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Page Two The Chapel Hill Weekly Chapel Hill, North Carolina 176 E. Ro»rm«ry Telephone 9-1271 nr H 461 Published E'ery Tue*d«j and Friday By The Chapel Hill Publi-hing Company, Inc Louts Gravis Contributing Editor Joe Jones Managing Editor Billy Arthur Aisociate Editor Orville Campbell General Manager O T. Watkins Adt'ertutnfl Director Charlton Campbell Mechanical Supt. Er.urrec as Mcond'dfiii r.atttr February 2k lif2L . •* the postoff:c«* a: Chape. ILL. Noru. Carolina, under the act of Merer, j 13Tfr SUBSCRIPTION RATES It Orange County, Year 1 4 - 00 V (6 month* S~.2h, L month- II.60» OuL-.de of Orange County L> the i ear; State of N C., Va., and .V *. 4 - 60 Other .'tate and Dia*. of Columbia t.OO Canada, Mexico, South Amer.ca 7.00 Europe *-® <J A Proposal: The Impounding of ( ar~ There i.- a wide diflerenei betweei one judge and anothuj. and between one jury and another, u. the di;grt-< of severity toward violators of the traffic laws. The record prove- that .Judy Stew art here in Chapel Hill and Judge Phipps over in Hillsboro an not reluc tant to hand out stiff sentence.*- when they are deserved, hut the reports ol trials in some other local courts shov. far too much tenderness for drunken drivers, speeders, and other offender . At a recent gathering of highway patrolmen one of them expressed the opinion that the legislature should act to compel a closer appproach to uni formity in punishment. He declared it tended to lower respect for the law for a person to draw in one court a sentence widely different from the sen tence imposed in another court for the sarnie offensfe. If violators of the traffic laws go un punished it is not always and probably not mainly, the fault of the local courts in which they an- first tried. In thous ands of cases in the State every year persons found guilty arid sentenced use their right to appeal to the Supreme Court and are there freed in jury trials. In most cases, of course, the instru ment in the defeat of justice is a de fense lawyer alert to take advantage of every legal technicality and practiced in the art of persuading juries. It seems to me that what is most needed to promote justice in trials of traffic cases is a form of punishment that would really mean something to violators. Nothing could serve that end more effectively than to take the use of their cars away from .them. The suspension of a driving license fails to accomplish this because the violator so often goes on driving without a license and is not caught at it. 1 believe that the impounding of automobiles would be the best penalty. This was proposed once in the Legislature but not enough support for the bill had been built up. I hope that a bill providing for impound ing will be introduced at the next ses sion.—L. G. Another Man Who Was Horn on August 6 Because of my connection with the paper and because my colleague, Joe Jones, wanted to do something nice forme, my having a birthday was made into a big story, with a picture, and splashed on the front page of the Weekly. This is not fair to another man in Chapel Hill who was also born on August 6th and 1 am now going to right the wrong by letting the world know about him. Not that He gives a hang at not having his birthday men tioned; in fact, 1 know he’d rath* r have it ignored. The man I allude to is Roulhac Ham ilton. We are just five years apart in age: he was, born August 6, 1878, and I was born August 6, 1883.-We meet oiled at the post office, both having the habit of going there for our mail around 11 to 12 o’clock at night, and as we stand before the lock boxes for a few minutes we join in deploring the state of the world, and one of the things we deplore with the deepest feeling is that we were born so long ago. He tells me about how he has recurring pains in his legs and I tell him about how 1 am short of breath and so have to walk slow and stop every now and then for a rest. (I don’t mean to imply that these are all the ravages of age that we discuss; we’ve both got a store of such topics that’s ample to save these post office conversations from monotony.) With only 365 days in the year and a world population of 2 billion, 500 mil- lion, on an even distribution every day of the year would be the birthday of 7 million people, so being born on Aug ust 6th or any other day is no rarity. Chapel Hill has a population estimated at 8,000 (not including the students I. One 865th of that is 219, and i’ll not be surprised if, after this piece comes out in the paper. Roulhac and 1 are informed by several citizens that they belong to the August 6th club. One per-on 1 know who qualifies for it is Mrs. Wagstaff; and the late Eugene O. Branson, who lived across the street from her, was a member. A former Chape! Hillian. a iriend of Roulhac v - and' mine th< celebrated writer Gerald W. Johnson, now living in Baltimore, is another member. That mad* five of uv wh wen neighbors at thi- end of tlic, viliag* when Mr. Bran m arid Mr. Johnson v.<-re her*-. For all J know J may ha - another dose-by neighbor who, without my having known i? for al; the-* year.-., has the sane birthday a.- rr..n* I'r,blips Russel) is onl;. a day apart from-me; he was horn August 5. 1881. .r. Rockingham. J remember nu wil* di -•* ering that two of our good friend wh* lived with in ight of us, Mrs.. Kiu*and Vernon How el, had th* same birthday as hers. A. far as J know th* most famous of Koulhac’s and my birthday mates, taking in the dead and , the living, is Alfred Tennyson. He- was born August 6,180 b. He lived till 181)2 This was 14 years after Roulhac's birth and 9 years after mine, time enough for him to hear about us, hut I doubt if the Poet Laureate was ever informed of these two transatlantic honors that had come to him in his; old age. Events as well as. persons are identi fied with certain days of the year. Most of us hold in mind only the most fam ous—Christmas, Washington’s Birth day, and a few others. At the begin ning of every month the New Yosk Times Magazine publishes a list of coming events and anniversaries in that month. In the latest of these lists I find an event that I never before knew Was connected with the Tennyson- Hamilton-Graves-Johnson-Mrs. Wagstaff birthday. The entry reads: “August 6, 1806, the Holy Roman Empire came to an end when Francis J! of Austria was forced to surrender his title. (This agglomeration which was called the Holy Roman Empire is neither holy nor Roman nor an empire’—Voltaire).” In the category of events another member of the August 6t.h Club is the Atom Bomb. It fell on Hiroshima Aug ust 6, 1945. Jt’s an association that’s not pleasant to think about and I am happy to drop the subject and end this piece by telling about a tribute to Roul hac Hamilton. Jle comes to the quarters of the Southern Historical Collection in the Library early in the morning and his customary leaving time is around noon. On this last Monday the staff managed to keep him a little later than usual and sprang a surprise on him: a birthday party with punch and cookies and compliments. And maybe some caresses; 1 wasn’t there and am not sure about that. L. G. Is Sgt. McKeon Guilty? (The following editorial was written for the Weekly by Robert 11. Bartholo mew of Chapel Hill, who was a member of the U. S. Marine Corps from 1941 to 1945.) The question most often heard these days by former Marines is, "is Sgt. McKeon guilty?” In the opinion of one, former Marine, McKeon has not been on trial. Instead, the system of training Marines was on trial. Is McKeon guilty? McKeon is guilty to the same extent that parents art guilty when they place a discarded ice box in the- garage and invite file deaths of their children. General Pate had the right idea when he said Mc- Keon should he reduced one rank and transferred. Parris Island is no bed of roses. It’s a small sandy island where there is a great deal of toil and misery. Its streets are named for the valor of the Marine Corps sons who have fought and died in far off place.-: Nicaragua, Belleau Wood, Haiti, Chateau Thierry. Marines feel about Parris Island the way they do about their decorations. They are proud to have them, but would not care to undergo again the experi ence that won them. In a recent article in a national mag azine a drill instructor at Parris Island summed up the Marine training by saying, “I give them (recruits) every chance to crack up. It’s better to weed THE CHAPEL HILL WEEKLY The Germans Like Tom Wolfe's Play A play by Thomas Wolfe en titled ‘‘Mannerhouse”’ is hav ing a gr*-at success in Ger many. I learned of this Satur day in a letter from Walter Eaton. He referred me to an article a)x<u’ it in the August number of Theatre Arts and Mr Sanford of the University drama department lent me the magazine. ' “So far a- I know,” wrote Mi Ea-'.n. "the play has nev e Peer produced profession a. over h'-re. The only pro duction 1 ever saw was made i;. th* Va.* undergraduate nramatic < .uh, when it was a fai,ur* Perhaps it has been dor - ir. Chapel Hill, hut I •hink n< • J'.ut lo and behold, i’ ha is-. ■ produced all over Germ ;■.! ,1: Tie last few year . and with much success. It . eem Wolfe is greatly es -- - rr.• - :i Germany, and his nurm :ro jgr. - people to the theatri Arid once there they i-vider . fount: value.- in the play who *. V‘ m not apparent to our p.e agents The whole b . :irie r - Wolfe in Germany wa new to me." Mr. Sanford looked up tie m-"o> . are: f .arid the play had n* v« r h> - r p: oduced here. Hot- ' F rariz, professor of Eng. : and '-hairmar: of the comparative literature pro pram a* Ind.ana University, v.ho ha jut returned from a year' : tu'ii of American play? or. Germar stages, i.- the author of the article in Thea tre Art . “Tnorna Wolfe, whose nov els have delighted German reader for almost twenty-five years, has captured the Ger man stage. Early this year Gustaf Grundgens, West Ger many’s brilliant and often con troversial actor-director, pre sented Wolfe’s Marinerhouse -translated by Peter Sand berg under the title of Herren haus—in the Deutsche Schau spielhaus of Hamburg. The Hamburg premiere of Wolfe’s play was hailed as a major theatrical event of the season. “Wolfe began writing this play in 192! when he was stu dying dramatic composition with Professor George Pierce Paker at Harvard University; at various stages of progress he called it The Heirs, The Alma Pater of Camp Butner . The following article John W. Umstead Jr. appears in the current issue of the University's Aiurnm Review: It will be 52 years ago this fall that John W. Umstead Jr. came to the University of North Carolina as a green freshman from his farm home in northern Durham County. With a tuition scholarship and the willingness to work, he set upon a career at Chapel Hill that over the years has kept him near the heart of the institution’s life ever since as student, alumnus, town - person, parent, legislator, and trustee. John Umstead rightfully w cupie-s his niche along Frank lin Street. For 22 years his residence has been on F rank liri Street adjacent to the Hoi ace Williams homeplacc. His office as a representative for Jefferson Standard Life In surance Go. is downtown ori Franklin Street. Two years ago, after two score years with the company, he was "retired”—whatever meaning that word can have in the Umstead way of life. He had reached tin- age of C 6. The way M.r. ('instead ex plains his current status is this: “1 now do what 1 want to.” The joker in that statement, as oldtinu-rs well know, is that John Umstead has done just exaetly that for many years. The things John Umstead has done have produced marks and remarks widely across the state and down the years. His them out hurt* than have them crack up under fire, getting themselves and a dozen others killed.’ Over 4,000 Marines were killed in the month-long campaign for the island of iwo Jima. This was their bloodiest bat tle of World War 11. Without a tough training program behind them, the fig ure could have easily been 10,000 or more. About the only thing that all branch es of the United States Armed Forces agree on is that the Marine Corps has the roughest and toughest training pro gram of any military or naval unit in the world and the program has saved lives when the cards are on the table. Boot camp, as the ‘ Parris Island training program is called, is no mere training ground where men are taught the fundamentals of combat.' It is the price of membership in a proud fight ing fraternity. It has a personality, a mood and a momentum of its own, which marks its graduates. It has been suggested by many that Wasters, The House and fin ally Mannerhouse. Near the end of 1924 he lost the play whet. his suitcase was: stolen it, Paris. He rewrote it, and th* re-ult was, as he put it, a ‘bigger and better’ play than the previous version had been. Aftei it wa- completed hi sub-- mitted it—without success to various .American produc ers, among them Alice Lews ohn of the Neighborhood play house ir. New York, to whom he expressed the hope, some what pretentiously, that his play would “belong to no world that ever existed by land or s> . ’ Headers of Os Time and tt River (1 9 .‘ls) will re call T.at the hero, Eugene Garu reads Mannerhouse to two of his friends.. Here Wolf*- give at some length > !.* .- 1. criticism of the play, r.amu.g Shakespeare, Shaw, Rostand and Chekhov as the "martyrs” by whom he had been i: fluenced. When a read ing r.ion was published in ] .'■}*■ ten years aftei Wolfi '.- oeat’. it received little atten tion The only review 1 have been able to find—by George Wry Graice in the March, ]:*4;*, issue of Theatre Art wa not very favorable and referred to Wolfe's dramatic wots as ‘a very young arid run. h bird on the bark of r author’- mature* eagi* To* reviewer maintained that j’ would need ‘much . cutting and fitting and refini: hirig’ to b< a: actable play. “The subject of Mariner house is, in Wolfe - own word , ‘the decline arid fall and ultimate .decay of all its for*ones, arid the filial acquisi tion of its proud estate, the grand old columned house that gave the- play its name, by a vulgar, course and mean, but immensely able member of the rising “lower class”.’ General Ramsay, believer in ‘one god, few masters, many men,’ re mains true to the past while his son Eugene, filled with Hamlet-like brooding and sar dorn* humor, is skeptical of the past a well as the present. He defends life against death, youth against age, peace against war, a'nd humanity against the ‘heroic’ way of life. L. G. lU,office on Franklin Street he keeps-—as a place to hang his hat, hut in the office he hab itually wears his hat, ready to take off in any direction on quick notice. In June, he was led to go over to Butner one day There, staff members and employees of the State Hospital pulled a surprise move as a portrait of Umstead was unveiled in thi hospital's administrative build irig lobby testimonial of his ardent sponsorship of that fa cility. Several hundred empoy ees, patients, friends arid citi zens hud gathered for the cere mony As l)r. James W. Mur doch, chief of the State's men tal hospitals, phrased it. “He may he 'Mr. 4 Percent' with in surame people, hut he’s ‘Mr. Butner' with us.” If any institution ever Fiad an Alma Pater, the Gamp But ner development can so a< claim John Umstead. He led the legislative move to acquire the Army camp and hospital; he cajoled appropriations to take over anil maintain the hospital for mental patients; he projected the center for first offense malefactors who pci form farm and hospital chores tine; and since 195:1 he had served us Ghairmun of the N. G. Hospitals Board of Foil trol (a member since 1945). In 10 sessions of the N. G. General Assembly, John I in steail has been the “Gentleman from Orange.” By preference he has literally taken his seat in the hack row. From that the Parris Island training program be modified to eliminate some of the rugged mental and physical require ments. If the training program is to he changed it should be jpade more rugged and not less severe, in the language of the Marines. This is the opinion of all Marines and former Marines I have talked with on the subject. Parris Island exists for one reason and recruits are told this reason the first day they arrive, “Ixet the enemy die for his country, we are going to train you to live for yours.” the Marine Corps continue to train young Marines to live for their country. This training cannot be con ducted between nine in the morning and five in the afternoon with a couple of coffee breaks thrown in. If th« men are going to be “proud to claim the title of United States Marines” they will be willing to pay the price of member ship in a proud fighting fraternity. vantage point he has set up interference, diagnosed plays, called signals, and frequently carried the ball to score gains for many causes—popular and otherwise. He relishes scrim mage, huddles, interference as signments, goal-line stands, and touchdowns. Thus reminded by . gridiron parlance, it is as tounding to many that this demon Carolina alumnus stays away from football games— even I >uke-Curolina clashes. He’ll.wish, he'll moan, and he'll re-play the games. Rut he w-ill not watch 'em. The University is an espous ed cause with John Umstead. Colleagues may differ with the Umstead ideas of what’s good for Alma Mater; few will deny the depth of his loyalty and the expanse of his advocacy. As: a student fifty years ago he was an intercollegiate de bater for UNC. He has been debating, arguing, and rebut ting for the University ever since. ID- defends, attacks, con tends, and wrestles—-all for the Univer ;ty. A Trustee since 3939, an Executive Committee man for 10 years:, he speaks out and up for the University— for himself and in official ca pacities among friends and foes, in forums of the street or the legislature, whenever the occa-ion calls. He is: partisan without prejudice, positive without pomp, and person able without pretense. Fanni;y roots rqn deep with Mr. Umstead. His w-ife (nee: Sallie Reade, a boyhood and neighborhood girl) has been his: co-partner and counterpart from their marriage iri 1914 at ‘the old home church in the country. Two sons and two daughters; (Frank, John III— a casualty in World War 11. Sarah and Anne) made up the Umstead household. Chapel Hill Chaff (Continued from Page 3) favorite form of pleasure. “Isn’t it fine to get back home?” people ask. My answer is: yes. I would he there often, hut I wouldn’t he there long at a time if I could afford to he where I please as long as I please. My Wageless Slave says she is: willing to go along but I wouldn't he surprised if she’s giad we don’t have the treasure that is needed to sat isfy my wanderlust. She is much more fond of the things a person does around the prem ises, digging in the garden and such like, than I am. What I enjoy more than anything else is seeing new sights—arid then seeing over again those I like best. One way to he made home sick for a faraway place that you have visited is to he re minded of it by somebody you meet or by somebody who writes to you. Such reminders are why I happen to he on this subject now. When Frank Graham and 1 were at the Memorial Hospital one day last week we dropped in on Mrs. Urban Holmes’: mother, Mrs. Geminell. Mrs. Holmes was with her and presently, egged on by rny questions, they were talking about the place where they were horn, Edinburgh; and this stirred rny memories of Princes street arid th<- Walter Scott Memorial, and the Castle and the Royal Mile that we saw from our hotel window, and afflicted me with a- hitter case of homesickness. Oh, what a beautiful city is Edinburgh! Oh, how I want to go back then-! (Substitute in this plaudit the name of any other of the places in my list above, and you will have me speaking with truth ami fervor.) Mr. Sleight was the next person to make me homesick. When he and i stopped for a minute’s .chat at the post of fice Sunday he said: "I stayed at. the Saint Ermine too.” This was apropos of his having read ffiHIP # Like Chapel Hill r \-' = It would happen to me. Things like it always do. 1 he University Service Plants recently announced a new rate schedule for electrical power, which it said would reduce some 2,600 hills and leave unchanged some 600. it called the new schedule a reduction in rates. Jhe sleeper was a so-called demand feature, appli cable to consumers who might use at some time or another four kilowatts per hour, to be measured by special meters in their residences. Now, I’ve been informed that almost everybody ’ enjoys the new rate schedule, although they don’t unde? , stand it, except Paul Green and I. I Instead of going down, our bills went up. When 1 checked with Grey Culbreth about it, ours were the only > residential bills he knew that were higher than the pre vious month. And he explained that -Paul and I and the Home Building and Loan (1 mention that firm because it has more interest in my house than 1.) were just too for r tunate in having air-conditioning throughout our homes. Or, we cooked while we ran the electric washer and dryer, or the water heater was pulling too much power while something else was happening electrically. for the moment, J got a bit peeved and looked into ! the operations of other utilities. Without exception,* each official i contacted admitted the demand feature was confusing to the consumer, was a means of get ting more return out of big users of power (almost an about face from former policies of giving a progress-' ivelv lower rate for each new piece of electrical equip ment installed), and in effect, did that by giving cus tomers the choice of the demand feature (which in sorpe instances does result in lower rates) or the old rates it replaced. Jhe new demand schedule can best be explained this way: A grocer marks his oranges at 10c each, or 12'7c each in dozen quantities. You see, he can’t afford to stock lots of oranges and gamble on selling them in dozen quantities, because he might get stuck with a dozen or so sometime. So he stocks less oranges, and charges less. II you want to buy a dozen, he chargA l a higher price, since his stock would be wiped out. Or something like that. Simple, isn’t it? II your bill goes up or if you are building a new house, there are two ways of licking the demand feature: 1. Have your electrician install a set of relays in your house that’ll cut off the heavy power consuming electrical equipment at the proper time, and the special meter, therefore, won’t show the 4 kw demand. 2. Don’t run your dryer and water heater at the same time, or electric ranges and water heater and/or dryer at the same time. in other words, you might consider washing a load of clothes at midnight and drying them at 6 a.m. 1 hat way the water heater won’t be worJJng while other electrfc sttilT in she hobse is. 9 - Why all this? Well, I just want you to know that so far Paul Green and I are the only one's paying for the shiny new meters the Service Plants has bought and stick ing on your house. Aren’t you proud of us? * * 4 * These days when a tied to mother’s strings, she’s not likely to be Rjs mother. in the Weekly what 1 wrote about the Brownell tourists’ being quartered at this charm ing old hotel in the neighbor hood of Westminster Abbey. He said Fie stayed there 511 years ago, in the summer of 190.1. I had one of my greatest thrills on our trip last year when 1 went out for a walk at night, an hour or so after arriving in London, and saw the Abbey in the moonlight. DONT SWAMP IT! Home of choice charcoal broiled hickory kmoked STEAKS—FLAMING SIIIBKEBAB—BUFFET EVERY SUNDAY Friday, August 10, 1956 And then there is the mis sive that makes me yearn to go to Rome again! It is a postcard from our classics professor, Mr. Ullman, showing a picture of the Forum at night. I n member seeing the Forum last September from just the same angle and writing to Mr. Ull iiiuii that it made me think of him and wish that he was there to answer my questions about the famous old ruins.
The Chapel Hill Weekly (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Aug. 10, 1956, edition 1
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