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?ht jffixnxtklin mxb Cite HigJtlanits JEntmtmtt VOL. LXVH Number 26 Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press At Franklin, North Carolina Telephone 24 Entered at Post Office, Franklin, N. C., as second class matter. WEIMAR JONES - -Editor BOB S. SLOAN Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Out-of-County ? One Year $3.00 In Macon County ? One Year $2.50 Six Months $1.75 Three Months $1.00 Single Copy .10 Obituary notice*, cards ?( thanks, tribute* of respect, by individuals, lodges, churches, organization* or societies, will be regarded as advertising and inserted at regular classified advertising rates. Such notices will be marked "adv." in compli ance with the postal requirements. JUNE 26, 1952 A Lift For Today ir ... Ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. ? John 16:33. TO ATTAIN VICTORY, we must have faith in the ultimate triumph of right over wrong ? faith in the power of an infin ite God ? and the courage to learn to do His will. Forgive us for doubting, O Lord. May we not wait for Thee to do it all, but may we do our part. Getting Something Done For years Franklin has badly needed a swim ming pool. A pool is one of many things needed to provide something for tourists to do. It is needed for our own youngsters, even if Franklin never had a tourist. For years we've needed a pool. Now, at long last, the Junior Chamber of Commerce proposes to do something about that need. The Jaycees should receive the prompt and full support of the town authorities and of every or ganization and person in the town. Insulting The Voters Unless the election campaign that will end Sat urday is different from many, it will be marked by last-minute, word-of-mouth charges. How seriously should such charges be taken? In the races to be decided Saturday ? for the Democratic nominations for 33rd district state sen ator, N. C. supreme court justice, and 12th district congressman ? there have been two campaigns, one before the first primary and now the one preceding the second primary. Two campaigns, surely, have offered each can didate abundant time not only to present his own platform, but also to criticize his opponent. If there is anything wrong with any one of the six candi dates, his opponent has had every opportunity to bring it out in the open. Why, then, should charges be made (as they often are) at the last minute, by word of mouth? If these last-minute charges were true, is jt possible to believe they would not have been publicly broad cast, by statement and speech, by radio, and through the newspapers? Isn't the very fact that they were not made openly proof that they would not stand up? To assume that a voter would believe these last minute, whispered charges against a candidate is an insult to the voter's intelligence. How Poor Are We? 1 t The Conference on Measurement of County In come has come up with figures suggesting that the people of Macon and most other Western North Carolina counties are among the poorest in the nation. The conference sought to arrive at the, average annual income per person. It puts the figure for Macon at $499. The compilation was sponsored by seven south eastern universities and Ahe Tennessee Valley Au thority, a fact which is excellent evidence that an honest effort was made to get at the truth. But are such figures true? is it possible, with such figures, to picture the situation as it is? We doubt it. ' i Is the dollar figure itself accurate? We doubt that. We doubt it for the very good reason we do not believe it is possible to get an accurate figure. There can be little question that the average Macon County man gets hi.s income from a variety of sources ? some from his small farm, some from part-time labor, some from trad ing, etc. And who believes that this average Macon County man keeps careful books? The truth is the average man in Macon County has only the vaguest idea of how much he earns in a year. And since he doesn't know, it's a pretty good guess nobody else could find out. Is it possible for a dollar income figure to present a true picture of the average income in Macon County ? We doubt that. We doubt^it for the very good reason that a considerable share of the income of the average man in this county is in the form of milk ami butter from his cow: vegetables for his table from his garden; meat from his hogs and meat and eggs from his chickens. Surely those things represent income, but they are not reflected in the sum of dollars he is paid during the year. Finally, do dollar income figures*- even if tney were accurate and even if they gave a true picture of the average man's income situation, present a complete picture? We dou1)t that. too. And we doubt it for the very good reason that income means something only in relation to what it will buy: and there can be no question but that a dollar will buy more, at least of, some commodities, in one section than in an other. If a man has an income of $2,000 a year, but has'to pay $2 a bushel for potatoes, is he twice as well off as the man with an income of $1,000 a year who can get potatoes for $l?a bushel? To illustrate with an actual difference: A man in Franklin can get a haircut for 65 ^ents ; if he lived in California, he'd have to pay $1.50 for the same haircut. * * * Of course we need a larger per capita income in Western North Carolina. What person in what section doesn't? But Western North Carolinians, as they wrestle with the problem of making this region a better place to live, will do well to discount most statis tics ? heavily; and to remember that they can't measure everything ? indeed, they can't accurately measure even a standard of living ? in dollar income figures. 3 Good Reasons Do you plan to vote in Saturday's Democratic run-off primary election? There are at least three good reasons why every registered Democratic voter in Macon County .should go to the polls Saturday and cast his or her ballot : 1. Political rights, like muscles of the body, can be kept only by use. If a man's arm is tied to his body and kept that way, after a while he will lose the use of the arm. In the same way, if enough people neglect to vote often enough, the chances are they will lose their right to vote. Indifference on the part of the average citizen offers the one and only opportunity for dictatorship in America. 2. We say we believe in majority rule, but if any considerable number of Democrats stay away from the polls Saturday, we are likely to have minority rule. The explanation is simple. Ordinarily, the man nominated in the Democratic primary is the man elected. And in this county the registered voters are divided, roughly, 6 Democrats to 4 Republicans. Thus, if every Democrat in the county should go to the polls Saturday, the men who are likely to be elected in November will have been chpsen by ?nly 6 out of 10 voters. If, on the other hand, only naif of the Democratic voters cast their ballots in the run-off primary, those wl^o are likely to be elected in November will have been chosen by only 3 out of 10 voters. 3. It is important that the better candidate in each of the three run-off races be nominated. That is particularly true in the congress race, because the man the voters of this district send to Wash ington will help make decisions that will affect every man, woman, and child in the district ? and ' in the rest of the United States. Congress must de cide issues that will lead to peace or war. It must decide issues that may spell the difference between the United States remaining solvent or becoming bankrupt. It must decide issues that may determine whether Americans stay free or lose their freedoms. And many times in American history great issues have been decided in congress by a single vote ? the vote of the man this district sends to Washington possibly may determine the whole future of Amer ica. Any one of those three reasons is reason enough why, if you are a Democrat, it is to your interest to vote in Saturday's run-off primary election. Can yoti name a single good reason why you should not? WHO'S ZOO-ON THE HIGHWAY DON'T BE A SHEEP. Following too closely will only lead to an accident. Leave plenty of room between your car and the car ahead. Others' Opinions MR. RUSSELL AND FAIR DEAL (Charleston News and Curier) After a half-hour conference with President Truman, Sen. Richard B. Russell conceded that politics had been discussed. He also said he considered Mr Truman's speech to Congress on the steel seizure to be "a very temperate and factual state ment." Sgn. Russell himself favors government seizure of the steel industry. The President's speech to Congress was temperate. However, since he neglected to mention the union shop issue ? which Is the real bone of contention, it scarcely can be considered fac tual. Southern Democrats, merging farces with conservative Repub licans, prevented the Senate from surrendering to Mr. Truman. Once again, it was the coalition of Southerners and Repub licans which saved the country from another step toward so cialism. The coalition was led by Sen. Byrd of Virginia. Sen. Russell already has indicated that he Is ready to com promise on FEPC and civil rights if by so doing he can in crease his chances to become President. Now he Is talking politics with Mr. Truman and takes the Fair Deal position ? with slight modification ? on the all-Important steel dispute. The Georgia senator Is the presidential candidate of many Southern political leaders. But he is neither talking nor acting like a States Rights man. Instead, he is talking and acting like a man who wants the support of the Fair Dealers at the Democratic convention and in the general election. Ironic as it may seem, both principal Republican candidates for President stand closer to the traditional States Rights be liefs of the South than do ANY Democratic candidates. THE OLD PRO FROM OHIO (Charleston News and Courier) We have generally contended that Robert Taft and Harry Truman are cut of the same fabric. Their allegiances in public life differ. Their stated policies differ. But at heart they embrace the same philosophy of political expediency. Now ? at least to our satisfaction ? Senator Taft has proved the point conclusively in the manner in which he has rail roaded arrangements for the Republican national convention to favor his candidacy and without regard for, an impartial se lection of the people's choice. The keynoter choice of MacArthur, who is an announced supporter of Taft and critic of Eisenhower and who will be Continued on Page Three? STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES Today I could not, if my life depended on it, solve a problem in quadratic equations, or parse an English sentence, or trans late correctly even the familiar opening passage of Caesar's "Gallic War". I learned those tilings, and many more, when I was in school; learned them from text books Now they are gone. There is a lot that I do re member from school days, but most of it did not come out of books. Most of the things that stuck with me, the things that have become a part of my thinking and my life, were transmitted direct from teacher to pupil. A Negro song, taught me by Miss Margaret Bulgin (now Mrs. W. B. McGuire), my first or second year in school, gave me a life-long sympathy for the underdog. My first ? and most lasting? lesson in political hon esty came from the late Miss Elizabeth "T" Kelly. Prom a book on diagramming, I learned to draw a picture of a sentence on the blackboard; but from the teacher of diagramming, Miss Laura Bryson (the late Mrs. L. B. Harrington), I learn ed the first essential of compo sition? how to dissect and re construct a sentence. Miss Beu lah Bldwell (the late Mrs. W. N. Sloan) taught me that good literature Is a picture of life. In the mathematics classes of Miss Laura M. Jones I learned to analyze a situation, and to thtnk in terms of exactness. The late M. D Billings' humor gave me a sense of proportion. From a high school teacher named Britt I learned to ask such questions as "Why"? and "How do you know?" and "What Is the authority for that?" These teachers gave me some thing; undoubtedly they gave something to many other of their pupils. Yet the chances are that, with the professional training they then had, not one of them could get a job in North Carolina's public school system today! Looking backward, it seems to me my experience in college was even more remarkable. Sev eral of my professors were spe cialists, acknowledged author ities In their fields ? I do not Continued on Page Three ? News Makings As It Looks To A Maconits ? By BOB SLOAN With the nomination of Rob ert A Taft for president of the United States becoming more of a probability each day and the people seeming each day to be turning to political candi dates who preach isolationism or semi-isolationism ? take the case of one candidate in the .race for congressional representative who would spend money to build a highway ? a scenic road for tourists ? rather than spend that money to re sist Communism? it is getting increasingly evident that Amer icans are wrapping themselves in a blanket of complacent pros perity and forgetting the real ity of the communist threat to our way of life. It seems to me that we are forgetting some thing else and that is that "You have to pay for whatever you get in this world". If we wish to retain our spiritual freedoms, such as freedom of speech and freedom of warship it is entirely possible that to retain this we will have to give up some mate rial wealth and perhaps live in a little less luxury. With the communist forces devoting their entire production effort over and above a meager living to the building of gigantic war machines to be used to igive Russia control of the world if we become too complacent and smug about the power of our great industrial machine we may wake some morning in a barbed wire inclosure with one of Joe Stalin's boys walking aropnd outside. An interesting item in U. S. News and World Report shows that rent, the most closely con trolled item by regulation, has shown the least increase in this inflationary period. That's something for the people who say that controls can have no effect to think about. Again returning to the po litical scene. It looks like two very able and popular men are not going to be recognized by their parties ? we mean Dick Russell and Ike Elsenhower. (If they formed a coalition ticket how far would it get? Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Press) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Horace Harrison returned home last week from his expe rimental trip to learn the ways of the world He knows more than he knew when he left home and one of the things he knows is "there's no place like home." Miss Nora Allen, of Jackson county, has been visiting rela tives and friends in Macon dur ing the past week. 25 YEARS AGO Some snow fell on the moun tains in this county last Wed nesday, according to reports reaching Franklin. Come to the mountains, folks. The Franklin Shrine club, said to be one of the smallest clubs in the country, tonight will be host to visiting shrlners and their wives and sweethearts. Mrs. Graham Grindstaff, of Spruce Pine, is visiting her father, Mr. Jake Palmer. * 10 YEARS AGO Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Grist, of Dillard, Ga., spent the week-end with their children, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Grist, at their home on Bidwell street. Miss Betty Henry, who has received a scholarship at Gen eral hospital, left Tuesday for Nashville, Tenn., to begin her nurse training. Crawford, Korean Vet, Assigned To 'Viking' Unit At Camp Rucker Cpl George E. Crawford, a Korean War veteran, has been assigned to the 47th "Viking" Infantry division which is training at Camp Rucker, Ala., according to an army announce ment. Cpl. Crawford Is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil M. Crawford, of Franklin, Route 1. He enter ed service in November, 1950. 5,400,000 Insurance Policies Owned In N. C. North Oarolina families own ed 5,400,000 life insurance pol icies, providing $4,541,000,000 of protection at the start of this year, a new high record, the Institute of Life Insurance has reported. This compares with $4,112,000,000 owned in this state a year before, and $2,793, 000,000 five years earlier.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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June 26, 1952, edition 1
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