T Would Rather Be Dead Than Red’ The speech below was writ ten by the president of The American Society of News paper Editors and delivered at a two-state convention of newsmen in California re cently. It is the answer to those who would say that the news papers can’t be trusted and takes to task those who would rather be Red than dead. The State Port Pilot feels, as the author does, that, “Never has there been greater need for honesty. Integrity and respect for truth” than now. We are publishing the article for these and other reasons. Editor, The State Port Pilot By felix r. Mcknight The Dallas Times Herald Executive Editor, Today the American editor is on his most imperative mis sion. We of the free world who have desperately improvised and struggled in the past gen eration to prevent the deteriora tion of mankind, now need new strength and meaningful ap proaches to this gravest of all threats. It is a sorry package we are holding. It is soiled with man’s | distrust of man, a tragic weak i ening of the moral fiber that is our only hope, and with tarnished promises. We live almost from hour to hour. No one knows what the next clatter of the newspaper teletype will bring. The talk of peace is almost drowned out by the ghastily overtones of sur vival and fall-out shelter pro grams. I did not come all the way here to give up. I came to raise a little hell . . . and to hope that strong and vibrant hands will seize this thing we call the destiny of free peoples. Fight To Survive Somewhere, sometime we started drifting. We gradually cut loose from spiritual moorings and blindly permitted godless elements to I get their hands on our throats. Now we figth to survive. We even hear faint cries ! that some would “rather be l Red than Dead." It is unthinkable that we ! would ever hear of such moral sickness in this country . . . even from the tiniest segment. ] We just don’t surrender con ALIGNMENT SPECIAL FOR WEEK OF JAN. 22-27 Front End Alignment *4.50 CAPE FEAR MOTOR SALES BODY SHOP 16th & WOOSTER ST.—WILMINGTON, N. C. CAPE FEAR MOTOR SALES “Your Friendly Ford Dealer” SERVICE DEPARTMENT 215 Market — Wilmington, N. C.— RO 3-6221 Telephone Talk by H. F. KINCAID Your Telephone Manager When Prince O’Brien retired recently as cashier of the Waccamaw Bank & Trust Co. in Southport, this community not only lost the services of a banker, but we at Southern Bell lost the services of a man who for the past twenty years has served as our agent at Southport. We all know Prince O’Brien as a friendly, help ful fellow, whether our problems happened to be i financial or something connected with the telephone company. Through the years w^ have felt that South ern Bell was fortunate to have a man of his character and ability as its local representative in Southport. We are happy to announce that W. B. Gerald, he new cashier of the Waccamaw Bank & Trust Co. it Southport, has agreed to serve as the Southern Bell tgent end the affairs pertaining to local telephone prvice formerly handled by Prince O'Brien will be ken over by this young man. We are proud of our system in Southport and rounding area, and we appreciate the assistance these men who have helped to render the high f "dard of communications service for which South rBell is famous. ; cepts of living and freedom given to us by God to live the ! hollow life of the godless. Or to quote Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, who recently said it with far more eloquency: “Our nation’s moral strength has slipped alarmingly. One cannot preach morality and practice immorality. National corruption is the sum total of individual corruption. We must follow the teachings of God if we are to heal this moral ill ness. “We have m our midst some timid souls who have so little faith in the strength of Demo racy that they would have our country yield to international threats and intimidation. I in clude those persons who urge appeasement at any price. “Fear, apologies, defeatism and cowardice are alien to the thinking of true Americans. As for me, I would rather be dead than Red, “We do not have to apolo gize to anyone. Certainly not to the arrogant shoe-pounding Khrushchev and his puppets— nor to those neutrals whose neutrality is but an evidence of | moral weakness. We should ; keep our heads up, looking for honorable solutions and selling j America, rather than keep our ! heads down looking for shelters and the compromise of human I rights." Split late Groups But almost as threatening to ; the security of this country is another group which, in good | intention, has moved periously close to destruction of one of the most precious of all Ameri can guarantees—the right of all I to be heard. In moments when unity has ! never been more urgent, we have split into sensitive, irra tional groups that are as foreign ■ to this nation as Communism i itself. Not even a full generation j ago—16 or 17 years—we locked I arms in war against evils that I threatened free men. Every American was his brother's 1 keeper . . . Men died for other ' men ... no questions* were i asked in foxholes about social | or political belief. The only prizes of that war? The right to worship, the right of all men to voice their opinions; the I right of the press to present all sides of all questions. The free doms saner men gave us by their blood and tears . . . men -.— ----—, who would tremble to see us to day as we point at our broth ers in emotional frenzy and brand them traitors simply be cause they do not believe, to the letter, as we do. The American newspaper has its challenge. No longer can the newspaper man pay mere lip service to his claim of objectivity. It has become more than the closing lines of a speech to the Rotary Club. On The Defense Irresponsibility in the slight ' est degree cannot be tolerated ; in these strange, but very real, ! days in which we find our ' selves. The American newspaperman is on the defense. Once there was a cry from the left that we were a “one party press’’ snugly grouped to gether to do the bidding of Conservative political wings. It started in the middle of the New Deal and rose to crescendo heights during the Eisenhower wave. But somewhere the tune changed. Few newspaper pat terns have shifted, but the shout from the far right now labels us as (quote) “the leftist press that distorts the nation’s image.” It is not true . . . and it is about time the American press take off the gloves and try to bring sanity to the emotional binge that has this country dangerously off balance. 1 The American press is a pa triotic press, dedicated more than any other agency to the absolute preservation of our freedoms and the rights of man. We are not, as too many charge, Communist dupes be cause we attempt to follow moderate lines and call for a look at internal bickering. There is not a reputable news paper in America that would not quickly and without equivo cation expose and fight unceas ingly any threat that endan ] gers the security or welfare of ' this nation. And I resent to the core these j sudden patriots who aimlessly j and broadly charge the Ameri ! can press with a lack of con | cem for the welfare of this country. We were here a long, long time before these groups 1 appeared . . . selling a brand ' of Americanism they have dis • torted and molded to their particular purpose. We may have newspapers that editorial ly embrace certain social and political views that are not to their liking, but we do not have newspapers that would sell out to the enemy. I ask these people who hurl hollow and' superficial charges: Just what other watching do they have? How do they learn of the doings of governmental agen cies and servants that they might voice their dissenting views ? How would they know if they had been completely hoodwink ed out off all righto and shoved into tyrannical subjugation ? Where do they get informa tion to build their own voice of opinion? A voice that has a right to be heard? And how long would the United States last as a free nation if every newspaper, every radio and television sta tion were exterminated or forced) to print and broadcast identical "party line" philiso phy? i ‘Agree Or Else’ These questions; and answers, are so elementary that one wonders why he must stand up and defend free institutions that are as old as the- Constitution itself. But, believe me, it must be done - . . and it must be done with conviction and with re sponsibility that cannot be chal lenged. Objectivity? Never has it been more important in this business. We have rather sud denly become suspect in the eyes of too many Americans and nothing but complete hon esty and intelligent reporting can erase this suspicion . . . un founded though it may be. It is a strange but support able fact in this new “agree with me or else” atmosphere that critics of newspapers, on both sides, never complain, never criticize when column space is given to their leader or their group . . . unless they twist the slightest gap in your story into “biased reporting.” But if a newspaper editorially disagrees with their leader or group on certain issues, it is quickly tatooed with “Pinko” and “Red” tags. Or, if the shoe happens to be on the right foot, it becomes a fat, capital istic reactionary with no regard for the welfare of the common man. I don’t know—I could be wrong—but I cannot recall one single instance in modem his tory of an American newspaper editor or publisher being charged with subversion or a ■ treasonable act. j But there we stand in the : eyes of far too many as “the | leftist press” selling this nation down the river. On Stele Of Law Xu one way or another, the 1 past 33 years of my life have ; been spent serving my fellow ; man, my country. It is in evitable that an American newspaperman, dedicated to the well-being of his family, his community, his nation will live that kind of life. It is our life. Yet, in very recent years I ! Distributed In This Area B) Electric Bottling Co., Inc. W«LMINGTON, N. C. ELLIS' SHOE CENTER House Of Famous 8rand Shoes Red Cress, Cobbies, Socialite, Joyce, Tweedies, Coach & Four, DeLano—and Ladies’ Fashion Hats. “Columbus County’s Only Exclusive Ladies' Shoe Store America’s Most Talked About & Walked About Shoes have been subjected to indigni ties, to vile threats, to the ven om of cowardly anonymous telephone calls. I have been called a Communist. Worse, these things have happened to my family. Why? I happen to be the editor of a newspaper that printed both sides of the prob lems that trouble our society these days. My newspaper has editorially hewn, without ex ception. to the 100 per cent American viewpoint; to the side of law and order, whether we like it or not. We have dis agreed with Supreme Court de cisions, and we have said so in unmistakable clarity . . . but in the finality of such decisions, after all litigation has been re solved—such as integration of the public schools—we have called for orderly acceptance and peace among our own peo ple. Violence leads only to chaos, . . . and chaos is the target of our enemies. Now I understand, to a de Continued On Page 3 MARCH, 1962 Children Must Be Protected. Too often, medicines which ore perfectly safe in propef dosage are left exposed, where little chil dren can play with them. If a large amount is taken, any medicine can be fatal. Household Cleaners Are Dangerous. If not used properly they can cause great harm and* many children have been injured by beirtg exposed to them. March 18th* Begins Poison Prevention Week. If you have children, or any visit your home, please do these things now. 1. Store aH medicines and household products in a place impossible for them to reach. 2. Throw away everything that has no label to posi tively identify the contents. 3. And, after you have used any medicine or house hold product, don’t leave it around carelessly, but immediately