Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

t PAGE TWO THE NEWBERRY SUN FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1939 ©JjiaSSsg iun 1218 College Street Newberry, S. C. ' O. F. ARMFIELD Editor and Publisher One Year $1.00 Published Every Friday Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937, at the post office at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of March 3, 1879. RESPECT FOR RACIAL TRADITIONS A phrase that used to be heard more often than it is now is “the melting pot,” which was taken as a symbol of the mingling of peoples of all races in this country. Unwarranted was the assumption, however, that new racial strains would be assimi lated, and in some mystical way transformed into Anglo-Saxons. Governor William H. Vanderbilt of Rhode Island, for one, doesn’t think that would be a very good thing, any way. In a recent address, he said: “There is no reason why we should expect every race and creed' living within our borders to give up their culture and adopt ours. We as a nation would lose much if we molded into one uniform pattern all these varied and interesting differences, based as they are on diverse back grounds, and adding so much vitality and color to our national life. “As a matter of fact,” said Gover nor Vanderbilt, “It is largely because of the varied backgrounds from which our people have been drawn that we as a nation have progressed so far in such a comparatively short time.” Prejudices and bad feeling between racial groups in various parts of the country do exist, however, which make for a country divided against itself, and which, if allowed to con tinue, may threaten the very founda tions of the nation. What is needed, Governor Vander bilt thinks, is to encourage each group to cherish its own traditions, but all should be reminded that, no matter what their background, they are Americans—and it is their duty to take their places, not as members of some racial or religious group, but as Americans. That is sound Americanism. Only when such teachings are fol lowed can we hope to retain the lib erty, the freedom and the opportuni ties which are denied today to so many people throughout the world. ************ * TWO SIDES TO EVERY * * QUESTION Bv Lytle Hull ************ /CLASS HATRED There is too much misuse, in the American vocabulary, of the term “Class Hatred.” There can be no class hatred where there are not two or more classes, and since the abolition of slavery in this country there has been but one class. Fortunately for our progress, there is the opportunity for every man and woman to rise as high in the financial, political and social rank as his or her ability and energy war rant. Take a look at “Who’s Who in America” and investigate the an tecedents of the men and women whose names are inscribed therein. You can probably count on fingers of one hand those persons of wealth or political eminence, whose families have been in possession of either, for more than four generations. You will, on the other hand, discover that the vast majority are men who have “risen from the ranks” entirely through their own efforts. At one time or another every boy is told that he can be President of the United States. Almost any one of them can be President, and a number of them will be. It depends upon what he is willing to do to “get there.” This same principle ap plies all through American life. Hundreds of poor boys of today will be the big business executives and politicians of tomorrow. Their daugh ters will be glamor girls and their wives will be society leaders. There are only two great coun- iries on earth where this quick tran sition is possible and is the rule— France and America. Every week a farmer invents a new harvesting appliance and a worker in a chemical plant dopes out some undreamed of process for making life easier. The homeopath makes a fortune with bread pills; some body coins millions by shaving corn kernels without lather; an automatic can opener means a yacht for a guy who never even saw a rowboat; a railroad brakeman becomes president of the company which he used to strike against; a new type of car buretor creates an automobile mag nate; and so on ad infinitum. What a wonderful country to live in, where every man and woman with half a brain and lots of ambi tion and energy and a realization of its possibilities, can go roaring to the top in a quarter of a lifetime. No class barricades to hold him down socially; no political gates through which he is forbidden to en- RED CROSS ROLL CALL ENDS THIS WEEK The Newberry county Red Cross chapter requests that every effort pos sible be made throughout the county by all Red Cross workers to enlist many members during this week. The school contest will be closed Thurs day night, November 30. , All school districts are requested to put forth much effort until November 30. THANKSGIVING PROGRAM (Written for The Sun) The Jolly Street H. D. club held its regular meeting Tuesday afternoon, November 14, with 19 members pre sent. The meeting opened with the song, “Come Ye Thankful People, Come.” The scripture consisted of each member answering the roll call with a Bible verse. Miss Julia Kate Sease led in prayer which was fol lowed with a song by Miss Frances Counts and Miss Sease. Several members took part in pre senting an interesting Thanksgiving program consisting of songs, poems, and stories. Miss Ethel Counts, county liome demonstration agent, was present to make a talk on “Propagation of Shrubs” and “Attractiveness in the Home.” A social half-hour followed when a contest was held and delicious re freshments served by the hostesses, Miss Frances Counts, Miss Julia Kate Sease, and Mrs. Ira Kinard. ter, and no law, except chat of hon esty and straight dealing, to exclude him from the roster of financial somebodies. Today this country and its citi zens, through the misfortune of others, is offered a tremendous op portunity. The European nations are at war. Their markets are being lost because they cannot supply them with goods and at the same time meet their own war needs. Neutral European nations, are beginning to feel the pinch, and the greatest pro ducing country in the world is wait ing to fill the gap. Fortunes will be made and lost; hundreds of new names will appear among the “suc cessful,” and many of those who are today being beguiled into talking Class Hatred—by the vaporings of some crack-brained, self-styled, in tellectual, who probably thinks he’s a communist—/will be the leaders of tomorrow, or the so-called “upper classes.” There are two elements which fertilize the Class Hatred sore in this and other countries—one-horse politicians and communists. The small-time politician doesn’t really mean any harm, but he can usually get a few disgruntled citizens to vote for him when he “soaks the rich.” He should be punished by thinking voters. The stirring of class hatred is the lifetime work of the communist. Destruction is his creed; construction his nemesis. His punishment should be forcible ejection from this much too hospi table country—which has plenty of trouble on its hands without wish ing itself “Class Hatred” between classes which fortunately do not exist. There can be no cooperation where there is venom and hatred, and without cooperation there can be no progress. All through history we find nation after nation being torn to pieces by the beast called Class Hatred. But in these countries there were definite clases—stations in the lives of the citizens were fix ed and unchangeable. Here such things don’t exist; the poor man of today is the rich man of tomorrow. NEW YORK CITY — Arturo Godoy, Chilean heavyweight, shown as he arrived here today with Mrs. Godoy on the S.S. Uruguay. He will fight Joe Louis for the heavyweight title on Feb ruary 8th. /■, Koday TOMOBROWl FRANK PARKER STOCKBRIDG FLORIDA ."..... frontier Every time I make even a short visit to Florida I get so enthusiastic about the place thalt I can’t resist the temptation t 0 talk about it in print. I’ve just got back from a short business trip to the g-uthem- most state, the first time I’ve been down there for more than a year, and what I saw in the course of a week’s motoring convinces me that Florida is only just beginning to realize its tremendous possibilitie r . We hear a great deal of loose talk about the “vanished frontier” and plausible people deploring the as sumed fact that there are no oppor tunities left for the coming genera tion to gain security and a liveli hood from the land. That isn’t true in Florida. There are more than 200 million acres of unused land down there, just waiting for enterprising young men to come along and make it produce. They are flocking to Florida, too, these modern pioneers. I shall be surprised if the Census to be taken next April doesn’t show that Florida has grown faster than any other state in ten years. I’m talking about permanent residents, not the 2-mil lion-odd people who just go to Flori da for the Winter. Former Newberry Editor now in Ala. MARVELS true Even though I know Florida liter ally “like a book”, since I’ve written two full-sized books about it, I still marvel at some of the things that I see and hear there. I feel like a man whom I heard speaking after a tour of the state: “The truth about Florida’s a blanked lie!” So many things are done, and happen which are entirely outside of the exper ience of people from elsewhere that they hesitate to believe them even when they see them. For instance, I visited the largest vegetable shipping warehouse in Florida, where a dozen great trucks were waiting for their loads of freshly-picked string beans to de liver all over the nation. The mar vellous thing about it is that this business was started only seven years ago by a young Scotch en gineer who went to Florida to work on one of the great drainage works in the Everglades. He saw farmers making money growing beans, leased a small tract on a share-crop basis, and his first season cleared $40,000! Now his widow runs the business, for he was killed by a falling beam when he was putting up his second warehouse. He left an estate of a quarter of a million, all earned in five years. By SPECTATOR SECURITY soil From the beginning of civilized life, productive land properly utilized has afforded the greatest security of all investments for those who are intelligent and industrious. One can grow anything under a Florida sun; two, three, even four crops a year of some things. There’s no “dust- bowl” in Florida; the problem is how to get excess rainwater off the land, rather than put more on. Fourteen years ago my cousin, a New York lawyer, was so ill with heart disease, that his doctors order ed him to quit his practice and go to warm climate, where he might possibly live another year. He went to Florida, bought a hundred acres with competent advice, took his son out of a bank job, and the two started to experiment with celery, 200 miles farther south than anyone else had tried it. They made $50,- 000 profit the first year. My cousin lived ten years in the life-giving Florida climate, and his son tells me there’s never been a losing year in the celery business. They were both city-bred men, know ing nothing about farming. There are thousands like them in Florida. CATTLE . . . . . . improved Few people realize that Florida has more range cattle than any other state except Texas. They haven’t figured until lately in the world’s beef markets. Now Florida livestock men are breeding up their stock, growing new and better grasses for cattle feed, and shipping grade-A steers to markets. As in Texas, the trouble with the original Spanish cattle was 4 hat they were susceptible to the tick which causes “Texas fever” and, like other European cattle, they couldn’t thrive in a hot climate, because cows don’t sweat. But the zebu cattle, the “sacred cows” of India, are a differ ent species from the European breed. They keep cool by sweating and they are immune to tick diseases. So the Texas cattlemen first, and now those of Florida, have been breeding a new kind of cattle, using zabu bulls and crossing them with the standard beef varieties. The re sult is visible all over Florida in thriving herds of stocky, fat steers, whose beef is becoming accepted as equal to the “prime western” which is the national standard. And thou sands of investors are buying cattle land and making a Comfortable in come on Florida ranches. “Charles E. Burts” If this man had done nothing else but labor against the legal sale of liquors he would be known as a flam ing evangelist of Prohibition. For forty years Dr. Burts went from one end of South Carolina to the other arousing the people -against alcoholic liquors. In spite of that dauntless de votion he was not thought of as nar row or one-sided, for his was a full life and his ministry combined not only the denunciation of evil, but the love of God in all its amplitude and power. Though his commanding presence, his rich deep voice, and his treatment of topics drew crowds to his church, he was not less the sweet- spirited, sympathetic and helpful pas tor. Dr. Burts was a great force for achievement in all the pastorates of his ministry and in all the other phases of his broad and helpful ser vice. He was a PREACHER of the Word and a DOER of the Word. Spectator has paid tribute to the good Doctor on other occasions for his practical beneficence and his ardent espousal of great civic causes. No son of South Carolina loved his State more or strove more valiantly to en rich her life. All the foregoing is my tribute as one citizen to another. Yet in my heart there is a profound sense of irreparable loss. I was a teacher in old Edgefield two years during the great ministry of Dr. Burts. In very truth he was the bishop of Edgefield county, a leader in all good work, a lover of mankind, an unswerving preacher of righteousness. I knew him intimately in his Columbia pastorate, in his lead ership of the denomination, in his Prohibition efforts and as a genial friend. Dr. Burts spent his means and he spent himself for the public good; he laid up for himself treasures where neither moth nor rust can corrupt.. A sort of booster edition of The Sylacauga News of Sylacauga, Ala bama, has come to my table. That seems to be a good town and the paper is a good one. I shall have a keen interest in Sylacauga from now because Ira Armfield is there—busi ness manager of that paper. South Carolina lost a clean-cut, up standing man when Ira Armfield left us. I loved him like a brother—and still do. The State of Pennsylvania adver tises that it has cut the cost of Ad ministration 17 per cent. That is putting business into government. Why don’t we do something like that? Could we do it? Oh yes! If the Legislature would adopt a 17 per cent cut and direct the Budget Commission to apportion necessary sums to each service it could be done. The Legislature might say to each service “Submit a program of unim paired service, or resign.” Result; Unimpaired service. There is a number of fine citizens who fear to touch any public ser vice. They act as though something sacred about public office makes it mischievous to even suggest that we restrain the exuberance of the Gol den Spenders. They meet us econo mists with a question which they think is a real knockolt. “What would you cut out?” they ask. “Would you stop the public schools? Would you close the hospital for the insane? Would you close Winthrop? Would you turn out the convicts and shut down the Penitentiary?” And how wise they look when they ask about those services! Turn about is fair play, isn’t it? What is sauce for the goose is said to be sauce for the gander; so let’s try that same knockout question me thod. So let’s ask “Can we continue, year after year, increasing appropria tions without regard to the earning power of the people?” Hold him right there, boys, and get a straight yes or no. You will find that the income of the people is not even considered. The prevailing idea is to have and to do, but the earnings of the citizens are not considered. TOURISTS industry j The largest industry in Florida is still the Winter tourist trade, and is likely to remain so. This year the rush to Florida began early. Thou sands who usually go to Europe or Bermuda are flocking to Florida be cause it’s the only place where one can live in comfort without getting tangled in the war in some way. Something like two-and-a-quarter million people went to Florida last Winter, by train, boat, or automobile, and lived in their own homes, rented houses, hotels, or apartments, or in their own trailers. This year Florida looks forward to two million and a half seasonal guests. Most of the Winter visitors seldom see the • real Florida. The great farming and cattle regions are off the main motor routes. But enough do discover Florida’s opportunities to move down there as soon as they can; and so the permanent popula tion of my favorite state grows steadily and swiftly. I confess that I like my New England home in Summer, but after the first two or three frosts I want to get down to Florida as quickly as possible. In my files I have a letter from my friend Jean Bordeaux, in Los Ange les, a letter so full of inspiration that I’m going to quote from it: “Look at the list of people who have accomplished splendid things in their old age. Ponder this list— “Cato learned Greek at 80. Sopho cles wrote the immortal “Oedipus Rex’ at 81. “Goethe completed ‘Faust,’ the crowning achievement of his life, at 80. “Anatole France, the great author, said he got tired of reading transla tions of famous Latin books, so he began the study of Latin at 73. “Verdi, the famous Italian com poser, wrote ‘Ave Maria’ when he was 85. “William E. Gladstone was Prime Minister of England when he was 84. “Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote his famous poem (‘Crossing the Bar’) in his 83rd year.” Let me tell you the inspiring story of the artist who gave us “The Last Judgement”—one of the most fam ous paintings in the world. This man was also an architect, and he wanted to help rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. And when he was 71, he achieved the ambition of his life: he was then appointed chief architect for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s. Remember he was 71. Most men think of retir- nig at that age; but Michelangelo thought of it as the time to attempt the biggest thing in his life. Day after day, and year after year he worked, driven by a consum ing desire to finish it before death came. His health failed; he had gout and gallstones, but he would not let pain stop him. His hands be came so gout-ridden that he could hardly hold a chisel, but he kept on working. Finally he could not walk to his work, so he was saddled on a horse which was led through the street to where he could oversee the building of the dome. His doctors begged him not to continue, but he said, “I must finish it.” Finally, one day on the scaffold the grand old man asked the workmen to help him down. When a physician arrived, he had a raging fever. The next morning he asked to be put on his horse, and tried to rise, but the doctor was firm. Then he asked to be moved to the window where he could see the dome. He grew weaker during the day. The next day he died—locking but twelve days of being 90 years old! And there was the Dome of St. Pet er’s to show for it—one of the most majestic sights in the world. We should all grow as we get older, keep active, keep doing things, get new interests. They help to prevent mental old age, at least. For you are really old when you think and talk of what you have done, not of what you are going to do. It should be a clear and basic prin ciple that taxation should not stifle or discourage the taxpayers. Taxes should be attractive so that more people would pay. That’s business and that’s how business makes pro fits. If Ford tried to get all the mo ney possible for a car he would sell fewer cars; so he sells for the least posible and makes money on the vol ume. That’s the rule of intelligent and progressive business. Make it easy to make money and the taxes will swell; but strangle it—and chop it at the roots! Any man of vision can see that we need more taxpayers in our State. Then why do we not use plain busi ness sense to get them ? A hundred million dollars brought into this State would help distribute the tax burden and ease the strain. Well, why not? The answer is that we are so eager to get all the eggs today that we won’t leave anything for a setting to morrow. We farmers are sowing oats (pretty late at that) but we are sow ing 0 ats we saved; we don’t feed all the oats and expect Providence to give us a volunteer crop. I venture a statement upon a con siderable experience in public admin istration. We can conserve all the public services for considerably less money. By cutting salaries? Some body will rush in and pull his hair, exclaiming “don’t cut the teachers; don’t cut the poor clerks; don’t harry the spirit of the professors.” Even so. And they are right and wrong at the same time. When you see some public services (and some private services, too) pay incompetent girls, or girls of the most restricted intellectual output, more money than is paid a girl dedi cated to the nerve-lashing business of teaching it makes you boil over. But are all teachers, or even a ma jority, so competent that, apart from style and beauty and sweetness, they register heavily as social contribl- tors? You answer that. (Continued on page seven) 00' DorltWoFK^ About C0AL>5 PROBLEMSiJi 'CiOArt. VAtU* for Z(A C. T. SUMMER Ready for Winter? WE SPECIALIZE IN Winter Conditioning of All Make Cars General Motors ANTI-FREEZE One Gallon makes your Chevrolet safe for Winter $1.92 PER GALLON PRESTONE.... $2.65 Now is the time to have a Deluxe HEATER installed, at. . . $10.95 Davis Motor Co.