Page Two
The Chapel Hill Weekly
US K. IT -- J T«Mwt MCT er MO
rjLi i i v . ~ - ~ j — 1 "
By He Q«>d Hiß Com paay. bt-
Isom Gaavus CoKtritmsme Editor
Jot Jeans Masutgtmg Editor
Bsxt Aina Associate Editor
Cxvct H>csm Associate Editor
Onvsxc Cammu. Grtml Mcaoper
O. T. Tmm Adve*nsme Director
CbAKJRW CUtMU. IlffAfflUWt Sicpt.
StBSCRIPnOX RATES
It Oraur* County, Tow M-*®
<6 mouth* SZ-ZZ: S months ti.M>
OotsKie of Orange County by the Year:
State ei X C- Va~ and S. C.
Other State* and Diet, of Colombia EAC
rjMit» Mem. Sooth America ?AC
Europe - - '*- M>
A Time to 1% D«*9
The 1956 Community Chest drive be
gins in Chapel Hill today, and its goal
represents 20 per cent more than was
collected in last year’s campaign. This
money is urgently needed by the nine
Chest agencies. The Chest is not just
“another” drive. It is a combined re
quest from local agencies which de
pend on our contributions to survive.
All contributions are welcome, nat
urally, but Chapel Hillians should think
of their Chest donations in terms of
dollars rather than dimes. Instead of
having fund raisers knock or, our front
doors nine separate times for these
nine local agencies, we are being asked
to give once—for all.
No one questions the worth of the
agencies concerned. No one denies the
need for the Scouting program, the
recreation and community centers, the
day nursery, the libraries the Humane
Society, and the Y-Teen activities.
These are organizations which contrib
ute something fine and worthwhile to
our community. We are being asked
only to fulfill an obligation which is
rightfully ours when we are asked
to give our financial support.
More volunteer workers—from divi
sion chairman to door-to-door solicitors
—are participating in the Chest drive
this year than in any previous cam
paign. The)' are giving valuable time
as well as money. Most of us are only
being a>-ked to dig into our pockets
and our hearts. We should dig deep.
Something for Grown People to Decide
One of the first published statements
that met my eyes when 1 got home
last week was one by John W. Umstead,
citizen of Chapel Hill and member of
thf- University’s Board of Trustees, to
the effect that, if the University ad
ministration did not do something about
restricting the possession of automo
biles by students, the Trustees would.
I hope the Truste<-s will not find it
necessary to act on this, but if the
administration doesn’t J hope the Trust
ees will.
I have said in these columns several
time- that I thought the possession
of automobiles by students should be
restricted, and I am still strongly of
that opinion. The University administra
tion seems to think that this is a
matter in which considerable weight
should be given to what the students
think. There is certainly no objection
to giving them an opportunity to
express their views, but these views
should not be taken as highly
important. Many of the students are
still adolescents, which means that they
are incompetent, from lack of know
ledge and experience, to form sound
judgments; and most of the others
are such a short way beyond adoles
cence that they are still immature.
The great majority of students are
minors in the sight of the law, and,
when an£ question of University policy
is up for discussion, they should also
be regarded as minors by the faculty.
Listen to what they say, treat them
courteously and sympathetically, but
don’t let them usurp functions that be
long to grown people. The University
administration is in loco parentis with
respect to students and its decisions
on student privileges and student be
havior ought to be based on that fact,
—L. G.
The Question of the Obligation to Vote
A year or so ago, I asked, in a casual
sort of way, if maybe people weren’t
being harangued too much about their
duty to vote. It wasn’t that I objected
to go to the polls; I just thought that
the urging was being overdone. I said
that to have my obligation to take*
part in an election dinned into my
ears so constantly, day after day, was
getting to be more than a little tire
some.
Now I find this matter discussed
seriously in an article in the November
issue of Harper’s by Robert E. Coul
son. He is the mayor of Waukegan,
Illinois, who has had his name on a
ballot five times in recent years and
has come out winner four times. He
has been a Republican party official
and an active party worker for fifteen
years.
Excerps from his article are repro
duced here below. —L.G.
By Robert EL Coutsoa in Harper's:
Three years ago anyone who failed
to vote had to face the combined scorn
of both political parties, the school
teachers, boy scouts, war veterans,
chambers of commerce, and leagues of
women voters. Last year bar associa
tions. girl scouts, tavern keepers. Presi
dent Eisenhower, radio and TV stations
and junior chambers of commerce join
ed the crusade. There is every pros
pect that in future elections, non-voters
will face jail sentences or fines, or be
called to testify before investigating
committees.
Before this happens, someone should
come to their defense. Non-voters
are often more intelligent, more fair
minded. and just as loyal as voters.
The right not to vote is as basic as the
right 10. If voting is a duty, it
ceases to be a privilege. V ’-
Non-voting. multiplied by the thous
ands, is said to mean voter apathy, and
this is supposed to be a sin. Have we
lost our sacred American right to be
apathetic?
The notion that "getting out the
vote” makes for better election results
is neither non-partisan, patriotic, nor
logical. It is a device to favor the
machines of both parties. It handicaps
independent candidates, unfairly bur
dens the party in power, makes elec
tions more expensive to conduct, and
worst of all—places the emphasis on
the ritual of voting rather than the
thought behind the vote.
If you fill in all the blank spaces on
the ballot, the political machines will
-teal three-fourths of your vote. Let’s
see how this works, in a typical prim
ary election.
Here are seven offices to be filled
by nomination, with two or three can
didates for each office. Citizen String
fellow is interested in seeing Jones win
for Auditor. He has no information
about the candidates for Attorney Gen
eral, Treasurer, Superintendent of
Schools, or the others. He votes for
Jones and then looks on down the list.
He been persuaded that it is his
duty to vote for somebody for each
office. So for six of the seven offices,
he marks an X opposite the name best
known to him. or the name on top,
or the name suggested by his com
mitteeman. These are machine candi
dates, and Citizen Stringfellow has giv
en away six-sevenths of his vote.
After him. comes Citizen Stalwart,
who knows the candidates for two of
the seven offices. He also fills in all
the blanks, letting the machine steal
five-sevenths of his vote. At this rate,
during a day’s ballotting. the candidates
backed by the strongest machines with
the biggest publicity budgets will win,
even though not a single voter had an
intelligent preference for them.
"Getting out the vote’’ is always
partisan. A calm and dignified effort
benefits the party in power. An excited
or hysterical effort benefits the party
out of power. The Republicans were
very happy to use the pressure of
“neutral” groups in the 1952 elections.
But they had better learn that this is
a two-edged stoord. Next time, the girl
scouts, veterans’ groups, radio stations,
newspapers, and community funds may
be out needling the Republicans with
propaganda.
All public-opinion surveys show that
a certain proportion of the electorate
has no opinion about many vital issues,
does not know who is running for of
fice, and does not care. A gentle cam
paign to bring a submissive one-third
of the apathetic sheep to the polls gets
out a voting majority for the candidates
who have had the greatest amount
of publicity—who usually belong to the
party in power. A rip-snorting effort
to get out all the ignoramuses tends
to turn them into the rebel column,
and thus benefits the outs.
In either event, the girl scouts should
wash their hands of it. The job of
getting out the vote is a partisan ef
fort which belongs to the professionals.
The silliest idea of all is the notion
that it ia un-American or unpatriotic
not to vote. “A plague on both your
houses” is a fair American attitude—
TUB CHAPEL HILL WEEKLY
The Recital of Stephen Kovacs
By Jme A. Heigmem
At HIS Music Hull, On Tan
day evening, October S, a
most unusual (for the younger
generation;) recital was given
by Stephen Kovacs, a master
technician, which recital took
this reviewer back to the first
piano concerts he attended, a
good many years ago, when
the fashion was for the great
pianists to display their gifts
by performing the so-called
“pianist*-" works popular at
that time.
Kovacs began by giving a
fine performance of the rare
ly beard Antoaio Vivaldi’s “D
minor Organ Concerto," as
transcribed for the piano by
the little-known contemporary
composer, Stradal. The first
movement, “Maestoso e pes
jente—Pupa,” was character
ised by the fine organ-like
sonority achieved, both in the
fortissimos and pianiasimoe.
Throughout this whole move
ment the bass line was beauti
fully maintained, along with
the lyricism of the melodies,
the well-ex posed fugue. This
was the subject of a clear and
musician!}' treatment. The
second movement, "Largo,”
was sung with poetical phras
ing and finely brought in con
trasts. Tbe “Finale" was per
formed with great musician
ship, precise and clear tech
nique, well developed crescen
dos and diminuendos, ending in
a brilliant coda arid final rit
ardando.
The nowadays unheard
“Dante Sonata," by Franz
Liszt, was tbe next number,
which was ormed by Ko
vacs with a tremendous and
well-sustained technique, and,
leaving aside the numerous
somewhat trite passagees of
this sonata, the artist’s exe
cution of its tremendously dif
ficult arpeggio octaves, double
scales and many other trying
phrases, prepared us to enjoy
the melodic passages, which
were poetically sung. While
this reviewer was never very
fond of this work, Kovacs’
performance made it quite en
joyable.
Then came the Brahms “Va
riations or. a Theme by Pag
anini.” Beginning by a clear
and poetical statement of the
basic theme, Kovacs went
through the complete first book
and almost the whole second
book of these variations. Lath
of these was clearly and mu
sscianly played, getting its
“place in the sun’’ through its
individual interpretation, giv
ing the audience a good idea
of how each one of the forty
odd departures from the orig
inal theme was developed. His
recapitulation, return to the
basic theme and coda were
magnificent.
After the intermission, Ko
vacs introduced “Storm >,\<r
Hungary.” This very "l.i-z
--•iari” composition, by a >or
ternporary composer, Kz*-:e- yi.
wa- finely performed by Ko
who gave us good poet
ical singing of melodic-, f re
and smooth dynamics.
The true gayety of the old
Vienni-c court was brought
hack to us through Ko.a<
playing of his own tra/.-c/.p
- of the “Fiederrnaus, hy
Johann Strauss. The character
of the original music was well
all too often a logical one. Stupidity
docs not become wisdom by being mul
tiplied.
in every election not, more than one
third of the people care very much
how it comes out. A certain percentage
rnay have some sort of belief or opi
nion without feeling very strongly about
it; another percentage may have studi
ed the matter a little without forming
an opinion; another percentage may
not even have studied it; and so on,
until we come to the people who are
not even aware that an election is be
ing held. The more we urge these people
to clutter up the polling place, the more
delay there is in voting, the more the
cost of ballots and clerks, and the slow
er the returns.
If Candidate Jones would normally
have won by 3,000 votes to 1,000, and
we corral 10,000 more people into the
polling places, won’t Candidate Jones
still win, by 8,000 to 6,000? Mathemati
cally the last-minute coin flippers may
make the election look close, but what
patriotic purpose is accomplished?
And if the corn-flippers should hap
pen to defeat the will of the informed
majority, the cause of good govern
ment would emphatically not have been
served.
Our city had a referendum recently
in which the people voted for a tax
increase to build an incinerator and
against a tax increase to operate it.
Every one of your communitiea has
probably known referendum* where the
voters approved the bonds for a school
but disapproved the sites, or voted for
the site and against the bonds. All
those voters who marked in opposite
preserved in this paraphrase.
Then came the “Capriccio-in
F minor," by still another Hun
garian composer, of the classi
cal school, Ernst von Dohnanyi,
which short piece was delight
fully performed.
Next on the program was
the Paganini - Lisxt - Busoni
“Campanella.” Perfection it
self was Kovacs’ execution of
this fantastically difficult
work.
Finally, we heard the rare
ly played Lisxt's transcription
of the Overture to “Tannhaeu
ser” by Wagner. The Pilgrims’
Chorus was beautifully brought
out. and so was portrayed the
Bacchanale’s frenzy, by Ko
vacs, amid’-’the many difficult
adornments added by Lisxt to
the already difficult music of
the original work.
The first encore was another
transcription by Kovacs, of the
old Rumanian folk dance, the
“Hora,” in the second part of
which a "Bebop" effect was in
troduced by the composer. The
This Ms the Law
By Robert E. Lee
(For N. C. Bar Aasociatian)
Smith takes his watch to a
jeweler for repair. Nothing is
said at the time about pay
ment. When Smith returns for
the repaired watch, the jeweler
informs him that the cost is
fifteen dollars. If Smith re
fuses to pay, may the jeweler
continue to keep the watch?
Yes. If a person requests
another to perform services for
him, there is an implied con
tract to pay a reasonable price
for the services rendered. If
there is a dispute as to the rea
sonableness of the price, the
dispute may be litigated in the
courts.
If a worker or artisan has in
his possession the personal
property of another on which
he has performed requested
services, he has a right to re
tain the property as security
for the payment of his ser
vices. Lawyers call this right
“possessory lien."
This particular lien may be
created without an agreement
of the parties. It arises by op
eration of law out of a custom
which arose many years ago
and has been made a part of
our common Law. This ex
plains why many repairmen
do not require compensation in
advance for services rendered
or materials added to personal
property in accordance with
the owner’s request.
How doe* a repairman en
force his ii«-ri on personal pr op
erty which he has made or al
tered at the request of an
other ?
The -vatutes of North Car
olina permit the repairman to
sell by his. own act at public
auction, without intervention
of a judicial proceeding, the
property for the purpose of en
forcing the lien. There are cer
tain detail- to Lx followed in
the puhii-bing arid giving no
tice of ,-aie. An attorney should
be consulted for advice.
Hoc- a garage keeper have
directions on the same afternoon were
unwisely pressured into voting.
You have also seen primary elections
where the boob with the catchy name
ran away from the able man whose
publicity was colorless. You have seen
final elections where the straight party
voters and the blank fillers smothered
any discriminating choices which the
thoughtful voters had made. You have
noticed with distress some of the un
dignified didos, cruel epithets, and
pompous verbosities with which even
g«s>d men become burdened early in
their campaigns. All of these are caus
ed in large measure by “get out the
vote” efforts which emphasize putting
a cross in half the squares.
Instead of urging people to vote, we
ought to be urging them to study and
form opinions. If thought and inspec
tion of the candidates do not create
a real desire to vote, then the citizen
should be encouraged to stay home
on election day. A low vote is part
of the public record and itself a signi
ficant voter reaction which ought to
be preserved. Maybe neither of the
candidates was worth voting for.
Certainly the right to vote is im
portant and should not be curtailed.
A fool who is willing to walk all the
way to the polling place should be
given every freedom to record every
stupid impulse he feels, for these will
tend to cancel each other out. But no
one should pretend that marking X in
a square ia any proof of patriotism or
even intelligence. It is not your duty
to vote, but if you choose to, then .it*
should be your duty to be intelligent
about it.
second «M«t was still a Bother
transcription by Kovacs, of the
"Marche Mllitabv" by Franz
Schubert, which to this re
viewer seemed to be based on
the transcription of his same
march by Taussig. The last
encore, “Clair de Lune,” of the
“Suite Bergamaeque," by
Claude Debussy, was delicately
and delightfully played by Ko
vacs, who, through his poetic
phrasing in this little excerpt,
showed us that he is fully cap
able of performing romantic
music, of which there were
only glimpses in this recital.
Stephen Kovacs’ playing dis
tinguishes itself by its great
display of an always pure and
well maintained flexible tech
nique. which enables him to
execute the most difficult works
ever written for the piano, with
the greatest of ease, “the dif
ficult ease which only geniuses
achieve,” as a Rpanish critic
philosopher wrote about Sara
sate, in the late nineties. May
we hear Stephen Kovacs again,
with less transcriptions and
more real good music!
a lien for storage charges?
In North Carolina a garage
keeper does not have a lien for
storage charges. This is due
to the fact that the privilege
of a lien is usually extended to
those who have by their skill
and labor imparted some addi
tional value to the property of
another.
In a considerable number of
other States there are statutes
giving to a garage keeper a
lien for storage charges. In
several of these states the lien
exists even though the garage
keeper voluntarily surrenders
possession.
a warehouseman have
a lien for storage charges ?
Yes. There is a statute in
North Carolina which gives to
warehousemen a lien on goods
in storage.
The Supreme Court of North
Carolina has held that the Sta
tute applies only to persons or
firms who operate warehouses
as a business for compensa
tion, and not to isolated in
stances in which goods are
stored in a store or building of
the claimant. The warehouse
man must be one who holds
himself out to the public as
being in the warehouse busi
ness and who has paid a tax
for such a privilege.
“When nothing seems to
help, try looking at the stone
cutter hammering away at his
rock, perhaps a hundred times
without as much as a crack
showing in it. Yet, on the
hundred and first blow it
will split iri two. We may
know it was not that last
blow that did it, but all that
had gone before.”—Megiddo
Message.
“True, the medical profes
sion still has no cure for the
common cold, but research
Las developed several miracle
drugs which, if taken under
a doctor’s supervision, don’t
make a cold any worse."
Kansas < ity Star.
I BELIEVE I HAVE MENTIONED before that I
think Jackie Gleason is about the unfunniest “comed
ian” on television. I have one further comment to
make on sorry TV shows, and then I will shut up for
a while: Arthur Godfrey makes me want to throw up.
Godfrey is not only the biggest bore on TV, he
also seems to be running a race to see if he can win
the title as the star with the least amount of gray
matter between his ears. He discovers talented young
sters, promotes them until they have been warmly
accepted into the hearts of the viewing audience, then
cans them without a word of explanation or apology.
This doesn’t indicate good sense or any sort of respect
for sound public relations.
What started me thinking about Godfrey was his
latest victim—petite and talented Lu Ann Simms, who
got the axe late last week. Every time Godfrey shoves—
one of these people out the door, a little more of his v
own popularity goes out the door at the same time. In
each case, he loses another popular performer (whose
success is a result of Godfrey’s backing) and he
builds his own reputation further as a ruthless and
unfeeling tyrant. W’hen newspaper reporters ask God
frey to explain the firings, he tells them it’s nobody’s
business but his own. That’s where he’s wrong. It
has become the public’s business because Godfrey has
made these people into public figures.
No wonder Godfrey’s audience ratings have slipped!
If he continues to behave in his established pattern,
we may all be thankful one day to see his name
finally eliminated from our program listings in the
morning newspaper.
* * • * *
THERE IS A HAUNTING TWANG and an unearth
ly loneliness in the sound of the samisen, a three
stringed Japanese instrument which furnishes a good
bit of the background music and atmosphere in “Uget
su,” the moving film which played late last week at
the Varsity. The samisen, plucked one string at a time,
and the melancholy chock-chock of musical wooden
blocks add to the gentle air of fantasy which per
vades this prize-winning (Venice Film Festival) mo
tion picture. “Ugetsu” is a ghost story, but it lacks
the harsh unreality with which we are familiar in
American ghost stories. This is a warm blend of real
ism and the supernatural, woven together by
work which is remarkable in its restraint and low
keyed polish.
There is a ballet-like touch in the animal behavior
of the farmer who wishes to be a great samurai
warrior, the mincing steps of the ghost—Lady Wakasa,
the plodding dutifulness of the potter’s wife, and the
ecstatic abandon with which the potter throws him
self into his love affair with the ghost.
The name, “Ugetsu,” is a contraction of the title
of a collection of short stories written in 1768 upon
which the film is based. The full title is “Ugetsu
Monogatari,” and it mean*, literally translated, “Tales
of a Pale and Mysterious Moon After the Rain.” That
comes very close to painting a word picture of this
movie. It is pale, and mysterious, and very very en
joyable. It has suspense which would make Hitch
cock envious, and it has -an oriental restraint which
neither Hitchcock nor any of his American colleagues
could attempt to match.
*****
PRICES SKIDDED DOWN TO 10 cents a gallon in
that Charlotte gasoline price war iate last week, as one
station operator offered regular gas at the rate of
10 gallons for $1 to the first 100 customers to shov.'Tl
up at his station each day. If the rate gets any lower,
it might pay a Chapel Hillian to drive all the way to
the Queen City to fill up his tank. The heck with this
26.9 cent stuff at Pittsboro!
IBiSj f MAkv ihapvl Hill |jjj
Frank Umstead wasn’t making a political speech
a? the Kiwanis Club meeting last week when he said:
“I didn’t lose as much money stopping farming as
I did while I was farming.”
*****
W'allace Caldwell and I met at the Dental
the other day as I was about to have my gums
manicured.
“I don’t go to a dentist when something gets
wrong with my teeth,” he advised, “I just take ’em
out and send ’em back to the factory.”
* * * *
See where Arthur Godfrey has discharged some
more of his crew. It’s a good thing he got out of the
Naval Reserve or he would have fired all the Navy.
* * OS *
Some folks, it is reported, have as many as 10, 12
and 18 separate tickets for parking violations in Cha
pel Hill, and the police department is threatening to
issue warrants for them. Isn’t that going to be a lot
trouble? Why not issue them a season pass
• * * * *
Looks as if I’ve got a fan. In the mail this week
came a letter, reading in part:
“Many of my customers have told me of a very
amusing article in your paper about our new deodor
ant soap being sent through the mail. It’s nice to see
something on the lighter side in the paper these days
a little clean fun, and if our soap is used it'll be
clean.”
If the writer had kept on for another 60 or 100
words, he could have written my column for this issue,
* * * *
No one s going to talk me into doing my Christmas
nL ear !?l* oJT do 1 know who m y friendß win
be by December 26?
Things I remember way back when:
The backyard baseball games when we used to make
the bigger boys, to even things up, bat left handed it
they were naturally right handers and bat right handed
if they naturally hit from the port side.
Tuesday, November 1.195 s
Om the Totem
■ By Chock Rimer n