GjPEMOCRAT
THURSDAY BY RIVERS PRINTING COMPANY
i ? ??au>
BOONE. WORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1955
The Parkway And Grandfather
Hugh Morton, one of the few men in
the country to own a big, lofty mountain,
and who has developed the Orandfather
into om of the principal tourist attrac
tions in the State, is vigorously objecting
to a plan which would route a section of
the Parkway over a slope of his mountain
at a spot which would be calculated to
harm the peaks as scenic spectacles
And the highway commission, whose
function is to secure rights of way for the
Parkway, is also concerned about the mat
ter, and efforts are to be made, as we
understand, to negotiate a bettor deal from
the standpoint of preserving the Orand
father in all of its sheer majesty and pri
meval ruggedness.
And we shall hope that a satisfactory lo
cation may be found for the road, which
needs to be built as soon as possible, so
thdt travelers may enjoy the country more.
But in all regions of ipcnic appeal, care
should be exercised in preserving the at
tractions of the country traversed. After
all the Grandfather is one of the principal
features of a trip through the Carolina
Blue Ridge area. Any construction pro
ject which would seriously harm -the an
cient hill, would damage the area, and be
. mighty unpopular.
Hugh Morton and his Grandfather Moan
tain have contributed vastly to the popu
larity of this region among tourists. We
know of no man whose developments have
meant more to the summer life of the hill
country. We have an abiding faith that
the final location of the Parkway will
skirt the Grandfather in a fashion to make
the most of his rugged profile without
gashing his slopes to an unsightly degree.
We believe our officials will do every
thing possible, in line with engineering
limitations, to achieve such a goal
A Community Playground
me ten-acre park and playground area
at Blowing Rock is attracting many peo
ple from all over the country, who can en
Joy the cool breezes while the children
play game* and otherwise entertain them
selves in safety.
Mapy people from Boone and other
towns in the immediate environs enjoy the
recreational facilities at the Rock, and an
interesting feature of the playground is
.that it seems to be open to everybody'?'
the people who live in Blowing Rock, as
well as those who live everywhere else,
and who happen to pass that way.
Or. Walter K. Keyes who has recently
been named year-round supervisor of play
grounds and recreation for the town, points
out the following pertinent facts about
the playground:
"The park belongs to all the people of
Blowing Rock and should never be given
to commercialism or discrimination of any
kind. Neither race, creed, (octal, nor fi
nancial position should ever be allowed to
govern its operation.
"It is the best safeguard the town can
ever have against lawlessness and juvenile '
delinquency.
"It is the most used of any of the area's
attractions. More than 50,000 people hava
enjoyed its facilities during the past year.
"With the addition of a swimming pool,
fishing pier, putting green, and game room,
it will be the best equipped recreation
center along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
"And bes^of all, it is open to every
body." ,
The youngsters are having ? lot of fun
at the Blowing Rock playground. It's one
of the town's most important assets. Folks
are growing more anxious for the welfare "
of their children all the while, and will
feel more at ease in a community which
provides playground facilities. Blowing
Rock has done this in a comprehensive
manner.
Rabid Foxes In Alleghany
A report from Roaring Gap aayi that
more than two hundred and fifty rabid
foxes have been destroyed in Alleghany
county during the past six weeks, and
foxes are credited with the deaths of 61
head of cattle and one horse.
Fear is expressed in Alleghany that the
epidemic of rabies will spread into ad
joining counties, particularly since it is
said that hundreds of cats are now in
fected. Five persons have been given anti
rabies vaccine because they were bitten
or scratched by such cats.
Twenty persons reportedly took the
treatments in Alleghany last month be
cause they had become infected through
contact with foxes or with cattle infected
bjj foxes. The commissioners have em
ployed a man on a full time basis to kill
foxes, and heads of various animals sent
to Raleigh for laboratory examination,
confirmed the presence of rabies.
Whic^ all adds up to an increased rabies
peril The mushrooming fox population
cafl become quite as much a menace as the
homeless dogs In the matter of spreading
rabies.
And it might be added that there's about
. as much dynamite attached to waging war
on foxes as on dogs. Many years ago the
Democrat was caught in the middle of a
letter-wrltng battle between those who
were for and agin' Reynard.
At any rate, the rabies situation remains
a problem. Watauga was beset by the
malady early in the year, and it may be
back. If some of the Alleghany foxes spill
over this way it will add immeasurably to
a bad situation.
j ? . * 1 . ? , ^ ..4
The Moon Shines Bright
St. Louis Boat Dispatch
Are high federal taxes on liquor making
the moonshine whisky business boom?
Business Week's scholarly report on moon
shining would suggest that the idea is at
least worth a second thought. The maga
zine aays Licensed Beverage Industries,
Inc., estimates one out of every three gal
lons of wfiisky consumed in the United
States is moonshine ? some 70,000,000 gal
lons of it a year.
Moonshine is made, mostly in the South,
at a cost of 20 to 40 cents a fifth, and is
sold at 90 cents to $4 a fifth, Business Week
says, to customers as far away as New
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 71m
circumstances of its production are as Un
as they are illegal: A dead hog or
is commonly thrown into the mash
wing believed to speed fermenta
Yet the product finds such wide ac
atOls are valued
as high u $90,000 and produce thousands
of gallons a day.
"Nonpayment of taxes," says the maga
zine, "is the industry's single support. If
there were taxes to pay, -the industry
would fold overnight The legal industry
has always maintained that the only sure
way to squash bootlegging is to lower
taxes. If the $10.50 a gallon federal excise
tax were dropped to $A, the industry says,
legal liquor could be priced low enough to
attract customers from the moonshine mar
ket, roughtly half the price being a pass
ing-on of taxes." *
Here is indeed an unusual coming-to
gether of problems of taxation, commerce,
and public health. Pending a study Of it by
experts in those fields, the answer to the
question of the moonshine industry re
main* as mysterious >s the nocturnal orb
from which it takes its name.
Sife 1
Stretch's Sketches
By " STRETCH " ROLLINS
r miwm i im?i
Lookt Like the Stuff It Here To Stay
The battle of the bottle rages on aa it haa
aince the memory of man runneth not to the
contrary.
Ever aince repeal of the
Eighteenth Amendment al
lowing strong drink to be
(old over the counter, law
enforcement agencies have
waged an unrelenting but un
successful fight to stamp out
competition? the bootlegger.
They've won many battles,
but not the war, and they
probably never will.
-And here are two big rea
sons: "White mule," or bot
tled - in - the - b?rn homemade
corn, sells (or $1 to $10 a gallon, depending on
the area and quality. The federal tax alone on
legal whiiky is $10.90 a gallon. And, points out
an article on the subject, the moonshine is not
only cheaper than bonded stuff, but there are
perfectly reapectable people who have a prefer
ence for It.
"There if no such thing a* a dry county," say
the "wets," and they're right. The "dry" forces
insist, "Give us a state-wide referendum and
well dose up the liquor stores" ? and they're
probably right, too. Moat country folks, who have
no particular liking for "store-boughten likker,"
anyway, would vote dry, knowing their preferred
"white lightnin' " would still be available.
Meanwhile, Winston-Salem ABC stores are
putting white corn liquor on tale at a price in
tended to drive Blue Aidge moonshiners out of
business. A Kentucky distillery is producing it
under the label, "White Lightning Corn Whis
key."
And that's what will defeat its purpose ? that
fancy label. They'll have to put it up in plain
white, "square" fruit jars, no labal, and with a
little fresh, clean, mountain dirt sticking around
the lid, to really meet the competition.
The "oldest profession in the world" may be
what they say. But I have a fairly strong sus
picion as to what Adam did with the rest of that
ipple.
SCANTY SKETCHES? A headline ?ays,
"Teachers Never Had It So Good." Well, maybe,
but a schoolteacher in New Jersey, who operates
a bulldozer during vacations, was turned down
on a loan application to build a home when he
stated that he was a teacher. He resubmitted
the application, this time putting down his occu
pation as bulldozer operator. The application
waa promptly approved. ... A judge has criticized
sheriffs deputie* for disguising themselves to
get evidence against bootleggers, as being un
fair. (They probably didn't know it was a game,
with both sides supposed to have an equal
chance to win.) ... A couple of king cobras in
New York's Bronx Zoo have hatched out a family
of little Cobras. A pair of kings? Doesnt seem
like the right combination, somehow.
From Early Democrat Files
Sixty Years Ago
Jaljr 11, IMS.
At S o'clock a. m. on the morning of the 5th
the alarm of "fire" waa heard in our village,
and great waa the horror and grief of all to
find that the beautiful (tore building of W. L.
Bryan was in flames. When the fire was dis
covered it was beyond confivl, and not the least
thing out of the stock of goods was saved. . . .
On Monday night the ware room of the govern
ment distillery at John Denny's on Elk, was de
stroyed by fir*. There was a considerable amount
of whiskey in the room when left by the store
keeper.
The mulatto rapist, Mua Johnson, who broke
Jail here on the 37th of Feb. was arrested by
Jailor Woodring and Jont E. Norris of Mest
Camp, near Laurel Bloomery, Tenn., on the morn
ing of the 9th. and he waa again placed in jail
here.
Twenty-two young men graduated from the
State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
recently. .
Thirty-Nine Yean Ago
j?iy * mcgE ? . ;> , . ]
Owing to the extremely high waters that have
been prevailing Chairman T. E. Bingham was
compelled to postpone the Republican county
convention It will be held August 7.
The remnant of Camp Nimrod Triplett, United
Confederate Veterans, will meet in Boone in
annual reunion Thursday and Friday, August 17,
18.
Miss Usrie Cornell, a maiden lady well up in
year*, who has been ill at the home of Mr. John
F. Hardin for aowe time, died there Sunday
? night and waa buried in the town cemetery Mon
fj day evening. .
Just aa Congressman Dough ton has perfected
- - ? - ? 1 >L iL. n ?? . . . a * ~
irratftmtnts witn tnt rotroiiiw uepmrtinent for
? daily automobile mail service from t*nolr to
Boom, our turnpike was almost swept away by
the fleed.
Judge B. F. Long of Statasville, MeMra T. B.
Finley and Joe Clements of Wilkesboro; Mr.
Scarborough of Greensboro and others, spent
Tuesday night at the Critcher Hotel, coming
here in hacks from Jefferson.
Fifteen Years Ago
J?ly U, 1?M.
The Blue Ridge Parkway's northeastern Blow
ing Rock entrance has been definitely set at a
point near the village filtration plant on the
Boone highway, according to E. H. Abbull, as
sistant superintendent of the Parkway.
An informntion booth, sponsored by the Boone
Lions Club and in charge of the NY A girls of
tht county, has been opened on King Street near
the postoffice and will be open dally to answer
inquiries directed by tourists and other strangers
in the locality
Wendell Wilkie, Indiana-born New York busi
ness leader, after winning the Republican nom
ination for President ot the United States, has
now started his campaign for the White House.
Stricken France's Parliament signed the death
warrant of tlie democratic third republic yester
day by giving Premier Marshal Petain unrestrict
ed powers to write a new totalitarian consti
tution.
Edgar Tufta of Banner Elk ttys he is an ard
ent advocate of the plan to provide homes for
the European refugees and that he would aid
in providing homer for the victims of the Eu
ropean war.
Borrowed Comment
\..V |
Original State Tree
Minneapolis Tribune
Missouri names the dogwood aa its state tree,
with one senator dissenting on the grounds it is
an unoriginal choice. A good suggestion for ?
state tree, familiar to everyone, readily identifi
able and of economic value, aaigki be the park
KING STREET
BY ROB RIVERS
NEW AUTOS . . . COULD BE HIGH EH
Industry leaders point to the 1966 automobiles, which will
begin to appear on the scene maybe in October, and see a bit
,ot trouble in disposing of the 1995a. . , With increases 'a labor
and in steel, and other materials used in the construction of
cart, It would appear to us that the new models should be
even higher. If that's so buyers should remain eager for the
1955 models which are available, as they probably represent
just aa fine a vehicle as the next year's product, and quite likely
the price tag is a bit lower. . . . Besides, if one needs a car, he
might as well buy it. . ,-V You can't always have the newest
OLD NEWLAND HALL . . . USED LUMBER
An ad in the Democrat calls attention to the fact that
the Old New land Hall is coining down, and used lum
ber is for sale. . . The first men's dormitory on the
campus, the old rambling frame building was the pride
and Joy of Appalachian not too many years ago. . . .
Displaced fifteen or twenty years age by a modern
masonry structure, old Newland Hall was shunted to
the rear of its former site, and had. been used for var
ious purposes since students quit its narrow corridors
and crowded rooms. . . . It's a pity that money wasn't
available to make of these early college buildings perm
anent structures. . . . Age contributes to the loveliness
of the proper sort of structure.
PARKING SPACE . . . NOT ENOUGH, ANYWHERE
Parking spaces are at a premium along the Street, and along
all the other Streets we've seen. . . . On Saturdays, especially,
the matter of discovering a spot in which one can poke the nose
of a lizzie without crumpling a fender, will tax the genius of
the most alert motorist. . . . This being so, it is irritating to find
people who've parked their cars so as to take up "two, and often
times three parking spaces. . . . It's impolite, illegal and deprives
other folks of their rights at thi curbside.
ANYWAY, WE FIGGER IT'S THAT WAY
As ? product of the hill country, we sometimes in
terest ourselves in the local mannerisms and sayings.
We've noticed ourselves saying "figger," rather than
suppose. ... A mountain man don't expect something
to happen, he don't suppose it'll Vain, don't presume,
believe, reason or estimate, but invariably "Aggers"
that the sun'll be shining, that the deluge will come or
that a lot of tourists will visit the Ridge. . . . And when
we don't know how far it is, we always figger it to be
about so many miles, which always adds to the con
fusion of the motorist, especially when he's unaccust
omed to driving up hill and down dale, and round N
hairpin curves. . . .
? ?"'J. I 'V: ' -
THIS AND THAT . . . RANDOM THOUGHTS
The bookkeeper had .worked long and hard, and when' she'd
abeut finished, discovered so nothing wrong with the calculat
ing machine. . . All the work to do over. . . . "It's about the
most cuesable thing I've seen," she reasoned. . . . Sea I tests'
miniature merry-go-round parked by the street, delighting the
children. . . . Long strings of automobiles race up and down
the mountains over the week end as tourist season reaches peak.
SOWING HIS OATS
The man said 'twas all right for the lad to raise heck
about the town. "A matter of sowing his wild oats. . . .
He'll settle down in time." Which maybe he will, but
we set to wondering how come the "wild oats" expres
sion. ... It seems that back in the tenth century oats
were grown in some of the countries of the world, but
when neglected the strains they had reverted to the
"wild" stage, growing thick blades, but light heads.
The crop was seldom worth saving. ... It was foolish
to sow such seed, but the younger farmers wouldn't
listen to sage advice, and usually found out about the
crop by experience. Thus, it came about that the sow
ing of wild oats came to apply to anything a youngster
might do, which seemed foolish and reckless to his
elders.
Vv '
Washington Report
By BILL WHITLEY
WOMEN. The fairer MX (till has
a good way to go in the fight for
equality although a lot of ground
hai been covered (inee women got.
permission to vote 89 yean ago.
A bill was introduced in the Sen
ate this week by Sen. Morse and
co-sponsored by Sen. Scott thaU
would ship away still another in
equity under which women are suf
fering.
Under present law, the children
of male government workers who
die are eligible to get annuity pay
ments based upon the length of
government service of their parnt.
The same privilege is not granted
to the children of a women govern
ment workers who die.
UNFAIR. The measure proposed
by Morse would eraae this inequal
ity and make the children of de
ceased female government work
ers eligible to the same benefit* of
deceased male government employ
es.
"I don't see any reason at all for
this difference in the present law,"
Scott said. "I was very surprised
to find out that women employer*
are not given the same treatment
?s men."
PROSPERITY. A lot has been
said recently about prosperity and
the thriving American economy.
Many people wonder Just wiurrs all
the "prosperity" is being felt.
The following figures help show
Just who and what is at the top of
the "prosperity" list All figures
are based en statistics for the past
Corporations Income rose 10 per
cent; wage earners' income was up
less than half this much ? seven
per cent. Stockholders' income in
creased eight per cent; farmers'
income dropped six per emit. Food
processors profits were up 17 per
cent; the farmers' share of the con
sumer dollar was down six per
cent.
BUSINESS. In the business
world alone, the Urge corporations
(with $100 million and over assets)
were doing far better than the
smaller corporations and indepen
dent businesses.
- In the past year failures among
the large corporations were down
16 per cent; failures among, small
corporations increased by seven
per cent.
During tfce^same time, large cor
porations enjoyed an increase in
earnings after taxes of 330 million
dollars while the small corpora
tions boosted their earnings by on
ly five million.
The trend? It depends on where
you sit in the business world. The
bigger your business, the more
"prosperity" yeu are enjoying
An increase of fifty per cent in
juvenile delinquency by 1M0 was
recently predicted by Judge Philip
B. Gillian, court judge from Den
Mr. Colorado, who said that, by
that time, most "war babies" win
have reached the delinquency age
of 10 to IB. "Sloppy parenthood,
inadequate schools, and untrained
social workers" are 'factors the Jud
ge listed at contributing to the ex
pected tatfrtkse is child crime.