Newspapers / Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / Feb. 21, 1957, edition 1 / Page 4
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TAUGAiDEMOCRAT PURUSKSD rv*lT THVMDAY »Y KrVKW PRINTINO COMPANY vmUr far 46 yaari by tbe late Robert C. Riven, Sr. SUBSCRIPTION RATES In Vitun County: Oh par. $100; als Booth*. «1 W, torn moothe, $100; QuUkU W*Uu«a Couaty: OM year, ft.80; ate mootJu, $1.79; tour months, *1.28. ; 1 i TO SUBSCRIBERS—In roqueftin* chance a* a4*«», tt It topwfa* fa mUn Mm OLD, ; I at the yeateWtea at Boona, N. C, aa aeefad etaa mall matter, under the act of Congrea* of Em y /' ■ as w«U aa tha NEW X 1*T». V* BOON1, NOWH CAROLINA. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21. 1957 , 5 T" it i .**•' , "k."' '' 1 i » "I'iVSP* Ip Plan Likely Won't Work Friend* of Governor Hod gee will be g lad, many of thorn at l«Mt, that he "back«d up" Monday in hi* insistence that merit factors be oonaidered in tha diatribut ion of pay increases to tha Stata aehool teachers. Teachara and teachers' organisations had cried out against tha propoaal, which, as we are given to understand it, would give the principal of a aehool authority to determine pay incraaaa achedulaa of his teachers. James M Storie, chairman of the legislative committee, division ot principals, NCEA, and principal of tha Blowing ftock High School, carried his fight against th« proposal to the Governor himself last weak, and holds the firm belief that there Is no present method by which a yardstick can he applied to teaching ability and merit Mr. Storie, and others in the profession would readily agree that merit should have a place in determining the status of the members of any precession—that training and accomplishment should be rewarded In a material fashion—but to place the responaiblity on a school principal to determine which of his teachers ahall fare best when the checks are written, tt seams to us, comes close to sheer folly. It would at least make one-termers of principals, generally speaking. Human nature being what it is, the shapely young thing, fresh out of college, with stars in her eyes, mighttstand a food deal better chance in the pay diwy with - some young principals than would the aged tutor who'd (pent a lifetime in the profession and had approached the point of near perfection. Conversely the next term, a mature principal would likely cut the salary of the tweet and curvaceous youngster, which wouldn't make for good feeling. At the same time, imagine the tension and trouble in a school where, the principal could govern the pay increase. He wouldn't have a Chinaman's chance of doing a good job, or even of survival! At the same time, the 9 per cent salary increase isn't adequate, and the Governor and the Assembly could best serve the State at this time by granting a 20 per cept increase. It's unlikley that the lower proposal can be passed through the implied threat in some quarters of putting a sales tax on the grocery basket. We'd suggest that the State can operate with a smaller surplus perhaps, and that industry will be content with paying its share of the tax. . And we'd be dead set against too much of the fiscal responsibility of the school system being passed back to the local communities. All income of industry and government is local, since there's no other place to get the money than from the people. However, the history of the educational establishment in North Carolina ia that we never had creditable schools until the State took over, and until Dr. Dougherty's equalization program was carried out. Parkway Concessions Issue As this is written another hearing la being held by officials of *tht National Park Service and Stat* Parte Commission on the issue of whether or not there should be additional concessions—lodging and eating places—on the Parkway. Many residents of Boone and other towns are appearing to argue against expansion of the facilities on the Scenic, and it is the unanimous feeling of the civic leaders here that the tourist industry would suffer incalculable harm in Boone and Blowing Rock, and all along the way If travelers on the Parkway could handily take care oL their travel needs without venturing into the nearby communities. Despite all the publicty in regard to the pros and cons of the matter, we find that many of our readers are still in the dark about the contentions. Accordingly we submit a summary of statement made Ut Department of Conservation and Development in January, with comments by Hugh Morton, one of the leaders in the fight against added Paakway concessions. It gives a good insight into the matter: PRIVATE ENTERPRISE TO BE INVITED TO "BID" Psrk Service: Private enterprise will be invited to bid on the construction, equipment sad operation of the proposed new concessions. Comment: The Park Service has always claimed that private enterprise was invited to kid, even on the existing Parkway facilities leased to the non-profit National Park Concessions, Inc., in 1M2. SO-CALLED "BASIC REQUIREMENTS" ARE LISTED Park Service: The accommodations proposed under the 10-year program to fill bwlc requirements are estimated to coat $4 million and include 11 gai stations, 10 lunch counters, 3 coffee shops, 1 low rental housekeeping cabin group, and 3 lodges. Some of these facilities are already In exiatence. Comment: The National Park Service serves aa Its own Judge and jury when it comas to deciding what Government-sponsored facilities are "required." Sinee the Park Service doe* not answer to anybody in thla respect, its "basic requirements" can bo expected to expand aa they have dona Irr the past. Meanwhile, hundreds of rooms in private establishments up and down the length of the Parkway go vacant every night. NON-PROFIT CORPORATION ON PARKWAY UNTIL 1M2 Park forvice: National Park Conceaalons, Inc. will operate exiating Government-sponsored facilities on the Blue Ridge Parkway for the life of ita contract which runs until 1962. Comment: The bi-partisan Hoover Commission investigated National Park Concessions, Inc., and recommended in May IMS that it be dissolved. If the Park Service evades the wishes of the Hoover Commission until 1862, it is likely that the recommended dlaaolutlon of National Park Conceealona, Inc., will not take place. ONE FIRM EXPECTED TO DO WHOLE 94 MILLION JOB Park Service: One firm or Individual la expected to do the whole Job of erecting and operating the estimated (4 million in now concessions because "overhead la reduced by having ■11 of the new concessions under one company." Comment: Few firma or Individuals have $4 million It cash or credit. The email operator would be eliminated, even If legitimate private enterprise was the successful "bidder." (Continued on page 2, Section |) The Vanishing Back Yard (Nn» k Observer) The back yard used tq be the hub of the growing boy'* activities. It was likely to be untidy and all cluttered up with horse shoes and fishing poles and balls and bats and dogs and oats. Often it had a high board fenee around it, and it usually had a large traa that was excellent for climbing. Lined against the fence and around the tree were oountless odds and ends that constituted the boy's treasurers. Often there was a tent in which the boy and friends slept when summer eame to town to perfume the yard with its ten million precious scents. The tent waa also used ar-a club house where the boys and his friends organized plans for the future. The back yard was a noisy place. It rang with the shouts of boys at play. The ^ir was permeated with laughter and something of the merriment, the sparkle and wholesomenoss spilled over the fence and washed the entire neighborhood. The backyard was the boy's own world. It was an enchanted land ruled by a merry young monarch. I#was only a few square yards of dirt and grass and sunshine, but it could be changed by magic into a big league baseball, park, a battle field, King Arthur's court, or an African Jungle. But now all to often the yard is being sacrificed i^the guise of artistic improvement. Landscaping has come in and the hone shoes have gone out The board fence that watched over the boy's treasures ( is gone and the tree is no longer climbed. The baok yard ia a pretty place for tired adults to rect in deck chairs. And the boy meets his friends at the public park er asks U»«m Into the hauae to watch television. Stretch's Sketches By "STRETCH" ROLLINS Brotherhood It Mostly 'Relative' y THIS. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, is World Brotherhood Week, brother. And even though the week U half gone, we can •t least be half-brothers. But there were no halfway measures in the small boy's interpretation of brotherhood . in an incident that has become symbolic of the word. You know the story. A man saw a little boy carrying a not - much - smaller one along the street, and said, "Say, sonny, that's quite a burden you have there, isn't itt" Gating up in wide-eyed sursurprlse, the boy delivered his now-classic reply: "That ain't no burden, mister—that's my brother!" ALTHOUGH GREAT STRIDES have been made In pie last few years (too great, some think) toward the realization that men of all races and creeds are bound up in a common destiny and that the realj>roblems of the world are those of human relations, brotherhood to many b, shall we say, stiU a "relative" term. BUT PROGRESS (or retrogression, according to the way you look at it) hat been made. There waa a book published in 1924 called "The World's Best Epigrams." It contained editorial quotes from the nation's leading newspaper*, and here are a few samples from the section titled "Aliens": "There are a little over 13 million alien-born resident* the United States, and they use 76 languages to cuss American institutions." . . . "It it high time to see to it that our gooec isn't cooked in the melting pot" . . . and "Home grown population ia beat." There are many more such comments in this book published 33 years ago, all reflecting the same attitude of drawing the editorial skirt* away from any and ail immigrants. BUT LETS FACE IT, we're all immigrants, regardlesa of how many generations removed. Except the Indians. It i* not too difficult to enviiion old Chief Squat-In-The-Sun peering from behind a rock as the first immigrants disembarked from the Mayflower, and grunting: "Ugh! Foreigners!" From Early Democrat Files Sixty Yeari Ago • . February It, 1897. * Capt. Coffey has returned from the south and reports a moderately successful trip. Soma thief lifted a ham of meat from the home of Mr. Nathan Horton last Friday night. Rev. Mr. Stanford, the new preacher on this work, hppe* te begin work on the new Methodist church building soon. Mr. E. P. Chafin, of Marganton, a Jeweler, has opened a shop t the residence of Mr. Nathan Horton, opposite the postoffice. Watch repnlring a specialty. • Alien A. Holsclaw of Silvestone, is offering his property and stock of goods for sain as he expect* to go to the railroad soon. Anyone wishing a good business location would do well to aee him. Prof. !«. M. Farthing's school at Silveratone will cl*ee the 24th inst. with contest and public debate in the day and entertainment at night On Tuesday morning of this week Moms Eller of Cnv* Crank passed through on his way to South Carolina with a load of young sugar tree* He had 175 young trees on his wagon and said he had sold them for 78 cents each. They are to be set for shade totes. This is decidedly a new venture for Wataug) and it seems a rather lucrative one. Thirty-Nine Yean Ago Febrnary II. ltlt. Fifty thousand dollar* worth of Watauga good road bonds are advertiae^in this issue. Prof. Itoy M. Brown and Mr. C. IX Taylor of Watanga'a Good Roada Commission are off te Chapel HUI to attend a Good Roada Institute * I Some party or parties entered the premises of Mr. J Young Love on Band's Crank and ear ried away several bushels of com and three Joint* of meat. , The School I* sending small booklets, the Dnw Drop, and other things of lntereet to all of onr soldier boyawboee addresnss cap ,£e obtained Rev. Mr. Cross of Chralotte, a Baptist minister, has been In the village since Tuesday and will (ill the pulpit* in the Baptist Church In Boone at 11 and at ngiht next Sunday. Our office was honored Monday by an enjoyable visit from our afed friend, Mr. Jonathan Miller, who will soon round out his 90th year. Mr. Janes Murphy, engineer for the Boone's Fork Lumber Co., has been in this section this week, looking after some business for his company. Corporal Edgar Hardin of Rutherwood, who, last summer volunteered in Battery E Field Artillery, and went to Camp Jackson for training, but was later transferred to Camp Sevier, la (pending a ten day furlough with hia mother ayd other relatives and friendsjin the county. • Fifteen Yeart Ago Fefcnary 19, IMS. LeVerne Fox, son of Mr. and Mrs. FUmore Fox, has finished his training in the parachute batallloo at Fort Benning, Ga., and has received his wings. He entered the service last June. Mr. Charles Wright is in the Panama Canal Zone, where he is employed by the Government as field plerk on a huge defense kinbway project. Coach Flueie Stewart, former Appalachian football mentor, suffered painful but not serious injuries Tuesday «f last week in an automobile accident on the Greensboro-Winston-Salem hlghvway. Mr. Herman Wileox, president of the Chamby -of Commerce, is making some progress toward the establishment of an office of the' Railway Expreaa Agency in this city. Rev. Wilbur C. Leach, and Mrs. Leach recently moved to Valle Crucla. where he will serve the Valle Cruets School and ti Luke s Qpiseopal Church In Boon* as Rector.' Information from Cleveland, Ohio, tells of the recent death la that city of Sergeant Maleom t. Sims, tqm at lit. and Mrs Hamp Sims of Watauga county, at the age of 44 years KING STREET By ROB RIVERS .< FEBRUARY . . MONTH OF GREAT BIRTHDAYS February, so-named from the Latin word Februo, to purify, commemorating the season of the year tor the Roman cereman ic* of purification, is noted for its four-week span, with an extra day toaaed in lor good measure every fourth or leap year.... Also, it's the time of the groundhog and his traditional shadow, of commemoration of St. Valentine, the priest who loved everybody, even his enemies, and was tortured and executed by Emperor Claudius. ,.. And it's the birthday of a lot of other great man, notably Abraham Lincoln, who saved the Union and to whose rich bequest of wit and wisdom haVe been added about all the smart sayings of every other sage. . . . Then tomorrow, we celebrate the birthday of George Washington, who grew up on thg Rappahanock. behaved like most other normal boys, and perhaps did not go through with the cherry tree thing, most of such tales being imagined by "Parson" Weems in his "Life of Washington." . . . Maybe he tossed the rock or the silver dollar across the River—we don't know. "HAD ACQUISITIVE HABITS" . . TRUMAN SAID Fenbt-i President Harry Truman is reported to have bees asked on eae occasion whether or not he thought Washington threw a dime or a dollar across the Po- < toruac. . . Truman is alleged to have replied: "It was not the Potomac, but the Rappahannock, and knowing something of the acquisitive habits of the Father of our country, I am Inclined to believe that he didn't chance the loss of either a dime or a dollar on such a I toss. ... He likely sailed a rock across the stream." HISTORIANS often more or less obscure the greatness of men with their tales which catch fire and hang on. ... A soldier, statemsan and patriot, George Washington was more. ... A gentleman farmer who loved the land and brought forth the first concepts of modern agricultural practices. ... He lived well and productively on his wide acres, brought plants, shrubs and trees from all parts of the world, was one of the first to grow pecans, and pioneered in the use of clover, rye and timothy to enrich the soil. ... He practiced crop rotation at a time when ' there was no scarcity of new fields, and was perhaps our first farmer to raise mules. . . . Like farmers today, he had years of losses, but in good years his profits ran as high as $15,000. . . . The other day, in reading something of the versatility of our First President, we found the following, under the caption of "Washington's Rules of Civility" which interested us. We haven't changed the spelling: Associate yourself with Men of Good Quality if you Esteem your own Reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company. Wear not your Cloths, foul, unript or Dusty but See they be Brush'd once evrey day at least and take heed that you approach not any uncleanness. Be not hasty to believ flying reports to the Disparagment of any. Shift not yourself in the Sight of others nor Gnaw your nails. Treat with men at fit Times about Business, and Whisper not in the Company of others; • Be not curious to flQlioW' the Affairs of Others neither approach those who speak in private. Eat not in the Streets, nor in ye House, out of Season. Read no letters. Books or Papers in Company but when there is a necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave; come * not near the Books or Writing* or another so as to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them unask'd, also look not nigh When another is writing a Letter. If you Cough, Sneeze, Sigh or Yawn, do it not Loud but Privately; and speak not in your Yawning, but put your Handkerchief or hand before your face and turn aside. Let your Discourse with men of Business be Short and Comprehensive. Drink not nor talk with your mouth full neither Gaze about you while you are a Drinking. Keep your Nails Clean and Short, also your Hands and Teeth Clean, yet without Shewing any great Cohcern for them. In visiting the Sick do not presently play the Physician if you be not Knowing therein. Speak not Evil of the absent for it is unjust. If others talk at the table be attentive but talk not with Meat in your Mouth. When you speak of God or his Atributes, let it be Seriously & with Reverence. Honor & Obey your natural parents altho they be poor. It might be added that Washington wrote these lines before he was sixteen. So This Is New York ' By NORTH CALLAHAN I've jtist been (ace to face with • hundred million dollars. Oh, It *u only a nodding acquaintance and none of the (tuff (tuck to me, but juat the sight Itaelf was interesting, of course. It was in (old, and buried M feet beneath the pulsating surface of New York's fabulous downtown section—in the subterranean vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank, to be exact The gold was in bar*—and needless to say, Iron ban aeparated It from gaping visitors. Harmless-looking little yellow gold bars all stacked op aa neatly aa stove wood, they were, but representing enough wealth to impress even Ring Ssud. In line with what this column has said many times, that the best things in New York are free, the tour through the great Federal Reserve Bank at S3 Liberty Street here is well worth your time, to say nothing of your money. In fact, it is your money and mine which l« i» there, although the obtaining of it is daae in devious ways, ha the polite representative who take* you around explain*. One experiences not only a colorful sight but receives an informative lecture too. Do you realise. for Instance, that money, If It works well, muit enter into every nook ind cranny of our economy a* It' change* hands again and again? That all of us are involved in making money do its work, whether well or ill; that all of us therefore ought to khow as much about It as possible, so that H works for us and not against us? Money, above'all. Is a convenience which we canot do without, unlets we return to the old barter system. One of the things that has helped us handle money properly is our Federal Reserve System, now only 43 years (rid. And yet, as we ] made our way past steel doors ten feet thick and guards with gunbulging bolsters, we learned that more checks than cash pass through the U Federal Reserve banks la this country. We now have 40 million cheeking accounts caatalniag 1 billion checks, the annuel worth of whleh Is mere than tw* trillion dollars Another high sounding statement struck my attention "Congress has given the Federal Re
Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.)
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Feb. 21, 1957, edition 1
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