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Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
At Franklin, North Carolina
VOL. LXIV Number 45
WEIMAR JONES Editor
BOB S. SLOAN Business Manager
Entered at Post; Office, Franklin, N. C., as second class mat er.
Telephone No. 24
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ance with the f?o#;a! requirements.
Light /. i.d Air Needed
EVXPULSION of Franklin High school last week
from the Smoky Mountain athletic conferencc
may pro.ve a fortunate thing for high school ath
Ictics in \Y ern North Carolina, because the inci
? 'cnt haA revealed a situation and an atmosphere
that are far from healthy.
li has revealed, first of all, a tendency to he quite
indifferent to conference regulations. It happened to
he Franklin that was penalize;!, at last week's con
ference meeting, for failing to observe those regu
lation, s, but all the evidence is that some of the
other schooV; have been far from careful about
'complying, Good organization, and certainly good
sportsmanship, demand that a. game be played ac
cording to. the rules.
In the second place, we have the spectacle of a
court, in this case the conference officials, trying,
convicting, an.1 sentencing a defendant without the
defendant's having a chance to be heard in h:.s own
defense.
That is not the type of justice Western North
Carolina people are accustomed to ? -it. is not the
tvpe they want as an example for their high school
children; and the people of ?hcrokee, Clay, Gra
ham, Swain, and Jackson counties are just as inter
ested in jitstice and fairness as are those of Frank
lin and Macon County.
Finally, there is the question: Does it make sense
for all conference authority to be vested in the va
rious coaches?
The public, whose money makes high school ath
letes ppi>!b'e, has a stake in how the conference is
operated ? but it has no voice. The parents, whose
major interest is the welfare of their children,
have a s t:\ke ? but they have no voice. An. 1 the stu
dents. who play the games, have a stake? but they
have no voice.
$2.00
$1.25
.75
.03
it is debatable,* in fact, whether the coaches
should hive any connection, other than advisory,
with the conference ? the organization that .sets up
and enforces lilies. For ihcse men are professional
semi- professional men, and their interests and
those of the other groups often may be in conflict.
The coa' h, quite naturallv. wishes to move up the
i. 1 t of hi:? profession. The way to do that, and
t ! ie o.'ily way, is to win games; everything else un
fortrnntidv must he made secondary.
livervhodv. of course, wants to win games, but
most thoughtful people consider some other things
even more important ? such things, fo.r example, as
a balance i ])hvsical education for a'l the students,
and the development of a spirit of good sportsman
ship.
* * *
A little light and air on the whole high school
athletic situation , seems to be called for. At the
leant, some reorganization in the Smoky Mountain
conference is past due.
To Make Our Children Safe
The tragedy that befell Mr. and Mrs. John H.
Swafford last week, when they lost two children
within a few hours, might easily have struck in
any one of scores or hundred,!: of Macon County
homes: for diphtheria is 110 respecter of persons or
neighborhood lines, and there are hundreds of young
children in this county who. have not been immuniz
ed against the disease.
The truth is that immunizations given in past
years proved so effective that we have become care
less. Until last week, there had not been a diphtheria
?death in Macon County for five years; and we were
inclined to forget that that long freedom from the
scourge did not just happen.
Diphtheria is a treacherous disease, most often
attacking small children. It usually starts with a
sore throat, chilliness, slight fever, aching, loss of
appetite, and sometimes vomiting and headache.
But, adds the State Board of Health, "the signs
and symptoms may be so mild that the disease will
go unrecognized, or it may be mistaken for tonsil
itis or laryngitis. Yet, even when the symptoms are
mild, the child may be in great danger."
In the old days parents lived in constant fear;
and when the disease was diagnosed, there was rel
atively little the physician could do. But all that is
changed today? 98 the record of the last five years
he r? prove# I. tiiikki to the discovery oi diphtheria
toxoid, children can be given protection that is al
most 100 per ccnt sure. And, medical authorities
emphasize, that protection should start at the age
of six months.
Nor is protection expensive. The health, depart
ment's charge is 10 cents each for the three shots
required ? a total of 30 cents!
Any parents can have their children immunized
at the county health department's clinics, held on
the second floor of the Ashear building here on
Mnidavs ? between 9 a. in. and 4 p. m - an ! Sal
unlay mornings.
Significant Admission
A highly interesting idea on the co'd war was
advanced by Blstop Ivan l ee Ilolt in his sermon at
the Franklin M^thoJist church Sunday morning.
Pointing out that Communism and Chris! ianity
nrc inevitably and hopeless! v in conflict, B'shop
llolt commented that Christianity cannot win by
waging a ' holy war".
How it can win, he suggested by quoting what a
high Communist official is said to have remarked :
' Wc have no fear of organized Christianity. Com
munism can defeat the church. What we fear is
Christians".
Even the Communists recognize the power of
the spirit of Christ when it is alive in the hearts of
individual men!
Smart Politics
For a long time it has been considered smart
politics to give appointments to public office as re
wards for support of the man doing the appointing.
That way, the politicians have figured, the appoint
or wins the friendship of the appointee and of the
appointee's kin and friends. The unfortunate part
of that theory, of course, is that that is only a small
proportion of the voters.
-Today a new political theory is gradually win
ning acceptance among the really smart politicians:
Appoint to a public office a man who really i.s qual
ified to do a good job, and the appointer wins the
friendship of everybody.
Evolution of a prejudice: (a) damning prejudice:
(b) damning prejudice in the South; (c) damning
the South.
There are two kinds of bullies, the physical one
and the intellectual one ? and both are cowards.
Ideas are the content of a liberal education.
Nothing is so radical a,r> the truth.
Letters
PROFESSIONALISM IN SPORTS
Dear Weimar:
I was very much interested in your editorial of October 27th
entitled "Honest, At Least". However, knowing that you are one
editor who endeavors to be very accurate and fair, I call your
attention to an omission in the article. Perhaps it was a mere
oversight bu. in detailing the unusual names cf football p'ayers
no mention was made of your Ala Mater. If you Will note the
substitutes for Calolina in the Tennessee game you will find an
interesting list: Rywak, Bestwick, Neidkirk, Miketa, Dudeck,
Bilpuch, Rizzo, Kosinski and Verchick. Of course, I do not know
the residence of the above named persons but they do not
sound like Macon or Yancey County names, and not even Bun
combe County.
You and I know that there may be professionalism even in
the use of persons with such familiar names as Jones, Smi h,
Justice, etc., though they live in Western North Carolina. This
spirit of practice prevailed, though not on as large a sca'e,
when you and I were boys at I he old Franklin Academy in
Franklin. The Franklin baseball team wou'd get a player or
two from Prentiss when a game was scheduled with Iotla, and
Ictla would get two or three players from Cowee. Then when
Franklin would p!ay Clayton, Franklin wou'd sometimes import
a player or so frum Sylva or from that area. So you see it
goe3 on ad infinitum. '
With sincere regards,
Burnsville, N. C. DOVER R. FOUTS.
November 1, 1949.
LIKES EDITORIAL AND POEM
Dear Weimar:
In the current issue of The Franklin Press are two features
on which I feel both you and The Press are to be congratulated.
The first is your editorial entitled "Fundamental Issue".
While I feel it is hardly correct to apply the term "is ilatlon
ist" to Senator Taft, and do not agree with you that his elec
tion as President would be, or could even turn out to be, an
international catastrophe, even if he were an isolationist, con
sidering the limited authority of the President over Congress,
this is a minor detail. What I am Impressed with is the forth
right s and taken in your editorial against the tactics of organ
ized labor in its efforts to purge from our national government
evory senator and congressman who has had the guts to stand
up against their pressure politics. ?
We have the same situation in Oeorgia. The C. I. O. has
served notice that it is out to get Senator Senator Oeorge and
Congressman Davis, among others. Down here, of course, ihe
endorsement of a candidate by the C. I. O. is a kiss of death
and is all the opposing candidate needs to insure his election.
The real menace is the power of organized labor in the indus
trial centers of the North and East. When it develops the
strength to defeat men like Taft and consolidate its hold on
the Northern Democratic party, a labor government for this
country is just around the corner. Your paper is discharging
a public duty in taking a stand against the gangster me. hods
with which labor hopes to accomplish this.
The second feature I wish to congratulate you on is the
sonnet by Cora Talley, "To a Rich Young Man". Its meaning,
when you make it out, Is both well conceived and excellently
expressed. I see the author is from Franklin, which should be
proud of her, and I hope she contributes more of the same to
the columns of The Press.
With best wishes,
Sincerely yours,
Atlanta, Oa., T. B. HIODON.
November S, 1940,
'? *
OUR DlMOCPACY-^4,^
A MARK OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP
VOTINE IN TMC "ttPP-y?AR*?li?tlON, WHIN NO NMTlONAk
OWCI 19 AT STAN*, l? A WHONJItlUTV THAT JIINU
A3 A MIAWW OP COO O ClTIKN SH I P IN OUR DCMOCRACX.
Actually, the strength op the country lies in the
REPRESENTATIVE CHARACTER ( WOT ONLY OP THE FEDERAL,
BUT OP THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS*
THE TRULY SOOO CITIZEN ADMITS NO 'OPP-YEAR* IN THE
DISCHARGE OP HIS RESPONSIBILITY...
HE BOTH SEKVMS THE COMMUNITY AMP PROTECTS MS OWN
/NTEKMSTS SY CASTING HIS VOTK.
Others' Opinions
OUT OF TURNIP BUSINESS
After spending all these years In trying to grow more turnips
and greens than any of my neighbors, along comes the Bur
rells and beats me all to pieces growing turnip greens. Then
comes Rev. Jesse Rogers and brings me a bag of turnips that
weigh an average of three pounds and I never grew one that
large in my life. Hereafter I am devoting my attention to pop
corn. One of ihe Cannon boys, down on Shee Creek, has given
me an ear of seed popcorn that looks more like an over grown
straw berry than anything else that I know of and I will try
growing something to pop instead of potlicker.? L. P. Cioss in
Clayton Tribune.
WHO ARE THE 570,000?
It probably was rather surprising to many well-informed
Southern people to read the forecast of wage-hour adminis
tration officials In Washington that pay rolls in the South are
likely to be increased by as much as $150 mil Ion a year as a
result of the new 75-cents-an-hour minimum wage act.
Probably somewhat of a surprise also was the official esti
mate that as many as 570,000 workers in eight Southern states,
including the Carolinas, will receive wage increases averaging
bewteen live and lifteen cents an hour, even though the law
applies only to those whose work is "directly essential" to pro
duction of interstate commerce and employed by firms en
gaged in interstate commerce.
Seventy-five cents an hour is the equivalent of $30 for a
week of 40 hours or of $26.25 for a week of 35 hours. Are there
570,000 workers in eight Sou hern states whose work is "direct
ly essential" to interstate commerce and whose wages are be
!ow $26.25 to $30 a week? Where are they?
It is difficult to believe so, unless the law be intrepre ed' so
broadly as to Include the work of common, unskilled laborers,
janitors, and others in that general class, as "directly essen
tial" io interstate commerce.
That could scarcely have been the intent of congress In en?
acting the law, else there would have been no qualification, but
the act would have been made to app'y clearly to all employes
of concerns engaged In interstate commerce.
It apparently Is the Intention of the wage-hour administra
tion to apply the new act to all employes of firms engaged In
Interstate commerce on the ground that all are "directly essen
tial," no matter what kind of work they do. ? Charlotte Observer.
POLITICAL MORALTY AT LOW EBB
The United States has hit a new low in political morality.
We have allowed ihe worst faults of the big city political ma
chines to become a part of our national political thought and
methods. We make a fetish of our loyalty to the Party, which
isn't even one cut above loyalty down in the wards to the big
city machine in power.
Our political schemes are aimed at enabling the crowd in
power to profit at the expense of the crowd out of power. It
seems thai almost every piece of legislation introduced in our
State and national legislative bodies is designed to benefit one
group at the expense of another. Still other legislation is de
signed to weld minority groups into a large group which can
swing elections.
And that isn't all. If the residents of one or two of Green
ville's wards, or the Main street merchants, raised $50,000 to
win or "buy" a city election, the scandal would be so rank that
the smell of it would roll out over Paris Mountain and Caesar's
Head would hold its nose.
But we seem to overlook the fact that it takes many thou
sands of dollars (some say $200,000 and more) to elefct a gov
ernor or a United States senator In Sou h Carolina. It takes
millions to elect a President of the United States.
Comes now the American Federation of I/abor with the an
nouncement that it Intends to raise $16,000,000 (sixteen mil
lions, that is) to elect a "friendly" congress in 1950. Of course,
big business has been accused of spending big money to e'ect
candidates it favored, but we don't believe It's ever reached
this scale. As a matter of fact, campaign contributions by big
business have been divided among the parties and factions ?
and if it hadn't been for wealthy business men, Harry Truman's
campaign fund would have wound up looking like a cloudy
sunset.
If the AFL and its rivals for the favor of the working man
succeed in electing a "friendly" majority to congress it will get
only what it pays for and most probably less. By "friendly,"
the AFL means a subservient congress. It will be a congress
made up of politicians who have been bought and paid for.
There won't be a statesman In the lot.
What this country needs is a congress friendly to the welfare
of the majority and that would be a congress "owned" by
neither capital nor labor.? Greenville (S. C.) Piedmont.
When a naval admiral goes aboard his flagship, his flag Is
hoisted immediately from the signal bridge. By the number of
Hare on the flag, one can tell the admiral'! rank.
FRANKLIN
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