PACE FOUR
THE FRANKLIN PRESS AND THE HIGHLANDS MACONIAN
THURSDAY, APRIL S, 1937
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Published every Thursday 'by The Franklifi Press
At Franklin, North Carolina
Telephone No. S24
VOL. LII
Number 14
Mrs. J. W. C. Johnson and B. W. Johnson......... ...Publishers
P. F. Callahan........... Managing Editor
C. P. Cabe ..Advertising Manager
M rs. C P. Cabe . Business Manager
Entered at the Post Office, Franklin, N. G, as second class matter
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This Is a Great Nation
TPHERE is something to stir the pride of every
patriotic American in just looking at the map
of the United States, provided he views it under
standingly. For it is the panorama of the largest
unbroken area on the face of the globe in which all
the people speak the same language, read the same
books and magazines, see the same movies, listen
to the same radio programs, wear practically the
same styles of clothes, drive the same sort of auto
mobiles, eat the same food, and, in short,' are more
like each other in manners, customs, point of view
and speech, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, than
are the inhabitants of different counties in England,
or of neighboring departments in France.
Nearly 130 million people occupying the largest
free-trade area in the world! We seldom stop to
think that one of the things which has made this
country of ours the wealthiest nation in all history,
with wealth distributed so widely that everybody
who wishes to can share it, is the fact that there
has never been any artificial restraint upon, the
movement of commodities and of merchandise from
one end to the other of this vast territory-Nor has
there been any restriction upon the free movement
of people, from one s,tate to another. The worker
in any trade, art or profession has always been as
free to practice his craft in one state as in another.
A tendency has begun to manifest itself in recent
years to set up barriers of various kinds at state
lines. Some states are attempting to prevent certain ,
classes of commercial motor trucks from entering
them from other states. Local, efforts are being
made to check the advent of the motor-trailer.
Some states have tried to limit opportunities for
work to their own citizens. Others have passed
laws to turn back at the state line anyone who is
suspected of being economically or otherwise un
desirable. These provisions and those 'of state unemploy
ment compensation and old age pension laws, limit
ing their benefits to those who have lived in the
state a fixed number of years,rtend naturally, in
varying degress, to check the free movement of
citizens from one part of the nation to other parts.
Without attempting to pass upon the merits of any
of such regulations, it is submitted that great cau
tion should be used in the adoption and enforcement
of such restrictive measures. If carried too far
America might easily sacrifice the very thing which
has made us great.
The World Grows Older
"I17E are getting older. Everybody lias been doing
that, ever since Time began, but now the whole
human race is getting older, in the sense that the
average age of the people of the United States is
higher than it ever has been. The proportion of old
people in the total of population is increasing, and
that of children decreasing.
On April 1, 1935, when the last Census Bureau
count was made, there were 4,349,200 persons over
70 years, old, or 34 out of every thousand individ
uals. At the beginning of this century, 37 years ago,
there were only 24 in 1,000. In any average group
of 1,000 persons there were 240 children under ten
years old ; now there are only 100 youngsters of
that age, or only 10 per cent of the total.
One important reason for this change in the bal
ance of ages is the declining birthrate; another is
the general improvement in public health as a re
sult of better living conditions, more facilities for
ordinary folk to receive proper medical attention,
"and the-stamping out of epidemics. The public
health campaigns against communicable, diseases,
backed by the increased knowledge and improved
resources of medical science have also helped to en
able the average person to live longer.
One result is the raising of the average age of
the population at any given time. Not many years
ago the majority of the people were under 25 and
the expectation of life of everj' new-born baby was
40 years. Now there are more Americans over 30
than under that age, and the expectation of life is
56 years. . , ,
One effect, bound to make itself manifest in an
other few years in new and perhaps surprising
ways, is the increased attention which the elders
give to the education and upbringing of the young.
Youth is scarcer and so more highly prized. The
danger in all of the social effort to helpr youth solve
its problems is that the young may get too much
help, and grow to maturity lacking in self-reliance
and initiative.
SENSATIONAL NEWS
Dwellers in our rural districts
sometimes wonder how law abiding
citizens dare to venture forth into
the streets of New York or Chi
cago. If a resident of these great
cities were , to visit the Southern
mountains and tell folks he had
never seen a gangster or witnessed
a street murder he probably would
be set down as an incorrigible liar.
Similarly some of ,us city dwellers
think of the mountain folk only in
terms of moonshine whiskey and
feuds.
I happened to have lived in the
southern mountains for a while and
some of the feudists were my
friends, quiet, modest, rather dif
dent old fellows, they prided them
selves on their family virtues, and
one and all were devout members
of the Hardshell Baptist Church.
When we were in the Orient two
years ago there was a strike of
the taxicab drivers in our home
town, New York. Reading the dis
patches in the English newspapers
of the Far East led us to believe
that Sth Avenue was knee deep in
blood. When we . got home we
found that most of our friends
hardly knew that a strike existed;
their worry was not about them
selves but about us, exposed to the
awful dangers of Hongkong and
Shanghai. '.
INSURANCE SECURITY
When I was fifteen years old my
father took me into his study and
gave me a talk about life insurance.
He was a preacher, with a large
family and a small salary.
"Paying my . premiums has kept
me poor, and ofteji in debt," he
said, "but I am well rewarded. I
can lie down and sleep soundly at
night."
In order to bring the lesson
home, he applied for $3,000 of life
insurance on the twenty payment
plan for me, saying that he would
carry it until I graduated from
college and I could go on from
there.
Twenty years seemed longer at
that time than a hundred years
seem now. I wondered if I would
ever live to the ripe" bid a'ge "of
thirty-five when the policies would
be paid in fulL .
Well, I have lived that long, and
these policies, and some others,
are 'all paid up. Father himself lived
long and, having educated his chil
dren and seen them all started, he
cashed in his insurance and was
comfortable in his old age.
Remembering this lesson, I have
signed my checks for premiums
very cheerfully, hut never with so
much satisfaction as during the
past few years. Nothing has hap
pened to any of the big insurance
companies, and nothing will. "'
(Copyright, K. F." S.)
Father, Son Once Served
As Governors of State
' 'RALEIGH, ' April 7. North Car
olina had one instance of father
and son serving as Governors of
the state, according to information
gathered iby the Federal Writers'
Project for inclusion in the pro
posed North Carolina Guide, and
released today from the office of
State WPA Administrator George
W. Coan, Jr.
They were Richard Dobbs
Spaight, the first native-born Gov-i
ernor of the province, who served
from December 14, 1792, until No
vember 19, 1795, and Richard Dobbs
Spaight, Jr., " who was Governor
from December 10, 1835, until De
cember 31, 1836. Both were born in
Craven county. '
From 1777, when the era of in
dependence began, until 1836, Gov
ernors'were elected by the General
Assembly. Spaight, Jr.,' was the last
Governor named by the Legislature.
At the close of his term the voters
began electing the Chief Executive
by popular ballot.
About four miles south of New
Bern, just off the old Pollocksville
road, on property that was formerly
part of the Claremont estate, are
the tombs of these two Governors.
Markers placed by the Daughters
of the American Revolution indi
cate the location of the tombs and
summarize the historical importance
of the two men.
The elder Spaight was killed by
John Wright Stanly in a duel
fought in New Bern on September
5, 1805. During a political campaign
in which Spaight was a successful
candidate for reelection to the Gen
eral Assembly, Stanly issued a cir
cular in which he accused Spaight
of evading the terms of the alien
and sedition act by feigning illness.
Spaight challenged Stanly and the
Wo met on the site of the present
Masonic Temnlp. Snnimli -ana fatal
ly wounded in the exchange of,
pistol fire. Stanly was convicted of
murder but later pardoned by ex
ecutive order. The graves of the
two Governors are in a cemetery
on the old Qaremont estate, which
originally included 2,500 acres, and
was owned variously by the Spaights
and the Moores Elsewhere on the
same property are the graves of
Colonel Joseph Leach, one-time
Mayor of New Bern, and later
State Treasurer; Madame Mary
Vail Moore, and other members .
of the two families. The Claremont
mansion was budfed by Federal
troops in 1862.
Not far from the Spaight tombs
is the grave of another North Car
olina Governor, Abner Nash, who
resided on an adjoining plantation
and served the State in . 1780 and
1781.
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