WALLACE PREDICTS BETTER TIMES AHEAD Secretary of Agriculture Is Hopeful for Future of American Farmer Washington, Jan. 1.—The farmer can inter the new year “in a spirit of hopefulness and good cheer,” Sec retary of Agriculture Wallace stated today in a New Year's message to Farmers. nothing which indicates for the farmers in the he continued, “but there o be promise of better 'or the farmer and for business is largely de him.” Jling to make “any hard f phecies,” the Secretary re are signs which indi i le coming year should 1< !■ <■ 1 ne for the farmer and deal with him than was t Hi whr 1! r th the r u C! b n rj tl Pi lil pk de inj far ho] is t liopeful signs enumer lecretary were the im conditions through reg and by special agencies et the farmers’ needs, i ering of interest rates; iu ady made in freight am products; reduction in 1 22 of producing farm cobable increase in the following what seems decrease in acreage crops. ing effect of the sud :es last year is wear >e :retary declared, “and irer the new year more it dng that the wo st nr . IXJiStS ClSSIti ’d that t'nroug1 gan stat reduce costs. icd. this 'ney will deoa varifl which they sort c crops in the , rot ng help from the •riculture and the •icultural colleges er than before that i farmer the same marketing of his * been giving him SANFOtD \ M.A <1 IS ROBBED Placed C'-r y : e Stocking Aft er \> ' r.g L n House. Sanforc J n. Mrs. Joe M. Thomas, ; : 4.', livir. about a mile east of Sa U. d, was locked uncon scious and ro (! i - , 200 last night about 7:30. K . d while com ing to towi v of the crime and to secui -la few min utes after fh r ■ e 5 fired upon, presumably «1 r, the bullet passing close . o ■ ■ u\. Mr. and M cere expect ing to begir. i heir new home in San 1 1. morning and they had n over the plans estimati. -.st, while the wife had'spre. - om y out on the table and t ov , -terWards placing it in th > - md utting it inside her stocl.ii in r. to her leg. She then wer ( t< *\e chick en house, as was m a each night before ret o sr if the chickens were sat She had visited m h mst ind had started for anoth ft, .: ( • t . stance away, when some r. he did not see struck he. ii he reast, knocking her down Sh< amed and knew nothing mot urul she came to herself in 1 . She did not know if the o'., was black or white, and did i >; v if he struck her with a s < , i v s, of opinion that he used f t Mr. Thomas was ti : in the house reading when 1 ■ ‘t-rd his wife scream, and rusl t b=-r aid. He found her on the oun frying to scream but unable t lake noise and he picked her up a cair: 1 her inside the house. Her stockm was torn and the money go Dr. Scott was summon i tnd that Mrs. Thomas was s y injured but exceedingly r. o. the fright of her trying 4 er :, Sheriff Landon Rosser >u n t job within a few minuft hounds from Raeford arr t 12 o’clock . But so far 1 i has not been apprehended.—!^ ~ Observer. . < •; •• SIMPLIFY FORMS TO MAKE RETURNS ON INCOME TAXES Thirty-Five Freight Cars Will Be Needed To Send Out New Forms. Twenty Million Printed. Washington, Jan. 1.—Drafting of the new 1921 income tax return form for incomes of $5,000 or less has been completed by the tax simplification board, of which J. H. Beal, of Pitts burgh, is chairman, it was said to night at the treasury. The new forms, which are regarded as much more simple and less con fusing than those in use last year, have gone to the printers and proba bly will be ready for distribution about January 15. From fifteen to 20 million copies of the new forms are being printed and it is estimated that 35 freight cars will be required to send them to internal revenue col lectors throughout the country. Efforts to simplify form 1040— which is the form used by the aver age tax payer has resulted in reduc ing the number of pages from six to fo^r and in eliminating the block system of- return utilized in 1920, which was said to be confusing to the great majority of tax payers who had income from one or two sources. The internal revenue bureau estimates 70 per cent of the persons using the $5, 000 form have income from only sal aries and wages and possibly interest and have few deductions to make from that income. The new form will require tax pay ers to list on the first page the amounts of income received from a number of sources and then from the total of these amounts to deduct the amounts to which they are legally en rhp balance beine the taxable | net income. Zr.a -BMnuti *<**'«•• At tain information from persons receiv ing income from specified sources, such as - business earned on t." the tax payer and the third and fourth pages are devoted to instruction. By reducing the the form to four pages the board has eliminated the duplicate, or “work-sheet” of the 1920 form but, it was explained if tax payers wish to keep as copy of their returns sufficient forms will be available for duplicates to be obtain ed. Leprosy in New York. New York, Dec. 30.—Eighty or 90 cases of leprosy are known to exist in New York City, Dr. Royal S. Cope land, city health commissioner, de clared today when he produced a few of what he called “practically non contagious lepers” at a meeting of physicians in the Health Department building. “Leprosy is much more prevalent than is popularly known,” he said. “Unfortunately, leprosy, as most >f us know it, is confounded with the Bible. Modern leprosy can only be acquired by taking into your blood the blood of a leper. So long as tl ere are no open .gores, lepers are not to be feared.” Thirteen cases are kept isolated at North Brother Island, he said, while unconfirmed lepers are listed and visited often enough by inspectors “so we know society is amply protected.” Today’s meeting was brought about to acquaint members of the Health Department medical staff and other physicians with the signs and symp toms of leprosy.—Philadelphia Rec ord. Germany and United States Resume Diplomatic Relations. Washington, Dec. 31.—Diplomatic relations between Germany and the United States were resumed officially late today when Karl Lang, charge d’affaires from Berlin government, presente'd his letters of credence and was received by Secretary Hughes. Biddle University Suffers Loss. Charlotte, N. C., Dec. 31.—A loss of $100,000 was entailed in the destruc tion by fire today of the Industrial Building of Biddle University, main tained by the Northern Presbyterian hurch. In the budding were valuable ma terials and rt’or^s loss of which a'e counted irreparable. HOPE FOR FARP ERS IS SEEN BY BAILEY Warehouses and Credit Are Needed to Bring Pros perity to the Farmer Washington, Jan. 1.—“The farmi ers, interest are coming to the froJ in North Carolina and in the nation, said J. W. Bailey, of Raleigh, former Collector of Internal Revenue for North Carolina, who left today for his home after a short visit here. Asked as to the reasons for this con clusion Mr. Bailey, who is a c.loa student of men and affairs, said things of much interest, along this line, referring to other matters of pertinent interest in the Slab and the nation at this time. Continuing along the line of his -datement that farmers’ interests are to have a premier place Mr. Bailey sa d: ‘‘Our political questions are destined to be of an agricultural char ee'er for some time to come When some month ago I sounded the alarm as to the condition of farming, I was denounced as a pessimist. I observe now that the President of the United States has also sounded an alarm on the same subject, and has called a National Conference to devise ways and means of agricultural relief. Thi • past week the Progressive Farmer of Raleigh announced a Farmer’s Plat form of considerable signicance. Manifestly the farmers are going to have a stronger and more definite band in public matters from now on. The Cooperative Marketing move ment is a powerful evidence of this determination to get on a little bet ter footing. \ “Its success,” continued Mr. Bail* . 1 on positive • - rational aid— I of .s'&nd'credit ‘tV j :>e the no step. It will ■ c ! littli purpose to get 300/rfA, . of tobacco or 400,000 bates >f > ton ‘signed up,’ unless warehouses for storage and money for advances are available. The present danger is that our farmers will be persuaded that cooperative marketing will assure them good prices and will, therefore, plant big crops. If so, and we have favorable seasons, a big yield of cot ton and tobacco will inevitably bring the prices down, and next winter we will be worse off than ever. -The foundation of the marketing proposi tion is a supply less than the demand. Cooperative marketing cannot cure the evil of over production of money crops. ‘Very probably our farmers would realize more money from an 8,000, 000 bale crop of cotton than from a 12 million bale crop. Cooperative marketing with warehouses and cred its will help when we have a reas onably short supply; but over-produc tion will destroy the movement. The only way out is more food crops and less money crops, with a co-operative marketing system supported by ade quate warehouses and ready credits. This is the policy to pursue. “The farmers were aroused from their indifference by the revaluation act,'” said Mr. Bailey. “They will not go to sleep again—this side of a general ‘look in’ into our politics. You will see more farmers in the next General Assembly than you have in 20 years. “President Harding evidently knows that his party will lose out in the West unless it shows its ca pacity to relieve the agricultural de • pression. This* and not the Wilson League of Nations, or the Harding League of Four Nations, is the first test of his Administration. Just sc the farmers in North Carolina are looking to the Democratic party in North Carolina to do all that can be done to enable them to farm on a paying basis. “It is true,” he went on to say, “that conditions in central North Carolina are better than in most any other part of the United States— or the world. This, however, does not mean that the people are prosperous in central North Carolina—they arc only relatively better off than others, due to reasonably fair prices for cot ton and tobacco, and comparatively larger crop? cotton crop of some 800 000 ba. , \as nearly normal. This rela pro icrity starts out in the New tear mo<« fa.^rai than a year ago could have been he i ed. . a ^——srrssii> .# ] ORGANIZED A NEW BANK IN SMITHFIELD Mr. R. C. Gillett Is Elected President; R. L. Fitzger ald Vice-President When the First National Bank and The Citizens National Bank consoli dated not long ago it was predicted by many that there would soon be an other bank to*piganize and open up here. This ismeing done. A canvass has been made and stock has been taken for the new bank. Last Friday an organization was effected. Mr. R. C. Gillette was elected president viii Mr. R. L. Fitzgerald as vice president. The directors are: A. M. Johnson, J. E. Woodall, John W. Blackman, James D. Parker and W. H. Flowers. A directors meeting will be held some time soon to elect a cashier and attend to other business. The bank has an authorized capital of fifty thousand dollars. Mr. R. L. Fitzger ald, who is vice-president of this bank has had considerable experience in banking. The name of this new enterprise is The Farmers Bank and Trust Company. India Is Proclaimed Republic. Washington, Jan. 1—India has been proclaim'd a republic and the non violence pol cy of Mahatma Ghandi, who T as given dictatorial powers last •vee>. by the all-India national cor has b,een modified to per m Violence fob “defense,” according j 4 ublegram received today by dra N. Ghose, director of the * rican commission to promote self ernment in India. As a further •iSUrv f V;1 ' ‘ . ' Pi il meat, ■•*<»» ,pt sa*d, »,-••• j r-xIsHnif’boycott ha. been ox tended t | f prosperity. There was a great liqui dation in 1921. We are much better off for that. We have gotten used to the depression in 1921. We are much better off for that. We should set out hopefully in 1922. The time to take losses, pay debts, and start afresh under known conditions is at hand. The first to do this will be the first to profit by it. We will not get out of our condition until we quit all our extravagances, personal and public. These are the real remedies. Those who are spending are making it all the harder for those who would save. And high taxes are discourag :rg many from saving. The argu ent is, if you don’t spend it your If the government will spend it for you.”—Edward E. Britton, in News 1 and Observer. ISSUES STATEMENT ON FILING OF INCOME TAX Taxpayers Advised to Lose No Time In Making Out Their Returns; March 15, 1922 Last Day. Internal Revenue Collector Gillani Grissom, through District Deputy Fred T. Tucker, of this district, has issued the following statement on the filing of income tax returns: “With the approach of the period for filing income tax returns—Janu ary 1 to March 15, 1922,—taxpayers are advised to lose no time in the compilation of their accounts for the year 1921. A new and important pro vision of the revenue act of 1921 is that every person whose gross in come for 1921 wrns $5,000 or over, shall file a return, regardless of the amount of net income upon which the tax is assessed. Returns are requir ed of every single person whose net income was .$1,000 or over and every married person living with husband or wife whose net income was $2, 000 or over. Widows and widowers and persons separated or divorced from husband or wife, are regarded as single1 persons. “Net income is gross income, less certain deductions for business ex penses, losses, taxes, etc. Gross in come includes practically all income received by the taxpayer during the year; in case of the wage-earner, salaries, wages, bonuses and commis sions; in the case of professional men, all amounts l’eceived for professional services; in the case of farmers, all profits from the sale of farm prod ucts and rental or sale of land. “In the making of an income tax re turn for the year 1921, every tax payer should present himself the following questions: “What were your profits from your business trade, profession or voca tion ? j Did you receive any u.u sr a f tittiitt GtJpuoi'Ji ; "Have you any property f r* -ni which i mu Yt/u r t ive any income m form of dividend or interest from stocks or bonds? “Did you receive any bonuses dur ing the year? “Did you make any profit on the sale of stocks, bonds, or other proper ty, real and personal? “Did you act as a broker in any transaction from which you received commissions ? “Are you interested in any part nership or other firm from which you receive any income? “Have you any income from royal • j ties or patents ? “Have you any minor children who are working? “Do you appropriate, or have the right to appropriate the earnings of such children? If so, the amount must be included in the return of income. “Has your wife any income from any source whatsoever? If so, it must be included in your return or report ed in a separate return of income. “Did you receive any directors’ fees or trustees’ fees in the course of the year? “Did you hold any office in a benefit society from which you receive in come? “Answers to all of these questions are necessary to determine whether a person has an income sufficiently large to require that a return be filed, and may be the means of avoiding the heavy penalties imposed for fail ure to do so within the time prescrib ed.”—Wilmington Star. Work of County Commissioners The County Commissioners met in regular monthly session yesterday. Most of their work was to order the payment of a few small bills. They had a light day’s work. The follow ing was passed: Ordered that he auditor be instruct ed to reduce the school tax in school district number 3 in Cleveland town ship to 12 1-2 cents on the hundred dollars worth of property and thirty seven and one-half cents on the poll and to change the sheriffs receipts to conform with this order. Quit Spitting on Sidewalks. Do you spit on the sidewalk ? Some hundreds of you do; and it is a filthy habit. There is a law against it, too; a town law as well as the law of de cency. If you are bound to spit, spit in the gu+ter. Women must walk on the sidewalks. Keep the sidewalks clean.—Dunn Dispatch. HENDERSON SUFFERS GREAT LOSS BY FIRE Three Story Prize House Is Destroyed; Number Of Buildings Damaged Henderson, Jan. 1.—The first day of the New Year in Henderson waB marked by two disastrous fires, which caused damage in the neighborhood of $150,000. Fire early this morn ing destroyed a garage, a store, and two dwellings in the North Hender son section, and tonight a blaze that for a time threatened the entire city* burned the three-story prize house of the J. P. Taylor Tobacco Company, a half million pounds of leaf tobac co, four residences and did damage to the Presbyterian church, the Vance county court house and several other residental structures. One fireman is in a local hospital unconscious as the result of a fall from a ladder. Battling against a mass of flames fanned by a stiff wind which show ered myriads of sparks over a wide territory .and started several other fires, the firemen put up the most heroic exhibition of fire fighting seer here in many months, and confine< the damage to the big prize hous> and immediate vicinity. The wim • was sweeping the flames directly to ward the heart of the business dis trict, and for a time it looked as i this section of the city was doomed The brick high school building ii the path of the fire helped the fire men and citizens in controlling th< blaze. How the blaze started has not beei definitely determined, but the opin ion prevails that a carelessly handler match or cigarette by some irrespon sih'f- party or parties in the prize ho so without ant' -city originates i. About e it '‘oel. the blaze wai dis overed m the ?nd of the three* stca.r 'toaeJ: Btru- mre . facing thi k high school building. At thi time the wind w:r blowing briskly directly toward the high school. Sooi the wooden building, containing 500, 000 pounds of leaf tobacco, property of the J. P. Taylor Leaf Tobaccco Qompany, was enveloped in flames, made* furious by the driving wind, which rained sparks over j . ver t blocks of business and resident ■’ structures. I he firemen, realizing the futility of trying to save the prize house and tobacco and the danger to other structures from the wind, confined their efforts chiefly to confining the blaze to as small an area as possible. The brick high school in the path of the blaze acted as an obstruction and was probably the biggest factor in enabling the firemen to get the ser ious situation under conti-ol. The prize house was soon burned, togeth er with the large quantity of tobacco, entailing a loss of $100,000. All windows of the high school building facing the prize house were broken by the heat and the interior of several rooms were scorched and damaged by water. Four cottages, the property of J. W. Beck, just across the street from the prizery, were burned to the ground and several oth er residential structures also caught fire, but the flames were extinguish ed before any extensive damaged had resulted. » In the meantime the great shower of sparks was keeping citizens and firemen busy extinguishing roof fires. The residence of Dr. R. F. Harris, the Presbyterian church, the Vance county court house and one or two more structures were ignited by sparks, but the fires were conquer ed before they had made any head way. The residence of R. J. Suther land, register of deeds, also caught from sparks, and for a time was in danger of destruction,, damage amount, ing to about $500. The damage to the high school building is estimated at two or three thousand dollars and the opening of the school, scheduled for Wednesday, may be delayed until necessary re pairs to the interior and exterior can be made. The total damage from the big blaze, including the prize house and tobacco, was roughly estimated at more than $125,000.—News and Observer. It has been discovered that sun flowers, also, make excellent food for cattle. Have they tried milk —Hamlet News-Messenger.