THE FRANKLIN PRESS and THE HIGHLANDS MACON IAN
THURSDAY, MARCH ZS, 1939
(Ike Ei$klttnh Mntixnmn
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
At Franklin, North Carolina
Telephone No. 24
VOL. XLIX
Number 13
BLACKBURN W. JOHNSON .EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Entered at the Post Office, Franklin, N. G, as second class matter
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I
Civic Beauty
WRITING on town beautification in a recent issue of
The Rotarian Magazine, Earnest Elmo Calkins, dean
of American advertising men, makes this significant ob
servation :
"You may get used to it (your town), seeing it every
day; but visitors see it with a fresh eye and judge the
town just as you would judge a man, by its dress."
While most of us dislike judging or being judged by
appearances only, it is certainly true that appearances
greatly influence our first impressions, and that first im
pressions quite frequently develop into lasting opinions.
Sometimes we wonder what sort of impression visitors
get of Franklin. Anyone appreciative of natural beau
ties could not help admiring our grand mountain scenery.
But what do strangers think of our town? We wonder
if we have made the best of our natural advantages?
Are our homes and buildings attractive to the eye? Are
our streets and public grounds kept clean? Is the com
munity, collectively and individually, neat? Does our
Main Street invite business or frown up on it?
Civic beauty is one of the principal assets of any com
munity, large or small. Especially is this true of such
a community as Franklin, which claims to be a haven for
vacation visitors. In view of this, it might be well for
us to turn an introspective eye upon ourselves, to try to
see our town as others see it, and then to remove the
eyesores and improve our. civic physiognomy. This not
only would result in more pleasant surroundings for all
who live here; but also would pay handsome dividends
by attracting more visitors, more outside capital and, too,
more permanent residents.
Why Get Excited?
HITLER has very definitely thumbed his nose at the
world by disregarding the Versailles treaty ; but most
of the nations, after recuperating from their first alarms,
seem to have taken into consideration the source of the
insult. The German dictator's talk is mostly for home
consumption, aimed at bolstering up his weakening in
fluence by deflecting -public attention from his failure to
fulfill glowing promises.
Somehow we can't get excited over all the war talk
contained in last week's papers. Nobody could finance a
sizeable war now, and who in the dickens wants to fight
anyway?
Tisn't life that matters;
it. Hugh Walpole.
"Early adjournment of
head line. Oh, yeah!
There is a job for every
hard and who works just as
Page Mrs. Sanger . . . thirty-one births reported in
this week's issue of your favorite newspaper.
Friendships, like trees, bring forth fruit after their
kind. Corrupt friendships, corrupt fruit; good friend
ships, good fruit. Diggle.
A plot to kidnap the Dionne quintuplets has been re
ported from Canada. Gee, these kidnapers are getting
ambitious!
Advice to war veterans:
twixt cup and the lip." So
the bonus just yet.
By their votes ye shall know them ... not by their
campaign speeches. Watch the roll calls on important
measures in congress and the general assembly.
If the newspapers and ttoe radio commentators would
quit mentioning the name of Louisiana's grotesque states
man, Huey Long would soon be "the forgotten man."
... $L50
75
$L0Q
M
'tis the courage you bring to
Legislature is likely," says
man who is willing to work
hard to find work.
"There is full many a slip
don't start celebrating over
THROUGH
CAPITAL
KEYHOLES
BY BESS HINTON SILVER
NEW JOB ,
Speaker Robert Grady Johnson,
presiding officer of the present
house of representatives, is said to
have his sight leveled on even
higher marks. The current talk
around Raleigh is that he will toss
his hat into the ring for lieutenant
governor when the primaries roll
around next spring. The head man
of the house isn't having much to
say about the matter for publica
tion these days but his friends will
tell you that he is getting his ducks
in a row to give the other boys a
run for their money in 1936. There
are some who say that the name of
Johnson on the ticket for two of
fices in one election might not be
so hot but do not be surprised if
state treasurer Charles M. John
son, a cousin of the speaker, finds
other fields in which to graze be
fore next Democratic primary day.
EXPECTANCY
Friends of Clyde R. Hoey, bril
liant Shelby Democrat, expect him
to announce his candidacy for gov
ernor in the Democratic primaries
of next year almost any day now.
They will tell you that he can com
mand at least 90 per cent of the
votes of his native Cleveland coun
ty without even issuing a com
mand. Still there are a lot of
people who would like to see him
run for the senate against "Our
Bob" Reynolds in 1938. Mr. Hoey
is accustomed to making up his
own mind and fighting his battles
in his own way. The best thng to
do is to watch him and his smoke
and not pay too much attention to
hearsay.
RAIDERS
The folk who hope to take a part
of the gasoline tax money to sup
port things other than roads have
not as yet left Raleigh. They are
hanging around in the hope that
they can divert when the legisla
ture gets in the throes of a dead
lock on the biennial revenue meas
ure. It looks very much like the
general assembly may reach such
a deadlock, so if you are interested
in getting the money you pay in
gas taxes expended on your roads
now is a good time to sit up and
take notice.
TROUBLE
Some people who hang around
the state capitol for fun or more
profitable reasons are of the opin
ion that the house of representa
tives is divided on major questions
because of the speakership race
two years from now. Here are
some of the representatives of the
present house who are considered
candidates for speaker in 1936:
Representative Sullivan, of Bun
combe; Representative Morphew, of
Graham; Representative Cherry, of
Gaston, and Representative Hoyle,
of Guilford. All except Hoyle are
chairmen of major committees and
you can figure the rest out for
yourselves.
TOO MUCH
4'
Representatives McDonald and
Lumpkin evidently over-stepped
their bounds in recommending such
heavy increases in taxes on power
companies. They even admitted
that property tax reductions had
been recaptured more than 100 per
cent on power companies and then
sought to increase their taxes fur
ther in the face of diminishing re
turns. The boys in the House are
looking for money but they couldn't
figure as how they could honestly
get it from the power companies
now facing tax-free federal com
petition.' At least that's what they
said in effect on the flooT of the
House and most of them would
like to reduce the sales tax rate
for personal and political reasons.
NEEDS DOUGH
Friends of Congressman Hancock
think he is an ideal candidate to
oppose Senator Josiah Bailey in
the Democratic primaries next
spring. They believe the Oxford con
gressman would listen to their
pleas but for one thing money.
It is known by one ' and all that
yoy need the long green to run
for the United States senate from
North Carolina and everybody
knows that Mr. Hancock has no
money to burn. It is said, however,
that Senator Bailey's financial con
dition will easily stand the strain
of another senatorial campaign.
POLITICS-
Newspapermen have construed
certain remarks by Secretary Wal
lace, head of U. S. department of
agriculture, as charging that Gover
nor Ehringhaus is playing politics
in attempting to get the AAA to
lower the tobacco crop allotment
for next year. When Wallace
spoke in Raleigh several weeks ago
it was plain that he and the gov
ernor were not in complete accord
on the tobacco program. Governor
Ehringhaus thinks the parity price
this year shonld be about 26 or 27
cents while the AAA is talking
about calling it 21 cents and in
creasing production to hold the
price around that figure. Governor
Ehringhaus denies that he is seek
ing votes for the senate next year
and insists that he is only follow
ing through on the strokes he
made in 1933 and 1934 to boost
weed prices and improve conditions
in the tobacco belt.
CAN'T TAKE IT
Senator Teague, of Wayne coun
ty, is one dry member of the legis
lature who is voting his personal
as well as political convictions and
he does not believe the Hill bill to
put the state in the business of
selling liquor will become a law at
this session. The only time Sena
tor Teayue ever set aside his per
sonal convictions in favor of po
litical ones was when he tore his
shirt for Al Smith in 1928. Speak
ing of the Hill bill Senator Teague
said: "I do not believe these men
will vote for the liquor bill when
their names are called for the
printed record." It is no secret
that many measures would pass
were it not for roll calls and record
votes.
WRONG GENERAL
Many legislative observers ex
press the opinion that anti-sales tax
forces showed a lack of judgment
when they commissioned Repre
sentative McDonald, of Forsyth, to
lead the fight for substitute meas
ures. They believe that Repre
sentative Lumpkin, of Franklin,
could have done a. much better job
as pilot of the McDonald-Lumpkin
bloc. Lumpkin is a personable fel
low and is credited with possessing
more horse-sense than the average
"left-winger." McDonald apparent
ly rubs a lot of folks the wrong
way and there be people in these
parts who say that fault has cost
the sales tax substitutes consider
able support.
Jungle Terror
To choose the serpent as a syn
onym for Satan was not a bad
idea, but the original writer must
have had in mind the king cobra,
of all snakes the most poisonous.
In India about 20,000 natives die
annually from cobra bites. Yet the
natives regard them with super
stitious awe and in many cases feed
and care for them. After years of
captivity they are often as fren
ziedly hostile as when first cap
tured. When influriated, cobras
hurl themselves into an upright po
sition, and if their prey is near
they strike immediately. The king
cobra sometimes attains a length
of 12 feet, and js easily the most
intelligent of all the cobra family.
He is a cannibal and feeds entirely
on other snakes. Tit-Bits Maga
zine. Britain's Towns, Cities
Broadly speaknig, a town in
Great Britain or Ireland is not
called a city unless there is a ca
thedral in it; however, occasionally
a place in which there is no cathe
dral is made a city by a royal or
derfor example, Plymouth, Eng
land, in which there is no cathe
dral, was made a city by order of
the king.