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VOL. Lxvn Number 18
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
At Franklin, North Carolina
Telephone 24
Entered at Post Office, Franklin, N. C., as second class matter.
WEIMAR JONES -Editor
BOB S. SLOAN. Business Manager
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ance with the postal requirements.
MAY 1, 1952
Doesn't Make Sense
This newspaper commented last week that it is
a healthy .sign when a dozen men and women are
interested enough in schoolsj and are public-spirited
enough to offer their services as members of the
county board of education.
It certainly is a healthy .sign.
There is one feature of the situation, however,
that is not healthy. It is the fact that the five per
sons finally named to the school board probably
will be the choice of the minority of the county's
voters ? quite possibly of a very small minority.
Under the North Carolina school law, school
board members are NOMINATED by Democrats
in their county primary. The names of the nomi
nees are forwarded to the state superintendent of
public instruction, and he submits the list to the
general assembly, which actually makes the ap
pointments. Thus all Republicans ? except those
who invade the Democrats' primary ? are disfran
chised in this particular choice of public officials;
they have no word in the selection of the men and
women who are to run the county's schools.
Aside from the injustice, consider what this sys
tem does to our American .plan of majority rule.
Eliminate all the Republicans in Macon County;
then eliminate the Democrats who do not vote;
and then take into consideration the fact that some
board members may be nominated by a bare major
ity of the vote cast. The result easily could be the
choice of a school board member by as few as 10
or 15 per cent of the county's voters.
This set-up just doesn't make sense. We are yet
to find any fair-minded person who claims it does.
That being true, isn't it time something was done
to change it?
Legacy From The Past
At the Methodist men's supper meeting at Bethel
church last week Wiley Clark said something that
deserves a larger audience than the 30 present.
The Methodists at Bethel are engaged in build
ing a fine new church, just beside the old one.
Sometime soon, they will move into the new build
ing, and the old wooden church will be sold to
someone who will move it away.
Mr. Clark remarked that there are a lot of things,
other than furniture, in the old structure; priceless
things that should be moved across to the new
building. He referred to the character of the mem
bers in other years that had made the old church
building possible ; to the sacrifice and the prayers
that had made it more than just a building; to the
loyalty and faith that have made Bethel Methodist
church a continuing force, down through the
years . . .
What Mr. Clark so well said about his church
is true in many fields. We in Macon County are
making long overdue and praiseworthy material
progress. But if w^ fail to carry over into the new
and materially better period we are entering the
intangible things that make a man or a community
or a nation great, we shall find we have lost the
real thing in an effort to get something that is im
portant but not vital.
A Lift For Today
(Furnished by The Raleigh Times)
? . . . The eyes of man are nerer satisfied.? Pr. 27 : 20.
THE AVARICIOUS MAN is like the barren sandy ground of
the desert which sucks In all the rain and dew with greedi
ness, bat yields no fruitful herbs or plants for the benefit of
others.? Zeno.
Oar Father, help as to remember that we are but stewards of
we incorrectly call our own. May we realise that all the
|Ml tUap of the world are no further good to ns than as they
The Grass Roots Opera
Congratulations are- due the Macon County unit
of the North Carolina Education Association for
bringing the Grass Roots Opera to Franklin.
This North Carolina group will present Mozart's
comic opera, "School for Lovers", tomorrow (Fri
day) at the East Franklin school. Two perfor
mances are scheduled, one for school children at
1 :30 o'clock in the afternoon, and the second, for
adults, at 8 in the evening.
The local N. C. E. A. hopes to make a little money
on the event, and no doubt capacity audiences will
enable it to do so.
But if it does no better than break even financi
ally, it will have done a worth-while community
service. Because any time good music is brought
into this county, it is that much toward a more
cultivated citizenry, and a better community life.
Missing A Bet
Franklin and Macon County and Southwestern
North Carolina are missing a bet ? an exceptionally
good bet.
We are failing to take advantage of the great
tourist attraction we have in the Nantahala Nation
al Forest. The proof of how attractive it is to tour
ists is found in figures compiled and issued by the
State Advertising committee.
Last year Nantahala Forest was visited by 1,699,
000 persons. This compares with just under 2 mil
lion attracted by the Great Smoky Mountains Na
tional Park.
If more than a million and a half people visit the
Forest without our doing anything about getting
them here, how many would come if we really made
the most of the opportunity the Forest offers us?
Our Best Bows ? Four Of 'Em
Anybody want to take over as editor of The
Press ?
O. K. Here's the typewriter. And here's the office
key. Moreover, here's luck to you ? you'll need it !
For consider the plight of an editor. He's damned
if he does. He's damned if he doesn't.
A case in point :
A fortnight ago The Press commented on how
refreshingly different a recent P. T. A.-sponsored
supper at the Cullasaja school was. It was non
benefit, non-charge, non-formal ; the womenfolks
in the community prepared and brought a delicious
supper to the school, and the people of the com
munity gathered for the meal, talked informally,
and then sang some songs. We said it was a pleas
ant, community-unifying, worth-while affair ; that
the idea was so good and so new, the supper ought
to become an annual affair. Between-the-lines, per
haps, we suggested that other schools follow the
Cullasaja example.
And what happened?
We heard from Cullasaja's neighbor, the school
at Otto!
I
Because the idea, it seems, wasn't new at all. It's
already an annual event with the Otto P. T. A. ;
they've been doing it for four years ! And The Press
had never mentioned the Otto suppers !
We plead guilty. But to paraphrase Will Rog
ers, all we put in the paper is what somebody tells
us. And all these years Otto has been hiding its
suppers under the proverbial bushel.
We've got nothing to take back (and maybe you
think that doesn't take courage!). We still think
the idea is a fine one. We .still make our best bow
to Cullasaja.
But we also make our best bows to Otto ? four
of 'em! (And we dare the Otto folks, after we've
written this about them, not to invite us next year!)
Our American Civilization
Preaching conservation; practicing destruction.
The parasites, those who produce nothing, laugh
ing at the farmers, those who produce the one basic
essential, as "hicks".
I.
Spending an hojur lo,st in the daily newspaper;
remarking when it's completely read, that "there's
nothing in the paper today".
' ? t
Assuming that because the United States, with
vast natural resources, has prospered by industrial
ization that that therefore is the economic cure-all
for every nation, regardless of resources.
Poetry
Editor
EDITH DEADERICK ERSKINE
Weavervllle, North Carolina
Sponsored by Asktville Branch, National League of American Pen Women
I FOUND
I found a song in my heart today,
I sent it into the cool of May;
A listening bird came out of the blue
And carried the song to the heart of you.
ELTA HANDT BLANCHARD
? Letters
SUGGESTS MILKING SCHOOL
Dear Mr. Jones:
Why not a milking school in Franklin?
If that sounds silly think how many urban girls marry men
who either own a farm or move to a farm. For these young
women, it seems to me, a milking school in Franklin would be
very practical.
This is just a suggestion, as I think there will be a back-to
the-farm movement when the present prices deflate to noth
ing in no time at all.
My idea would be to give the beginners real gentle cows, but
give nice kicking cows to those who think they know it all!
Certificates could be awarded to those who master the art
of milking, and then milking contests could be held.
Sincerely yours,
BOB RAMSEY
Long Beach, Calif.
? Others Opinions
THE PERFECT EDITORIAL
' f
We read recently where a certain editor was receiving com
plaints about his editorials. There is nothing unusual about that,
but this editor felt that he was receiving too many.
He decided to do something about it. He took a passage from
the Bible and placed it on the front page as an editorial. The
next day some Irate subscribers called him and gave him the
devil about the editorial. The editor told the reader, "Sorry,
tell Jesus about it; he wrote."? Ashley Futrell in Washington
News.
HE WENT UP INTO A MOUNTAIN
Press and platform are busy these days telling gs what the
United States must do to be militarily and economically strong.
It Is clear that we must be both, and it is fairly clear how we
can become both. While our material forces are being geared
to ward off war, however, what are we doing to strengthen
spiritual forces? What are we doing to win men's hearts to
peace; for material might is a way only to temporary peace.
Continued on Page Three ?
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By WEIMAR JONES
I like the uncommon place
names that are so common In
Macon County and this area.
Names like Cullasaja and Car
toogechaye, Chunky Gal and
Onion Mountain, Highlands and
Burnlngtown. Many of the spots
and communities here have
names that are unusual or mu
sical or picturesque, or all three.
And I like even better the
designations that aren't formal
ly names at all, but which tell
everybo who lives here the
place t ?'s meant; a word or
phrase somebody sometime used
to describe a spot ? and it fitted
so well it stuck.
What, for example, could
have a pleasanter note than
Blossomtown? or could be a
more accurate description
than Town Hill? or could
conjure up a better SOUND
picture than Frog-town
Branch?
Some of these days, no doubt,
people who want everything
conventional and proper will
want to change Blossomtown to
Smlthvllle or Jonesboro or
Brownton ? or something else
unusual! And they'll want to
make our Town Hills (we have
two of 'em!) East and West
Boulevards or Main Extensions,
or something equally dull and
uninteresting. And Frogtown
Branch! Can't you just hear
them: "How uncouth. Let's
change that. Let's call It South
Franklin Creek".
* * ?
Years ago there was another
Interesting term in use.
Back when only half a dozen
or so Franklin families lived on
the east side of the Little Ten
nessee river, they ? and every
body else ? would have told you
that those families lived "over
the river". That was the stand
ard description of that part of
the community lying east of
the river; and those three
words described the section
about as accurately, as vividly,
and as beautifully as words
could.
Why not revive that phrase?
"East Franklin" is all right, of
course, but there's nothing very
beautiful about it; it isn't very
vivid; and certainly it isn't
specific, because "East Frank
lin" could mean all of Frank
lin lying east of the courthouse,
rather than what is meant ?
that part of the town that is
"over the river".
Besides, there probably are as
many East Franklins in the
United States as there Frank
lins ? and that number is 29!
But if the folks "over the river"
should decide to rechristen their
community, "Over - the - River",
they'd have something unique.
A family would live "on Sec
ond Street, Over-the-River"; It
would be "the Over-the-River
school"; etc.
This Is just a neighborly sug
gestion from this side of the
river to the folks who* live "over
the river". They are the ones
who live there; they are the
ones to say.
If they liked the idea, they
could even take it up with the
board of aldermen and make It
official:
"Over - the - River, Franklin,
North Carolina".
Who could forget that ad
dress!
Business
Making
News
? By BOB SLOAN
For lack of anything else to
write about, I will go way out
on a limb and make some pre
dictions about things which I
believe will happen in Macon
county within the next 10 years,
and then X will go a little fur
ther and suggest some more
things which, as one person I
think should happen, but prob
ably won't. But remember its a
free country and this will just
be one man's opinion.
Within the next 10 years U.
S. 23 will follow a new route,
turning off about the site of the
old T. W. Angel barn and fol
lowing the Frogtown branch to
a point near Maple street (the
Old Georgia Road), Franklin
will have regular air freight
service between both Atlanta
and Asheville, there will be an
increase in the agricultural
growth of the county and de
cline in the tourist growth, the
industrial payrolls will remain
about the same with probably
one new mill or industry coming
here and one moving away.
Franklin will have an additional
bank, Highlands will obtain an
industry ? probably in the wood
craft field, the population of
Macon County will increase to
around 21,000 to 22,000 ? Frank
lin will probably be a town of
around 3,500.
Now as to some of the things
which I think should happen,
but probably won't. Both Frank
lin and Highlands should take
over or build and operate swim
ming pools and recreation areas.
The people of Nantahala should
band together and go all out to
bring tourists to their area. Ma
con County should double its
tax valuation, have all property
appraised by an impartial group
on an equal basis and cut the
tax rate by one third, steps
should be taken to widen the
business streets, city manager
forms of government should be
established in both Highlands,
and Franklin, County officials
should be paid on salary rath
er than a fee basis, vocational
agricultural and home econom
ics should be taught at the
Franklin, Highlands, and Nan
tahala schools. Well, I guess
that is enough points of con
tention for one issue.
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press)
50 TEARS AGO THIS WEEK
It is said that the happiest
man in Georgia has six fiddles,
ten children and thirteen
hounds, a deaf and dumb wife
and a moonshine still that has
never been spotted by the gov
ernment.
Dr. Frank T. Smith has caught
it where the chicken got the
axe. He bewails a carbuncle on
the neck that he regards more
cross than an ill natured baby.
One of the old landmarks of
Franklin is disappearing tills
week. The old store building on
the Robinson corner is being
torn down.
25 YEARS AGO
A merger of the independent
telephone companies in Frank
lin, Sylva, Bryson City, and
Clayton, Ga., Into a single con
cern, with its home office at
Franklin, was announced here
Saturday by D. G. Stewart,
manager of the local company.
T. W. Angel Jr., has changed
the name of his drug store from
the Franklin Pharmacy to
Angel's Drug store. The sign on
the window bearing the latter
name is undoubtedly the most
artistic in town.
10 TEARS AGO
Mrs. Ethel Mincey and two
daughters, Sallie Sue and Ruth
have moved to Bryson City
where they will operate the
Hiawatha Craft house on Route
Mrs. Wade Cunningham has
returned home after a visit to
her children, Mr. and Mrs Wil
liam Cunningham, in Norfolk
Some 6 y2 million farm fam
Ules werg reached In 1950 by
the Cooperative Extension Serv
ice program conducted by the
U. S. Department of Agriculture,
the land-grant colleges in the
various states, and local coun
In the last l5? years, total
production of American farm
srs has increased about 40 ner
:ent.