Up in Perppn county a new line is being constructed. Here is the wire-stringing crew of the Rock ingham Construction Company during one If its breathing spells. 58,770 Farms In N. C. Receive Power From REA n*-.. .a_ Director A farmer and tobacco man from route 2, Chapel Hill, Eu gene Blackwood has served on the board of directors since 1JM1. f More than a million and 70 thousand farms and other rura establishments in th^ United State | including 58,770 in North Carolina receive central station electric ser vice today as a direct result of th< 11-year-old Rural Electrificatior Administration program. The REA program has made both direct and indirect contributions to the nation’s farm welfare. Elec tricity not only brings rural peo ple city conveniences—electric lights, running water, indoor ■ plumbing, electric refrigeration and electrical household appli ances—but also provides the means _of more efficient farm production by performing scores-of farm jobs Before REA was established in 1935, all rural electrification ir this country was done by com mercial power companies, which operated chiefly in the immediate smith s FURNITURE ; •• In Hillsboro Offers Tm Now general ELECTRIC Electrical Affliaaces Tc the member, of the Piedmont Electric Membenhip Corporation we wUh a plea* .'and .uccmsfnl meeting in Hillsboro Trade In Hillsboro r Available—General Electric Home Freerer-*.* It has been oar pleasure to wire ■,JSHsy homes receiving REA Electrical v /, ■' Power. We have the followiog services to offer REA users. ^ Electrical Wiring > r ^ Repairs ^ Appliances J. E. FLOYD —Electrical Contractor— Route a, Hiljsboro ) vicinity of cities and towns. In 1 thinly-settled rural areas, farm 5 ers seeking electric service were, i thwarted by high connection • charges and expensive long-term f contracts. The effectiveness of the i rusiA program in changing tha. situation is soown by me latest of- j ciciai reports of progress. I A few montn beiore REA was established in 193o, less than 11 percent of. the nauoh's 6,ooo,000 j .arms had central station electric ! service. Today more than half the .arms in me tnuea States are elec .i tried and more man naif of me! .arms eiectruied sinee laio are ^rved by RttA-iinanced lines. Tne rest are on iihes of commercial power companies whose activity Ja rural areas has been stimulated oy the REA program. Since' ly3a, itrA nas approved loans totaling $916,653,090 to 1,005 borrowers inciuuing yz6 ru ral electric cooperatives, 39 pub lic utility districts, 20 omer public jooies, and 20 commercial puw -i companies. Eight hundred and uxty -seven of the borrowers have mes and other faculties in op eration. 'these borrowers are operating nearly a half-million miles of line serving more than 1,600,000 farms and other rural consumers in 46 States, Alaska and the Virgin Is lands. About 80 percent of the con sumers on REA-financed lines are farms. The rest are non-farm rural homes, churches, schools, com munity halls, stores and a variety or ruial industries, such as cream eries, grain elevators, wood-work ing plants, machinery repair shops. Stimulation of rural industry has been one of the chief contributions of the REA program to rural wel fare. Farmers have managed their own electric systems so well that in many cases they are repay I ing their Government loans more rapidly than their loan contracts require. As of September 30. bor i rowers had paid a total of $120, 000,000 in principal and interest ! on their loans. Of this amount l nearly $20,000,000 represented ! payments on principal in au vance 1 of the due dates. Payments over ’ due more than 30 days totaled oh* : ly $952,000. HEA is a bureau of the Depart ment-of Agriculture. It is head J ed by an Administrator, who is appointed by the President, con firmed by the Senate, and res ponsible to the Secretary of Agri t culture. The present Administra ( tor, Claude R. Wickard of Indi ► ana, was appointed by President rruman in June, 1946 for a 10 year term. REA operates no electric facili ties but promotes rural electrifica tion by making loans to finance electric systems in rural areas. Un der the Rural Electrification Act, REA is authorized to lend funds to cooperatives, public utility dis tricts, municipalities or power companies to finance electric gen - eration, transmission and distri bution facilities in order to bring electricity to persons in rural areas not receiving central sta tion electric service. The Act also authorizes loans to finance the wiring of rural establishments and the purchase of appliances by those receiving service. All REA loans are self-liquid ating. Under the original Act, re payment was required over a max mum period of 25 years with in terest ranging from about 2 1-2 to about 2 3-4 percent. The Pace Amendment of 1944 reduced the Interest rate to a flat 2 percent and increased the maximum am ortization period to 35 years. The Admlnistratbfmayapprove no > loan unless in his judgement these epayment terms can be met from operation of the system to be fi nanced. More than 95 percent of. all REA funds have been lent to locally owned member-controlled, cdop [ oratives organized under State laws by rural people who lacked electric service. In North Carolina these cooperatives are known ac electric membership corporations A rural electric cooperative is own by those who use the power i' distributes. Since cooperatives op erate on a non-profit basis, retar rates are based on corft, with al ** ■ ***•*-•?= i ,an'o*£%zs I Ever ready to go to work at any time, the line maintenance depart ment of the Piedmont Electric Membership Cooperative is headed by Junnie E. Terrell who is line foreman. In addition to maintaining the lines already in operation, the line maintenance crew during 1947 will be required to construct new lines of 1,000 feet or less. During 1946 the crew constructed 144 new ex tensions serving about 150 people in addition to servicing the iin