TAUGA DEMOCRAT
every thuesdax vr w*n mnrnwo cowakt f
U. C. RIVERS, JR, PUBLISHER
' la UN. Publiahed lor 4* man by the late Robert C. Rivera, Sr.
nmmmnH bates . >»»]
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NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS—In requeuing change of address. It i« Uwportsnt to mention the OLD,
<U well a* the NSW addrea*. ,y
Entered at the poitofficr at Boom, N. C, at second daaa aull matter, under the act W Camieaa el
March S, 1«7»
"The besis «# our g~rn~l the opinio a of the people, the very first objective should to
to keep that right, and nr« it left to me to deeide whether we should hewe a government without
newspapers without government, I should net hesitate a moment to cfcooao the latter.
M that every »a» 4ool4 rnnahre then* paper* and be capable of raadinf them
BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1957
1 ■■ ■
Band Students Gather
Friday and Saturday mark the staging
•f the annual band clinic on th« campus
of Appalachian State Teachers College.
For a number of years thia has been
an important event in the schedule at Ap
palachian and this time it is interesting
to note that 100 band students from 23
schools are expected to participate, and
the clinic band will perform under the
direction of Bernard Fitzgerald from the
University of Kentucky.
The splendid cooperation existing* be
tween the college and the city is again
shown by .the fact that they are jointly
hosting the band clinic. Tb« boys are to
be housed in men's gym housing facilities
on the campus, while the girls will be
housed by various residents of the com
munity who have volunteered their help.
The music department at the College
U gaining ever-widening recognition. Since
the con*truction of the new building, the
physical properties have been vastly im
proved, and the staff membership increas
ed to take care of the many students who
plan to follow musical careers.
These band clinics, which annually draw
more and more student musicians to the
campus are of course, stimulating interest
in Appalachian's music school, and con
tributing a full share to ita expansion.
Whatever is good for Appalachian Col
lege is good for the community, for the
county, and the State. Such affairs as the
band clinics hasten the growth at the
College and the cultural and material
well-being of the town.
Doughton Gets The Nod
Representative J. K. Doughton, of Spar
ta, four-term member of the State House
of Representatives, will be the next Speak
er of the House.
This became certain when Representa
tive George Usell of Rowan, the only oth
er candidate for the top position in the
lower branch of the Legislature, stated
that he had withdrawn from the contest.
This leaves the door wide open for our
neighbor Doughton, an official in the
Northwestern Bank, to wield'the gavel
when the House gets Itself in order next
month.
And that is good news fbf tills p<rt of
the State, for the name of Doughton has
for a half century and more been a syno
nymn for faithful public service, on coun
ty, State and National levels. A son of
the former Lieutenant-Govern*, R. A.
Doughton, who served for many terms in
the Assembly and a nephew of the late
Congressman Robert L. Doughton, the Al
leghany man "is, by the very nature of
things, admirably qualified for the Legis
lative preferment
And it will be good for the State, in
« general way, and for Northwestern Ca^o^_
Una in particular, to have a mountain man
in a position of wide influence down Ra
leigh way. For many years the East has
tended to dominate the situation at the
9tata House, and while Speakers have
often come from the Piedmont section,
it's been a long time, we believe, since
a man from the high hills has been *o
honored. t
Mr. Doughton is widely experienced in
Legislative circles, inherited a natural
tfcste for party politics, of the sort whicn
results in better government for the peo
ple, and may be depended upon to fill
the chair in the House with a rare degree
of acumen.
The Baby Owes $1,939!
"The tax bite on earning* is only the
annual story of what government seems
to be costing," writes Sam M. Jones in
the National Review. "Behind it lie* a
debt so large today that every baby is
born owing the government $1,939 before
he lets out his first howl. If he is a mem
ber of a family of four, his papa will
represent a government debt of $7,738."
Fantastic as these figures are, strangely
enough they strike not a" note of fear or
of alarm among.the people who are car
rying the burden of the Federal budget
Much of the lack of tax-consciousness
comes from the withholding tax which
obeeuree the tax take to an extent. It
every taxpayer had to divvy by a given
<tate his governmental due, without the
finger of his employer meddling with his
check, there would no doubt come about
• demand for some curtailment of govern
ment spending and a resultant tax de
area se from the people least able to pay.
Politics being what it is, there is scent
prospect, as the President suggests, for •
tax cut this year. .At the same time he
calls for a government budget, far and
away greater than any thus far proposed
in any peacetime era. Used to be that
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Tru
man were regarded as the apostles of
spending. But their peacetime demands
were on the meagre side compared with
those of the President, who was first elec
ted on a campaign promising lower taxes,
less spending, and more cash in the pockets
of the people—that is more cash they can
take home and spend for the comforts of
Mfe. * ,
The notion of big government—of a
growing and expanded Federal establish
ment, which had its first great stimulua
during the days of the depression, has
followed on into this day of the nation's
greatest peacetime prosperity, aa a perma
nent policy, it would appear. That doesn't
look good.
The Passing Parlor
(The Raleifh Newt 4 Obwrvrr)
You used to hear the term "parlor joke
rather frequently. But now just about the
only jokes told in the parlor stem from
television. And all these are not merely
"parlor jokes." The parlor, these days,
aeems to be caught in a rip-tide. It is in
* nebulous realm somewhere between tel
evision and a museum. But the parlor used
to be to the spirit what the whopping
Wtchen was to the stomach. It was a read
ing room, an open forum for literary and
historical debate, a place in which friends
apd neighbors foregathered just for sake
of excellent good company, and it was,
a* the vert name implies, just a place to
sit and relax. It was the hub about which
tie spiritual and intellectual Uim of the
home revolve^
But all thia before television Now.
tkere la abeobitely nothing wrong with
XV, per se. It aftnrds a lot of entertain
ment and tt tehitbes a lot of mm that
is already generally known. But a recent
survey shows, all too sadly, that when
most people visit now, the lights are dim
med, the conversation stops, and everyone
sits back to watch television. But the
•oldtime parlor made good talkers and
good listeners. People Went visiting lor
the sake company and not just because
Steve Alien or fid Sullivan are magically
appearing from out of nowhere to cavort
about the parlor.
The interchange of ideas is the fountain
of democracy. We wouldn't do away with
television tor anything. But the moat re
tarded chicken in the barnyard has enough
awe to know that when neighbors visit
neighbors, when the parlor Is filled with
democracy with all its hope* and its vis
ion, the human mind and the human heart
muat always take precedence over any
form of canned entertainment ,
Stretch's Sketches
By "STRETCH" R0LL11SS
"A Little Nonsense Note and Then . . .
It Relished By The Wisest Men"
BALANCED?
THE EGG, writes columnist Sjrd Harris, is
God's noblest food. He rhapsodiaes at length
anent the virtues of the breakfast staple, and
deplores the fact that no poet has ever penned
an 'Ode to an Egg."
But he's wrong. At least, one has been written
about the powdered egg, that tasteless travesty
on the fruit of the fowl with which Uncle Sam
insidiously endeavored to induce a fighting mood
in bis oversease personnel to start the day during
World War II. In the European edition of the
army newspaper, me an™
and Strlpea," appeared what ia
probably the shortest poem on
record, titled "0d« te •
Powdered Egg:"
"You taste
Like paste."
To which yours truly
promptly added a
Second verse:
You're worse!
IN FACT, a poem has even been written about
the producer of the egg, none other than the
noble hen. Author unknown, it went like this:
"The eminent Henry Ward Beecher
Said, 'The hen ia an elegant creature.'
The hen, pleased with that,
Laid an egg in his hat—
And thus did the hen reward Beeeher."
A READER WRITES a protest to a daily paper
in which ihe says it "nauseates" her that the
can't turn on the radio without hearing an Elvis
Presley record, or pick up a newspaper without
seeing his name Well, ii it hadn't been (or her
letter, I wouldn't have seen l|is name in that
particular issue. (Or this one, either.)
i
THE BRITISH PRESS is indignant about Prin
cess Margaret's being dropped down a notch or
two In the latest list of "Ten Best-Dresaed Wo
men." But we're to blame, really, offered the
man on the street. No reason, he opined, why
we shouldn't continue to dress her in the style
to which we've accustomed her.
A ROBESON COUNTY driver was found guilty
of speeding 110 m.p.h., careless and reckless
driving, and failure to stop for stop signs.
That last charge ia a gross miscarriage of
justice. How can a man stop for a silly stop
sign when he's doing 1101
COFFEE BREAK DIALOGUE—"That Polly
Bergen really sends me," said the man drinking
it black. "She nukes me want to go right out
and buy a crate of Pepai Cola."
"You're lucky, chum," the fellow at the next
stool snorted into his half-and-half. "My weak
ness is Betty Fulness!"
\
From Early Democrat Files
Sixty Years Ago
January SI, 1887.
Jesse P. Hoskins of the Farmer* Mutual has
been In the county for teveral days, and la
busy writing policies
We failed to note in our last issue the advent
of a spicy new newspaper, called the Globe
Star, edited by P. P. Moore. Mr. Moore is one
of the most enterprising men in Caldwell county
and is well qualified for any business.
John Sherman will be McKinleys Secretary
of State
Congressman Spencer has introduced a bill
to buy Cuba at a price not to exceed $900,000,000.
Gen. Gomel ia marching on to Havana with
all his force and is not waiting on treaty
makers. The city of Havana ia In • groat state
of alarm.
George Main who killed Immett McEwen
in Johnson county, Taan., on the second, waa
arrested on Monday of last week by Sheriff
Murphy and others. He was captured at his
father's, where he was concealed, and is now in
Jnll in Mountain City.
Willis, our minister to Hawaii, died at his poet
on the 8th Inst, from pneumonia fever.
Thirty-Nina Yearn Ago
January U. 1818. *
William I. Carender of Matney, Watauga
county, died .at his home December 1, 1917.
Ho was born January 10, 1MB. He camo from
Wilkes county about 38 years ago.
Again we are without mail, the snow on Tues
day night drifting to such s depth as to make
travel almost impossible The mall from Le
noir came within a little mocs than a mile of
the village Tuesday and was forced to return
to Blowing Rock on account of the heavy
drills.
Mr. M. A. Teague. formerly of Watauga, but
for the peat year a resident ft CaldweU county,
died at his home near Mulberry Springs last
Wednesday and the rsaasine were brought tare
for Interment, which was in the Hine graveyard
Wfcy. ( *
W. G. Todd of Bamboo was in the village Mon
day. He told the Democrat that, by actual mess
urement, there has fallen since Friday, December
8th, (now to a depth of 40 indies. That night
we had another four-inch fall, which runs the
depth to four feet two inches.
Dr. J. M. Hogshead, caricer specialist of Mat
ney, after a protracted Illness, died at his home
last Saturday and was buried the following day.
The doctor came to Watauga some 30 years ago
from Alabama, and has since practiced his pro
fession in this and adjoining states. He will
be greatly missed, both professionally and la
his community and county.
Martin Bentley died at his humble cabin ea
the White Oak Hat Road last Friday aa a re
sult of measles. His aged widow is extremely
Ul, while poasibly as many aa five grandchil
dren are down with the malady la the saaae
house. * • •
Last week dipth^ria broke out ia the family
of Mr and Mrs David Ray near the village awl
on Sunday Evening the baby girl, two and a half
years old, died, and the following morning a
son, eight years old. passed away, and the father
and mother are both suffering with the fliiiii.
The two children were buried in the same grave
Tuesday, the Rev. Mr. Powell conducting the
funeral.
Fifteen Yeart Ago
January », IMS.
William Alex Tugman, leading cttiaens of the
Meat Camp aection, who taught in the schools
of Watauga county for many years, died Sat
urday after an illneas of several months. Mr.
Tugman waa 61 years old. * * *
Chairman Donald M. Nelson of the war pro
duction board yesterday ordered prodaetioa of
passenger automobiles and light tracks stopped
after February 1.
Mrs. Annie Greene. 04. of Blowing Rack, died
at the Blowiag Rock clinic Tuesday night of
last weak.
Rev. W. H. Gkaaa ai Watauga Ms, died at
the home of a son, Mr. Tfeomas Glenn, Tuesday
of last week * * • * .
KING STREET
By ROB RIVERS
'f 'it ' •' Jp
WEATHEB FORECAST . . BY THE BUUNG DAYS
In Aiheville, Mr. Joe A. Da via gained some renown as a
mountain weather prophet, and after hi* death Mrs. Davis seems
to have fallen heir to the secret formula of her husband. . . So,
says the Asheviile Citizen, we can still have a long-range fore
cast for 1957, arrived at by V(ri Davis by close observance of
the first ten days of January, a period known as the "ruling
days" and which is supposed to control the weather for the rest
of the year. ... A great many folks hereabout have laid store
by this ruling days theory, and are reported to have fared
"uncommon well" in saying what the weather would be in
the ensuing months.... "Hie late Mr. Davis, likewise, is reported
to have been 95 per cent accurate over a period of five years. ...
We are indebted to the Citizen for Mrs. Dpvis' forecast for 1957:
January—Sunny, cold and windy, with little rain or snow.
February—cold with a lot of sunshine.
March—It'll run true form, in -like a lion and out like a
lamb.
April—Showers and generally unsettled.
May—Partly cloudy and cool the first half, with warm,
sunny days foreseen the latter portion.
June—Normal with some rain indicated.
July—Normal temperatures with thundershowers with some
wind indicated.
August—Much sunshine, with rain foreseen the latter half.
September—Balmy and unusually clear for this month, al
though some rain sighted.
October—Much sunshine the first half, with cold rains or
snow flurries toward the end of the month.
November—Cold with occasional snow flurries.
December—Milder than usual, especially the latter half.
Some snow indicated around the first of the month.
THE INAUGURATION . . KINDLES MEMORIES
Kenneth Linney and Mrs. Linney are the only folks
we know from Boone who went to Washington Mon
day for the inauguration and the parade, and the ex
citement of the quadrennial affair. . . . Kenneth says
he wanted to see another President . . . Says the Ust
time he saw a Chief Magistrate was when Herbert
Hoover delivered ah address from a platform erected
under a spreading white oak tree in Elizabethton, and,
Snooks added, "the tree died in due course of time!"
. . . Snooks, who takes the Republican party seriously
enough, can't forego a good laugh, regardless of which
side of the fence the chuckle originates.
OTHER INAUGURALS . . TWO WE REMEMBER
And while talking to Snooks we recalled some other inaugu
rals about which we have read, when Presidents sloshed in th<»
mud from boarding houses to the place of oath-taking, or rode
horses along the avenue, and sometimes were plastered at the
end of the day. ... Like when Jackson and his buddies muddied
up the place with a gay party. . . . But both the inaugurals we
attended were noteworthy. . . . The first, when Franklin D.
Roosevelt stood in the plaza that bleak, rainy March day in
1937, after he'd carried eVBfry State except Maine and Vermont.
. .. And the throngs had gathered from far and near, flush with
victory and in some cases with gin, and such an ingathering
of politicians, both great and small, we'd never seen. . . . Again
in January 1949. we journeyed to the Potomac'to hear Harry
Truman enunciate his point-four program, and witness the gay
parade, and other features of an inaugural, funds for which had
been provided by a Republican Congress for Thomas E. Dewey.
... So we can well imagine the joy experienced by the Republic
cans Monday in their second recent hour of great success.
OVER AT MATNEY . . NO LAWMAN, NO J. P.
Lee Carender, of the Matney neighbhood, an old
friend of the Democrat and its publisher, visits us Mon
day, and his alertness and vigor would be envied by
many a man of half his eighty years. . . . Mr. Carender
says that not for years has there been a deputy sheriff
appointed In his neighborhood, and as a matter of fact
they don't even have a Justice of the Peace. . . . The
reason assigned being that folks live right, and law
enforcement isn't needed. . . . Where men like Lee
Carender reside it has to be a good community.
So This Is New York
By NORTH CALLAHAN
In between report* of the ubiqui
tous "mad bomber," the local po
lice department received a mew
ace: "Bookworm locked In (tore;
owner gone home." Two patrol
men wore dispatched to the book
ahop on 4th Avenue Through the
glaas door, they saw a young man
but the door was locked and he
couldn't get out For some rea
son, thsy eould not get la. So
there ho stayed for two more
hours, while the police patiently
hunted ap the owner of the store.
Seeae the young man had been
browsing among the volume* in
the boat meat of the store, when
the owaer, oat knowing he was
there, locked up and went home.
Sitting nest to Attorney I. B
Brodie, formerly of laltlssorp. at
lunch"oo in the CotamMa Univer
sity Club, I learned that he was
a good personal friend of the late
Supra om Court Justice Louis
Brandeis It sens that the great
jurist wrote such a bed hand, that
every time Mr. Brodie received a
letter from him. the lawyer had
to get hie secretary who had spec
sliaed in It— to "translate" the
letter. Mr. Brodie thinks most
lawyers are exalted clerks. He now
specialises In reorganlskig failing
mam of one Bat he wont take
to per their ersdltoi a NO ssats on
"ssMsa—.
of the magazine*, American, Wo
man'! Home Companion and Col
liers, not only did not allow them
to fall, but made money by the
fistful*. Be was a strong person
ality, like Thomas J. Watson and
Henry Ford. Sometimes, it ap
pears, such a one is required to
keep s financial ship above water.
Another magazine, devoted to chil
dren and their parents, recently
celebrated its prosperous 30th
birthday here. Said its anniver
sary issue: "Nowadays children are
bom with a Bill of Rights entitling
them to diaper service, play
schools, remedial reading and—
most important of all—understand
ing of their individual needs by
their parents."
It would seem that the Civil
War books to end all other* are
the "Battles and Loaders of the
Civil War" just published by Tho
mas Yoseloff In four handsome'
boxed volumes. A total of 3,000
prints and 2,000.000 words, this
vital primary source of the his
tory of the great war represents
accounts of the battles written by
the leaders on both side* and ap
peared hi the well-known Century
Magazine between 1M447. Thu
act was published year* ago but
became virtually oat of print until
Mr. Yo*ok>ff *aw fit to bring out *
new edition—a most worthy pro
|«t
Burke Devi*, a distinguished
(Continued am nn •»*-)