Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / March 21, 1957, edition 1 / Page 2
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Jflrattklitt tm {?Jte Miglilanite (Mattminn Second class mail privileges authorized at Franklin, N. C. Puolished erery Thursday by The Franklin Press Telephone 24 WEIMAR JONES Editor BOB 8. SLOAN Advertising Manager J. P. BRADY News Edltor-Photographei ROLFE NEILL Reporter MRS. ALLEN SILER Society Editor Office Manages MRS. MARION BRYSON Proofreader CARL P. CABE Opera t or -Machinist FRANK A. STARR ETTE Compositor CHARLES E. WH1TT1NOTON Pressman O. E. CRAWFORD Stereotyper DAVID H. 8UTTON Commeiclal Printer SUBSCRIPTION BATES UUTSZDK MACO* UOUNTT One Tear ... $3.00 ttU Moot ha 1.79 Three Months .... 1 00 Two Tears 5.23 Three Tear* 7.50 INSIDE A One Year . Six Month e Three Month* ACON tOUKTT $2 JO 1.75 1.00 Two Yeere Three Years 4.25 6-00 MARCH 21. 195? 'Practical' Politics How can the Democratic party in North Caro lina seize the initiative and halt a "disturbing* trend" of youth toward Republicanism? State Sen ator Perry W. Martin came up with an answer in the General Assembly last week. Lower the voting age from 21 to 18, he urged. Senator Martin's argu ment boils down to this: Give the youngsters the ballot ; in exchange for that favor, they will vote the Democratic ticket. Since that is a practical political arglimcnt, let's waive the question of the morality of a party's trying to buy votes wholesale, and consider it on a purely practical basis. Is it good politics? That is, will it work? We' don't think so. We don't for two reasons. First of all, today's youth is both smart and real istic; most young people would accept the favor of the ballot as their right ? and then vote as they pleased. Second, today's youth is like youth always has been: it is essentially idealistic. It is likely to join the cause or the party that offers it not a bribe, but a challenge. > How did the Democratic party in North Caro lina attract young voters in the past? It did it with a Charles B. Aycock, a man who had the vision to see it was good business for North Carolina to spend what then were fantasti cally large sums for education. It did it a little later with a Frank Page, a man who had the gran ite honesty to spend millions on roads with never a thought of a man's or a county's politics. It did it still later with a Clyde Hoey, a man who, at the bottom of the depression, had the courage to advo cate the state's taking over entire financial respon sibility for operating the public schools ? something no state had done. Scores of similar instances could be cited. , Compare that record ? compare that this-thing is-right-whatever-the-political-consequences attitude ? with more recent history : The very day Senator Martin was making his proposal, a Democratic-controlled senate commit tee was denying the people of Burke County the right to elect their county school board. Why? Be cause the people of that county might .prove so un trustworthy as to elect Republicans. General Assembly after General Assembly has similarly denied the people of North Carolina a wet-dry referendum. Why? Because the people might make the mistake of voting dry. As though it were not the people's state, the people's govern ment, the people's responsibility for their own mis fakes ! Gerrymandering of congressional and state sen atorial districts for unfair partisan advantage ? that is, to defeat the will of the majority ? has been almost the rule. Meanwhile. Assembly after Assem bly has refused to obey the plain mandate of the constitution requiring it to keep representation in the Assembly fair and honest. And just a few days before the death of the Burke school hill, the legislators had gutted the .state highway reorganization bill of its anti-pol itics provision. Deinocfatic legislators had said, in effect, that they didn't dare fight the battle with - out "a highway political machine at their beck and calL ? What has been the result of all this "practical" politics ? Bv the admission of Democratic party leaders themselves, it has been a gradual, but steady, Republican gain. Yet those same party leaders only last Saturday told Governor Hodges that the solution is still more practical politics ? more good jobs for deserving Democrats. North Carolina Democracy is a great organiza tion, built on great principles, with a great tradi tion. It can have a great future. But it can have it only if it attracts young voters; it must do that, in fact, merely to survive. And it can appeal to young people only by offering bold and dynamic policies, and by demonstrating faith in the people. For young people are contemptuous of timidity. They can be attracted by the Democratic party only if it stirs their imaginations, commands their respect, excites their admiration. Sauce For The Goose j What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gan der. And what is fair one way is another ; that is, if we're going to reward the well-doers, then we ought to penalize the poor-doers. This refers to taxes. A state law requires counties and towns to give discounts to those who pay their taxes early, and to impose penalties on those who pay them late. A number of years ago, a Macon County representa tive got this county and its two towns exempt from the penalties provision of this state law. That is, the county and its towns must give discounts to those who are prompt in paying their taxes, but arc forbidden to impose penalties on those who are late. That doesn't .seem to us to make sense ; if we're going to have one, we ought to have the other. So we applaud the decision of the Franklin Board of Aldermen to seek action by the General Assembly authorizing the town to impose penalties on those who wait and wait and wait. It seems to us it would be wise for Highlands and Macon County to take similar action. ? Letters More Macon Kindliness Editor, The Press: Late on the night of September 4, 1956, I was passing through Franklin on my way from Florida to a hospital. I was broke, it was raining, and I was trying to get a ride. A man pulled up alongside me and asked where I was go ing. I did not know until later that he was the sheriff of Macon County. I was groggy from taking dope, through the day to keep the pain down, but was able to talk enough to tell him I was broke and trying to get to the hospital. Mr. Thomas took money out of his pocket, gave me enough to buy a bus ticket, and left an officer, a Mr. Ledford, with me to see that I got on the bus. I feel the people of Macon County should know how a stranger is treated by the man they elected. In my own way, I will repay Mr. Thomas for the kind consideration I receiv ed that night. And I will always remember the incident as proving we still have men like Mr. Thomas who will be a friend to a man broke and away from home, instead of be ing the hard-boiled officer who takes it for granted such a man is a criminal until he is proved innocent. CHARLES E. WATSON Waynesville, N. C. Compulsory Insurance? Editor, The Press: There is a movement in the General Assembly to make automobile liability insurance compulsory. Many people take it for granted that Is desirable. But before such a law is en acted, it seems to me the public ought to take into considera tion the following facts collected by the North Carolina As sociation of Insurance Agents: Contrary to impressions held by some people, compulsory automobile liability insurance Is not a safety measure and, in the opinion of many, compulsory insurance actually diverts everyone's attention from safety. Also, there is a widespread belief that such a law would at least provide monetary relief for all persons killed or Injured in automobile accidents. Even this Is not true because of certain inherent limitations In li ability insurance. In a considerable percentage of all auto mobile accidents, probably as high as 25 per cent, there is no fault on the part of another person and the injured party could not recover his damages. Under a compulsory system there is no guarantee that all ? Continued on Paje 3 SIDNEY J. HARRIS One Top, Two Tops, Ten Tops - And Happy Or Bored Children In Richmond News Leader Visiting some friends' homes shortly after the holidays was somewhat like touring through an endless Juvenile Junkyard : Dozens of toys, already broken and dis carded in disgust, lay strewn hi every corner. And I reflected how astonishing H la that so many otherwise intelli gent people keep their beliefs In separate air-tight compartments. They believe In the Law of Di minishing Returns; but not. evi dently. In terms of their children. The Lav of Diminishing Re turn* tells us that the more we have, beyond a certain point, the less will we be satisfied with what we have. The person who has near ly every thtln# is dissatisfied with nearly everything. We can see this quite plainly in adults. All of us know successful and prosperous people who are bored and restless, perpetually seeking new diversions and just as perpetually tiring of them. In our common wisdom we say that ?uch people get things too easily to appreciate them. But, in this fantastically child centered culture of ours, we seem blind to the parallel fact that the Law of Diminishing Returns works even more swiftly and more surely with children. To give a child one top Is to please him; to give him two Is to elate him; but to give him ten is to bore, confuse and frustrate him with the multiplicity of easy choices. Not only that: But this seeming kindness Is a cruelty In another sense. For it robs the child of initiative and imagination, those two most priceless ingredients of full personality. A child, while he Is still relative ly unspoiled, loves to make and loves to Imagine. He makes a hel met out of a saucepan, and he readily Imagines that an egg beater is a submarine; In these natural ways, he cultivates7 his powers of invention and creation. But If he. already has a helmet and a submarine ? along with ? dozen other expensive and fabri cated gadgets ? he soon comes to believe that everything can be bought and that everything will be given to him. The grownups who believe these things are cold, unhappy and ungrateful creatures. What else can we expect such children to become? "Gee, It's A Nice Picture 1 Hope It Works" STRICTLY Personal ? ? By WEIMAR JONES That quotation in last week's paper from a visitor's letter, the one that said our sidewalks looked like they hadn't "been cleaned since Lincoln was shot", set me thinking. By golly, I thought, it's the truth; the sidewalks and streets are filthy. Why doesn't the town board clean 'em up? By golly, I'm going to town on this; I'm going to give some body down the road about it. Well, I sat down to my type writer to do just that. But I hadn't written a dozen words before that sixth sense that so often saves our faces as well as our necks was cautioning me; "Wait!". I stopped writing for an instant, and heard It again, louder: "You'd better wait!" For no particular reason, I got up from my typewriter and walked out the front door of The Press office. I took a look at the place where we work. It looked just like it always does, I thought. Then I remembered what I'd written last week about seeing ourselves as others see us, and I tried to look at it as though I'd never seen it before; tried to look at it VIEWS ? By BOB SLOAN He certainly was not without fault, but he possessed virtues to a considerable degree. Virtues that were of a simple nature and therefore go unnoticed. Lee Roy Berrong had many many friends because he only .had good to say of people and he was always Cheerful. Though not so much a leader, smiling, cheerful, friendly Lee Roy who was always willing to help, will be missed by many of us common, everyday people. The lines, "Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man." were very true of Lee Roy. ? ? ? Within the hext ie w days we should know whether or not the foreign policy of the United State* government has a purpose and a backbone. If Egypt is al lowed now to occupy the Gaza strip as she is threatening to do after we forced the forces of Israel out, then it will be evident to the world that the only policy the United States has is, "Peace at Any Price." If we use our in fluence to see that this area re mains out of the hands of Egypt then and only then can we be said to be On the side of right. ? ? ? Thursday night < tonight) the people of Franklin are invited to attend a meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss a plan to make Franklin, a town that is known for its cleanliness. Can you think of any better goal for a town? The meeting will be held at the Town Hall at 7:30 p. m. If you are interested and would like to help, please come. through the spectacles of a stranger. What I saw wasn't all good; It was anything but complimen tary. I saw, first of all, the park ing space in front of the build ing. It's been cleaned since Lincoln was shot; it's been cleaned, in fact, within the last year. But it's dirty, plumb dirty. And the fact the pavement is broken and thus is hard to sweep, I had to admit, doesn't mean it can't be scrubbed oc casionally. Over at -my left, I saw a dirty, broken wall. It would take money to replace or re pair it, but it would cost almost nothing to plant vines to cover it up. Above the wall, I saw some of last year's weeds, still uncut. And at its bottom, paper and other litter. I saw an old, ugly door that we've never painted because we've been planning to replace it? some of these days. On the east side of the build ing is a plot that's covered with all sorts of trash. When it's been cleaned, I can't remember. What I do remember is some very definite plans I had for planting flowers there; It's been five years since I made those plans, and the first flow er seed is yet to be planted. I saw some windows that surely could stand some soap, water, and elbow grease. A little deflated, I went back Into the front office. With a pang, I remembered I'd been planning to paint the walls; been planning it ever since we moved in, more than five years ago. I went into the news room. That congoleum on the floor had been faded, I estimated, for three years; completely worn out for two. And so it went. By that time, I was In a bad mood. Why hadn't somebody cleaned this place up? Why, after really looking at it, I'd be ashamed to show it to anybody. Then i thought of something that didn't improve my dispo sition a bit. For I asked myself: Who is responsible for this state of affairs? And the answer came back: The guy chiefly re sponsible is a fellow named Jones. I went back to the typewriter, but somehow I couldn't get up any steam on those clean-up the-town editorials. I kept hear ing that old saw about the pot calling the kettle black. Sure, I thought, the streets are dirty. Sure, the sidewalks are a disgrace. Sure, it's inex cusable for the board of alder men not to clean 'em up ? and keep 'em clean. Somebody ought to tell 'em so. But that sixth sense was speak ing again: "Are you certain", it was ask ing, "that you're the fellow to tell 'em about it? Are you, that is, until you've done a bit of washing behind the ears your self?" ? ? ? Looking through a stranger's spectacles at your own back yard is a remarkable experience. I don't guarantee it to be a pleasant one, I do promise it will be revealing. If you don't believe that, try it yourself! DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Files of The Press 60 TEARS AGO THIS WEEK About midnight Friday, in the eastern part of town, Deputy I. J. Ashe succeeded in capturing a wagon and team and 15 or 20 gallons of blockade which was in charge of a citizen of Macon. P. C. Cunningham Is repairing the old telephone line as far as Furman Henry's on Watauga and will have communication that far towards Dillsboro. Messrs. George and Erwin Pat ton, who have been handling stock In Georgia all winter, returned home Thursday. 25 TEARS AGO Macon County farmers who wish to apply for loans from the $50,000,000 crop loan fund established recently by the U. S. may do so by filing applications with Fred S. Sloan, farm demonstration agent. Braving the biting winds of the recent semi-blizzard, resi dents of Macon County, have responded so actively to revival services being held at the Baptist Church, that the Rev. W. L. Griggs asd John Kermit Blackburn have decided to con tinue the services through next Sunday. I* TEARS AGO Claude H. Bolton was elected secretary-treasurer of Nanta hala Power and Light Company at a board of directors' meet ing here Monday. The bill to extend the corporate limits of Highlands was killed in committee Wednesday. Dr. J. H. Fouts, practicing physician here for more than half a century, died last Saturday at 82 years of age. Active to the last, he had written a prescription only shortly before he was fatally stricken.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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March 21, 1957, edition 1
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