NORTH CAROLINA ■ I MAY GET NEW ! MARRIAGE LAW t Efforts Will Be Made To Have One Enacted At the Next Session Os The General Assembly. Highsmith Says State Needs To Safeguard Marriage And Home Raleigh, Nov. 10 —North Carolina’s lack of an adequate marriage law, the importance of such a law, and 'the declaration that an effort will be made to have one enacted by the next general assembly, as a vital part of the state’s war on venereal diseases, are emphasized in a state ment by Mrs. J. Henry Highsmith, assistant director of the health edu ! cation, State Board of Health, Mrs. Highsmith says: “North Carolina has practically no laws i safeguarding marriage and the be ; ginning of the home. On the statute ; books are two laws, neither of which as it operates today is worth the effort to enforce it This is the i opinion of one register of deeds who !says that the present marriage law j which requires the male applicant | for a marriage license to sign an af fidavit saying that he has no active tuberculosis or a venereal diseas, and has not had for two years prior thereto, is totally ineffectual. This law is an alternative to a prior law which required a health certificate from the groom in order to obtain a marriage license. Neither law; re quires anything of the prospective bride—not even a written state ment to the effect that she has no tuberculosis or a venereal disease in the active stage. 20,000 Syphilitic Children “But has not the time come when North Carolina can and will take steps to protect its children from the ravages of venereal disease? It is estimated that there are 20,00 children under fifteen years of age in North Carolina today #who have syphilis inherited from infected and I neglectful parents. And yet this large number is not the whole story. j'Only about 43 percent of syphilitic babies live to reach ten years of age. Therefore, it is safe to say that at least 70,000 other babies were i * - Announcement We Are Pleased to Announce The Addition of Mr. Gilbert Wagstaff to the Personnel Os Our Funeral Home Mr. Wagstaff is known to hun dreds of people over the county and in surrounding territory and we believe that he will be a valuable asset to our organiza tion. • ■■ /'.g >;• ;fv. .. ■ V f-. _ • ... ... 1 }. i s Woody’s Funeral Home Phone 2 Roxboro, N. C. > " © NEWSWEEK JOURNEY’S END This 40-pounder, with bis neck already in a halter, awaits the Thanksgiving axe, knowing well that hr won’t hr hung! bom syphilitic but died in infancy or early childhood. “When it is known that children inherit blindness, feeble-minded ness, insanity, susceptibility to dis ease and premature death from syphilitic parents, and when it is further known that 90 percent of these tragedies could be prevented through an enforced law requiring a Wasserman test of both man and woman before marriage and anoth er law requiring the proper treat ment of expectant mothers showing a positive blood test, does it not seem that public opinion would de mand this protection for innocent, helpless childhood? “Fortunately, there is a growing sentiment today in behalf of these measures. A poll conducted recently by the American Institute of Public Opinion found that 92 percent of those voting on the question, wheth er or not there should be premarital Wasserman tests, were in favor. Os all the votes cast in the Southern states, 94 percent were favorable. Some Pertinent Facts “In connection with the campaign being waged against syphilis, a num T ber of states have enacted laws re quiring, as a prerequisite for the is suance of marriage license, evi dence of negative Wassermann or similar bigod tests. Connecticut en i PERRON rpi T NTV TIMES -t-t- ROXBORO. N. C. acted such a law in 1935 and, con trary to many predictions, it work 3 well. As evidence it has popular support, about 10% more lab oratory examinations Were made for prospective brides and bride grooms during the first five months of 1937 than for the same period in 1936. Illinois passed a bill in the spring requiring compulsory health examinations for all couples apply ing for marriage licenses, which went into effect July 1, 1937. Michi gan has a similar law that goes into effect Oct. 29, 1937, and New Hamp shire's law becomes effective Oct. 1, 1938. New Jersey is preparing a bill patterned after the Connecticut law to be introduced in the 1938 New Jersey legislature. Will Sponsor Law “North Carolina also will spon sor a marriage license law at the next session of the General Assem bly, according to Dr. Carl V. Rey nolds* Secretary of the State Board of Health and State Health Officer. Says a marriage law is a part of the State’s program to control venereal disease, and that he will press the passage of the bill when the Legis lature meets in 1939. “As evidence that such a law is reeded, witness the number of cas es of syphilis that are being report ed daily to the State Board of Health—an average ,if 33 a day, 1,000 a month, on 12,000 a year. A fair estimate places the number o', syphilitics in North Carolina at 300,000. Without restrictions for preventing the spread of the disease and proper means of treatment :"o those infected, this will mean that we will continue to have 109 new cases of infection every day, and the birth of ten newborn syphilitic .babies every day.” ■fj | O&mim . IF |., JH • ■, ~ Mlllllllls Under the new beauty of Buick, modern engineering makes history, co-starring the DYNAFLASH ENGINE and Torque-Free Springing TIfHAT HAPPENS inside the ™ ’ 1938 Buick engine happens no where else in the world. That is not advertising language* it is cold-steel engineering fact. 'Speeding through the raceways of the intake manifold, the fuel mixture vapor hurricanes into the cylinders at speeds around 250 miles an hour. Visit sweeps past streamline valve con tours, a scientifically designed Turbu lot or, built into the piston face, flings it into airswirls of terrific, turbulence* ■■WMl—W———>WllMMl^Wll«)llWllWWllHlljlJ