Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Sept. 19, 1957, edition 1 / Page 2
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EDITORIAL WEIMAR JONES, Editor Worst In 82 Years President Kiscnhowcr last week signed into law what generally Has been described ? with dubious accuracy ? as the first civil rights bill enacted in 82" years. Well, the new law has another distinction: It is one of the worst pieces of legislation in 82 years. Tt rs bad legislation without reference to whether or how badly a civil rights law is needed. It is bad. moreover, without reference to the fact it i? a civil rights law: it would be equally bad if it dealt with an entirely different subject. It is bad because it violates basic legislative and moral principles generally accepted in the demo cratic world. Major reasons why it is bad include these: I. It is out-and-out class legislation. Nobody claims it is a general law, designed to protect the civil rights of all citizens ; admittedly, it has for its sole purpose the protection of the rights of one group and one alone ? the Negro. Nobody has suggested the even remote possibility of its ever protecting anybody else. 2. It not only is selective of those to be pro tected; its application is strictly regional. It is aimed quite frankly at a single section ? the South. Surely there are occasional violations of the civil rights of citizens on the Pacific Coast or in New England or in* the Middle West, but never oupe in the long debate was it indicated that anybody out side the South ever would be prosecuted un^er its provisions. And however wrong the South may be, that does not change a basic legal principle: A law aimed at any one individual or any one region is a bad law. 3. Enacted in today's too-common atmosphere of seeking first the immediately expedient thing, the law endangers a basic right of all citizens in its effort to secure another to one group. And it is worth noting that the right to a fair trial by a jury is a far older and far more precious one than the right to vote. 4. The Eisenhower administration, fearing trial by jury in contempt cases might lower the dignity of federal courts, obtained a "compromise". And so the law authorizes any federal judge to fine or jail any citizen, without benefit of jury trial ? provided the fine does not exceed so many dollars or the prison term so many days. Thus we have the spec tacle of Congress trying to compromise the prin ciple of trial by jury. That is a little like trying to find a compromise between the tr'uth and a lie, between honesty and theft. That won't work ; for once you start to compromise on principle, there is no place to stop. And ultimately ? and inevitably ?every right based on principle will be lost, to all citizens. . . . But Proud If it Is the unusual that constitutes news, it might he asked : Is it still news when a Macon County student wins a scholarship? The question is suggested by the increasing number of boys and girls here who are so honored. The answer is: Of course it's news! The very fact it has ceased to be unusual for scholarships to come this way is news in itself. And to all the scholarship winners of this year we say what we are .sure is in the minds of most Macon County people: We aren't a bit surprised that your worth is recognized, but we are proud, mighty proud, all the same. . . . Without Straw How much does I he average business in Frank lin s|>end lor advertising? We have no figures, but we'd guess, when you total the costs of all the ' various forms of advertising ? newspaper, radio, motion picture, billljoard'. handbills, circulars sent by mail, special listing in the phone book, and a dozen others ? $1,01)0 a year would be a conserva tive figure. How much. then, should a town spend for adver tising? Surely more than a single business. Yet Franklin bids fair to spend this year for ad vertising. through its chamber of commerce, about $333! The chamter's total advertising budget is only $l.fXX) ? and onlv a third of the total budget has found its way into the organization's treasury. How much can the chamber of commerce accom plish with $333? We'd guess about as much as the ancient Israelites were able to, trying to make brick without straw. Intellectual Inbreeding A .{food teacher is a good teacher, and where she comes from or where" she went to school doesn't change her abilities. The teacher, though, works in the realm of ideas ; and ideas grow and muntiply as they are stimulated by contact with other ideas, from other places and other atmospheres. For that reason, it is important that the teachers in a school system represent the widest possible variety of backgrounds and educa tion. , Because that is true, it always has seemed to us we have too many Macon County persons teaching in this county's schools ; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, we do not have enough per sons from elsewhere. The same logic suggests we have too many from a single institution ? W estern Carolina College. That is said with no disrespect whatever to the Cullowhee institution; it is a fine school. Rut if we get virtually all our teachers from any one institution, we are depriving our selves of the viewpoints to be absorbed at other schools. This comment is suggested by figures published recently in The Press. The list of new teachers gave the educational backgrounds of 17. And of these, 13 went to W. C. C. Again, Macon County produces some excellent teachers, and W. C. C. is a good school, turning out fine teachers. But we are in danger of intellec tual inbreeding. Others' Opinions (Opinion* expressed in this spsce ere not necessarily those * of The Press. Editorials selected for reprinting here, la fact. _____ are chosen with a view to presenting a variety of viewpoints. They are. that Is. Just what the caption says ? OTHER* Opinions.) The Good Old Days (Brlllion, Wise. News* If you are one of those who is always longing for the good old days, just try reading your newspaper by an oil lamp. In One Basket (Franklin, La., Banner-Tribune) Sometimes a community will pin all of its hopes on one in dustry and it will grow and thrive and prosper as long as the wheels of that industry turn. Won't Bankrupt The State (Asheville Times) If anyone should question the wisdom or the ability of the State of North Carolina to afford $165 per child for public education, he should be reminded that no state has ever be come bankrupt because of its Investment In education, no mat ter how great that investment was. ONE MAN A MAJORITY If He Has Courage For Little Things, He Can Meet Big Crises Williamston Enterprise I know one woman who Is frank to say what so few peo ple admit, that the trait of character she mast admires Is that of courage. "Just what U courage?" I asked her. She thought a bit, and then said: "It's getting up and going on again, after you've keen knocked down. It's choos ing the right way rather than the easy one. It's having faith hi yourself and being ready to hMk that faith. I guess It's Just Misting In Ood and that He (ave you a Job to do." R qrait have been something Me that of which Andrew tokaan was thinking, when he said "One man with courage 1? a majority." The dictionary describes It as "That quality of mind which meets danger or opposition with Intrepidity, calmness and firm ness." If you really set your mind to It, you could do Just that, couldn't you? When things look ed black, my mother used to say, "Well, anybody can get through today and that's all I have to do right now!" It takes courage to face ap parent defeat, even In little things. It takes courage to go on plugging when you feel bad ly. It takes courage to stand up for what you believe to be right. It takes courage to say no, when It needs to be sakl. There Isn't a day that does not call for its modicum of courage. A lot of the permanent "Be wallers" ? those people who find their pleasure In looking at the worst side of things, probably because it Is so pleasant when the worst does not happen? say that Americans today have no courage. They contend that If we are. attacked people will lose their heads and panic. (Maybe they are expressing what they think they would do.) I don't think there is a date attached to courage. I think a person who has gone through life, meeting whatever It brings with "Intrepidity, calmness and firmness," will find the same qualities on call In big crises as well as In small ones. Character Is a matter of long-standing habit, and, as I believe It was Scott who said ? "He that climbs a ladder must begin at the first rung." To finish with the word cour age, I looked it up In my Con cordance to the Bible and this Is what I found that David said to Solomon: "Be strong and of good courage, and do It; fear not, nor be dismayed for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fall thee, nor forsake thee, until thou has finished all the work lor the service of the house of the Lord." "Just What Do Yow Mean, ffcm About The Other Raee (Question*?* Strictly Personal ay WEIMAR JONES I often have been Impressed by the stability of Macon Coun ty's population, and the other day I had another Illustration of It. In conversation with J. W. (Jake) Addington, right after he had sold his farm at auc tion, I was Interested and pleas ed when he told me he had kept his home. One of the rea sons: "I was born and reared there, and my father (James B. Add ington) before me. I want to spend the rest of my days there." The house was built by the present Mr. Addington's grand father, Henry Addington, in the 1820's; long enough ago for five or six generations to come to maturity. And all these years. It has been the home of Add ingtons. BOOK KKVIKW 'Kingdom Beyond Caste' Deals With Race Issue (EDITOR'S NOTE: This U one of the books being studied this fall by Methodist Women's So cieties of Christian Service. It Is reviewed below by the Rev. S. B. .Moss, pastor of the Franklin Methodist Church.) THE KINGDON BEYOND CASTE ? Lis ton Pope. (Friend ship Press, 170 pp., $3). With the school segregation Issue the biggest news of the day, this book by a Southerner is important. Dr. Lis ton Pope, the dean of Yale Divinity School, is a sociologist, theo logian, and minister. He faces the Issues of race relations from the moral, sociological, and scientific points of view. He frames these viewpoints against a Southern background. He Is a native of ThomasvUle, N. C. A Negro nurse in his home reared him in his boyhood. His study of the race issue carried him to South Africa, Australia, Western Europe, and our own country. It Is timely and stimu lating. I venture to say it will Irritate many who read it and will enlighten and help others. This will depend on the atti tude of the reader. Our racial patterns are real ly caste patterns. They stem from the attitude, either con sciously, or unconsciously ex pressed, that the dominant raci al group is superior. Dr. Pope points out that racial superior ity, or inferiority, la a myth. Differences of blood, or biologic al differences are a myth. Ail we can truthfully say is that we are the "human" race. Our racial feelings are based on false assumptions and they make us miserable and make others suffer. This book gives factual scientific evidence with CMiUnaed on back page first sec. It might be said that that is an isolated instance. Well, this one Isn't: In the Do You Remember? column In last week's Press, a 65-years-ago Item listed the pre cinct registrars for that year's election. And who were they? The ancestors or kin of people of the same name still living here. In most instances, in fact, the same names are to be found today in the same precincts even. Those I was able to identify as the same families, still living in the same precincts, include the Ranklns in Franklin, the Keeners in Sugarfork, the .Mc Connells in Smith's Bridge, the Setsers In Cartoogechaye, the Morgans in Nantahata. the Mays in Briartown, the Wilds in Burningtown, and the Rick mans In Co wee. And that in a period when a big proportion of Americans never stay anywhere long? and live in an apartment while they're there! ? ? ? Commenting on legislators' efforts to create the illusion that they are Just country boys, Jay Huskins, writing in The Statesville Record, quotes Rep. Joe Hunt, of Guilford County, as saying "I've been no further from home than you can reach in a peanut sack". That may be all right for Mr. Hunt's pur poses, in Guilford County. But if he'd wanted to make it real ly effective, here in the moun tains, he'd have phrased it. "than you can reach in a goob er poke". * ? ? And that recalls a phrase (whether It's a mountainism or once was used throughout the South, I don't know) I heard: the other day for the first time in years: "... be no more left of it than of a pound of soap< after a day's washing". Another old phrase I like be cause it paints a picture is the one. . . looks like a breath, of wind would blow her away". Compare that with all the ad r jectives in the dictionary ? thin, frail, anemic, etc. For vividness, I'll take the wind blowing- de scription every time. DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Files of The rreas 65 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1892) ) Wanted: a fine mechanic to build a cage for the hud of Smith's Bridge. Mr. A. H. Welch, of Swain County, was in town, last Wed nesday. He has a beard that measures three feet and nine inches and reaches to a point halfway between his knee and foot. He's been 16 years without a shave, he says. When at work, Mr. Welch wears his beard "done up", Ufce a woman's hair. Some men were attempting to drive a muley steer on the scales last Friday to be weighed. Not liking the business, the steer turned and entered the door leading to Dr. Higglns' dental office and proceeded up the stairs. A young lady hav ing some dental work done vacated the chair a great deal more quickly than she would have hacT Grover Cleveland en tered the room. The Dr. dismissed him as unceremoniously as he had entered. 25 YEARS AGO (1932) The Town Council is still deadlocked over the routing of N. C. Highway 28 through Franklin but three members and the mayor have signed a petition to the State Highway Com mission urging location of the route over Palmer Street. On another petition are 438 names with the same request. C. Tom Bryson, register of deeds ? and Democratic nominee for re-election, replied this week to C. B. Stockton, who said he considered the appropriation for this office outrageous. Mr. Stockton criticteed the $3,100 appropriation and said he'd do the }ob for $1,800 in a letter to The Press last week. Mr. Bryson, in reply, said the total appropriation doesn't have to be spent. His figures show he's been filling the office for $45 less than Stockton's oKer. 16 YEARS AGO I Led by a heavy, charging line, the Franklin Panthers fought the Murphy Bulldogs to a 13-13 tie before more than 600 spectators last Friday .night on the local field. The Oold .Mine pchool will open Monday morning, with Judson Smith as teacher, Supt. O. L. Houk announced this week. Earlier, parents told the county board of education if their school were consolidated with Hlgdonvllle, they would not let their children attend. Paul Price has been named editor-in-chief of The Moun tain Trail, Highlands school paper. Associate editors art) Mary Phillips and Douglas Plcklestmer.? Highlands Item.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Sept. 19, 1957, edition 1
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