'atauga Democrat
Ai independent Weekly Newspaper r k
Established in IBS* and published for 49 year* by th* lata Robert C. Riven, ?r.
SUBSCRIPTION BATES
1b Watauga County: One year, Hot; Sts aaatki fi SO; four moaths, II 80; Outside Watauga
County One year, *2SO; Six aaatlu, |1TS; faur months. 1121
VOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS ? la raquetUac change of eddreas, it la Important to mention the OLD,
?a well at the NEW addreaa. ? 7 ?
Catered at Ike poatoffice at liBi, N. C., aa ascend tlaaa mail aMttar, under the act af Ceftress of
^ March S. 187?
"The baaia of our government being the opinion af the people, the very first objective should he
In keep that right, and were it ielt to M to decide whether ** should have a government without
he vapapera, or newspapers withoat gaw l aaieal, I should not hesitate a moment to chooee the latter.
But I ahould mean that every awn ahould raeaive thaaa papers and be capable of reading them."?
Thomas Jefferson.
1
BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1956 ,
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY RIVERS PRINTING COMPANY
R. C. RIVERS, JR., PUBLISHER
Town Beautification
%
A local clubwoman, in commenting on
fiie program of beautification carried on
by the ladies this season, mentions par
ticularly the very capable leadership and
the unselfish activities ol Mrs. Mae Miller
In this regard.
Mrs. Miller has long bad the belief,
Which we have always shared, that one of
the best ways to promote the community,
?nd at the same time make it a better
and more pleasant place for all of us to
live, is to have blosMms in the odd spots
?bout the town as well as in the gardens
And lawn fringes. She has worked hard at
this sort of thing, one of her ideas being
the planting of the Craven lot opposite the
elementary school. This idea was carried*
forth as a project of the home and garden
and literature and education departments
'Of the Worthwhile Woman's Club, with
financial aid from the Chamber of Com
merce and interested townspeople.
Besides Mrs. Miller, others who worked
diligently on the project are: Mrs. G. K.
Moose, Mrs. Wm. Plernmoni, Mrs. George
Greene, Mrs. D. L. Wilcox, Mrs. Lester Car
roll, fllr. and Mrs. W. C. Greer, Howard
Cottrell, Mrs. E. L. Ray and Mrs. Ed Hall.
Another project which ia worthy of note
was the flower plantings on the Coffey lot
at King and Appalachian Streets. Thi;
Chamber of Commerce helped also with
this work and picnic tables for the area
were supplied by Mr. Paul Winkler and
Mr.| Stanley Harris. Mrs. Lee Reynolds
was chairman of this project. Those assist
ing In the work are: Dr. Lee Reynolds,
Rev. L. H. Hollingsworth, Mayor Gordon
Winkler, Mrs. H. A* Cook, Mrs. R. W. Wat
kins, Mrs. Paul Coffey, Mrs. B. W. Stali
lngs.
All of these people are due the commend
ation of the community for tidying-up and
providing color for otherwise drab plots.
Their many activities in support of a more
wholesome and a more beautiful com
munity havp elicited much favorable
comment.
Losing Weight Wisely
Every sixth American is tan per cent
or more above his ideal weight, according
to the actuarial tables. As a people, aay
the nutrition experts, too many of us are
"overweight but undernourished." Statist
icians report that tbe (at die young. And
tnedical science has long recognized that
those excess pounds are eitlfer a diagnostic '
? indication of carta in diseases or at least
predispose the system to make us their
easy prey. , ? .
Viewed in this light, the Health News
Institute points out, overweight among
our problems in preventive medicine eas
ily heads the list. And it calls for the csre
and counsel of a physician as unmistak
ably as any other pathological condition.
Yet overweight doesn't manifest itself
dramatically, like cancer or tuberculosis.
It's a bodily state which tempts us to ex
perimentation, and lends itself to appeals
to vanity rather than to serious self-con
cern.
If you're overweight, the Health News
Institute warns, remember that while you
may think you have an aesthetic problem,
it's also a medical one. It could be glands,
bad eating habits, or a variety of factors
?? not the least of which may be the phy
chological drive which creates the so-call
ed "compulsive" eater. Doctors have found
that it is generally true that the fat person
is the person who eats too much.
In emphasizing once more that obesity
it a medical problem, the Council on Foods
and Nutrition, in an official statement in
the Journal of the American Medical As
sociation, recently declared:
"Ethical advertisers of foods recom
mended for weight-reducing regimens
have likewise stressed the importance of
a medical consultation prior to reduction
of food intake. Weight reduction may be
harmful to health or even endanger life
if undertaken without full understanding
of the problem."
Dollars For Democracy
(An Editorial from The New York Times)
- It has been estimated that the cost of a ,
Senatorial campaign in one of the more
populous states may run as high as a mil
lion dollars, and that more than $75 mil
lions may have been spent on the Presi
dential campaign of 1852. In addition to
the enormous size of the figures, the sig
nificant fact is that nobody really knows
exactly how much major political cam
paigns cost any more, and? even more im
portant?everybody knows that the totals
have no necessary relationship to the limi
tations in the laws governing such expend
itures. - .
The parties and the candidates must
have funds to meet the steadily mounting
costs of campaigning; and, the size of our
country and the methods of campaigning
being What they are, those funds nowa
days must be considerable. The British
manage to run a very fine democracy with
out heavy spending at election time; but
the long-established American custom evi
dently cannot be wiped out now. What can
and must be done is to set reasonable lim
itations on the amounts spent, to enforce
those limitations and? probably most im
portant of all ? to insure the fullest publi
city for the sources of all campaign con
tributions.
Earlier this jmr, as a result of the furor I
over some sizable "campaign contribu
tions" made in conection with the natural
gas bill, promises were made and hopes
Were aroused that Congress would at last
adopt some needed changes in the cam
Pgn-spending laws; but. to the discredit
both parties, the Eighty-fourth Con
Pss closed its books without action,
re than that, by some political maneuv
ering last winter on the part of Senator
bridges, the tfpeetel Senate inquiry into
campaign expenditures was deprived of
having as its chairman a man who would
have made it a far more meaningful in
/
? ? ,
vestigation than it turned put to be. That
man is Senator -Albert Gore of Tennessee,
who takes the problem of campaigning ex
penditures seriously.
Senator Gore is chairman of the Sen
ate's Permanent Subcommittee on Priv
ileges and Elections, a post from which
even Senator Bridges cannot dislodge
hfin. As such, he now says he intends to
keep a running check on campaign ex
penditures throughout the coming months
? instead of waiting until the election is
all over, when contributions and contrib
utors may be harder to uncover. Senator
Gore's plan, from which we hope he will
not be deterred, should not interfere with
legitimate campaign contributions. The'
more citizens Who contribute to political
Campaigns the better. It is only the con
tributions of inordinate size, and those
made behind a veil of secrecy, that ars
dangerous to democracy. , 1
Letters to the Editor
Days Gone By
Mr. Rl\fn:
Your King Street column hit ? warm spot of
days past and gone when you talked about what
we folks had to ?at in the days of yore. Pigs'
feet, fsMnfe pot tikker, sod pones of potti bread
that would tickle the palate of kings. 1 was
brought up from the gay nineties on just such
good eata. Also had barrels of good home made
molasses, sour knot which I often at* to much
that my tummy wouM ache in pains and misery.
Then, I remember the oie spinning wheel, where
I often as a child would lie down and go to aleep
on the floor listening to the hoi of (bo wheel
while my late mother spun yara to make things
for fee to wear. I have stood for hours while she ?
ro#d? jean cloth and the prettieat woolen blaakets
with all the colors of the rainbow on the loom.
Gm4 'ole day* when everybody loved their neigh
bora. Had not much money, but plenty of lova in
their hearts.
W. A. WATSON
Deep Gap, N. C.
ELECTION, YEAH AVALANCHE
? ,/?? "'ite* # rffeVjF ?? |jf. , *" /
By Paul Rerdanier
Stretch's Sketches
By " STRETCH " ROLLINS
Baseball and Politics ? Seasonal and Similar
THE GREAT GAME of baseball ii similar in
many ways to another great American pastime
now In season, politics.
Each is played to the hilt and played to win.
oi course, out anomer parallel
is that it's a tossup as to
which is more mllitantly part
isan to his favorite team ?
the poiiiician or the baseball
(an.
Or, for that matter, the
radio announcer as differenti
ated from his network count
erpart, who must remain care
fully impartial In his broad
cast of the game.
f or instance, the other night I was listening to
a Chicago station's broadcast of a game between
the White Sox and the Yankees at Yankee Stad
ium. When a Yankee player lined a home run
into the stand* down the left field line ? a dis
tance of about 319 feet ? the Chicago announcer
proclaimed, "That ball would have been an easy
'out' in Chicago!"
Earlier In the game, however, when another
Yankee had belted one 490 feet iato the Stad
ium's spacious center field which was caught, he
strangely neglected to mention that that one
would have been a round-tripper to any point in
Chicago's Comiskey Park.
And a pitcher will moan about a lucky pop
fly that falls safely and beats him in the ninth
inning ? but make no mention of the dozen or so
virions Hne drtvc? smacked by the opposing team,
but luckily for him. within reach of his fielders
The luck sort of tends to even itself up in
baseball ? and perhaps in politic*, as well. But
in either, you have to hear both sides of the
story to get a true picture of the situation.
?
IT'S THE TIME OF YEAR, too, that the man
ager of a tail-end baseball club will read a state
ment to the ? ports writers designed to save his
job. It will go, like mo "This has been ? year of
rebuilding for us. but 1 have a great bunch of
fellows now with another year of major league
competition under their belts. With a few breaks
here and them, and if Joe Fumble comes
through for me and plays up to his potential,
we'll be right in there fighting for the pennant
next year. Don't count us out!"
But what he's really thinking runs more like
this: "With this sad collection of castoffs and
stumblebums I couldn't win a pennant in the
Epworth' League. Unless they get me some ball
players we'll end up deeper In the cellar than
we are now. But if I can give the owners the
impression that I've detected something about
this bunch of bush leaguers that has eluded
everybody else, maybe they'll sign me for an
other year. After that, I've got a job lined up
umpiring in the Coast League."
THEY'RE AUKE in many wayi. baseball and
politics.
From Early Democrat Files
Sixty Yearg Ago ^
. September 24. 1896.
Watauga had about fifty sons (t the Bryan
?peaking in Hickory, all of whom returned
greatly enthused.
We are sorry indeed to learn that Dr. Mor
phew of Marion, had the misfortune of falling
from the Bryan train on the 16th and breaking
his arm.
Misses Ada and Lillian Horton who have been
?pending' several weeks visiting friends 'in Ashe
and Watauga, have returned to tkeir home in
Caldwell.
Our old friend Joseph Councill, who has been
very ill for some time, continue* to grow weaker
all the while, and we fear the worst at any time.
The Senatorial convention at Jefferson, com
peted of the eountfes of Watauga. Ashe and Al
leghany. nominated T. H. Sutherland for the
Senate on the first ballot.
Mrs. John Boyden of Salisbury la quite siek
it Blowing Rock, i
The visitort at Blowing Rock art rapidly tak
ing their leave for home.
Thirty-Wine Years Ago
September tf, 1917.
The pretty hofne of Mr. and Mrs Boone Deal
^near Sherwood on Ove Creak, was destroyed by
fire Monday night, but fortunately most of the
contents was saved.
Miaa Blanche Linney of New York, who has
been spending a while at the home of her bro
ther. Ron. f. A. Unary in Boone, left Tuesday
morning for TayloreviUe She has enlisted a* a
nun* in the world war and is expecting orders
at any time to embark fpr France.
The engineering corps on the railway survey
to Boone reached Hodges Gap, within twe miles
of the village last Thursday, hut MS Mlfed back
to Shulls Mills to do some worfc in connection.
1
with the bridge across the Watauga.
Messrs. J. P. Hodges of Boone' and hi* eon
in-law, Mr. Luther Smith of the Poplar Grove
section, are the latest to join Watauga's army of
auto riders ? the former having purchaaed a Ford
and the latter an Overland.
1
D. J. Cottrell, who aside from being a hustling
merchant, is a good farmer, has ji|st dug from
one-third of an acre of ground 110 bushels of as
fine Irish potatoes as yon could find.
Miss Nannie Riven, who is teaching school at
Hackett. spent Saturday night with home folks
in Boone, returning to her work Sunday after
noon.
I
Mr. Cloy Winkler, who has been in Canada
for quite a while, returned to his home Aear
the village last Sunday.
Fifteen Years Ago
September 2S, IM1.
Funeral services were conducted Wednesday
afternoon from the First Baptist Church for Mrs.
Chappel Wilson, 36. who died at Watauga Hos
pital Tuesday morning from an illness of 15
months. . . .
?
President B. B. Dougherty of Appalachian Col
lege. has just appointed Dr. Amos Abrama, Dr.
Wiley Smith and Dr. J. Harold Wolfe as a com
mittee to meet with similar committees from
Ashevflle College and Western Carotlna Teach
ers College in Asheville Saturday. September 27,
for the purpose of studying and diacussing
methods of improving the educational conditions
ef the negro race in North Carotlna.
The Rhododendron. Appalachian Collet* year
book, !? going to press this year under the cap
able supervision of Ja*ea Storie. editor, and Hal
Bingham, buaineaa manager.
The Lenoir-Blowlng Rock road which haa been
under construction for several months, la ex
pected to be opened for traffic by September tt.
KING STREET
By ROB RIVERS
CHINQUAPINS . . MULTIPLE PRODUCERS
Chinquapins, a sort of far-off cousin to the rich, sweet chest
nuts which used to fall by the millions from.the towering trees
of the forests, continue to survive and to yield big crops of the
little round nuts. . . . However, the young folks no lon^r organ
ise into groups and go out on warm fall afternoons to gather
the little nuts from the bushes on the Watt Farthing and Jim
Winkler farms, and to string thim into long bead-like strands,
but A. E. Trivett brings lis proof that the chinquapins are still
flourishing and even doing a better production job than they did
in the long ago*. . . He shows a clump of three burrs, one of
which has ten nuts, another seven, and the third three. The
nuts are shaped more like tiny chestnuts, with flattened sides in
order to be accommodated in the burr which generally contains
one bullet- shaded nut.
umATivro it uric
a nan Tin vr;
Two fellows were talking the other day, or rather one
was doing the talking while the other was looking out
the window and doubtless thinking about something
else. . . . When the speaker was all finished, he put down
the clincher "It's an awful, terrible thing!" . . Where*
upon the detached 'one aroused from his reverie, and
agteed: "It it indeed . . deplorable, horrible, helluva
shame. ... By the way, what was it anyway?" . < .
BY THE STREET . . NOTABLE IMPROVEMENT ]
W. B. Hodges, veteran bricklayer and builder, has added a lot j
to the appearance of the old part of the business district with '
the construction of a handsome brick block where the old
Moretz Store (Miss Jennie Coffey's store) stood for nigh on to
sixty years. The street floor of the new building accommodates
the uptown office of the New River Light and Power Co., while
the Radio Electric C? occupies the other side. . . . Upstairs,
space for apartments has been provided. . . . The new building
was built personally by Mr. Hodges and a group of helpers, is
a first class structure, and makes the street look a lot better. 1
WHISKERS . . USED TO PULL 'EM >
Tv viewers, constantly bombarded by shaving soap (
commercials, electric razor yammering and the like
might wish times were like they used to be in one re
spect?some hundreds of thousands of years ago, the <
cave-dwellers are believed to have been smooth-faced
as the proverbial onion. ... In later years, when whis
kers began to grow, our ancestors are alleged to have
used a pair of clam shells for tweezers to pull out the
offending whiskers. . . . Later on, the Grit says, shark's
teeth were sharpened to the point they would shave. . . .
Shaving came into vogue because men with beards
often were grabbed by enemies in battle who found
a finger-hold in the chin whiskers. . . . Orientals shaved
both their heads and beards. . . . Later razors made
of bronze, copper and iron came about, along with
grandad's prized blade which made a noise like scrap
ing a pig wheiv drawn across a stubbly cheek. . . But
lately pop can power-mow his whiskers while the car's
being washed.
TOWN SQUIRRELS ? ? HOPE THEY ESCAPE
Grey squirrels are soon to become the targets oil hundreds of
huntsmen and some farmers are posting their land. ... In town,
there's some anxiety, which we share, since we have been
feeding some of the friendly little things near the kitchen door
for a long time. . . . In other sections of the town, notably the
Daniel Boone Theatre, there are squirrels. . . . Since it's against
the law to shoot withi/i the city limits, anyway, maybe ? we
can carry over some of the pets another year. . . . We'd be
mighty happy if we could.
So This Is New York
By NORTH CALLAHAN
Eugene vsn Wyck hx travelled
14 million miles in his lifetime,
he told me, and aaya that never
has the white man'a reputation
been so low with Asiatics aa it is
now. This applies to Egypt and
the Middle East as well. Eocene,
a genial Dutch native of South
Africa ia an official of the Swed
ish American Lines here and
makes a trip around the world al
most every year. There ia defi
nitely not one world, bat two, he
says, the Eaatern and the Western
and he haa the Kiofingesque atti
tude that never the twain shall
meet. India, for instance, he point
ed out, is only ? third the area of
the U. S. yet has three times aa
many people. Average wage per
man there is $47 a year, and thous
ands sleen outdoors because they
have no houses in which to live.
Second-rate American moviea, the
only kind they can afford, give the
Indian people a wrong idea of our
life, and make them ahy away from
us as well at from Communism.
Yet India ia a powerful country,
Eugene emphasised to me, and
Nehru la the only man in the
world, he stated, to whom Nasaar
of Egypt will listen because the
Indian mime minister Is known to
be unflinchingly neutral between
East and West.
Stopped beside the sunken plaza
in Rockefeller Center and noted
that there, summer ia taking a lin
gering goodbye. Along the pic
taresque length of the miniature
gardens which touch 9th Aveme,
irie and green shruba still betoken
the fading signs of summer, while
the little ronpor menorfi relent
l?w1v ride the mouttat fish down
to the low section where Prome
theus statu esmiely holda his prec
ious fire aloft In the plaxa, sum
huge umbrellas (or the visiting
d inert were completely deserted,
and pigeons sliding on the breezes
caused by the surrounding sky
scrapers seemed to whisper that
summer is over and the whole
scene would soon be chanced.
When Jeter Oakley lived In
North Carolina, he was known as
one of the best automobile drivers
between Gastonia and Statesville.
And now that he has come to New
York to live, he figured he was
emislly as capable. In fact, he
told his young son, Stanley, so, id
no uncertain terms. They wers
driving in from their suburb M
Manhattan. But as the Oakley car <
turned into 8th Avenue near Madi
son Souare Garden for which they
were headed. Jeter found he was '
going the wrong way on a one- j
way atreet. He quickly turned the /
car around, almost knocked over /
a fire-plug while so doing, thea/
with red face he quickly drove/
off the avenue. A coo looked a t?
h<m and iust shook his head. Sd
did ton Stanley.
She's really a harmless lookina
blonde girl, with.a nice smile front
glistening white teeth. But wheij
(.Re gets you into the dentist'l I
chair, the does a complete person!
ality-chsnge. First, she yanks cpori 1
your month With all the delicacw '
of opehing a can of sardines, then
with a murderously-sharp, ice-pick
like instrument, she probes around
your gums until you feel and act
like a sttirk oig. To allay the pain
and Mood, she then swabs out the
mouth with some kind of salve
compound that seems much like
wtairiow-puttv. then she (rind*
away on the molars until you
swear she once operated a Jack*
hammer or at least a riveting ma