Thursday, Dec. 18,1947 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One Year $2.00 (In WHkaa and Adjoining Countwa) One Year — $8.90 (Outside Wflke* and And Adjoinin* Rates To Hi«Be In Service: One Year (anywhere) $2.00 IN POLITICS _ Mondays and Thursdays at Wilkesboro, North Carolina Leonard Vyne, Leader, Passes Death, last week removed from this community Leonard Vyne, who for many years was a progressive leader in many phases of endeavor. Mr. Vyne came from Michigan with his father and settled in Wilkesboro before North Wilkesboro was a town. They organized and operated for many years a successful business in lumber manufacture, supplying materials for construction in this and outlying areas. They also shipped large quantities to other points. Mr. Vyne was blessed with a keen and analytic mind and was able to see through and size up a situation promptly and correctly. It was this talent that he used so valuably for his community, his church, his fraternal orders and his county. The county faced a financial crisis following failure of the Bank of Wilkes and jMr. Vyne agreed to serve as chairman of the board of county commissioners to assist in solving the problems which faced the county government, and he did his duties well. He also led the good roads movement when highway construction was revolutionary and looked upon by conservatives with disdain and suspicion. It was a wonderful tribute that numerous people of the county, with no one giving more than 25 cents, presented to Mr. Vyne a diamond pin as a token of their appreciation for his work in behalf of the people. congratulations to High School Band Those who heard the recent concert by the North Wilkesboro high school band were impressed with performance of the group. The members of the band, Director Miss Eva Bingham, and all local citizens who have had a part in making the band possible are to be congratulated for the progress made during the past few years. * A good high school band is an asset in any community and is often taken for granted without the proper amount of appreciation on the part of tlue public. The high school band here has performed well at many public gatherings, including football games, parades and other events. The band always adds color and interest to a gathering. But many who see and hear and enjoy a band fail to appreciate that many hours of work and a considerable financial investment have gone into the making of the band. Public spirited citizens in North Wilkesboro have given much money toward the band and they, with the band members, director and school officials deserve commendation. Belgium It is widely believed that all of Europe has surrendered to the arid doctrines of collectivism, an enforced low standard of living for the masses of.the people, and a completely regimented and planned economy. There is, however, one small but hopeful exception. That exception is Belgium. Writing from Brussels, Joseph EL Evans, a staff correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, recently said: "The 'Belgium government-in-exile' very early decided what financial and economic policies it would pursue after liberation. And -in contrast to almost country—those polones of free trade, private enterprise." t, says the same s nation alone has ed with their* lot as ' Americans with theirs." Rationing in Belgium is restricted to a few very scarce items, mostly basic foods. Everything else, from necessity to luxury, jp on sftfe in the free, open market, as in Amerjpa. The Belgium black market is the least important in Europe. The whole idea behind the Belgium free enterprise policy is a simple one—to encourage incentive— to give the people good wages for productive work-—and, once they have earned their money, to premit them to buy what they want. Belgium production is now approaching the prewar level in almost all lines, and in some has actually exceeded it. Worker output is high—while, by contrast, in the adjoining state of The Netherlands where a tough austerity program is in effect, output is low and is still declining. Belgium is dramatically proving that free enterprise can outdo socialistn— even in war-torn Europe. Belgium, in other words, has taken a page from the American book. There can be no substitute for individual incentive in a free economy. Socialism, like communism and the rest of the isms, makes robots out of men and women. When work and ability are not rewarded, despair and poverty prevail. ' o T L| C EVERYDAY COUNSELOR By Rev. Herbert Sp&ugh, D. D. Stubbornness is determination gone to seed. It is determination without reason. It carries people to absurd lengths, breeds misery and unhappiness for all concerned. Recently the Associated Press released a picture of an old grey mule which stubbornly held its ground for four hours in the middle of the Huey Long Bridge across the Mississippi River at New Orleans while train after train lined up on the lengthy approaches. Finally an officer from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals dispatched the animal with a bullet. The trains could then pass ovpr and nortnai traffic was resummed. , There are unfortunate people who act just like this old mule. From time to time I hear of them. One has a misunderstands ing or quarrel with another. Both then refuse to speak to one another, sometimes for years. Occasionally this impossible situation continues until death, if both of them are stubborn. Each waits for the other to make a move towards reconciliation. s »ucn an atmuae is more tnan sniy. it is absurd and often tragic. As time goes on, others are affected. There is a vast difference between determination or persistence and stubbornness. Stubbornness is pure and unadulterated selfishness, unwillingness to see the other's side. There's nothing like a good apology to tone up the emotional life. It is a sort of mental and spiritual purgative. All of us make mistakes. I once saw this motto on an office wall, "He who makes no mistakes does nothing. He who makes too many loses his job." A stubborn person, by his attitude, is unwilling to admit personal wrongdoings. If there were no wrong-doings, there would be no sin. The Bible reminds us that none of us are without sin. If there were no sin, there would be no need of a Saviour, and there would be no Christmas. Christmas is the birthday of Christ who came as the Saviour of the world, the Saviour from sin. What a fine time, this Christmas season affords for reconciliation of old differences and misunderstandings. Jesus Christ came as the great Reconciler of men to God. Suppose God had stubbornly held out against sinful and wayward mankind? Suppose Christ had not come? Suppose* there had been no Christmas? Some of you who read this column may be standing stubbornly on some bridg^ which leads to happiness. Like *he old mule, you may be impeding the flow of happiness in your home and place of business. Why wait to be driven from an unreasonable position by the crushing blows of circumstance? Christmas spells giving and forgiving. What a time for righting old wrongs. Charles Dickens wrote his famous Christmas CaroJ about a stubborn old -man named Scrooge who cl bridge of life, ABNORMAL By 1 DWIGHT NICHOLS et al NYLONS, cab wash jobs AND STREET CLEANING— This column, which perhaps has gained a deserved reputation as complalner and top griper, has been asked to put In a word for the benefit of $2J>0 nylons, newly washed automobiles and unsteady tempers. ■Ladles, they say down thfe street, are up In arms about afternoon street flushing. They say that wihen the sfcretet flusher comes along In the afternoon that nylons are going to get ruined by the splashing, spraying water from the streets, and long shirts catch their share of the dirt and grime. / And there comes a pronounced squawk from those who have just paid $1.25 for a car wash, only to find that the street flusher has plastered one side with dirty water. They plead for return to night work for street cleaning and promise not to say a word about sleep disturbance by noise from the street flueher. GROWING UP— Recently we heard a representative of a firm which wanted to erect a new and larger place said that he was puzzled. He knew North Wilkesboro is growing but he don't know what direction the town is growing. Seems that it is bursting at the hems in every direction. The place is growing up and is suffering with growing pains, all of which are always necessary with growth. It Is Interesting to reflect upon change and growth. Suppose that you had not been in this community since 1941 and that you drove in and looked around. May