I THE ELKIN TRIBUNE
AND RENPRO RECORD
Published Brery Thursday by
ELK "PRINTING COMPANY, Inc.
Elkin, N. C.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1932
Entered at the poet office at Elkln, N. C., as
second-class matter.
C. 8. POSTER - PRUDENT
H. F. IJAFFOON ....Secretary/Treasurer
SUBSCRIPTION RATES, PER YEAR
In the State, $1.50 Out of the State, *2.00
Let's Make It Permanent
: It has been definitely demonstrated that
Elkin can put over a community fair that is
worthy of the name. Those who attended the
two-day event here last week can testify to that.
It is no small task to get together such a splen
did exhibit, and yet it is a job for which there is
no remuneration. It is one that is paid for in
"thank you's" and there should be plenty of
such payment.
The community owes Messrs. Poindexter,
Armfield and all who were charged with the re
sponsibility of putting the fair across, a debt of
gratitude that should not be overlooked. It was
not entered into in any selfish spirit or with any
hope of reward; it was a community enterprise
made successful by the community spirit upon
which our little city depends more than we real
iz6«
The fact that the exhibit was confined to
the purpose of promoting- agricultural and com
munity projects is commendable. Fairs that de
viate from such purpose to include the whoopee
Jf carnival attractions often defeat'the very ob
jective for which it was organized.
After viewing the exhibits here last week
there can be only one conclusion, and that is that
it must be made a permanent event—one that
will be looked forward to with anticipation for
the next twelve-month period.
The farmers of this section are to be com
mended for their splendid co-operation and con
gratulated in their ability to present attractive
exhibits. Having seen what their neighbor has
done this year they will of course be better pre
pared for next year—and there is where the real
benefit of a fair comes in.
To Be Commended
The City Board is to be commended for its
refusal to open the city to the carnival company
whose booking agent had scheduled an appear
ance here. We know nothing, of the merits of
the show itself; it may have a snow-white rec
ord or it may be reeking with filth for all we
iknow, but this is no time for frivolities of any
kind that may be attended by a question mark.
first place Elkin is engaged in the
important task of staging a comeback after a
depression that has been featured with numer
ous stumbling blocks, and our nickels and dimes
are needed as fighting tools, rather than to be
chanced on roulette wheels and risque shows.
We yield to no one in advocacy of abundant
recreation for all, young and old, so long as it is
a healthy sort. But attractions that are open
to question should be dealt with just as our city
fathers have handled this one. They should be,
and we are sure they are, backed by the approv
al of public sentiment iit placing thumbs down
on any proposal to bring shows here that are not
elevating—even in the name of pleasure and re
creation.
%
Improvement Continues
Indications of a business revival continue in
evidence. Operations of cotton manufacturing
plants were advanced further beyond seasonal
levels in the southeastern states during the past
week, with more expansion in prospect on account
of a steady inflow of orders. Employment, of
course, has increased with this expansion. At
Beveral points an increase in pay has accompanied
an increase in the number of working days per
week, and this furnishes definite encouragement.
Louis R. Brown, a high official in the Gen
eral Electric Company says: "In the electrical
industry we are speaking of the depression as
though it had passed from the current news into
the books of history. We believe that there are
many indications of the correctness of this atti
tude. Aside from the favorable signs in the gen
eral business situation, the electrical industry it
self is in an enviable position." And then Mr.
Brown goes on to recite the thousands of applica
tions for electricity that are not yet fully devel
oped, and to point out its tremendous future.
According to the American Railway associa
tion, freight car loading last week showed an in
crease of 8,444 cars over the week before, with
595,746 cars as a new high record for the year.
Foreign purchase of wheat, cotton and pe
troleum were reported by the United States
Chamber of Commerce as "extraordinarily large"
during the first six months of the year.
If cotton and tobacco prices would only
reach a decent level and stay there, we could go
abbut the business of reconstruction with less
worry. But we have an abiding faith that these
commodities will follow the general adjustment
of business conditions.
The thought that has lurked in the minds
of many that the enumeration of these improve
ments in business is but political propaganda, in
dulged in to promote Republican success at the
polls in November, seems to be unfounded. Hard
boiled business men whose dollars have been in
active for so long are eager to put them to work,
and when there is apparent safety, they will not
pause to consider being a wet nurse to any politi
cal party—that is the majority of them who are
engaged in legitimate industry will not.
Popular Government
The institute of Government, conducted at
Chapel Hill under the direction Albert Coates has
cut out a big job for itself but if it anywhere near
approximates it's ideals and objectives, North
Carolina will be deeply indebted.
In the words of one of the officials: ."The
governmental program of the Institute offers an
investment which in terms of dollars and cents,
in terms of improved governmental processes, in
terms of public knowledge, understanding and
confidence in our governmental institutions, will
pay higher and surer returns to the citizens and
taxpayers and future generations than any.
other offered to the people of North Carolina."
We are inclined to agree with him.
To state it briefly, the purpose of the Insti
tute of Government is to provide instructional
service to city, county and state officials that will
enable them to measure up to the responsibilities
of their office with more efficiency and with less
duplicative effort.
Mr. Coates points out that under our system
of popular government newly elected officers
come into the administration of public affairs,
every two or four years, unprepared for the duties
of the office they hold. The uncertainties of poli
tical life do not offer them incentives to study
the responsibilities of a public office before they
seek it, and the democracy which clothes them
with the public trust does not provide them with
training to fit them to discharge it.
Our system provides no training for these
jobs, and our method of selection has little re
gard for the fitness of a candidate who offers for
the place. He goes into office unable to avoid
mistakes that prove costly to the public; he
learns only by experience that is expensive to the
taxpayer, and when he is defeated by another he
is not in a frame of mind to pass on to his suc
cessor the benefits of his experience. Those who
follow him would gladly learn but cannot find one
who would gladly teach.
Under this system it can easily be seen that
with every rotation of officers in every general
'election the continuity of governmental exper
ience is broken, accumulated governmental
knowledge is wasted and government is forever
in the hands of beginners who are not always
fitted with ability nor always attended by luck.
The people must pay for this costly training
in the end. As governmental service expands, as
it is expanding each succeeding year, the bill be-,
comes higher and higher, and the cost is attached
to the tax receipt, a little piece of paper that is
almost unweighable but which has weighted
us down until some of us can hardly move.
It may thus be seen that the wisdom of
Solomon is not needed to appraise the value of
such a service as that conceived by those at the
University who have interested themselves in
providing each governmental officer with the
methods, techniques and practices rising out of
the initiatives and resourcefulness of other of
ficers in similar offices in this and other states.
Courting the Negro Vote
President Hoover has evidently come to the
conclusion that there is little hope of holding the
1928 Republican gain in the South at the" polls
'next November, and is making a bid for negro
support in the North where they hold the balance
in many states.
Last Saturday he entertained the negro
"four hundred" on the White House grounds and
was photographed as the central figure in a
group of 150 or more. These negroes were the
guests of the national Republican advisory board
and planning committee at a banquet in their
honor, which all the more accentuates the open
bid the party is making to hold the negroes in
line in the North and virtually discloses that they
have abandoned hope of carrying the five south
ern states again this year. And they are correct
in their analysis, because the South went "hay
wire" in 1928—voting for Republican candidates
that year did not mean that they had gone Re
publican.
Abundant campaign funds of other years
have meant meal tickets for negroes who did not
need them so badly then as they do now, and the
clamor, for that reason must be heeded by those
who would hold them in line. By toadying to
their demands for recognition the Republican
high command reveals the panic in which it finds
itself at this stage of the game.
Affected by the economic distress to probab
ly a greater degree than their white brethren,
they are not averse to blaming their misfortune
to the party in power, and a revolt has been
threatening for a long time. But this picture
alongside the President will go a long way toward
quieting them, even though the gnawing at their
intrals cannot be helped thereby.
We of the South are pe-haps too hasty in
our criticism of anything that smacks of racial
equality; we forget that the head of our govern
ment is president of all the people. If he wishes
to entertain the DePriests purely as an act of im
partiality, we are inclined to grant him that
privilege without censure. But when he places
himself in a group of negroes to be photographed
'for purely political advancement, he crosses a
line of demarcation that is foreign to anything
connected with his official duties, and lets the
gap down for criticism that is sure to come from
at least one section of the country.
•i ■ ■
Taxation with representation isn't so hot,
either.—Arkansas Gazette.
After the white man stole the Indian's land
the women came along and grabbed off hi 3 war
paint.—Florida Times-Union. I
Tourists are people who travel 200 miles to
get kodak pictures of .themselves standing by the
car.—Canton Repository.
A resort is a place where the natives charge
you enough in three months to live happily the
other nine.—Buffalo News.
THE ELKIN'TRIBUNE, ELKIN, NORTH CAROLINA
I OUR PRINTING |l
1 WILL EXPRESS I
I YOUR BUSINESS I
I PERSONALITY I
A #
%
Your printed matter, whether it .
I be letterheads, bill heads, or
whatnot, is a reflection of your
personal and business standards.
Regardless of the size or extent
of your business, it is important
that your printed matter should
be a worthy representative.
We pride ourselves upon the
quality of our printing. No job, Y == rzzzzzir
whether it be large or small,
leaves our office until it is abso
lutely satisfactory to us. Our
Okey means that it will be satis- fISP
factory to the customer.
For your next printing job, con-
I WE ARE JUST AS I
NEAR AS YOUR '
TELEPHONE
96 II
■ Next Door to Postoffice Elkin, N. C. 9
Thursday, October 6,1 M