North Carolina Newspapers

THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY, HERTFORD, N. "ft, FRIDAY JANUARY 4, 1935.. J. J '11. PAGE THREE Farm Census tyrider Way About 25,000 Census Takers to Secure Valu able Information tj J -:- r hrbjugK Capitol Keyholes By BESS HINTON SILVER Hlf aril CAPITAL MANAGER? It's bfi- ing kept pretty quiet but there is an undercover movement to hava the Legislature change the government of Raleigh from the commission form to a city manager form with a board of councilmen, according to the Cap ital ; , City v grapevine. The present Raleigh City Commissioners have been from one row toHinother almost since the day of election and even . the man on the street "can; sense sen timent for a change in government None of the Wake County members of the General Assembly have ex pressed themselves publicly on the subject but pressure for the change in your Capital City is about as sure as death and taxes. COST OF TALKING The order of the State Utilities Commission re ducing Southern Bell telephone rates in 58 North Carolina communities ha3 received a delay by order of Superior Court Judge W. C. Harris, The court injunction halts the pro- Nfkosed reductions in rates until the company's appeal is heard in Su perior Court which may be in Janu ary or several months later. The Utilities Commission, aided by the office of Attorney General Dennis G orummm, is reaay to- ngm ior me last ditch for the approximately 12 per cent cut and reliable, although non-quotable, sources are of the opin ion that lower phone rates are just T j . . t m . . 1 1 around the comer. FERTILIZER Governor Ehring haus and Commissioner of Agricul ture William A. Graham are going to bat for lower fertilizer prices in North Carolina. The Governor writes that he is. unable to understand the upping of fertilizer prices in 1934 over those of the year previous and want3 Mr. Graham to assemble data and attend a conference on the sub ject to be held in the nation's capital in the near future. Fertilizer and gasoline prices have been worrying the Governor almost as much as the increase in tobacco prices ha3 pleased him. "Budget message what's in the report of the Advisory Budget Commission to the General Assembly is a clo3ely-guarded secret and news men snooping around the offices of printers for the State haven't been able to learn much about the budget recommendations. You can put one thing in your pipe and smoke it, however, ' that is, that the budget proposal will contain a suggestion for reenactment of the sales tax with some revisions. It may be liberal enough to suggest that the sales tax can go by the board if the legislators can find the money elsewhere. The Budget Commission is frjjndly to the administration and Governor Ehring haus has publicly stated that the "emergency" for which the sales tax was enacted has not passed you get what that means. The message also may contain suggestions for higher teacher-pay. DIVERSION Don't be surprised if anti-sales tax leaders urge that four or five millions of dollars from the taxes paid by motorists and truckers for building roads be divert ed to replace the sales measure. Farmers living on the secondary road system may not object to this but they want the holes filled up and the bridges repaired before their gasoline and license . taxes go for some other purpose. Most of them wouldn't ob ject to lower automobile taxes but that is only a dream if half the folks after a slice of highway-fund pie get It. ' NOT WORRIED At one stage of the game it looked like the State Revenue Department might be in for a good drubbing at the hands of the Legislature. - It is still highly prob able that attack will be made on the State's collecting agency but the rec ord on increased revenues will stand Commissioner of Revenue A. J. Max well and his executive assistant, Dr. M. C. S. Noble"; Jr., in good stead when they are called on the carpet before committees ' that - will them selves be harrassed by need of money to fill , appropriations promises. Money makes the mare go in the General Assembly as well as in the colleges and public schools.. ; SITTING PRETTY tr- Friends of t Governor Ehringhaus have spent 'weeks checking over names of, mem bers of the General Assembly and are wearing big smiles these days. 'Ad ministration stalwarts avow that His Excellency is sitting on top of the world with a good majority of friends in the Senate and are confident that no anti-administration bloc of dang erous proportions can be organized in the l!oune. But with all that som Raleigh i '',,'cal writers i prcfass to hear ru- V." ;s of trouble com;ng for the Go on the eve of the Leg islature." - 1 r v-v - ;MAr-IED LIFE Watch 'for a mtvei;..t in the LzJL'Asn to pass a law against marrl-i 3r.:.,i sirving as public school termers. A'"" .Jer B. Ar.i- i,ctT ' ' hr c ::ied -, , . . r - 7 rP. ... r men are teaching school in North Carolina. Some states have rules against employment of married wo men in the schools where single ones are available and sentiment for such a law in North Carolina has been cropping out in spots recently. GETTING TAUT Political lines are drawing tighter in the Capital City these days and you need not be a political wise man to sense the forming of groups behind the favor ite candidates for Governor and the Eastern Senate seat in the classic of 1936. Probably the most pronounced single groups are those behind Gov ernor Ehringhaus and Senator Jo siah W. Bailey and there's no longer any doubt many people want the Governor to oppose Mr. Bailey. Other blocs are forming in behalf of Clyde R. Hoey, of Shelby; Congressman R. L. Doughton and Lieutenant Gover nor A. H. (Sandy) Graham for Gov ernor. Doughton and Hoey may make some announcement shortly but Governor Graham is expected to hold his peace until the end of the legis lative session. LIQUOR Several months ago it was a generally accepted opinion that this General Assembly would shy away from any efforts to change North Carolina's dry laws but as the time for convening draws nearer the prohibition question has stepped boldly into the spotlight of specula tion. From all indications the Dry? still have the situation well in hand but a lot of folks can't figure oul just what is happening to bring out an apparent change of sentiment ii 3ome quarters. You can find plenty of officers of the law suffering since Virginia legalized liquor and Tai Heels began week-end excursions int the Old Dominion. Some of these same arms 'of the law privately ex press the hope that omething will be done to liberalize tne State's liquoi laws at the coming session. RIDING A WAVE Unless some dark-horse steps out into the light Thad Eure and LeRoy Martin will be unopposed for reelection as principal clerks of the House and Senate re spectively. The speakership race it still an uncertain quantity but here'e the line-up of candidates in the or der that most of Capitol Hill wise ones place them according to strength Robert Grady Johnson of Pender first with Laurie McEachern, o; Hoke, running a close second ane' Willie Lee Lumpkin, of Franklir running third. How accurate this es timate of strength is will be determ ined in the Democratic caucus on the night of January 8. CLEANING POULTRY HOUSE IS ADVISED Building Should Be Freed of Annoying Insects. By V. O. Fairer. Entomologist. Illinois State Natural History Survey. WNU Service. Before farmers begin housing their chickens for fall -and winter produc tion It will be decidedly profitable to thoroughly clean and treat the poul try buildings for lice, mites and other parasitic Insects. Unless' effective control measures are taken nt this time, flocks often be come so heavily Infested with these Insect pests that they become un thrifty, egg production declines and thousands of dollars In poultry profits are lost by producers. Practically all poultry Insects can be' killed by applications of any kind of oil. This applies particularly to mites, bed bugs and fleas which feed on the birds by sucking their blood at night. In the daytime these Insects usually i leave the birds and hide In cracks and crevices In the poultry house. Some of the more economical and effective oils for this purpose are creosote, kerosene and waste crank case oil, applied with a brush or emulsified with ; soap and water and sprayed on the Inside of the building. Dormant tree spray emulsions mixed at the rate of four or five gallons In 10Q -gallons of water s are also effi cient poultry Insect, tlestroyers. All corners, cracks and rough places In the wood should be saturated with the oils to insure satisfactory control. . Poultry Uce spend their entire lives on the birds and thus must be con ;trollod- by treating . the fowls wlh dips, powders or gases toxic to the In-' socts. For this good grade of sodi um fluoride ls economical. ; Each bird la dusted individually by applying a pinch of sodium- fluoride Under? each wing and around the vent, roughing the k feathers to tallow the powder to j...irlnfo the" plilmmage. of 'the birds' mry be dippea in a solution or one ounce of sodium fluoride In'pne "gajlon .of w-ter..' h- f ,a l.'l : Where It Is Impractical to handle 'each bird, painting the roosts with 40 per cent nicotine sulphate Is recom mended. A line of the disinfectant t one fourth Inch wide Is applied " ' i J t before the birds I Approximately 25,000 Federal census employees yesterday began the huge task of enumerating the more than six million farms and ranches of the United States in what is probably the most important agri cultural census in the nation's his tory, according to a statement re leased by Director William L. Austin, Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce in Washington. Plans call for the completion of the can vass before the end of January. "The fifteenth decennial census act, approved June 18, 1929, directed that a mid-decennial census of agriculture be taken January 1, 1935, for the cal endar year 1934," Director Austin said. "Because of the tremendous upheaval in the grea basic industry of agriculture, due to the depression, drought and other factors new farm statistics are urgently needed in con nection with the government's vast recovery program. "The earnest cooperation of the farmer is necessary to the success of this census, for it is one of the fed eral activities designed primarily for his benefit. However, the welfare of agriculture affects all other indus tries, directly or .indirectly, and the public generally. The statistics are necessary jiot only for the ordinary transaction of governmental business, but also for allotment programs. These programs range from the allo cations of the Agricultural Adjust ment Administration to the Federal Emergency Reliefand Farm Credit Administrations. Indeed, the bene fits expected to be derived from' this census are incalculable and will have marked influence on the future wel fare of agriculture and the country za a whole.- At the completion of the canvass every effort will be put forth to make preliminary tabulation re ports available at the earliest pos sible moment. "Due to the splendid cooperation of newspapers, farm publications, ra dio broadcasting stations, state and county farm agencies and organiza tions and educational institutions in disseminating information concerning the importance of the farm census more than a million copies of the sample schedule have been distribut ed to farmers. Those who do not have sample schedules are urged to write to the farm census headquar ters in their district, procure a copy, study the questions and have their records ready when the enumerator calls. "The bureau desires to call atten tion to the law which provides that the individual return made by each farmer is an absolutely confidential government report and to emphasize the fact that no individual figures will be used for taxation purposes nor given to any tax official. All enum erators, as well as all census em ployees, are sworn to 3ecrecy and are required to read the law and the severe penalties established for any disclosure of information. Only sworn employees of the Census Bu reau have access to the files. Sec tion 9 of the Fifteenth Decennial Census Act provides penalties for failure to answer questions asked by enumerators or for giving false in formation. "Enumerators are legal residents of the districts which they canvas3. Some, if not all, of the farmers re siding in an enumeration district will know the enumerator personally and they will do welLto see that an accu rate report is returned for their dis trict. With the program now being carried on by the government to as sist agriculture an inaccurate report might very readily react to the dis advantage of the farmers in that par ticular district. "The farm schedule is comprised of 100 questions covering practically every important ramification of the agricultural industry. Of course, very few farmers will be required to answer all of the questions, only the ones pertaining to their particular activities. Questions to be answered will include farm tenure; farm popu lation; farm acreage, which includes all crop land, pasture land and wood land; total value of the farm; acre age and yield of each of the princi pal field crops and vegetables; num ber of trees' and, yield of the princi pal fruits and nuts; number and value of each class of livestock, and poul try and eggs." The local cheese factory at fJorth Wilkesboro has increased the prices paid for milk with a corresponding increase in deliveries at the plant retire..- The nicotine fumes filter through (he birds': feathers, killing the Uce. - This 'treatment: should be re peated Jo 10 to 14 days as It does not kill the eggv All lime-or whitewash should., be removed 'from the roosts' before nicotine sulphate Is applied.' .. 4-Scaly leg,: caused by mites feeding' under the leg scales, can be controlled by dipping the feet and legs In a solu tion containing two parts of raw Un seed oil and one part of kerosene. i mm & ReUad and VOU believe in mermaids? If so, do you think you could take your mermaid, mix in a little advertising and add a dash of your best imagination and with the combination make yourself $3, (XX) a month? True, you might be considered a lunatic if you tried, i you tried and failed, your failure would cause no surpri. i', evoke no sympathy. But if, by some strange quirk or fortune, you succeeded, then you most assuredly would be classed as a rutrired indivKiuan;'. iik 1 a men--' - '. Yr'. ;. . v man .'..iin -.V.v K.,;; Innd, with u ilccn sense oC religion, but a smart sense of the gullibility f human nature, onee took Ihes'' phree ingredients, combined then, ind upon tile mixture, founded u lortune, became the pioneer of modern American advertising and carved lor himself an everlasting niche in the American hall of fame. The young man was P. T. Barn Dm. The imagination was his own Tht advertising lie created himself 6ut titillating, in subtle manner, t!i lancier, of the New York news papermen of the middle 1NOO' (newspapers weren't particular ii: those days of the source of theii lews, as long as it was news) ami ;he mermaid was a hideous immuni sed creature lie bought from tin' vuer of the ltoslon Museum in lie summer of 1S42. It was purchased originally ny in old sea captain who commanded in American tradiir; vessel plying lions the coasts of China and Ja an. lie was convinced that it was l preserved mermaid found off the toast of Japan by Japanese sailors rod the more he contemplated the inject, the more he wanted it. Fin illy he appropriated .fOi.OOO of the ihin's funds and Imuglit the mer- Baid. His employers punished him making him work out the bill. Tina nallv lie died and the only tiling e left to his son was the mermaid. The son, finding himself with ihore leave and like his indiscreet lather, without a penny in his pock its, drove a hard bargain with the proprietor of the Boston Museum n exchange for the mermaid. Barn im, with an eye to the bizarre and the eccentric, decided the mummy iras a veritable ;;ift from heaven nd bought it though not before ke had had this gruesome oddity examined minutely from tip to tail. Hoaxer that lie vas, Barnum was 'nobody's fool." His boyhood days ind experiences in New Kngland, tunning store, selling lottery tick ts, and publishing a newspaper, kad turned him into a typical 'Yankee trade-"' Munuaid r-'oois Expert' The examination of the mermaid y his experts disclosed not the llighest sign of joint or artificial ianufaeture. The creature was but three feet long, with an unbroken npine extending from the base of the skull to the tail. The shoul ders were covered with hair. The face was ugliness personified, with bestial teeth. Two skinny arms, hands and fingers like those of any human, and a fish's body and fish-like tail, completed this strange picture. Barnum's mermaid, it is eleflr, was not of that saucy, allur ing variety of fish-like maidens who besported themselves at the ex pense of the unfortunate sailors of Ancient Greek mythology. Still, this discrepancy with the popular ideal didn't deter Thineas T. Barnnm, as is only too clear in ITnited Artists 20th Century pro luetion, ''The Mighty Barnum." He bought his mermaid and decided to make the American public believe jj mermaids, too. He had just put every penny he had nnd pennies he didn't have into the purchase of Scudder's American Museum in New York the museum which afterward became Barnum's American Museum, Broadway and Ann Streets, an institution which no visitor to the growing metrop olis ever failed to "take in" among the sig!s. It was just such a cu riosity as this mermaid the Fejee Mermaid he cryptically called it that he needed to get the names of himself and his museum before the public. Distinguished Stooae So Barnum went to work. Soon letters appeared in the local press w$ taeffet IT Ysm . . . Several attempts have been made in the past to publish a paper for Hertford and Perquimans County all have been failures a newspajper to exist must have Subscribers. We need YOUR subscription NOW! Just cent) your end zCCrcco to AS THE MOST FAMOUS COMMENTATORS: OF RADIO RECALL TELLS ABOUT "A Fortune, W A t'.lA C t 1935 by UNITEO ARTISTS loud -al! nut for a code f. . . ;,,u-uL'-Luvn o i-r . -s i. . . i i All convoyed the news that a 1 1 Griffin, of the London Lyceum o Natural History, would visit Nev. York within a few weeks, en roul" to London, carrying with him "a most remarkable curiosity, a real mermaid," which he had found in lVrnambuco. Eventually Dr. Griffin, in rculii a trusted aide of Barnum's, arrivi u in Philadelphia. With a show o well assumed reluctance, the bogu scientist permitted Philadelphia re oorters to glimpse his mermaid. I was enough. The newsmen wasl no time in writing columns a'., this amazing monstrosity. So, by the time Dr. Griflin ;-. rived in New York, the fame u himself and his possession had spread far nnd wide. And greeted by many people curious to sec Hi' mermaid, the doctor again showed much reluctance to reveal the mum my and pretended that contractual obligations with the London Lyccu. Barnum had an eye to prevented him from showing it pub licly in New York. In the meanwhile, Barnum had prepared 10,000 copies of a pamph let describing the mermaid, lie called upon the editors of three large New York dailies and in mournful tones, explained that he had hoped to prevail upon Dr. Grif fin to exhibit his mermaid but the doctor was adamant he wouldn't, yield, so the pamphlets were no good to him any more. Thus, out of the goodness of his heart for the journalistic profession, lie, Barnum, was offering his pamphlets to the editors to print. All were delighted and only the next day, when the various papers came out on the street, each bear ing a different picture of the mer maid, did the editors understand how they had been thoroughly hum bugged. By this time the public interest had reached fever pitch. The pub lic had seen the papers and read Barnum's out of town letters. In nddition, Barnum had let loose n flood of pamphlets as handbills on the streets. Finally advertisements appeared that Dr. Griflin had re lented and after all would consent to exhibit his mermaid for one week nt Concert Hall on Broadway, hired specially for the occasion by the as tute Barnum. The crowd was immense when the doors of the hall were thrown open. Men, women and children streamed inside. Dr. Griflin told scholarly tales of the South Sens and the curious throngs gazed in tently at the shriveled up, three-feet-long, Fejee MermaU. "A-.y name, . ud With HIM TODAY Mer-maid" BEERY CORPORATION '..Viv Co minced ihcy were looking upon the real thing. Later, the exhibit was moved to Barnum's American Museum. And to help tilings along, Barnum, con vinced there was no limit to the ways and means of 'packing 'em in.'' ordered an l.S-foot banner, de signed as a mermaid, Lo be stretch ed across the face of his museum on the outside, so as to attract 'iv natrona-;'1. Stooge Revolts .1;. even uitnael) this J r. Griflin couldn't colossal deception and he threatened t walk out on Barn- mil, if the latter ing through his Barnum hacked could not afford persisted in carry i pennant scheme, down, because he to lose the "doc- tor." And in portraying the life of the promoter and famous show nan, Wallace Beery makes his 20th Century picture, "The Mighty Barn aul" n living vivid chronicle of a 'a moils American's rise to fume. I low successful 1. T. Barnum i, is in this early venture in hoax 'ng the public is attested by the fact hat prior to the arrival of the Fe- e Mermaid, his museum had been rossing but .fl,'J(K) a month, where as, during the four weeks that fol imved, Barnum's .Museum took in s:'..34i.9:. And the mermaid? Kenl? Of course not. Barnum never actually found direct proof of its origin, but lie did Udieve it came from Japaa hi' found iu a scientific re the bizarre and eccentric. :.carch paper by a German author, dealing with Japanese customs of the 10th century, an account of how a Japanese fisherman joined tile lower half of a fish and the upper half of a monkey so deftly and neatly that the joint could not be detected. The Japanese lislierman then told his fellow countrymen that he had aught, the creature in his net, but that it had quickly died. However, he nildeo, it had spoken a few mo mentous words begore gasping its final breath. The mermaid, he said, had pre dicted a few years of prosperity for Japan, and then subsequent years of a fatal epidemic wihich would sweep the land. The only remedy offered by the dying creature, ex plained this Japanese fisherman, would be possession of a likeness of the prophet. Whereupon thousands of Japan ese bought crude likenesses of the mermaid. Finally it fell into the hands of a Dutch trader, who sold it to a shrewd American, who, In turn, exhibited it to the ignorant nnd gullible alike in Europe thirty years before Barnum tried the same trick in the United States. And Barnum was quite convinced that this mermaid was his mermaid nnd he secretly hailed the Japanese fisherman as a blood brother in the gentle, but subtle art of spoofing the public. Can you, then, take a mermaid, a little advertising and a dash of your best imagination and make $3,000 a month? Certainly you can even in 1931 providing you'r another P. T. Barnum. For 1 year's Subscription