PAGE TWO
THE FiAflfrXlM Pit ESS and THE HIGHLANDS MACONIAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, UK
FALL PljCmm byA.B.Chapin
. fl ' '
Rftft
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
At Franklin, North. Carolina
Telephone No. 254
VOL. L
BLACKBURN W. JOHNSON EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Entered at the Post Office, Franklin, N. C, as second class matter
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The League Comes To Life
THE League of Nations, in boldly placing the
stigma of war guilt on Italy, has proved itself
something more than a postgraduate school of in-.
ternational relations. How far it will be successful
in .persuading its member nations to carry out eco
nomic sanctions, or penalties, against the offending
nation remains to be seen ; but the very fact that
the League at last has gone so far as to lay the
blame and to invoke punitive measures is an en
couraging sign.
What effect the League's action will have on
the Italo-Ethiopian situation is still in doubt. Mus
solini has gone too far to retreat gracefully, and
there is little likelihood that little Emperor Haile
Selassie, supported by world public opinion as indicated-
in the League's report, would consider con
cessions to the invader without a battle to the fin
ish. One thing certain, hope of peace is daily di
minishing. Ethiopia's hope of defeating the invaders, as the
situation now exists, depends chiefly on two fac
tors the ruggedness of the country itself and the
effectiveness of the sanctions yet to be specified by
the League. The big trouble is that Italy may
have won the war before the League can make sanc
tions operative. Even after the exact form of the
sanctions has been decided upon the League must
persuade its member nations 54 of them to put
them into force. It is not mandatory upon League
members to do this. So, there you are ! It would
appear that Ethiopia's best hope lies in her moun
tainous terrain, where tanks, airplanes and other
modern implements of war are of little use. Ehiopia
could hardly beat the Italian forces, but it might
wear them out, or stave off a fight to the finish
until the next rainy season comes along to dampen
Mussolini's hopes.
But, be that as it may; the League of Nations
has actually begun to function. It has thrown off
the cloak of lethargy and come to life. The very
fact that it has placed the responsibility for a war
of aggression upon Italy will be of great moral
weight. Doubtless, Mussolini would have been a
little more hesitant about his African Venture had
he foreseen such action at Geneva. And, too, other
nations in the future will be more likely to take the
League into account.
.AtfAira Inuucfiu.
XUI. EXPANDING
While the war between the states
was in progress, almost dictatorial
powers had been exercised by the
Executive. The ' President, under
the Constitution, was Commander-in-Chief
of the Army and Navy,
and the whole nation was involved
in the war. Many things were
done under the stress of the war
emergencies for which there was
no specific warrant in the Consti
tution. Among these, for example,
was the imposition of a national
income tax. This, like the other
war emergency measures, was
abandoned at the close of hostil
ities. After the turmoil of the Re
construction period had subsided,
there was general satisfaction with
the demonstration that had been
given of the flexibility of the Con
stitution. It had been stretched
to cover the emergencies of war
and reconstruction; now it had
shrunk back to its peace-time functions.
Number 41
lJ
,05
NATIONAL POWERS
But those functions had become
far greater than they were, and
were to keep on expanding. A new
spirit of nationalism had taken
possession of the Government, and
in the 20 years from 1979 to 1898
Congress and the Executive, some
limes together and sometimes in
opposition to each other, under
took to enlarge Federal powers
while the powers of the states
were constantly being diminished.
The whole social and economic
picture of the nation began, in the
1870's, to change from a system
based almost exclusively on agri
culture, forestry and mining, to
one based primarily on industry.
Revolutionary new inventions be
gan to appear. Lines of communi
cations multiplied, the great in
dustrial centers began to develop
and their products to be distribut
ed throughout the nation. For the
first time the United States began
to be an exporter of manufactured
rvJ Mil 7 . TSStV-imr f iA r MlfUM li mm mmmm MiWr iTfc
Gil
goods as well as of agricultural
raw products.
Just as new ideas of Government
had been developed by the pioneer
settlers on the Atlantic Coast in
colonial days, so new ideas of the
relation of the government to the
people began to develop in the
pioneer West. As the population
of the newly created states grew,
their influence in national affairs
naturally increased. Before long,
pressure from the agricultural West
induced the Federal Government to
assume authority to regulate rail
road communications between the
states. There was serious doubt
of the Constitutionality of the in
terstate commerce act, in the minds
of many, but the Supreme Court
upheld it as coming within the
purview of the commerce clause of
the Constitution.
But when, in 1893, Congress un
dertook to enact a new income tax
law, the Court held it to be un
constitutional. The West, how
ever, was insistent upon an income
tax, and after 20 years of agitation
the sixteenth amendment to the
Constitution, authorizing Congress
to impose a tax, was submitted and
ratified in 1913.
Out of the agrarian West also
came demands which gradually be
came irresistable, for other changes
in the Constitution.
The Spanish war of 1896 put the
finishing touch to the antagonisms
between North and South and
launched the United States upon
a Droader nationalistic career, bo
completely dominant was Federal
supremacy that President Theodore
Roosevelt, in 1906, did not hesi
tate to advance the idea that state
lines should be wiped out.
The power and authority of the
Federal Government spread" in di
rections and to distances which the
framers of the Constitution could
never have forseen. We annexed
Hawaii under President Cleveland.
We took possession of the Philip
pine islands, ,uuu miles away
across the Pacific, and of Porto
Rico; almost at the end of the
Civil War we had purchased Alas
ka from Russia and under the lead
ership of Theodore Roosevelt we
embarked upon the gigantic enter
prise of the Panama Canal. Prob
ably not one of the men who sat
in the convention of 1787 would
have called this imperialistic ex
pansion constitutional, but under
the clauses authorizing Congress
to regulate commerce with foreign
nations and between the states and
to provide for the common de
fense and the general welfare, the
Supreme Court held that the docu
mentary basic law of the land was
sufficiently flexible to warrant these
acts.
(Ht
The West Initiate
Mora
its)
From the Files
of
THE PRESS
TEN YEARS AGO
Last outlet on the dam closed.
Demitv Sheriff B. C Munday
was recovering from wounds.
Thieves looted the Joines Motor
and Tractor company store.
Construction company finished
pouring concrete to the foot of the
Dillsboro road.
Unknown friend donated $1,000 to
Maxwell school.
THIRTY YEARS AGO
T. E. Rideout and W. W. Smith,
Highlands, spent the day in Frank-'
hn.
Twentv-five men and boys chas
tised for loafing during the, church
hour.
Attorney J. Frank Ray attended
the Webster court.
Mrs. J. P. Jarrett. Dillsboro,
visited her daughter, Mrs. Will
Cunningham.
Muse's Corner
fFXlITOR'S NOTE Memories of
the South, especially of her home
county ot Macon, stirred riorence
Brown (Mrs. J. R. Brown), of
Ttinction Citv. Calif., to write the
interesting verses below. Accom
panying the manuscript was a let
ter statin?: "Altho it's been 33
years since I was there, I hope
you can find a corner somewhere
in me paper ior inc -cncioscu pucm,
whirh T neitri am a trreetine to mv
old friends and loved ones who
may be left to read it. Kindly re
turn it; I am otnly loaning it to
you, as it will soon appear in a
Southern magazine; but 1 reserved
the right to submit it to my home
town paper." The editor wishes to
acknowledge with sincere apprecia
tion this contribution from Mrs.
Brown and hopes that others will
be forthcoming front her.)
Just Reminiscing
In Dixie's Land whexe I was born,
Full many years have bloomed and
gone ;
Twas there the fields of yellow
corn
I hoed. Sometimes I stole down an
The river's bank and there I played.
The sycamore and boxwood shade
Quite cooled the sand where small
toes strayed.
In the bateau I loved to row
Across to see my neighbors' fields
That kissed the water's lips. I know
Those friends were tried and true.
Their yields
Of friendliness was sweeter, too,
Than fragrance from a gardens
dew
Of loveliness. My child heart knew !
The ones I loved and hold so dear
Are drifting outward one by one,
So few remain to shed a tear,
But none has left a job. undone.
I close my eyes to linger long 1
In dear child days and to prolong
The old sweet tunes of Mother's
song.
Florence Brown.
P. O. -Box 3,
Junction City, Cal.
(Edwin Cunningham, who submit
ted the verses beTow, was born and
reared in Franklin, son of Mr. and
Mrs. W. C. Cunningham. He now
lives in Atlanta, Ga.)
Fragment
All are but dreamers in this world
of woe;
But out of dreams realities grow;
Buildings, empires rise and fall
And leave but echoes in Time's
great hall;
Built and crushed by dreams.
Edwin Cunningham.
Dormir
If I die tomorrow, the world goes
rocking on.
If I die tonight, the birds will sing
at dawn.
If I die even now, who'll care that
I am gone?
The world will rock and come to
dock .
Safely without me
And its sails will fly
As my soul flies by,
Safe on life's sea.
-Edwin Cunningham.
EXPAND EXTENSION
FORESTRY PROGRAM
With the appointment of Rufus
H. Page, Jr., as assistant exten
sion forester at State College, the
forestry program is being expand
ed to meet tlje growing demand
for forestry information.
R. W. Graeber, extension forest
er, said, "We expect to set up a
more complete market information
service as quickly as the data from
mills and other wood-using in
dustries can be gathered.
"We shall offer farmers more
help in estimating the volume and
value of their marketable timber,
and will cooperate with farmers
and sawmill operators in adopting
better methods of harvesting the
trees so as to insure a continuous
crop of growing timber.
"Our program of forest planting
and timber thinning will be in
creased. We will assist with the
TVA demonstration farms in the
15 mountain counties of this State
where the TVA program is being
carried on.