North Carolina Newspapers

Daily m FHERNER LOCAL' COTTON, WEATHER TONIGHT SIXTEEN CENTS. FAIftj SAME TEMPERATURE TARBORO, N. C, , MURStfATrMC.'-lS," I92f ALL THE LOCAL NEWS ASSOCIATED PRESS VOL. 42 NO. 94. SOU' NEW SCHOOLHOUSE OR BACK TP THE BASEMENT The general assembly of 1921.au , thoriied the Tarboro School Board, acting through the county omniis gioners, to-call a specie.', election for the issuance of not more than $150,- 000 worth of bonds for school pur poses in theTarbbro school district, which comprises the whole of town- ship No. 1. The school board pro poses to call the election for the lat- ,'. ter part of January, the date tenta tively set being January 25. : Under the act providing for the , ' bond issue, the school board is em '" powered to Use guch a portion of the maximum of $150,000 as it deems ;. netfssary in acquiring a site for and constructing a new white school build y ; ing, paying an indebtedness of ap proximately $5,000 spent in building i and equipping the temporary school- ' house situated in the rear of the cen tra', school, erecting a' teacheragc, ' and making some provision for the relief of overcrowded artd dangerous conditions in the Princeville school. Mr. C. C. Hook, a well known and experienced school architect of Char lotte, whose advice has been sought by the school board, has stated that in his opinion $150,000 will be suf ficient for these four 'purposes. For the last two of these projects the school board has made no defi . nite plans. The essential feature of the bond issue is, of course, to pro vide funds for erecting a high school building, and thus to remedy an over crowded condition which has for some ''years been a constant handicap to; euecesef u'. work in the schools. ' C Several years ago the school board gChool house is provided, others realising the need for additional fa- must go to the basement. And unless cilitiea, contemplated ' school Wnd! this bond Issue Is. yoted,hy. th time ' ". v t v ' ' v ' i ' ! authority is secured from another issue, but, because of. abnormal con- ' . . , . ' . . gerieril assembly for a bond election, ditiong' incident to the war, decided the bondg votcd and building erect to' postpone any bond election until ed, the basement will be as full of after the war and, in the meantime, children as it was two years ago. to nroviH ht it rmilH fnr tW The school board proposes, if this overflow in the schools. ah ooiiuM- fc' ment were, therefore, fitted up as class rooms and the high school, with the exception of the eleventh grade, was transferred to the basement. To accommodate the eleventh grade a partition was built across dne end of the hall, upstairs, and this enclosed end of the hall was used as a class room. The commercial class was sim ilarly provided, for in the other end of the hall. ; This arrangement continued until the end of the school year 1919-1920. By that time it had become appar ent that this makeshift arrangement could no longer be tolerated. The basement rooms were comparatively poorly lighted, poorly ventilated and unattractive. They were so damp throughout a great part of the year as to be a constant menace to the health of the children . occupying them. Moreover the morale of the school, particularly of the nigh school had been shot to pieces by the appar ent necessity of consigning practic ally, the whole high school to base ment rooms utterly unfitted for use as regular class rooms. In order to relieve this condition until such time as another school house pould be - erected, the school board built -the aix-room structure which has housed the first, two grades 'since September ' of 1920. vV-!---. Vv. ' This building, while much better than basement class rooms, was built as cheaply as possible and is nt suit . able for continued use as a school kuilding. For example, during the warm weather of the autumn and spring, the roomg of this building are so warm that teachers have to keep their pupils outdoors during the mid dle of the day. - ' Leaving out of consideration the six, rooms in this building snd one basement -room, which is still neces sarily used aa a class room, there are now just seventeen available suitable class rooms for the white children . of the Tarboro school district. Two of these rooms are at Runnymede, the other fifteen being in the Centra! school. The actual white enrollment of the schools, not counting any who have moved away or quit school, is 750. Counting then the available suitable class rooms and the number . of children who are in actual atten dance and for whom seats must be provided, there' is an average - of 1 forty-four children to the room, Bad as that condition undoubtedly is, it will steadily grow worse each year until another building is erect ed; for the school enrollment is in creasing rapidly much more rapid ly than the normal increase in popu lation. The enrollment in the high whnol this vear is around 20 more than it was at the same date la year,' while the enrollment in , the lower grades is increasing (consider ing both the larger number of pupils who enter the first grade and a grow ing and commendable tendency of pupils above the first grade to stick through the aeventh grade) at the rate of from thirty to fifty a year. Last year, for example, there were in the primary department of the Central school .three sections of the first grade, three of the second, and two of the third. This year it was necessary to provide for an addition al section of the third grade, there being an average of 34 pupils to the section. This growth in the school enroll ment nSeans that next year there will be additional classes to be provided for and that the people of Tarboro will be confronted with a choice be tween two alternatives. A third pos sible course, that of having part of the children go to school part of the day, and the remainder another part of the day, has been tried in several places and has been found so uni formly unsatisfactory and demoral izing that it is not considered further here and ought to be adopted , only when the people of the community can 'resign themselves to well-nigh hopeless school conditions. Exclud ing this possible course, the two al ternatives are: A pew Bchool house 6r back to the basement. And the adoption of one of these alternatives can not be long defer- . J red. Already one class is quartered I in the basement. Next year, unless bond issue is voted, to put up a mod- em high school building (probably of the junior-senior type) adequate or the needs of the town for the next ten years, and constructed on the unit plan so that necessary addi tions can thereafter he made to it without destroying the original plan or marring the symmetry of the building.. After investigating available build ing sites from the standpoit of ac cessibility, drainage, and area, the school board has decided upon a site at the head of St. David street and east of the residence of Mr. C. P. McCluer., This site was selected up on the advice of the architect, Mr. Hook, who stated that this lot would make the finest gchool site he knew of in North Carolina. ' Prior to selecting this site; the gchool board considered five other sites, which were then suggested the old Foxhall property, the lot on which the McLendo ntent was pitch ed, the section of the commons lying west of Main street, the lot on which the Central school is located, and the lot between the Wilson residence and the 'Andrews residence on St. David street. It was, found that the Foxhall property "did not have a frontage wide enough to provide suf ficient grounds and furthermore it would cost more than the much lar ger lot finally selected. The lot on which the McLendon tent was pitch ed was objectionable partly because it is located directly behind the Cen tral school but mainly because the streets on two sides of the lot are lined with negro houses belonging for the most part to the occupants. As to the section of the commons ly ing west of Main street, the school board, remembering the fight made some years ago against the location of the Central gchool on the com mons, considered it extremely doubt ful whether permission could be se cured from the town to erect .another-school building on the com mons. Aside from this fact, a school house erected on this lot would be right on the edge of the business por tion -of the town, would have tie railroad just behind it, and would not have room for an athletic field Which is desired for the new build ing. The other section, of the com mons available the lot on which the Central school is located .was not considered desirable because it was believed that the interests of the schools would best be served by-separating the school building instead AGREEMENT 'BIG THREE' NIL RATIO YET REACHED WASHINGTON, Dec. 15. Alter nate proposals relating to the "five-five-three" naval ratio, as worked out apparently overnight by naval experts, was presented to Secretary of State Hughes, Mr. Balfour, Baron Kato this morning. The spokesman for the delegation said It was indicated that no formal agreement had been reached by the big three powers. With formal announcement of a complete agreement between Great Britain, the United States and Japan On the basis of the letter's accept ance of the naval ratio, now await ing adjustment of technical details alone, the focal point of the arms conference appeared to be shifting to the Far Eastern discussions. Discuss Freight Rate Reduction MEMPHIS, Dec. 15. Freight rate reduction and forestry legislation were discussed at the special meet ing of the Southern Yellow Pine Manufacturers here today. Woman Killed in Auto Wreck. COLUMBUS, Ga., Dec. 15. Mrs, Kathcrine Endicott, wife of Lieut. Endicott, was killed today when her automobile struck a telephone pole. of grouping them. The fact is, the Central school is located almost in the center of the lot and no other large building could be erected there without crowding both. The proper ty lying between the Wilson resi denoe and the Andrews residence would have been desirable except for the fact that it "is" verjr low-and that it could have been filled in and pro pei'ly drained, only at an excessive cost. The number of sites available was thus narrowed down to the lot at the head of St. David street. The school .board found that it could secure here a lot with a frontage of 458 3-4 ft. and with a deptn oi auu ieci, except the first 100 feet east of Mr. McCluer's, which has a depth of 150 feet. This will provide ample room for playgrounds and an athletic field. It is the plan of the board to build the school house on ihe top of the hill facing St. David street on one side and the back street on the oth er. The building would thus be plac ed where it will show off as no other building in town will and as few, if any schools in the state do. In ad dition to these advantages, the gchool would be located in that part of the town which must grow up as the town grows. Within little more man two blocks now of the Central school, the selected site ten years from now may be more convenient for the ma jority of Tarboro people than the Central school site itself. The cost of the proposed building will hardly excee $110,000, buj supposing that the total amount of $150,000. should, be spent for the purposes stated "in this article, it would not impose a heavy burden taxpayers. The bonds are to mature in thirty years. .To pay the interest on these bonds and to provide the sinking fund would require a tax of approximately 15 cents on the hundred dollars worth of property. To put it differently, a man who pays a tax on a thousand dollars of property would pay $1.50 a year for the school building; a man who pays tax on ten thousand dollars worth of property would pay only $15 a year for the school. Ig that too much to pay to provide adequate school facilities? Is it too much to pay to keep the children of the community out of basement class rooms? . The time has ceme when the voters of Tarboro must answer that ques tion. There is no disputing the fact that present facilities are inadequate. Leaving out of consideration any mi nor questions, the one : important question to be answered by this elec tion now is: Are the people of Tar boro going to provide attractive, comfortable, commodious school rooms for their children or are they going to make it necessary for the school authorities to. give the order, Back to the basement? Those are the alternatives: A new gchool house or back to the basement , . ROBERT F. MOSELY, -. - Superintendent. REV. R. A. LAPSLEY EXPRESSES THANKS TO MANY HELPERS To the Members of the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina: In behalf of the board of regents of the orphans' home at Barium and in the name of the 230 children who are being cared for there, I. wish to thnnW thp mnmhera of the Presby- . . ,. ., .. . tenan church in North Carolina and, other friends, who have so loyally rallied to the support of the home. Many have given liberally and sac rificially. We cannot make definite announcement as to the result of the Thanksgiving campaign. There are many churches from whom we have heard nothing and many that have not completed the canvass. Some of the reports are wonderful. One small church with thirty mem bers has given three hundred dollars. Another rather weak home mission church has given between $600 and $700. Charlotte has set the pace for the whole Synod in a contribution of between $25,000 and $30,000, the First church giving nearly $20,000 of this amount. On the other hand, some of our largest and strongest churches have not come up to what was hoped and expected of th'im. In thanking the churches and individuals that have responde dto the appeal we wish to urge upon those who have not done their share that they plan to do so. The success of a campaign of this kind depends upon every individual and every church doing their part. An average gift of $2 per member thriiout the Synod would give us the amount 'desired. In order to reahL this lit wilt be necessary for the larg er churches to exceed this average But whether large or small, if your church has not given more than an average of $2 per member, we ap peal to you to see that this is done. If you have no other plans for Christ mas, we suggest that you remember the orphans at that time and try to bring your church up to the stand ard.' A personal visit to Barium will convince anyone not only of the need but of the necessity for the forward movement that is now in progress. It will also be Inspiring to see the pro gress that is being made on the new buildings. The brick work is nearly done, and both buildings will soon be under roof. These buildings will give long needed relief in the dining room and kitchen, and additional dor mitory space for 100 girls. We be lieve that this movement has been divinely guided, and that it will more and more commend itself to the lib erality of every loyal Presbyterian. R. A. LAPSLEY, JR., President Board of Regents, MARKET REPORTS. Wheat: Opea. Close. Dec. 1.06 5-8 1.08 May 1.11 1.12 5-8 Corn: Open.- Close. Dec. .46 .46 5-8 May .52 3-8 .53 Oata: Open. Close. Dec. .31 7-8 .32 1-4 May ........ .37 1-2 .36 2-3 Peanuts: Virginia, 2a3 3-4c. Local Spanish, 85c. , Cotton: Close. Open. Close. Jan. 17.45 17.44 17.50 Mar. 17.45 17.42 17.48 May ........ 17.26 17.22 17.27 Jly. .... ..4. . 16.90 lb.80 16.89 Dec. .... 17.70 17.74 17.70 . Eireaaa Resume Secret Session DUBLIN, Dec. 15. A large crowd was outside of the. building today when the Dail Eireann resumed se cret session on the agreement with Great Britain. , WHY DOES PRICE OF SO (Williamston Enterprise.) The cotton crop is very short, the smallest crop in many years. Ho.ne consumption is good. Ex ports are heavy. Prices are low. This is something hard to understand. If there was such a probability of a wheat shortage, a hat shortage, a meat shortage, or a shortage of any thing the public needs, such as is apr parent in the cotton supply, the price on such articles would soar but the price of rotton, the product of the South, the poor people of the South are beaten down by some influence which prevents the law of supply and demand in acting in favor of the pro ducing masses. The price of cotton changes six times every week. There seems to be no good reason for this The cotton market is a strange thing anyway. If a negro coughs in Mississippi or a Dago sneezes in Ja pan it seems to be quite sufficient ground for the New York stock gam blers to boost or depress prices just as the conditions best suit them. When the cotton crop gets in the hands of the mills and trusts the price will soar to a very high figure, Liberty and Victory bonds were low just as long as everybody had them but when they were gathered togeth er in the hands of the few, up they went! J. 0. SUCAfiftl'S ITTON LETTER (Reported to J. R. Etheridge) '.'' NEW YORK, Dec. 15. If indica tions be correct, a reactionary mar ket will be expected today. Liverpool started off higher bu midday had lost most of !t and New York is due to ooints lower nroviiitd of n .iat the Liverpool market does not react before we open. One of the things that hurts is the report that the spot demand over most of the South is small. Nothing more heard about English buyers ransacking Texas for spot cotton. New Orleans reported that there was practically no spot demand to sustain the advance; meantime hol- ( ders' are not inclined to make con cessions. The large holders of mills in tffe England textile interest makes some believe not unnaturally that spinners are much better supplied with raw material than has been' gen eral'y sup posed to be. Liverpool, New Orleans and Japan interests are said to hold the balance yesterday bub-all this perrimism talk about the viewed situation With a grain of salt. ' Big consumption coupled with lar ger exports both of which promise to continue at an increasing rate have taken the edge off the census bureau crop estimate. Eve hthe Man thester Guardian expresses amaze ment over the crop error and winds up its protest as follows: "If the govr emment will not pay for the work being done properly they had better leave it alone." .: AU this will have been forgotten after the holidays. In the meantime price movement la not likely to be of any great importance. Do not expect any definite tr.end to the market, al tho it would not be surprising were there a minor decline. . Would sug gest that advantage be taken of all good reactions to make purchase; belieVe that scale down orders would ultimately prove profitable. MONTROSE, Va., Dec, 15. Pro secution continued presentation of evidence today against Soger East lake, charged with wife murder, COTTON REMAIN LOW ON SHORT EROP RUSSIAN CIVIL PAY ROLL 1ST COMETO L S MOSCOW, Dec. 15. There are 7,000,000 on the Russian government civil pay roll, says a report just given out by Yourey Larin, the former so cial revolutionist leader and chair man tif a committee selected by the central government to reduce the number of institutions supported by the government and to eliminate un necessary bureaus. Karl Radek, Bolshevist leader, de clared in a recent article that the strength of the soviet army is five 1 million men. The size of the. navy is not known. ' . ''.' Granting that the figures of Radek and Larin are correct, the Bolshe vist government has at least 12,000,- 000 persons on its civil and military J pay rolls, or one person out of every ten in what constitutes Soviet Rus- ! sia. In the civil list 2.970.000 Der- sons are engaged in industries, ac cording to Larin 's .statement, and 1,500,000 are in transport service. The employes in government offices and institutions number 2,100,000: Timber work and farm work under government control employ 400,000. Larin says the most sweeping re ductions will be made, in the depart ment of education, which is headed by Lunacharsky and has 1,200,000 employes. At least one-third of the workers in this department will be discharged. Teachers in the ordinary sciioois win De unanected, but Latin says his commission intends to '.op off all sorts of museums, dramatic academies, dancing studios and va rious side institutions which he de- 0 BASIS Clares are sapping the life from the have schools where they liquidate il educational system and squandering literacy!--" They '-.teach, in the ''hW money which should be devoted to strengthening free schools and pay ing better salaries to teachers of or linary subjects. By reducing the number of em oyes on public pay rolls, Larin de .. ares it will be the purpose of his commission to afford more food for the workers in essential industries Which have starved to support super fluous and faddish institutions. ' GERMANY WILL PAY (Reported to J. R. Etheridge) NEW YORK, Dec. 15. The Bank; of England rate is unchanged at 5 per cent. j Governors of stock exxchange t6-i day denied a petition to close the exchange on Saturdays before Xmas and Jiew Years. : , A Times copyright artjele indi cates the Reichbank will supply the $150,000,000 gold marks for January reparations, notwithstanding Presi dent Havenstein's protest that said the . Reichbank gold reserve "goes over my dead body." New York City $55,000,000 fifty year 4 1-2 per cent bond sale took place at noon today. Pacific Gas & Electric Company today declared a common stock divi dend of 2 per cent on common stock. Dai'. Eireann continues its secret sessions in an effort to effect com promise over the Irish treaty, but little headway is so far made. Ulster Tejected the invitation to better the Irish Free State. President Vance Lane of Baldwin Locomotive Works sailed for Europe this morning. , ' Railroads offer cut rates of 10 per cent on farm orchard and range and farm products thruout the country except New England, but ask delay of six,, months in grain reductions, in hearings before the Interstate Commerce, Commission, which were continued, today. ? , Steel trade organs says despite the 150 MILLDN IN GOLD LENIN URGE SOVIET RUSSIA TD COMBAT ILLITERACY, BRIBES RIGA, Latvia, Dec. 15. Russian peasants and laborers tired of prom ises of a Communist Utopia, and have come to the "show me" stage, Pre mier Nikolai Lenine said in a recent speech before a congress of Political Educational Workers at Moscow. The full text of this sensational speech, parts of which relating to Lenine's admissions of economic fail ure were cabled from Moscow at the time it was delivered, has just reach ed Riga, as reported by the official Moscow Prav'da. "There was a time," Lenine said, "when declarations, proclamations, decrees, etc., were necessary. We have had plenty of these. There was a time when it was necessary to show the people what we wanted to build. But can we continue to show and only tell the people what we want to bui'.d? No! Even the sim plest lr borer will then scoff at us, saying: 'You are always talking of what you want to do, but show us now what you can- do. And if you can do nothing, then go to the dev il!' And he will be right." Speaking about the absence of ed ucation and the prevailing illiteracy of the Russian population, Lenine said that the very fact that a com mission had to be appointed for the liquidation of illiteracy "shows, to ; say it as gently as possible, that we are something like half-savages. For in a civilized country, it would be considered a shame to create com missions for the liquidation of illit eracy. In the other countries they place, to read and write. As long as this fundamental problem is not solv ed, it is ridiculous to talk of a new economic policy." : Lening said that Soviet laws and propaganda were good, but couldn't succeed until the masses of the peo ple helped the regime. Several hundred thousand "obnox ious and useless Communists," he said, should be expelled from the party. "Russia," he continued, "shall have culture which will teach us to fight red tape, corruption and brib- lr$. , Experience has shown 'that a politically educated state knows no bribery, whereas with us, bribery is rampant." , Lenine said the government was facing three principal foes, the first Communist arrogance, second, illit eracy, and third, corruption, bribery. Three Raiders Surrender. JACKSON, Ky., Dec. 15. Three members of the band which raided Breathitt jait Monday, killing a man and wounding a woman, are today surrounded by state troops in a cave on the creek. State forces planned to use gas to drive them out. WILSON PROUD TO CONSIDER HIMSELF VETS' COMRADE WASHINGTON, Dec. 15. Former President Wilson is proud to consid er himself a comrade of all men of the expeditionary forces, he said in a letter today to J.: Bentley Mu'.ford, vice president of the Rainbow Divi sion -f veterans, replying to a New Years greeting. ; . Denies Peruyians Mobilising WASHINGTON, Dec, 15-Peruv-ian Minister Pezet today denied the reports that Peru was mobilizing her troops against Chile. Restoration of Baseball Draft. . NEW YORK, Dec. 15. Restora tion of draft rules under satisfactory conditions to all concerned is before the National Advisory Council of Baseball, which went into executive session today, with Commissioner Landis presiding. . price concessions buyers are limiting their orders so that inventories may be brought down to the lowest terms,