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The Transylvania Times
Published Every Thursday by
TIMES PUBLISHING COMPANY
Brevard, N. C.
' "
THE NEWS THE TIMES
Estab. 1896 Estab. 1931
Consolidated 1932
Bntered as second class matter, October 29,
1931, at the Post Office in Brevard, N. C.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
ED M. ANDERSON_Publisher
HENRY HENDERSON_Ass’t. Publisher
MISS ALMA TROWBRIDGE_Associate
IRA B. ARMFIELD_Business Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES, PER YEAR
In the County, $1.50 Out of the County,$2.00
Thursday, February 4, 1943
Fine Bus Service
The inter-urban bus service that is to be
started in Brevard and Transylvania coun
ty tomorrow will help solve a serious trans
portation problem and we commend those
who are making the establishment of this
improved service possible.
It was proposed that local buses be
used, but the Smoky Mountian Stages,
which own the highway franchises involv
ed, readily and voluntarily agreed to pro
vide the service and they are going “all
out” to do it.
Of course the future success of the
system depends entirely upon our own
people. ODT regulations require that in
order for buses to continue operations,
they must carry an average capacity load
of forty percent.
The present schedules, therefore, will
be operated on a sixty-day trial basis and
unless the passenger-load is sufficient to
justify continuance, the schedule will be
reduced.
It is our firm opinion that the need will
surpass minimum requirements within a
comparatively short time. If you want
to keep the buses running, patronize them!
Save gasoline—ride the bus to work, to
shop, to visit, to church and to play!
A Modern King
One of the most impressive pieces of
writing that we have had the pleasure of
reading for some time was written a few
days ago by Miss Mable Starnes, a Brev
ard College student.
It was written, we understand, for an
English assignment. The title of the ar
ticle is, “The King I Most Admire”. We
believe you will enjoy and be benefited
by it, too. Here’s the article:
Most of you are thinking that I ad
mire a noble king who rules a mighty
country—a king who lives in a place; a
king adorned in priceless robes and
jewels; a king who is able to obtain all
that he desires. He is a noble king,
but he lacks the palace and expensive
robes. The king is a boy who died last
night. His robes and jewels are replac
ed by a gun and a belt of bullets; his
place is a barren waste of sand.
It does not make much difference
now about his name. The important
thing is that he died in poignant and
awful loneliness, out in a starless, silent
night, 10,000 miles from home. “Mis
sing in action,” reads on obscure line in
the morning communique. That wras
all. Now he lies there crumpled beside
the wreckage that yesterday was his
ship riding high in the starlit heaven.
Last night in those agonizing hours,
without one thing that might have help
ed—the sound of a familiar voice or the
pat of a friendly hand,—he died a thou
sand deaths. The pain was bad enough,
but there had to be that dreadful
thought in those endless hours—Mom
and Dad, the flowers blooming in the
back yard, the old yellow roadster park
ed in the driveway, the last sweetheart
kiss at the station, all those plans for
the future.
He died last night. There’s no way
to get around that. He died doing his
part—not for himself, but for you. He
didn’t care about himself, his life, or
freedom; but for yours he fought. He
gave up much more than any of us. Re
member him as well as Pearl Harbor or
Wake Island. This boy gave his life.
He remained “semper fidelis” to us all.
He is a king!
They Are Back!
We are firmly convinced that plans
made at the historic conference in Africa
between President Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Churchill will speed up victory
for the allies and result in an “uncondi
tional surrender” of the axis powers.
News of this great conference was in
deed sensational, but, like many others
here, we were somewhat let down. With
advance publicity having played it up to
such a high pitch, we had anticipated an
nouncement of something big that was
about to happen, rather than the vague
announcement of formulated plans.
For obvious military reasons, none of
the secret war objectives were revealed
and, of necessity, the news contained only
broad generalizations.
But nevertheless we were still doubt
ful. We were concerned over the grave
dangers involved. Suppose the President,
Mr. Churchill and a number of our rank
ing generals had gotten killed. Who would
have been left in possession of sufficient i
military knowledge to carry on without
serious disruption? Couldn’t these dang
ers have been avoided by a meeting in this
country or in England? Was the French
political situation in Africa so bad that it
could not be settled any other way?
These and other similar questions flash
ed through our minds. Perhaps there were
many other important reasons that made
this conference necessary? Perhaps it
was essential to give a play-up to the
startling announcement. We do not pro
fess to know the answers. But we feel
relieved to know that the President and
Mr. Churchill and their staffs are now
safely back in their own countries.
Eliminate The Flaws
During recent years North Carolina’s
absentee ballot law has been amended
and improved, but because of flagtrant
abuses in Cherokee, Swain, Graham, Hen
derson and other counties, it was abolish
ed in the primaries.
Despite the improvements made in the
present law that applies to general elec
tions, abuses still continue and we think
the legislators now in session should give
serious consideration to effecting every
possible improvement.
With our young men away in service,
we do not think it should be abolished at
this time, but certainly all flaws should
be eliminated.
At least two amendments have already
been proposed and we feel that this mat
ter should be studied carefully. In a re
cent letter to Governor Broughton, Mr.
A. P. Kephart, of Blowing Rock and a
former college professor, pointed out some
impressive facts and concluded with this
significant paragraph:
“You will agree, I am sure, that this
step in the direction of good government
is demanded of us in support of the sac
rifices of our men in arms as well as our
claims of unselfish enthusiasm for freedom
for all people. 1 find it difficult to be
come reconciled to the loss of my son, but
I will always be fighting for the things
for which he fought. Will you join me in
the effort to correct an obvious weakness
in our election laws? If freedom is worth
dying for, it is worth having here at
home.”
i
Freedom Packs A Punch
Arms production records set by Amer
ican manufacturers in the past year are:
49,000 planes, 32,000 tanks, 17,000 anti
aircraft guns, 8,000,000 tons of merchant
ships. These figures are spectacular.
They prove that initiative inspired by
freedom! packs a punch.
The performance of the industries that
stand back of such production—namely,
the natural resource industries, should not
be overlooked. Secretary of the Interior
Ickes recently pointed out that: “For ev
ery ton of steel that goes into a tank or an
airplane or a bomb or a bayonet, more
than a ton of soft coal must be dug, trans
ported, processed and consumed.” The
nation’s mines produced more than 625,
000,000 tons of coal in 1942, a new all
time record for the coal industry.
Coal is typical of other natural resource j
industries. Censorship regulations pro- |
hibit the release of figures relating to
metal mine production. Suffice to say
that informed observers do not fear seri
ous shortages. The oil and electric indus
tries have turned in equally amazing per
formances. Oil managements have tackl
ed a synthetic rubber program designed to
build in two years a whole new industry
that ordinarily require a decade.
News fix
BehindII
the/Ni
By Paul Mal lon
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 — The
Roosevelt - Churchill promise of
heavy actions, Great Battles and
smashing victories to come will
naturally stimulate the inquisitive
imaginations of Americans who,
like myself, know nothing of the
plans—and should know nothing.
Yet, a careful, comprehensive
look by us at the obvious military
situation may do much to clarify
our thinking and expectations.
Hitler’s retreating troops in
Russia are seeking refuge on a
defensive line, probably half as
short as they have occupied. Th s
| means they still hope to maintain
a new defensive Eastern front
with half as many troops, half as
much material.
As the Reas advance, they must
run increasingly into the same
obstacle which hindered Hitler,
namely extensive communication
lines. They too will have to stop
somewhere to reorganize and re
pair communications. They have j
insufficient strength to run on in
to Germany.
Even if cracking morale de- j
moralizes completely the Nazi j
forces on the Eastern front, Hit- j
ler can still hope to maintain I
some sort of defensive line in
Poland and the Balkans to pro
tect the homeland and Central
European conquests temporarily.
So also in the West, Hitler has
been pushing civilians out of
Marseilles, apparently in anticipa
tion that one of the Roosevelt
Churchill “Heavy Actions” will be
an invasion of Southern France.
Indeed, Mr. Roosevelt hinted as
much when he spoke on the
Liberation of France as a primary
war aim.
Hitler could thus let Italy go
and try indefinitely to hold the
small, ill-gotten empire he has j
acquired in the center of the con-1
tinent.
He may try invasion of Turkey,
and has threatened invasion of
Spain, but the latter prospect has
faded since the bombing of Berlin
showed the Spanish what would
happen to their cities if they
let Hitler in.
A Nazi air borne invasion of
the Suez from Crete is not un-1
likely.
Our immediate objective is the
annihilation of Nazi forces in
Tunisia. The British - American
forces should accomplish this in
coming weeks.
Then invasion of Italy seems
called for, rather than an attack
on the Southern Coast of France,
which would entail long communi
cation lines. The taking of Sard
inia and Sicily would probably
have to come first.
The British have armies at
home supposely available for in
vasion. If Hitler moves too much
to the South of France, they could
conceivably strike directly against
the formidable prepared fortress
es across the Channel, although
Hitler has an army of 3.000.000
to 5,000.000 fairly good troops to
dispose upon the Western ram- j
parts of his continental fortress.
A more enticing point for Brit-1
ish invasion is Norway, and here
is where the German radio has
been expecting it.
Certainly Hitler, (now' nearing
defeat at such a rapid pace that
Mr. Roosevelt talks on uncondi
tional surrender as the only term
of peace) is digging himself in
on shorter last-ditch internal lines,
Presbyterian News
Items Of The Week
| The Presbyterian and Episcopal
I Vesper group will sponsor a
| square dance at the Brevard Col
| lege gymnasium this Saturday
night from 7:30 to 10 o’clock, it
| has been announced by Mrs. Ro
i land Wilber, church publicity di
rector. The young people would
j like to have as guests any other
: young people of high school or
j college age from the Methodist
i or Baptist churches, including col
■ lege students who belong to this
j organization. Any college students
I not members of the church or
| ganization are requested to pay
ten cents admission. All are re
quired to wear tennis shoes. At
the meeting last Sunday evening,
S. P. Verner gave an interesting
and inspiring talk on Africa. The
young people’s council will meet
at the hut Saturday night at 8
o’clock.
The Sunday school is studying
missionaries in Africa, and last
Sunday morning the junior choir
gave a short play, “Bunga’s gift.”
Those taking part were Betsy
Brittain, George Poor, Mary Jane
Newland, Richard Bryant, George
Wheeler and Ronald Rathje. Next
Sunday morning Mr. Verner’s
class of boys will give a play on
Livingston, to be presented by
Alfred Neumann, John Vassey,
Jack Patton and Jimmy Kanipe.
SA* YOU SA N IT IN THE TIMES
"THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE"
Nazi 41 qhem
Mefc/NE- GM
CeOYOOtf school.
cUlU)QEN j
«twz^
letting Russia, and perhaps Italy,
go. Unless he collapses before
Spring, these lines must ne crack
ed by us to attain our terms.
The mourning in Nazi news and
funeral dirges played over the
Berlin radio are, unhappily, not
the good signs of Germans crack
ing that the American public
wants to believe them to be. If
they were entirely authentic, the
end. indeed, is at hand.
But the clever Nazi psycholo
gists apparently are using their
MILLERS ENJOY READING
THE TIMES IN RALEIGH
A letter received this week by
the editor of The Times from
Mrs. J. A. Miller, who is engross
ing clerk at the present session of
the senate in Raleigh, tells of a
recent visit from her son, Lt. J.
D. (Jack) Miller, and Mrs. Miller
with'her in Raleigh.
Mrs. Miller’s letter states: “Lt.
J. D. Miller and Mrs. Miller are
spending a few days visiting rela
tives in Raleigh before going to
Lt. Miller’s new assignment. Mr.
J. A. Miller joined them here.
Friends in Brevard remember
him as Jack. He has been away
for 15 months on duty. On Friday
at the session of the State Sen
ate, Senator E. L. McKee intro
duced Lt. Miller, and the cour
tesies of the lobby were extended
to him and Mrs. Miller. Right this
minute Mr. Miller is busy reading
The Times, and I am wating for
a chance to read every word. We
look forward to Friday when your
paper appears.”
Iron slugs, weighing 95 pounds
each, shot into a mountain side
near the Picatinny Arsenal, New
Jersey, in testing munitions ex
plosives, are being dug out for
scraps.
military set-backs — which could
not be concealed anyway — to
frighten and shake their people
j into the last ditch stand that Hit
ler is preparing. The Goebbels
gang seems to have ordained an
era of publicity realism for the
German people solely for their
own fighting purposes, and not
for peace.
A Good Home Makes a Good, Steady Citizen
Don’t hesitate to buy the things your home really needs—especially when
you can get them at these extremely low prices. We invite you to visit
through our store without any obligation.
If You Need Furniture or Want A New Suite,
Buy Now While You Can Still Get It:
We have a large selection of Fine Living Room
Furniture and because of wartime restrictions, we do
not know how much longer it will be available ... So
we urge that you Buy Now.
EASY TERMS
BEAUTIFUL BEDROOM SUITES ON DISPLAY!
LOW PRICES
Come in today and see our Quality Bedroom
Suites. Our grouping of Maple, Mahogany and Wal
nut Suites is complete. Easy Terms, too, of course.
ABERCROMBIE FURNITURE CO.
“Complete Furnishers of The Home”
Main Street
Brevard, N. C.