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This newspaper page contains 16 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Mar 15, 1949
Page
4
The piece surveys in Alabama the fight over funds for the Democratic Party, a $40 million road bond push, and notes on inflation and unemployment for strikers. It mentions Selma’s planned feed mill, reactions to President Truman, taxation limits, and local voter turnout contrasts in Dothan and Birmingham. It also paints a critical picture of Lewis and mining policy impacts in Decatur.
An editorial argues civilization is a race between builders and destroyers and urges balanced southern development of agriculture and industry. It notes progress over the past decades depends on sustained industrial growth and civic responsibility in Decatur and the Tennessee Valley.
A Decatur resident recalls driving U S Highway 31 to the Tennessee line and asks The Daily to act on improving the road. The piece criticizes Governor Folsom for not backing reconstruction and notes state legislators resist higher taxes, leaving locals to endure the deteriorating artery.
The piece notes that 38 former lawmakers receive government retirement pay, many wealthy, some jailed or facing prison sentences. Eligibility requires 62 years old and six years in Congress, with benefits around 2 percent of average salary times years served. Andrew May and James Curley are highlighted as early recipients with dubious records.
Former lawmakers including Harold Knutson Robert Rockwell Bartel Jonkman and others now draw government checks after leaving office. The list features ex senators like Joe Guffey Burton Wheeler James Tunnell Jim Mead George Radcliffe Peter Gerry Henrik Shipstead Raymond Willis and more. Some backed social security for others yet receive monthly pensions themselves.
The piece notes that rural phone service lagged in 1945 vs 1920 as Americans fly in jets and stockpile bombs. It cites President Truman pressing for more farm phones in his State of the Union to fix the rural communications gap.
The passage warns that progress depends on thoughtful leadership. If careless actors prevail, industry may stall and economic advancement could halt, signaling the need for prudent policy and vigilant oversight.
A motivational piece citing Oliver Goldsmith on rising after setbacks. It urges persistence after failure, observing one’s own mood over time, and comparing to others to gain strength. It concludes you only fail if you choose to remain content with defeat.
Westook Pegler argues Governor Dewey hinted at a constitutional convention while warning that the 18th through 15th amendments and income tax evolve federal reach. He contends federal overreach, withholding tax, and wartime deals with unions threaten individual rights and states’ sovereignty.
The White House discouraged action but a bloc of senators and congressmen seek a bill to boost farm telephone service. Only about 42 percent of farms have phones in 1949 per Agriculture Department estimates, far below 1920 levels, with wide state variation from 3.7 percent in Mississippi to 79.3 percent in Iowa.
Briant Badger, president of Uptown Appliance and Radio, sues for 500000 alleging forced exit from business over refusal to join a price‑fixing scheme. He says Flint Distributing threatened to cut supplies unless he conspired to create artificial scarcity. FBI probes may lead to antitrust report.
Dr. Andrew J. Perolio of Birmingham will become director of the Tennessee Valley Laboratory on April 1, succeeding Nina Elderidge who has resigned. The item also notes local highway reform efforts in Pike to Tuscumbia and committee work for a Heart of Valley route.
Noted actor Conrad Nagel recalls the birth of talkies and the rise of television linking early MGM battles to the Jazz Singer era. Washington promoter Carter Barron advances a cherry blossom festival to draw global visitors, while Frank Costello and others travel to Birmingham and Montgomery for events and boxing seats.
In Cleveland at Shiloh Baptist church Amy Mallard of Toombs County spoke about Georgia democracy being only on paper. She described the shooting of her husband Robert by hooded men. two men were indicted but acquitted.
In Montgomery Alabama clemency hearings are set before Gov. James E. Folsom for two condemned Black defendants. Perry Lee Haygood of Birmingham is scheduled for Thursday for killing a white storekeeper. Buster Snead of Bibb County will be heard Thursday March 24. Snead was convicted of the axe slaying of Etienne as she slept. He confessed an alleged loan dispute as motive.
Two Hobson City men died when a car they rode in struck a truck on the Birmingham Atlanta highway two miles east of Lincoln. A third occupant, Horace Flow er? 22 Missouri name? was killed and Clinton McBath 17 died in the crash. Leonard Pierce 23 of Hobson City was injured.
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