* f 4 , Ck* JfntitJtlitt tyxtu nnb Iht ^nnthiRtt Published every Thuraday by the FrankHn Preai At Franklin, North Carolina VOL. LX111 Number Forty seven WEIMAR JONES * ?...Editor -Published NATIONAL ?DITOWAL-i lfl>IO W ASSOCIATION IjiU ^^7kz?o?yKuiJtAL Entered at the Post Office, Franklin, N. C., as second class matter Telephone No. 24 One Year Blx Months ? Three Months Single Copy _ SUBSCRIPTION RATES: ....... $2.00 | ....... ?1.2t .75 06 Obituary notices, cards of thanks, tributes of respect, by In dividuals, lodges, churches, organizations or societies, will be re garded as advertising and Inserted at regular classified advertis ing rates. Such notices will be marked "adv." In compliance with the postal requirements. What Are We Doing About It? "THE records of the local draft board show that ^ 33 of this county's registrants in the present draft cannot even sign their names. There is every reason to believe that those records are correct, but even if they were only 50 per cent correct, we still would have a situation for which there is no excuse. And what are we doing about that situation? Everybody knows the answer: We are doing ubstantiallv nothing. The draft board figures, in fact, indicate that the situation is growing steadily worse ; for, whereas 26 out of. 27 in the entire group, aged 18-25, can at least write their names, only 20 out of 21 among the 18-year olds can. Furthermore, the recent statement of the chairman of the board of county commissioners that there are children of school age in every townshp in the county who have "never seen the inside of a schoolhouse" remains unchallenged. We have schools and we have a compulsory attendance law, but as far as these children are concerned, we might as well have neither. The attendance law .places responsibility for that law's enforcement upon the schools, first, and then upon the office of the county superin tendent of public welfare. In fairness to the school and welfare officials, it should be remembered that during the war they were handicapped by lack of sufficent help. But in fairness to the Macon County boys and girls who are growing up without the ability to so much as sign their names, it should be em phasized that the war is over ? and that these youngsters' years are flying. y Our Public Health Picture Statistics easily may be jnisleading, and always they should he considered in the light of factors not covered by the figures themselves. That ap plies to t'he statistics published elsewhere in this issue On the health situation in Macon County. Those figures ? one gf 100 sets compiled for the 100 counties in the estate ? show, for example, that Macon County had an extremely high rate of draft rejections in World War 2. The figures on draft rejections undoubtedly are correct, but they fail to take into account one important fac tor ? the fact that the "cream of the crop" of young men in Macon County did not wait for the draft, but enlisted. The figures on draft rejections, there fore, present the picture only for a part of Macon County's youth, that part that waited for the draft. Similarly, the large proportion of Macon County babies born outside of hospitals may not be as damaging an indictment of health conditions in this county as the statistics would indicate; be cause some members of the medical profession ? still a very small minority ? have come around to .the view that the home, provided the care there is good, is a better place for a baby to be born than a hospital. The question, in other words, is not where the baby is born, but how good is the care the mother and baby receive. And the same sort of reasoning can properly be applied to the general public health work. The point, in that case, is not how much do we spend for public health, but how good are our public health services. These statistics, in short, like all statistics, should be studied, and perhaps discounted. But they can't be dismissed. For when all is said and done, you usually get about what you pav for, and the figures indicate that we in Macon County have a long way to go in providing the maximum in public Health facilities for the peo ple of the county, Symptom of Rcvoltf One of the itrange thing's about the recent Presidential campaign was the bitterneil with which the States Rights Democrats (Dixiecrats) Were damned. Ironically, some of the newspapers and radio commentators who were hiost vocal in condemn ing the egg-ing and tomaio-iug of Henry Wallace themselves regularly threw . verbal rotten eggs at Thurmond and his followers. And among many Democrats, especially Southern Democrats, Dewey, and even Wallace, were saintly by com parison with the sinning Thurmond. The bitterness toward the Dixiecrats was il lustrated by the somewhat fantastic statements that were made, and still are being made ; state ments by newspapers and commentators who or dinarily are reliable. We were solemnly told all during the campaign, for example, that the Dixiecrats were seeking to establish a "splinter" party ? that is, a party in addition to the two major ones; and that "splinter" parties were sure to ruin the country. Yet the actual fact is that there hasn't been an election since 1896 without from three to eight parties with Presidential candidates in the field. And even now, more than a fortnight after the election, there are contemptous references to the "miserable showing" the Dixiecrats made. Yet the truth is they made an excellent showing, as minor parties go. Despite the fact that Thur mond's name appeared on the ticket in only a few states, he received a larger electoral vote than anv minor party candidate since the Civil War, with the sole exception of Theodore Roose velt, whose Bull Moose party won 88 in 1912. B. Gratz Brown, running as a combination Democrat and Liberal Republican in 1872, re ceived 18 electoral votes. In 1892 James B. Weaver, the Populist candidate, won 22. And Robert M. LaFollette, running on the Progressive and So cialist tickets in 1924, received 13. All the horde of other minor party candidates, including Wal lace in 1948, failed to carry a single state. As a matter of fact, Thurmond's electoral vote was larger than that of "a regular party can didate on two occasions, Taft in 1912 and Lan don in 1936. It was said of the Dixiecrats that they were largely financed by northern capital that was in tent upon defeating Truman; and there probably was a basis of fact in the charge. It was said that they represented the Southern Bourbons ? -those Southern Democrats who, in everything but name, l>elong in the most reactionary wing of the Re publican party; and there undoubtedly is some truth in that statement. It was said that they were motivated by race prejudice; and certainly the race question was the- immediate, though perhaps not the basic, reason for Thurmond's candidacy. But none of these reasons could have created such spleen. What did create it? After you've discounted the Dixiecrat for the company he allegedly keeps, and for the race prejudice that is charged to him, you still have left a hard core of basic philosophy. That philosophy is the conviction that the preservation of such- state's rights as remain is the last safe guard of certain rights; that those rights include the right of the individual to remain an individual and of a minority to remain different also; and that those rights, as well as the safeguard, are in grave danger today. Nothing is so irritating to most of us as to have our customary way of thinking disturbed. Could it be, then, that the thing that really irri tates us about the Dixiecrats is our subconscious suspicion that, in their basic philosophy, they are right ? When the history of this period is written, it is possible that the Dixiecrat explosion will be described not as a political phenomenon at all, but as one of the first symptoms of a revolt ? a revolt that is general, but is most vocal in the South ? against a movement which is tending to erase all boundaries and barriers, to destroy all individualism, and to standardize everything and everybody at a single, static, dead level of medi ocrity. WeH Worth While Mrs. C. N. Dowdle, the president of the Frank lin Parent-Teacher association, and her commit tee chairmen and workers are due the commun ity's congratulations on the success of last Friday evenings's "family supper" benefit program. The affair was quite successful from a financial stand point, but it would have been well worth while if not a penny's profit had been made. For it brought together parents, teachers, interested citizens, and children in an atmosphere of infor mal fun, thus tending to create a more united community ; and one united, as it should be, around its school. And what is true of the Franklin school event is, of course, also true of similar programs at schools elsewhere in the county, POETRY CORNER Conducted by EDITH DEADERICK ERSKINE WesvervUle, N. C. Sponsored by AskeviUe Branch, National League of American Pen Women TOO NEAR TO EARTH We live so far from permanence! Were wings to start their play, Could our weak-minded Impotence Ueier . . . the Judgment Day? LENA MEARLE SHUL Ashevtlle, N. C. LETTERS URGES MORE MONEY FOR HEALTH Dear Editor: The article In last week's Press entitled "Situation on Health Work Explained" seemed to explain the state's reasons lor wishing Macon County to spend more money for health services, but did not explain the county commissioners' delay In providing the needed funds. In my Judgment, no other money spent by the county brings to the people a service of greater value than that rendered by the Health Office. A Some phases of health care are Inescapable public prob lems. Parents may guard health conditions in the home with painstaking care; but what may the end be if the children from that home drink milk from un-inspected dairies, eat meat from insanitary slaughter houses, or eat foods In un-graded restaurants? There are hundreds of other ways In which public health problems make themselves the personal problems of everyone of us. Here are some figures I have seen giving just a part of the services rendered by our Health Department In the nine months ending September 30th. Immunizations against disease: Smallpox, 1,110; diphtheria, 127; typhoid, 3,088; lockjaw, 15. War on tuberculosis: X-rays by mobile unit, 3,901; tuberculosis suspects admitted to nursing service, 82; examinations In clinics, 171; flouro scope on tuberculosis patients, 8. Services to children: Examined by physician and nurse, 1,827; defects corrected as a partial result of inspection? teeth of 23 children, eyes of 11, tonsils of 40. Physical examinations of persons likely to spread Infec tion If diseased: Milk-handlers, 10; food-handlers, 125; teachers, 44; indus trial workers, 88; mid wives, 5. Many other services are listed, Including services to crip pled children, war against venereal disease. Inspection of water supplies and places of disposal of sewage*. insp'^JJi of dairies and slaughter-houses. " As our population and industries grow, the demands on the Health Department grow. Twenty-three new dairy farms have been listed for our sanitarian to Inspect. The physical examinations of teachers is far more more thorough than formerly. Although the burden on -our health workers keeps on in creasing, their salaries remain comparatively low. Not all are up to the standard set by the State Merit Council a year ago. If this county provides only $4,000 for health work here, state and federal funds spent here will total $2,000; but if the commissioners approve the additional $1,500 needed, then the state and federal authorities, I am told, will put $3,000 to work In this area. It is good to feel that a strong and efficient health de partment stan that, If n?t invested >n something worth while, wljl be a curse to us. Let's make good old Macon County a lot bettw. by getting up a little earlier in the morning and the law of Improvement. 1 The best for us today will not do for tomorrow. Yours truly, WHm COCHRAN FlaU, M. C. j Nmmbtr I, INI.