North Carolina Newspapers

8 PAGES TODAY ----. VOL. XXXVII, No. 96 SHELBY, N. CJ. WEDNESD 1, AUG. 12, 1931 Published Monday, Wednesday and Eriday Afternoons. .- --!Bsa H, Mail. on f«M. UD »«*•■«> _ »*.M' ' '»rn«r. of r iwt, I In uIimmi _ w.w -— Late News Cloudy Thursday Today's North Carolina. Weather Report: Cloudy tonight and Thurs day. Probable showers in east. Another Tunney? riamariscotta. Maine. Aug. 12 — Mrs. Polly Lauder Tunney. wife of the former heavyweight rhampion was takrn to a hospital here a week or ten days ago to await the birth] of a ehild. it was learned yesterday. A doetor advised her to go to the hospital when she suffered a fall] on the motorboat landing on John's i ■aland near here where she and her] husband had been spending the! summer. Gene Tunney has been Constantly tin attendance at the! hospital. Traffic Rules In City Talked By Lions Club Wo*»ld Stop Double Parking Here Mayor And Aldermen Attend Meet ing And Offer To Cooperate In Improving Traffic. Better enforcement of • general traffic regulations in Shelby, and the prohibiting of double parking in the business section and parking on both sides of alleyways were J urged at a meeting of the Shelby] Lions club held last night, Mayot S. A. McMurry and Alder-, men Z. J, Thompson and P. M. Washburn were present as guests! of the club, heard the criticism of| local traffic conditions and promised! cooperation in improving the situa- j tion. Double parking in the business section proves very inconvenient and dangerous, it was pointed out. Often it was stated, cars parked in the proper manner at. the curb cannot be moved when the owner desires j to leave because of a car double parked behind It. General disre gard of traffic regulations at cor ner* and street intersections alsb came in for criticism, as did the bottling alleys and side streets by permitting the parking of autos on both sides of the alleys. Dan Fras ier sketched an outline of how traf fic in t.he main business section could be better handled by marking off two traffic lanes, right and left and having cars take the lane ac cording to the direction of their next turn. To Coogerate.^,, Xtter hearing the discussion the city officials expressed their willing ness to aid in improving the situa tion. They also declared that the police will see that double parking is stopped in the business section at once. Alderman Thompson in formed the club that Chief Poston is now engaged in placing signs in alleys and side streets forbidding parking of autos except on one side and pointing cwt which side cars may be parked Dr. B B. Matthews, a former member of the club, now health officer in Alabama; Dr. Heywood Thompson and Mr. Chas Clegg were gueste of the club. County Muskmelon Weigh* 7.1 \ Pound* Lester Callahan of Lattimore comes in with a new prize winner. It is a muskmelon of the old fash ioned variety which weighs 27 1-2 lbs Mr Callahan saw in The Star tha. Ector Ledbetter had grown a 20 lb. muskmelon and that J. A. Smith had a 20 pound cantaloupe, which held the honors up to that time, a week or two ago. but there has been a growing season since. Mr. Calla han says he had a number of large muskmelons this year in his paten but the 27 1-2 pounder takes the cake, unless some one else comes' along to wrest honors with larger! ones. Lake Lure-Asheville Road Open* Aug. 24 Highway Ho. 20 between Lake \ Lure and Asheville will be open for travel on August 24th, according to an announcement made yesterday by E. B. .Teffress, state highway commissioner. For several months travel between Shelby and Ashe ville has been detoured by way of Hendersonville because construction work was underway _ on the stretch between Lake Lure and Asheville on No 20 This construction work will soon be completed and the road opened for through travel on Aug ust, 24th. Elizabeth Revival Is Now Under Way A revival meeting started at Eliza beth Baptist church Monday and will edntmue through Sunday with Rev, Lawrence Roberts, a minister ial student from the Fort Worth Texas Seminary assisting the pas tnr Reverend H F. Waldrop. Two services arr hplr] ffaiiv, ope each tT'ornjnc a* )0 ?n and >ach evening At s n clock, County Board Forced Cline, Cleveland Chairman, Tell* N. C. Com*: missioner* That Debt* Piled Up By Coun ties Compelled State To Control Financial Expenditures. Debt* Heavy, Tax Rates High Because Comissioners Could Not Say “No” In Spending Money. (Special to The Star.) Asheville, Aug. 12.—The inability of county commis sioners of North Carolina to say “no” to Appeals for expendi tures, thus piling up county debt and hoisting county tax rates, forced the last North Carolina general assembly to enact legislation to control county and municipal finance. That was the frank statement made here today by A, E. Cline, him self chairman of the county com missioners of Cleveland county and head of the State Association of County Commissioners, the view be ing expressed at the annual con> vention of county board members. Took Authority Away. In his speech Mr. Cline, who heads what is considered the most business-like county government unit in the state, spoke of legisla tion which takes away considerable authority from county officials. In stead of feeling irked at the shorn authority, which he admitted was a bit humiliating, Mr. Cline empha sized the fact that the commission ers themselves were to a consider able extent at fault because they were too lenient with appeals for ex penditures made by citizens who later back at an increasing Ux rate. It was an unusual talk—a defense of the local, government act of the last legislature by a member of the group hardest hit by the act. His speech, in part, follows' "I would call attention to the fact that heretofore the affairs of the counties have been largely in the hands of the county commissioners. There were county officials with au thority, “I am wondering how many of us realize fully how much of the au thority formerly vested in county commissioners has been removed from them by recent legislation. And at the same time I am also wonder ing how many of us realize whose fault it is that these changes have been made necessary Whose. Fault "U seems to me the most outstand ing and far reaching mistake made by county commissioners during the past ten years has been that of al lowing tremendous debts to pile up o ntheir counties. The magnitude of this indebtedness in some instances is appalling. You know it and I know it. Most of us lost sight of pay day in our extreme enthusiasm for improvements which was stimulated and urged on by many of our citi zens and various organizations and societies. clamoring for this im provement and for that. Pressing upon us from time to time the great need for all of these things which, no doubt, were needful and good to have but when it is almost too late we have all come to realize our abil ity to pay if? limited and some of us already have more of these good things than we can really afford The result of all this as X see it, my friends, is our people and our state authorities have lost confidence in our ability to administer county gov ernment. What is at fault? “These heavy debts did not make themselves felt so forcibly among our people until we were compelled to raise the tax rate year after year fCONTINUED ON '>»OF EH1H1 i Chief To Bring Suspected Thief Back To Shelby Go«« After Colored M»n And Wom an At Cincinnati For Store, Car Robbery. Police Chief McBride Poston, Fire man Joseph Carroll, Solicitor W 8. Beam and William Andrews left Shelby Monday afternoon for Cin cinnati to bring back Mark Wash bum, colored, wanted here for store robbery ahd auto larceny, and Grace Payne, a woman who was appre hended at Cincinnati with him Police charge Washburn with breaking in and robbing the Wright Baker department store aiid steal ing a new automobile from the D, H. CUne garage, and also with enter ing a cafe and barbershop and rob bing slot pool tables. The robberies were staged several weeks ago. The new automobile was found a day or so later in a Marion cemetery where it had been abandoned. When Washburn and the woman were arrested at Cincinnati the woman had some dresses and coats in her possession which officers there believe were taken from the Shelby store, Chief Poston is expected tc arrive back in the city tonight or tomorrow. Solicitor Beam expects to remain in Cincinnati for a short visit with relatives. I Will Fields Die* In Sandy Plains Section Will Fields. 60 year old farmer of the New House Community died Tuesday afternoon following an ill ness extending over a period of sev eral months. Mr. Fields is survived! by his wife and a number of child ren. The funeral services were con ducted this morning at 11 o'clock by Rev. D. F Putnam at Sandy Plains Baptist church where he y-as a member Mrs. Limerick Dies At Ellenboro Home Mrs R ti. Limerick, age 69 died Sunday at her home at Sllenboro where she was living with her daughter, Mrs. Clifford Bridges. Al though a native of Rutherford coun ty, she lived in Shelby for a number of years while her husband preached at several Baptist churches of the county. Her husband preceded her to the grave several years ago. A number of children survive. Sales Tax Would Have Brought In Very Little Revenue, Report Shows Figures Released By Federal Cham ber Show Total Sales in 1929 Amounted To 1744,136,243. Raleigh, Aug. 12.—The 1931 gen eral assembly undoubtedly used good judgment when it declined to en act either a general or luxury sales tax. since if It had done so on the assumptio nthat either of these sales tax plans would have yielded $9, 000,000 a year in revenue, the state would have been badly fooled. For figures just released by the United States department of commerce; giv ing the total figures on retail sales in North Carolina in»jJ929, before the depression ancU whfti business was good, show. thaV the total retail sales. includidg\j» sales of gasoline which is already taxes, amounted to only g744.136.243. The records of the state depart ment of revenue, show that approx imately g45,000,000 worth of gasoline was purchased in North Carolina during 1P29 This would reduce the »o*a! gross sales upon which it I would be possible to levy a gross sales tax to barely *700,000,000. Tak ing out the gross sales of the more than 1,000 restaurants, cafes and lunch rooms, this figure would be reduced another *17,604,854. Deduct ing still further the gross sales of the lumber and building supply dealers, regarded by the legislature as being wholesale rather than re tail dealers, the total would be re duced another *34,157,727. These two items further reduced the total to less than *650.000,000 worth of gross retail sales upon which a tax could have been levied. So on the basis of the 1929 total gross retail sales, the state could not have hoped to obtain more than *6,500,000 a year from a gross sales tax of one per cent. But if this sales tax had been adopted by the 1931 general assembly, it would have been levied on gross retail sales for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1931, t« Junr jo; 1P32, Economists and statisticians her« agr*e that (' COKTIKLTSn on pao« atx.j Officers Here Deny Use Third Degree Method Eavesdropping Best ' Local Plan _ Wlrkrrsharo Report Altering "Rough Stuff” By N. C. Officers Brings Denials . Third degree methods of extorting evidence from prisoners and other; “rough stuff” in forcing prisoners to i talk are not used by Shelby police and Cleveland county officers no matter what the Wickersham com mittee may say. Similar denials were made by offi cers all over the state yesterday alt er the Wickersham report stated that third degree methods were used spasmodically over North Carolina. More Clever Methods. Local officers have shown more cleverness In securing evidence they deem necessary for conviction in certain cases. There is no public record of any prisoner in many years being forced to talk in Shelby or Cleveland county, and very little, if any, rumors "on the mum" to that effect. Evidence has been secured from a number of prisoners here in recent years who did not intend to divulge their secrets, but the confessions were not forced with "horse” whips, dungeon starvation, or any methods of that type. Instead, local officers seem to have worked out a pretty good eavesdropping System that brings results. Convictions in a num ber of important cases have been brought about that way tn recent years. When several people are sus pected of the same crime, robbery or whatnot. Sheriff Irvin Allen and Police Chief Poston have a rule of separating the prisoners at the Jail so that they cannot talk to each other. After a day or two or being apart the two or three prisoners, all! wondering what the others might have told or to what extent they have "squealed", are placed In cells close together. So far as they know no one is listening and nlpe ttnywi out of ten they befln totaik—begin planing their story so that all may tell the same yarn. But right often, court evidence shows, those tete-a tete conversations are overheard and thus the officers 'get the goods on the prisoners. marge* DrniM. A general denial of third-degree, practices In North Carolina is con-! tained in the following Raleigh dis patch : , Raleigh. Aug 11—Third degree, methods in the extortion of evidence | are unknown to city and county of - j fleers, various officials said when | told what the Wlckersham report filed in Washington, contained al-' legations that there are spasmodic; practices In the art of torture. The North Carolina courts have had a few instances of something that was a poor counterfeit of the methods employed by city officers and shown in the movies, but in every instance where the pressure bore the appearance of extortion ne wtrials have been given and with them ample construction of the practice. Likewise the legislature of 1917 which authorised the investigation of state prison practices, turned up some pretty rough stuff. The beat ings were many and sometimes furi ous and the conduct of supervisors in overriding surgeons and other doctors by driving prisoners to work, got a full and sufficient ventilation The result was a revolution in pri son policy. The lash was virtually! abolished by Bickett and utterly de-! graded by Morrison, MacLean and1 Gardner. County convict camps got I their operators in pecks of trouble' and the state has absorbed all these The public sentiment which abolish-1 ed them and prosecuted with so1 many convictions the superintend-! ents and other supervisory officers! in these camps probably will prevent' official extortion and torture Mr. Randolph Will Not Return To Teach M. H. Randolph who was principal of the Graham street school in Shel by has leat will not return to teach in Shelby this Fall He has ac cepted a position as teacher in the Franklin High School 1n Sampson county, this state, for the coming' school year. Open Until Nine. The local Western Union tele graph office now remains open at night until 9 o’clock, according to ah announcement made by R. E. Blackwelder, manager Some time ago the office began closing ag hour earlier, at R n’elock. but. changed bark to 9 the first of August . “—Lamb Was Sure to Go” When this baby lamb, made famous by Mary, darted to rrwi Times Square. New York, the crowd* which always Infest this renter of metropolitan life were treated to a moat iinusnal. sight—even tor them. But Mary's lamb (anyway, it sure acted like her’s) wasn't satisfied to navigate the gongested Syuarr jtua onee. It wandered about for so long that traffic started to become tangled and people forgot where they were going and why. If anybody's seen Mary, kindly send her around for her Umb. bewildered New York police rry. Glenn Adams, Farmer, Enriches Land With Legumes And Thrives Has Pure Bred Cattle, Alfalfa And Lespe deza. Expects 50 Bales Of Cotton On 35 Acres. Prettv Homes With Licrht* And Water Not the largest, but one of the best farmers in Cleveland county is Glenn Adams who dwells near Lattimore and lives in comfort and plenty. A representative, of The Star made another excursion into the county yesterday accompanied by Dr. J S. Dorton. Dan Frazier, Geo Blanton and Will Harris and found the Adams farm to indicate thrift, comfort and Independence not only in the fields, but around the barn yard and orchard, also In the home where Mrs. Adams and her charm ing daughter preside. Mr. Adams is an intensive farm er. Thirty acres of his 122 acre farm is in cotton and he expects to make 50 bales. He and his .von, Aston, who is active in the Young Tar Heel Farmers club are close students of seed selection, fertiliser analysis and dairy cattle. They are backward about talking on matters pertaining to their own achievements for fear they might be called braggers, but when asked pointed questions, they will answer. Growing I-egumes. Their specialty of growing their own fertilizer. From their small herd of cows and calves and the farm mules, they get a large supply of stable manure which goes on the land. They grow legume crops, es pecially alfalfa and lespedeza which tend to enrich the soil with nitrogen and humus. One of the best lespe rieza pastures in the county fur nishes ample grazing for the dairy cattle. Their field of alfalfa has been cut over two times and prom ises a third cutting for sure and perhaps a fourth this season. The first cutting of alfalfa yielded 12, 000 lbs. of green alfalfa hay and the barn loft is full of all kinds of feed to last through the winter Some of the best corn in the iCONTINOBD ON PAGE EIGHT > Members Of Police Squad Get Vacation Patrolmen on the city police force are being given a weeks vacation with pay. it, was learned at the city hall today. Patrolmen Rufus Sparks and Paul Stamey have already had their va cations, Patrolman Burgywn Put nam is taking his this week, and Patrolman Marshall Moore is sche duled to have his vacation next week. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Axrov.ood and Mr. and Mrs. Claude Mabry with their children spent several days last week in the mountains, taking in Asheville. Marshall, and other points. Mr. and Mrs. M H. Beam and family, of Charlotte, are spending a few days here with Mrs. Beam’s sis ter. Mrs. Mai Spangler and Mr Spangler While here they will at tend the John Jeter Beam reunion at New Prospect. Musk Melon Tips Scales At 32£ Lbs. Speaking of musk melons— the longer they come the big ger Utey ore. T. Z. Hord. well known farmer of the Waco section, vrss in Shelby today with a musk melon that tipped the scales at exactly 32 1-2 lbs. It is the largest reported this year in the county. Last year Mr. Hord asked for the seed from a Urge melon William Osborne, of the Shelby Hard ware, had. His champion melon, which was pulled from the vine before it was ripe, rame from the Osborne seed. Borders Elected Keeper Of Home County Board Relects Him A* Keep er Of County Home And . ■ Farm. - Mr John Borders, for several years keeper of the Cleveland coun ty home for the aged and infirm, was 're-elected to that position at the recent meeting of the county commissioners. The board resolution stated that his salary would be the same as heretofore. Mr Borders has made a good rec ord as keeper of the county home and farm, judging by grand jury re ports which have commended con ditions there and the treatment ac corded inmates. 9 Farm Tenancy Gains In Cleveland County Rain Great Aid To Corn, Gardens Over This County i Corn. (i»rd»n», Pasture* Helped Cotton Was Also In Need Of Showers. Ram showers Monday night, and Tuesday rame at an opportune time for Cleveland county, farmers. It ts estimated that the slow rain, which brought with It the coolest weather in weeks, was worth hun dreds of dollars to late corn and late gardens throughout the county. Not only were corn, gardens and pastures in need of rain, but cotton all over the country was beginning to show effects of the drought Crop* Look (iood. R W. Shoffner, county farm agent just back from Raleigh where he attended the 4-H short courses, says crops in this ccainty are not excelled by those in any county throughout which he passed While away he heard much comment about the In crease In grain crops and corn this year in the State's largest cotton county. Mr*. Ja*. I. Webb To Be Buried In Shelby Former Shelby Reildent Die* In Oseola, South Carolina * Tuesday, Mrs, Mary Webb, widow of Ja.>. I. Webb, both of whom lived in Shelby for many years, died yester day in Oseola, S C. according to a message received here today by Mr, Paul Webb. Mrs Webb and her husband lived on N. Washing ton street and are well known to the older eltiaens of the city. She was living In Oseola, 8 C with relatives at the time of her death. The funeral will be conducted Thursday morning at 11 o'clock in Charlotte by Rev. Mr. Johnson, assistant pas i tor of the First Baptist church and her remains will be brought to Shel by Thursday afternoon for Interment in Sunset Cemetery beside her hus band. Mrs. Webb Is survived by two sons, Clyde and Kendrick Webb, both of whom live In Charlotte. To Lecture Here On Pre*ident Johnson L, Cl. Sorthard, attorney of Spar tanburg, S. C , has been secured to deliver an address before the Ki wanis club Thursday evening at 7 o'clock on “Andrew Johnson, the Misunderstood President." President Johnson presided over the destinies of the nation from 1865 to 1868. The speaker has mRde a special study of Johnson and comes highly recom mended for bringing out a side of j the president’s nature that is not j generally known. Attend Meeting. Deputy Ed Dixon, of Sheriff Irvin Allen's office, and Policeman Burg wyn Putnam, of the city force, are in Rutherfordton today attending the convention of the North Caro litaa Sheriffs' Association" Roosevelt Expected To Carry North Carolina; Has Advantage Over Smith New Yorker 1* Protestant. Hoover Record To Hinder A Second Revolt. (Robt. Thompson in Raleigh New? and Observer) Paced with the possibility of hav ing another wet candidate against Mr. Hoover next year, the leaders of North Carolina Democracy seem to be bearing up very well. Everything else being equal, they undoubtedly would prefer a dry, but the most of them will admit that it isn't half as important to have a prohibitionist as it is to have a Protestant. After what happened in 1929— when a three to one cash bet that Smith would carry North Carolina was turned down in Republican headquarters on the day before the election—no one can be certain about the 1932 outcome but from this distance there seems little doubt that if Governor Frartklin D. Roose velt, of New York, is the nominee of the Democratic party, he will carry the State. At ihe same time It Is also probable that his nomi nation will complicate things no little. Liquor and Tammany. In the first place, the nomination of even a mildly moist candidate from New York will probably mean that cries of "Liquor” will be heard in half the churches from Manteo to Murphey. And the politicians who once gave little. heed to political sermons are now as scared of prea chers as they are of rattlesnakes. Even now they are hastening to ex plain to the pulpit politicians tha* the prohibition law is a child of Congress, not the White House, and: that the President has no more to do with it than Ramsey MacDonald. But they are worried. The formerly non-political moral element enjoyed its fling in politics in 1928 Many who opposed A1 would like to go crusading again. Whether religious intolerance gave Hoover more Tar Heel votes than (CONTINUED ON PACE EIGHT.! Alarming Increase In 10 Years Over t.000 New Tenants In Ceunlj Since 1920. Farm Values In crease However. More Cleveland county farm* are, operated by tenants today than ever before, according to a survey of farm tenancy In North Carolina made by the University News Letter. In 1930 there were 3.283 tenants in Cleveland county, or 1,317 more tenants than were tn the county In 1920 This Is an Increase, tn the 10-year period, of 87 7 per cent, only four counties In the State showing a higher per rentage of increase. General Increase. Luring the last ten years seventy two counties of North Carolina ex perienced an Increase in the number of farms operated by tenants, while twenty-eight now have fewer ten ants than they had ten years ago. As a rule the counties that increased in tenancy are the counties that showed an Increase in farms, while the counties that lost tenants as a rule lost farms. During this same period the state experienced an increase of almoat exactly ten thousand farms. How ever, we showed a loss of ten thous and farms operated by owners, and ■an increase of twenty thousand farms operated by tenants. In other words, the state experienced a very marked shift toward farm tenancy, the tenant ratio rising from 43.5 percent to 49.2 percent. This is one of the mast marked shifts toward tenancy in the history of the state. in Thl* bounty. The bik increase in number of tenants in this county is attributed to the county's increased cotton acreage and production. Comment ing upon conditions in this county the News Letter points out that the tenant increase could prove near disastrous unless foresightod leader ship is shown. Discussing Cleveland, as an ex ample Bounty where farm tenancy is on the increase, the News Lettef says 'During the last decade Cleveland county came to be the leading cot ton county of the state and haJ experienced phenomenal growth i* many ways. In order to illustrate what, happens when a county moves heavily into tenancy, let us look at Cleveland. Cleveland experienced an increase of nearly twelve hund red farms. Warmers operated by owners decreased by seven percent. Farms operated by tenants increased by 1,317, or 67 7 percent. The acre age operated by owners decreased about one-fourth as owners sub-di vided their holdings to be worked bC tenants. The acreage operated by tenants increased by nearly forty percent. The total farm acreage actually decreased during the de cade, and the average farm decreas ed in size about, twenty percent. During this period the value of farm property in the state decreased greatly However, in Cleveland the value increased by nearly a million dollars Cash-crop lands in areas of increasing tenancy always go at high prices, not to say at specula tive prices A part, of the above picture is the enormous growth of Shelby during the same decade. Such is the story everywhere, during the period when tenancy and cash erop farming are getting established. The region appears to be experienc ing marked prosperity. The trouble is that later on there is a different story (which in Cleve land's case may be ameliorated by farsighted leadership), a story that is an old and familiar one to every region that has lived under tenancy and cash-crop fanning for a suffi cient number of years for the in evitable results to develop. "It would be much better if these farmers were getting a toe-hold on land which they some day would Cleveland is headed in the wrong own. As a long-time proposition direction and so are other counties where tenant farming is becoming more firmly intrenched." Dr. Thompson Takes Office Of Scruggs Dr Haywood Thompson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Z. J. Thompson who has located here for the practice of medicine, has secured the offices of the late Dr. Bobo Scruggs in the Lineberget building next to th* Western Union. Dt. Thompt<t>n at tended schools at Duke, the Univer sity of North Carolina. Tulane uni versity and was on the staff of the Baptist hospital at New Orleans