Sunday, January 31, 2016

Western North Carolina During the Flu Pandemic and World War I, 1919

“Local Affairs” from the Watauga Democrat in Boone, N.C., January 2, 1919.

Mrs. H.S. Jones of Zionville, R.F.D., who lost a son with flu just before Christmas, writes that the other afflicted ones in the family are improving.

Mrs. Linney Barnes, residing on the rich mountain near the village, died of flu last Saturday, leaving a husband and four small children. The remains were interred in the Hines grave yard Sunday afternoon.
The flu has struck the family of Mr. B.A. Foster of Sands R.F.D. extremely hard. Almost the entire family was stricken with the disease, the mother dying and leaving an infant only 24 hours old, and the following day the youngest boy joined his mother in the spirit world. The infant is being cared for by Mrs. Wilba Brown, and the balance of the disease-stricken family are improving.

If you have not joined the Red Cross, do it Now.
 
A happy and prosperous New Year for each and every one of our readers.

Atty. Dick Fletcher of Lenoir spent the holidays with his family in Boone.

Miss Josaphine Lovill, a student at Davenport College, is spending the Christmas vacation at her home in Boone.

Mrs. Wm. Blair, Blowing Rock, has been a visitor at the home of his daughter, Mrs. T.B. Moore in Boone, since the holidays began.

Mr. G.L. Story of Blowing Rock submits the following and asks for its publication: “All the Christian nations of the world at war. All the heathen nations at peace. Stop and think.”

Mrs. J.C. Shull of Shulls Mills, came in on the first passenger train to Boone yesterday morning, she promising herself that privilege for some time past. It matters not how the splendid lady comes, she is always a welcome visitor in Boone.

The Christmas just passed was, perhaps, the most quiet of any in the history of the village—not even so much as a social being given for the younger set, health conditions and good judgment of the people forbidding it.

Prof. W.L. Winkler has purchased the Boone Planing Mills and it is his intention to operate the machinery at the present site until spring, at least, and if it proves a paying investment at that location, he may continue there indefinitely.

On account of the flu, the Christmas Red Cross Roll Call has, so far, been rather disappointing in Watauga, but fortunately, we have a short extension of time, and those who wish to join can yet have that privilege. “A heart and a dollar is all that is necessary to make you a member.”

Mr. J.F. Bobbins (Robbins?), carrier on the Shulls Mills R.F.D., was a pleasant caller at our office yesterday, and we were glad to hear him say that the flu conditions in that section are much improved, there being but very few cases on his entire route.

There is quite a little bit due us on old accounts, and those who owe it would certainly confer a great favor by settling it at once, as we need the money to make some much-needed improvements on the paper. Please heed this, remembering that an “honest man is the noblest work of God.”

Mr. Ben Culler, with his soldier-son Emory, just returned from the military camps, was in town last Friday en route to visiting his sister, Mrs. Will Pennell, who lives two miles out on Route 1, whom he has not seen for 14 years, although they had lived all this time within 12 miles of each other.

Mr. William Story of Route 1, who, for the past 12 years has resided in Montana with his wife and nine children, arrived at the home of his mother-in-law, Mrs. George Vandyke, last Sunday. As we are told, he succeeded well in the west and will again buy property in the county of his nativity.

Regular passenger service was put on the railroad between here and Shulls Mills yesterday morning. We are to have two mixed trains daily, Nos. 7 and 8; No 7 to arrive at 10 and leave at 11 a.m.; No. 8 to arrive in Boone at 2 and leave at 3 p.m. The published schedule for the entire line from Boone to Johnson City, Tenn., will appear in these columns nest week.

Prof. I.G. Greer received the following from Mr. W.W.  Stringfellow, now of Anniston, Ala., which again exemplified the genuine big-heartness of that excellent gentleman: “I enclose check for $25 which please ask the good women of Boone to invest in needed clothes for the inmates of our County Home. I wish you all a very happy Christmas and many Good roads.”

Mrs. R.B. Estes of Alberta, Canada, is with friends and relatives in Watauga for a few weeks visit. The lady arrived in Lenoir more than two weeks ago, and there developed a case of the flu, which detained her for several days, but she is now entirely recovered. Mrs. Estes was formerly Miss Fannie Winkler, born and reared near Boone, and has many friends here who are indeed delighted to see her back, and hope that her stay may be filled with pleasure to the fullest.

Mr. Tracy Councill of the Students’ Army Training Corps at the University of North Carolina arrived in time to spend the holidays with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. B.J. Councill in Boone. Tracy looks fine in his uniform, and says he enjoyed the military phase of college life very much as well as his studies he carried. He has not yet fully decided  just what he will do in the future, but it is more than likely that he will finish his collegiate education in that institution.

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Livesay, after spending the holidays with relatives in South Carolina, have returned, and on Monday morning Mr. Livesay, who is a past-master in the operation of a steam shovel, again put in motion the clumsy old machine he deserted for a short rest from his labors. The shovel and crew are still at work in the big cut one mile west of Boone, but will soon be through there. The other crew on Brushy Fork is coming in this direction as rapidly as possible.

Messrs. Marion Thomas of Mabel and Don J. Horton of Vilas arrived from Camp Hancock, Ga., last week. Marion was a business caller at our shop Monday, and referred to himself and comrades as “the German killers from Georgia.” He said their stay in the military camps was in a way very pleasant and his opinion of the Red Cross and its efforts looking to the comfort and care of the soldiery is most exalted, and has held himself in readiness to contribute of his means for the worthy cause whenever called upon.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Local Farmers to Get Nitrate Fertilizer at Cost from Government, 1918

“Local Farmers to Get Nitrate at Cost from Government” in the Jan. 24, 1918 issue of the French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, N.C.

Notice has been given to Frank Fleming, agricultural agent for Henderson county, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will sell at cost a supply of nitrate of soda to farmers in Henderson county.

The nitrate was purchased through the War Industries Board under the authority of the food control act as a part of the program for stimulating agricultural production. It will be unloaded at Atlantic ports and the price will be $75.50 a ton, free on board cars at port of arrival. Farmers are to pay in addition freight from port of arrival and the State fertilizer tag fee.

How to Obtain Nitrate
Applications for part of the 100,000 tons of nitrate bought by the government will be received only from actual farmers or owners or holders of farms for use on their land, and may be made through County Agent Frank Fleming or through any member of a local committee consisting of C.S. Fullbright, R.W. Fletcher, P.H. Walker, H.K. Pace and D.N. Ravenport.

No money will be required with the application but upon notice from the county agent, farmers who have signed applications must deposit with a local bank association or individual designated by the secretary of agriculture to act as the farmer’s agent for that purpose money to cover the cost of the fertilizer except the freight charges. After the money is transmitted to Washington, the nitrate will be shipped to the farmers. If applications for the nitrate exceed the supply of about 100,000 tons, the government will allow the supply on a pro rata. Applications must be received by February 4.

Friday, January 29, 2016

4-H and Home Demonstration Club Achievements in a Time of War, 1943

 From the January 1944 issue of The Southern Planter

Boys and girls who had worked in the field and lot, and their mothers who had kept anxious eyes on pressure cookers, hot water canners and surplus garden produce throughout the past summer, both took time enough from the efforts during the month of November to check up on just what had been accomplished.

Nearly every one of the 100 North Carolina counties held achievement days staged by 4-H Club councils and by county federations of home demonstration club women. In Edgecombe County, for instance, the 4-H Club members secured a local high school band, the mayor of the county seat of Tarboro, notables in the civic and political life, and marched over 400 strong through the main streets of the town to the local high school where in the auditorium they received certificates of achievement and heard their efforts extolled by prominent speakers. A large banner, extending across the main street, told all visitors that the day was “Edgecombe County 4-H Club Day” and the smaller banners carried by each group in the parade indicated the club represented.

Nash County celebrated with recreational events and a program in the afternoon following a fine community luncheon.

Polk held its achievement day program in each of its schools with Club Leader Harrill as a special guest. Gaston staged a banquet.

Cleveland had a club fair with livestock featured.

Wilkes held another of its famous corn shows with 800 boys and girls attending and 57 boys entering 560 ears of corn. Over $200 in premiums were distributed in prizes for various projects. Other counties held meetings according to their custom but with much more enthusiasm than in past years because the honors and accomplishments secured cost more in labor and effort than in normal times.

‘We Are Women At War’
Every county federation held an achievement day in November and even that person who has heard reports from the women for year after year could not but be thrilled at the new stories of accomplishment. “We are women at war,” shouted the reports and some of them could well cause the home agents to glow with deserved pride. Their stories told of food grown, food conserved, Red Cross aided, fats saved, Relief funds supported, garments made and mended, bonds bought, gardens tended, curb markets encouraged, health habits checked, kitchens renovated, and plain old everyday work done in the field to help in the emergency of farm work.

They are striving to get 90 percent of all rural women in North Carolina into home demonstration clubs, or at least, to have the benefits of this club work extended to 90 percent of all the rural homes.

State 4-H Winners
State 4-H Winners for 1943 were: Anne Blanche Johnson of Lenoir County, food champion; Edan Vann Lewis of Nash County, canning champion; Carl Woodward, Nash County, rural electrification champion; Sullivan Fisher, Nash County, meat animal champion; Alta Lawson, Robeson County, clothing; Marie Gaston, Onslow County, dress revue; Kenneth Myatt, Wake County, dairy production; and Nancy Walker, Alamance County, girl’s record contest, which carries with it the title of best all-round club work for girls.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Scipio Douglass May Have 'Grieved and Worried Himself to Death' 1922

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, January 26, 1922

Scipio Douglass, a worthy colored man living near Hamlet, dropped dead Tuesday night at his home under unusual circumstances. It would seem that he practically grieved and worried himself to death.
On Tuesday, his land of 105 acres was sold under mortgage at the courthouse door here, this land being on the Hamlet-Bennetsville road and for which it was said he refused $35,000 two years ago. The land was knocked off Tuesday to Martin Freeman for E.C. Odom, for $6,700. Scipio had tried in every way to raise the money to stave off the sale, but was unsuccessful. And when he went home Tuesday night, he had barely seated himself in a chair before he dropped over dead—heart failure.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Movie Star Ned Finley Filming in North Carolina, 1918

“Movie Stars Making Movies at Bat Cave,” from the Jan. 24, 1918 issue of the French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, N.C. When the movie was released, it was called “O’Garry of the Royal Mounties”.


Ned Finley, one of the brightest lights in the world of moving picture actors, arrived in Henderson with his troupe of nine men en route to Bat Cave, where they will stop at the Esmeralda Inn for moving pictures making purposes.
Mr. Finley has been to this section a number of times for the purpose of filming pictures. Heretofore he came as the director of the Vitagraph company but this time he comes as the president of Ned Finley Film, Inc., a $100,000 corporation recently formed.
The first picture will be entitled the “Return of O Garry,” with a Canadian setting. Two other pictures will be made before Mr. Finley returns to New York for a brief business trip.
A movement is on foot for the establishment of a permanent studio at Bat Cave by reason of its desirableness for producing moving picture scenes.
This is the first undertaking of the new moving picture film producing company.
The troupe is small for the reason that Mr. Finley proposes to sue as many natives as possible.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Thieves Steal From Police Chief Braswell of Hamlet and Are Quickly Arrested Trying to Steal from Chief's Sister, 1922

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, January 26, 1922

Don’t Steal From Officer
If you are minded to steal, don’t try your hand on an officer. And leastways don’t tackle Chief Braswell of Hamlet. Fulton Lowry and E.B. Moore of Tarboro no doubt are of this mind now.

Some three weeks ago these two young white men drove into Hamlet and stole a tire from the rear of Chief Braswell’s car. The officer soon missed the tire, and began a search for the two strangers. He found them on a back street in the act of taking a tire from the car of his sister. The two were arrested; and in their suit case was found much plunder. The Tarboro officers were advised and the two carried there and confessed to stealing a car in Tarboro on Dec. 19th. Judge Lloyd Horton this week sentenced the two to 10 years in the pen. It develops that Fulton is an escaped convict from the pen, having been sent there in 1917 for 25 years for burglary.

Library Hours Cut in Observance of One 'Heatless' Day in Each Week Because of War, 1918

“Library Open Mondays,” from the Jan. 24, 1918 issue of the French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, N.C.

The Library will be open on Monday but will close on Thursdays in observance of the one “heatless” day in each week.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Dwight Williams, Haywood County Farmer, Is State Corn Champ for 1949

 
 
“State Corn Champ Named," from January, 1950, issue of Extension Farm-News

Dwight Williams, a Haywood County farmer who produced 141 bushels of corn on one acre, has been declared North Carolina’s champion corn grower for 1949, according to Dr. E.R. Collins.
The new champion will receive a $100 bond as regional winner for the mountains and another $100 bond as State winner. Mr. Williams won first place with an acre of Dixie 17 that was seeded May 6 with 12-inch spacing in 42-inch rows. The field was fertilized with two tons of stable manure plus 200 pounds of 7-7-7 at planting and two side dressings of 100 pounds ANL each.

Dale Gainey, 15-year-old Wayne County youth, won the Coastal Plain regional title with a yield of 139.3 bushels. The Piedmont winner was Charlie Barbee of Stanly County, whose yield was 129.2 bushels.
Gainey and Barbee will receive one $100 savings bond each. All of the prizes are donated by the North Carolina Foundation Seed Producers, Inc., and will be presented at the annual meeting of the 100-Bushel Corn Club at State College on January 26 and 27.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

A Peek at Life on N.C. Farms, 1919 Through World War II

From Times Down Home: 75 Years With Progressive Farmer. This book, containing a collection of articles and photos from Progressive Farmer was published in 1978.

1919-1929
The twenties were hard times for our grandparents on the farm, and harder by contrast to the good times of most of the rest of the country. Between 1920 and 1921 farm prices fell 44 percent. Many bankruptcies and mortgage foreclosures occurred. Throughout the decade, cotton was considered a depressed industry.

In 1922 the Progressive Farmer reported figures from the Secretary of Agriculture: purchasing power of railroad employees was 51% greater than in 1913 and coal miners’ 30% greater, but the purchasing power of the farmer was 25 to 45% less than in 1913.
We are told that woman’s place is at home in spite of the fact that 8,000,000 women are forced to leave home in quest of bread. The home does not stop at the threshold. All outdoors must be her home, just as long as she must prepare her child to live there. Women’s refining influence, goodness, love, spirituality and sweetness purge a community of its rottenness and keep clean the hearth. Her glorious mission in a community is that which Christ placed in her hands to fight the devil and all his works. It is just as necessary for a woman to go to the polling booth as it is to go to church. Page 120

 ….

The bright lights and apparent comforts of the city must have been especially tantalizing to the young. One mill girl was quoted: “Here ya draws yer own pay envelope and gives what ya wants to yer folks, but there ain’t no pay envelope [on the farm].”
Americans were out for fun—after the scrimping and sacrifice of the war, which had taught them the ephemeral, almost whimsical, nature of savings and work, and even life. Americans were ready for the reward which seemed to be rightfully theirs—the liberation brought by the harnessing of power. Mass production of automobiles had made them cheap enough for many to buy—at least “on time.” (More than three-fourths of American cars bought in 1925 were purchased “on time,” liberating Americans from the old puritan ethic of work and savings before buying.)

Washing machines and vacuum cleaners liberated them from constant bondage to dirt and scrubbing. Oil stoves liberated them from hot kitchens and chopping wood. But the greatest change was a whole industry devoted to “fun.”

Radio and movies were born to entertain. The moneyed class had always been entertained at concerts and plays. Now radio and moves brought entertainment within the range of most pocketbooks. A great mass of people were therefore liberated to being entertained, not (as formerly) by doing something, but (as the rich had always been) by just sitting there. Radio and movies brought to tightly knit communities ideas, styles, and ways of living from other places and times, liberating those communities somewhat from rigid custom. Radio and movies and advertising brought longings for things that others had or appeared to have. And not just longings for the things themselves but for the lives those people in the ads and moves seemed to be living.
Farmers complained that they had to get up too early to “sit up of an evening to hear a fine program” on the radio. And farmers, being more dependent on their land and their neighbors than on trends and styles, could turn their backs on these new “radio” ideas for a while. But plainly, they could not keep the young people from responding to them, as we see from a comment in 1926 by Mrs. Hutt, the Progressive Farmer’s women’s editor:

“The ambition of many a youth is to have a silk shirt to puff out in the breeze when he speeds to the town movies in his daddy’s new flivver.”  Page 98
1941-1945 For the Duration
For farmers, the duration had a somewhat different meaning. Most farmers in 1942 had the most prosperous year in memory with farm prices the highest they had been in a generation. The farm problem now was labor, or lack of it. Suddenly farm boys were drafted. Others went on to $4-a-day jobs in the war industry. Even women were taking war jobs. Children were taken out of school to pick cotton which was needed for uniforms, tents, harnesses for parachutes, etc. And if the labor shortage were not difficult enough, mechanical helpers were also in short supply.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Tobacco Farmers Vote 99 to 1 in Favor of Tobacco Control Act, 1935

“99 to 1” from the Carolina Co-Operator, January, 1935

Almost complete official returns from the Kerr-Scott referendum show that North Carolina farmers voted more than 99 per cent for retention of the tobacco control act in 1935.
The vote: 135,800 for compulsory control; 1,263 against.

And so voluntary adjustment contracts, signed by North Carolina growers last winter, will be continued through 1935.
The allotments will be larger, however, and growers may produce either 85 or 90 per cent of their base acreage, but those who produce 90 per cent will get smaller rental payments.

The grower who produces 85 per cent will receive rental payments at the rate of $17.50 an acre on the 15 per cent of his tobacco land retired from cultivation. The grower who produces 90 per cent will receive $8.75 per acre on the 10 per cent of the tobacco land he retires.
Adjustment payments will be 6 ¼ per cent of the net market value of the 1935 crop and the deficiency payments will be at the rate of 1 cent a pound on the amount of tobacco by which a grower may fail to produce his allotment.

The rate of the adjustment payment will be increased for growers with a base of less than 4 acres, with the maximum rate being 12 ½ per cent of the value of the 1935 crop.

How About 1935?
Predictions that agricultural income will continue to increase in 1935, the AAA has estimated that a total of $476 million will be paid this year to 3 million farmers participating in adjustments program.

$10 a Bale
Payment of a $10 a bale on surplus cotton tax-exemption certificates placed in the national pool will be made soon, according to Dean I.O. Schaub of State College. The other $10 a bale will be distributed among the growers when the pool is closed, he said.

The Big Freeze in Eastern North Carolina, 1917-1918

"The Big Freeze" by Bryan Mims, WRAL reporter writing for Our State magazine. For about 10 days, the end of 1917 and beginning of 1918, waters from the Great Dismal Swamp to the Outer Banks froze. To read the story, go to https://www.ourstate.com/big-freeze/. The article was posted online Jan. 6, 2014 with the following photograph from the North Carolina Museum of History.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Causes of Death in the United States in 1908

Causes of Death in the United States in 1908

From mortality statistics for 1907 and 1908, nearly one-fifth of all the deaths that occurred in the United States were those of infants under 1 year of age, and over one-fourth are of children less than 5 years of age.
“The general death rate of a country is largely dependent upon its infant mortality, because the death rates of infants and young children are high and they affect a relatively numerous element of the population.” (page 8, Mortality Statistics 1908, Dept. of Commerce and Labor)

 What were the most common causes of all these deaths among babies? Premature birth, congenital debility, venereal diseases, diarrhea and enteritis, measles, acute bronchitis, bronchopneumonia, whooping cough, croup/diphtheria, meningitis, laryngitis and other diseases of larynx, scarlet fever, and convulsions.

 Among adults in large cities (defined as those with a population of 100,000 or greater), the most important causes of death were typhoid fever, measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough, diphtheria and croup, tuberculosis, cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, diarrhea and enteritis, Bright’s disease [kidney disease], suicide, and other violence. Smallpox, plague, yellow fever, leprosy, rabies, and pellagra [a vitamin deficiency, although the cause was not yet known] caused relatively few deaths.

 From the Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census’ Mortality Statistics: 1908, Bulletin 104, published in 1909

Dealing With Smallpox Outbreaks When People Refused to Get Vaccinated, 1908

“The Practical Side of Small-Pox” by E.G. Horton, B.S., M.D., Columbus, Ohio, Health Officer of the City of Columbus, in Medical Brief, Vol. 36, No. 1, January, 1908. Medical Brief was written by and for doctors.

Small-pox is an evil to which one may well apply the old adage: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This is a truth which has been well established in the late outbreak in the City of Columbus. Some suggestions of practical importance may not be out of place at the present time.

Universal vaccination would, of course, solve the problems, as has been so aptly demonstrated in instances that are so well known as to need no citation, but there are some people who do not, or will not, believe in vaccination. These might be divided into two classes: First, those who hold erroneous ideas concerning vaccination because they are not properly informed on the subject. For this class there is hope, and we find that the number in this group is rapidly diminishing, due to the educational influence that is going on at the present time. Together with the demonstration of the splendid results obtained in the prevention of small-pox by vaccination. The second group might be termed obstinates, who will not listen to reason, and absolutely refuse to give vaccination any consideration. Occasionally the disease strikes in this class in such a way as to bring the truth home, but in no other way are we likely to reach these people unless we have compulsory vaccination under State laws. Wherever it is not possible to obtain universal vaccination, I wish to state to the general practitioner the value and importance of prompt vaccination of all exposures. It is unquestionably true in mild small-pox, at least, that a vaccination may be made three or four days after the exposure, and resulting in a successful take, will protect the exposed persons from small-pox; this is a fact too little recognized by many practitioners. On the other hand, a recognition of this fact should never serve as an excuse for delay in vaccination, because in the more virulent types of small-pox there is not the same margin of safety. One rule should be adopted, that every exposed person should be vaccination without delay. As illustrative of the value of prompt vaccination after exposures, I would cite the following cases recently occurring in this city:\

A young woman in the pustular stage of small-pox spent the evening in the family of Mr. B. It was not known until four days later that the young lady had small-ox. Therefore, four days after exposure, the family of 11 was vaccination, 10 of them never having been vaccinated previously. All of the 10 secured a successful “take,” and escaped small-pox.

In another family (that of Mrs. B.), there were five members, and a boarder made the sixth occupant of the house; the last-mentioned individual fled from the house in the popular stage of the disease, having slept until that time with a young son of the family. He was promptly vaccinated and no infection followed.

A driver for a large firm employing many such workmen had a mild attack of small-pox, and was on his wagon until it was learned that he had the disease. All the other drivers and other workmen were promptly vaccinated by the medical inspector of the city. It so happened that one driver was absent on the day of vaccination, and his absence was overlooked by the firm. This driver was the only man who subsequently developed the disease. His wife, up to the appearance of the eruption, had been unvaccinated. She was promptly vaccinated, and, refusing to be separated from her husband, accompanied him to the contagion hospital, nursing him throughout the disease, and was fully protected by her vaccination.

In another firm a driver had small-pox, and the head of the firm insisted that every driver employed by him be vaccinated or cease his work. All were vaccinated, and no subsequent cases of small-pox appeared.

Small-pox broke out in a family of 10, six of whom were adults, and being called chicken-pox, spread until nine of the 10 had the disease. The trouble was not chicken-pox, but was small-pox, and the only man who escaped was a vaccinated man. The head of the family in this case, a man 40 years of age, had been vaccinated before he was a year old, and not subsequently. He had the disease so mildly that he was not sick, and had only a couple of spots on his face, and very few on his body.

Small-pox having broken out in a saloon, and being unrecognized for a few days, there were exposures covering a considerable section of the city. A number of physicians were promptly sent to that portion of the city and in a house to house canvass vaccinated nearly the entire population of the district. As but two cases developed later in that district, and as there were many hundred vaccinated people had been exposed, the value of vaccination is evident. Of the two cases developing subsequently to this general vaccination, mention should be made in each case. One was a young man who absolutely refused to be vaccinated, although earnestly entreated, two days after his exposure. Two weeks later he was in the contagion hospital with small-pox, regretting that he had refused to be vaccinated. The other case was that of a pregnant woman, whose physician had advised her against vaccination on account of her condition. As she had just been exposed this was a mistake, vaccination should have been done. Result was that the woman gave birth to her child one evening, and the eruption of small-pox appeared the next day. It is expected that this case will prove fatal, the patient suffering from an attack of the semi-confluent type of disease. In this connection it may be stated that the child was vaccinated before it was 24 hours old, and the vaccination now (eight days later), gives every indication that it is going to protect the child from small-pox.\

Illustration of the protective value of vaccination in a nursing child occurred in the case of Mrs. N. She suffered from an attack of small-pox of moderate severity while nursing her six-month’s-old child. The child was vaccinated just as the mother had finished the popular stage. The child continued to nurse, and is yet nursing. The child’s vaccination “took,” and has shown no evidence of the disease.

When such illustrations as these are laid before thinking people, it would seem that prompt vaccination should have no opponents, and it is to be hoped that the general practitioner will bear this in mind and impart such information to his patients as will aid in stamping out small-pox, even though it has gained an entrance into a community.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Watch 100 Years of Progress in Rural North Carolina

A video was prepared for the 100th anniversary celebration of ECA Clubs in North Carolina, formerly known as Extension Homemaker and as Home Demonstration Clubs. It is full of wonderful images and information about these women at work in their homes and in their communities. You can watch the video on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT_YclDI06U


The Can-do Women of the Extension and Community Association by Debbi Sykes Braswell

When the Extension Service planted a seedling 100 years ago they had great dreams for it.  They hoped the tree would grow strong and tall. They hoped it would be fruitful.

So they tended it carefully and watched.
What happened to this tree has shocked everyone along the way. You see, it didn’t just MEET those early expectations – it has blown them away. Because when you take determined and caring women, add expertise and advice, and let them follow their hearts, you end up with a towering tree, one with astonishing fruit.

FOOD and HEALTH
Just as roots help nourish a tree, food was at the roots of ECA. It started with girls growing tomato plants in clubs just for them. With Extension’s guidance, the girls were wildly successful at turning their homegrown, home-canned vegetables into cash. Within a year, their mothers were forming their own clubs. They learned to grow better and better gardens so they could feed their families well, can the extras, and sell the surplus.

At first many people didn’t trust home canning to keep food safe to eat. But the trained women of ECA found that they could feed their families healthy meals all year long – even in winter – thanks to safe canning practices. Women canned hundreds of jars of food like tomatoes and green beans. They also learned to preserve meat, which was important in the days before refrigeration. This added food was sometimes a matter of life and death, especially in the early days and on through the Great Depression.

The women sold surplus food, which helped their families stay afloat. But the women didn’t keep their knowledge and skills to themselves. They taught their devastated neighbors how to plant gardens, can, and survive.

They also brought surplus food to schools. It broke the women’s hearts to think of anyone’s child going hungry, so they turned extra canned tomatoes and milk into tomato soup and hot cocoa for their empty little bellies. These women were a force to be reckoned with.

In the 1930s, ECA club members rallied against a sometimes fatal disease of malnutrition called pellagra. Doctors discovered that the cause was simple – a lack of vitamin B. So the women of ECA worked to pass legislation that required the makers of flour and corn meal to enrich it with vitamin B.

Club members branched out to grow different vegetables when they found eager buyers at community curb markets.

Mrs. Carl Stevenson, a member of the Sharon Home Demonstration Club in Iredell County, was so impressed with the curb market in Statesville that she enlarged her garden. She added acorn squash, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower to the other vegetables she had been growing.

One magazine reporter couldn’t believe her eyes at one of North Carolina’s curb markets. “I could not check on everything that was offered for sale that morning, but the following is what I observed: Anything in the pork or beef line, live or dressed chickens, vegetables of all kinds—some of them with the dew still on. Collard leaves were tied in little bundles with a pod of red pepper, spinach, turnip greens and young turnips with the tops, green beans, limas, cornfield beans, sugar peas, new potatoes, raw sweet potatoes, and baked sweet potatoes! One woman had yeast dough weighed out in pound batches, wrapped in oiled paper. Cakes—all kinds. Cookies and chess pies. I have not mentioned half of what was there.”  

These days we battle having too MUCH food, not a shortage, and we sit too much instead of moving. Fortunately, the clubs help members learn to choose the right calories in the right amounts. Diabetics in particular have gotten knowledge and encouragement about how to eat well. The clubs have also emphasized exercise for everyone and gladly help spread the word throughout their communities.

Some trends have come full circle.  Many families today are pinched for money and concerned about healthy eating, so it only makes sense that canning is popular once again. Home gardening and buying locally are big, too.

Also, newer generations are asking for help with cooking simple, healthy meals instead of relying on fast food and processed food. It can be convenient to grab quick food, but it’s not as healthy and it costs more.

Being healthy and saving money – that’s at the heart of ECA.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Few things are as vital to a family as its pocketbook. ECA has always helped women with this concern, whether it was during the Great Depression or the high inflation days in the early 1980s.

The clubs approached the issue in two ways – they helped families learn how to live on less. And they helped women discover ways to bring in cash.

Many club members launched home businesses that brought in badly needed money. Some started thriving poultry operations. Working through their county agent, women in Anson County even supplied NC State University with poultry.

 Other club members brought goods to curb markets, which began in the 1920s. Their customers didn’t just buy their surplus produce – the townspeople flocked in to buy extra things like flowers, cakes, and baskets, too. Who knew the club members could help their families so much by doing what they were already doing?

“The curb market has been our greatest help in time of our greatest need,” said a Nash County woman who was selling at the Rocky Mount Home Demonstration Club Curb Market in 1933.

When that curb market opened in 1923 one lady gathered up heads of lettuce in a clothes basket and sold out completely. The following week she brought two cakes and sold them. Over the next 20 years she had raised $18,666 and earned a reputation, along with her sisters, for making excellent cakes and dressings.

“We are positive if it had not been for the curb market we would have been in the county home, or worse still, dependent upon relatives,” the lady said. “Our home was mortgaged and now we have our home, a comfortable one. We own our car, a small savings account, and we don’t owe a penny.”

The ECA women’s businesses helped diversify farms, stabilize families, and lessen dependence on crippling credit. Most of us don’t realize that a hundred years ago, some farmers paid 1,000 to 2,000 percent interest on loans.

The cash that women earned helped modernize the state because it helped pay for improvements like indoor plumbing, electricity, and appliances. The extra income even helped some tenant farmers buy their own farms. It also helped children stay in school and go to college.

At a Rocky Mount curb market in 1933, one woman said, “I have sold $956 worth of produce since I have been attending the curb market. I used my flower money for my clothes and a good time, until the Depression came on. Last year I bought fertilizer and groceries, paid my cook and hired man on the farm. I bought a ton of fertilizer and a half barrel of flour and had two dollars left in change from one week’s sale of flowers. I paid the interest for four months on a note at the bank, which was $28 each month. My little girls sold five little foxes they found in the woods and wild flowers enough to buy a good second-hand piano. They have a little flower garden and are selling flowers to get money for school dresses and music lessons this winter; they are nine and eleven years of age.”

Another woman found two kinds of dividends – money and friends. Farm living could leave some women feeling lonely and isolated. But women who joined ECA clubs gained confidence, poise, and friends.

“First of all I think it is financial needs that prompt us to attend, and then once we get started we cannot stop,” the woman said. “It isn’t a novelty that soon wears away. It gets next to us and we always want to come back. We look forward to seeing our customers whom we soon learn to love. For we have learned through the curb market that our town folks are just as sweet and pleasant as they can be.”

In addition to bringing in more money, ECA members also learned how to do more with less. These women learned to sew and sew well. And they were ingenious.

At the Style Show held during Farm and Home Week at “State College” in 1934, the son of Mrs. P.G. Sturges of Franklin County, modeled a white suit that his mother had made from heavy cotton feed sacks. The slacks had been bleached and looked like linen.

In 1935 one Richmond County woman turned some of her brother’s clothes into a suit for herself. Just listen to how proud she is.

“I cleaned the suit, turned the pants upside down and with a four-gore pattern cut a nice skirt for myself, using both pairs of pants. I made a few changes in the coat and behold! I had a lovely suit.”

During a period of high inflation in the 1980s, the ECA clubs helped members figure out ways to conserve energy. In the mid ‘80s, more than 121,000 families reduced their energy and water use, saving about $132,832 by using auxiliary heating devices, water-saving gadgets, and energy-saving window treatments. The clubs also helped women find sources of extra income like furniture refinishing.

In the process, the members of ECA clubs learn how to run a sound household. They come to know the importance of good record-keeping, budgeting, and planning.

As Celestine Rhodarmer of Asheville said in the 1980s, “if it had not been for Extension Homemakers being close during the illness and death of my husband, I would not have known how to become the head of the household. Through the Extension Homemakers, I have learned to manage a home and be more aware of the responsibility of a head of the household.”

ECA women have always been can-do women. When their men were away in wars, they pulled together and helped bring in the crops. These crops were badly needed not only for the families, but also the nation.

LEADERSHIP
ECA has always responded to needs. In the process, the women have been changed and so has the entire organization.

Club members often discover gifts that they could never have imagined. They find passions and expand their horizons. Many club members have become leaders, not only in their organization, but also in their communities. Some become mayors, county commissioners, and school board members. Their experience in the clubs allowed them to move easily into leadership roles.

In 1991, Nancy Hope Willis held up a dirty, green bottle during leadership training. It was nothing to admire. But then she cleaned it, polished it, and dropped in a lovely rose. Now the ordinary bottle was a beautiful emerald vase. Her message? Effective leaders are neither born nor made but can be developed.

The newly formed clubs were so successful that the federal government expanded the program to more counties in North Carolina. It did this to help increase the nation’s food production during World War I.

During the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed half a million Americans, the club women stepped forward in valuable and visible ways. They cooked meals, taught about health precautions, and helped with home nursing when the woman of the house was desperately ill. Other times they served in the emergency “hospitals” set up for the sick. The state had an amazing resource during this time of terror – here was an already-in-place organization of capable women who could quickly mobilize and respond.

Unfortunately that funding didn’t last. County commissioners cut many agent positions after World War I, but the club members would not give up. In 27 counties, black women volunteers taught home canning for free to keep the club work going.

Over time, the women have taken on the fire of many pet projects. In the 1980s, the Dardens Extension Homemakers Club of Martin County thought it was ridiculous to have to call long distance to reach their fire department! Even their children had to reverse the charges when they called from school!

So the women mounted a campaign. They petitioned the phone company, they asked the county commissioners for help, and they talked to clubs and businesses to drum up support. Eventually the N.C. Utilities Commission agreed to replace the long distance telephone charges between Williamston and Plymouth with extended area service.

“It was then that we felt we finally finished our project,” a club member said. The phone calling change was such a big accomplishment that Gov. Jim Martin gave the group an Outstanding Volunteer Award in 1990.

No doubt about it -- these are effective women. They speak up at all levels. They have held voter registration drives, met with congressmen and legislators, and gotten involved in the courts.

In the 1970s, Helen Bess of Gaston County organized a group called Concerned Citizens for Justice. The movement served notice to all those in the judicial system that ordinary people were interested in fair and equal justice for all. The program won the National Volunteer Award, the National Extension Homemakers’ Award for Outstanding County Project, and the National Citizenship Award for the N.C. Extension Homemakers. But best of all, this program led 35 other states to begin Court Watcher programs, too.

Counties have long held events like the Women’s Leadership Conference in Union County, sponsored by Extension FCS and ECA. They allowed women to gain skills in areas like networking, diplomacy, relationship building, professional development, and mentoring.

In recent years, some women are taking advanced training to become mentors. They are a formidable force of help through master programs like food preservation and money management.

Pat Seal, a member of the Beulah EHA in Surry County, was named Outstanding Leader of the Year in the 1980s. As she accepted her engraved silver tray, Mrs. Seal said, “When I think how easily I could have missed being an Extension Homemaker, it’s really frightening. Just think what I would have missed!”

SERVICE
It’s true that ECA women have always been close to their families and to one another. But their nurturing and caring has never stopped there.

During the world wars, the club women were on the frontlines of community support. They collected scrap metal and fat, grew Victory Gardens, and knitted sweaters and socks for soldiers.  During the Great Depression, when times were desperate, the federal and state governments paid for emergency workers and seed so that ECA clubs could help those on the dole feed themselves.

After World War II, the women did not forget the hardships they had all suffered through. They embraced the United Nations movement because they wanted so badly for war to end forever. In this role, the women turned outward. They began traveling to Washington, D.C., New York City, and eventually other countries like Norway and England.

Juanita Lagg of Rowan County developed a passion for destitute people in other countries – and helped the ECA do something about it.

One of the most dramatic projects was called Save the Sight in India. Many children there were going blind before they even turned 5 years old. Unbelievably, this suffering could easily be prevented if the children could eat a diet with Vitamin A.

But the workers found that the fix was only as good as the child’s home life. They learned that they needed to teach the entire family about eating the right foods. Once they showed the parents how to gather and cook a native plant rich in Vitamin A the lesson clicked.

The project succeeded so well that India agreed to build clinics like theirs around the country. Eventually it even spread to other countries. This all came about because homemakers from North Carolina and around the world had raised money for this project.

“This is one of the best success stories I’ve ever heard about,” Lagg said. “And the reason for it…it came about because someone cared what was happening to children in developing countries. They researched the problem, they found a workable solution, they were willing to work with existing agencies … and most important, they were willing to fund the project for a full year to see if a change could make a difference.”

The ECA difference spread to other countries, too. In Guatemala, they funded projects like a well. In 1976, an earthquake had cut more than 700 people off from their water supply. So the women and children had to walk two miles at great altitude to reach the nearest water.

“I simply could not shake this concern from my thoughts,” Lagg said, “so when I returned to North Carolina, I showed a few pictures that told the story of the need for clean drinking water. The North Carolina Extension Homemakers responded the same way as I and together we decided that we should fund some wells.”

But raising the money was just part of the project; the women found that they also needed patience, cultural understanding, and determination. It took a few years for everything to come about.

“One thing I learned,” Lagg said, “is that if you decide to assist with a project, you simply must do it at their pace and use their methods, not yours, if you want to be successful.”

To pay for their projects, the women have somehow raised enormous sums of money, even in the hardest of times. This money has allowed the clubs to be amazingly generous.

In the 1940s, the ladies of Red Oak Club House in Nash County held an honest-to-goodness hen party to raise money. Each woman brought a hen to be sold later. “Many interesting games were played, having been directed by Misses Ellen McIntyre and Iberia Roach, assistant home agent,” one member wrote. “A chicken contest was conducted and the prize went to Miss Mary Hackney for her chicken intelligence.”

ECA continues to evolve to meet the needs around them. The clubs have reached out to widowed people, to pregnant teens, to grandparents raising their grandchildren, to foster children. There are programs like Aging with Gusto, Hispanic health fairs, and Black Churches United for Better Health.

Club members have cleaned school yards and church grounds and they have helped in nursing homes and health centers. They have reached out to women suffering from abuse. They have made “fidget aprons” that people with Alzheimer’s disease can wear to occupy their restless hands. They have sewed mastectomy pillows for cancer patients. They have held alcohol-free prom parties for teenagers.

The service projects are kind of like snowflakes – no two are alike and they just keep coming. Club members in Alleghany County knitted helmet liners for soldiers. Staff Sgt. Brandon Brown of Wellsville said the warm helmet liners helped him greatly in Iraq. “I work the midnight shift, securing the base perimeter, and I am outside in the elements all night,” he wrote them. “I have already found them to be very useful. Thank you so much for all your support and your prayers.”

The support has extended to military families, too. Many clubs collected coupons and sent them to military families here and abroad.

The Jacksonville EHA members offered their support to Carobell, a home for severely handicapped children. “As a club, we feel like this project has helped not only the children but the club as well,” Lib Sheegog said. “We have gotten to know each other better by sharing our ideas and talents and working together.”

The needs are ever-changing but the hearts stay the same.

EDUCATION
It’s a fact that the women of ECA know how to grow fabulous tomatoes, potatoes, and corn. But they know how to grow something else, too --- minds.

It started with a love of reading. In the 1920s, the county agents arrived at club meetings with an inviting collection of library books.  And the club members decided that their rural locations shouldn’t stand in the way of reading. In typical style, they found an answer – bookmobiles. These traveling libraries delighted families with fresh words to read. Thanks to these books, rural folks got to travel to faraway places, learn new skills, and even laugh. Clubs also raised money to help establish libraries in their communities.

In the 1960s, women in one Currituck County club held reading contests with team names like the Jets and the Rockets. “It’s still a secret which side has the greatest number of points,” Daphne W. Yon wrote, but soon we will know! Then the losers can begin planning the party. We winners want plenty of delicious food!”

The East Bend Extension Homemakers and the East Bend Ruritans teamed up in 1984 to push for the library they had always longed for. They were incredibly gratified when it finally became reality. On opening day, a group of young boys in uniform, just in from playing Little League baseball, came running through the door and headed for the children’s section, as enthusiastic about books as baseball!

Over the years, the ECA clubs continued to make reading a priority for all ages. They often supported local schools, and women spent countless hours tutoring children and reading to them. They filled shelves across the state with books they bought. Some of the women also helped adults discover the joy of reading.

ECA clubs also donated books to many parents of newborns. The club women knew that early reading could give the babies’ minds a tremendous boost and help the children as they grew up and went to school. It is clear that education is sacred to the women of ECA.

From the early days, ECA clubs found a way to send promising women to college through loans and scholarships. Their drive to help the students got reinforced over and over as the recipients wrote back.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you more times than I can count!” Robin Matson wrote. “I’ve finally made it through mid-term with a B average. I’m working very hard to be worthy of your support and trust.”

Another woman, Carol Millsaps, wrote, “Dear Ladies, Just a note to let you know ‘we’ made it through nursing school at Western Carolina University. Yes, with your help, I have graduated and will be working at C.J. Harris Hospital in Sylva. Thank you for your support of the scholarship.”

Many words of praise have been said about ECA -- words that have come from governors, neighbors, and even children.

Little Mary Jo Forehand attended Shawboro Club meetings with her mother, Hilda Forehand, in 1965. “She is a happy 3-year-old when this time comes,” Mrs. Forehand said. “Recently after going home from the meeting and saying her prayers, Mary Jo added, ‘Thank you, Lord, for Home Demonstration club.’”

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Rationing Fuel and Meat in Hendersonville During World War I, 1918

"First Meatless Monday Generally Observed Here,” from the Jan. 24, 1918, issue of the French Broad Hustler

Local Administrator Oates Advises People Anticipate Needs

The first “meatless” Monday under the fuel administrator’s orders was generally observed in Hendersonville. Grocery stores remained open until noon and drug stores throughout the day.

The state fuel administrator ruled that the industries could run on electrical power created by water on the five days set apart by the government, beginning with Thursday, but the operations of the local plants were somewhat limited in the interest of conserving coal.

The local fuel administrator, R.M. Oates, requests the Hustler to announce that all grocery stores will close on the following nine Mondays unless a revision of the order is made, at 12 o’clock. He advises the people to do their grocery shopping on Saturday if possible and not make Monday too busy with the grocers because they will be compelled to close at noon in compliance with the government’s orders.

Hendersonville is not suffering for coal, all of which has to be ordered through the local administrator. Some of the purchasers are refusing to use the grade of coal delivered but it does not take them long to ascertain the folly of such a course because it is eventually a matter of being glad to get what the government authorities can give them under the new order of things.

Wear These Boots Over Your Shoes to Enjoy Winter Days, Ad from Life Magazine, 1948



Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Glasgow and Brown in Halifax County Are Successful Farmers, 1903

“Good Farming in Halifax,” from The Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, January 13, 1903

Well, Mr. Editor, as I have read in so many letters in The Progressive Farmer about good farming in different parts of the State, I would like for you to know what some of our farmers are doing in old Halifax County. I will mention two of them.

First, Mr. J.E. Glasgow, who started a poor boy with no capital. Now he owns 1,000 or 1,200 acres of good land. It would do any one good to go with Mr. Glasgow over his farm. I went with him to look at his hogs Christmas day. He has 27 head in is low grounds that would have made between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds of pork if killed then, and they were not half done eating up the peas. Mr. Glasgow is a progressive farmer, and makes plenty of everything to eat—he told me that he cleared $7,000 on his farm in 1901, and last year (1902) about $1,000.

Next, Mr. J.D. Brown, who has a one-horse farm. He made 10 bales of cotton, $700 of tobacco sold at bard door, not stripes, 75 bushels of field peas, 100 bushels peanuts, 25 gallons syrup, 30 barrels of corn, 6 stacks of fodder, and of peavine hay he doesn’t know how much. If this escapes the waste basket you will hear from me again.
                --Leonidas, Halifax Co., N.C.

Monday, January 18, 2016

State Presidents of Negro Home Demonstration Clubs of North Carolina, 1940-1966

Past Presidents of the State Council of Negro Home Demonstration Clubs of North Carolina, 1940-1966. This organization merged with the white North Carolina Extension Homemakers Association in 1967.

1940-42, Mrs. Goldy Sykes, New Brunswick, N.J.

1942-46, *Mrs. Zelma Holloway, Durham

1946-48, *Mrs. Ardelle G. Boone, Newport News, Va.

1948-50, *Miss Mabel Powell, Ferrell St., Clinton

1950-52, *Mrs. Irene Yates, Ahoskie

1952-54, *Mrs. Irene Brindle, Rt. 2, Clemmons

1954-56, *Mrs. Ashley Powell, Rt. 6, Raleigh

1956-58, Mrs. Ruth Stancil, Rt. 1, Pendleton

1958-60, Mrs. Lillie Perry Lee, Rt. 7, Pittsboro

1960-62, Mrs. Lizzette Pearsall, Rt. 1, Willard

1962-64, *Mrs. Vera Slade, Ahoskie

1964-66, Mrs. Mamie Williams, Ft. Washington, MD

*Deceased when this list was assembled in 1998

Sunday, January 17, 2016

North Carolina's Social Welfare Program for Negroes, 1926

North Carolina’s Social Welfare Program for Negroes, a 1926 series of photos from the North Carolina State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, Raleigh, placed online by the New York Public Library. Social welfare in 1926 terms included schools, hospitals and prisons, as well as orphanages. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-e95c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99/book?parent=bd850d80-c6b2-012f-0aa0-58d385a7bc34#page/1/mode/2up



Frank—One of North Carolina’s Social Liabilities [There is no explanation as to why this young man would be considered a social liability.]



Welfare Institute for Negro Social Workers, Held January 13, 14, and 15, 1926, at the Winston-Salem Teachers’ College.

The following are captions for the rest of the photos in this report:
The Men’s Ward, Negro Division, State Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Sanatorium, N.C.

Lincoln Hospital, Durham, N.C., A general hospital for Negroes.

Administration Building, State School for Negro deaf, dumb, and blind, Raleigh, N.C.

The State Hospital for Negro Insane, Goldsboro, N.C.

St. Agnes Hospital, Raleigh, N.C., A general hospital for Negroes.

The Bishop Tuttle School, Raleigh, N.C., A national center for the training of young Negro women in Christian leadership and social work.

The Old State’s Prison Camp for Negroes, Cary, N.C.

The New State’s Prison Camp for Negroes, Cary, N.C.

The Angier B. Duke Memorial Building, Colored Orphanage, Oxford, N.C.

14th Street School, Winston-Salem, N.C. One of the modern public school buildings for Negroes in North Carolina.

The Administration Building, The Morrison Training School, Hoffman, N.C. A state institution for delinquent Negro boys.

Negro Unit—State Orthopedic Hospital, Gastonia, N.C. A first from B.N. Duke and presented to the State March 15, 1926.

The Old Harnett County Negro Rural School, 1924

The New Harnett County Negro Rural High School, 1926. A Rosenwald School. [Julius Rosenwald, part owner and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, provided seed money for schools to educate Negroes in the South. To qualify for a Rosenwald school, the community had to come up with the remaining funds.]

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Rutherfordton Bank Closed, Other N.C. Business News, 1906

“Rutherfordton Bank Closed,” from the Jan. 9, 1906, issue of the Semi-Weekly Messenger, Wilmington, N.C.

Examiner Haywood in Charge Until a Receiver Can be Appointed…Charters by the State
The corporation commission, upon the report of Bank examiner F.J. Haywood Jr. that the Bank of Rutherfordton has conducted business in an unsafe and unauthorized manner, jeopardizing the interests of depositors, and is now insolvent, orders the examiner to take charge until the commission has a receiver appointed to wind up business. D.F. Morrow of Rutherfordton is president of the bank which at its last statement showed assets $31,518, capital $10,000, deposits $18,518.

Charters are issued to the Berryhill-Suther-Drufee Company, Charlotte, wholesale and retail shoe business, capital $25,000; the North State Bobbin Company, Mount Airy, capital stock, $25,000; the Lee-Dupree Hardware Company, Dunn, wholesale and retail, capital stock $50,000; the Interstate Machine and Supply Company, Wilmington, T.D. Olive, R.W. Gibson and other stockholders, capital $50,000, half subscribed.

Other Business News
The King-Crowell Drug Co., of Raleigh, was today chartered to conduct a wholesale and retail business in this city. Incorporators are C.B. Crowell, formerly identified with a drug business in Charlotte and later proprietor of the Crowell Drug Store here, and Ed C. Birdsong and W.H. King, for many years prominent in drug circles in Raleigh. The company is capitalized at $20,000.

The news from State Treasurer Lacy today is that his condition is so much improved that it is hoped he will be able to sit up Saturday.

Important changes are to be made in the Union passenger station here which will make it much more convenient for the public, especially for ladies.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Cotton Co-operatives Help North Carolina Farmers, 1940

Editorial from the January, 1940, Carolina Co-operator

The saying that all too often we do not appreciate a person or a service until gone is just as true as it is old. He have come to accept as commonplace good roads, good schools, and many other advantages that were something to dream and yearn for back in grandpa’s day.

The same is true of co-operatives. Only in this last issue of the Progressive Farmer Dr. Clarence Poe points out that there are a great many farmers who do not realize their obligations to the cotton co-operative marketing associations. Says Dr. Poe:

“Many take for granted the revolutionary changes that have occurred in the handling of cotton during the last 15 years. Do you remember what it cost you to market a bale of cotton 20 years ago? It didn’t just happen that the trade is now handling cotton for a small fraction of what it formerly charged. It came about as a result of the competition of the cotton co-ops.

“Now that the ‘water’ has been squeezed out of cotton handling charges, cotton co-ops are no longer able to announce the large cash savings to their patrons as in old days. It is perhaps accurate to say the present value of co-operatives to farmers is not so much what they themselves are able to do, but rather what they are keeping the other fellow from doing.”

True, Dr. Poe, true! And we have actual proof of this right here in North Carolina. Farmers in some counties of the state where the Cotton Association has not been active this year have written for shipping instructions for delivering their cotton. Their complaint is that the market there is not near as high as in other counties where the Association is more active. Yes, it is good business for farmers to support their own co-operatives and keep them active. The way to do that is to be strong, active members.

Ruby Parris Named Rowan County's "Angel of the Month," 1991

“Ruby Parris, Angel of the Month,” by Rebecca Cozart in the Jan.-March 1991 issue of Tar Heel Homemakers

When a story in the Salisbury Post in Rowan County announced an anonymous person was going to present a $500 check monthly to a deserving person in an “Angel of the Month” award to those who help others, busy Extension Homemaker Ruby Parris read it and thought what a wonderful thing for someone to do.

It never occurred to her that she would be the first Angel of the Month.

Helping others has been a special part of Ruby’s life. It began 30 years ago when her husband died, leaving her with small children ages 4 ½ and 17 months. As a young widow, her income was very small, which left her to babysit, clean houses, or anything to earn some money.

Later in life, she was in a very serious car accident, leaving her with a badly crushed leg. If she lived, doctors though she might lose her leg, probably never walk again. She said she promised God that if she could get on her feet again, she would help others and she has been doing that ever since.

Ruby is an outstanding Extension Homemaker. She has been recognized many times with CVU certificates for hours at the VA Medical Center, Rowan Memorial Hospital, Red Cross Bloodmobile, Literacy Council, American Legion Auxiliary, VFW Auxiliary and work at the county, district, and state levels of Extension Homemakers.

After winning the Angel of the Month Award, she said, “You know how they talk about people wearing different hats? I keep my different badges for my volunteer work in the car so they will be ready.”

Yes, Ruby is truly an angel to many people in many different ways. Rowan Extension Homemakers are proud of her.