubt '■in his mind that the strange malady bears a direct relation to the influenza epidemic. He corroborated the pre diction of Dr. Beverly R. Tucker, chairman of the sleeping sickness com mittee, that the new epidemic will crop out in communities which felt the worst ravages of the flu. The experience of England had much to do with the decision. England had the flu last spring be fore it struck America, and last fall it had the “sleeping sickness.” The disease was at first confused with botulism, the new war disease, result ing from food poisoning which was prevalent in England. Investigation by the health authorities of London and Sheffield proved, however, that sleeping sickness and botulism were not the same. Then they thought it might be in fantile paralysis. Sir Arthur New sholme, medical officer of London, fin ally decided that “epidemic somno lence” was a brand of new war dis ease. It was made a “reportable” disease. Then the epidemic stopped so suddenly that the investigation was carried no further. But Sir. Arthur Newshalme gave it as his opinion that the epidemic had resulted from the general break'ng down of the physical resistance of the English people caused by the flu. The “sleping sickness” germ, he said, was harmless to any person of good vitality, but when that vitality was weakened by the influenza, his body made an excellent field for the parasite to work in. We blamed the flu on the Hun—and if you like you can blame the “sleep ing sickness on them too. For, ac cording to records, it first broke out in Vienna in 1917, and it was a Vienna physician, Professor von Economo, who gave its scientific name of “encepalitis lethargic.” TRANSPORT BRINGS FIFTY-ONE BRIDES. Aboard the transport, Louisville, out of Brest, on March 12, which docked at Hoboken, were 2,253 officers and men of the American Expedi tionary Forces and fifty-one brides— twenty:four brides of American sol diers and twenty-seven brides of Am erican sailors. On March 15, when the ship was 768 miles from Brest, an eight and a half pound baby boy was born. His father is an American sailor, John Kemm, of Philadelphia, who has been at Naval Base 15, at Verness, Scot land, where he met and married the baby’s mother. Exposition Extended. The time for the Joint Centenary Celebration of the Methodist churches at Columbus, O., has been extended. The former plan was to hold the cel ebration from June 30 to July 7, but this latter date has been changed to July 13. The reason for the extension of time is because the magnitude of the exposition is expected to draw a half million guests and it has been -Ircided that it will take more time to acommxlate all of them comfortably. The parks of Columbus will be turned over to the guests coming in their own cars and every facility for comfort that the city of Cclumbus possesses will be put at the disposal of the Centenary visitors. Over $750,000 is being expended on the exposition, which is being promo ted by the Southern and Northern Methodists jointly, for the purpose of showing America what the denomina tion is doing in mission fields at home and abroad.—Centenary News. Just a Few Millions in Wartime Tobacco. Why is tobacco high? Did anybody get a*profit out of chewing plug, ci garettes and pipe tobacco ? Part of the answers to these questions are in the annual report of the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company for the year ended December 31, 1918, as compared with the previous twelve months. Net prof its last year were $10,050,221, deduc tions for interest charges leaving a balance of $8,154,007. The latter bal nce in 1917 was $7,363,720. ARMY DEATH RATE LOWESTJN HISTORY For First Time Disease Killed I ewer Men Than Enemy Ilullets. Washington, March 22.—Vital sta-; tistics compiled by the war depart-; meat show that the death rate from ; disease among American troops in the big war was lower than that recorded. in any that this country or any other j has fought. In all previous wars the ; number of men who died of disease , was significantly larger than the total j of those killed in battle. This low disease rate, it is pointed j out, is attributable in part to the pol icy of inoculation for all men in the service and in a measure also to the j highly efficient work performed by j the medical department. It is clearly indicated by the statistics that but for I the epidemic of influenza that at tacked the troops in this country, as well as those in France, the rate would have been cut in half. Ifi the American forces as a whole the battle death rate was 20 per thousand per year. The rate for the expeditionary forces alone, that is, ex cluding troops in the United States was 57 per thousand per year. This latter rate is just about half that ob tained for the British expeditionary force. In the Spanish-American war (1898) the disease death hate was 26 per thousand per year. In the big war just closed this rate was 17 per thousand among the men in France arid 16 per thousand among the troops in the United States. This approxi mate equality of the disease death rates in the two different contingents is due to the uniformity of the sys 1c ms of prevention, care and treat ment. Notable Improvement Shown. Reference to the mortality in earlier American wars affords an idea of the progress which the medical depart ment of the army has made in com batting what was once the most dan gerous enemy—disease. During the Mexican war deaths from disease among American soldiers were 110, in a thousand. In the federal armies during the Civil War the disease death rate was five per thousand. The toll among the Confederate troops may have been even higher. Statistics are not available. For every man who was killed in battle during the Mexican war, seven died of disease. In the Civil War the number of soldiers who lost their lives in battle was only half as large as the total of those who fell victims of disease. Those killed in the Sprn ish-American war numbered only a fifth of those who perished of disease. In the present war, for the first time in history, the number of those killed in battle exceeded the total who died of disease. Republican critics of the medical provisions for American soldiers it is suggested, are inviting a very pain ful comparison with their own party’s management of this branch of the army during the Spanish-American war. In that conflict, with a third rate power, with less than 100,000 men engaged,-and with the battlefield at the country’s door, the disease death rate was nine per thousand higher than the big war just closed. Experts agree that the reduction of the death rate to the lowest figure ever recorded proves conclusively that the task of preventing and treating dis ease among thtf more tharl 4,000,900 men mobilizied for this war was per formed most efficiently and humane ly. Only the outbreak of influenza, which affected the entire world, it is believed, precluded a lesser ratio of mortality than would have prevai’ed among these men in civil life.—Char lotte Observer. Drive for Worn Garments to Be Observed Here. The drive for worn garments to be sent across seas for destitute men, women and children in the war coun tries is on this week all over the coun try. The Smithfield branch of the Red Cross is doing its part. It is request ed that every one look over their wardrobes and lay aside any gar ments that may be spared for this cause. On Friday and Saturday a committee will visit each house in town and collect these garments. Only garments of strong material are wanted, although they need not he in perfect condition. On Riches. I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue. For as the bag gage is to the army, so is riches to virtue. It cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hinders the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but con ceit.—Bacon. MORE THAN 90,000 CENSUS JOBS OPEN Enumeration Which Will Me Made in January, 1920, Will Help Solve Labor Problem. Washington, March 21.—The act providing for the fourteenth and sub sequent decennial censuses was signed by the President cn March 3. The* enumeration, wtech will be made in January, 1920, is now less than ten months distant, and the census bureau already has under consideration the selection and appointment of pot to exceed 400 supervisors'who will have tdiarge of the 90,000 enumerators. The supervisors’ districts will, in most cases, except in the large cities, have the same boundaries as the Congres sional districts. The supervisors, un der the law, are to be appointed by the secretary of commerce upon the recommendation of the director of the census. The following instructions have been given by the secretary of com merce to the director of the census in regard to the procedure to be follow ed in making selections and appoint ments of census supervisors. “Conforming to the assurances giv en the President in my letter to him of March 3, you will please be guided by the following instructions respect ing appointments to the post of super visor in connection with the taking of the fourteenth census of the United States: “A test examination, of which a re cord will be kept, is to be required for appointment to the post of supervisor. In addition to this, a careful personal inquiry is to be separately made re specting the qualifications of each candidate. Of this inquiry, also, a record will be kept. “In making appointments from those who shall have passed the test examination and the separate inquiry as to qualifications, preference is to be given those candidates who Irwe had executive, administrative, statisdeal and accounting experience and to those who have had charge of bodies of men as administrators, provided in all cases that men with the experience stated possess the other qualifications necessary. “You will arrange to give notice to the above effect to every candidate ap plying for appointment and to his sponsors, and no candidates are to be selected for the appointment who do not pass both the test examination and the personal inquiry. “You are requested to ask the civil service commission to prepare the blanks for the test examination or to co-operate with you in the prepar ation of them. You will welcome the assistance of the civil service com mission in this and in any other re spect in which they can be helpful to you. “It is my earnest desire, as I know it is your own, that this census shall be an example in its quality as well as in its promptness. I need hardly say that neither result can be had unless the supervisors are selected with special care to their individual fitness for the task. I am depending on you as the responsible officer in im mediate charge of the work to see that every precaution is taken to achieve this result. In particular the ap pearance as well as the fact of politi cal patronage are to be avoided and fitness for the work to be done will be the controlling factor in the appoint ments.” The director of the census has al ready taken steps to carry out the in structions of the secretary. The supervisors’ duties will occupy their time for the greater part of a year beginning about July 1, 1919. Their compensation will be $1,500 plus $1 for each thousand or major fraction of a thousand of population enumerated. The total compensation in an average sized district, outside a large city, will therefore be between $1,700 and $1,800. Clerk hire and other necessary expensed will be paid by the government. All candidates for supervisorships should address their applications to the director of the census, Washing ton, D. C.—Charlotte Observer. More Old Hickory Trops Land at Newport News. More troops of the Old Hickory di vision—the 30th, which includes men from Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina—returned home from the battlefields of France on the transport Finland, which arrived at Newport News Sunday morning. On board the big vessel, formerly in the Red Star Line trans-Atlantic ser vice, there were almost 3,500 officers and men of the fighting forces, includ ing the 114th' Field Artillery regi ment, Col. Luke Lea’s command, and the 115th Machine Gun Battalion com plete, and detachments of the 115th Field Artillery Regiment and the 114th Machine Gun Battalion. BODY OF JONAS REEVES IS FOUND Dead Man Had Been Missing Since January 31: Suicide, Coroner’s Verdict. Wilson, March 22.—The partially decomposed body of Jonas Reeves. 55, was found near here this morning" in Toisnot Swamp, and a coroner’s jury this afternoon returned a verdict of suicide. The dead man had been miss ing" since January 31. One of the sons stated here today that his father had been ailing: men | tally since lust June. Early in Janu I ary he advertised in a local paphr for | a wife, and entered into correspond ence with a woman here. He came to the city January 31 in a machine, and disappeared. He had on his person when found today something ovev $5 and his gold watch. Marks found on the body led the mayor and others to believe Reeves was handled violently. The body was found by two boys, looking for a place to fish. Reeves’ home was near Ren son.—News and Observer. BISHOP JAMES H. McCOY IS DEAD AT BIRMINGHAM. Bishop James H. McCoy, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, died at his home at Birmingham, Ala., early Saturday night after a long ill ness. Bisop McCoy was regarded as me of the greathest orators and ablest scholars of his denomination. He was born in Blount county, Alabama, in 1867, and was elected bishop May 17, 1910. Much of his work as bishop has Tieen done in Texas. Prominent Morganton Man Dead. Morganton, March 23.—M. P. Hilde brand, a prominent and respected cit izen of Morganton, died Friday night at 11 o’clock after a long period of ill health. For years Mr. Hildebrand was a leading merchant of the town and for over thirty years superintendent of the Morganton Baptist Sunday School, retiring from active service five years ago when his health failed. The funeral services were held from the Baptist church this afternoon at 3 o’clock and interment made in the family plot in the town cemetery.— News and Observer. Mr. Hildebrand was the father of Mrs. H. B. Marrow, who was called to his bedside Friday. Troops of 37th Arrive at New York. Headquarters and more than 4,200 troops of the 37th Division, former National Guardsrften, who heloed break the German lines in the Ar gonne and later put German troops to flight in Belgium, arrived in this port Sunday on three transports. They comprised the first large contingent of the division to return to the United State. Among them was casual company 966 (negro), South Carolina.—New York dispatch. To Erect Monument in Goldsboro. Members of Company B, J19th In fantry, who are now on their way home from France, have decided to erect a monument on the Court House Square in Goldsboro, to be unveiled September 29, 1919. This company is from Goldsboro and was commanded by Captain Bain while in France. The company decided to erect this monu ment in honor of their dead comrades who fell on the memorable day of the bloody battle of Bellicourt. This com pany lost in killed or wounded that day over one half of their command. Fame Follows Disorder. About 1750 Benjamin Franklin ob served in Poor Richard’s Almanac that wherever there was famine there was disorder, and wherever there was disorder famine followed in its train. This has been the keynote of the pres ent world situation. Lack of hygiene and sanitation dees not cause dis order. Soldiers have lived incrusted in the mud of Flanders, but have maintained their morale when well nourished. The Russian peasant is firmly convinced that the louse is nec essary for health becauses this ver min leaves his body only in the event of his death. If cleanliness were as much desired by the people as food, then the streets of our cities would be kept in perfect order, and no dirt would be allowed to accumulate upon them. Indeed. Tolstoy teaches that the desire for cleanliness is a cultiva ted extravagance and not an instinct ive impulse. The call for food is, however, ins’stent, and instinctive and must be satisfied or social discontent arises.—Graham Lusk, in the Ameri can Museum Jcumal. . MORE THAN BILLION IN TAX PAYMENTS $115,551,000 From Second New Yorfc District—Amount of First Quar terly Installment of Income and Profits Taxes Announced. Washington, March 22.—Collections from the first quarterly installment of income and profits taxes due last Sat urday amounted to $1,001,244,000 in sixty-three of the sixty-four collec tion districts, Internal Commissioner Roper announced today. This figure probably will be increas ed by later returns, since some reve nue collectors have not yet repor+ed their final tabulations. This is more than the Treasury Lad expected from this installment pay ment, and without « complete analy sis officials believe n is accounted for by the fact that many citizens paid their tax in fuff instead of taking ad vantage of the installment privilege. An examination of records will be un dertaken later to ascertain whether the total yield from income and profits taxes exceeds the preliminary esti mates of approximately $4,000,000,000. Indications on the face of today’s re ports were that estimates made at the time of enactment of the Revenue bill were fairly accurate. The Second New York District re ported $145,551,000, the biggest col lections of any district, and the Third Massaehusetss, with $75,203,000, was second. . The First Iliiiois, including Chicago, reported incomplete returns of 172,089,000. The Twenty-third Pennsylvania had $54,315,000. All but five districts showed decid ed increases over the 25 per cent of last year’s income tax collection. The exceptions were Minnesota, New Mex ico, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. Revenue officials ex pressed the belief that final reports will put all districts ahead of their 25 per cent records last year except Pittsburgh. In that district many steel companies, which paid their tax at Pittsburgh last year, probably paid this year, in the New York districts Progress on Graham Memorial. Chapel Hill, March 22.—The move ment to erect a Graham Memorial Building in honor of the late Presi dent Edward Kidder Graham on the campus of the University of North Carolina is now in full swing, accord ing to reports being received by Secretary Albert M. Coates. Practi cally the entire State has been organ ized for the work of raising the funds and splendid progress is being made by the directors in each commun’ty. —News and Observer. War Vessel Named in Honor of Nort Carolinian. The torpedo boat destroyer Graham, named in honor of William A. Gra- * ham, was launched at the yard of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Saturday morning. The ship Was christened by Mrs. Rob ert F. Smallwood, of Hillsboro, granddaughter of William R. Graham. Mrs. Smallwood was attended by her sister, Mrs. W. A. Graram, of Eden ton, as maid of honor. No other cere mony attended the launching. William A. Graham was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Millard Fillmore, was twice elected to the United States Senate and served as Governor of North Carolina. Four Cases of Sleeping Sickness. Four cases of what is termed the sleeping sickness have been officially reported to Dr. R. McR. Crouch, epi demiologist of the State Board of Health. Two of the cases were re ported by Dr. M. G. Monk, of Tren ton, Jones county, and two from Dur ham, which had been taken to a Rich mond hospital for treatment. A case was unofficially, reported from Mount Olive. It is said to follow in the wake of the flu. The cases from Durham are being carefully studied from every standpoint. / Taft For President. Former President Taft’s espousal of the league of Nations premises to give him the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1920. The inter esting development of the controversy over the plan for international action is creating much political talk in Washington and Republicans in many section of the country are asking why a man who puts National interest above harmony with his party’s lead ers in the Senate should not be the standard bearer in the next campaign. Republican business men and Progres sives are determined not to allow the Democrats to receive all the credit for adoption of a League of Nations — Asheville Citizen. 4
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
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March 25, 1919, edition 1
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