{[Jt* (JflntttJtliit |ms
ani
0
Che 33tghlani?s ^jHnrxminu
Second clam mall privileges authorised at Franklin. N. C.
Puollshed every Thursday by The Fran It Ha Preqg
Telephone 34
Established in 1886 as The Franklin Press
Member: N. C. Press Association, National Editorial Association .
Carolinas Press Photographers Association. Charter member. National
Conference of Meekly Newspaper Editors
BOB 8 SLOAN .
WEIMAR JONES
J P. BRADY
ICRS ROBERT BRYSON
MRS BOB SLOAN
CARL P CABE
PRANK A STARRETTE
O. E. CRAWFORD
DAVID H SUTTON
THI RSDAY. SEPT. 25, 1958
Faith, Plus
There's nothing like faith. Last week we asked
for one mail box. And hi! we got house mail de
livery for Franklin! Got it before that editorial
asking for a mail box (so motorists can mail let
ters without leaving their cars) could reach the
readers !
There's nothing, we should add, like faith plus
works. For a lot of work went into this Franklin
Lions Club project. First, every street in town had
to be named : next the club had to raise and spend
some $600 for street signs ; then every lot in town
had to be measured and given a street number:
finally, the Lions obtained house numbers, sold
them to property owners, and got the owners to
put them up.
There's nothing like faith plus works plus stick
to-it-iveness. For the Lions didn't get mail delivery
for Franklin in a week or a month or a year.
They've been working'consistently on this project
for some eight years.
All of which goes to show what can be done if
we have faith, and are willing to work, and keep
on keeping on.
It goes to show, too, how closely the progress of
a community is tied in with the public-spirited ef
forts of an organization such as Franklin's Lions
Club.
Publisher and Advertising Manager
Editor
. % , . News Editor
Office Manager
Society Editor
Operator-Machinist
I Compositor
Stereotypes
Commeiclal Printer
Buy What We Want
However much some persons may disagree with
Governor Hodges' view that local communities
should shoulder a larger share of the cost of public
schools in this state, there is no valid answer to
one statement Mr. Hodges made at his press con
ference in Asheville last Friday.
"People spend for what theycvvant", the Governor
emphasized. He cited the fact Americans spend
more for tobacco than for education, and "far
more" for alcoholic beverages than for education.
As long as that is true, he said, people cannot hon
estly argue they can't pay for better schools.
Governor Hodges did not say so, but it would
seem true, also, that so long as that is true, there is
no real ground for saying federal aid to education
is necessary.
r The one bit of fire that marked the conference
came when Bob Sloan, of The Press, questioned
whether a system of local supplements wouldn't
be unfair to Macon County, as compared with a
rich county like Mecklenburg. The governor raised
his voice and pounded the desk with his fist. He
later explained* that he has repeatedly been mis
understood on this matter.
What he favors, he emphasized, is payment by
the state of "a good minimum", with the counties
and local communities picking up and going on
from there, to "enrich" the; schools beyond the
minimum. And while it would, of course, be harder
for Macon to supplement teachers' salaries than it
would for Mecklenburg, "people pay for what they
want". And he pointed out that some counties now
are .supplementing the state support*.
Asked about the possibility of eliminating
"waste" in the operation of the schools, Governor
Hodges said "the professional educators don't ad
mit there is any waste". He added, though, that the
State Board of Higher Education has come up with
senfe excellent ideas on that subject, and that, "at
last", a serious study is being made of developing
a merit system of paying teachers.
In the federal-state conflict over integration,
Washington authorities are sitting hack waiting,
confident local pressures will force the reopening
of schools in Arkansas anrl Virginia. However that
may be, it is an interesting commentary on our
sense of values and our educational system that
the federalists are counting chiefly not on the desire
for education, but on the annoyance of mothers at
having children underfoot at home and on possible
interruption of football schedules. ?/ .
"Please! Please! Be Kind To The Poor L'l Kitty"
Our Best Bow
All accounts indicate that the fliers who came
here last week end, in search^of rubies, were charm
ed with this region. That seems to have been gen
erally true even before they went to dig for rubies.
Many of these folk will come back. And an even
larger number will be lured to^Macon County by the
word-of-mouth accounts spread by these aerial vis
itors. As a promotion project, the "Pilots Ruby
Rendezvous" was as unique as Macon County itself.
The fly-in, of course, didn't just happen. Such
things never just happen. Before it could happen,
there had- to be a lot of planning, and then a lot of
work. As is generally true with such undertakings,
most of the burden fell on a few organizations and
a few individuals. To them, The Press makes its
best bow ; the community is dbeply in their debt.
Crime And Macon County
Citing the alarming increase in crime in the
United States, J. Edgar Hoover quite sensibly
urges better local law enforcement.
In a signed .statement in the FBI Law Enforce
ment Bulletin, Mr. Hoover says that in ll,57, lor
the second successive year, major crimes passed
the 2/i million mark. That's one every 1 1 seconds.
And in the past eight years, he adds, crime has in
creased four times as fast as the population.
Quite aside from the desirability of keeping local
government on a lycal basis, it would take a tre
mendous FBI indeed to cope with all that crime;
so Mr. Hoover urges stronger local agencies for
law enforcement ? bigger sheriff's and police de
partments, paying better salaries to attract better
men, and the best and latest in equipment.
What has all this to do with us here in Macon
County? At the moment, the problem seems far off.
But there is no quarantine against the spread of
crime; besides, recent months have provided sig
nificant evidence of incipient hoodlumism here in
Franklin.
There is just one effective way to deal with such
a situation. The boy who steals a hub-cap or de
stroys equipment in a park, and gets away with it,
soon is likely to try armed robber)-. The way td
prevent his developing into an armed robber is to
make sure the punishment for these lesser offenses
is prompt and sure.
1 1 1
That's the one effective way to deal with hood
lumism, after it develops. The place to prevent it,
of course, is not in the law enforcement agencies,
but in those agencies that affect the boy before he
gets into trouble with the law? such agencies as the
home, the church, and the school. And, just from
a cold dollars-and-cents viewpoint, that also is the
cheapest way to deal with it.
It Is common heresy . . . that you can kill an Idea by kill
ing a man, defeat a principle by defeating a person, bury
truth by burying Its vehicle. Man may burn his brother at the
stake, but he cannot reduce truth to ashes; he may murder
his fellow man with a shot in the back, but he does not mur
der Justice. He may even slay armies of men, but It Is writ
ten, "truth beareth off the victory".? Adlal Stevenson.
The soundest and best argument ever advanced for keeping
your words sweet is that you never know when you might have
to eat them.? Howe V. Morgan In Sparta, 111., News-Plalndealer.
Open Or Just Vacant?
( Arapa, Colo., News)
Many a man thinks he has an open mind when it's merely
vblcant.
Different Language
(Telestory)
Conscience is a small inner voice* that doesn't speak your
language.
The Old Guard Returneth
(Windsor, Colo., Beacon)
Vice President Nixon stated last week end, in defense of
tax cuts to big business, that "the welfare of the American
citizen is Inseparable from the welfare of business."
Sounds like the beginning of the end tor Ike and his "mod
ern Republicanism."
East And West
(Menlo Park, Calif., Recorder)
In the eastern sections of our country, a proud pastime for
residents is pointing out to visitors how much of the past still
remains. A drive down the tree-shaded streets of a New Eng
land town usually is accompanied by a commentary like this:
"Now there is the house Josiah Jones built in 1672, with the
original shutters still in place."
In the West, the game is reversed. An "old settler" out
here ? that is, anyone who has lived in the same town more
than five years ? is wont to brag: "When I moved here, that
entire subdivision was a prune orchard."
Letters
Another Reconstruction?
Editor, The Press:
After almost one hundred years, it looks like the South is
again facing Reconstruction. The South is the center of the
storm, but a much stronger South.
If so few people can enforce an unwanted law on hundreds
and thousands, we are, of all people, most miserable. If our
states have no rights, then we, as common citizens, have no
rights. If our governors have no power over the states in
which they govern, then why do we need governors? I ad
mire men that have the courage to stand pat on what they
think is right and Governor Faubus and Governor Almond
are Just that.
This is no time to tear down our schools. This is no time
to split and divide our country. This is no time to be un
prepared. This is no time to play right into the Communists'
hands. Yet, we are doing just that. Is the Supreme Court help
ing the racial problem or creating hatred among members of
the two races?
I want neither race deprived of education, but I don't want
them mixed.
HERMAN WILSON.
Highlands.
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Looking Backward Through the Files of The Press
65 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(1893)
Mr. W. A. Rogers will leave today for Chapel Hill to enter
the State University.
An old Indian, seeing a man pass by on a bicycle, exclaimed;,
"Much lazy white man; walk sittin' down. Ugh!"
Mr. L. C. Holbrook, of Smith's Bridge, has built a handsome
new dwelling. It lacks only the paint now to make it a thing
of beauty.
Drs. J. Robert Bell and Fred L. Siler will leave today for
Nashville, Tenn., to enter the medical department of Vander
bllt University.
25 YEARS AGO
(1933)
Franklin's town council is considering the advisability of
obtaining a loan from the $50,000,000 public works fund al
loted to North Carolina by the federal government to make
long needed Improvements of the town's water and sewerage
disposal systems. '
Railway figures supplied The Press show the "T. F." made
a net profit of $2,251 for August.
10 YEARS AGO
Trout fishing In the areas within the Nantahala National
Forest attracted 3,157 fishermen during the 1948 season.
STRICTLY PERSONAL b* woma> jones
Dear Teacher:
The other day our six-year-old
Billy trotted off to achool.
His mother and I watched in til
he was out of sight. We thought
he would turn and wave, at the
corner, and give us that quick,
easy smile of his. But he was too
intent, too eager for this new
experience; he rounded the corner
without even hesitating.
For his mother, that was a bit
too much. She had known all the
time, of course, that this would
end his babyhood. But she wasn t
prepared for the break to come
so abruptly, and with such finality
? least of all. for him to be the
one to make it.
There was pain for me. too ?
but for a different reason. Mine
was caused by a heart fairly
bursting with pride. To me. this
marked the beginning of the
growth of a man; and the fact
that the boy didn't think to stop
and bid us that final goodbye was
evidence he'd be a man who could
and would stand alone.
But though our reactions were
so different, his mother and I
are in complete' agreement about
what we hope he will learn. We
do not expect you to perform
miracles. We realize that, at most,
you can develop the material that
comes to you; that what you are
able to do will depend upon what
we already have done ? or failed
to do.
We know, too, that our respon
sibilities are not over ? far from
it! But we believe we, and you,
should face the tacts; from here
on out. our influence on him will
become less and less strong, while
yours will grow greater nad
greater.
And so, as you begin to take
over, it seems an appropriate
time to tell you what we should
like to have him taught.
We hope you can teach him to
read.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Tkb k
reprinted from The Press at
October I, 1>S3.)
"That Is easy", some persons
might say. You know better; you
realize, as perhaps no one else
does, how many boys and girls
are graduated from high school
without ever having learned to
read. In the full sense of that
word.
First of all. of course, we want
him to learn to read accurately:
to see and to take note of the
"nots" and the "buts" and the
"lfs" that make all the difference
In the meaning of what Is on
the printed page. We hope. too.
that he can learn to read aloud,
with ease and grace.
But reading, it seems to us. Is
more than Just seeing all the
words, and being able to pro
nounce them. The good reader
reads with his mind, the eyes
serving simply as a tool; the words
on the printed page come alive
as they send Ideas to his brain.
And the really good reader
screens those Ideas: examines
them, tests them, and accepts
some as true, rejects others as
false, and puts still others in the
doubtful category. In short, when
he reads, he thinks.
Words can convey pictures, too;
pictures far more vivid than any
photograph or drawing, because
they are mental images, pictures
painted on his mind by his own
experiences. As Billy learns really
to read, not simply parrot words,
such simple words as "moonlight"
and "water" and "wind" will bring
back to him a night of Inexpres
sible beauty, the lulling sound of
a stream running over rocks, the
sense of safety and comfort he
has felt as he slipped off to sleep
in his warm bed. while the win
ter wind howled outside. \
From these simple emotions, he
can go on. as he learns to read
even better, to laughter and tears,
love and hate, admiration and
contempt, sympathy and courage
? and the awakening of aspira
tion.
And so reading can become
not only a source of comfort In
time of loneliness ? it can feed
mind and heart and character:
it is a way to acquire those Inner
resources and strengths that are
the only real armor against life's
buffetings.
? ? ?
We hope you can teach him to
write.
We hope, of course, he will learn
to write more legibly than most
Walls Of Jericho?
On one of his routine calls, a
school inspector asked a boy:
"Who knocked down the walls
of Jericho?"
"I didn't anyway, sir." the
youth promptly protested. , add
ing: "It must have been one of
the other boys." ?
As the inspector was leaving
the classroom, the teacher is re
ported to have remarked to him:
"He's a good, truthful lad. If
he had anything to do with the
walls, he would have admitted
it."
It is further related that on
returning to Dublin, the inspectoi
went into conference with some
of his colleagues. After consider
ing the matter from every angle,
they decided to pass on the prob
lem to the board of works:
The decision from this exalted
source is stated to have been
"If there has been damage done
to the walls, it must be repaired
without delay." ? Munster, Ire
land, Express.
of us of an older generation;
but uniting. It seems to us. Is
more than Just putting on paper
alphabetical symbols that are
recognisable.
It* purpose Is to express Ideas
and emotions: and It Is useless
unless they are so expressed that
what Is written will mean some
thing to others. And so we hope
Billy will learn not merely to
write legibly and grammatically,
but learn to have something to
say. and to know how to use
words to say it.
If reading has stirred his mind
and his imagination and his feel
ings. he will have something he
wants to say. but he can say it
only as he learns about words ?
that they have exact meanings,
each a little different from all
the others; and that, in addition,
words have backgrounds and pei
sonalities and atmospheres like
places and people.
So. if he is to write, he must
learn the habit of studying words,
his tool for saying what he has
to say. He must learn, too, that
all good writing is clear and
simple, like all good people.
Finally, if he is to write so
that what he writes will be ac
cepted and welcomed by others,
he must learn to say it with the
warmth of human sympathy and
with the tolerance that comes
from a recognition that his ex
periences and those of the one h?
is writing to have been different.
? ? ?
Last, but far from least, we
hope you can teach him to figure.
He needs to learn to add and
subtract and mutiply. of course;
and to do those things accurately.
But figuring, it seems to us. Is
more than just addition and sub
traction and multiplication.
Life is hard, at best; it will be
very hard for the youngsters who
are growing up in today's con
fused and confusing world. And
they can take the beatings it will
give them ? and the even-harder
to-take ease and good fortune
? with an unbroken spirit only
if they have learned this hard
but simple lesson:
. Two and two make four.
They never make three or five,
but always four.
In short, figuring can make
him wise enough to know that
some things cannot be changed,
and honest enough with himself
to see things as they are. not as
he might wish them to be.
? ? ?
If you can teach him these
three ? what it means to read
and to write and to figure ?
we think he will be educated;
because if he learns how really
to do these things, he will be a
man.
Respectfully,
?BILLY'S DAD.
<
UNCLE ALEX'S
SAYIN'S
Funny how quick a man can
lose his hearin', when con
science starts a-talkin'.
Heap 'o times it's the optimist
that's pessimistic and the pessi
mist that's optimistic. F'rln
stance, when things git bad,
the optimist is so pessimistic
he says they couldn't be worse
? so they're bound to git bet
ter. But the pessimist is op
timistic enough to think things
ain't as bad as they, mought
be ? so they're shore to git
worse.
Science For You
By BOB BROWN
PROBLEM: Pump water out of a tube by blowing Into It.
NEEDED: Small and large tubes as shown, a short hose,
containers for the water.
DO THIS: Blow Into the hose, and water will come from the
larger tube In spurts and blobs, probably hitting your face.
HERE'S WHY: Air entering the larger tube mixes with the
water, and the^ combination of bubbles and water is lighter
than the purer water outside the large tube. Pressure of the
atmosphere on the top of the water in the container is great
enough to force the mixture up and out.
The inside tube must not come quite to the bottom of the
larger tube.
Oopr. '58 Oen'l Features Corp. TM-World Rights Rsvd.