Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Feb. 7, 1935, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE FRANKLIN PRESS and THE HIGHLANDS MACON IAN THURSDAY, FEB. 7. 1935 Cits JfijrattJcljtt Ifytts Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press At Franklin, North Carolina Telephone No. 24 A Silent Winter Movie by A. B. Chapin VOL. XLIX Number 6 PACE TWO BLACKBURN W, JOHNSON..... Entered at the Post Office, Franklin, N. C, as second class matter SUBSCRIPTION RATES One Year ' tf-SJ Six Months .75 Eight Months $1.00 Single Copy r.- Obituary notices, cards of thanks, tributes of respect, by individuals, lodges, churches, organizations or societies, will be regarded as adyer tisingand inserted at regular classified advertising rates. Such notices will be marked "adv." in compliance with the postal regulations. Needed Safer School Buses WE are glad to hear that some concern has been arous ed at Raleigh over the present means and methods of transporting children to and from school. We know of no flaw in our scliooi system, at least in Macon County, which more urgently demands corrective measures. It was Revenue Commissioner A. J. Maxwell, we be lieve, who brought the school bus situation into public focus, for which parents of school children should be most' grateful. We do not know whether it would be advisable to follow his suggestion to turn over operation and main tenance of school buses to the State Highway Commis sion, for that involves various ramifications which should be thoroughly investigated; but it is most certainly clear that Mr. Maxwell is right in his premise that something ought to be done, that school buses at present are too dangerous. . In a majority of the counties but unfortunately Ma con is not one of them the state maintains and operates its own buses. The objection in these counties is that in many instances school boys still in their teens are em ployed as drivers. These youngsters, it is contended, have not had sufficient experience as drivers and do not pos sess the mature judgment necessary for a task so re sponsible. They might attempt to beat a train at a rail way crossing, whereas an older driver would stop and wait for the train to pass. So far as we know, there are no school boy buy driv ers in -Macon County ; but the system of school transpor tation is most unsatisfactory, uncomfortable and un healthy, to say nothing of being downright dangerous. Here the state does not own and operate the buses. The transportation of school children is done on contract by private bus owners, whose conveyances are the most weird assortment of death traps one can find on the highways. Most -of them have makeshift, homemade bodies, thrown together from flimsy ceiling boards and tin. Children are crowded into these pens with about as much concern as if they were cattle. They must breathe and rebreathe the air exhaled by their compan ions, and it is just too bad if someone in the crowd has the itch. Those who are loaded first have rough board benches to sit upon, but many of the children must sit in the laps of .their schoolmates or stand and have their heads banged against the tpp every time the bus goes ovei a bump. But the discomfort is a small matter compared with the danger involved. Every time we see one of these buses we have a horrible premonition of catastrophe. Suppose one of the buses should roll off a mountain road, or collide with a mammoth motor van. There would be children strewn all over the landscape with busted necks and splinters through their innards. This is but a foolish fear, someone may say; we have never had any serious school bus accidents in this section. Perhaps so, but we cannot help feeling that the danger exists and that it would be well to overcome this danger before it is too late. As someone has said, "It is better to build a fence at the top of the precipice than to station an am bulance, at its foot." Our representative in the Legislature would deserve the undying appreciation of the parents of Macon Coun ty if he could get the state to provide good buses and careful drivers to carry their children to and from school. It is important that our children be schooled, but it is even more important that every precaution be taken to safeguard their lives and limbs. Concerning the Weather Judging by the fine plowing weather we have had this week, the groundhog legend is a myth. But there are still plenty of folks who will place their dependence on groundhogs and other weather indicators rather than in Uncle Sam's farflung weather reporting and forecasting service. It would be interesting to know how many farm ers use the moon for a planting calendar instead of fol lowing the advice of farm extension service experts. ..EDITOR AND PUBLISHER THROUGH CAPITAL KEYHOLES BY BESS HINTON SILVER G. O. P. CANDIDATE Some Republican members of the General Assembly are inclined to view with favor the suggestion that former Congressman Chas. Jonas, now the Representative from Lin coln County in the Legislature, may become a candidate for Governor next spring in opposition to Gil liam Grissom, who already has voiced intentions of making the race. Mr. Jonas attracted wide at tention with his bill to provide dis cretion between' capital punishment and life improsinment in first de gree criminal cases and his attitude favoring removal of tolls from bridges in Eastern North Carolina. It might be well to observe his smoke. DOUBT REMOVED Former Lieutenant Governor R. T. Fountain, of Rocky Mount, has let it be publicly known that he is seriously considering running for Senator in opposition to Senator Josiah W. Bailey in the Democratic primaries next spring. Neverthe less, there are some rather astute political observers around this Cap ital City who say they believe Mr. Fountain's announcement is intend ed as a blow at the potential can didacy of Governor Ehringhaus, who beat him by a nose three years ago, more than as a thrust at Sen ator Bailey. The Governor doesn't appear worried. DONT LIKE IT Some members of the joint leg islative finance committee can' take the idea of Representative McDonald, of Forsyth, to introduce a substitute to the sales tax on the floor of the House of Representa tive. Representatives R. Greg Cher ry, of Gaston, and Thomas O'Ber ry, of Wayne, made certain remarks indicating that they thought Dr. McDonald was "holding out" on them by not giving the committee the benefit of his views. The For syth Representative is a member of the House finance committee. PATROLMEN It's entirely possible that you may soon catch sight of a State Highway patrolman in your county. Bills have been introduced in the General Assembly to transfer the patrol back from the revenue de partment, to the highway depart ment and to increase the number of patrolmen. Also, patrolmen would be relieved of duties of collecting e;as and oil samples for inspection and required to do nothing except watch automobile drivers and at tempt to reduce slaughter on the public roads. SPEED LOST Not a few legislators express the opinion that rapid passage over sec tions of the revenue and appropria tions bills is not going to save much time in the long run. They figure that opponents of the pro posals of spending and taxing will hold their fire until the bills get on the floors of House and Senate and then loose their bombardments. It may or may not be significant that anti-administrationists are holding their peace in committee meetings. HAND-OUTS Various and sundry bills have been introduced in the Legislature to use State highway gasoline and license taxes for purposes other than building roads. Some of the measures would have gas tax mon ey reduce local government road debts while others would require the highway commission to pave streets in cities. One million dol lars in highway money is already going into the general fund and the budget commission has endors ed this policy, for the next two years. If you have any definite ideas on the subject of how gaso line and license taxes should be spent the present might not be a bad time to make them known. LIQUOR Many legislative and political leaders believe that the Dey House bill to call a referendum on two wet and one bone-dry proposition should be "entitled an act to per petuate the Turlington law in North Carolina." They figure that the two propositions for legalized liquor would split the wet vote and that the drys would stick together on the proposal to retain present abso lute prohibition. Another bill now circling around legislative halls would provide a referendum on a system of State sale of liquor. What will happen is, of course, in the future but it is comparatively easy to strike out the section call ing 'for a referendum. The drys realize that and are on their toes. PUBLIC HEALTH Senator Griffin, of Franklin, in troduced a bill to require your child (if you have one) to be vac cinated against diptheria between the age of six and 12 months but it ran into some rocks in the health committee. It developed that dip theria anti-toxin sensitizes some patients against other vaccinations with "horse" serums. The commit tee couldn't agree on whether it was better to allow the child to be exposed to diptheria or take chanc es on barring it from vaccination against certain other contagions dis eases. ISNT QUITTING YET Senator W. G. (Cousin Willie) Clark, of Edgecombe, wants it un derstood that he is not going to quit the race for Lieutenant Gover nor because his candidate, Senator Carl L. Bailey, of Washington county, was defeated for President Pro Tempore of the 1935 Senate. Cousin Willie isn't sure he will make the race in 1936 but he avows that if he does he will give Senator Paul Grady, of Johnston, former Senator George McNeill, of Fayetteville, Senator Harriss New man, of New Hanover, and other potential or actual candidates "a run for their money." TOUGH BREAK Parole Commissioner Edwin M. Gill spent much time preparing his brief for presentation before the appropriations committees of g the ' General Assembly. He made de tailed studies of the best methods of parole investigation and super vision and then when the money spending committees met Commis sioner Gill was confined to .lis bed with an attack of the mumps. As a result his brief had to stand alone for his cause. Mr. Gill sub scribes to the axiom that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. NOT BEHIND Lieutenant Governor A. H. Gra ham isn't letting any grass grow under his feet in the race for the gubernatorial nomination on the Democratic ticket next year, in the opinion of many political wiseacres around Raligh. They opine that his committee appointments in the Senate and his conduct in presid ing over that body are not hurting his chances of nomination even if Clyde R. Hoey, of Shelby, and Con gressman R. L. Doughton are get ting the publicity breaks right now. DR. NOBLE Prior to convening of the Gen eral Assembly many news writers were predicting that the Legislature would attempt to abolish the office of executive assistant revenue com missioner, held by Dr. M. C. S. Noble, Jr. The Legislature has been in session almost a month and no one has peeped for publication about abolishing Dr. Noble, but talk of making the revenue com missioner elective has cropped out. HELP KIDNEYS P. your kidneys function badly and Tu have a lame, aching hack, with attacks of dltslness, burning, scanty or too frequent urination, getting up at night, swollen fast and ankles, rheumatic pains . . . use Doan's Pills. Doan't art especially for poorly functioning kidneys. Millions of boxes art Wad every year. They are reoonUMnded the country over Atk your neighbor t DOAN'S PILLS
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Feb. 7, 1935, edition 1
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