Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume], July 05, 1945, SECTION A, Page 6, Image 6

About Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1931-1948

Image provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

                
THE ROANOKE RAPIDS
ADVERTISING - PRINTING - rZ~OSSING
OFFICE EQUIPLZINT & SUPPLIES
THE LARGEST NEWSPAPER IN HALIFAX COUNTY
By Mail — $2. Yearly — In Advance
ROANOKE RAPIDS, NORTH CAROLINA
CARROLL WILSON, Owner and Editor
Entered as Second Class matter April 3rd, 1914, at the post office
at Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, under Act of March 3rd, 1879
THE BLOOD OF FREEDOM
At Hood River, Oregon, they removed from the
Honor Roll the names of the Japanese-Americans,
the Nisei, fighting in the United States Armed Ser
vices. Then, taking thought for what they had
done, they replaced these names.
Why did they remove them?
Why did they put them back?
What had changed in the interval?
The names were removed because of an hys
terical impulse to judge all men by racial groupings
rather than by the test of character and behavior. (
These men, they said, are of Japanese blood. The
Japanese are treacherous, cruel, barbarous. There
fore these men, of Japanese ancestry, are treach
erous, cruel, barbarous. They must be; that is their
^destiny, as it is their Race. That is what was
thought: and so the names were removed.
Then there was an. outcry. It was an outcry on
a national scale. This small act in a small place, be
came a huge misdeed in a huge country. “Look,”
Cried the men of good will, the men of reason, from
all over the map of the forty-eight states. “Look!
You are saying what Hitler said, doing what Hitler
did. You are agreeing that there can be a Master
Race, that blood is stronger than environment, that
ancestry is more powerful than the air of freedom.”
So the people of Hood River listened and, with con
siderable moral courage (it is hard to acknowledge
an error publicly), they restored, the names of the
Nisei to the Honor Roll.
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restoration, only one thing had changed. It was
that men realized, suddenly, that if all the Nisei
were necessarily like their remote cousins the Japa
nese, then so must be all Italian-Americans, all Ger
man-Americans; that if we began to count out
those whose ancestors had ever done a brutal or a
cruel act, a barbarous act, we should find no one
guiltless and all beyond salvation. God alone knew
whose name would next, because of his father, or
his grandfather, come off the Honor Roll.
That is all that changed. We had better pray
God that it remains clear in our minds now, does
not change again. It is not enough that science has
disproved the myth of blood: you must disprove it
with your own-mind and your own heart, by the
realization that he who fights for freedom, as he
who dies for freedom, spills only the blood of free
dom as he falls.
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COTTON GOODS GO TO WAR
The job of providing cotton goods to Allied
armies and to (J. S. civilians in the last year has
required the full or part-time services of 15,101,000
Americans, according to tabulations released by
the National Cotton Council.
Nearly two-thirds of the total were engaged in
the production of raw material on farms, and ap
proximately 70 per cent of their combined output
of fabric and seed products was issued under pri
orities for military or essential war uses, the coun
cil report said.
Second to the 9,243,000 persons producing raw
cotton fiber and seed on farms, the largest number
of direct employes of the industry were the 1,570,
000 full time workers manufacturing cotton yarn,
cloth and finished products. The figure includes
only those employed in making products composed
wholly or predominantly of cotton, and omits em
ployes of many industries to which cotton is an
important but minor raw material.
Provision of machinery, supplies and services
necessary to the operation of the cotton industry
employed 703,000 workers. Initial processing of
fiber and seed by gins, oil mills, compresses and
handlers required 131,000. Transportation from
farms to processors and manufacturers, and dis
tribution of finished products, employed another
439,000.
Largest group of cotton dependents not employ
ed directly by the industry were the 3,015,000 in
dividuals involved, full or part time, in the whole
sale and retail distribution of cotton goods.
It is already evident, says the Council report,
that cotton will be a primary factor in the solution
of postwar employment problems. Tremendous
pent-up demand for civilian fabrics in this country,
plus the need to clothe Allied nations, will assure
peak production during the immediate postwar era.
For the longer pull, improved standards of living,
new scientific developments in cotton products, and
the industry’s own expanded sales program are ex
pected to help maintain top payrolls.
The report emphasizes that cotton will require
no reconversion period, and that layoffs will not oc
cur as a consequence of military cutbacks.
Letters From
Our Boys
North Africa, ,
June 22, 1945. J
Dear Mr. Wilson: A "J
This is the first time I’ve writ- I
ten you so you probably won’t ^
know me. I am writing this in »
hope that you will put it in the
Herald.
I have been over on this side
about fourteen months and have
been to quite a few places. I have
only met up with three boys from
the hometown, Capt. Rudolph Wil
liams and I came across on the
same ship. Incidentally, he and 1^
finished school together in 1940.»
I’ve also met Charles Bennett and <
Marvin Frazier since coming over.
I don’t guess it will be long be
fore I'll be going to the Pacific
along with a lot more boys. I
hope it won’t be long before we
can finish this war so the boys
can qome home once more.
My mother sends me the Herald
every week, although it usually
takes a month or more for it to^
reach me. But, then I sure a ml
glad to get it.
I will close and write again.
Sincerely,
CLAUDE R. LEAKE
My address is:
Claude R. Leake, Sl/c,
C/o Fleet Post Office,
■Mew York. N. Y.
TOWN TALK.
Mrs. Edd Wood, Mr. and Mrs.
Jimmie Wood and family of Ring
wood, spent Sunday with Mr. and
Mrs. Monroe Cameron.
Mrs. Annie N. Roughton has re
turned after spending a week with
her son, Deward L. Roughton,
AMM 3/c, of Providence, R. I.
Lin wood Nixon and Curtis Gar
ner spent the week-end at Oceani"
View.
Annie Roughton and Maudt ,
Capell, of Raleigh, spent the week
end at Ocean View.
Miss Joyce Lewis, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. B. J. Lewis, is a
patient in the Orthopedic Hospi
tal in Gastonia.
Mr. and Mrs. Leon Taylor and
Leon, Jr., of Norfolk, are visiting
relatives in town.
Miss Betty Cline, of Staunton,
Va., is the guest of Mrs. Eddie
O’Donnell.
Mrs. Dewey Waters left last
week for Fort Devans, Mo., to vis
it her husband, Pvt. Admiral Dew
ey Waters, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. David Balmer and
Mr. and Mrs. N. N. Norwood spent •>
Sunday in Lawrenceville, Va., witli J
Mrs. J. B. Norwood.
Oliver Bray, Sl/c, of Pennsyl
vania, has returned after a 10 day
visit with relatives.
Miss Lexie Howard has gone to
Fort Benning, Ga., for a week’s
vacation.
Mrs. Ruby Sledge is vacationing
this week. . q
Miss Mary Cole spent Thursday |
in Richmond. j
■tf* .1 '•
Mrs. James B. Price is visiting
in Portsmouth. Va. f
Lieut. James W. Thomason, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Thomason, is
home on 18-day leave. He is sta
tioned at Dayton, Ohio.
Lt. (jg) and Mrs. -V. P. Moore
are in New Orleans for the time V
being.
Mrs. John Conner is visiting in i
town. Lt. Conner is expecting to
get a point discharge from service
now soon.
Mrs. James L. Jenkins, instructor
of nurses at the Roanoke Rapids
Hospital, has resigned her posi
tion and has moved to Wilming
ton to make her home.
Mrs. Ruby Sledge has resigned
her position as assistant floor sup
ervisor at the Roanoke Rapids *'
Hospital.
Mrs. Archie Coburn has accepts
ed a position as General Staff
Nurse in the Roanoke Rapids Hps-.
pitaL j,
Mrs. Sallie Taylor spent last j
week-end in Louisburg. ;
Miss Myrtle Wooten spent Sun
day in Williamsburg, Va.