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' Small Towrt Airports Seen Very Essential ... -T, Any tdtoh in the tlrtited State* with a population of 6,000 or' Wore can hav# a flying field, according to the Lehigh Airport Competition. The : r ' Competition'* program committee, composed of twenty-four of the country'* outstanding architects, engineer*, city planners and aeronautic experts, point* out that hundred* of American communties with tes* than t0,000 population are among > the 1,324 towns which already hav^ airport#, "With the smaller cities the problem of acquiring* land is less acute than in the great congested areas," the program committea says. "Suitable land la usually close at hand and sufficient acreage may bo obtained to provide not only for immediate needs but also for those which can reasonably be foreseen in the inevitable as in the past they have built rail-^ road stations, according to a consensus of expert opinion. F. Trubee Davison, assistant secretary of war for aeronautics, points out the airport will be tomorrow's fotress of national defense, ..taking the place, in part, of the forts %of the last century, In time of war, key airports would be transformed into military units. Former Postmaster General Harry B. New, who has made an intensive study of aviation, believes no town thou Id be without its flying field. It may be difficult for some communities to see the value of an airport, he says, but if aviation develops to a point of universal usage, like the railroads have, then those towns without airports will be left behind in the march of progress. Among others who have stressed the value of airports to American communities are William P. McCrack ctiean d?icend?nti of th? Mayflower Tolony. "At the time of the original ?amuria, nothing was known about gunpowder," I>r. Hilley went onfj les w?r4 equipped with swords fMl the length of a warrior's life depended u|x?n hie ekill as a fencer and tjb? metal in hie Wade. The Mmurj^flwaye carried at least two swordfc, apd some wore as many ae eight of ten. Theee blades were made by experts, and when blessed by the prlesid a'^d1 handed to the soldier, they inataiftly j became sscred. "One of the many superstitions attached to the samurai sword is the belief that when drawn from Ht? sheath it must taste human bipod (before it Is replaced; otherwise, it 'loses something of its magic qu^li ties and will never again serve Its I master faithfully. WiKen the old i samurai drew their swords and did not fight, they always nicked their arms before sheathing them agi^in. Even today, when a Japanese gentleman displays his family's precious samurai, he neVer allows the ppiht'of the blade to slip from the caseL'*" Dr. Hilley, who has traveled from one end of Japan to the other, air! who speaks the language and dialects like a native, says that kniye^ and swords of all kinds are still ComI mon among the Japanese. All young boys are taught to handle the sword, the short knife is a part of thervwell dressed man's equipment. Many Jap< own knives or swords that have been banded down through countless gen erations. No special pattern was followed by the ancient sword maker> of the island, each blade shaped arfti balanced and ornamented to suit the taste of its owner. "During my stay in Japan, I saw numerous knife fights and a few duels Dr. Hilley said. "The neatest bit of knife work I ever witnessed was the execution of two murderers at Hongono, a village in one of the mountain provinces. "Two young fishermen, tough- j looking characters, neither over 20 o.' j 25 years of age, were charged with | the death of an aged rice planter.! There were no persons who actually witnessed the murder, but the local constabulary had plenty of circumstantial evidence. The fishermen had been arrested within a mile of the scene of the crime, their knives:1red with blood and their pockets bulging with loot froqi the farmer's hoyse. There was no doubt about their guilt and they themselves knew "wh^t the outcome of the trial would be. However, I must say that I've never seen two scalawags get a fairer trial than theirs. "The legal machinery of Japan is as different from that of America as day is.from night. Barbarous though it may at first seem to our sensitive western imaginations, it requires only a moment of thought for us to realize that the wheels of Oriental justice grind far more accurately than our own. Here we are accustomed to trials being postponed and re-postponed; in Japan such a procedure is unheard of. There, when a man is charged he is convicted or acquitted as quickly as the court can assemble and consider the evidence. The trial is quiet, solemn and to the point, j There are no insanity pleas, alienists I or sensational side issues to be fought lout by the lawyers and newspapers. The evidence for or against the accused is reviewed as quickly as posjsible, and once the sentence is passed by the judges, the case is closed forever. There are no appeals, commutations, or pardons. Punishment is sure and swift. It is also merciful, for if the prisoner is ^condemned to death, he is spared the agony of months of waiting for his fateful date to arrive. "In the case of the two young murderers, the trial was held the day following their arrest. There were five judges instead of our western jury. The court assembled in the open, underneath a ring of blossoming cherry trees. One after another the witnesses against the prisoners were introduced, questioned, cross-examined and dismissed. When all the evidence was finished, the two accused men were invited to make a statement. Both declined. The senior judge then | reviewed the case for the benefit of his colleagues, and when he was finished there was a brief pause and n L whispered parley amoiUT" ~the fltt r gray-beards. A bell tinkled; the * judges rose from their bench; the * court stood up with bared heads. 1 Pour bailiffs brought the prisoners ' forward, and in calm, polite tones the r judges condemned then* to death i "Across the toad from the cherry > orchard, a group of waiting coolies f quickly scooped out tero Shallow pita! s Another coolie visited a nearby spring * and returned with two large pails of i clean water. TS?e executioner; a fat, ? cheerful little,man who had sent ovel e a thousand criteinala to their reward, * appeared with Ma heavy, keen, two* edged sword. i\e soon as the pita ?77 were finished, the prisoners were fir corted to them end see ted upon the ground, their legs crossed beneeth them, tailor-fashion. In froiSt -0? them, some distance on the other side of the pits, th^ Jutfipfi *iate<i th wpselves. The populeeev'Sfniet jii*-orderly, formed a , wide, sfiui-cifi'le in the rear. " "At a nod from tfr* senior judge, the executioner stepped behind the firet-prisoner. Very gentliy he touched the man's neck yifh the edge of his sword, squinting his eyes to g$t the ranges Thf/i, grasping the carved handle,ydth both, hands, the blade went up. $wi?h! Thudl 1 And the head fell into' the ' pit and the torso pitched forward." "Stepping <iiii< l?ly to' the dther prisoner, the executioner itgain raised and felled hi$(< jsWo^*".In less than an hour and minutes after their trial began, the headless torsos of the two murderers were spouting blood into the' pita afekthe jolly old executioner was polishing his deathblade upon a piece of.fine white silk. A coolie gathered Up t^r two heads, washed them in the pails of water, and placed them upon posts beside the road, where they remained all day as a warning to others, who might do murder. The'bodies were tumbled into the pita and quickly covered with dirt. Then the crowd melted away, and the senior judge who was my patient^ rose and calmly invited me to his house for a cup of tea. "To tell the story now, it seems barbarously cold and inhumanly ;cruel," I)r. Hilley concluded. "In reality, it was just the opposite. It ; was quick and merciful, over with tin less than five minutes after they 'were sentenced and that the men ex; perienced no pain was evident from a glance at the dead faces, ench of which bore a smile. Before returning home late in the evening, the executioner called at the judge's home and I had a chance to examine the sword. The executioner was the J seventh of his family to hold ^,he im- i jwrtant office, and the blade he used | had been made for his grandfather J five times removed. It was about t four feet long and a quarter of an inch thick, but its double edges were so finely ground that it was possible 1 to split a human hair by dragging it up and down the blade." N " 1 ' 1 " A Typical Small City Airport * a H Hjff .. 7 ? This airport is located at Lc Roy, New York. It 1$ pictured as a imodel small city airport. growth of flying as an accepted means of high speed traffic. "The history of- the typical American airport is about as followsi/The chamber of commerce or some other citizen's association get enthusia. lie about the idea, holds a meeting and appoints an airport committee. This committee then obtains from the Department of Commerce the general requriements for airports, and it may also seek the advice of local pilots. A site is chosen either because of its cheapness or because of political pressure. Funds are raised by public subscription or through a municipal bond issue, and the field is developed." In-actual fact, an efficient airport is a highly complicate! product requiring for its location and construction the specialized knowledge of a technical expert. All forward-looking towns should have airports in order to handle the high-speed traffic of tomorrow, just I en, Jr., assistant secretary of commerce for aviation; Col. Harry H. ; Blee, chief of the airways and air! ports divisior\ of the Department of | Commerce, and Harvey Wiley# Cori bett, general chairman of the Ix;high | Airports Competition ayd a noted architect. Mr. Corbctt has issued a warning to American communities and a prediction. He has warned that unless intelligent planning is combined with airport construction, the cities and towns of this country may lose millions of dollars through the building of flying fields which will become antiquated too soon. Mr. Corbett's prediction is that every airport, however small, will attract sufficient business to make it j a profitable enterprise. "Even though it is not on the main trans- ' continental lines, the small town air-1 port will become a branch line sta-1 tlon In a short time and thus will j justify its construction. _ i \ R. Bharlton Wright To Make Asheville Home Asheville, N. C., Aug. 4.'?Ashevilleand North Carolina are in process of acquiring another citizen, until recently one of the best known editors in the south, now retired and about to take up authorship. It. Charlton Wright, editor and publisher of the Columbia, South Carolina. Record for the past ten years and until he disposed of his ownership a few months ago, has purchased a residence in Asheville and will make this city his home hereafter. A militant liberal ever ready to battle for any cause which enlisted his sympathy or against any condition that he thought called for reform, Mr. Wright has been a lively figure in Southern journalism. He is known outside the South as well as in it, and his retirement as a newspaper editor called forth numeitrus expressions of regret. Mr. Wright's intention to enter other fields of literature has been understood for some time but his plans were delayed by reason of a serious illness which he underwent soon after he sold The Record and from which he is only now recovering. Several weeks ago he leased , a house for the summer in the Montford Hills section, this he and Mrs." Wright intend to occupy until they can do over the residence which he has purchased. His home in Asheville will be in Colonial Heights, on a commanding site of about three acres, with a superb view. The purchase whs made from L. W. Weegman through J. C. DilUrd. Mr. Wright has it in mli?d to do a book on South Carolina as soon as be is. comfortably settled in hii new home. Odel Price, 18 years of age, son of Alex Price of Columbia, and said to be a pitcher for a Columbia mill team, waa killed ' eight miles nortl of Newberry Sunday night when h< was struck by a hit ami run automobile. Price and W. A. -Johnson el Orangeburg were walking on tin highway to Clinton when they wen trade. Johnson eras only slightly in * Swords That Must Draw Human Blood Dr. Frank Hilley, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., who returned recently to the United States after living eighteen years in Japan, has brought home with him an extensive collection of native Japanese weapons, says ; Fred Denton Moon in The Atlanta j Journal. One of the most interesting objects in Dr. Hilley's display is a genuine samurai?a huge, two-edged ' sword which is so heavy tv?at it requires both hands and one's strength to wield it. According to Dr. Hilluv, this swurU is more than J00 years old. It bears the stamp of the workshop of the Gotos, a family of sword makers which has been famous in Japan for fifteert generations. The blade is made of steel which was tempered by over two years of constant hammer'ing by band, and the long, heavy handle of carved ivory is inlaid with a mosaic design in silver and gold ^hich must have required fully that [long to complete. The sword measures fifty-one inches over all, and the blade alone is thirty-nine inches. Dr. | Hilley himself has no idea of its [worth. The samurai is a sacred wea'pon in Japan and very few specimens have found their way into the possession of foreigners. "Many centuries ago, the word 'samurai' was the name the Mikado gave to his picked company of royal guards, Dr. Hilley explained. "These I men were the bravest and fiercest 'fighters in the entire kingdom, and 'to be singled out for membership iti | samurai was the highest honor that , could be conferred upon a soldier. , Later, however, the term came to b? , applied to the entire military, or reding class of nobles. I^ater still, wher the nobility was dissolved, the worl i was used to denote the better, Oi I educated class of people. In the I word's original sense there- are i samurai in Japan today. Howevei j many of the high officer* in thi Japanese army can trace their an f cestry back to the honored wCBfe* i of the Mikado's bodyguard. To on< i of these proud families a gennin< samurai sword is more priceless that the heirlooms displayed by oar An ' _j ; ... ^ 7 ..m,. IHwt th? >> ,?? IWMII *U*) I IflMljMtwwMi ijwrtf iMcMlatf \\ for rrpuin or ?ervii?/ // , -,5*-"1 'JTn If THIS RECORD STANDS I AlONE I ..we chullewtgeennnparisonf I So far not one owner of a General I" Electric Refrigerator hat had to pay V a singlfe dollar for repairs or service. ! It ia General Electrlo^s answer to those who ask "Is electric rofriger- E ation out of the experimental at age?* I A The simple, worry-free, hermetically l(( sealed mechanism of the General V' Electrie was hailed as revolutionary. I' And, indeed, it has established entirely- Tvl Hew standards of serfide', of quiet E) operation, of economy. Today the fl* General Electric is the vine and only Sin refrigerator which has sn all-steel ji cabinet?warp-proof and rugged as flN a safe. See this refrigerator. And, if B* you are interested in conveniently Hl spaced payments, ask about our plan. GENERAL # ELECTRIC I AliL-STBEili KEFRIGGRATOR I ' mm Sold by Camden Furniture Company ?lj < 'Baby' Automobile Will Be Offered For $200.00 New York, Aug. 4.?The New York Times today said negotiations are underway for the large scale production 'of a new "baby" automobile which would be sold through a mail order house for $200. The car is the invention of James B. Martin of the Martin Airplane factory, Garden City; N. Y., where the models were built. A feature of the car is that it has no axles in the usual sense of the word, each wheel being independently /p mounted in the reinforced Rubber "aviation" cord is used int^ft suspension of each wheel instead a Spring. Three models of the car hive built and were Recently demonstrate^! Two Men Drowned ft Cecil W. Bates, 25, and frruH< Hurd, 34, both of Greenville, weHi drowned in Pioneer Park Lake, in tflf mountains, 25 miles north of Gree^H ville Wednesday. The youngstft were employes of a local life insi^J ance company, and with a group ft other employes were on an outing tftj the report. ft Wen; I FISHER. styling I in the most colorful and captivating 5* - J- ; motor car bodies of the year . ; f. ; Reflecting the matchless genius of Fisher's artist-craftsmen, as well as the unparalleled resources of the Buick and Fisher organizations, the magnificent new Buick Bodies by Fisher incorporate beauty and charm obviously superior to any other car in the Buick field. Longer? lower and more luxurious, these new bodie* reveal entirely new harmony of color and grade of line. They are replete with extra F^asurea of utility, luxury and convenience^Including new Non-Glare L , Windshield for safe night driving?new - e* and rich**. upholstery? new fitting!and appointments of princely luxury. In addition, this new Buick embodies other wonderful new cletiMbtk ^f H . a new end mightier valve-in-head'engioe H?new Controlled Servo Enclosed Brakes H, ?four new double-acting Lovejoy Duo- H, draulic Shock Absorbers, end new longer K rear springs, new frictionless steering MK geer end new Steering Shock Eliminator. fl And what is more, this pew Buick, with ell '] - of these vitkl superiorities, is offered** S new low prices?prices tfcetmAke Buick ? for 1930 the greatest vatae Buick has ever V offered in 26 yeers of building extra v*l?? H into each series of Buick cars! Hi b U I C K M U I " R COMPANY, * 11NT. MICH IO A N W LITTLE MOTOR COMPANY 1 Camden, South Carolina p WHEN BETTER AUTOMOBILES ARE BUILT BUICK WILL BUILD