SEPTEMBER, 1959
PAGE 7
York Is ‘White Rose City’
He Appreciates
Simple Things
Of Life
Abody never really appreci
ates the grandeur of the North
Carolina mountains until he’s
been away a few years, then
goes back to sip a dipperful of
cool water from a Cherokee
County spring.
That’s the way Anthony Hold
en feels about his boyhood
homeland, after a recent trip to
the country in the southwestern
corner of the State.
Mr. Holden retired recently
after having put in 16 years at
various assignments, mostly in
the Weaving (synthetics) depart
ment.
He came here in 1943, after a
year in textiles at a mill in
Laurel Hill. Before that he help
ed construct the giant Fontana
Dam and had worked on other
TVA projects.
DURING the time he was
here, he saw a number of chang
es, notably improvement in ma
chines and equipment—“and all
of it for the betterment of the
finished product,” he’d have you
know.
THE HILLS BEYOND
Elmore E. Bolick
Elmore Emmitt Bolick was
buried August 10 in Gaston Me
morial Park. Funeral for Mr.
Bolick, who died August 8 at the
age of 69, was held at Loray
Baptist Church, where he had
been a member of the board of
deacons.
A daughter, Miss Nell Bolick,
works in Spooling at Firestone.
Other survivors are the widow,
Mrs. Mary Nettie M a u n e y
Bolick; two sons, E. E. Jr., of
Durham, and Wilson Bolick of
Gastonia; daughters Mrs. W. R.
Givens of Gastonia, and Mrs.
Ruth Clemmer of Durham; two
sisters, Mrs. Grace Moore of Bel
mont, and Mrs. George Lynch
of Lincolnton; and five grand
children.
A safety council in the name
of Georgia’s famous writer, the
late Margaret Mitchell, has been
formed in Atlanta. Efforts are
being pushed to activate this
group, as well as several similar
Councils in Georgia.
Miss Mitchell, author of “Gone
With the Wind’’, was the victim
of a traffic fatality in Atlanta
Some years ago.
BELATED GIFT for Anthony
Holden (left), from overseer
R. E. Conrad.
☆ ☆ ☆
After Mr. Holden's last day
at work here this spring, he
hurried off for an extended visit
with a daughter in New York
City and Long Island, and an
other daughter in Baltimore.
When he got back he was re
minded that fellow workers in
the department at the mill had
assembled a gift of money for
him. So he came back in late
July to renew old acquaintances
and to speak an official “good
bye.”
Apart from his plans of re
maining in Gastonia near his
children who live here, he looks
protestant groups and the Catho
lic faith, and Kings Mountain
State Park, 12 miles distant.
Truck and bus service is over
primary highways US 321. The
Carolina and Northwestern and
Southern Railway also provide
freight service.
Besides the weekly news
paper, York’s radio station
WYCL is a public service in the
York-Clover area. The Town
ship Library adds to the cultural
facilities of this Up Country sec
tion.
Business and Industry
General type of labor is
native-born, with agricultural
heritage. An estimated 11,915
persons are employed in indus
try in the county, where the
principal enterprise is textiles.
The year-round healthful
climate, with spring and fall sea
sons of long duration and mild
winters and summers, makes the
rich land adaptable to the agri-
Recreation director Ralph
Johnson, returning from a trip
to Houston, Texas in August,
brought back this novel ap
proach to traffic safety slogans;
"Don't Spill My Tired Blood On
the Street." He said the sign was
prominently displayed on a taxi
cab in Houston.
forward to the trips up to
Murphy and Cherokee County
and the visits with relatives
there.
—From Page 3
cultural production for which
the area is famous. Chief crops
are peaches, grapes; cattle and
turkey production. Cotton is
still king, but is losing out to
more diversified farming.
Rich Tourist Mecca
York’s spirit of progress has
not robbed her people of an
appreciation for the past. The
town is making great strides to
ward developing herself as a
tourist center. More than 30
homes and other buildings re
main that date back at least 100
years. It is believed that there
is not another community in the
entire section that boasts such
an inheritance.
So, York is opening her graci
ous doors to the outside. Last
fall almost 2,000 visitors went
on a tour of historic homes.
These conducted pilgrimages of
historic landmarks are scheduled
twice a year, offering visitors
the town’s distinctive charm.
The next tour is planned for
early October.
A museum which houses a
growing collection of Indian,
Revolutionary, Confederate and
other relics, is planned for lo
cation on Congress street. Mu
seum promoters hope to use this
Old South atmosphere as a
permanent attraction for out
siders.
TV Program Scheduled
WSOC-TV, Charlotte, will
feature York on a half-hour pro
gram October 10. The format will
RELIGIOUS LIFE—Firestone
people serve churches represent
ing a wide scope of religious
faiths in York and York County.
This is the main spire of First
Presbyterian, erected 1859-62.
This church occupies site on
which town's first building was
raised around two centuries ago.
present the town’s old homes,
its industry, business and new
er developments. On the pro
gram, citizens will describe each
of these facets of their com
munity’s life.
OUR RED RIVALS
Russians: Tree To Achieve’
Most Russians believe they are already
leading the world in science. You can re
call a good many Americans at home who
would grant this, though you believe it
to be true only in limited fields. How has
the Soviet Union achieved this measure
of progress? How did she successfully
launch a sputnik while others slept? Ex
cept for the sputnik, what you have seen
in Russia thus far on the trip has lacked
originality. You wonder if scientists edu
cated under Communist dogma can have
the imagination to produce new scientific
discoveries.
At Kiev University you meet a research
psychologist, a man you think should be
qualified to discuss this point. “What in
spires the Russian scientists? What makes
him try to discover new ideas and put
them to use? Is it the hope of a Lenin
prize and fame, the money he can make,
love of his country—or what?”
The Scientist in Russia
A Servant of the People
“All these—and more,” he answers. Our
scientists are free—free to work on things
they want. If you have a new idea, they
will say, ‘Go ahead and work on it.’ They
give you the equipment and the facilities.”
“And if they aren't interested . . .?”
“You have to try again. I am free, as
my colleagues are, to work on what I
want.
“The Russian people love the scientist,
because he is a servant of the people.
And, too, the scientist has financial se
curity. But this is general. Our people are
a free people.” You let him continue:
“My mother and father were farmers in
the Ukraine. They cannot read nor write.
I am a scientist. This is what I mean by
a ‘free people’.”
“Free to achieve, to go to a higher
position?”
“Yes. Also free from exploitation. A
Russian is free in his capacity and ability.
This freedom is the general factor—the
chief one that inspires our men of science.
We have general education. All are equal
in possibilities.”
Education and Opportunity
Are Tools of Progress
Now you begin to see how the very
things America credits for her great prog
ress, Russia is adapting to her own ends.
Education and opportunity.
“But you agreed the desire for money,
fame, and love of country were each fac
tors. Which one of these is more im
portant?”
“Love of our country is first. I do not
think about money. For my friends in
science, money is not the main thing.”
You say: “In America, I don’t think the
scientist is working mainly for money,
either. He works because he wants to dis
cover new things, get more knowledge,
learn new things.”
“What about wages in general? Do the
unions ask an increase each year?”
“The government decides. If I ask for
myself, I may ask too much—it would
make prices too high. We do not want in
flation. One day the ruble will be worth
as much as the dollar.”
“When will this be?”
“That’s hard to say, but it will come.”
Soviet Wants to be Model
Before the World's Eyes
Up to now, America has been the shin
ing model before the world’s eyes. Russia
wants to be that model, so nations will be
attracted to Communism. No wonder she
has set her main goal to beat America in
economic competition. You remember your
encounter with the two different mean
ings of “competition” in Russian. The ac
cepted word for it means emulation. You
reflect that in most any competition the
contender emulates the successful methods
of the champion. You know it has been
happening for years in design and in
vention. There is a joke in Russia that the
country’s most successful inventor is Com
rade Reguspatoff (Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.).
The children choose English language
study four to one over other foreign
languages. They tell you that it is because
“it will be the most useful, and because
America is best in technology.”
In one of the schools you visit you men
tion that you have a daughter about the
age of the boys and girls—14 years. Two
girls in pigtails curtsy, and one says: “We
wish to correspondence.”
The People Like Americans
In Spite of Propaganda
The general population likes the Ameri
can people despite all the misleading in
formation they have heard. Many say
they would like to visit our country, but
few believe they ever can.
Managers of enterprises say they want
to buy American products. “You have
more than you need; we have shortages.
We should trade with each other.”
Russians like American music. Students
want to buy from tourists American suits
and shirts “because they have style.”
There is something even more subtle
that the Russian finds attractive in Ameri
cans. One guide explains it: “They smile.”
Fourth in a series of articles by Harold Mansfield, author of
Vision and The Challenge (United Kingdom), who visited the
USSR recently. He was with a delegation sponsored by the In
ternational Council of Industrial Editors. Before his trip, the
author learned the Russian language, in order to better appraise
Soviet aims at outstripping America industrially. Copyright
Harold Mansfield.