Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / May 7, 1959, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Slip Highlands Jftarmiian WElMAll JOXKS Editorial J'age Editor THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1939 WHOSE MONEY? Spending A Billion North Carolina's state government has a budget of more than a billion dollars for the next two years. And legislators in Raleigh now are deciding, in secret, how that billion dollars shnll be spent. As The Sniithfield Herald so clearly points out, in the article reprinted at the bottom of this page, it is the people who arc taking a licking at the hands of their legislators in such a case. After all, it is the people's tax money ? though legislators sometimes seem to forget that-> ? that is to be spent ; and, after all, the legislators ? though they sometimes seem to forget that, too ? are mere ly the representatives of the people. Secrecy in a legislative committee, always bad, is doubly Wrong in an appropriations committee; because an appropriations bill is so complex, it is not physically possible for other legislators ? -in the short time after the sub committee reports ? to'ex amine, much less debate, its provisions. Usually, the other M5 legislators just go through the form of ratifying what the 25 on the subcommittee have, done. Thus we- have the spectacle of a handful of men ? spending a billion dollars of somebody's money, and demanding that the owners of the money be kept in the dark about the details of how and why it is so spent. Study And Style "Kvcr'bod) talk about Hcah'n ain't goin' there ..." And everybody who talks about the need to put fnore emphasis on scholarship in the schools isn't doing anything about it. Last week, the Franklin Rotary Club tried to do something. It's Scholarship Recognition Banquet, at which the ten top students, scholastically, from each of the four classes of the Franklin IIij>'h School were honor guests, was based on the Biblical thought that "where your treasure is, there will your heart he, also", That is, what a person treasures he will, put his heart into. And of course it is generally recognized that what a nation or a community or a family sets store by, exalts, its children will seek and attain. All of u,s try to get the things we want and prize; and usually, what we want and prize depends to a great extent on what other people value. The Rotarians' effort was not to downgrade other important things emphasized in the schools, but to upgrade study, good scholarship, to its pro, per place, as the primary, the central thing in school. Why is there need for such emphasis? Why have American schools more and more stressed other important, but secondary things, and put less and less stress on scholarship? Guest speaker Roy Arm strong answered the question when he asked the students to "pledge to yourself that you will make scholarship at Franklin High School stylish". All over America, scholarship has ceased to be stylish; it's high time we pirtuit back where it belongs, at the top of the heap. I Mr. Armstrong struck a true note, too, when lie reminded the students of something many adultis? and that's where the trouble starts? have forgot ten: "1 .ducation is the. greatest adventure we can experience". The Rotary Club's gesture is only the beginning of what \ye can do, if we will, toward creating schools here that are scholastica'lly great. And. as the speaker .pointed out, when we' do, "you will see this fine- community lift itself by its own boot straps". No Good Reason In her letter on this pane, Mrs Walter Hall |>uts her finger squarely on ihc reason for mosquitoes in Franklin ? standing water. Whether it's at the airport 01 in a tin can on a. vacant lot, it's, in stand ing water I hat the mosquit o breeds. And of all the places where llvre is ro need for mosquitoes, it is here, where water, unless man in terferes, always runs off. The proof of that is the fact that, until a few years ago, nobody ever saw S^SfeyjarcfsfifjfWee^ MAY 3 -10, 1959 a mosquito in Franklin. Other towns and cities, not so blessed topograph ically, either eliminate or minimize this nuisance. There is no good reason why Franklin should he plagued with mosquitoes.- With a little forethought, a little care, a little effort, we need have none. . . . Or We Die What would happen should all the earth's soil he washed into the sea? should the entire surface of this globe be covered with bare rock or with water? Any school child knows the first and most ob vious answer: There would be no vegetation; hence men would have nothing to eat. They'd have neither edible vegetables nor meat ; because animal life depends on vegetation. A second result, which makes the soil even more inim'ediately urgent to life, is often forgotten. With out vegetation, we would all die of poisoning; be cause vegetation absorbs and uses the poisons we exhale when we breathe. Those facts suggest the importance of the ob servance, May 3 to 10, of Soil Stewardship week. Hither we save the soil, or we die. Miss McDowell Miss May McDowell represented the mountain people at their best. A A lady in the truest sense of the word, she had none of the weaknesses and artificialities that some times erroneously have come to he associated with that term. Hers was an unquenchable intellectual curiosity; yet there .jvas nothing of the pedant about her. She waS a person jof culture; yet she was practical to her finger-tips. (While we do not know it to be a fact, we feel sure she could do an < expert job on a milking-stool or at many another farm chore when there was need.) The gentlenesst that always marks the person of good breeding was hers in full measure; vet there Was a rock-like .quality about her character. She was possessed of an innate dignity that commanded respect ; yet she was "plain as an old shrte", so unassuming was she. Beyond all that, "Miss May" was a lovable hu man being; made so by the fact that she loved, (and spent her life thinking of and doing for) others. -Not A New Thing Back in 1924, The Franklin Press was a little publication of eight pages, five columns to the page. , The Press' advertising volume in those days was small, as an examination of the old files quickly discloses; and we'd guess the rates for advertising were extremely low. The evidence suggests, in short, that the owner of stock in this business re ceived no handsome dividends on his investment? the chances are, he received none at all. Yet, as noted in this week's "Do You Remem ber?", 35 years ago, the paper was owned by a "baker's dozen" Macon County persons. That al most certainly means those persons invested money in the paper not for profit, but to make sure Ma con County had a newspaper. Public spirit is not a new thing here. Definition (Ogden, Ltah, Seagull) Heredity ? Something you believe In when your child's re port card Is all A's. Genius (American Salesman) Genius is the ability to evade work by doing something right the first time it has to be done. LETTERS Mosquitoes In Franklin Editor, The Press: While the Clean-Up Campaign is under way, I would like j to see something done about the mosquitoes in the swampy, unused parts of the airport. Last year they were horrible, as anyone living in this sec tion well knows. Since the filling in of the new runway, there is even more standing swamp water between the new runway and the highway. Since draining these swamps would be a very expensive undertaking, shouldn't the responsible parties be required to keep a filni of oil on these mosquito-breeding places? If this were done, and every individual would check his own premises for similar mosquito-breeding places, we could rid our town and county of many of these unwelcome pests. MRS. WALTER L. HALL East Franklin. DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Flies ot The Press 65 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1894) The bicycle fever* has not struck Franklin. The County Commissioners appropriated money and em ployed Mr. Mc Gillespie to work the road across Nantahala Mountain. Miss Nannie Trotter left Friday morning for Atlanta, Ga., where she wil' spend a month visiting friends and taking lessons in re-touching photographic negatives. 35 YEARS AGO (1924) Franklin-Dillsboro bus line. Price: $1.50 for passengers, $2 for trunks. T. W. Angel. ? Adv. The Franklin Press is owned by a corporation composed of the following stockholders: Mrs. Estena Bidwell, Dr. S. H. Lyle, E. H. Franks, J. A. Porter, Jno. E. Rickman, J. S. Trotter, R. M. Ledford, Lee Crawford, D. W. Blaine, W. L. Higdon, G. L. Jones, Miss Lassie Kelly, all of Franklin, N. C.;- H. D. Dean, of Etna, N. C. ? From published Statement of Owner ship. 15 YEARS AGO 1 (1944) Miss Myra Slagle, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Slagle, has been named valedictorian of the graduation class of Franklin High School, and Miss Marie Waters, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Waters, has been chosen salutatorian. 5 YEARS AGO (1954) "Mrs. Home Demonstration Club Woman of Macon County" was the title pinned on Mrs. Jack Cabe, of Holly Springs, by her fellow club members last Thursday. s k( ' i: EC y ly ti. 1 1. ma // It's The People Who' ve Taken A Licking From Their Legislators j , Smithfield Herald, How much money this General Assembly provides for public edu cation and other state services will be determined largely by a 25-member Joint Appropriations Subcommittee which began work' this week The subcommittee began its work in an atmosphere of secrecy. It laid down a rale which forbids reporters from reporting thei names of legislators in news ac counts of the subcommittee's work. Representative Carl Venters of Onslow County was quite franl; about his reason for supporting the "no names" rule. He said he didn't want some folks to know how he votes In the subcommit tee's meetings. He didn't want the committee members to be sub jected to "terrific pressure" by people' who might object to their votes. ' Representative Watts Hill. Jr . of Durham made a motion to permit complete press freedom in the sub committee. 'Die motion was quick ly rejected. So the press took a licking from the appropriations subcommittee. The press? The subcommittee hasn't harm ed the press. The subcommittee's practice of secrecy In government Is a slap at the people. It is an assault upon democracy, a system found ed on the right of the people to know the attitudes and actions of their elected representatives. Freedom of the press to report the attitudes and actions of the i people's representatives is not a right that belongs to newspapers. It Is a right that belongs to the people. The newspapers and other news media act only as agencies for conveying public information to the public. Citizens are busy at their daily jobs. They do not find it conveniAit to sit in on legislative deliberations. But they are interested in those delibera tions. for the attitudes and actions of the legislators vitally affect the lives of all who live in North Carolina. Citizens want to know what goes on in legislative com mittee rooms, for the great de cisions are often made in the committee rooms. Citizens depend upon reporters for the Informa tion they want and must have If there Is to be responsible ex ?rcise of democratic rights. But Mr. Venters doesn't want ,ome (oiks to know how he votes n the committee room. Somebody right bring pressure on him to :hange his votes. Mr. Venters didn't say so, but the fact is that some of his con stituents might not wish to return nim to the Legislature or other wise support him if they know *hat he really thinks and does ibout public matters of greaf. im portance. The fact is also that "repre sentative democracy" becomes a farce when the people who elect -epresentatives are denied the -lght to know the true attitudes ?nd actions of their representa tives. Such knowledge is essential to responsible voting In primaries tnd general elections. STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES I like the good-humored jesting of people here, usually Indulged in without a trace of a smile. Though there are no more sym pathetic people anywhere, many mountain folk joke especially about illness. It's their way ? and a good way ? to make the other fellow, if it's he who's ill, or the one speaking, if it's his own ill ness, feel better. Two recent cases come to mind. A man ' oh Franklin's Main Street, meeting a friend who re cently had suffered a heart at tack, could tiave resorted to the usual cliche: "Glad to see you out again". Instead, he joshed: "Heard you'd had s. heart at tack. I knew, though, that couldn't be ? a man has to have a heart to have a heart attack". The other incident occurred in a doctor's waiting room. A man who was suffering from poison oak or some suchjinfectlon on his hands was telling me about his trouble, how long he'd had it, etc. When I got ready to leave, I said: "Well, I hope the doctor gets your hands fixed up". His reply came without an in stant's hesitation : "Well, if he doesn't, I'll have to scratch the rest of my life." * ? * This opinion is strictly personal!. Maybe it's all wrong, Maybe no body else feels as I do. And, to tell the truth, I'm a little shame-faced that I feel the way I do. But I do feel that way. I don't like these "road-blocks" that are being set up, oftener and oftener, to raise money. Now I know they're for good caus*-s. I know it's a relatively easy way to collect some money for a good cause. And I know the fellows who man these road-blocks are unselfishly donating their time and effort. But I don't like 'em. I suspect the reason is, it smacks of a hold up. In the first place, II the stopped motorist is in a hurry ? and who isnt, these days? ? it's much easier and quicker to give a dime or a quarter than to discuss the matter; he may give without even stopping to lind out what the cause is, just so he can get on his way. In the second place, he's publicly embarrassed if he re fuses; it makes him appear a piker, a cheapskate. So he really hasn't much choice. And, after all. a donation is sup posed. to be voluntary. I guess it's the very fact that the road-block doesn't give you much choice ? and the fact that I'm stubborn ? that makes me consistently refuse to give money at a road-block. I think I'd refuse, even if the cause were the bring ing of the kingdom of heaven to earth. ? I just don't like to be pressured. * * * In this space some weeks ago. I mentioned that we are not getting our mail delivered at home, because I like to go to the post office for it. There's an aura of adventure about watching your mail box as the mail is being put up; at any instant, a letter may be put in the box. And that letter may contain anything! Besides, and this is probably an even more compelling reason, from the time I was a boy in Franklin, the post office lobby has been a social gathering place, a sort of thoroughly democratic club, open to anybody. Well, it seems I am not alone in that feeling. Since that piece appeared, many persons have re marked that they, too, look for ward to a trip to the post office. It ?was put most emphatically, though, the other day by Mrs. Prank L. Henry. "When I go to the post office", she told me, "I never buy more than one or two stamps ? so 111 have an excuse to go again, next time I have a letter to mail." 'Beginning With The Pilgrims' RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH The fact that Pocahontas was depicted as a bosom pal of the Pilgrim Fathers on a recent na tion-wide TV program was noted in this place. Unfortunately, the daughter of the mighty Powhat an had died three years before the Pilgrims landed on these shores. We are now informed by noth ing less than the New York HERE'S HOW THEY GOT YOUR NAME Ever wonder how you got on a sucker list? How they ever got your correct name and address for that piece of junk mail? Well, so have I ? and now I think I know. We got a magazine in the mail this week entitled "List o' Trades" put out by the W. S. Ponton com pany of Englewood, N. J. It lists all types of specialized addresses. For instance, you can get the names of 28 egg case filler manu facturers for $5, or 26,692 electric refrigeratoi; and freezer dealers for $18 per thousand. You can get my name, plus 999 other weekly editors, for $16. (I guess they figure this list would be less profitable than the freezer sales men.) Ponton also has the names and addresses of 366 teeth manufac turers, eight toboggan manufac turers, and in case you need a suspender buckle, they know five companies which make 'em. (But the list costs you $5, of course.) ? The Pied Typer, in Windsor, Colo., Beacon. Times that "the Puerto Ricans . . . are like a great many other im migrants who came to this coun try, beginning with the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620." Here we go again. Everything in this country began with the landing at Plymouth Rock. We had always been given to under stand that a couple of other fel lows landed at Jamestown slight ly in advance of 1?20. Appar ently the august Times never heard of Jamestown. Maybe Capt. John Smith, in that newspaper's lexicon, was one of the Smith brothers of cough drop fame. Modem tobacco culture, founded by John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas, presum ably originated in the Connecticut valley. We'-ve long since abandoned hope of getting the historical facts of life across to the average American, but it's a bit disillusion ing to find the New York Times dropping the ball with the rest of them. THIS IS KIND OF WEATHER . . . This is the kind of weather (at the moment'we write this, it is) that makes us want to get out in the fresh air and watch some one else plant a garden. It'svthe kind of weather which makes one glad to be alive, although we can't recollect ever experiencing any kind of weather which made us want to be dead. This is also the kind of weather which makes it nice to put the top of our car down. ? Alan Browning, Jr., in Elkin Tribune. Way To Avoid Ulcers? (Louisville Courier-Journal) In a scholarly editorial treatise on tipping. The New York Herald . Tribune touches upon a mystery which has also confounded us: . . * As for restaurant tipping. 1 the vicious myth has grown up that "because of inflation" the tra ditional 10 per cent is no longer an adequate tip. Any schoolboy ought -to be able to see that in flation inflates the size of the tip just as much as it does the price of the food, and that if 10 per cent was adequate in 1940, it ought to be just as adequate now ? what was 15 cents on a $1.50 meal becomes 30 cents on a $3 meal now. But does any customer try to buck the nonsensical ex pansion of tipping? Apparently the average custom er doesn't. Without complaint, he adds not only to the cost of his meal but also a little bit to his problem In mental arithmetic when he pays the check. Possibly his philosophy is the same as Sir Walter Scott's a century ago: "I like to pay postilions and waiters rather more liberally than perhaps Is right. I hate grumbling and sour faces: and the whole saving will not exceed a guinea or two for being cursed and damned from Dan to Beersheba." Since a dirty look from a wait er ? and the thought of being cursed and damned from Dan to Beersheba ? rather obviously ' would have interfered with Scott's digestion, he probably saved him self more than a guinea or two in doctor's bills, and indeed in this way may have cleared a nice profit on every tip he bestowed. Maybe the profit was as much as 15, per cent. ONE WAY TO MAKE DAY LAST LONGER The so-called daylight saving* time Is founded on the old Indian idea of cutting off one end of the blanket and sewing It on the other end, to make it lonser. ? Sunshine Magazine
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 7, 1959, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75