What to Do With Dirty, Tired, Almost Naked Little Orphan Boy With Broken Shoulder, 1933

From the May 20, 1933, issue of Happy Days, the authorized weekly newspaper of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Happy Days was privately owned, and not published by the U.S. government.

Co. 880 Plays Godfather to Little Lad Found Injured and Almost Naked

A crew from Co. 880, Center, Texas, was working about 45 miles from camp when they came across a little orphan boy with a shoulder that had been broken for about a week, with no chance of getting it set. He was dirty and tired and almost naked.

The foreman was in a tight spot. He had to abide by regulations by refusing to let the little fellow ride back to camp with the boys. But as the truck started, one enrollee threw his hat off. When the truck stopped to let him get it, the kid was smuggled aboard and in this way brought back to camp.

The camp surgeon, Capt. B.R. Galbraith, acting under the authority of the C.O., Capt. G.J. Luebben, took the little fellow in hand, scrubbed him clean, and set the shoulder.

The whole company then took up a collection and brought their “charge” enough clothes to last him for the rest of the year. Most of them took the last remaining part of the five bucks to chip in for the “babe in the woods.”

Hats off to this bunch of true men and gentlemen.

Clapp Bags Big Moccasin, 1941

“George Clapp Goes After Snakes With a Keen Enthusiasm” in the May 27, 1941, issue of the Burlington Daily Times-News

Bags Big Moccasin Believed the Same That Gave Two Local Anglers Fright of Life

It isn’t exactly a hobby, but George T. Clapp, automobile dealer, admits readily that his aim is almost as good as his enthusiasm at snake killing.

Mr. Clapp knows what a number of snakes, particularly the cotton mouth moccasin, can do to the fish and frogs about a favorite pond or lake. He enjoys stalking them early morning or late evening when they glide nearby the bank or cruise offshore.

Hairbreadth escapes from the fangs of a big cotton mouth have been reported from the private bond of W.P. Ireland, near Ossipee, within recent weeks. Not many fishermen are permitted to angle there, so the snake colony is large and rarely molested.

Only a few days ago at dusk an angler came up from the pond, pale, his hair upright and graying momentarily, after stumbling upon a “log” in the narrow path. He saw the “cotton” throat as the fangs thrust and missed his leg by a fraction of an inch.

And the next day, the same angler, with a companion, witnessed a blood freezing scene when his companion, moving out from the bulrushes in waist-high waders yelled out: “Here is that snake!” It was coiled around one of his legs, being ferried to shore.

Today Mr. Clapp called the boys to come see “their snake.” It was a heavy-bodied, diamond-headed true cotton mouth moccasin. A well placed shot half severed the head “just behind the ears!” and for good measure, Mr. Clapp displayed a smaller one.

“This year has been the best snake year I’ve ever known,” Mr. Clapp said with some enthusiasm. “I’ve killed more of them than ever before in my life.”

At Least 60,000 Turn Out to Celebrate Signing of Mecklenburg Declaration in Charlotte, 1914

"A Big Celebration” from the May 28, 1914, issue of The High Point Review

Parade Most Spectacular Feature As Reviewed By Vice-President—Marshall Wants Honesty—City Thronged With 75,000 People Who Enjoy May 20 Observance With No Mishap

Charlotte—Without unpleasant incident of note and under ideal weather conditions, more than 75,000 people from Charlotte and territory within 100 miles and more took part in the greatest celebration, the anniversary of the signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration.

The dawn found the city streets filled with visitors and regular and special trains from all points in the Piedmont Carolinas added their quota until the city was one solid mass of humanity when the time for the parade arrived.  The size of the crowd has been variously estimated, from the ultra conservative to the other extreme. Some estimates have run as high as 90,000, and  a few as low as 60,000, but according to those familiar with large gatherings, 75,000 appeared to cover the crowd.

It was a larger crowd than was here when President Taft was the guest of honor, and larger than when Vice President Adelai Stevenson was here years ago on a similar occasion. Narrowed down to its final analysis, it was the biggest assemblage of people ever seen in Charlotte. It was also one of the most orderly. There were very few disturbances among the throngs of sufficient importance to demand police attention, and with two or three exceptions here were no accidents and these were not of a serious nature.

The presence and address of Vice President Marshall was alone a feature far beyond the ordinary. The distinguished representative of the United States cultivated and Mrs. Marshall added her amiable charms to the magnificent occasion. The vice president won the hearts of the citizens when he asked for tickets to the baseball game and he occupied a box just behind the catcher’s position. He rooted Charlotte and seemed to greatly enjoy the game. This one incident alone served to show the people of Mecklenburg and adjoining counties that they had the right kind of a man in the important second place in the United States government.

Second only to the presence of the vice president was the magnificent parade which took place between the hours of 11 and 1 o’clock. This was conceded to be the best event of its nature ever witnessed in the state.

From Wikipedia:

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is claimed by some to be the first declaration of independence made in the Thirteen Colonies during theAmerican Revolution. It was supposedly signed on May 20, 1775, at Charlotte, North Carolina, by a committee of citizens of Mecklenburg County, who declared independence from Great Britain after hearing of the battle of Lexington. If the story is true, the Mecklenburg Declaration preceded the United States Declaration of Independence by more than a year. The authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration has been disputed since it was first published in 1819, forty-four years after it was reputedly written. There is no conclusive evidence to confirm the original document's existence, and no reference to it has been found in extant newspapers from 1775.

The flag of North Carolina bears the date of the Mecklenburg Declaration: May 20, 1775.

Many professional historians have maintained that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is an inaccurate rendering of an authentic document known as the Mecklenburg Resolves. The Mecklenburg Resolves were a set of radical resolutions passed on May 31, 1775, that fell short of an actual declaration of independence. Although published in newspapers in 1775, the text of the Mecklenburg Resolves was lost after the American Revolution and not rediscovered until 1838. Historians believe that the Mecklenburg Declaration was written in 1800 in an attempt to recreate the Mecklenburg Resolves from memory. According to this theory, the author of the Mecklenburg Declaration mistakenly believed that the Resolves had been a declaration of independence, and so he recreated the Resolves with language borrowed from the United States Declaration of Independence. Defenders of the Mecklenburg Declaration have argued that both the Mecklenburg Declaration and the Mecklenburg Resolves are authentic.

The early government of North Carolina, convinced that the Mecklenburg Declaration was genuine, maintained that North Carolinians were the first Americans to declare independence from Great Britain. As a result, both the seal and the flag of North Carolina bear the date of the declaration. A holiday commemorating the Mecklenburg Declaration, "Meck Dec Day", is celebrated on May 20 in North Carolina, although it is no longer an official holiday and does not attract the attention that it once did.

To read more, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecklenburg_Declaration_of_Independence

Morehead City Passes and Then Repeals Measure to Prevent Typhoid, 1914

“Health Facts About Morehead City” from the May, 1914, issue of The Health Bulletin, published by the North Carolina State Board of Health and distributed for free to any citizen of the state upon request.

The first four facts are taken from the death certificates which the town officials have filed with the State Board of Health.

Fact 1. The average death rate for Morehead City for the last three years has been over 35 per cent higher than the average death rate in the United States.

Fact 2. The death rate from typhoid fever for Morehead City for the last three years has been 263 per cent higher than the average typhoid fever death rate in the United States.

Fact 3. The death rate from diarrheal diseases among children (summer complaint) in Morehead City for the last three years has been 353 per cent higher than the average in the United States.

Fact 4. Over 17 per cent more of the deaths in Morehead City for the last three years have occurred during the six fly months than during the other six months.

Fact 5. One of the chief causes for these excessive death rates from typhoid fever and diarrheal diseases doubtless is that flies carry fecal matter from open, unsanitary privies to the people’s food.

Fact 6. The town authorities passed a model sanitary privy ordinance in May of last year, and bought about $500 worth of sanitary privy cans. The enforcement of this ordinance would undoubtedly have greatly reduced not only the death rates from typhoid fever and diarrheal diseases, but the total death rate as well.

Fact 7. A petition urging the repeal of the ordinance was circulated and received over 200 signatures out of approximately 400 voters. It is claimed that the names of many people who were not entitled to vote appeared on this petition.

Fact 8. On February 24^th of this year the sanitary privy ordinance was repealed.

The State Board of Health has repeatedly called attention to these conditions and urged that adequate steps be taken to remedy the situation, but thus far such action has not been taken.

Wake County Tops in Pasture Development, 1946

“Wake County Tops in Pasture Development” by F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the May 13, 1946, issue of the Charlotte News

 Thousands of acres of medium to poor land throughout the Piedmont section of North Carolina can be made to yield good grazing crops through proper fertilization and seeding, as shown by farm demonstrations conducted in Wake County under the direction of County Agent Lloyd T. Weeks.

Last week about 40 farmers visited 6 temporary pastures, 8 permanent pastures, 7 farms growing alfalfa, 2 farms with hay driers, 1 model calf barn, and 1 farm that grew purebred hogs, all in a full day’s trip through Wake County that lasted 11 hours.

The first stop was at the farm of Theo L. Jones, Raleigh, Route 4, where growers saw 20 cows on 14 acres of temporary pasture on land that was in broom sedge and briars three years ago. Believe it or not, the animals cannot begin to take care of all the grazing on this field this Spring.

Jones put 2 tons of lime per acre, 300 pounds of 3-12-6, an application of stable manure, and some phosphate during the three-year period. His seeding of the present gracing crop was 15 pounds of white clover, 15 pounds of rye grass, and 2 bushels of barley and oats per acre.

He had a second field of one acre of temporary gracing for two Percheron horses, and a third field of one acre for his Hereford bull, with a good wire fence around it. The bull gets the majority of his feed during the year from this one acre of permanent pasture.

Another pasture of this same general type was seen during the afternoon on the farm of Irvin Jackson of Raleigh, Route 1, with a growth of Bermuda grass, blue grass, and white clover and no seeding. Most farmers expressed the opinion that under average conditions permanent pastures would give quicker and better results if they were properly fertilized and seeded.

“What we need to do is to fertilize and seed 10 per cent of pastures and let the other 90 per cent go back into woods,” said Obie Haithcock of Raleigh, Route 5. “Our cows would be better fed than they are now.”

Irwin Jackson also showed where lime, phosphate, manure, and native grasses had replaced broom sedge and given exceptionally good grazing.

ALFALFA

S.A. Yancey of Varina and the W.W. Holding Farm of Wake Forest showed exceptionally good first and second year alfalfa, with 46 acres on the two farms. The Holding Farm cut 35 tons from 8 acres last year and the Yancey crop averaged 3 ½ tons per acre.

J.W. Adcock of Varina and C.H. Horton of Wendell, Route 1, had excellent first year alfalfa on sandy soils, where many would have thought it impossible to grow the crop only a few years ago. County Agent Weeks said that the 2-12-12 fertilizer with borax and plenty of lime had helped to turn the trick. He advised that these alfalfa crops be kept well fertilized with recommended topdresser or complete fertilizers.

TOO MUCH FEED

W.V. Green of Neuse, Route 1, and Obie Haithcock had about 60 cows per farm, and both were cutting hay because they had more feed than they had cows. Their permanent and temporary pastures were exceptionally good. Haithcock was using his hay drier to excellent advantage during the rainy season, cutting out perfect hay right along.

When 21 farmers were questioned during the lunch hour, 11 reported that they were growing alfalfa, 12, hybrid corn; and 17, permanent pastures. They said that they were getting most of their information of improved farm practices from the county agents, farm magazines and other farmers.

KILDARE FARM

Farm manager C.A. Keisler showed an excellent dairy barn at Kildare Farm near Cary with a curing of about 18 tons of pea-green alfalfa hay from 25 acres on a mechanical hay drier. The crop was cured in 8 days at a cost of about 30 cents a ton for electric current. The complete cost of the hay drier was about $700 when put in last year, and it cured out 80 tons of hay. Each crop of hay was piled on top of the other for curing and it went up to the roof of the large barn, the last curing taking the shortest length of time. Keisler said that heat from the roof was probably responsible for this.

The visiting farmers also saw a temporary pasture on Kildare Farm that was taking care of better than 3 cows per acre. It had received manure, 1 ½ tons of lime per acre, and 500 pounds of 2-12-6 with a seeding of 15 pounds rye grass and 15 pounds of Crimson clover. Keisler plans to increase his rate of seeding to 20 pounds of clover and 30 pounds of rye grass per acre next year so as to establish a still thicker sod and get more days of grazing. He top dressed with nitrogen in late February and up to last week had obtained 46 days of grazing.

“With plenty of gracing and good alfalfa hay our milk production jumped from 75 gallons a day up to a total of almost 125 gallons a day,” he explained.

“That was just about my experience,” chimed in Blanny Franks, who lives about 7 miles southwest of Raleigh. The grazing crop on the Kildare Farm was seeded September 1. Also on Kildare was a native pasture of blue grass and white clover that had never been seeded.

Preparing for War Is Costly, 1941

“U.S. Expenses Mount Hourly for Defenses” published in the May 2, 1941, issue of the Burlington Daily Times-News.

Two Billion Monthly May Be Spent By July 1

Washington, May 2—(AP)—American defense production is increasing so swiftly that officials predicted today federal expenditures would reach $2,000,000,000 a month in the fiscal year beginning next July 1.

In comparison, the government spent approximately $1,300,000,000 last month—about $750,000,000 for defense and $550,000,000 for other purposes.

The estimate of spending was reported to have been prepared by Stacy May, statistician of the office of production management, for presentation to the senate committee investigating the defense program.

Over the year, this figure is $5 billion above the estimate made by Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau in testifying on taxes before congressional committees last week, and is $6.6 billion larger than the budget President Roosevelt submitted to congress in January.

Under Morgenthau’s theory that two-thirds of the government’s over-all spending during the defense emergency should be covered by tax revenue, the new figure would require doubling of the treasury’s plan to add $3.5 billion of the new taxes to the $9.223 billion revenue expected from existing levies.

No such revision of the tax program was anticipated by officials, however, both because the new taxes already advocated are so steep and because May’s estimate does not bear budget bureau approval.

Harold D. Smith, budget director, was understood to be calculating expenditures somewhat between Morganthau’s $19 billion and May’s $24 billion.

Either of these figures would make the next fiscal year the most costly in American history. At the peak of world war spending, the most expensive year was $18.522 billion.

May’s estimate interested officials intensely because the actual size of spending will be determined almost solely by how fast the factories can turn out the airplanes and other defense materials which have been ordered. Orders and appropriations exceed any of the estimates.

Meanwhile the house ways and means committee, considering plans for raising necessary revenue, studied the recommendations of some 170 economists who urged that congress use its taxing power to prevent a defense-born currency inflation.

Fitting out the U.S.S. North Carolina at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, N.Y., May, 1941.

The United States didn’t enter World War II until after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, but we were preparing for war before that. “U.S. Sea Strength Steadily Grown, but  ‘Two-Ocean Navy’ Is Four Years Away” by Milton Bronner, NEA Service Staff Correspondent, as published in the Thursday, May 1, 1941, issue of the Burlington Daily Times-News.

Shipyards Speed Work as U.S. Fleet Steams Nearer to ‘Battle of Atlantic’

Washington—As American warships assume their peril-fraught roles of “interested bystanders” in the Battle of the Atlantic, the projected two-ocean U.S. Navy is estimated here to be foure years away from completion.

Though, thanks to appropriation bills passed prior to the present emergency, vessels steadily are being added to the U.S. fighting forces, it will be well into 1045 before this country can boast of the huge super navy now deemed necessary for full protection of both coasts.

Nevertheless naval authorities are pleased by the way in which the shipyards are cutting construction time. Workmen in the U.S. Navy yards as well as in yards owned by private concerns are driving steadily ahead as fast as the material is delivered.

A good example is the 1650-ton destroyer Edison, now in commission.

This vessel was constructed in 10 months. Some years ago the regular period of construction was 31 months. This now has been slashed until the average if 15 months.

New Battleships Are Welcome Additions

The two most welcome additions to the navy of course are the battleships North Carolina and Washington, the first completed since 1921. They both are 35,000 ton vessels. Their main armament is 16-inch guns, mounted in three turrets, three per turret. They also carry a heavy battery of anti-aircraft and secondary broadside guns. They are propelled by turbines developing 115,000 horsepower from oil-fired boilers and giving a speed of 27 knots. Each is equipped to carry three planes.

A further report on the progress of the navy to date:

Keels of battleships Alabama, Iowa and New Jersey were laid last year and of the Missouri and Wisconsin early in 1941. The big aircraft carrier Hornet was launched at Newport News, Va., last December 14. In the latter part of 1941, keels were laid for the cruisers Atlanta, Juneau, San Diego, San Juan, Cleveland, Columbia, Montpelier and Denver.

Submarines launched in the latter part of 1940 were the Marlin, Grampus, Grayback, Grenadier,Grayling and Gudgeon. Keels were laid for the submarines Gato, Greenling, Grouper, Drum, Flying Fish, Silverside and Trigger.

Destroyers which were launched were the Meredith, Grayson, Monssen, Woolsey, Ludlow, Nicholson, Wilkes, Swanson and Ingraham. The Ericsson was completed and placed in commission. In addition, in 1940 keels were laid for nine more destroyers and already in 1941 keels have been laid for five.

Destroyers are expected to play particularly important parts in the Navy’s newly announced patrol of a broadened Atlantic “safety zone.”

Destroyer Force Will Be Best in World

Keels have been laid for nine coastal minesweepers. The repair ship Vulcan has launched last December, as was the submarine tender Fulton. In the latter part of 1940, six submarine chasers were launched and keels were laid for four seaplane tenders and one mine layer. In the latter part of 1940, one motor torpedo boat was commissioned, four were launched and keels were laid for seven more.

Senator Walsh of Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Naval Committee, has revealed that 17 more destroyers will be completed this year, 45 in 1942, 86 in 1943, 52 in 1944 and 5 in 1945, making a total of 204. This will be the strongest and biggest modern destroyer force in the world.

By the time these are completed the two-ocean navy also is scheduled to be well on the way to the finish with completion of 17 battleships, 112 aircraft carriers, 14 heavy cruisers, 40 light cruisers and 80 submarines.

Small Craft Also Under Construction

In the present European war Germany, for offensive purposes, and Great Britain, for defensive purposes, are both supposed to have built great numbers of small craft. The United States will not be far behind when the naval program of 1940 gets into full swing.

Among those for which contracts have already been let or will shortly be let are 36 165-foot submarine chasers, 30 110-foot submarine chasers, 24 torpedo boats, 18 165-foot mine sweepers, 32 fleet mine sweepers and 13 coastal mine sweepers.

The Germans are reported to have built a special type of small ship for a possible attempt to invade Great Britain. In this category, the United States Navy will not be behind. $3,240,000 has been appropriated for 200 vessels known as “amphibian tractors.” They are small vessels capable of going through deep water and of getting along in shallow water. They are designed particularly to carry and land marines on sea coasts. Contracts for these vessels were let last February 17.

German POWs at Work Near Wilmington, 1944

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Wilmington Star on May 22, 1944

They looked little like supermen when I saw them stripped to the waist in the warm spring sunshine and engaged in such ordinary pastoral occupations as harvesting truck crops.

Did one not notice the noncommissioned officer of the United States Army standing in bored but alert attention in the background, he would never know that these blond boys out there in the field were former German soldiers filled with a lust to kill and arrogant in a false assumption of superior qualities which they did not possess.

They looked as if they were accepting an entirely new situation, and they were doing first-class work, although the observer could not but feel that the apparent meekness was only temporary.

There are 277 German prisoners of war with 38 of them being noncommissioned officers located in the N.Y.A. camp on the Carolina Beach Highway near Wilmington. These men are under the supervision of Lieutenant R.H. Hazel of Greenwood, South Carolina, commanding officer of the camp, as assisted by Lieutenant J.T. Hayes, administrative officer. The Commandant has a group of 55 men, mostly noncommissioned officers, to help him in handling the prisoners.

The prisoners are sent out in details in the number and as the farmers ask for them. With each group goes a leader, usually one of the German noncommissioned officers, and an interpreter. Occasionally, the two jobs head up in one person. But each detail is in the charge of its own leader. A farmer, employing the detail for the day, gives his orders through this leader.

I saw one detail working on the 90-acre truck farm belonging to A.G. Seitter. Out in the field the men cut the lettuce according to instructions and brought it in hampers to the end of the rows where it was repacked. The leader looked on and talked with the various ones in their native German language. Back at the end of the rows on the farm road where the hampers were packed, stood an armed corporal of the United States Army, alert and poised but with little to say. It was his job to see that no prisoner escaped.

As I went about over the camp and saw the clean kitchen with the same food for the prisoners as that provided for the American soldiers in charge, I wondered if our boys captured by the Germans were faring as well.

Being a prisoner is a hard existence at best, but having the opportunity for work out in the open fields, with good food and clean bedding helps to make such an existence more bearable. I was allowed to peep into the refrigerators, to see the cooked rations going out to the men in the field, to visit their quarters, to see their canteen, and to visit their infirmary. They should be happy at having this opportunity to work for the farmers of North Carolina.

Decoration Day Ball in Burlington, 1941

“Popular Orchestra Will Play For Decoration Day Ball” in the May 26, 1941, issue of the Burlington Daily Times-News

The American Legion will offer one of the South’s most popular orchestras in Ted Ross, who will bring his 13-piece University of North Carolina band to Burlington next Friday for the big annual Legion Decoration Day ball at the new armory.

The history of Ted Ross and his orchestra is a colorful one, according to Ray Nally, member of the dance committee in charge of arrangements for the ball. Starting out as an obscure small group three years ago at the university, it has grown to be one of the most popular college orchestras in the South. Ross, who directs the orchestra, also plays tenor saxophone, and practically every song the orchestra plays is a special arrangement written by Ted himself.

The orchestra has been featured at Virginia Beach, the Hotel Charlotte in Charlotte, Washington Duke hotel in Durham and various leading cotillion clubs throughout the South. Mr. Nally stated that in bringing this exceptional group to Burlington the Legion felt that they were offering the people of Burlington one of the finest bands that could be secured for the occasion, in this section.

The star attraction of the orchestra is the vocal selections of lovely Anne Russell, who has been with the band now for several months. The youthful Miss Russell has already a large following of her own among those who have heard of the orchestra.

According to members of the committee a large and representative turn-out is expected for the Decoration Day ball. If the advance sale of tickets is an indication of attendance, the affair should be one of the outstanding events on Burlington’s calendar. Tickets are on sale at committee headquarters, 107 1-2 E. Front street or by phoning 1030.

When the Money Ran Out, Public Schools Closed, 1941

“Alamance County School Closing Dates Announced” from the Burlington Daily Times-News, May 1, 1941

Four of 10 White Schools Closing Earlier; Negro Schools Will Close May 8^th

Closing dates for four of Alamance’s 10 white schools were announced today from the office of County Superintendent M.E. Yount.

The Altamahaw-Ossippee and Sylvan schools will close May 7, Pleasant Grove May 8, and Eli Whitney May 9.

All negro schools in the county will close May 8.

Dates for closing of the six other white schools will be between May 14 and May 21.

Prevent Forest Fires and Improve Your Own Life in CCC, 1933

“It’s a Worthy Job That Awaits Men in Forests” by Robert Fechner, Director, Emergency Conservation Work, from the May 20, 1933, issue of Happy Days, the authorized weekly newspaper of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Happy Days was privately owned, and not published by the U.S. government.

Workers Given Opportunity to Benefit Themselves and the Nation--A Personal Message to Men in Woods From Director of Emergency Conservation Work

You men in the forests, or about to go into the forests to carry on the Emergency Conservation Work, have a real task to perform. You are workers. You are not the objects of charity, nor are you in any respect a part of the U.S. Army. You have been given jobs by the federal and state governments to do work that needs to be done. Work that in many instances has been neglected in other years. It is important work, the results of which should enhance the value of the national and state forests and parks enormously.

Likewise, you are being given an opportunity of finding yourselves. I should like for each one of you to gain an understanding of this opportunity which has been afforded you—the opportunity to add to your own welfare and to the welfare of the nation.

You have been sent into the forests not to just chop around with no effective aim toward a definite accomplishment. You have been sent there to effect, so far as possible by you, a repair of the prodigal waste which has been visited upon our forest lands—by fire, by insects and disease, by the uneconomic use of years ago.

I am not unmindful, nor should you be, of the opportunity this work also will give each of you for physical and mental health. This period which you will spend in the woods should be of inestimable benefit to your bodies and to minds which have been harassed by the fears of unemployment.

The army was given the task of equipping the men and supervise the camp locations because they were best qualified to carry through this feature of the work with dispatch and economy.

The forestry department is furnishing you with expert supervision of your work. The department of labor selected you for the jobs. The departments of agriculture and the interior has located you at those places in the forests where your work will count the most.

Your willingness to do the job well will make a success of this joint endeavor to give you men work to do and to give to our forests the protection which they deserve.

Farm Bill Promotes Growing Food In Abundance to Feed World's Hungry, 1947

“Economy of Abundance” from the Editorial Page in the Saturday, May 10, 1947, issue of the Statesville Record Landmark

Secretary of Agriculture Anderson has proposed a realistic farm program to succeed the wartime price-support setup. It is based on the theory that food should be grown in abundance and consumed the same way.

This is quite a departure from the present practice of maintaining artificial high prices and dumping surpluses as well as from the prewar economy of scarcity, which paid farmers for lowering the food supply to match lowered buying power.

Mr. Anderson would put a floor under consumption and make “some sort of food allotment program available at all times.” With such a flexible setup, neither a temporary slump nor a depression would have to mean lack of food for the poorly paid or unemployed. Farmers could raise food in the knowledge that it would be eaten. Instead of paying the farmer for not producing, the government would buy food for those who couldn’t afford it.

In addition, the secretary would like to see this government enter into agreements with other countries for the sale of our food surpluses at reduced prices. It seems likely that when Mr. Anderson’s former congressional colleagues will give his plan consideration when they start writing a new farm bill.

There will be no scarcity of hungry people in this world for some time to come. In view of that unhappy prospect, any thought of an agricultural economy of scarcity would seem not only unreal, but rather heartless.

A government-planned food program costs money, whether the money is spent to plow under little pigs, support food prices, or make food available free or at reduced cost to those who need it. But the last type of expenditure promises the most dividends.

We may hope that America will never again see the bad times when, in Mr. Roosevelt’s words, one-third of a nation was ill-fed. We may work to see that those times don’t return. But, though economic emergencies may be minimized, there is no guarantee that they can be avoided entirely.

Even if we succeed in keeping our living standard at its present level, there will be a place for our surplus food in other lands. And food today is an important factor in American diplomacy.

Food is a key chapter in the story of America’s world position today. A well-fed, prosperous America sharing food with others will do much to sell doubtful peoples on the American brand of democracy. There’s considerable more nourishment for a hungry European in a loaf of bread made from American flour than in a pound of anti-American propaganda leaflets.

School Children Get Free Dental and Physical Exams, 1921

“Health of School Children” from the May, 1921, issue of The Health Bulletin, published by the North Carolina State Board of Health and distributed for free to any citizen of the state upon request.

An especially able and capable young lady teacher, principal of three-teacher school in one of the best farming sections of a neighboring county, a few days ago sent in a report to the department of Medical Inspection of Schools of the State Board of Health which deserves more attention that burial in the files of an office. This report is the recorded result of a preliminary physical examination of the pupils of the school by the teachers.

In the first place, as already stated, the teachers are most capable, the community is a good one and the people take pride in supporting their school; and yet of 128 pupils enrolled, there were only 95 present and examined by the teachers at the time the examinations were made. 

Of the 95 children examined, 77 or 81% have decayed teeth. Of the whole total only 7 had ever visited a dentist. Fifty-five of them, or 57%, had never used a toothbrush. Most of the others answered that they used a toothbrush “seldom” or “occasionally.” None of these children live more than 15 miles from at least 10 competent dentists. What is the cause of such a situation?

Forty of them complained of chronic throat trouble, and 22 have defective vision. The above facts are serious enough; but by far the most discouraging feature of this survey is the discovery that 37 of the 95 children are grade repeaters. More than one-third of them, 39% to be exact—are forced through necessity to repeat their efforts.

Now, if those children had their handicaps removed, the services of one of the teachers could be dispensed with and two months added to the school term without additional cost. In other words, the school would cease to be a detention camp for defectives.

The reader may think this an exceptional situation. It is, in that the record is better in many respects than many hundreds of schools scattered throughout the length and breadth of the State, both in town and country. The big question, and one that we pass on is, What can be done about it?

                        --G.M.C.

Work on North Carolina's Daniel Boone Trail Recognized by Home and Country Magazine, 1914

The Daniel Boone Trail Marker in Hillsborough as shown in Commemorative Landscapes, which notes that the monument was built in the 1930s. There were originally 358 of these Boone Trail Highway tablets made and placed from Virginia Beach, VA to San Francisco, CA. They were done by a Mr. J. Hampton Rich of Mocksville, NC, whose Boone Memorial Association had as its objective the raising of the Boone reputation and its memory in the American consciousness.

From the May 7, 1914, issue of the Watauga Democrat, Boone

The April number of the “Home and Country” magazine, an illustrated monthly magazine of the Daughters of the American Revolution of the United States, contains a most pleasing account by Mrs. Lindsay Patterson of Winston-Salem of the unveiling of the Boone marker at this place on the 23^rd day of last October.

There are excellent pictures of Mrs. Lindsay Patterson, chairman, and of Mrs. William N. Reynolds, State Regent, and of one of the markers. The following excerpt are copied:

“Twelve boulders have been placed along the Trail marked by tablets. His cabin near the Yadkin was on a beautiful bluff, wild and isolated now as when the hardy pioneer made it his home.

There the first tablet was placed on the arrow-shaped stone that marks the spot. The next marker is at historic Shallowford, where Cornwallis crossed on his way to fight Greene—and still later, made more famous by Winston Churchill in his book “The Crossing.”

The tireless State Regent and Chairman went in their cars, and with invited guests followed the Trail, attending and participating in all the exercises, and afterwards serving picnic lunches. From all sections of the country people gathered to take part; schools attended in a body; the children singing patriotic songs, unveiling the tablets, and having a good time generally.

One of the most enthusiastic unveilings was held in the town of Boone, Watauga county, where the boulder was placed in the Court House Square and about 600 people were present. Boone lived there several years, and many traditions of him still linger in that most beautiful mountain country. A list of places marked will enable the reader to follow the trail across the State:  Home near Yadkin River;  Shallowford;  Huntsville;       Yadkinville;    Wilkesboro;    Holman’s ford;    Elkville;    Three Forks Church;   Boone;  Hodges Gap;     Graveyard Gap;   Zionville.

“Locating the Trail through North Carolina was the real labor of the undertaking, as the chairman found, to her speechless amazement, that no history or map had any record of it. Then began a long and weary hunt through old letters and ancient manuscripts, and still no results. Then the chairman wished she had died when a baby, so she wouldn’t have to explain to the Daughters that she had asked them to mark a trail that could not be found. But the old adage about its being darkest just before the dawn held good, and all at once light came.

Dr. Archibald Henderson of Chapel Hill, a descendant of Judge Henderson, sent extracts from family papers. Mr. W.L. Bryan of Boone, related to the Boones, and an encyclopedia of interesting information concerning him, gave valuable suggestion, while Mr. John P. Arthur of Asheville went over the entire trail, interviewing all the old inhabitants concerning it and writing down all that they told him. Mr. P.M. Wilson of Washington sent government map, while the State Regent and Daughters were tireless in their efforts.”

Thus does our town of Boone get its proper “Place in the picture, near the flashing of the guns,” as this magazine circulates throughout the United States.

The Last Boone Marker

At the request of Mrs. Lindsay Patterson, chairman of the Boone Trail Committee of the D.A.R., Mr. W.L. Bryan sent Mrs. W.A. Miller to Cook’s Gap Saturday for the purpose of placing the last marker on the trail of Daniel Boone in this State.

He was assisted by the following public spirited citizens of that locality: Thomas L. Critcher, R.A. Green, Richard Green, C.L. Cook, and a worthy colored man named Jack Grimes. These would accept nothing for their labor in helping to place the heavy boulder in position. In addition, Mr. Critcher furnished inner to the visitors from Boone, and provided all the tools which were required to complete the job. If there is not a large and flourishing town in the vicinity of Cook’s Gap within a few years it will be because the land owners ask too much for their lands; for every natural advantage required for a town is there, including water from springs a hundred feet higher than the general level, which is exactly that of the town of Boone, 3,332 feet.

For more information on the Daniel Boone Trail, see   http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/287/ and https://web.archive.org/web/20070819015545/http://home.triad.rr.com/boonetrail/

Strike Gives Statesville Telephone Workers $2 to $4 Raise Per Week, 1947

“Phone Strike Ends in City” from the Saturday, May 10, 1947, issue of the Statesville Record Landmark

Southern Bell Agrees to Pay Hike of $2 to $4--Other North Carolina Towns Are Still Out

At 6 o’clock this morning the telephone strike which had hampered business and social life in Statesville for the past 33 days was ended when local operators and other workers who are members of the local unit of the National Federation of Telephone Workers began returning to their jobs.

According to the United Press, the Southern Federation of Telephone Workers came to an agreement with the company at 8:45 p.m. Friday after nearly continuous negotiations for two days.

A new contract with workers in the Southern Bell system gave about 42,000 employes raises of between $2 and $4 a week in contrast to original demands by the union for a $12 raise.

The bulky contract of 364 clauses added approximately $10,000,000 a year to the cost of telephone service in the south, according to the company.

President Hal Dumas announced that the company would ask the Southern Public Service commission for increased rates. Applications are now in for permission to pass raises granted last year on to the customers.

The raise gave workers $2, $3 and $4 more a week, depending on the length of service and job classifications.

Dumas said that “we believe the agreement which has just been signed is fair to the employes, fair to our customers and fair to the company.”

Telephone workers who refused to cross picket lines of striking Western Electric employes remained away from their jobs in many North Carolina towns despite the end of the telephone strike against Southern Bell Telephone company.

Chairman J.R. Burnie of the Charlotte Telephone Workers Union said long distance operators also would refuse to cross the picket line when they came to work later today.

A total of 35 Western Electric employees in Charlotte are still on strike pending settlement of their demand for wage increases.

An announcement late this morning by Dan W. Rigby, manager of the Statesville telephone exchange, revealed that while all workers who were out on strike had not been contacted this morning that enough had been reached to insure normal service unless the exchange is completely swamped with calls.

Mr. Rigby again expressed his appreciation to the citizens of Statesville for their co-operation during the emergency.

Gibson Ice Cream Plant Dedicated in High Point, 1947

 “Around Capitol Square” by Lynn Nisbet from the Saturday, May 10, 1947, issue of the Statesville Record Landmark

Tangible evidence of progress already made in the dairy products industry in North Carolina and regarded by those in position to know as an earnest of more rapid development in the future, the Gibson ice cream plant at High Point was dedicated Wednesday by former Governor J.M. Broughton, Lieut. Gov., L.Y. Ballentine and representatives of the industry from all sections of North Carolina. During the rest of the week, visitors are expected from all over the country, some flying in from the west coast to inspect the model plant and join in accolades according to Sloan Gibson Jr. for the Horatio Alger success he has made in the business since he started it 16 years ago.

Sloan Gibson makes ice cream—and how! Other plants of similar character produce ice cream, frozen sherbets, chocolate milk and what have you. This is solely an ice cream makery and it turns out the stuff at the rate of 7,500 gallons a day. It goes to army camps, drug stores, roadside stands and elsewhere but a whale of a lot is served across the counter and on the tables of the “gold room” at the plant. Parking space is provided for a hundred or more cars and uniform curb service attendants are at hand.

Ice cream was free during these opening days, but it will take a lot of dime and quarter sales to pay for the plant. Estimates on the total cost of the plant varied form a quarter million to three quarters of a million dollars. Gibson wouldn’t talk about that, but in an offside comment he let out that there was $26,000 worth of concrete paving on the lot, including parking space for customers, the delivery yard and the service area for the 14 big trucks and several other cars required to keep the business going. Most of the visitors who were conducted on the tour of the plant didn’t understand or appreciate some of the technical equipment, but they were convinced that it was ultra-modern and not cheap.

Ballentine, Broughton and other speakers in the brief program which followed a delightful luncheon emphasized the significance of the occasion as much more than a local event. It symbolizes the progress of North Carolina in processing and distributing finished products, which is an important step away from traditional policy of sending raw materials out of state for finishing, paying big money to other sections for the finer part of the processing job, as well as paying freight both ways. The mayor and secretary of the Chamber of Commerce voiced community pride but the other speakers saw more than local import in it.

Lex Ray, executive vice president of the N.C. Dairy Products Association, noted that dairying provided a cash farm income of about $65 million a year for the state and that a few more plants like this might boost the total to double or treble that amount. Dairying is already big business in North Carolina, and can be a lot bigger to the mutual advantage of farmers, industrialists, bankers and the whole citizenship. Governor Broughton quoted figures showing that this state imports the equivalent of 50 million gallons of milk a year from other areas, whereas in fact the climate and other physical attributes of the state lend themselves to production of excess milk for export rather than having to bring it in.

Milk producing farmers and dairy product processors are sort of “tetchy” right now about statutory and ordinance regulations of the industry. It was inevitable that Broughton should mention this situation, since he was speaking in his capacity as general counsel for the N.C. Dairy Products Association. He emphasized that there is no pretext, but rather full cooperation with respect to reasonable regulations to assure purity of the product delivered to North Carolina consumers. He intimated that many of the restrictions were sponsored by the industry itself.

On the other hand, he said he hoped the public would not be misled by newspaper headlines and ill-considered editorials into the belief that everybody engaged in the business of producing and distributing mil and its various products is a crook or engaged in an unworthy business. “There is a place for critics and even for cynics,” he said, “but I’ve never known a community or a state of a business to be built by them. Building requires work and co-operation and faith.” He hesitated to evaluate the three ingredients, but was included to put most emphasis on faith.

Helen Cudahy--The Rest of the Story, 1914-1917

After posting the column about Helen Cudahy, the daughter of a millionaire who decided to become a nurse in 1914, http://ruralnchistory.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-could-make-rich-mans-daughter-want.html, I started wondering what ever happened to her. Did she complete her training and become a nurse? I never suspected that she would be dead in three years. Here's the rest of her story:

“Bothered by Swamps of Proposal Letters” from the April 9, 1914, issue of The Day Book, Chicago

Boston, April 9—Swamped by the proposals of marriage by both mail and telephone, Helen Cudahy, daughter of the millionaire Chicago packer, who by choice has become a probationary nurse in a hospital here, today was practically a prisoner through her efforts to avoid being wed yea or nay.

“Will-you-marry-me” letters come in floods by every mail, and Boston swains are energetically using the telephone that Miss Cudahy will not answer a call until she knows that some admirer is not trying to whisper sweet nothings at the other end of the wire.

“Miss Helen Cudahy Rebels” from the Cornell Daily Sun, Sunday, April 20, 1914

Miss Helen Cudahy, daughter of Patrick Cudahy, millionaire, came from the west to learn nursing at the Massachusetts General Hospital, but decided not to stay.

Her reason is given in her own words: “I thought training in a hospital meant taking care of patients. I find it is three-fourths housework and drudgery.”

“Granddaughter of Packer Aids Poor” from The Day Book, Dec. 12, 1914

Another of the “Cudahy girls” has turned her attention from society to charity. Like her cousin, Miss Helen Cudahy, who became a trained nurse, Miss Alice Cudahy, granddaughter of the late Michael Cudahy, pioneer pork packer and multimillionaire, gives more time to charity than she does to society.

Miss Cudahy’s pet charity in Chicago is the lying-in-hospital, a refuge for poor women; with the aid of several other society young women she has planned a Christmas benefit for the hospital.

“American Girl Kills Herself” from the Reading Eagle, Oct. 27, 1917

Paris, Oct. 27—Miss Helen Cudahy, daughter of Patrick Cudahy, the Milwaukee meat packer, committed suicide in midocean on Oct. 19, according to the army edition of the Chicago Tribune.

Fear of submarines is believed to have been the motive for her act, the newspaper says. According to this account Miss Cudahy, who was coming to France on a Red Cross mission, appeared to be cheerful in the early days of the voyage, but when the submarine zone was approached and a convoy met the steamer on which she was a passenger, she remained in her cabin.

A friend who went to her cabin on the night of Oct. 19 found the room empty, the port hole open,and this hurriedly written note:

“It is all for best. Keep as much as possible from father and mother. Notify my brother Michael.”

"Helen Cudahy Left Estate to Charity" from the  March 8, 1920, issue of The Milwaukee Journal

The final decree in the estate of Helen M. Cudahy has been filed by Judge John C. Karel of the county court. Miss Cudahy was drowned Oct. 19, 1917.

The annual cash income of the estate totals $10,863.10, and is ordered equally divided among the Associated Charities, the Milwaukee Children’s Hospital and the Free Medical Dispensary of Marquette university. The income from 1,000 shares of stock in the Patrick Cudahy Family Co. is left in trust to the First Wisconsin Trust Co. to be administered for the three beneficiaries. The balance of the estate is to be distributed under direction of the Milwaukee Foundation, a charitable fund.

Miss Cudahy left personal property valued at approximately $50,000. Michael Cudahy, her brother, was named executor by the will, but declined to act by reason of service in the army. Patrick Cudahy, the father, was then named as executor, but upon his death, July 23, 1919, John Cudahy, another brother, was named administrator.

Daniels’ Plan to Put Naval Ships and Sailors to Work in Times of Peace, 1914

The photo of Josephus Daniels is from the University of North Carolina student yearbook, 1920 (http://www2.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/unc/cq/josdaniels.html). After seeing America through World War I as Secretary of the Navy, Daniels returned to North Carolina. He was editor of the News & Observer, Raleigh.

The U.S.S. Hector, shown anchored off New York City, Oct. 3, 1911. The Hector, was a collier, a ship that carried coal for other naval ships. Built in 1909, it was 385 feet long with one smokestack aft, two masts, and five kingpost pairs with coaling booms. Photo from the Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C.

From the May 17, 1914, issue of The Sun, New York City

Plan to Use U.S. Naval Vessels in Passenger and Freight Service

Secretary Daniels Points Out Possibility of His Novel Ideas for Fast Cruisers and Other Craft in Time of Peace

Senator Weeks of Massachusetts not long ago interested his colleagues in submitting to the Senate a resolution in which he proposed that the nation should engage in a novel business undertaking. The plan which the Senator asked Congress to approve was to use the United States cruisers Binghamton, Chester, Salem, Columbia and Minneapolis for carrying for hire mail, passengers and freight to South American ports through the Panama Canal.

The Senator pointed out that we are confronted with the prospect of soon having on our hands a great isthmian canal, which has cost the country the price of an empire, and no international commerce to carry through it. We are building it, as matters stand, largely for the benefit of Great Britain and other foreign countries. The use of naval vessels in the manner suggested, the Senator affirmed, would give us an entering wedge in the South American trade, which we need, and there would be no question about tolls in their case, for they are Government vessels.

It is pointed out that the cruisers named in Senator Weeks’s proposition are not of any particular fighting value. They are speedy, unarmored cruisers intended for scouting purposes, and of rather problematical value even for that use. Their employment as scouts, if war were to break out, would not be affected by their service in the commercial manner proposed.

As Senator Weeks is a graduate of the Naval Academy, well versed in naval affairs, and friendly to the navy, besides being a successful business man, his plan has received serious consideration. The Senate referred the resolution to the Committee on Naval Affairs, which is now studying it.

When the Senator introduced his resolution it was not generally known in Congress that it had Administration inspiration and that the real author of the proposition was the Secretary of the Navy, who is firmly of the opinion that the cost, as well as the efficiency, of the navy is such that some efforts should be made to put some of its ships into practical use in time of peace as well as war.

Ever since Mr. Daniels took office he has been hoping that some time or other during his administration the navy would assume functions in time of peace that are not now ascribed to it and render it of still greater value, in his opinion, to the country at large. The plan as outlined by Senator Weeks seems to Mr. Daniels to present the best means to this end. In the course of a recent interview on the subject he said:

“In my opinion it is quite practicable by the use of naval vessels to carry out the purpose indicated in Senator Weeks’s resolution, and the following vessels will be available for the service: the St. Louis, Charleston, Milwaukee, Columbia, Minneapolis, Salem, Chester, Buffalo, Rainbow, Ancon, Christobal, Hector, Mars, Vulcan, Cyclops, Neptune and the Nanshan.

“The St. Louis, Charleston, Milwaukee, Columbia and Minneapolis are fast cruisers; the Salem and Chester are fast scout cruisers; the Buffalo and Rainbow are transports; the Ancon and Cristobal are steamers employed by the Panama Railroad Company, to be turned over to the Navy Department, and the others are naval colliers*.

“The cruisers are suitable for carrying only a small number of male passengers—from 15 to 20 each—and could not be fitted for carrying bulky freight without interfering materially with their military value, but they could carry the mails and a limited amount of express freight and parcels, about 150 tons each.

“The Buffalo, Rainbow, Ancon, and Cristobal are suitable for carrying a limited number of passengers and any kind of freight. The Buffalo could carry 20 first class passengers and 4,000 tons of freight; the Rainbow 25 passengers and 2,500 or 3,000 tons of freight; the Ancon and the Cristobal each 74 first class passengers and between 10,000 and 11,000 tons of freight.

“The naval colliers are not suitable for carrying passengers but are well adapted to a freight service, the first three carrying from 6,500 to 10,000 tons each; the two of the Cyclops class from 10,000 to 12,500 tons of freight and 2,900 tons of fuel oil in bulk each, and the Nanshan about 3,000 tons.

“The distance from New York to Valparaiso via Panama and Callaco is 4,666 miles, and each of the fast cruisers going 15 knots could cover that distance, allowing 24 hours for delays incident to passage through the canal, in 13 days 23 hours; or make one round trip without stop except at the canal in 27 days 22 hours.

“The distance from New Orleans to Valparaiso via Panama and Callaco is 4,087 miles, and the time for the same vessels to make one round trip without stop except at the canal is 24 days, 17 hours.

“The distance from Panama to Valparaiso via Callaco is 2,652, miles and the same vessels can at 15 knots cover the distance in seven days, nine hours, or make one round trip in 14 days, 18 hours.

“The other vessels are slower, and will sustain a speed of 12 knots, except the Nanshan, which can be counted on for 10 knots.

“Bu the use of the Charleston, St. Louis, Columbia and Minneapolis, a fat, but very expensive mail service, with accommodations for a limited number of male passengers, could be easily maintained between Panama, Guayaquil, Mollendo, and Valparaiso, with weekly sailings from Panama. A far less expensive service could be maintained by the use of the Salem, Chester, Columbia, and Minneapolis. These boats would be best for quick delivery of mails to the South American countries on the west coast and to Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay.

“There is a daily railroad express service from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres and Montevideo via the Transandean Railway. The time from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres by rail is about 60 hours, and to Montevideo 72 hours. Allowing four days for the delivery of mails from New Orleans to Panama and 11 days for delivery from Panama to Valparaiso, the mails from the United States would reach Buenos Ayres in 17 and a half days and Montevideo in 18 days.

“The time from Liverpool to Buenos Ayres by mail steamers running in connection with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company is 22 days and to Montevideo 21 days on a weekly schedule. From New York to the same ports via existing lines the time is 24 to 23 days respectively, with a weekly schedule. There is at the present time a weekly mail and passenger service between New Orleans and Colon. If it should be found desirable to run the mail steamers from New Orleans to Valparaiso it could be done by the addition of another cruiser, but at a very greatly increased cost.

“For a service from New Orleans the Buffalo, Rainbow, Ancon and Cristobal could be used, insuring a sailing every 14 days.

“In addition a freight line can be maintained between New York and Valparaiso, using the five large colliers, which would insure a sailing every 12 days.

“If the vessels mentioned above for the New Orleans trade were combined with the freighters a mixed service could be maintained which would insure a steamer from New York every seven days.

….

“The cost of changes necessary to fit the vessels for the proposed service would be small. For the Rainbow, on which it is contemplated installing five additional staterooms, $3,000 would be required, and $1,000 for each of the other vessels would probably cover the cost of the changes proper. In addition each vessel carrying passengers would need an auxiliary radio installation required by law for passenger ships. This would cost $2,000 for each vessel, and the total cost for the above vessels would be about $32,000.

“The pay and subsistence of officers and men to man the 14 ships would be about $1,862,444 a year, and the maintenance of the ships, other than pay and subsistence, including repairs, docking and supplies of all kinds would approximate $1,774,250; total, $3,636,694.

“The probably cost of the shore establishment for operating the line is difficult to estimate at this time….”

“The expense of such services would of necessity be relatively large, due t the character of the vessels to be used and the fact that they must be kept in condition for immediate military service if required. It should be remembered, however, that there would be considerable return to the government on mail, passenger and freight receipts.

….

“In endorsing the establishment of this service I believe the personnel of all vessels engaged in it should be naval officers and enlisted men of the navy, and it will be necessary to increase the number of men at present allowed by law to the number of men required for this service.

“Now it must be remembered that the plan I have just outlined is only tentative, yet I think it sets forth quite clearly the possibilities, in this new idea, of increasing the use and efficiency of the navy.”

*Colliers were ships with specialized coal handling gear. They supported the combatant fleet in World War I.

To read the rest of Daniels’ report, go to http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1914-05-17/ed-1/seq-32/

Pleas Doant Spite, 1914

"The Proper Spirit” from the May, 1914, issue of The Health Bulletin, published by the North Carolina State Board of Health and distributed for free to any citizen of the state upon request.

The following notice (exact spelling) was recently seen in a Raleigh grocery store.

PLEAS DOANT SPITE

ON THE FLORE

What Could Make a Rich Man's Daughter Want to Be a Nurse? 1914

“The ‘Mystery” in Wanting to Be Useful” by Winifred Black from the May 16, 1914, issue of The Washington Times

Miss Helen Cudahy, the youngest daughter of Patrick Cudahy, the millionaire meat packer, is going to register in the Massachusetts General Hospital as a student in the school for trained nurses.

“Her family,” says the press dispatch which gives the news, “declines to give Miss Cudahy’s reason for this action.

Dear me, how mysterious!

There must be a man in an iron mask or a woman in a velvet domino somewhere in the story. It wouldn’t be possible for an energetic, ambitious, big-brained, big-hearted, generous souled girl to want to go somewhere and be of some use in the world—would it?

Not when her father pays an income tax of thousands of dollars a year. Why, the idea—why should she want to amount to anything?

Why should she care whether people die in pain or are born in agony or not? What is it to her that friendless women need comforting and that little, helpless babies need care? What earthly reason can she have for wanting to make things a little easier for a dying man or to help some poor wreck of a woman say good-by to a life of misery with some show of decent fortitude?

A Noble Profession

A trained nurse, a good trained nurse, is the noblest and the most useful creature that walks the earth.

If ever there is any use for a halo in this world of ours—I’ve seen one hovering around the forehead of a nice, cosy, comfy, little trained nurse who would go without sleep for nights at a time, and without rest for days, just to see some cantankerous patient “pulled through” in spite of the family.

And she’d think you were joking if you even hinted that she was anything like a saint.

Patience, courage, resourcefulness, self-reliance, tact, a quick wit, a sense of humor, a gentle hand, a light heart, a generous soul—all these are the things that go to make up the character of the trained nurse.

What should the daughter of a rich man want with such a list of the beatitudes?

Nurse a little mother back to health, back to the care of her little children, save the flower of the family to be a useful man and take his place in the world with a sound constitution and good, clean blood; put the head of the house on his feet and make him able to go on with the work he ought to be doing—why, why what’s such trifling as that to the things that Miss Helen Cudahy could do, if she only had sense enough to want to.

She could be the best tango dancer in her set without a doubt.

They say she’s a regular witch at bridge if she’d only put her mind on it; and as to tennis and golf—just think of it.

There’s a motor boat, too—why doesn’t she learn to run one of them if she really wants to be useful in the world, and go chuff, chuffing up and down in season and out of season, just to show that she can?

And automobiles—what’s the matter with Miss Cudahy’s driving her machine and making a few killings now and then—just to show she’s game.

Think of giving up joys like this, just to be somebody real—somebody good—somebody kind—somebody reliable—somebody worth while in the world. Why the girl must be crazy, or else all the rest of us are.

I wonder which it is. Her act is so mysterious!

Prudence McKinley—oh yes, I’m going to call your name right out in print for once, just to see how you like it.

You who wouldn’t lie down for three nights because you wanted to change the bandages on a little child’s eyes yourself—for fear any one else who came in might nap and forget—just once.

When you meet that little child now, growing into gracious and graceful womanhood and she looks at you with two clear, beautiful eyes—how much money would you take for the song that stirs your heartstrings when you think that if it was not for you that girl would probably be groping in the utter dark of total blindness today?

Is that what you are looking for, Miss Helen Cudahy, you with your money and your beautiful home—the chance to be a woman of glorious use in the world?

If it is—here’s my heart in my hand. Take it, it is yours to keep.

Civilian Conservation Corps Begins in 1933

When the Civilian Conservation Corps was begun in 1933 by Congress, North Carolina was allowed to place 6,500 unemployed young men, who would be trained at Fort Bragg. The requirement were that the men be fit, unmarried, unemployed and between the ages of 18 and 25. They had to be citizens and have dependents to whom they would allot a substantial portion of their $20 per month cash allowance. In the 1930s, dependents did not mean wife and children. It meant mothers, fathers, and brothers and sisters still living at home. The state selected the men.

“The young unmarried men are being selected partly because of the type of work and camp life involved, and partly because young unmarried men have had the great difficulty in recent years in securing either work or relief. Some of them never have had a chance to hold down a job since they left school. The work is reserved for those men who have dependents and want to help them, rather than for unattached, homeless transients because the money can be used more productively if it benefits whole families rather than individuals.

“Married men are not being selected unless resident in the vicinity of the forest camp, because it is believe it would be less fitting to separate married men from their families for a six-month period on the basis of a cash allowance of $30 per month, which is all that can, at present be paid for the work. Expansion of other public works, however, is a prospect reserved for such married men.

“There is no discrimination being made in the selecting of the young men for the work except that no person ‘under conviction for crime or serving a sentence shall be employed.’”

From the May 20, 1933 issue of Happy Days, the authorized weekly newspaper of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Happy Days was privately owned, and not published by the U.S. government.

“We are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have dependents, to go into the forestry and flood-prevention work. This great group of men have entered upon their work on a purely voluntary basis, with no military training, and we are conserving not only our national resources but our human resources.”

                                               --FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Forest Camps to be Filled by July

5,400 Men will Move Into Work Camps Each Day--Rate of Movement to Be Greater Than That of Troops During War

Placing 275,000 workers in the forest camps by July 1 is the task confronting Robert Fechner, Director of the Emergency Conservation Work authorized by Congress at the instigation of President Roosevelt.

Orders have gone out that the complete national quota of men for this employment in the national and state forests must be established in work camps by that date.

It means that it will be necessary to enroll men at the rate of 8,540 per day and condition and install them in the work camps at the rate of 5,400 each day.

Such an average—receiving, processing and equipping 8,540 men a day—is greater than that maintained by both the Army and Navy of the United States during the World war.

W. Frank Persons of the department of labor, who is directing the selection of the men, has ordered each state to make its complete selection for the work by June 1 and complete their enrollment by June 7.

The war department, then, will have about three weeks to condition and equip the men and send them on into the work camps in the forests of the country. Col. Duncan K. Major Jr., who is in charge of the army’s part in the endeavor, likewise has directed the commanders of the various army corps that these men must be ready for actual work by July 1.

Nearly 200,000 Selected

Governors of many of the eastern states have been asked to increase the number of projects in their respective states to enable the workers to enter upon their labors as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, it might be necessary to transport many of them long distances from their home states, to national forests in the western states.

“To get the young men selected, sent to conditioning camps, equipped and transported to work projects in the forests in so short time is a tremendous job,” Mr. Fechner stated. “It will require that all the departments connected with this work operate at top speed for the next six weeks.”

The labor department already has made selection of nearly 200,000 men and Mr. Persons has told Mr. Fechner that he can present 9,000 or 10,000 men per day for enrollment.

Will Be 1,350 Camps

The forest service of the department of agriculture and the national park and Indian services of the department of agriculture stand ready to put the young men to work as fast as they reach the camps in the woods.

A total of 1,350 forest camps will be needed to accommodate the 275,000 men. Of this number more than a thousand have been selected. May 25 has been set as the last day when recommendations for the establishment of camps on state and privately owned lands will be received.

Up to the present time approximately 100,000 have been enrolled at conditioning camps, and 15,000 members of the Civilian Conservation Corps have been located in the forest camps.

Types of Work

Among the types of work which will be done by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Mr. Fechner lists the following:

1.       Forest protection work which will include the construction of trails through the forest over which fire fighting units can operate speedily in event of fire break out in the future, the building of fire breaks, construction of lookout towers, observatories, fire guard cabins, shelter for fire protection equipment, laying of field telephone wires and the construction of emergency fire control landing fields.

2.       Forest improvement work to include tree planting over burned out and cut over areas, the thinning out of undesirable trees, the construction of truck and horse trails and the eradication of insects and diseases which destroy large numbers of trees.

3.       Flood control and soil erosion work where such works will serve to protect or improve existing forested areas.

10-Year Program

The setting aside of funds sufficient to maintain a work force of at least 275,000 men in the forest areas for a six-month period will allow the Federal and State Forest Services to go ahead with improvement programs which have lagged due to lack of funds.

Major Robert Stuart, chief of the Forest Service, says that the President’s Emergency Forestation program will permit the Forest Service to complete its 10-year forest improvement program in two years.

Work is to be performed on National Forests, National Parks and Monuments, Indian Reservations, Military Reservations, State and privately owned lands and unreserved unappropriated lands of the public domain. All told there are more than 170 million acres of timbered areas throughout the country, counting National, State and private lands.

Smallest Overhead

“Much of the work to be performed on the different classes of reservations is the same and is directed primarily toward conservation of the forests and park areas,” says Mr. Fechner.

“All work is planned as to involve the smallest amount possible of investment in overhead, including machinery, and the giving of employment to the greatest number of persons possible.

“While this whole conservation program is primarily a forestry program, Mr. Fecher added, “in the National Parks and Monuments and in the State Parks it must be conducted with detailed attention to the landscape values. Removal of underbrush, dead trees, windfalls, and other natural forest debris from old forests should be undertaken only to such an extent as may be needed to remove serious fire hazards.”

Ground Cover Essential

“A certain amount of ground cover is essential in the complete protection of bird life and small mammals which are such an important park feature. Timber cutting may be undertaken only when it is designed to improve the quality of young growth on cut-over or burned-over lands. When planting is done, it is imperative that only species native to the area be used, and row planting is banned.

“All conservation work in the parks and monuments,” he said, “is planned solely in line with the two principal duties of the National Park Service: To keep these areas in their primitive wilderness condition while at the same time making possible their use by the visiting public.