VOLUME 39
SMITHFIELD, N. C., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1920.
Number 14.
MR. LANSING QUITS
MR. WILSON’S CABINET
Letters Disclose Lack of Harmony
Started At Peace Conference In
j>aris—Secretary Lansing In Reply
Disdains Any Thought of Usurpa
tion—Retiring Head of State De
partment Declares That Meetings
Or Conferences of Cabinet Were
“Proper and Necessary’; President
Expresses “Much Disappointment”
Over Tenor of Secretary's Answer
To His Request.
Washington, Feb. 13.—Robert Lans
ing ended his career as Secretary of
State today, after President Wilson
had accused him of usurping the pow
ers of President by calling meetings
of the cabinet during Mr. Wilson’s ill
ness.
Mr. Lansing denied that he had
sought or intended to usurp the Presi
dential authority. He added, however,
that he believed then, and still be
lieves, that the cabinet conferences
were “for the best interests of the re
public,” that they were “proper and
necessary” because of the President’s
condition and that he would have been
derelict in his duty if he had failed
to act as he did.
As the record stands, Mr. Lansing
tendered his resignation and Mr. Wil
son accepted it. The resignation was
offered, however, only after the Presi
dent, under date of February 7, had
written, asking if it were true that
Mr. Lansing had called cabinet meet
ings and stating that if such were the
case he felt it necessary to say that
“under our constitutional law and
practice, as developed hitherto, no one
but the President has the right to
summon the heads of the executive
departments into conference.”
Mr. Lansing answered two days lat
er, last Monday, saying he had called
the cabinet conferences because he
and others of the President’s official
family “felt that, in view of the fact
that we were denied communication
with you, it was wise for us to confer
informally together on * * * matters
as to which action could not be post
poned until your medical advisers per
mitted you to pass upon them.”
The Secretary concluded by saying
that if the President believed he had
failed in his “loyalty” to him, and if
Mr. Wilsofi no longer had confidence
in him he was ready to “relieve you of
any embarrassment by placing my res
ignation in your hands.”
The President replied last Wednes
day that he was “much disappointed
by Mr. Lansing’s letter regarding
“the so-called cabinet meeting.” He
said he found nothing in the Secre
tary’s letter “which justifies your as
sumption of Presidential authority in
such a matter,” and added that he
“must frankly take advantage of your
kind suggestion” to resign.
“I must say,” continued the Presi
dent, “that it would relieve me of em
barrassment, Mr. Secretary, the em
barrassment of feeling your reluctance
and divergence of judgment, if you
would give up your present office and
afford me an opportunity to select
some one else whose mind would more
willingly go along with mine.”
Before this letter was written, the
'•ay for the regular cabinet meeting—
last Tuesday—had passed and the cor
respondence disclosed why the cabi
net did not meet. • On the same day
that he received this letter from the
President Mr. Lansing announced that
he had written other cabinet officers
that he would not call any more cabi
net conferences for the present, but
no explanation was offered. Inquiry
at the White House brought only the
statement that Mr. Wilson himself
probably would call and preside at the
next session of his official advisers.
But the differences between the
President long pre-dated the first cab
inet call by Mr. Lansing, which was
issued last October 5th, seven days af
ter Mr. Wilson returned from his
western speaking tour and took to his
bed. They began at the peace con
ference in Paris, as Mr. Lansing dis
closed in his final letter to the Presi
dent, under date of yesterday, and had
continued since that time—one of the
chief differences being over the gov
ernment’s attitude toward Mexico.
When the cabinet met on October
5th, Joseph P. Tumulty, private sec
retary to the President, issued a for
mal statement explaining the reasons
for the conference. He said:
“The cabinet was called to consider
questions in which more than one^ de
i
partment was concerned, and also to j
discuss the industrial conference.” He ;
referred to the first conference called
by the President with the hope of al
laying the industrial unrest.
In hig statement, Mr. Tumulty said
that Rear Admiral Grayson, Mr. Wil
son’s physician, was present and “sug
gested that only urgent matters be
brought to the President’s attention.”
Thereafter until this week the cabinet
met more or less regularly. During
the coal strike it met twice a week in
an effort to avert the walk-out of the
miners and several weeks ago it was
decided to have meetings every Tues
day and Friday.
During the coal wage controversy
the President was said at the White
House to have been advised of the
meetings and to have been kept in
formed as to the progress his advisers
were making toward a settlement of
the controversy. He finally took the
matter out of the cabinet’s hands and
suggested a settlement which the min
ers accepted.
The correspondence between the
President and Mr. Lansing which re
sulted in Mr. Lansing’s resignation
was made public tonight at the State
Department an hour after Under-Sec
retary Polk had conferred at the
White House with Secretary Tumulty.
Mr. Lansing, in his final letter to
the President said that “in thus sev
ering our official association,’’ he felt
that he should make public a state
ment he had prepared recently show
ing that he had “not been unmindful
that the continuance of our present
relations was impossible” and that it
was his duty to bring them to an end
He added that had he followed his
and “at the earliest moment compati
ble with the public interest.”
Ever since January 1919, Mr. Lans
ing continued, “I have been conscious
of the fact that you no longer were
disposed to welcome my advice in
matters pertaining to the negotiations
at Paris, to our foreign service, or to
international affairs in general.”
personal inclination, he would have re
signed while in Paris, but that he had
refrained because he felt it his duty
to “cause you no embarrassment in
carrying forward the great task in
which vou were then engaged.”
Again Mr. Lansing said that while
he had been “surprised and disap
pointed” at the frequent disapproval
of his suggestions, he had never failed
to follow the President’s decisions
“however difficult it made the conduct
of our foreign affairs.”
Mr. Lansing accompanied the Pres
ident to Paris in December 1918, as
one of the American peace delegates,
but his friends have said that while
Mr. Wilson was at the peace confer
ence Mr. Lansing was virtually with
out authority and that naturally he
felt this keenly since the other allied
and associated countries were repre
sented by their premiers and not the
heads of their governments.
Mr. Lansing finally returned from
Paris before the work of the Ameri
can peace delegation was concluded,
being succeeded by Frank L. Polk, un
der secretary of state. The friction
between himself and Mr. Wilson con
tinued after he came back to Washing
ton.
During the President’s illness the
Mexican issue again came to the front
with the kidnapping and subsequent
arrest of American Consular Agent
J(enkins in Mexico. After the Jenkins
case had been discussed at Cabinet
meetings, presided over by Mr. Lans
ing, the State Department sent a note
to Carranza bluntly warning him that
further “molestation” of Jonkins
would “seriously affect the relations
between the United States and Mexico,
for which the government of Mexico
must assume sole responsibility.”
President Wilson was advised of a
situation which apparently had grown
acute and he was said at the time to
have personally taken charge of the
matter. The Mexican government de
layed its reply for some time and sub
sequently Jenkins was released on bail
furnished by J. Salter Hansen without
the consular agent’s knowledge. Jen
kins' case still is pending in the Mexi
can courts, having been transferred
from the Puebla State courts to the
Federal Supreme Court, which the
State Department had contended was
the only tribunal which had jurisdic
tion in the case. No further action
has been taken by the American gov
ernment, so far as has been announc
ed.
While a few members of the Cabi
net have conferred with Mr. Wilson
since he was taken ill, it was said
tonight that Mr. Lansing had not
seen him and that whatever business
BLOCKADERS KILL
YADKIN’S SHERIFF.
Slain As He Attempts to Seize Still
Operators.—Three Suspects Hurri
ed to Winston Jail—Baptist Divine
Accuses Baity.
Yadkinville, Feb. 14.—Sheriff J. E.
Zachary, of Yadkin county, was shot
through the heart and killed about
11 o’clock last night at a blockade
distillery, eight miles from Yadkin
ville, the county seat.
Three men were at the plant and
all of them were arrested early this
morning and brought to the Forsyth
jail this afternoon for safe keeping,
the Yadkin jail not being considered
sufficiently secure.
Rev. A. A. Caudle, a Baptist minis
ter of Yadkin county, accompanied
the sheriff to the moonshine plant
and declares that Robah Baity, aged
23, is the party who did the shooting.
The other two men at the plant were
Spencer McNeill and James Brown.
According to the statement made to
the coroner by the Baptist divine,
Baity was standing close to Sheriff
Zachery when the former fired the
fatal shot, the powder burn igniting
the officer’s ovei-coat and the blaze
was extinguished by Rev. Mr. Caudle,
who says that he was standing only
a few feet away when the sheriff
walked up to Baity and McNeill, noti
fying them to consider themselves un
der arrest. Baity immediately drew
his pistol and fired, the sheriff falling
in his tracks.
The community in which the crime
was committed is said by officers to be
bad for blockading, nearly all of the
people in that section being in sym
pathy with the making of whiskey.
Preachers who dare to touch on pro
hibition in their sermons are soon
made to realize that such doctrine is
not appreciated.
Before the arrest of these parties
this morning, a reward of $1,000 was
offered for their capture and coroner
W. E. Rutledge said that it would be
paid if the parties put in a claim for
it.—Charlotte Observer.
Frank L. Polk Secretary Ad Interim.
Washington, Feb. 13.—Frank L.
Polk, under secretary of state, will be
made secretary ad interim tomorrow
to act until President Wilson appoints
a successor to Robert Lansing. This
is expected to be in the very near fu
ture.
Several names were suggested in
Administration circles, but officials
frankly admitted that they had no
definite information as to who the
President had in mind for the place.
Chief among those suggested was Mr.
Polk, but his friends say that he will
not accept the appointment if offered
him because of the state of his health.
In fact he has long had it in mind to
resign from the State Department and
take a long rest, a course which his
physicians have urgently advised.
National Thrift Stamp Week.
State superintendent of sehools in
every state in the Fifth Federal Re
serve District have been notified that
National Thrift Stamp week will be
observed beginning Monday, March 1,
and ending Saturday, March 6.
The War Organization for this ter
ritory is sending out instructions, lit
erature and pledge cards to superin
tendents, and will co-operate in every
way to awaken new interest on the
part of parents and pupils in practic
ing everyday thrift. The effort is in
tended to emphasize the value of sav
ing regularly in small amounts.
Through the press, school journals,
notices on school bulletin boards, pro
grams, and in various ways the mes
sage of the'25-cent United States
Thrift Stamp will be carried.
It is likely that the celebration of
Thrift Stamp week in the schools will
culminate on Friday, March 5, with an
entertainment featuring the number
of Thrift Stamps each child has
bought during the week, and the pres
entation of a program based on those
prepared by the Treasury Department
for this purpose.
he had had with the President had
been carried on by daily correspond
ence.
Before the President left on his
Western trip, however, Mr. Lansing,
after his return from Paris, had a
standing engagement to see him daily
and he visited the White House each
noon to discuss foreign and other af
fairs.—Associated Press.
/
NORTH CAROLINA TOBACCO
SALES FOR JANUARY 1920.1
There were 103 warehouses active
during the past month. Total sales
reported for the month, 11,251,882
pounds. The producers’ f'n^t hand
sales reported, 9,522,959 pounds. Re
ports of resales amounted to a total
of 1,728,923 pounds. The farmers’ en
tire sales are estimated to be 9,947,
959 pounds. Average price per hun
dred pounds was $35.40.
Producers' sales for 1919 crop, re
ported to date, Feb. 1., 305,543,173
pounds. Producers’ sales estimated to
Feb. 1, 1920, 310,443,173 pounds.
Crown in state in excess imports es
timated 3,000,000 pounds. Acreage of
the 1919 crop as estimated 554,000
acres. Average yield per acre esti
mated (October) 500 pounds. Price
per pound of season’s sales on mark
ets 51 cents. Farmers’ production ac
cording to sales probably 316,000,000
pounds. Estimated value of the 1919
crop as sold $161,800,000.00.
The total sales of the North Caro
lina tobacco crop for the year 1919
about closed has surpassed the expect
ed or estimated quantity of 310,240,
000 pounds of producers’ leaf. There
will probably be thr<*e million pounds
sold after this date. Also there have
been produced in the state and sold
outside in excess of that imported,
something like three million pounds
of farmers’ tobacco. This has occurred
along the Tennessee border and ad
jacent to the Danville market prima
rily.
The January sales made by the 103
active warehouses exceeded the quan
tity expected. It was not expected
that over eleven million pounds of the
leaf would be sold. Of this amount
nine and a half million pounds was
farmers’ weed. The price averaged
somewhat low on account of a large
proportion being producers’ scrap, but
the $35.40 realized would have been a
premium two years ago.
The rise in price from $21.66 per
hundred pounds realized from the July
sales gradually increased to sixty
eight cents per pound in November.
The Kentucky markets therefore
opened during the higher price period,
otherwise North Carolina would have
been ahead in value of the crop. They
are very close in the race as it is, al
though Kentucky produced half again
as much of the weed.
Influenza-Pneumonia Claims Minister.
Rocky Mount, Feb. 15.—Rev. H. F.
Morton died early Saturday in New
York where he had been called last
week by the illness of his wife who
had been stricken with influenza while
on a visit to the metropolis. Hasten
ing to her bedside, Rev. Mr. Morton
was himself stricken with the disease
which soon developed into pneumonia
and proved fatal after only a few
days.
Rev. Mr. Morton, who was only 33
years old, was the son of the late Dr.
M. D. Morton, who passed away in
this city a year or two ago after hav
ing been the beloved pastor of the
First Presbyterian church here for a
period of 18 years.
Stacy Resigns As Judge.
Wilmington, Feb. 14.—Superior
Court Judge W. P. Stacy, of the eighth
judicial district late today forwarded
to Governor T. W. Bickett his resig
nation to take effect March 1.
In his letter to the governor, Judge
Stacy says that for some time he has
contemplated taking this step and
that it is his purpose to return to the
bar and devote-attention to the prac
tice of the law.
League of Nations Candidate Wins.
Excelsior Springs, Mo., Feb. 14.—
The election of Captain J. L. Milligan,
democratic candidate and league of
nations advocate over John E. Frost,
republican, and league opponent, as
representative in Congress for the
third district, was conceded at 9:30
o’clock tonight by W. L. Coles, chair
man of the republican committee.
Captain Milligan’-s majority, Chair
man Cole said, will be between 1,700
and 1,800.
The election was to choose a suc
cessor in Congress to Secretary of
Commerce Joshua Alexander and the
league of nations was the dominant
issue in the campaign.
Wife—Do you expect to get to heav
en by hanging on to my skirt? Hub^
No; but I might by showing St. Peter
the bills for them.—Boston Transcript.
JUST TALK.
They say talk is cheap. Perhaps
so, for there is an endless amount of
the stut* going on all over our ’.and
and country in this day and fime. I
am a daily ear-witness to a lot of it.
This might give you some little idea
—some fellow said iiie other day that
the “Congressional Record” lias al
ready published some six million
words on the Covenant of the League
of Nations, and still it is unadopted
so far as Uncle Sam is concerned.
Rut there is one thing you just
must say for talk. It is the weather
cock to the people’s thoughts*and the
things people think are nearly the
things they no. The people of this
county talked and talked of a new
court house, and now they are going
to build one. The Prohibitionists
have actually talked whiskey off our
map. And still the talk goes on.
Being myself a very poor talker and
a good listener, 1 am the better pro
vided with the necessary instinct to
determine what some of the current
talk will ultimately bring into exist
ence. The following expressions are
little thought-nuggets that I have
picked up from day to day as the dif
ferent citizens of Johnston have talk
ed in passing by: “We need better
roads than we have, but we are just
not able to pay the price.” On anoth
er day another man said, “We must
have good roads in this county, if we
have to float a two-million dollar bond
issue.” One man said he would like
to see a structure reared up in our
capital town as a memorial to those
of our boys who died in France and
said he would like to see that struc
ture take the form of a memorial hos
pital. One said, “Our County Home is
too much isolated.” A man of very
sound authority said, “The only great
thing a poor man can do for his child
is to educate him.” Another very
venerable man, who has great regard
for the youth of this generation, said,
“That the picture show, with its
scenes of theft and robbery, fast liv
ing and tragic dying, was perverting
the minds of our growing boys and
girls to a noticeable degree and that
a strong censorship ought to be in
stituted for every film they see.”
These citizens of the “State of
Johnston”, are some of the things you
think and say. They are a few pieces
of the material of which our future,
progressive Johnston will be built.
They are a few of the problems about
which our public welfare centers.
Think on and talk on till your think
ing and talking blaze into actions,
and maybe sooner than we know or
dream, these talked-of assets and re
forms shall be a part of our public
institutions.
II. V. ROSE,
Supt. Welfare.
Mrs. Josephus Daniels Named on Com.
Washington, Feb. 15.—Appointment
of 11 women, including five from the
south, as members of the executive
committee of the Democratic national
committee was announced today by
Chairman Homer S. Cummings. Six
additional women members will be ap
pointed soon to make the women mem
bership correspond with that of the
men.
Those appointed were Miss Eliza
beth Marbury, New York; Miss Caro
line Ruuts-Rees, Greenwhich, Conn.;
Mrs. Kellogg Fairbank, Chicago; Mrs.
Stiles W. Burr, St. Paul; Mrs. Helen
Grenfell, Denver; Mrs. Overton G. El
lis, Tacoma; Mrs. John B. Castleman,
Louisville; Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Ja
cobs, Birmingham; Mrs. Josephus
Daniels, Raleigh; Mrs. John K. Ottley,
Atlanta, and Mrs. Beverly B. Mum
ford, Richmond.
Interfered With Preaching.
On Sunday February 15 two young
men were taking a ride on the Cen
tral Highway between Smithfield and
Clayton and had an accident. Perhaps
the steering gear of the Ford was not
right exactly but fast running was
partly responsible for the accident.
They passed a car and when they
tried to get back to the middle of the
road went further than they expected
and the car turned half over injuring
the top and one of the wheels. The
young men were not hurt but badly
frightened. The accident occurred
near a colored church and a large
part of the congregation left the
preacher expounding the holy scrip
tures while they went out to see the
sight of a car turned over and to help
in getting it back on the wheels.
FLU EPIDEMIC NOW
APPEARS ON DECLINE
Sunday's Total of New Cases Some
what Lower With 2,607—Pneumonia
Increases Following Influenza.—
Three of 24 Counties Reporting Yes
terday Responsible For More Than
Half of Total.
Three counties of the 24 reporting
yesterday furnished more than half
the 2,667 new cases of influenza that
were received at the offices of the
State Board of Health, and with the
exception of Davidson county, these
reports were regarded as the accumu
lation of a week or more of the epi
demic. Pneumonia reported in the 24
counties was considerably in excess of
previous days, totalling 126 cases,
with 34 deaths.
Except in sbme counties where the
disease has just taken epidemic form,
the situation is believed to have im
proved throughout the State and that
the worst of the epidemic is over.
Pneumonia is developing at a rate that
is discouraging to health authorities,
but this was not unexpected in the
light of experience gained in the out
break of 1 i> 18.
Some encouragement is gained from
the fact that pneumonia is not as pre
valent this year as it was in the initial
outbreak in the state, anil so far there
have been less than 200 deaftis due to
it in the three weeks since the epi
demic began, as against more than 6,
000 during the four weeks of the 1918
scourge. The weather is regarded as
the best cure for the disease and such
weather as has been in vogue for the
past three days is decidedly favorable
to stamping out the epidemic.— News
and Observer, 16.
Work Together Solve Market Problem
The growers of cotton have long
since solved the problem of produc
tion, which has been proven by the
fact that ample supplies of raw cot
ton have been harvested each year to
meet the requirements of the active
spindles of the world consuming
American cotton. The growers of
American cotton have done their full
duty in supplying the. demands of
civilization with the silken fiber for
clothing. This has been done under
conditions of {^ivation, poverty and
illiteracy as the portion of the South
ern cotton growers in the great raw
cotton industry. The conditions fully
emphasize the fact that during the
past half century the growers have
failed utterly to give proper attention
to the marketing of spot cotton. It is#
of more vital importance to solve the
problem of profitable marketing than
it is to win out in the field of ample
production.
If the farmer, who devotes his capi
tal, brains, labor and the services of
his family in the production each year
of a great staple product, and through
bad marketing facilities sells his crop
at the cost of production, or below, he
would have been better off had he
never planted and cultivated such a
crop. Every man who produces a
valued commodity is entitled under
the laws of trade and justice to a
fair and reasonable profit on his labor
and capital invested in the produc
tion of such commodity.
The time has now come in the evolu
tion of our vast agricultural resources
in the South when the question of
modern and up-to-date methods in the
future marketing of farm products
must receive the attention it deserves.
Fairly good cooperative systems are
already employed by the producers in
the marketing of nearly all staple
farm products in the nation except the
one big crop—cotton. It is the most
valuable monetary crop raised in the
United States, while it is at the same
time the most wastefully handled of
any known agricultural product. Cot
ton is baled, handled, sold and trans
ported today under practically the
same primitive methods employed fif
ty years ago. About the only differ
ence between now and half a century
ago is that production has been doubl
ed and trebled, and a corresponding
increase in waste, high fixed charges
and unnecessary losses levied upon the
growers as a penalty for their con
tinued adherence and permission of
such unbusinesslike systems.—Cotton
Facts.
The most consoling thing about go
ing to the movie is seeing so many
women in the pictures opening their
mouths and not saying a word you
can hear.—Jacksonville Times-Unioi.