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Second ciaii mail privilege* authorised At Franklin. N C
Puollahed every Thursday by The Franklin Press
Telephone 24
Established in 1886 as The Franklin Press
Member: N. C. Press Association. National Editorial Association,
Cmrolinas Press Photographers Association. Charter member. National
Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors.
BOB 8. SLOAN . . Publisher and Advertising Manager
J. P. BRADY ' News Editor
WEIMAR JONES Editor
MRS ROBERT BRYSON Office Manager
MRS. BOB SLOAN Society Editor
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PRANK A. 8TARRETTE Compositor
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O E CRAWFORD Stereotyper
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THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1958
Beginning Of The End?
The order of U. S. District Judge Harry J. Lem
ley, granting the Little Rock school board a 2 l/z
year desegregation "breathing spell", may yet be
overruled, either by the Circuit Court of Appeals or
by the Supreme Court itself.
Bat last week the latter promptly denied a re
quest by the N. A. A. C. P. that it by-pass the cir
cuit court and rule immediately on the Lemlev
,, order. That could be a clue to the high court's at
titude. The justices undoubtedly must feel as Pres
ident Eisenhower is reported to feel, vastly relieved
that an out has been found, avoiding the necessity
to send troops back to Little Rock's Central High
School next September.
If Judge Lemley's order stands, it easily may
prove the most significant event in the segregation
battle since the Supreme Court's 1954 decision. For
the district judge takes into account things that
previously seem to have been either overlooked or
ignored.
Pointing out that "the function of any public
school system, whether integrated or not, is to edu
cate people", he says flatly that the "personal in
terest" of the Negro children (in attending a non
segregated school) is "only one factor in the equa
tion". He then balances that factor against "the
public interest ? including the interest of all stu
dents and potential students in the district".
That balancing process takes into account such
things as the public opposition to the principle of
integration, the tension resulting from that oppo
sition, the demoralization caused by the presence
of troops at the school; and the adverse effect of
all these on the quality of the education offered.
Judge Lemley considers all these factors. Then
he points out that since the Negro High School
in Little Rock is substantially the equal of the Cen
tral school, delay in desegregation "will not deprive
any Negro student of a good high-school educa
? tion".
On those grounds, he held that the public inter
est demanded the requested delay.
If that ruling in Little Rock is to become the pat
tern of future rulings elsewhere, we would seem
to be back about where we were prior to 1954 : De
segregation only if and when the community is
ready for it ? but with the stipulation that the sep
arate Negro schools must be equal.
This, conceivably, could be the beginning of the
end of forced integration. >
Poor Little Texas!
Ever see a boy, eight or ten years old, who's
been an only child all those years, and thus has had
all the attention? Then, right out of the blue, along
comes a baby brother or sister, to usurp his place
as the center of the universe.
What does that boy do? He shouts, he runs in
circles, he stands on his head, he makes faces and
swears. Why? Because he feels he's lost his impor
tance, and he's willing to do anything, even to get
ting punished, to regain the attention he has be
come accustomed to demand as his due.
Far be it from us to compare the great State of
Texas with a small boy. Nor would we tnink of
suggesting that its great size has made Texas
boastful. No, indeed! The very most we'd say is
that Texans, perhaps, do not suffer from the in
feriority complex that afflicts the residents of some
other states. For Texas has become accustomed to
distinction.
If or. more than 100 years, it's been the largest
state in the Union. And it's been the biggest by a
long shot ? it's more than half again as big as its
nearest competitor, California; it's four times as
big as Georgia, the biggest state east of the Missis
sippi ; and all New England could sit in one corner
of Texas.
Now, right out of the blue, comes the State of
"But Couldn't I Keep Him And Write It Off As A
Business Expense Like Goldfine Did?"
7
[^TTlrfrT==f==F=^=
Alaska, to push Jexas into second place ? and a
poor second, at that. For Alaska is more than twice
the Size of once huge Texas. The long-time giant
now becomes just another child in a family of 49.
Poor little Texas!
Blackburn W. Johnson
It has been more than a quarter of a century
since Blackburn W. Johnson was editor and pub
lisher of The Press. Younger persons here never
knew him, perhaps never even heard of him. Yet
they are affected by his character and personality,
(for Mr. Johnson left his imprint on the, community
in which they were reared.
He was an honest reporter. He practiced, as well
as believed in, the cardinal principle of journalism :
that, in reporting the news, it must report all sides
of the news, impartially and objectively.
As an editor, he believed in and practiced an
other cardinal principle of good journalism ; that
it is the responsibility of an editor to comment on
the news, with fearlessness, but also with care and
fairness, and with faith in the ultimate trimuph of
truth.
Friends here, though, remember Mr. Johnson best
as a gentleman? in the finest sense of that term.
He was at once a man of honor and one of great
gentleness. And it was these characteristics of the
man, perhaps even more than his professional train
ing and ethics, that made him so admirable a journ
alist. .
Vice President Nixon says there's a distinction
between the acts of some of Truman's aides and
what Sherman Adams did. You bet there is ! the
distinction between a Democratic administration
and a Republican one.
Millions long for Immortality who do not know what to do
with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. ? Campbells
vllle (Ky.) "News.
Strictly Personal By WEIMAR JONES
Of ait she baffling situations
that all. at us have to face as we
go through this life of bafflement.
It seems to me the hardest one
to meet Is when some kindly soul,
seeking to pay you a compliment,
says something that actually is
like a slap In the face.
Ula alkp part Is wholly unin
tentional, of course. And so yarn
can't slap right back. No; this per
son was trying to say something
pleasant. So good manners de
mand that you accept it that way.
implied Insult and all. Good man
ners. in fact, demand something
a bit harder ? that you quickly
smile with pleasure, and say a
heart; thank you.
The best example of what f'm
talking about is what happened to
a lady acquaintance of mine.
She is no longer 16. as she'd be
the first to admit. But she neither
looks, acts, nor feels old; far from
it! She probably thinks of herself
as middle-aged ? that comfortable,
useful, remarkably long period
when we no longer are subject to
t&e pitfalls and the bltterljr re
sented reproofs that come to
youth, but we still haven't reach
ad the age of decrepitude and the
trials that go along with failing
strength and faculties.
Any way, this lady was in a
cafeteria in Asheville not long
ago. The place was crowded, and
she couldn't find an unoccupied
table. At last, she approached a
table where a young woman was
alone. The older asked if she.
might sit down, and the younger
person was all graciousnass. '
Once the food had been remov
ed from tray to table and my
friend had taken her seat, the
younger woman ? she was quite
young ? took a good look at her
table companion, and then ex
claimed:
"My! you must have been a
Suck A Little Thing
(John G. Bragaw In The State Magazine) (
This did not come out of a book of sermons, but out of a
newspaper. The man who wrote it is named Henry J. Allen.
I do not know him personally, but he is a maa of wisdom,
as you will see when you have read what he says:
"She spent a long, hot hour getting it up. And. you thought
it was a fine meal. But did you take a second o t time to tell
her so? Maybe she was so pleased watching you enjoy her
cooking that she did not eat much herself. (Notice the women
who do the cooking in hot weather and you will see they
haven't much appetite.) But she was quick to see when youi
needed a second helping.
"Maybe, when you had finished you lighted your cigar or
cigarette or pipe, and picked up the evening paper, and went
to the ttvlng room or out on the front porch. And you fait
perfectly complacent in the assurance that you had completed
a good day's work.
''But was her work done? She had to go out into the stuffy
kitchen and spend another hour over the steaming disbpan
or the kitchen sink. And she didn't even get a tip for her
trouble.
"Not that she wanted it! What she wanted was something
Uke this: 'Gee, girl! That was a dandy dinner. Bet nobody on
this street had a better one!'
?
"What will your little word of appreciation mean to her?
It will mean the difference between tears and smiles over that
measly dishpan; the difference between a song mixed with
the rattling dishes and a sob hidden by the scouring of the
kettles.
"Such a little thing for you to say, so much for her to hear!
"Women are Uke that. Do you ever stop to think, man, that
unless you take a little pains to put some joy into the life of
the woman who is your wife, she Isn't going to have too
much of It?"
Brick, Mortar, And Minds
(New York Christian Economics)
Plush school buildings provide excellent monuments to their
architects, but have little Influence on the quantity and qual
ity of education acquired by our children.
Not Getting Money's Worth
(Clifton, N. J., Journal)
Writing in National Review, Russell Kirk, the distinguished
teacher and writer, finds this central fallacy In the federal
aid-to-education plan:
"It isn't money that we need for the improvement of In
struction in science, or In anything else. For already we spend
far more on schools than any nation ever has before In all
history? far more, per capita, than the Russians do. Our
trouble Is that we are not obtaining value for our expendi
tures." -
As Dr. Kirk sees It, too much money goes for non-essential
frills, and not enough for real education.
'TALKING BOOKS'
Keeps Up His 'Reading', Despite 'Frustration Of Blindness'
Henry Belk In Greensboro Daily News
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When Mr.
Belk, beloved Goldsboro news
paper man, suddenly lost his
sight a few years ar?, he didn't
let it Interfere with his normal
life. He continues as editor of
the daily Goldsboro News-Argus,
writes a column for the Greens
boro Daily News several time a
week, and, as he tells in this
article, "reads" more books than
most of us who are sighted.)
From the days of my youth,
reading was one of my great pleas
ures; and many a night when I
should have been asleep I was
buried in a book. It was a great
deprivation to me, then, when I
lost my sight three years ago
and no longer could read for my
self.
I found this experience one of
the most frustrating of blindness
And then I escaped through the
marvelous Talking Books for the
blind. I had known of the books.
provided free through the Library
of Congress. Years ago my moth
er's sight, when she was a?ed, be
came so poor she could not read
and she secured a Talking Book
player and records. But the qual
ity of reproduction was poor, so
poor that it was no pleasure to
try to "read" through such a de
vice.
Today, however, the player that
? reads" the books has the clarity
of a hi-fi set, the records are flat
and the best example of the rec
ord maker's art, and the readers
who put the books on the records
are excellent readers. It is a pleas
ure to listen to their accent, their
diction. Their words come with
such fine resonance and clarity.
There is Just one hitch. There Is
a hypnotic effect to the clear voice
reading, reading, reading an hour
at a time: and if one does not
stir about occasionally, if he gets
too comfortable, he Is lulled to
sleep by the rhythm.
The Reader's Digest is rushed
to me on records early in each
month. The complete issue Is com
pressed into 18 records of 20 to
25 minutes each. In order to get
the magazine to the Talking Book
users as early as possible, three
different readers are employed for
each month. Each is an artist in
his own way and use of three dif
ferent voices avoids, somewhat,
the hypnotic effect of one reader
continuing for several hours.
Talking Books offer to the blind
almost any good book that has
ever been printed in English. The
Psalms, the New Testament, "Pil
grim's Progress," Shakespeare.
Maurois? name any author or any
field of literature and you will find
topics in the Talking Books. A
catalogue of books is Issued peri
odically and as new titles are
brought out users receive the lists.
A book which is of importance
and receives approval of compe
tent critics will be distributed in
Talking Book records from six to
18 months after it is printed. May
be you remember Don Whitehead's
"The FBI Story," which got a big
hand a year or so ago. I am now
reading It on Talking Books, and
I could have read it months ago
if I had ordered it. *
I read from one to two books
a week, the year round, though
in the hot Summer I may falter
a bit and then make up for it in
Winter.
For me, there is one big gap In
the Talking Book service. It does
not yet provide a regular news
magazine review. For one who felt,
he had to read Time and/or News
week each week, lack of such In
formation is a deprivation. But I
fully expect that In due time such
a service will be available through
Talking Books.
Unable to spend the usual time
on news magazines, I have turned
more and more to philosophy, his
tory, georgraphy and geology. I
am correcting vacuums In my
knowledge and education I never
would have been able to remedy
had I not lost my sight. Talking
Books have been a way of escape,
a road to freedom for me.
beautiful woman? when you were
young."
All of us have such experiences,
and it seems to me I have more
than my share. I even had one,
quite recently, related to this same
matter of age.
I was having a. talk with a high
school boy, and I referred to my
wartime service in the army.
The boy was all courtesy, all
respect: there, was. In fact, some
thing approaching reverence in
his voice as he asked:
"Was that World War t ? .or
some earlier ?m T"
That one left me with my mouth
open.
But I finally comforted myself
by remembering someone's defini
tion of old age: "That period 10
or 20 years beyond whatever your
present ageeis."
? ? ?
The samesoi* of thing happened
time and again, during that some
what unorthodox political "race''
X made recently.
Scores of men and women apr
proached me. before the first pri
mary, to say:
"I'm going to vote for you ? at
least I don't believe you'll do any*
thing wrong."
It was meant as a compliment,
of course. But what a compliment!
Nothing positively good or con
structive about me: instead, mine
was a negative sort of personality
that could be trusted. I would do
nothing wrong ? because I would
do nothing, period.
? ? ?
And down through the years on
the paper, there probably hasnt
been a month, maybe not a week,
that somebody, renewing his or
her subscription, didn't wander,
out Kind, why they were subscrib
ing: T don't know why r take
the nttle old thing, but I just
can't seem to get alon^ without
it.'"
The first time I heard that, I
bridled; the second, r managed
to hold both my composure and
my tongue. After three or four
times, I could tell myself:
"It's the last thing they said ?
and their money ? that says what
they really mean . . . And maybe
the (fist part, about 'the little
old ttilng'. Is understandable; (or
after all. The Press is a bit small
er than The New York Times.
? ? *
There's one thing worse, though,
than these unintended back-hand
compliments. It's accepting what
you think Is a compliment and
finding It wasn't sa meant at all.
I always (eel that when some
one' is kind enouglt to try to say
something to make me (eel good.
I should respond not only pleas
antly and cordiaUSr. but quickly.
And so I o(ten get In trouble.
The latest Instance was only
the- other day. whan a Press read
er said to me:
"Weimar, that editorial In last
week's paper hit me right between
the eyes . .
I took it he meant he agreed
whole-heartedly, and so I Inter
rupted to say:
"Why, thank you very much
... which one?"
"Wait a minuet", he sputtered,
"before you thank me. I disagreed
with everything fn it. I thought it
was craiy."
? When he finally got around to
telling me which editorial, I
couldn't otter any defense (Or it:
because I was so confused, I
couldn't even: remember what It
had said.
? ? ?
Statistics are tricky things.
They're best taken with a whole
hand full oTsalt.
They're likely to be misleading
if there's anything wrong with
the way the Information is gather
ed. And they're sure to he. unless
they are interpreted correctly ?
and that takes both care and
wisdom.
A good illustration of how you
can take figures that are entirely
accurate and come up with a
wholly misleading conclusion is
this one:
Take 40 women who are bow
legged and 40 other Women who.
are knock-kneed. Nov one of 'em
has straight legs. Bat take all 80
women and average 'em up, and
what do you get?
There's only one- thing you can
get. You come up with the con
clusion you have 80 women, all
with 100 per cent straight lags*
'Whose Fault?' Is Agonized
Question Of Father Whose
Son's Car Killed 1? Hurt 5
Not too long ago an automobile
dirven by the 16-year old son of
Ctty Councilman W. B. Myer s* ot
Tampa, Fla., went out of control
at high speed. One high school
student was killed and five others
were hurt. The Tampa Timas ask
ed Mr. Mjers to write of his re
action to the tragedy, bojth as a
father and a city official, Ex
cerpts from his statement follow:
"It was a wholesale tragedy.
We realize that Tommy must face
the tact that the boy lost his
life Id the car Tommy was driving.
'There is nothing in the world
to compensate for the loss of a
life. If I could I would give my
own life for that boy's. I surely
would. I feel that with all my
heart.
"Whatever charge they place
against Tommy, he is going to
have to take it. He was wrong.
I'll stand by him as a father, but
not as a public official.
"If every parent of a teen-ager
who drives could stand by help
lessly In a hospital and see their
children lying on an operating
table, wondering if they will live
or die, I'm sure they would wish
that the automobile had never
been invented.
"Yet you realize that you can't
lock your children in the house
and tell them they can't be a
part of society. And you can't
be with them every minute. So
what is the answer?
"I know that much of the prob
lem is centered around speed.
HOME HINT: HOW TO
GET 'NEW LOOK'
Interesting window-like effects
may be obtained by removing
from the living room walls the
pictures which have hung there so
long. ? Brfston Olobe.
Elver since we have had ?< tele
vision set In our house, aU I can
remember seeing on automobile
ads Is power, speed, pick, up . . .
"How can you explain to a child,
or even an adult, that be has to
go undec 40 (the limit where this
accident occurred), when he is
constant shown examples of cars
which go more than 1(80?
"My son had been told not to
drive fast, not to exceed the speed
limit, to be careful, and look out
for the other fellow.
"One of the problems confront
ing me now is whether to let him
drive again. Frankly, I don't
know if I'll ever let Tommy drive
until he's 18. But it will be a long
time before I have to make that
decision, due to the extent of his
injuries.
"I think that, except In ex
treme cases, a boy probably should
not be permitted to drive until he
is 18. The two-year difference be
tween 16 and 18 will give him
much more maturity and common
sense. The law gives a child 16
years old the right to drive. But I
feel that each parent should exam
ine his own child as an individual
and determine whether the child
is fit from the standpoint of ma
turity and common sense to oper
ate a lethal weapon such as the
modern car."
UNCLE ALEX'S
SAWS
There's one (rood thins about
the feller that's always got his
nose in a book ? he ain't cot it
in somebody else's business.
Ain't it funny how a man'll
pay the preacher, be faithful to
his wife, and be honest as the
day's lone in business ? but'll lie
like all fit out, in politics?
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Looking Backward Through the Files of The Press
65 TEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(1893)
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week sent the mer
cury kiting toward the 90's.
D. C. Cunningham and Son have added four new hand
some buggies to their livery.
Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Jarrett have gone to Dills boro to reside.
Home-made flour $2.50 per 100 lbs. at Wrights. ? Adv.
25 TEARS AGO
(1933)
Sale of the municipal power plant to the Nantahala Power
and Light Company was approved by the voters of Franklin
in Tuesday's special election by a margin of 269 votes.
June 30 Mrs. R. D. Slsk and Mrs. W. M. Officer entertained
with a party honoring Mrs. J. J. Conley on her 70th birthday
anniversary.
Mr. John Jones and family have moved Into their new home
on Bldwell Street.
1* TEARS AGO
The Board of Aldermen this week voted to reduce the Town
of Franklin tax rate from $1.25 to $1.10. The Board of Com
missioners kept the county rate at $1.10.
The County Board of Education Tuesday voted to buy 1,000
first quality chair desks to replace the home-made and worn
out desks now In use in the schools of this county.