WATAUGA DEMOCRAT ESTABLISHED IN IMS PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY MVERS PRINTING COMPANY, INC R. C. RIVERS*. JR., EDITOR AND MANAGER JEAN RIVERS, AWOCIATE EMTTOl An Iadependent Weekly Newspaper Published for 48 Yew by Ratxut C. Rfrwrs. SUBSCRIPTION RATES (EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 1, 1863) IN NORTH CAROLINA One Year *8 0? 1 Six Month* U. $U? Four Months HID OUTSIDE NORTH CAROLINA OM Tm? $4.00 Bta Months .... * $2.80 tout ttaatfes . 12.00 All Subscriptions Payable la Advance NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS? In requesting change of address, it ia important to mention the OLD, as well as the NEW addr? s. Bntered at the postofftre at Boone, If. C., as second'clasa matter, under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879. MEMBER NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION NORTH CAROLINA P8B8S ASSOCIATION Memorial Day Dangers Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor and pay tribute to the nation's war dead, usually means leisure time for moat. people. Fortunately, from the viewpoint of traffic safety, Memorial Day this year comes on Thursday. Conse quently, fewer long motor trips will be planned. More folks will stay at home or nearby. We trust this will mean fewer people will be involved in accidents, that fewer people will be killed or hart. You can protect, yourself and your family. You can keep from being among those who are going to be victims of their own foolishness, or that of others. The best way to avoid the hazards of driving and holiday traffic is to stay at home. Have a cook out. Play games. Mow the lawn. Wax the car. Plan anything that will keep you close to the hearthside. But if a trip is irresistible, then give yourself a better than even break by following the basic rules of highway safety. The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles suggests, first, that you obey the traffic laws every mo ment you're in motion. That's cer tainly basic. Next, hold back your speed. It's still a killer. Those who have had an accident (or a close shave) because of excessive speed be lieve it won't happen again. Those who have never had any trouble while breaking the speed law mini mize the whole thing. It's all propaganda, they say. Maybe. But when propaganda is based on solid fact, doesn't it deserve our serious attention? No one's ever suffered from excessive editorials on speeding. But many have died from excessive speed on the highways. Teenage Work Force Increases North Carolina's labor force be tween the ages of 14 to 19 will reach a total of 183,500 by 1965, an increase of 9,600, or 5.5 percent, over the 1960 figure, according to a manpower report released this week by Sercretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz.. The national average increase for the same period is estimated to be 23.5 percent. North Carolina's age group 14 to 19 during the 1966-70 period is- pro jected to decrease by 13,200, a drop of 7.2 percent. Translated in terms of educational needs, these flguits point up the immediacy of North Carolina's youth employment prob lems. Secretary Wirtas released the re port in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Education, saying, "Unless and until the educational system in this country is strengthen ed, two danger spots that have al ready shown up in our manpower Sit uation are going to get worse. One, the concentration ' of unemployment among unskilled workers. The other is the imminent shortage of person nel In a good many skilled, profess ional, semi-professional and techni cal occupations." The problem is two-fold: To seek ways and means of stimulating the economy to provide more jobs, and to prepare oar young workers for the more highly skilled jobs required by. our modern technological econ omy. Mr. Wirtz pointed out that many young people do not have the re sources to obtain the kind of educa tion and training demanded by auto mation and space-age technology; he further noted that in 1961 approxi mately 12 million youngsters throughout the nation were in fam ilies whose money income was less than $3,000. Commencement Theme It's commencement time, and the proud papas and mamas are lining up with their boys and girls, hearing the oratory, and shedding a tear as they reach out for the sheepskin. Not because they are grieved at their attainments, but because the day of parting, in so many cases, has ar rived. A commencement speaker could do worse, we would say, than to de velop his remarks from "A Father's Prayer," by General McArthw. He said: "Build me a son (or give me a gradu ate), O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; One who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. "Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee ? and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of comfort but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenges. . . . Let him learn to stand up in the storm. . . . Let him learn compassion for those who fail. "Build ma a sob whose heart will be clear, whose goal will, be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master others; one who wilt learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength." Those who appreciate the solid in tangibles will like the supplication of a strong man and old warrior, who's learned through an active life that silver and gold do not make a man great, or position necessarily make him strong. No Bed Of Roses (Elkin Tribune) The House Anti-Trust Committee if looking into the question of newspaper ownership and while no one can predict the outcome of its hearings, it is good to examine the trend in the newspaper ownership of the daily newspaper*. And, concern in some circles for a long tiaMr The trend, of course, is toward chain owneship of the daily newspapers. And, further, the trend in recent year* ia toward one newspaper, or one large news paper corporation, in most of the larger cities. Those concerned over the future, be cause of this trend, claim that it is almost a monopoly situation in many of the na tion's cities. Those denying any danger point out that newspapers now kave plenty of competition from til* new median, television, and from radio. And they also point out the fact that on* can buy mwtpapers from any other towns 1b any IF large citiM. The committee looking into this ques tion has beea told that there are MO fewer dailies today than there were SO years ago, in spite of a huge population in urease it that time. In jthe list .10 years about 2,000. weekMea haw gam oat of business. So the newspaper industry is not boom ing by any means. Aad the major threat at the present for big dailies, is the lack of reatrkxiaa on. laber. Trade unions in the industry, for example, are exempt ftvai the an ti -trust laws. Perhaps b0UV chain ownership and union power will have to '* limited in the interest of the public. Wee, independent community newspapers, capable of expressing the views- of pevple In their coomraaity, un> dominated by unrestrained unions, are la the public interest. From Early Democrat Files Sixty Year? Ago May M, 1903. Prof. Francum is assisting in the summer school at Watauga Academy. Mrs. Richard M. Greene has measels, but fortunately it is in quite a light form. Rev. J. J. L. Sherwood will preach at Shull's Mills on next Sunday at U a, m. Sixty-eight in attendance at the summer school. How is that for only the second week? Dr. R. D. Jennings, of Banner Elk, will be at the Blackburn Motel on Monday and Tuesday of next week in the interest of the people's bad teeth. He does all his work' under a positive guarantee and uses nothing but the best material. Miss Mary Lillington Hardin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Hardin, has returned from the Greensboro Female College, which closed her third year in that institution. Attorney E. F. Lovill left yesterday for Blountville, Tenn. for the purpose of taking some depositions to be used in a trial here next week. As the jail still remains empty and the docket is exceed ingly light, we may expect a short term of court. Mrs. Chas. Hodges, of How ard's Creek visited her parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. F. Brown, last week. The building committee ap pointed for the Appalachian Training School building is composed of the following gentlemen: Messrs. Hoses H. Cone and E. F. LoviU, of Wa tauga; F. P. Moore of Caldwell; T. C. Bowie, of Ashe, and J. Riley Pritchard, of Mitchell. The committee will have its first meeting within the next few days, a site will be select ed and work on the brick for the buildings will be begun at oace. Married on the 17th init., Miss Emma, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Pinkney Harrison, to Mr. John Benson. Miss Ethel Kerley has re turned to her home from Wilkes where she spent the winter with relatives. Thirty-Nine Years Ago May 29, 1924. Meat Camp Mrs. Phileo of Greemont, Va., visits her daughter Mrs. Thos. Greene. Mr. and Mrs. James Bingham, little Miss Laura Lee and baby were the week end guests of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Proffit's. We were glad to see them in the community. Come back again. Mr. and Mrs. James MUler of Linville visit at Mr. Larkin Miller's. Mr. A. G. Miller of Yuma was a business caller here last Mon day. Stlverstone On last Sunday there was a birthday celebration at the home of Mr. W. L. Wilson, It being intended for both Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. The children were all present except one, Just One Thing BJ CAM. goerch AFTER ANOTHER We've just been reading George T. Ivey's new book, "Humor and Humanity." In one chapter, Mr. Ivey pro pounds a number of interesting questions. Here are two of them: 1. Punctuate this sentence so as to make good sense. "It was and I said not or." 2. Punctuate this one: "That which is is that which it not is not." The people of North Carolina always have had the reputation of being very courteous. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but I believe that it most assuredly applies to the vast majortiy. As an Illustration of this, Mr. W. A. Whitmer, of Peachland, tells us of a little experience that he and Mr. Wyman Vick had last fall following those heavy rains. They have adjoining farms. Their tractors kept miring up in the field. Mr. Whitmer would puH Mr, Vick out and then Mr. Vick would pull Mr. Whitmer out. That happened a number of times. Finally both tractors got stuck. The men were working near a railroad track, and while they were standing there, bemoaning their fate, a train engine came by traveling slowly. Mr. Vick pointed at the stalled tractors and hollered: "Hey! How about giving us a pull?" The engineer stopped, backed hts engine, hooked a long chain to one of the tractors, advanced Ms thwttte slowly, and the tractor cane out without the slightest difficulty. Same thing was done with the other one. "Much obliged," yelled Mr. Whitmer and Mr. Vick in unison. "You're welcome!" called out the engineer, as he started off down the track again. Mist Ruby May Carpenter, of Lawndale, tells us of a resident of that place whose name is William Harshall Marshall By num Sealberry 0*>hus Duffey Dark Early Grandpa Newton Burgin Jeffers. They call him Bill for short. Mrs. W. B. R. Guion of New Bern sends us a newspaper clip ping the contents of which prob ably would puzzle even Profes sor Einstein: The greatest recorded loss of life by shipwreck was in the sinking of the French cruiser, Provemce, February 26, IMS, in the Mediterranean. Of the 44 aboard, only 870 were saved. I don't know why things of this nature appeal to me, but they do. A woman wanted to have soma painting' done at her house, so she got in touch with a man and asked htm to come around. "Are you a painter?" she in quired "Yea," was his answer. "What kind of painting have you baen doing lately?" "Men and ml mi a." "Oh," she exclaimed. "You're an artist, arent you?" "NoW ha replied. "I painted WOMEN on o?a door and MEN on die other for a number of lUtMhd of the Soathern RaU ai.aa ? \ . I Mrs. John Perdue, and most of the grandchildren. They report ed an enjoyable time, plenty of good things to eat and a re freshments of ice cream. We wish for them many more hap py birthdays. The rain seems to be over and today brings forth beauti ful sunshine. The road men with their machines are doing some exhellent work on our public roads through the Silver stone section, Mr. Ed Miller act ing at overseer. Cove Creek Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Wilson and daughter Nelda spent the week end at the home of Mr. and Mrs. D. F. Herton. The people of this commun ity were grieved to hear of the death of Mr. John B. Johnson which occurred at his home at Mabel last Sunday. He was buried with Masonic honors at the cemetery at Henson's Cha pel. Mabel Mr. and Mrs. John York from Virginia are visiting Mat Younce. Mrs. Link Culver and sister, Miss Bulice Church, have re turned home from Johnson City where they have been visiting for the past three weeks. Mrs. Culver's husband from the Johnson City sanatorium ac companied them back. We are glad to see Mr. Culver looking so well. Fifteen Years Ago May 27, 1948 Mrs. W. R Brewer and fam ily, formerly of Vilas, have re cently moved to Boone. Mrs. J. A. Idol celebrated her birthday Sunday, May 23. Many friends and relatives attended a dinner given in her honor. Mr. and Mis. Herbert Coch rane and family of Newton ,were week end visitors with Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Reece. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Isaacs announce the birth of a daugh ter, Stephanie Kim, May 21st at Watauga hospital. Fred Councill returned home on Monday from Duke Hospital where be recently underwent an operation. Mrs. T. H. Briggs and son, Sunny, of Jekyll Island, Ga? are visiting Mr. and Mrs. Joe Crawford. Mr. and Mrs. A. E. South, son Stanley and daughter Mar jorie returned home Sunday from a week end trip to Mt. Mitchell, Asheville, and Chim ney Rock. Mr. and Mr*. Carl Day re turned ' hQme Tuesday after spending a few days with Mrs. Day's slater, Mrs. Paul Murray and Mt. Murray in Greensboro. Mr. C. C. Wilcox and Mr. W. H. Gragg have just returned from a business trip which took them to Chicago, 111. and other midwMtern states. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest C. Lane of Portsmouth, Va. have return ed to their htfme after spending several days with Mrs. Lane's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe L Coffey of Laxon. Mr. J. M. Moretz has scld his grocery business on Depot Street to Messrs. John Moretz, and Ralph Moretz. Jr. Mr. Mor $ etz is a Justice of the Peace and Notary Public and has opened bis office with Attorney W. R. Lovill, near the Watauga Saks and Service. STREET BY ROB R1VI In this day of lurid taovlM, tv shows, and nasty novels, one can contemplate with interest, if not a de gree of humor, the days whaa "dime novels" were con sidered the work of Satan hiaaself, and the problem children of the day hid the paper back books from their parents, and sometimes managed a chapter of two of one of the Sherlock Holmes thrillers while the little volume was nestled down inside the Mg pages of the "joggafy". . . . The only thing there was, parents were apt to become concerned with our deep interest in geo graphy, and catch us cheating in our literary forays. or COUK8C the dime novel* weren't aeijr or degrading ict ualljr, moft at them ware de tective stories, and once in a while we'd manage to acquire a skimp? volume on Iks west ern train robberies, a saga of Jesse and Frank James, or maybe some tales of the Dal tons or the Earps or some of the others who drew smoking long-barreled revolvers from low-slung holsters In the dnaty streets of western cattle tewna. . . . And the bad boy of the community waa the one who grew a habit far these tales of the killers and the gam birrs and the robbers of another day and age and of the men who tracked them down. CARDS AND DANCING, likewise, were considered the product of the apostles of the devil in that far away day of quietude and of unlocked doors and unrobbed stores and of relative peace, and the village tongues wagged when the lads took a try at setback and some of the men of the community played a little poker in the cool of the evening. . . . But one had sooner be caugh't tot ing a pistol than for his mom to find that he had harbored a deck of cards of the sort they associated with saloon gun fights and with brawling and with all the evils of the fron tier towns. . . . And we won der what our pops and moms would think of the no-hands sort of living a lot of the youngsters are doing in these days of the powered wheel, and the jingling pocket and the pretty girls who dont blush quite so easily. * * * Of Farming And Wheat ? President Kennedy's farm program got a lacing the otter day when the wheat farmers of the country turned down con trols. ... In noting the trend of the voting we were remind ed of a talk wo had with some wheat farmers In southern Illi nois a year or more ago. . . . We'd taken a wrong turn and stopped at a gas station for information. ... The man's wife had a lunch counter, and we were hungry, so we had a sandwich and some coffee. . . . A couple of farmers came in and made conversation about wheat fanning. . . . One of them didn't appear overly con cerned, while the other took a turn at loud complaining over the quota system, allowing as how he should be able to seed his land to whatever grain in any quantity he wished. . . . Drawn in on the conversation, we admitted we'd just as leave he'd plant a bumper crop? We knew, after aB, very little abont' farming. . . . However, we did Interject that the thing appeared popular in Carolina. . . . The fellow agreed that It was a good thing here, and left the farmers who didn't raise an appreciable amount of wheat in good shape. "Bat," he said, "our farm economy la geared to tremendous produc tion. ... We are like the man ufacturing concerns, and dont feel like we can do any good raising a little of anything. . . . Give me unregulated plant ing! and let her be cheap, HI nuke It," said the man of the son, who with a "glad to meet cha." strode from the Httle es tablishment on the fringes of the vast dark farmlands. ... He didnt say anything about sur pluses, of coarse, which sm Insurmountable but he knew how the folks felt. ... In Illinois the wheat control pro gram was a? wed under, whtfe In North Carolina the vote was 82 per cent In favor of (he controls, H' ** * . Golden Hotor Roll E Mrs. W. D. Farthing calls to say she's taken the Democrat since 1900 without interrup tion, this perhaps being about the time the family moved to Boone, when Mr. Farthing took office as Clerk of the Superior Austin E. South says he sub scribed to the Democrat In 19 1 1 and hasn't miased a year since. Of coarse he had read the pa per before that time at the kAm? ni Km RMtftf lin Ron IIUIIIC V* son OlDVvi , miDi fvll Brannock, and Mr. Brannock, where he lived on the same soil where he still lives. A retired Superior Court Clerk, who per haps broke a county record for long tenure in office, Mr. South is enjoying his retirement, and taking life easy. Uncle Pinkney HIS PALAV ERIN'S DEAR MISTER EDITOR: Zeke Grubb's preacher come by the country store Saturday night, told the fellers things was pritty lonesome at his liouse lately. He said their social life has got so puny he'd even be glad to see his mother-in-law come fer a 2 hour visit. The good parson claimed he could recollect in other days when him and his wife was invited out to eat 3 and 4 times a week. But he said it looks like them days has gone for ever. He reported that the last time they was invited out to eat was last Thanksgiving and that was on account of Rufe Zinder was having a big family git-together and they needed somebody to ask a fancy bless ing. He told the fellers he has been doing a little thinking on this matter and has come up with the reasons he ain't eat ing out more regular. First off, he figgert, families don't eat in the home like they did in the old days. Papa eats on the frontporch, Mama eats in the kitchen, Junior eats in front of the TV set, and Sister is up at the drug store eating a pop sikle. He said he wouldn't know hardly which place to set if he was invited to that house. Another reason, he figgers, is that most wimmen nowadays cook from tin cans and the froie food counter and they was a little ashamed 'to invite the preacher to eat somebody else's cooking, sorter like going to hear a preacher read an other preacher's sermon. All these reasons, he claim ed, is good, but after a power ful lot of thinking he has de cided that the main reason him and his family don't git invited out to eat no more is on ac count of his 6 younguns. As long as they wasn't no body but him and his wife, he said, folks didn't mind. But now with their 6 younguns it was a matter of cleaning out the pantry shelf and most wim men is agin cleaning out the pantry shelf at just one setting. He told the fellers he'd never fergit when Big Slim's wife first invited them over to her house fer supper. She didn't know they had all them young uns and when they all come marching in, Big Slim's wife was about to faint Ha reported that was the last time they has broke bread with the Big Slim family. He figgerc they broke Big Slim's pocketbook the first time around. r* He told the fellers the clergy has lust as waU face up to the issue, that in the preaching per fesslon a preacher was going to have t* choose between having a big family and eating out. The%ood Parson left a little early, said he had to gh on home - wilt them six cans of pork and beans se's his wife could put supper on the table. Yours truly, Qnde pinkney