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Editorial Page Editor
'GEORGE' TO DO IT
This Is Good News
"Let George do it ..."
Because that is a common attitude toward a
public job that needs doing, and because, as a rule,
nobody will admit his name is "George", the job
doesn't get done. This is about one of the rare
exceptions.
When the first white men came to this county,
they found the Nikwasi Mound, standing a little
way to the west of the Little Tennessee River.
Those pioneers didn't know when or why the
Mound was built; and even today, nobody knows.
It isn't even certain, as is generally assumed, that
it was built by the Cherokee Indians ; there is a
legend it was already here when the first Chero
kee arrived.
For more than a century, the Mound was private
ly owned. It was often cultivated, to corn and
other crops ; that may account for its lack of sym
inetrv.
Back in 194C>, the growth of the town suggested
the possibility that some private owner might de
cide to level the Mound, to make the spot usable
as business property; and so it was bought, by
public subscription, and the Town of Franklin
made trustee for the .public. Mr. W. Roy Carpen
ter, the then owner, agreed to sell a plot of about
a third of an acre for $1,500, and a money-raising
campaign, headed by Mr. Gilmer A. Jnnes, was
quickly successful. Contributions came not only
from people living here, but from many former
residents, .some of them as far away as the Pacific
Coast. The fund was sufficiently over-subscribed,
in fact, that enough money was left over to pro
vide the granite markers at the lot's corners.
That was 13 years ago, and for 13 years now,
the Mound has been largely neglected. Occasion
ally, a public-spirited citizen or group has cut the
grass, or even cleaned up a bit ; generally * though,
the ancient Mound has been unkempt? something
of an eyesore, instead of a prized and cared-for
relic.
It is pood news, therefore, tliat the Franklin'
Garden Club has decided to clean up and beautify
the Mound, and then to maintain it. The club
women plan to transform it into a town park.
Their first task is to clean il up. Then some
gaping holes must be filled. After that, - quick-grow
ing trees are to be' planted at the back, to hide junk
and other unsightly views. Plantings arc to be
put at the front. And as they proceed, other plans
undoubtedly will suggest themselves and be car
ried out. l.ven this preliminary work, though, il is
estimated, will cost several hundred dollars.
This is a fine, a worth while project. Many a
community would "give its eyeteeth" for such an
attraction, and would long since have moved to
preserve and .beautify it.
The (iarden Club deserves the whole-hearted
support of everybody in this undertaking. They'll
welcome moral support, we are sure: it's our
hunch, in fact, they might find a use for some'
financial support, too:
In California And Here
A couple of weeks a^o, \vc read with interest ?
and considerable approval ? an editorial - in the
Manteca, Calif., Bulletin. Manteca, although it's
three times the size of Franklin, somehow has man
aged to struggle along, until now, without requir
ing, property-owners to obtain permits every time
they burn a bit of trash in their own backyards.
Whet) we clipped that piece for reprinting, it
dealt with a situation in a far-off town in Cali
fornia. Now, with a similar situation ? strict reg
ulation of the burning of trash ? here in Frank
lin, the comments' of the Manteca newspaper are
applicable right here at home.
We chuckled, as we think our readers will
chuckle, at the way Fditor (ieorge Murphy used
exaggeration to make his point. His point is that
we try to meet every problem by "making, a new
law", that we pile law 011 top of law, and th;lt we
seek to regulate everybody in order to control the
negligent few.
? ' <
That piece, "Why N'ot Outlaw Bathrooms?",
appears on this page. We commend it to readers
in general and to town and fire department offi
cials in particular.
To that, we would add the comment that the
SM^TlAL CMOtSO SU?-T/*iFS >' 2VA a:<,, &&&*&&?}
?67*r/v<5 HANKED UP
new town rule requiring a permit to burn trash
probably is neither necessary nor desirable. Not
necessary, because there already is plenty of state
law on the books to punish those who are careless
with fire. And not desirable because, we suspect,
it is unenforceable.
A Good Law
If people are to be penalized when they are late
paying their taxes, then they should be rewarded
for being early. If that is true, then surely the re
verse is also: If people are to be rewarded for early
payment, then they should be penalized for late
payment. Yet Macon County, for years, has given
a discount for pre payment, but imposed no pen
alty whatever for tardiness.
Rep. James M. Raby has changed that, bringing
this county under provisions of the state law;
hereafter, we'll have both rewards and penalties.
Everybody won't like that, but Mr. Raby appar
ently thought it was a fair law, and .so got it en
acted. We think it's fair, too, and we commend
the Macon representative for having the courage
to do what he thinks is right.
Creed For A New Party
(Windsor, Colo., Beacon)
Several weeks ago an editor In North Carolina, Weimar
Jones, wrote an interesting piece on the formation of a third
party. It wasn't just a Dixieland special, favoring segregation;
he figured integration was coming anyhow, but It was time
some party came to the rescue of civil rights.
Considering the fine, idealistic men in both major political
parties who are ostracized because they think for themselves,
there should be plenty of experienced politicians available for
a new third party. 1
I don't know what poetic phrases should be used In the
charter of this party, but I do know what would be the
simple, practical working creed for all Its politicians.
It would be simply this:
"I represent the people. I protect their liberties from in
fringement by the military, by Washington bureaucracy, or
organized pressure groups of voters themselves.
"I realize that each time I curtail military secrecy along
with military spending, I please the taxpayers at the expense
of making an enemy of the Pentagon.
."I realize that by keeping a balanced budget I also cheer
the people, but irritate government bureaucrats.
"And every time I vote against a special interest bill, I
antagonize this pressure group but please all the rest.
"And although every voter is represented by at least one
pressure group, he'll be displeased only once and bolstered by
all the rest of my actions.
"Therefore, I expect to come out of each session with power
ful enemies in the military and In Washington civil service,
but I'll have one all-powerful group of friendly backers ? the
people."
At the present time, neither political party seems to have
any faith that representing the people AS A WHOLE pays off
any longer. It's time we had a party that did.
Why Not Outlaw Bathrooms?
(Manteca, Calif., Bulletin)
There has been quite a hue and cry around the village
about the city's new fire ordinance. This ordinance sharply
restricts burning of trash and rubbish and sets up some rather
complicated rules governing incinerators.
We don't know whether this ordinance is too strict or not.
It does seem, however, that it is going to make it very diffi
cult, if not impossible, for many people with small yards to
do any burning at all.
Of course, we belong to the school of thought which con
tends the less we are governed, the better off we are. Govern
ment, of course, is bound and determined to protect us from
ourselves whether we need the protection or not.
Last year, for example, there were several fence fires caus
ed by improper burning. The city feels that it is necessary
to restrict all of Manteca's 8000 residents in order to eliminate
a few small fires. Whether this restriction is needed is de
batable, since It is obviously impossible to take all of the risks
out of living. If we did. It would be a pretty sterile society.
Government, of course, should be the servant of the people
and not the master. Unfortunately, government tends to pass
a great many laws which are primarily for the benefit of the
governors and not the governed.
In this light we might suggest that the city council pass an
ordinance outlawing all bathrooms in the home. This would
greatly simplify things for the city.
First, It would no longer have to raise the money for costlj
sewage disposal plants. Then it could end its 3-year search
for a sewage disposal site and the necessity for raising enough
money to build a pipeline to that site
The city would probably find some support for this measure.
Safety Councils should welcome abolition of bathrooms. Since
the bathroom is one of the most dangerous places in the
home, many lives would be saved and countless Injuries
avoided by the simple expedient of eliminating them by gov
ernment decree.
But what do the people do in a case like this? Very simple.
The city simply establishes a Department of Toilets. Bathtubs
and Sinks, and operates a fleet of sanitation trucks with daily
service to each home.
Which is what they're going to have to do for trash and
rubbish If the citizens have no other way of disposing of It.
Something New To Tolerate
(The Charlotte Observer)
In fine fustian fettle, the Cincinnati Enquirer tweaked the
noses of North Carolina newsmen the other day, pausing con
siderable anguish In the corn pone belt.
It had to do with the Dixie Classic, the collegiate basketball
extravaganza held each December at State College In Raleigh.
The University of Cincinnati came into the tournament, you
may remember, ranked No. 1 in the nation and left in a some
what disheveled condition after suffering two jolting defeats.
"It Is doubtful Cincinnati ever will go back to the Dixie
Classic an long as the racial problem exists," harrumphed
the Enquirer's Dick Forbes. "Or perhaps It would be more ac
curate to say as long as the North Carolina press keeps It a
hot potato." The Enquirer's man accused Tar Heel newsmen
of taking "digs'* at Cincinnati's great Negro all-American,
Oscar Robertson, and other Negro players in the tournament.
This raised eyebrows down here. Not being sociologists. Tar
Heel sportswrlters profess boredom when confronted with the
intricacies of ancestry. The only thing that really seems to
move them is performance and they were hurt when It was
suggested that their failure to appreciate Cincinnati's per
formance was mistaken as a "dig" at young Robertson's race.
We wonder if a lot of Americans aren't getting a bit overly
sensitive and unreasonably protective when It comes to race ?
not only on the sports pages, but also In the editorial towers,
the walnut cubicles of Hollywood, the television studios and
even the steamy prose of much contemporary literature. Just
the other day, critic John Crosby raised a similar point in a
piece on "tolerance dramas."
"For a score of years now," he wrote, "the only permissible
villains have been white Protestants of Anglo-Saxon stock.
During the war, of course, we could also sneer at Germans
and Japanese and since the war it's been open season on the
Russians. Mostly, though, the bad guys are simply ourselves.
Everyone else has a pressure group. t
"Brown, yellow or black-skinned folk are automatically vir
tuous ? or, if there is a fall from virtue, there are strongly
extenuating circumstances, usually Intolerable social pressures.
The result Is that writers are forced to be fundamentally dis
honest in their perceptions of people of any other color or
creed than white and Protestant."
Mr. Crosby's point Is well taken: Why can't people simply
be represented as people, not as plaster saints? It's a good
question. Meanwhile, we've been moping around all day trying
to think of something new to tolerate. We think It's going to
be the Cincinnati Enquirer.
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Looking Backward Through the Files of The Press
65 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(1894)
Persons who were out a little after dark last Friday evening
and looked north saw a beautiful aurora borealis.
Rev. J. A. Deal is making a considerable addition to his
dwelling two miles west of town. ?
An. effort is being made to get a dally mail line from
Franklin to Ellijay in this county.
35 YEARS AGO
(1924)
Mrs. F. E. Mashburn, of Scroll, was in town on business
Wednesday.
Mr. Jos. Ashear this week bought the interest of his broth
er, George, in the firm of Jos. Ashear Si Bro.
15 YEARS AGO
(1944)
Stamp No. 18 in War Ration Book 1 is good for one pair
of shoes through April 30.
Macon County has exceeded its $6,500 Red Cross War Fund
quota by more than $2,600, Chairman John M. Archer, Jr.,
has reported. ?
5 YEARS AGO
(1954)
Jack Cruse was elected chairman of the Van Raalte Mutual
Aid Association at the organization's annual meeting Satur
day night at Kelly's Tea Room.
The Carson Rural Community Development Organization
will give a supper and party at the Cartoogechaye School
Saturday night to raise money for the community building.
LETTERS
Still Likes To Cook
Dear Mr. Jones:
After becoming attached to cooking and doing pastry work
back there in Franklin cafes and restaurants for a period of
about 23 years, I am still very fond of new receipts I find out
here in the State of Washington.
I am sending The Press a very good pie recipe, which I
find to be a delicious pie, and one I'm sure the housewives
back there would like.
I must add that we appreciate The PreSs, our home paper,
and look forward to getting It each week. We also are looking
forward to the month of June, when we will be going back to
North Carolina.
MRS. EDITH KELL
Longvlew, Wash.
Chess Pie
y2 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt . ?
*4 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add
whole egg and egg yolks. Beat thoroughly until thick and
smooth. Add vanilla, raisins and nuts; Pour into unbaked pie
shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes. Top with
meringue or whipped cream if desired.
A rich man Is nothing but a poor man with money ? W. C.
Fields.
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By WEIMAR JONCS
Pre-Easter observances here last
week reminded me of something
I've often noted with Interest ?
the change In customs among
the evangelical churches.
I comment on It not as some
thing necessarily either good or
bad, but simply as an interesting
development.
Much In the way of form, it
seems to me, has been borrowed,
in recent decades, from the Epis
copal Church, just as the Epis
copalians, presumably, earlier bor
rowed from the Roman Catholic
Church.
As a boy In Franklin, I recall
hearing some of the men who sat
in the "amen corner" of the Meth
odist Church deplore "the way
the Methodists are becoming just
like the Episcopalians", in em
phasis on form and ritual. If they
could see the evangelical churches
of today, I suspect they'd turn
over in their graves. (Maybe they
do!)
As a youngster here, I can't
recall ever hearing the word
"lent", and I'm sure I was grown
before I ever heard the term
"holy week". (And surely I'd have
remembered it, if there had been
such a thing as an "Easter Mon
day" holiday from school!) JVhile
I suspect there sometimes may
nave been a Good Friday service
in our church, the first time, as
a grown man, I heard the term
"Maundy Thursday" ? often re
ferred to in evangelical churches
today ? I thought somebody had
got mixed up on his days of the
week.
And what would those old
"amen corner" men have thought
of roped choirs, much less a
minister in robes! What would
they have thought of a cross on
an evangelical church, now often
seen on Methodist, Presbyterian,
and occasionally Baptist churches!
And what of a divided chancel!
They would have been even more
shocked, I suspect, at the increas
ing emphasis on ritual; to them,
it would have seemd form, form
that easily might be empty of
meaning and spirit.
That revulsion against any hint
of formalism was probably more
pronounced here in the mountains
than in most areas, because your
typical mountaineer so heartily
detested anything even approach
ing hypocrisy that he went to
the opposite extreme: was in
clined to go so far to the opposite
extreme that often he refused to
have any of the things that lend
beauty to a church.
There has been another change
related to churches that is even
more noticeable. It hasn't been
many decades since it was the
universal custom here for business
houses to close their doors for the
morning or afternoon (or some
times both) services, when a re
vival was under way. (It was
called. In those days, a "protracted
meeting", and to a small boy some
of the services seemed protracted
indeed!)
What church, conducting a re
vival series today, would try to
hold services on weekday morn
ings or afternoons? If a church
did. it would be lucky to have a
handful of women present, and
elderly women at that.
Why that difference? Is it due
to a declining interest in religion
? a shift of emphasis from souls
to dollars? Or is it because It's
harder to make a living today
tiian it once was? Admittedly, "a
living" includes a lot more physi
cal comforts and pleasures now.
It must be admitted, too. that it's
earned in fewer hours. In the old
days, for instance, the stores
opened at about 7 in the morning
and didn't close until bedtime;
on Saturdays, in fact, the best
business of the day was done
?after supper. Vet, in spite of all
that. I am sure, in terms of strain
and tension, life was easier then.
What is the explanation? I'm
not sure. Maybe it's just another
change in customs.
GONE ARE COWCATCHERS
Story Of The Gray-Haired Hog
SOUTHERN PINES PILOT
Writing in the Monroe Journal,
John Beasley recalls an incident
out of Moore County history ?
"what happened to a big old pine
rooter hog down in Moore County
when trains began running
through there b?fore the days of
the stock law." The item con
tinues:
"There was a certain big old
TURN ABOUT:
?THAT'LL BE $25'
At a civic dinner, a doctor
was pestered by a woman who
wanted free medical advice.
"Do you think I should send
her a bill?" he asked a lawyer
who sat next to him.
"Why not?" the lawyer replied,
"You rende/ed professional serv
ices by giving her advice."
When the doctor went to his
office the next day to bill the
woman, he found this letter from
the lawyer:
"For legal services: $25." ?
Quote.
IF YOU'RE EXTREME
fellow in the neighborhood that
. was well known both on account
of his size and coal black color.
: One day while he was crossing
the track, an engine came along
and picked him up on the cow
' catcher.
"The old fellow was either
dazed or had sense enough to lie
still until the train stopped at
the next station, which was ten
miles away. Here he was seen to
get off, by a man who recognized
him and put him up and notified
the owner.
"The singular part of it was
that the hog lost his rich dark
color and turned as gray as a rat.
Like a man who" has seen a ghost,
he was fust turned gray by
fright."
Just a thought: are there any
younger readers who don't know
what the term "cowcatcher"
means? Modern diesel monsters
! of the tracks have something or
other up there in front as a kind
of bumper, but we doubt if it's
still known by that grand de
scriptive name.
Other Fellow's Sure To Be
SIDNEY J. HARRIS
In Raleirta Times
A friend of mine, whom I have
always considered a calm and
stable personality, told me recent
ly that he is regarded in some
quarters as a wild-eyed radical,
and in other circles as a stony
conservative ? when actually he is
neither.
"It's an irresistible urge I have
when I get together with extrem
ists." he said. "I promptly swing
oifer to the other extreme, just be
cause I am so irritated with their
one-sided view." ,
I was delighted to learn that
somebody else reacts this way, too.
For years I have deplored my own
tendency to do this. In most cases,
it gives a false impression of my
views ? but when I am confront
ing an extremist. I become a pas
sionate defender of the opposite
view.
With ice-cold reactionaries, I
sound like a rabid bolshevik: with
professional liberals. I take on the
tone of a facist; with the ardent
culture-vultures, I pretend to read
nothing but comic books and love
lorn columns: with pugnacious
lowbrows, I refer haughtily to the
French symbolist poets and the
ontologlcal existentialism of
Kierkegaard.
This, of course, is a senseless
way to behave: it is over-react
ing to a situation. But. in all fair
ness. there is something about
extremism that breeds its own op
posite.
The complacency of the bour
geoisie makes me yearn for the
Bohemian life: the sloppiness of
the Bohemians brings out my
primness: loud-mouthed patriots
prompt me to take a stand for the
French way of life; and moist-eyed
lovers of all things European give
me the urge to hop on a chair
and begin waving Old Olory.
The danger or extremism is that
it forces its opponents to adopt
an equally extreme view ? thus
hurting Its own cause more than
it realizes. The Reign of Terror
during the French Revolution was
a natural historical result of the
repressive monarchy; the satanism
of Stalin sprang up out of the
soil of Czarist cruelty.
No single way of living is ex
clusively right. Combination is
all. Life is the art of mixing In
gredients in tolerable proportions
so that all the varied needs of
man are somehow satisfied, and
no important hunger is neglected.
This is what all extremists forget,
with their too-simple slogans for
the good life.
SOMEBODY, IT
SEEMS, LIED
Private J. P. Jay marched up
to his colonel and saluted: "I
would like a leave of absence.
sir!"
"What for?" queried the officer.
"My wife wants me to help
her move, sir."
"I don't like to refuse you."
said the colonel, "but I've just
received a letter from your wife
saying that she doesn't want you
to come home because you're more
bother than help."
The soldier saluted and turned
to go. At the door he stopped
and remarked: "Colonel, there
are two persons in this regiment
who handle the truth loosely,
and I'm one of them. I'm not
married." ? The Jester