THE fPeiLienT
Published by
THE ROUSE PRINTERY
Farmville, N. C.
Kfjj.' Q. Ale* Rouse, Editor and Owner
I Eva Horton Shackleford, Associate Editor
^ VoL 1* SEPTEMBER, 1934 NoTH
And I will trust that He who heeds
Hie life that hides in mead and wold,
Who hangs yon alder's crimson beads
And stains these mosses green and gold,
Will still, as He hath done, incline
His gracious care to me and mine.
?Whittier.
& ; :? .
THE YEAR 1 N. D.
In the years to come, when recovery is
established on a permanently sound basis,
History will record the Year 1 N. D., as the
reconstruction days, following the breaking
of the backbone of Depression, with many
tales being told of the despairing kicks of
the vigorous monster, as he strove to rise
again. A year when the Multiplication
; Table and Ten Commandments, long dis
carded, were brought into use and their
values recognized and restored. A year of
transition when the reins of Selfishness and
Greed gave way to the reign of Altruism
and Rectitude.
Many tricks have been taken, many plays
lost since thfc-first hand of the NEW DEAL
was dealt, and many of those "sitting in"
are not behind a pat hand as yet, inasmuch
as material progress is concerned, but the
main issue of the NEW DEAL must not be
lost in the materialistic sense of make and
spend, gain and lose, it must bring what it
i was meant to give to those under its pre
cepts, "The chance to love, and to work and
to play, and to look up at the stars."
vnor* 1 "NT T1 A ?v>??***??
***^ j a. XI, x/.y ocx? nmci ita I-Fdoomg
the crisis in the most seething decade of
its history, a seige of panic, palsy and pover
ty, saw it rising to new heights under the
Captain of Progress, Franklin Delano Roose
velt, who is making a courageous fight to
regain the pride and freedom of this nation.
It was a year of plans and codes for regu
lating capital, industry, business and labor
jinto a system, which will work for the hap
piness of America and eventually the entire
world; a year of planned economy, which
will slowly but surely decrease poverty, dis
tribute wealth, prolong life and give to it a
savor of content.
' Ignoring criticism of the nation being
threatened with collapse, as a consequence
of his program, the New Dealer has con
tinued to deal, to carry on his announced
plans and instead of publicly answering his
critics let the results speak for themselves.
When avidity and selfishness oppose the
execution of these plans, common sense is
augmented by force in the effort to bring
about progress and human happiness. 1
The Roosevelt regime has meant, during
1
the Year 1, the employment of more than a
hundred thousand persons, who are working
to carry out the policies of the NEW LEAL.
The Public Works Administration, Tennes
see Valley Authority, the Home Owners
Loan Corporation, Agriculture Department
and Emergency conservation work have em
ployed the greater portion into the service
of the government.
Contrary to public thought, the majoiity
of workers are outside of the District of
Columbia, only 87,196 persons listed as being
in the crowded government buildings in
Washington; the Post Office Department em
ploying the largest number, 265,070, the
War Department next, 60,087, the Navy
third, 57,492, the Treasury 49,831 and Agri
culture 33,298.
mi ? ?
rne Year 1JN. D. is too beset with political
agument for any one to present at this time
a true resume of its meaning to America;
statistics show, however, an almost unbe
lievable increase in the countrywide index of
employment, factory payrolls and industrial
output.
And, in Eastern North Carolina, which is
regarded as climbing back to normalcy fast
er than almost any other section of the
country, where discouragement over the low
level of prices for farm products was so ap
parent a year ago, a very definite impetus
is now being felt in every line of activity;
the darkening shadow of accumulated debts
is being lifted, a new briskness is noted on
the farms, where crops are being harvested
with a greater zest, houses are being re
painted, barns and machinery repaired, and
every countryside bespeaks the evolution of
benefits from the NEW DEAL.
Agriculture and Industry are interdepen
dent, and as the NRA can function only on
the basic of the cooperative principle, the
success of the NEW DEAL depends on the
loyalty and cooperation of those sitting in
for a hand with the NEW DEALER, in his
own words, "the fate of any plan depends
upon the support it is given by those who
are asked to put it into operation."
POLICY OF RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM
GATHERS COBWEBS
The program mapped out by the Agricul
tural Adjustment Administration was noth
ing less than a challenge for a renewal of
the general opinion that the farmers will not
organize; will not cooperate with each other,
but are bound to continue the former policy
of rugged individualism and independent
action, handed down by generations to
whom the word cooperation was unknown.
This policy was self sufficient in their day
but cannot obtain under present conditions.
This independence and isolation of action
are impossible today. The frontiers of the
modern farmer are no longer confined by
the territorial bounds of his plantation. The
power of his old adversaries?droughts, de
luges, the elementary furies of wind and
hail, and disease in his stock have been aug
mented by an intangible foe?low prices for
his produce, and he cannot combat this one
singlehanded. He must gird up his loins,
and, motivated by a willingness to fight for
the good of all, join the rank and file of an
army of planters, which can present a solids
front to the enemy, if material'prosperity is
to be regained to any degree.
"ONSCREWING DE ONSCRUTABLE"
We stated as a fact defying contradiction,
in our last issue of THE SPOTLIGHT, that .
"an estimation of the price average for any
crop of tobacco is, in the words of a Negro
preacher, 'to onscrew de onscrutable.' "
In less than a month from the publication
of that statement, the Tobacco Section of
the AAA had literally "onscrewed de onscru
table" by setting for the companies and
farmers a parity price. '
It has always been the policy of this es
tablishment to publicly correct errors or jj
misstatements when brought to our atten- jj
tion, and we take a genuine pride in declar-1
ing that "de onscrutable can be onscrewed,"
though we do agree with Will Rogers, since
adverse weather conditions have put a sec
ond cut in tobacco acreage, that "that bird
elements has no respect for office sitters,
who figure out the farmer's acreage for him
in advance."
Believing that "that bird elements" is an
onscrutable matter that will stand the test,
we hereby challenge anybody to successfully
contradict this statement.
FINE PATRIOTISM
The fine spirit and high purpose together
with the display of genuine patriotism act
uating the formulation of plans of the Gold
en Weed Jubilee by the Major May Chapter,
D. A. R., under the forward looking leader
ship of Mrs. T. C. Turnage, the regent, who
was originator of the idea, deserves com
mendation from the entire commonwealth,
for once given the suggestion, the whole of
East Carolina heartily joined in to make
the affair one of the finest and most success
ful ever held in the State
CAN'T "PLANT ALL HE DURN
PLEASES" AND PROSPER
The rapidity with which the tobacco sign
up campaign was carried forward in this
State to a succesful campaign was the most
promising sign observed in farming sections
by leaders for generations, and the same
fine spirit of signing of the crop limita
tion contracts and the strict observance of
these agreements was sufficient proof that
the farmer has learned that he may "plant
all he durn pleases," but he may also expect
low prices to obtain in such an event.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
The census bureau says that this country
needs an epidemic of quintuplets, and that if
births do not increase rapidly there will
never be more than 142.000,000 Americans.
There are only 130,000,00 now. Statisti
cians say it is the high cost of living that is
wrecking the hopes of an increased popu