Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-01-30


Mrs. William Speed and daughter,
Miss Helen, were in Hinckley last week
as guests Of friends.
The regular meeting of the Water
Vile Rotary Club was held yesterday
noon at the Elmwood Hotel with an
exceptionally large attendance. The
atten lance for the past few meetings
has been large owing to the fact that
membership contest has been run
ming between the Waterville and Show
hogan Rotary Clubs. The Skowhegan
club nosed out by percentage OF 81
to the Watervillc clubs "a and a frac-
ton. L. +. Loud was token into the
club at the meeting yesterday. The
main feature of the meeting was
talk by Thomas b. Ashcraft On the
Sunny South. Mr.. Ashcraft started by
saying. Il had a most fonderful trip
down home with all that goes with it.
visited two Rotary clubs and with
all my good times l had expected to
| report like John Towne, Ted Hill,
| Frank Noycs and others who have wan
dered far firm the folds at home that
nothing looked so good as Watervillc
l can truthfully say that never have
l returned here but that was glad to
tive of South Carolina, then spoke Of
| his state. saying that it is said that
any negro has committed crime in
the south was supposed to be out of
| reach of the law if he had crossed the
South Carolina line. Again, young
| couples often ran away and got mar
ried in South Carolina, no license being
| required To be sure, he continued
Columbia and Charleston are full of
aristocrats but, just the same, l prefer
to be tar heel" and l am sure while
love this State of Maine you will
allow me to be proud of my native
/ state.
On the way to the north I visited
my old home in Union county end at
tended two meetings of the Rotary club
at Monroe. There 1 felt athome, many
OF my schoolday chums being menu
bcrs, and l was very proud to have
the opportunity of telling them that l
was from the livelieSt club in the 31st
district, for / felt sure they would
never hear of Skowhegan. Their presi-
dent is Methodist minister, former
president of Emory and Henry College
OF Virginia. end the meetings were held
in the Chamber of Commerce rooms
the dinner being served by woman's
club. This club has been furnishing
dinners for months. The program fol
the first meeting was given over tc
health discussions and the district
nurse was the chief speaker. The pro
gram OF the second meeting was very
unique. The president had asked five
l.otarans each to visit place Of bust
ness of another Rotarian and not to re
veal the purpose Of his visit, ard re
port to the club as he saw it. 1t wa.
quite interesting and rather franl
statemc hts were made. To give you al
ILLUSTRATION of the statements, l wish
10 SaN that one man reported that
lumber plant which he visited was tn,
greatest fire tran that he had ever seen
a few words now about the genera
conditions. To me things seem to b,
booming as the men l used to hea
talk dollars by the hundreds nov
speak of them in thousands and hun
dredS OF thousands, but ! believe tina
the good read movement is the great
est factor in this chain. The soutl
has been poor since the Civil War
one would not think it woul,, tax,
more than half q century to get @,
its feet again. Farm products hav,
been too cheap, cotton of course be
ing the chief money crop, that fac
has been the curse of North Caro-
lima. | can remember when boy t
have heard the tales of WOO bccaus
OF seven cent cotton, and in 1898 i
was as low as four cents with few
Epeople realizing the cost of producing
1t. The manufacturers record mad
an investigation of the number O
days labor it requires to produce
bale of cotton weighing five hundred
pounds and it varied in different To-
calities from fifty to>one hundred ans
fifty. Now when the price was onl,
20 in '98 with rem of land, CONNER,
cial fertilizers, stock and tools to fur
nish it does not take a financier t,
see the result. A man that had a on,
horse farm would do well if he pro
help of his wife and children. Whe1
1 was boy we had only three t,
four months school in the winter anc
even then some of the poor children
had to stay out of school to finisl
picking the cotton. What a curse
sail, Mr.. -Ashcraft. was king cottol
to the poor people of the south TO
fifty years after the war; but wha
has happened now? Tho farmer!
have been educated to the fact tina
cotton is not king, that they SHOULD
not buy flour and meat and corn
from the merchants, to be paid fo
VIII OCNtA WIN SOltOH L ne HON
produce stuff for home consumption
they in many cases have fine herd.
of cattle, which helps them to i'm
prove the sail. Cooperative market
ing has held the price of cotton to {
price that makes it possible to rails,
it at a profit. It is now % cents.
In conclusion I wish to say, that
predict that in the next five years
North Carolina will be tho leader il
progress in all of the southern states
1t has a wonderful variety OF china t.
and products. Ashvillc md tn,
mountains in the west, good beacl
and seaport at Wilmington and it.
southern Pines, and Pine hurst il
between. The Yankee has played {
no small part in the development o.
the state, our own Colby benefactol
Col. Shannon used to spend his win
ters at Pinehurst, a quiet place where
types of buildings and perhaL, type.
of people are perhaps restricted. Tht
sandy country OF that County was
once thought to be wortheless, bu
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