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Entered at Post Office, Franklin. N. C.. M second clua matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
Franklin. N. C. Telephone 24
JONES Editor
BOB S. SLOAN Business Manacer
J. P. BRAD 7 News Edltrr
MRS. ALLEN srLER Society Editor and Office Manager
CARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent
FRANK A. STARRETTE Shop Superintendent
DAVID H. SUTTON Stereotypy
CHARLES E. WWTTINOTON Pi i?min
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Outsits Macon County Iran Macon Countt
One Tear $3 00 One Tear $2 .50
m* Months 1.79 Six Months 1.T9
Three Months 1.00 Three Months 1.00
JUNE 9, 1955
I
An Explanation
There appears to be some confusion about the Franklin
Centennial Edition of The Press. Hence this word of expla
nation.
The issue of The Press of June 16 ? the day the Centen
nial Celebration opens ? will be made up of three sections,
numbered A. B, and C. All subscribers on The Press' sub
scription list as of June 10 will receive the full paper ? all
three sections ? through the mail that week.
Section A will be the regular paper for that week. Sections
B and C ? 16 pages each ? are the "special" part of the
edition, devoted to pictures and text about Franklin, espe
cially the Franklin of other years.
This part of the paper ? Sections B and C ? was printed
in advance, so that persons here could mail copies of it,
now, to friends and relatives away from here, and thus ad
vertise the Centennial. Two thousand extra copies were
printed for that purpose. This part of the June 16 edition is
now available at The Press office and at the Franklin news
stands that regularly sell The Press.
The price is 35 cents. The postage for mailing a copy is
5 cents.
Persons who wish copies mailed direct from The Press of
fice need only furnish the names and addresses of those to
whom they wish them sent, paying for the papers and the
postage ? a total of 30 cents a copy. Orders may be placed,
if desired, by mail.
Persons who have reserved copies are requested to call for
them at The Press office promptly.
Stands High
There are industries that are not desirable for a
community. And among those that are desirable,
some are more desirable than others.
One test, we always have felt, was whether the
industry chiefly employs local persons, or imports
most of its help. That is a particularly valid test
here; because, while it is true that every new busi
ness tends to stimulate all business, the major rea
son for industry in Macon County is to provide
jobs for Macon County people.
By that standard ? as well as by many others ?
Burlington Industries ranks high. For when the
local plant opened, on a limited basis, last, week,
approximately ft) per cent of the employes were
Macon County people: and, said Supt. Stephen A.
Bundy, as the number of employes expands to some
300, the percentage will go up to about 95.
It should be added that it i? fortunate some five
per cent of the permanent employes will come from
outside. That means new blood in the community,
bringing with it new ideas, so essential it we are
to avoid intellectual inbreeding.
Can Joke About It'Now
There i.^ not one south, but many Souths; and so
there i-. no such thing as a typical Southerner.
That has been pointed out so convincingly, so
many times, over a period ot so many years, that at
last that truth is beginning to be accepted, even
outside the South. At least among the more intel
ligent non-Southerners, it is beginning to be recog
nized that the typical Southerner neither sits on a
pillared portico, sipping mint juleps, nor lives on
I obacco Road.
Mich illusions die hard, though: people hold onto
them through wishful thinking. They find it pleas
ant to believe there are people so different from
themselves ? and flattering to believe there are
people so inferior to themselves.
It's taken decades for the truth about the South
to even start to be assimilated by non-Southerners.
How long it will take for a similar truth about the
mountains and the mountain people to be accepted
nobody knows ; for that myth is even more strange
? and flattering.
"I
To most non-mountaineers the average resident
of Southern Appalachia, as John I'arris pointed out
in Sunday's Asheville Citizen-Times, still is "a tall,
slouching, beared clansman with a squirrel-rifle in
one hand and a jug in the other ... a bearded, to
bacco-chewin' hillbilly who spends all his time a
fiddlin'. a-feudin', and a-fightin' ... a distiller of
corn likker . . . the overlord of a one-room log cab
in with a dozen mouths to feed and a passel of
hound dogs in the yard . .
Time was when that myth gave offense to most
of us mountain people. We were hurt and indignant
that people should have such, unflattering ideas
about us. We were likely to be on the defensive.
Happily, that feeling is about gone. Today we
can joke about being "mountain Whites" and hill
billies. We can, because we ourselves have managed
to shed an equally stupid illusion, the illusion that
maybe we were a bit inferior.
We can joke about it. now, because, first of all;
we've had a good look at what passes for civiliza
1 tion in many parts of America, and found the con
tract revealing. And we can laugh about it. because
we find it amusing that people elsewhere should be
so ignorant about any section of this country.
* * *
Fact is. if we don't watch out, it will be we who
will be indulging a sense of superiority!
GEORGE W. McCOY
Franklin's Centennial
V
Ashevitle Citizen-Times
Franklin, robust county seat of Macon that lies
largely within the watershed of the Little Tennes
see River, is bustling with activities in preparation
for its centennial celebration, June 16-18.
There will be a parade, a centennial king and
tpieen, the Brushy Brothers and Belles of the Bustle
will add a colorful note, and contests are scheduled,
ranging from churning to hog calling.
The people of Franklin and Macon ldve music.
Happily appropriate for the celebration are plans
for old-time hymn singing, music by string bands
and other entertainers, and the musical recording.
"The Franklin Centennial Jump."
All in all. Franklin intends to make its centennial
observance a big event and we wish its people joy
and success in the undertaking.
Doubtless many former residents of the town
and county will makt trip- back home to be present
for the occasion. There is a magnet that brings
them back a- G. I.. Houk of Franklin so well ex
pressed years ago :
"There i* a pull ? a longing for one more sight of
the blue ranges, for one more breath of the winds
from lofty summits ? for one mOre picture of a sun
set across the purple p.eaks ? for one more trip back
to the mountains of Macon."
Named in honor of Jesse Franklin, one-time gov
ernor of North C arolina, Franklin has a fine and
interesting history. With a firm foundation upon
which to build, it may look forward to future de
velopment and growth at an accelerated pace.
The story of Macon as a county goes back to
1828, although it.- recorded history is traced from
1 540 when Hernando De Soto passed that way. The
County bears the name of Nathaniel Macon, Revo
lutionary War hero and North Carolina statesman.
Franklin is the hub of a beautiful and growing
county, rich in* minerals, forests, farmlands and
natural beauty. Its industrial possibilities have won
practical recognition. At an early date, it champion
ed education and won distinction for the quality of
its citizenship. It continued to move forward in
keeping with this tradition.
In looking back at its history. Franklin does so
in appreciation of what the earlier citizens accom
plished and in determination to carry on in the de
velopment of a richer ,and fuller life for the people
of both town and county.
Others' Opinions
PROGRESS DOESNT 'JUST HAPPEN' -
(Largo, Fla., Sentinel)
Anyone living in a community owes something to that com
munity ? if that something be no more than a sense of
loyalty and a sense of pride in the accomplishments and the
progress made over a period of time.
Progress and growth don't just come to an area. These
things come as a result of the efforts of some folks who
through public spiritedness have given of their time and effort
to make the community a better place in which to live and
make a living.
WAS DAVY CROCKETT BORN IN BURKE?
(Morganton News-Herald*
A reader wants The News-Herald to stake out Burke Coun
ty's claim in the current battle of words over Davy Crockett's
birthplace.
Congressman Charles Raper Jonas, who had always under
stood that the famous pioneer who is the subject of a current
song hit. was born in his own Lincoln County, but found on
investigation that Crockett first saw the light of day in what
is now Tennessee, although his parents had lived for a time
in Lincoln.
The Tar Heel representative, nothing daunted, surmised that
since Tennessee did not exist when Davy came along, it might
properly be said he was born in North Carolina.
Our reader would have us go him one better and say that
Davy Crockett was born in Burke County. Here's the reasoning.
When Burke was created in 1777, it had no western boundaries.
For all practical purposes the Mississippi had been considered
the western bounds of early Burke, although it might be con
cluded that the county extended all the way to the Pacific.
Because what is now Tennessee might be considered the legal
appendage of fledging Burke, Davy Crockett could be claimed
as a native son of Burke County ? unless, of course, somebody
comes along to prove that Burke's western empire had already
been pruned by the time Davy arrived.
We hesitate to get into the fray. Davy Crockett will forever
be a name to remepiber, but his present glittering fame may
subside when the song about him drops from the Hit Parade,
and he may go into an oblivion which would make the battle
hardly worth the effort.
After all, if "Davy Crockett" Is going the way of "Mairzy
Doats", "Three Little Fishes", and (the memory hrings shud
dersi Cement Mixer, Puttee. Puttee", we had better let sleep
ing dogs ? and pioneers ? lie.
HARRY GOLDEN
Why Is Everybody Running , Running?
In Carolina Israelite
What is causing this terrible
tension of day-to-day living?
Why is everybody running, run
ning, running?
What has happened to our
leisure?
Theodore Roosevelt urged his
fellow-Americans to live "the
strenuous life." He had no idea
to what extent the people
would follow his advice. Every
body is running. No one stops
for a single moment. In Roose
velt's time there were no wash
ing machines, refrigerators, tel
evisions, movies, automobiles,
telephones, refuse disposal
units, pay-toilets, and you had
to give the door a little shove
instead of being admitted by an
electric-eye. Yet in the absence
of all these push-button wond
ers, there was leisure. Plenty
of it. My secretary tells me of
her childhood in Winston-Salem
and recalls that her mother,
taking care of all the household
duties without a single push
button or baby-sitter, used to
sit in a rocker for two hours
every afternoon. Can you imag
ine a housewife today sitting in
a rocker for two hours every
afternoon? There is no time . . .
What has happened to leis
ure? The wonderful progress of
science and technology has
brought no improvement in the
hearts of men.
Everybody is running. The
tension mounts, formulas are
not working out despite all the
"question and answer" columns
by the "peace of mind" ex
perts.
With all these things doing
for us, yhat has happened to
leisure? My mother kept the
sewing machine in the kitchen
near the stove. The stove did
not start at the turn of a dial.
It took kindling and coal, and
sometimes when the coal-man
did not show up she had to go
down four flights to get enough
to start the supper fire. She
cooked, washed, cleaned, sewed,
got everybody off to work and
to school, was all ready for
them when they returned, emp
tied the drip-pan under the ice
box. and every afternoon she
sat looking out the window for
a couple of hours. This was the
great leisure for the immigrant
women. When you came home
from school the tenement win
dows were all occupied by wom
en looking out. They used to sit
with their arms folded looking
out? at the children, throwing
a penny to the Italian organ
grinder, waving a greeting to a
friend, and just looking out ? at
America.
There is no leisure today.
Everybody is running. And when
he finally does join the golf
club where he can have some
leisure, he spends all his time
worrying who else is trying to
get in the club. No leisure. He
is afraid, terribly afraid, that
one day he'll wake up and it
will no longer be "exclusive."
This gives htm ulcers, but no
leisure.
The Intense aspiration toward
material welfare has led to the
most unexpected results. As our
technology increases we become
more and more impatient be
cause the pace is too slow. We
never stop to wonder whether
man's victory over nature keeps
pace with man's victory over
himself. We are paying no at
tention to the balance between
the. miracle of science and the
miracle of kindness.
It is apparent that tension
increases with prosperity. It is
when things are going very well
that you begin to worry more.
You worry of course because
now you have more to lose and
you "fear" everything; illness,
taxes, Reds, Roosevelt, Assyri
ans, Medeks, Wallachians, Sen
galese but mostly you fear
death. No one yet found a hyp
ochondriac among the peas
ants Cor, as Einstein so wisely
commented, among the peddlers
or plumbers ?.
I remember the story told in
the "Biography of R. S.". by
Hans Zinsser (Little. Brown
and Co., Boston-1945i. He was
director of a mental hospital?
not a public institution but one
maintained for wealthy mental
cases. Among his patients, hope
less cases, were a former at
torney, a shipping magnate and
a Greek who in former years
had made a fortune in export
ing figs, dates, and other pro
ducts of the Mediterranean and
the Middle East. These three
patients were always together
discussing, in their lucid mom
ents, the great deals and trans
actions they executed in the
outside world. Money was no
object in the treatment of these
patients, the idea *was to make
them as comfortable as pos
sible. So Dr. R. S. set them up
in an office, with desks, dummy
telephones, typewriters, and va
rious printed legal and contract
forms. His three patients went
to "work" every morning. They
spent their whole day buying,
selling, drawing up contracts,
closing deals, and sending ship
ments of fruits to all the corn
ers of the world, on paper,
which Dr. R. S. destroyed every
night.
The three dynamos started
fresh every morning. Dr. R. S.
tells that when he himself
would stop off at their "office"
they became impatient ? they
were busy with their contracts,
conferences and shipments and
wanted him to leave as quickly
as possible. And so they went
for some years, Dr. R. S. as
sures us. with no chance of re
covery. but they were very hap
py
One year Dr. R. S. went to a
small hotel on the French
Riviera for a vacation. He sat
on the varanda one evening
and in a corner were three
men, also guests at the resort,
who seemed to be engrossed in
animated conversation: Dr. R.
S. could not help overhearing
their heated discussion. One of
the men was a lawyer com
plaining about a contract that
had been broken; another man
was a shipper who complained
why he needed a rest ? he had
just lost a ship and was em
broiled in bitter litigation %ith
the insurance and salvage peo
ple. There was a big dispute
over the value of the cargo;
and as luck would have it, the
third man was a fruit exporter
who gave his own hard luck
tale about a frost that had just
wiped out his entire crop for
the year.
As Dr. R. S. listened to these
three men he said to himself,
Why these fellows are doing
exactly the same things as my
three nuts. Only my three nuts
never lose a ship, every con
tract stands up, and all the
shipments arrive on time. And
they are getting a lot more fun
out of It.
News Making
As ft Looks
To A Maconite
? Br BOB SLOAN
"Too hot to handle", to bor
row the phraseology of a oase
ball writer, was the ruling fi
nally made by the Supreme
Court of the United States In
regard to the tissue of public
schools and segregation. That
is bad.
First, it is bad because of the
damage done to reputation and
position of the highest court in
our land. This recent fence
straddling action of saying that
segregation is
Illegal, but
that It will be
up to a lower
court to rule
on the cases
and that cor
rective action
should be tak
en at some fu
ture date1, is
not a legal de
clsion. Instead Sloan
it would best
be described as a political ma
neuver to appease both sides of
a case. It can probably also be
described as a history making
decision in that I don't believe
that one quite like it has ever
beeh rendered before.
The Supreme Court was cre
ated to render legal decisions
on questions that might arise
under our laws. The decisions
are final unless the people see
fit to change the laws by legis
lative action. To return to the
baseball field again for a mom
ent, the Supreme Court is not
in the position of an infielder
who decides that a ground ball
is "too hot to handle" and lets
it go by without making a play
for the ball so that an out
fielder can field the ball prop
erly. The Supreme Court must
make the play and they must
come up with the ball. There
is no one behind them.
Second, it is bad because in
straddling the fence it gave
some encouragement to both
sides of a controversial ques
tion as to the Tightness of their
side of the question. This will
cause both sides to agitate in
support of their position. Thus
the temptest will be increased
instead of abated.
The Supreme Court should
have ruled that segregation is
legal or illegal. That is their
job. Then whatever agency is
charged with enforcing the rul
ing of the court should see that
their decision is carried out.
How else can a government op
erate with the respect of its
people?
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press)
50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Miss Kate Robinson returned
home Thursday from Davenport
College where she has been
teaching music during the past
year.
George Oliver is putting lum
ber on the ground to build a
cottage on iotla Street near one
of the Myers buildings.
Mr. B. C. Grindstaff, of Sylva,
was in town Friday.
25 YEARS AGO
Mr. and Mrs: H. M. Bascom
arrived on Thursday from New
York, where they have been
spending the winter with theiir
daughter and son-in-law, Mr.
and Mrs. C. W. Barrett. ? High
lands itiem.
Mr. and Mrs. W. B. McGuire
and daughter, Elizabeth, left
Tuesday for Davidson College to
attend the commencement ex
ercises of the institution. Wil
liam, the son of Mr. and Mrs.
McGuire, is among the seniors
who will graduate.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Johnson,
of Wake Forest, N. C., a^e vis
iting Mrs. Johnson's parents,
Mr. and Mrs. George Carpenter,
in Franklin. They will remain
here for several days.
10 YEARS AGO
Miss Ethel Hurst is visiting
her sister, Mrs. L. B. Ramsey,
and Mr. Ramey, and her broth
er, A. C. Hurst, and Mrs. Hurst,
at their homes in Champaign,
111.
Captain and Mrs. John Craw
ford and young son, of Moore
Field, Mission. Texas, are here
for a visit with Captain Craw
ford's mother. Mrs. A. R. Hlg
don, and Mr. Higdon, at their
home on the Georgia Road.
Miss Rebecca S. Harris has
recently returned to her home
on East Main Street, after
spending several months with
her brother, I. L. Harris, in
Havanna. Cuba. ? Highlands
item.