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THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1954 THE NEWBERRY SUN PAGE FIVE Winds Up on S. C. Farm Has Good Word For And Soil Likes It; Conservation By VERNON GRANT My name is Vernon Grant. I am a Soil Conservation District Sup ervisor of- the Catawba Soil Con servation District, organized under the South Carolina Soil Conserva tion Districts Law on March 4, 1938. I was born in 1902. When I was six years old my parents filed a claim on a government homestead near the Black Hills in South Da kota. I remember the day we ar rived. We had two wagons load ed with our household things, plow, drag harrow, hand tools, seed and supplies. We were pull ing the surry behind one wagon and leading the cows behind the other. Two hogs were in crates, as were the chickens, high on the lead wagon. It was spring. As we pulled up on this plateau and stopped the wagons, dad held his arms out in a gesture of finality. This was it! ‘There was no sign that a civilized human had ever been there before, hut lying in the tall prairie grass were the carcasses of buffalo left behind by the retreating Sioux. We built a one room sod house, barn and corral. As more home steaders came we pitched in with the neighbors and built a sod -school house. I saw the virgin prairie sod plowed up and barbed wire cut the range into private farms. The top soil was deep and the land was rich. We knew nothing of con servation practices and we hadn’t "heard of commercial fertilizer. Our farm implements were few, crude, and horse drawn. With our four horses dad could plow but two acres per day, but by the end of each day he had exposed two more acres to the dust storms and erosion. By 1916 my older brother was ready for high school. There was no high sdhool within 75 miles, so we sold out and went west, into the San Joaqiun Valley in Cali fornia. Here again we found virgin soil. ~We hacked out the sage brush and developed an alfalfa dairy farm. We sank deep wells and pumped water for irrigation. Then came World War I. The cry came out for more food to feed our army, so we cleared more land, planted more crops and pumped -more water. During this time we saw the neighboring mountains ruthlessly stripped of moisture holding timber. As a result, the water level went down and when the agriculture bust hit, we were caught between high water costs and low farm prices. So again, we sold out, dad going into business and my broth er and I going off to college. . I chose commercial art and 1932 found me safely entrenched in a professional career in New York City. But the spirit of the soil was still in my blood and with my first financial success, I bought a farm within driving range of New York -on the Eastern Shore in Mary land. Now, agriculture was changing, from drudgery and toil to tech- | nology and management, from hay .to gasoline, and from kerosene to rural electrification. The CCC pro gram was underway and there was talk of terraces, strip cropping, and reforestation. The great movement of soil and water conservation was being born. I took an automobile trip through the South and Midwest. Here the new era had not yet caught on. Mile after 'mile of de pleted soil, gully after gully, pov erty, undernourished children, de serted farms, schools and churches. The very strength of America was, through erosion, going down the river. I could see the great challenge which lay ahead. I took a trip around the world and saw the results of ages of ig norance, erosion and depletion taking its toll of human life. In China and India I actually step ped over starving children, lying dying in the streets—civilizations rubbed out by this very neglect of which we, in America, were being guilty. America was alerted in time. As the clouds of World War II were gathering, it became appar ent that a gigantic program of conservation and production must sweep the country. The job could not be done in Washington alone. It was a problem that must be recognized and met in each state, county and community—yes, on each farm and each field. Federal money was made avail able but how was it to be best used! It was one of the most gi gantic tasks ever undertaken by any people. Wherever the Ameri can flag waved, the surface of the land was to be rebuilt. Fields and fences had to be replanned to con form to the contour of the hills. Water must be held, as far as pos sible, where it fell. Forests had to be protected and replanted and wildlife given protection and cover. Land depleting crops were to be rotated with soil building crops; steep, eroding hills covered with grasses and legumes. Erosion must be stopped. From time to time we have had some pretty smart boys in Wash ington. This was one of those times. They passed legislation en abling each state to tackle its in dividual problem. State Soil Conservation Com mittee were formed. The various states passed laws under which any section of a state could, by majority vote, organize itself in to a Soil Conservation District. These Soil Conservation Districts were, and are, self-governed by five local ,farm leaders, two of which w'ere appointed by the State Soil Conservation Committee and three elected by the local people. This was so right. It put control and responsibility out into the Dis tricts where the job was to be done. By 1946 I had married a red headed southern girl and we had two fine kids, a boy and a girl. We had built and paid for a home in New York, but we didn’t want our CHARLESTON—Here in the historic City-by-the-seat is one of those Old South landmarks that still serves a use ful purpose—the City Market Hall. This fine, temple form building stands on a high open basement. Its lofty portico is reached by a double flight of stone steps. Its exterior cornices are ornamented ap propriately with bulls’ heads. Behind the building are the markets, consisting of a row of long sheds supported by brick arches. The sheds have divisions for large and small meats, vegetables and fish. Stalls are arranged on each side of the sheds with broad walks between. The open-air arrangement is ideal for the Southern cli mate and is most convenient for shoppers, as well as color ful for tourists. City Council has given the use of the Market Hall proper to the local Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, which uses it as a relic room. Many interesting war relics .are now housed in the building. children to grow up on the streets of the big town. My wife, too, had country in her blood. So, again we sold out and took a depleted cot ton farm in South Carolina, her home state. Now it was different! Instead of virgin soil we were working with land, long worn out by years of cotton. The place was deserted, the fields grown up to broom sedge and briars. The place had some advantages. It was on good farm to market road—a power line made rural electrification possible—the gul lies had been stopped to a large extent by the terraces of the CCC. There were several plots of Government pines and springs bubbled up all over the place. One of our first callers was Earl Glasscock, a local Soil Conserva tion District Supervisor. He was a neighbor. He invited me to see his dairy farm and took me, with other farmers, on pasture tours. He told me about “Farmers Week” at Clemson, our land grant col lege. He took me to the Soil Con servation Experiment Station and explained the purposes and pro grams of all agricultural agencies and he introduced me to Jim Bran non, a local Soil Conservation’ Ser vice technician. I was shown the advantages of and invited to join the Catawba Soil Conservation District. From that day on this poor tired farm began to take on new life. Jim Brannon took soil samples, measured slopes, survey ed drainage ditches, surveyed ter race lines and staked out a farm pond. In a few days he came back with a soil capability map. By ref erence to this may I could find out what each acre was capable of doing, what to plant and how to fertilize and care for it. With this map before us, we sat down and drew up a farm plan, a construc tive program for the years to come —plans for cover crops, crop rota tions, pastures, and wood lots— a program, while paying its own way, would, over a short period of years, rebuild the fertility of the soil. These were the things I needed to know. I was willing and able to go ahead, having this tech nical information at hand. This data was all free to me. All I had to do was to agree to do the best I could toward bringing this pro gram to a conclusion. As my conservation program de veloped and time passed, I was asked to submit my name for pos sible election as a Soil Conserva tion District Supervisor. I was proud when my neighbors through out the district elected me to that position. It was not until I sat in on my first supervisor’s meeting that I began to understand the wisdom of this District program through out the nation. Here’s what I learned and here’s what I want you to remember; A. The Soil Conservation Serv ice is a governmental program of research and technical informa tion, made available through the states to the local Soil Conserva tion District. B. The Soil Conservation Dist ricts are local sections of states, people democratically led by local Soil Conservation District Super visors who serve without pay. It is their job to see that this technical know-how is put to work to the best advantage right on the land. C. The Distrct plan of work is an ever, changing, ever enlarging program of progress, revised year ly by supervisors and technicians working together. In a great Democracy such as ours one doesn’t push people around. You don’t force people to do things. Explanation and educa tion are the first steps. Through demonstration and local pride the individual is prompted to act. So it becomes the job of the supervisors and technicians working together with all agencies, civic organiza tions, radio, press and schools to stimulate this desire to act. Through the Program of Greater Service all these democratic forces are put to work pointing the way. The biggest talking point, and proof of the pudding, is the simple fact that soil conservation pays off. It pays off for everyone—the merchant, banker, implement deal er, fertilizer manufacturer and es pecially the cooperator. Take a trip for yourself, any where in America, and decide for yourself if the job is being done. And, on your trip drop'past my little part of America and sit with me on my back porch. We will watch the kids fishing in the pond at our feet. We will try to count the cattle as they graze across the way. I’ll take you to the creeks that flow through my place—the water w r ill be so clear we can take a drink anywhere along the way. We will walk through water-hold ing grass to the top of the highest hill. There, as we look across the valley to farms beyond. I’ll show you results of Democracy at work in my Soil Conservation District. SIMMONS Mr. and MrA E. C. Simmons of Columbia, are receiving congratu lations upon the arrival of a six pound seven ounce son, Emory Charles Simmons, Jr., born on Thursday, December 10th in a Co lumbia hospital. Mrs. Simmons, the former Jean Wicker, daughter of Mrs. Ruth D. Wicker of Newber ry, and infant son are doing nicely. Rev. Robert H. Harper Jesus Uses His Authority. Lesson for January 10: John 2: 13-25. Golden Text: John 4: 24. The temple that stood in the time of Christ, like the buildings that had formerly stood on the sacred spot, was one of the most magnificent structures of all time. It was to be house of prayer but Jesus found it the den of thieves. Everything, to be sure, had been arranged for the convenience of those who came to worship. They did not need to bring sacrificial animals a long distance—such ani mals were offered for sale within the temple, enclosure, in the Court of the Gentiles. It was made to resemble the present-day stock markets. And, as offerings made in money had to be in the sacred shekels of the sanctuary, there were money-changers at their ta bles, ready to exchange the money the pilgrims brought into the sacred shekels, at a good rate. “Concessions” were made to the livestock men and the exchangers, and a rich sum was received, as the temple authorities thus traded upon the piety of the worshippers. The soul of Jesus burned within him as he saw the traffic, the din and confusion, and he drove ani mals, both the lower and the hu man, out of the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers, scattering the money upon the pavement. The marvel is that no force was employed to resist him, as he attacked the stronghold of special privilege and swept the temple clean. But none resisted him, and many people be lieved in him. But Jesus saw the fickleness of many who professed belief and he did not trust them Let us welcome Jesus into the temples of our souls to cleanse them. LYN CONNELLY M ARIE WILSON, the scatter brained secretary of CBS Ra dio and TV’s “My Friend Irma.” was recently named the “most glamorous career girl of the year” . . But she got that way, she explains, by working three times .harder than any man, and acting four times as stupid . . . She plays a dumb blonde on her radio pro gram and tries to carry out the illusion in real life as well . “If you act too bright, men are afraid of you,” she explains . . . “1 don’t want to frighten men . . . They have enough problems with out being terrified by girls with brains.” If her wisdom exceeds that of Neanderthal woman. Miss Wilson is careful never to let it get in the way of her personality . . . She created the role of Irma on CBS Radio one momentous eve ning in April 1947 . . . The written lines came out funnier than any body expected . Even today, six years after the program’s first success on the air. nobody can anticipate what the audience is going to hear when Marie Wilson steps up to the mike i . Some times Miss Wilson herself is taken by surprise . . . She is amazed at the number of awards she has received as one of radio’s most gorgeous as well as one of its most sub-mental blondes . “What I can’t understand, though.” she comments, “is that I’ve won awards for many things but no body ever says anything about my brains. ’ IDOL CHATTER There’s a project afoot to film “The Bing Crosby Story” In the manner of “The Jolson Story”. . . Der Bingle would do the vocals on the sound track . . . Among those being considered for the role of Crosby as a young man to Gary Crosby . . . Sidney Miller, Donald O’Connor’s TV partner, will write a night club act for Marie Wilson who plans to tour when her TV show goes off . . . Lew Ayres will sing in “No Escape.” Sociarsecurity At the end of 1953—the 17th year of Federal social security— old-age and survivors insurance payments of about $167,261 in monthly benefits were going to 5090 persons in the area served by the Greenwood office accord ing to Miss Martha Pressly, mana ger of the Greenwood social secur ity office. For the entire nation, including Alaska, Hawaii, Peuerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, estimates show an increase of approximately one million beneficiaries with the year ending December 31. The 5-mil lionth person was awarded pay ments just over a year ago. early in December 1952. In Septemeber of 1950 the Con gress enacted an amendment to the law which greatly expanded the scope of the program. At that time only three million people were getting benefits. The num ber has just about doubled in the last 3-year period, she pointed out, having reached 5,970,000 by year's end, according to preliminary estimates made in December. Since the program was original ly designed to give a measure of protection to the nation’s aged people. Miss Pressly says it is significant to note that about 40% of all aged persons who are with out income from employment or self-employment are now getting old-age and survivors payments. The number of such beneficiaries nationwide shows an increase of almost 600,000 since the close of 1952. Self-employed people and regularly employed farm and household workers 65 or over are among those who started getting payments in 1953. The kind of work in which they were engaged did not count toward old-age and survivors insurance before 1951. Other advance estimates releas ed to The Sun by social security headquarters: Nearly three and one-quarter million retired men and women workers, aged 65 and over, are now receiving' old-age benefit payments. Tn addition, monthly payments based on the accounts of retired insured work ers .are now going to 885,000 wives and dependent husbands 65 or Towns Vie for Record Per Capita Contribution# To March of Dimes with Auctions and Socials The March of Dimes was $7,600 richer as a result of this Melba, Idaho auction featuring everything from sacks of corn to the kitchen sink. The money to fight polio through the March of Dimes comes from all over the country—from small towns and counties as well as the big cities. While several of the largest cities contribute over a million dollars each, it is the small communities that set the records for per capita contributions. With the national contribution averag ing 34 cents a person, here are some outstanding achievements of the last March of Dimes. Melba, Idaho, with a population of less than 200, claimed the na tional record by raising almost $50 for every man, woman and child in the community. A day long auction of contributed dtems ranging from cakes to calves en abled Melba to raise this high amount. Oregon Town Beat Melba The spur that aroused Melba to new heights also worked in Izee, Ore.—population 43—when this village beat Melba’s 1952 March of Dimes record of $27 per capita by raising $34 apiece at a basket social held Jan. 10, 1953. Basket socials used to be a way of courting or raising funds to hire a teacher for a new rural school. Now they have joined the fight against polio. As small towns and villages set commnnity records in the March of Dimes, sparsely populated coun ties also made per capita con tribution records. Mineral County, Nev. won the national title with a per capita contribution rate of $2.53 a per son. Over $14,000 was raised among her 5,560 inhabitants. Jeff Davis County, Texas came in sec ond with contributions averaging $2.21 a person. Other Leaders Other counties in the 10,000- and-under population class that made outstanding records were: Kiowa, Colo, with $1.75 per per son; Mono, Calif, with $1.61; Sioux, Neb. with $1.53; Cameron. Fa. with $1.49, and Ida, Iowa with $1.48. These are just a few of the small counties that raised over a dollar per person to aid in the fight against polio. Whether small communities have bigger hearts or more intimate knowledge of the disaster of polio is not meas urable. But their high per capita contributions are vital weapons in the battle to wipe out the disease. During the 1954 March of Dimes it is a sheer necessity for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to raise 50 per cent more than last year. This increase can come only from greater contribu tions from everyone, in small communities and big cities alike. New Prevention Program In stressing the need for a hig her March of Dimes than ever before, Basil O’Connor, president of the National Foundation said: ‘The new polio prevention pro gram will be the hardest blow against polio we have ever struck. Wide-scale validity tests of a trial polio vaccine this year and the expanded use of gamma globulin as a stopgap protective measure in 1954 mark a dramatic advance. Like all advances, it is expensive but the fight dare not be weakened when victory seems almost in sight.” Mr. O’Connor added, “No one knows just which community and county will wind up as 1954 March of Dimes champions in size of per capita contributions. But judging from past heart warming performances, I predict it will be a town or village under a thousand and a county under ten thousand.” pver, or wives, regardless of age, with retired workers’ minor chil dren in their care. The number of such beneficiaries throughout the naton increased 146,000 during the year just ended. During the same 12-month period, the number of children under 18 getting pay ments because an insured parent over 65 had retired, increased by 16,000 in 1953. A far greater number of child beneficiaries are getting payments as survivors of a deceased insured parent, Miss Pressly declared. The number of children who were get ting survivors insurance payments because they had lost a working parent was 100,000 greater at the close of 1953. The total of children now receiving payments is now 1,055,000 throughout the nation. About 45% of all children under 18 whose father has died are now getting monthly survivors bene fits. Still quoting national figures, Miss Pressly said that the num ber of aged widows, widowers and aged dependent parents getting monthly payments increased by 87,000 in 1953. The number of such beneficiarfies was 563,000 at the end of the year. Widowed mothers now getting payments be cause they have 4;he deceased in sured father’s minor children in their care now number. 252,000. Monthly benefits are payable to such widowed mothers regardless of their age. The old-age and survivors in surance program is financed from social security taxes paid by em ployees, their employers, and self- employed persons whose trade or business is covered by the law. Tax contributions amounted to 4 billion dollars in 1953. All social security taxes go into a trust fund which is kept separate from all other tax collections of the Treasury. The only expenditures which can be made from this fund are for paying social security benefits and the cost of adminfs- -tration under the program. Bene fit payments for the 12-month period ending December 31, 1953, totaled 3 billion dollars; admini strative expenses for the same period were $90 million. The as- (continued on page eight) The State Building and Loan Association Statement of Condition As of DECEMBER 31,1953 ASSETS FIRST MORTGAGE LOANS $ 884,111 90 Well Secured Newberry Loans being Retired in Monthly Pay ments. First Mortgage Loans Only, the Unpaid Balances of which now Average $2917.86 per loan. LOANS ON PASSBOOKS 13,520.33 / These Loans are Secured by Sav ing and Investment Share Ac counts of the Association. MISCELLANEOUS ASSETS 19,801.69 This Item Consists of Stock of the Federal Home Loan Bank, Furniture and Fixtures Owned by the Assjpciation, and Certain Expenses prepaid. CASH ON HAND AND IN BANKS 190,649.36 This is the Association’s Work ing Funds. $1,108,083.28 LIABILITIES SAVINGS AND INVESTMENT SHARE ACCOUNTS .--- $1,002,065.16 Funds Paid into the Association for Savings and Investment. ADVANCES FROM FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK 50,000.00 Funds Made Available to the As- * sociation through Membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. LOANS-IN-PROCESS - --- 27,358.09 Undrawn Balances on New Build ing Loans. RESERVES AND UNDIVIDED PROFITS - --- 28,660.03 This amount has been set aside for Contingencies after Paymeht of Dividends ' $1,108,083.28 HOME LOANS INSURED SAVINGS Each Savings and Investment Share Account Insured Up To $10,000.00 By the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, Washington, D. C. 3% Annual Dividends Paid On Member Share Accounts Since Organization In 1947 • Funds received here for savings and investment on or before the 10th of each month will receive earnings from the first of that month. OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS R. B. BAKER, President J. DAVE CALDWELL, Vice-Pres. * PINCKNEY N. ABRAMS, Secretary-Treasurer THOMAS H. POPE LOUIS C. FLOYD R. AUBREY HARLEY