Peninsula enterprise. [volume], April 06, 1935, Page SIX, Image 6

About Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965

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Avirded Rhame Certificate In 1934 for Best General
Make Up of AH Virginia Weeklies
Member, National Editorial Association, Virginia Press
Association, Virginia Press Circulation
Audit Bureau
Founded by
JOHN W. EDMONDS
June 30, 1881
ALFRED B. G. EDMONDS
JOHN W. EDMONDS, Jr.
Owners and Publishers
ACCOMAC COURT HOUSE, VA.
Entered at the Postoffice at Accomac C. H., Va. as
Second-Class Matter
SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1935
‘RENDER UNTO CAESAR"
Human beings are more amusing than
monkeys, at times. Find a crowd of men in a
huddle with nothing more important on their
minds than listening for the dinner bell and its
‘dollars to doughnuts,’ that with a little urg
ing, they will discuss the weather and cuss the
Public Utilities. Funny thing is, they never
have been able to do much about the first, and
they wouldn't know how to get along without
the second. Which reminds us, the Chesapeake
and Potomac Telephone Co. this week, complet
ed a job of modernizing the system in Onancock
Exchange, and that means a lot to Shore busi
ness men and householders.
In these days when the errors of big cor
porations condoned during the “get rich quick”
period are being paraded before the public, it is
the part of reason to look at the other end of
the shield. Throughout the depression and in
the face of breakdown in the Shore’s income, I
we should remember that our own Public Utili
ties continued to operate efficiently, methodic
ally and with a military conception of the ad
age, “the thing to do first is the first thing to
do.”
The payrolls maintained by Public Utilities
in spite of declining revenue, have aided Shore
families. Destructive storms often wrecked
their lines, but found the utilities ready for
action and the prompt restoration of communi
cations, power and light. They set a standard
of efficiency with a minimum of lost motion
hard to match by many private enterprises. The
esprit de corps of their personnel is to be com
mended.
Outside of the mechanical importance of
the change which Chesapeake & Potomac has
made in its system, there is another point to
be considered. It is safe to estimate that the
Chesapeake & Potomac spent $75,000 and some
little time will elapse before this investment
brings returns. In so spending it gave employ
ment during the winter to many men with
families in need. It might be well to remem
ber some of these unnoticed things when you
can’t get your party on the phone, or the lights,
in your home flicker out as the soup is being
served. None of us are willing to go back to
the smoke signals of Debedeabon’s time or the
oil lamps of the past generation. Give credit
where it is due.
******
WHY WORK?
In many cities, it is said to be difficult to
find people who will do domestic work and
other tasks, because they prefer to depend on
relief funds. When people do go out for
such work, they are often laughted at, for work- i
ing when they might as well live on relief.
The sufferings of worthy unemployed
people have touched the heart of the nation,
and it has been necessary to contribute gener
ously to their support. While this could not
have been avoided, a great class of people has
grown up, and it shows little sign of diminish
ing, who show no desire for work. Or if these
people are offered a job, they are very fussy
and particular about the kind of work they will
do.
The American people inherit the work tra
dition. The old pioneers turned a wilderness
into a fruitful land and never shrank back from
hard toil or long hours of effort.
The immigrants of recent years came over
from Europe in a similar spirit. They had
always worked in the old world, and they ex
pected to work in the new one. The descend
ants of all these elements are not going to allow
any permanent class of drones to grow up i
among us.
It is the first duty of the American people j
to find work for all able bodied persons. The
second duty is to take the idlers and offer them
their choice of either working on some job, or
going without relief money.
In the haste with which unemployment re
lief was organized it was no doubt impossible to
draw the line between these two classes. But
as this work goes on and is better systematized,
this distinction will be made. Those who pre
fer living on relief to working will find that
another day is coming when things will be dif
ferent.
* * * * * *
To make a garden grow, you have to ferti
lize and water it. Our people all want to see
their home town grow, but many of them are
not willing to fertilize and water it with any
of their own time or effort.
TAXES, MORE TAXES
As deficits and debts pile up in the affair
of the federal government, there is talk of nev
' taxes. Congress has been notified by Presiden
Roosevelt, that if it approprnates money ii
1 excess of the budget estimates, it must find tie
i money for such increased expenditures througl
I new taxes. It is probably just as well that th<
legislators should realize, that if they spend thi
money, they must find the way to get it back.
The expenditure of money is always popu
lar, and taxes are always unpopular. Thi:
strange state of things results principally fron
the fact that people frequently are taxed with
out being conscious of it. Many taxes are pai(
in indirect ways. The average man make:
more of an outcry about a tax of $1 which hi
fully realizes, than he does about one of $10
which is passed to him indirectly without hi:
being conscious of it.
One of the propositions before Congress i:
for an increase in corporation taxes. The cor
porations may be able to pay more taxes, bul
if they do they will be likely to add the tax tc
the cost of their goods, so that the people will
pay more in this indirect way.
If only all taxes could be paid by the people
in separate bills, so that they would know what
they were paying, we should not have to fear
government extravagance. If when we buy an
article, we are told that the price is $1.25,
people do not think about the tax. But if they
are told that the price is $1.00, plus 25 cents
for tax. then their indigmaiion rises and they
are in a mood to hit somebody.
Unpopular as new taxes are going to be,
the American people might as well realize that
when they spend money freely, they will
eventually have to tax themselves freely to get
it back.
******
“CASH AND CARRY" WARS
The world is full of anxiety about recent
developments in Europe and many people think
that war is certain within a year or two. They
see Germany defying the world and they be
lieve the challenge will be accepted.
Wars were formerly financed on a credit
basis. Any country that wanted to fight could
always borrow money. Uncle Sam knows all
about that and about how much he blew in on
loans to Europe.
From now on the wars, so to speak, are
going to be financed principally on a “cash and
carry” basis. If you want to fight a war, and
will put up the money in advance, you can no
doubt get the material to fight with. But if
you can’t put up the money, that’s another
story. Before the statesmen start any more
wars, they will ask who is going to pay for
them.
***** *
THE DOOR OF HOPE
A dispatch from New York speaks of the
work of the National Save-a-Life League, which
has saved many desperate people from the rash
act of suicide by its kindly advice and sym
pathy. It is remarked, in dealing with such
persons, that women do not suffer from this
impulse nearly as much as men, since they can
usually see doors of hope opening up ahead.
In any situation, no matter how desperate
it seems, there is always a door of hope. If
money goes, the community sympathizes with
all worthy sufferers, and will open new oppor
tunities. If friends pass away, new ones will
:ome. Even if health goes, medical science ef
fects marvellous cures. Even if life goes, there
must be some fairer scene beyond the veil. By
a determination to look ahead with good cheer,
the door of hope can always be kept open.
OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM
The Vancouver Province reports that the
:eacher asked Little Tommy, what his father
ivould have, if he could save a dollar a week for
Pour weeks. To which Tommy replied, that he
vould have a radio, a new suit and a suit of
furniture.
In the boom days there were plenty of
people of that type. As soon as a little money
collected, they were signing on the dotted line
tor an indefinite number of payments. The
money had been coming in regularly, so they
assumed it always would.
Where are these folks today? Well, a good
many of them are tucking away every dollar
they can, and hardly dare buy the things they
really might have. What we need is more con
fidence in times like these, and less confidence
in days v'hen everybody is stepping high and
mortgaging the future far ahead.
******
THE PROBLEM OF YOUTH
The English Prince of Wales recently made
an appeal for a great national trust fund in his
country for the benefit of the Scout organiza
tions, Boy Brigades, Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs, etc.
He said there is no sadder sight than aimless
and dispirited young people. It was remarked
that he had put his finger on the weakest point
in the modern social structure. Very much is
done for young children and for the very old
people. But young people come out of their
schools and many of them find nothing to do,
and millions of them are bitter and resentful.
A vast army of our young folks in the
United States have not been able to find any
work, and they say the social organization is
fundamentally defective. They need better
chances for athletics and social life, but most
of all an opportunity to work at some job in
which there is a chance of advancement.
******
The American people used to sing “Home
Sweet Home,” with enthusiasm, but about the
only time they sing it now is when the gas
gives out on some lonely road.
Early Morning At Bargis
Hermann Hagedorn
Clear air and grassy lea,
Stream-song and cattle-bell —
Dear man, what fools are we
In prison-walls to dwell!
To live our days apart
From green things and wide skies,
And let the wistful heart
Be cut and crushed with lies!
Bright peaks — And suddenly
Light floods the placid dell,
The grass-tops brush my knee
A good crop it will be
So all is well!
0 man, what are we
In prison-walls to dwell!
News Of Other Years
Fifty Years Ago
i --
April 11 ,1885
Mr. L. J. Gotfigon, deputy Clerk
of Northampton County Court, has
been confined to his bed for several
days, by a tedious, though not ser
ious illness.
Mr. D. H. Johnson, of Leemont, is
recovering from a prolonged attack
of pneumonia.
Mr. Edward E .Miles, returned
from Florida last week and for sev
eral months will have his home at
Onancock.
* • •
Two hundred and seven marriages
were solemnized in our county last
year, according to the returns made
by our Clerk to the Auditor’s office
at Richmond.
* * *
Capt. Orris A. Browne, member of
the State Committee, authorizes the
announcement that there will be a
meeting of the Democratic party at
the Court House, next Court day, to
take such steps as necessary in re
gards to the May elections.
» • ■
The following is an extract from
report of County Superintendent of
Schools for the month ending March
31, 1S85: Number schools in opera
tion, 82; Number more than one
teacher, 18; Number pupils enrolled,
3,852; Number in daily average at
tendance 2,641; Number of schools
visited, 37; Number warrants is
sued, 99; amounts of warrants,
$2,885.
Fair Oaks
Mr. Waller, assistant agent N. Y.,
P. & N. R. R. visited us a few days
! ago.
Miss Lou Bradford leaves in a few
days for Camden, N. J., on a short
visit to friends in that city.
Mr. Wm. S. Ashby, the handsome
clerk of Mr. J. B. Brittingham, of
Hampton, Va. was a welcome visitor
of friends in this locality during the
holidays.
Mr. L. J. Turlington returned from
Philadelphia a few days ago with
a choice lot of Jersey seed for the
farmers, who had lost seed bedded
before the late cold snap.
A “siding is to be placed on the
railroad opposite here, a freight
house built and other conveniences
supplied the shippers of produce
from this section. The shipments
from and to this point will equal,
perhaps surpass those made from
any depot in the county. Many think
the railroad officials would have act
ed wisely if they had selected it for
a regular station.
• • •
Mappsburg
Mr. Wm. B. Mapp has concluded to
seek his fortunes in the West and
leaves soon for Montana with Mr.
Henry Jacobs. We cannot afford to
lose so worthy a young man.
Irish potatoes planted before the
cold weather in March were almost
entirely destroyed in this locality.
Farmers with few exceptions have
plowed them up and are planting a
second time.
Steamboat Lines to Cape Charles
City
It is reported in steamboat circles
that the N. Y., P. & N. R. R. Com
pany is negotiating with a Wilming
ton, Del., shipbuilding concern for
one or more steamers to run pessen
gers and freight from “Tidewater
Virginia” to Cape Charles City. It
is stated that the new movement con
templates taking in the York, Rap
pahannock and Piankatank rivers,
i This would require several steamers
if the service is intended to be fre
quent. It is known that the railroad
company tried to effect an arrange
ment with large transportation com
pany of this city to put a steamer
on the route between the Rappahan
! nock and Cape Charles City last
j winter, but the negotiations fell
through.—Baltimore Sun.
• * •
Appointments of the Electoral Board
The Electoral Board of Accomack
County, composed of B. W. Mears,
John S. Selby and Orris A. Browne,
have made the following appoint
ments :
Chincoteague—Judges of election,
j Wm. J. Clayville, James Martin
Burch and Joseph T. Kenney; Regis
trar, Wm. J. Matthews.
Greenbackville—Judges, Major E.
Selby, Robert M. Powell and Win. J.
M. Sharpley; Registrar, L. F. J. Wil
son.
New Church—Judges, Solomon T.
Johnson, Lloyd Brittingham and Win.
Covington; Registrar—Wm. J. John
son.
Hall's Store—Judges, John S. Gas
kins, Thomas E. Fletcher and James
A. Hall; Registrar, John T. Fletcher.
Sykes’ Lsland — Judges, Noah F.
Miles, John T. Lewis and Levin F.
Marshall; Registrar, George W.
Glenn.
Temperanceville—Judges, H .A. W.
Corbin, Benjamin W. Shield and
Joseph Conquest; Registrar, James
W. Broughton.
Mappsville — Judges, Sewell A.
Byrd, John L. Gillespie and Wm. H.
Green; Registrar, John D. Wim
brough.
Masonville — Judges, Stanley J.
Lewis, Burwell B. Evans and Gillet
Mason; Registrar, Alfred P. White.
Muddy Creek—Judges, Thorogood
Mason, John O. Byrd and Richard
W. Somers; Registrar, Samuel A.
Godwin.
Newstown — Judges, George W.
Core, Charles L. Byrd and George
D. Wise; Registrar — George T.
Moore.
Court House—Judges, Thomas C.
Kellarn, Charles Booth and James
H. Fletcher, Jr. ;Registrar— Wm. P.
Bell.
Onancock — Judges, Richard T.
Ames, George W. Mason and Henry
R. Boggs; Registrar—Wm. T. Wise.
Tangier Iisland — Judges, Peter
Crockett, Richard Corbitt and Pat
rick Connorton; Registrar—John A.j
Chambers.
Locustmount — Judges, Joseph R.
Wescott, L. J. Phillips and John T.
F. Hope; Registrar Wm. P. Goffi
gon.
Pungoteague — Judges, Raymond^
R. Hutchinson, George B. Mason and
Nathaniel J. Kellam; Registrar —
Edward Arbuckle.
Hawk’s Nest — Judges, Frank
Smith, A. J. Ward and Wm. C.
Mapp; Registrar—Andrew G. Fin
ney.
Commissioners of Election—Sharp
ley J. Lewis, James H. Fletcher,
Jr., Joseph J. Wescott, George W.
Mason and Llovd Brittineham.
Twenty-Five Years Ago
_ April 10, 191®
Mr. John H. Read, of Newport
News, has been appointed fertilizer
inspector of the First Congressional
District.
* • *
The fine horse of “The Hackney
Horse Co.,” Accomac C. H., for
which the sum of $2600 was paid
about two years ago, died last Sat
urday. It was insured for $1,000.
* * •
Circuit Court began last Monday,
Judge James H. Fletcher, Jr., ure
siding. This is his first term in
Accomac and he is being generally
complimented by those in attendance
for his ease, dignity and courtesy on
the bench.
• * •
At the dedication of the new
Bethel Baptist Church on last Sun
day $2,250 was asked to pay the
indebtedness on the church building.
The members and friends of the
church responded to the appeal by
giving the amount due and an ad
additional $250.
• • *
Rev. John W. Hundley has been
appointed a member of the reception
committee of the Southern Baptist
Convention which meets in Balti
more, May 11th and with the hearty
welcomethus assured them all
Eastern Shore Baptists will want to
attend the convention.
* * *
Dr. and Mrs. John E. Mapp an
nounce the marriage of their daugh
ter, Ada, to Mr. Thomas Connally
Guerrant, on Thursday, April 7th.
They will be at home to their friends
after the fifteenth of April at 821
Paxton Street, Danville, Va.
• • *
Onancock
James E. Hale, who has been un
der treatment at the Sarah Leigh
Hospital since November 3rd, return
ed home Thursday.
Continued on page 10
BETTER THINK TWICE ABOUT
IT
By Luigi Pirandello
A Review' by Lambert Davis, Manag
ing Editor, Virginia Quarterly
Review, University, Virginia
No man who has received the No
bel Prize in Literature has been
more commonly regarded as a pure
intellectual than has Luigi Piran
dello. When the award was made
known, Marxist comment centered
around the author's lack of social
consciousness, and many bourgeois
in this country felt that Pirandello
was too aloof from ordinary human
affairs, too much entangled in the
web of his own speculation, to mer
it an award that has been given, in
creasingly of late, to writers con
cerned with society at large rather
than with the individual. In his
most familiar, and perhaps most
characteristic, work, Pirandello’s
central pre-occupation has been with
a philosophical problem, the nature
of the ego, and has devoted much
of his time to elaborating his thesis
that no human personality exists of
itself, but is partially created from
the countless images of that per
sonality which exist in other minds.
Readers of Pirandello who have be
come familiar with his work through
such books as “Six Characters in
Search of an Author,’’ “Right You
Are (If You Think You Are),” “As
You Desire Me,” and Tonight We
Improvise,” have naturally come to
think of him as an intellectual phan
tasist, a dealer in paradox, and
withal a rather un-human sort of
writer.
It is a happy choice on the part
of Pirandello’s American publishers
to collect the thirteen short stories
in “Better Think Twice About It” as
the book to follow the announcement
of the prize award. For though all
these stories exhibit his obsession
with the problem of personality, his
skill in phantasy, and his love of
the paradoxical in situation in char
acter, they exhibit these traits
against a background that is as
warmly human as a farm dinner in
threshing time. For the most part
they deal with the personality of
Pirandello’s native Sicily, and they
are rich with the earthiness of a
land that has been manured with
the wisdom of three millennia and
five civilizations. Taken together,
they illustrate a final paradox about
Pirandello himself; that because he
is close to so fruitful a land, he
can attain the spiritual isolation
necessary to make him one of the
most intellectual of writers.
The stories vary widely in tech
nique and purpose. “The Wet-Nurse,r
the longest story in the collection,
follows a conventional narrative
presentation to a deeply ironic con
clusion. Three stories are in the form
of animal fables, and achieve their
purposes by a use of narrative
reminiscent of Chaucer or by the
startling prospectives obtained when
human mares are observed through
animals eyes. Some of the stories
have the quality of elaborated ance
dotes—ancedotes which in their rac
iness and flavor, are the literary
equivalents of the tales which rep
resentives of a disappearing genera
tion for Southerners have been
heard to tell. Nearly all of the stor
ies, however, depend for their effect
on the achievement of an ironic
situation. For instance, in the
title story, we are reasonably led
to the spectacle of a husband ca
joling, and finally threatening, hia
wife’s gigolo into not deserting her.
“A Call to Duty,” reveals a situa
tion of the reverse import: the lover
agonizes and plots desperately to
bring his inamorata and her hus
band to bed. The comedy of these
stories is balanced by the tragedy
of “The Madonna’s Gift,” Chants
and Epistle,” and “The Wet Nurse,”’
but here also the effect is achieved
by the reader’s recognition of per
versity with which life turns human
purposes to unexpected results.
Doctrinares will protest at Piran
dello’s narrowness of vision, and
the too tender-hearted will find in
some of these stories a cruelty
hard to bear, but both of these ob
jections are a measure of his great
ness. For all his love of intellectual
juggling, Pirandello is a relentless
realist, with the realism that only
Southern races produce, and he does
not need the drug of a Utopia or a
vague humanitarianism to enable
him to relish life. Nor does he need
to introduce in his irony any echo
of the laughter of the gods, as in
Hardy’s tawdry solution of human
destiny. He is content to state the
matter in purely human terms. One
of the characters on this book, en
gaged like Pirandello in the study
of human personality, describes it
as “the cave of the beast:” one
finishes “Better Think Twice About
It” with the notion that Pirandello
owes much of his success as an ar
tist to the fact that he genuinely
loves the beast.
These books may be borrowed
from the Extension Division, Uni
versity, Virginia.
Letters To The Editors
_ _ i
Opposes Use of Dredges and Patent
Tongs On Oyster Rocks
Editor Peninsula Enterprise
Accomac, Va.
Dear Sir:
Will you be kind enough to print
in your column the article below:
There is a great deal being said !
about our great oyster industry ofi
ate, People, who are interested, are:
asking what is the remedy. There!
has been a cause and we have the
effect. For fifty years I have by |
practical work in the business and
planting of shells and oysters
gained this knowledge of the
life of an oyster rock. Nature pro
vided the rock bed and the life of it
is only about from four to five in
ches on top. The only way to main
tain the life of the rock is to cull
right back on the rock where they
are taken from. By this way you
put back the life of the rock. There
is only one way this can be done
and that is by the ordinary oyster
tongs. Dredging has killed the rocks
for by dredging clear across the
rocks and in turning around on the
mud the shells and little oysters are
shoveled overboard on the soft mud
and they sink. For years and years
this has been going on and hence we
have the effect. Just imagine a one
hundred pound dredge from the time
it begins to fill and those teeth as
they cut the life of the rock. Can
you imagine how they have lasted as
long as they have.
The next deadly thing to our oys
ter rocks is the patent tongs that
are used in the deep water where the
mother that gives out the life giving
spawn that brings life to all schoal
rocks. Now unless these two deadly
things are eliminated there is no cull
law nor any plan that you can de
vise to bring back our rocks. Now
the remedy, plant shells on the de
pleted rocks. Shells are far better
than young oysters because in cull
ing the shell oysters you knock off
the shell and it goes back on the
rock to strike again. Hence the life
of the rock will be brought back
again, and in the building of our
rocks I know by experience that it
calls for the very best practical
knowledge to know how to work
them after they have been brought
back to life.
There are plenty of practical oys
termen in tidewater of both Mary
land and Virginia. In endorsing the
cull law, the most vital part of re
storing our rock, there should be
men of the most practical knowl
edge, who should be compelled by
law to go on the rock, when the
oystermen go and stay there until
they quit. There should not be any
politics in this great matter. Which
ever side is in office they should
want the very best men. In 1929 I
wrote an article on what dredging
had done to Potomac River. At that
time you could catch ten bushels a
day and last year our people went
there and caught seventy bushels a
day. I saw in the paper where some
of the men went from Eastern Shore
of Maryland and had done well. They
could not have done that in 1929.
This is my idea of sixty years ex
perience. I have written perfectly
independently of anybody. I don’t
want anything only the building up
of both States in tidewater.
Very truly yours,
H. N. Bundicfc.
Sanford, Va.
March 21, 1935.
H. A. Nock Replies To W. L.
Elzey
Editor Peninsula Enterprise
Accomac, Va.
Dear Sir:
I note in this week's county press
that Mr. W. L. Elzey has asked two
questions on my recent articles on
utilization of number two potatoes
and sweets in manufacture of starch.
Both questions could be best
answered by our getting together as
per the suggestion of Dr. Hitchcock
— that is organize sufficient capital
to have a pilot plant which would
serve as a fact finding proposition as
to the cost of manufacturing starch
here on Eastern Shore. That should
prove either that it is a practical,
profitable proposition or that the
cost is too high to organize a com
pany and go into the general manu
facture of starches, dextrines and
gums. I have learned much of what
is made from potatoes, and one in
teresting item is that the mucilege
or gum on postage stamps for in
stance is made from potatoes. Some
one in a facetious mood asked if you
could taste Aroostook County pota
toes when you licked your postage
stamp. However, the whole propo
sition is entirely too big to arrive at
any definite conclusions, I think by
further communications through the
County press. In my opinion we
should have a mass meeting to
thoroughly discuss the matter.
However, to more definitely answer
Mr. Elzey’s questions. The maxi
mum price, I understand, that is
paid by starch factories in Maine is
around 45 cents for 165 pound bar
rel. I had been told that Eustis,
Pennock & Co., Wollaston, Mass.,
operated the largest chain of starch
factories in Maine. Under date of
March 12th they replied to a letter
Continued on page 11