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VOL. LXVn Number 37
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
At Franklin, North Carolina
Telephone 24
?ntered at Post Office, Franklin, N. C., as second class matter.
WEMAR JONES Editor
BOB S. SLOAN - ...Business Manager
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SEPTEMBER 11, 1952
How Long?
"It is worse now than it was five years ago . .
That was the remark last week of a member of
the Macon County grand jury that recently report
ed deplorable conditions at the County Home.
Said this grand juror:
"I was on a grand jury committee that visited
the County Home five years ago. We reported then
on the terrible situation we found. But nothing
happened !
"It is worse now than it was five years ago."
How long must we in Macon County wait before
we do something about such a situation?
Doesn't Make Sense
This newspaper is all for Macon County. It is for
the most prosperity for the most Macon County
people. That, of course, includes the miners of mica.
But we are not for Macon County at the expense
of the nation ; nor do we believe that any real pros
perity can be bought at the price of stupidity. And
the federal government's mica program strikes us
as having all the earmarks of an almost incredible
stupidity.
ft is no doubt wise, in the present international
situation, for the government to stockpile strategic
materials, such as mica. But why, so long as we
can buy mica in India, should we pay three times
the Indian price to domestic miners? And especially
why if, as the miners allege, they cannot make
money, even at this high price?
More to the point is a second question, raised by
a Macon County man who is engaged in mica min
ing here:
"Why", he asked, "as long as we can buy mica
from India, should we deplete our American mica
' mines? Wouldn't it make better sense to hold our
own mines in reserve for the time when we can't
get Indian mica? Are we trying to make sure that'
there will be plenty of mica in India for the Rus
sians, if aftd when they take over that country?"
The Dry Trend
Last week the voters of Haywood county out
lawed the sale of beer and wine. They did it by a
margin of something like 3^ to 1.
Haywood having voted out legal beer and wine,
' the entire area from Asheville west to the Tennes
' see line now is bone dry..
Nor is the trend toward dryness a strictly moun
tain phenomenon, for Haywood was the 48th North
Carolina county to vote dry since 1948. In fact, of
? the 51 wet-drv elections held in this state in the
past four years, the wets have won only three.
Why this trend back toward prohibition? What
is the explanation?
This newspaper always has taken exception to
the attitude of some fanatical drys that all wets
' are either drunkards or liquor dealers. We have
equally little patience with the attitude of .some
fanatical wets that all drys are either hypocrites or
fools.
/
There are those, of Course, among the drys who
"drink wet and vote dry". But do such people pre
dominate, 3j/2 to 1, in Haywood county? Do they
predominate, in a much larger proportion, in other
counties, including Macon? Are the majorities of
voters in 48 North Carolina counties either hypo
crites or fools?
We do not think so. If we did, we'd be advocat
ing a change from the democratic to some other
form of government !
You can't dismiss all these drys with a cynical
sneer any more than you can dismiss all the wets
with a self-righteous snub. Dry fanatics no doubt
are among these majorities, but the majorities are
so great that it is obvious they are made up chiefly
of average citizens ? and the average North Caro
lina citizen is not only honest and conscientious,
but has a considerable store of common sense.
Many of those who vote dry probably would
agree that prohibition does not prohibit : that cer
tainly it doesn't prohibit anything like 100 per cent.
Why, then, do thev vote for prohibition?
The chances are they would answer thi^t they
are offered nothing better. The chances are they
would tell you that the consumption of alcoholic
beverages is, in itself, an evil, and that the alterna
tive to prohibition ? legal, controlled sale ? is a
purely negative approach; that legalizing the sale
of wine and beer and operation of liquor stores is
not an honest effort to solve the real problem, but
a mere stop-gap. It" they were completely honest,
they probably would add that they resent the rath
er smug assumption, among some wets, that legal
control is the final and perfect answer.
The chances are they would tell you that they
are looking for a way to reduce the consumption of
alcoholic beverages. They would admit that there
is no way to compare drinking under prohibition
with drinking under legal sale, for the reason that
no figures on consumption under prohibition are
available. But they would quickly add that the evi
dence is that legal sale does not discourage drink
ing ? on the contrary.
As proof, they would cite the fact that revenue
from legal sale is constantly growing ? and that
that means that consumption is growing.
Bouquet
Flowers to Mr. Lewis Patton!
Blinded during World War 2, he could have been
sorry for himself ; he could have decided to lean
hack and live on his government disability allow
ance ; he could have been a useless wreck of war.
But he is not sorry for himself ? -far from it !
He is not .satisfied to lean back. He is determined
to be a useful member of society.
And so, following graduation from the Univer
sity of North Carolina, he has gone to work here
in his home town. And, in the good American tra
dition of taking a chance, he has opened his own
business.
There is just one word that describes such cour
age. Lewis Patton has .shown once again that he
has guts.
The Democrats are scouring around for a cam
paign song to boost Gov. Stevenson. Why not,
"Sweet Adlai-line"?
Our American Civilization
Definition of "dialect": The way the other fel
low talks.
Urging higher schoolastic standards ? for every
body's child but ours.
Boasting of our vast industrial production, which
usually means boasting of how fast we are ex
hausting our natural resources.
Other's Opinions
MEANING OF 'MESS'
(Asheville Times)
We're all aware of the psychic phenomenon whereby a man
can make himself see only what he wants to see, hear only
what he wants to hear, and remember only what he wants to
remember.
So when President Truman says he is unaware that any mess
exists in Washington we must be patient and tolerant and re
member about psychic phenomena.
But at the same time we happily are free to point out that
he is wrong, dead wrong. Many millions of American citizens
also appear to think that way. Among them are all the Repub
licans, a very large proportion of Democrats, and Gov. Adlai
Stevenson, the Democratic presidential nominee ? who has
flatly declared that a mess does exist in Washington that he Is
going to clean it up. The Times thinks that if Stevenson is
elected in November he would come mighty close to doing just
that.
Furthermore, newspaper readers and the radio and televis
ion audience ? lacking the psychic compulsion to forget cer
OUR DEMOCRACY
K CONSTITUTION DAY,
SEPTEMBER. / 7
*TH? AMERICAN CONSTITUTION RANKS ABOVE EVERY OTHER "
WRITTEN CONSTITUTION IN ITS ADAPTATION TO CIRCUMSTANCES,
i ITS SIMPLICITY, BRkVITV AND PRECISION, ITS MIXTURE OP '
! T DEFINITE NESS IN PRINCIPUE WITH ELASTICITY OF DETAIL"
After ifcs years, the constitution framed for a nation
OF A MILLION PEOPLE, SERVES, WITH LITTLE BASIC CHANGE,
; TO PRESERVE OUR FREEDOM AND TO GUIDE US IN
DIRECTING THE OESTINY OF A WORLD POWER WITH A
, POPULATION OF MORE THAN ISO MILLION. .1
WHAT flRYCC WROTE, MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS A60,
IN HIS 'AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH* IS TRUE TODAY ?
AND, IF WE PROTECT ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRESERVE
ITS SPIRIT, WILL BE TRUE TOMORROW.
tain things ? recall all too vividly the big Washington stories
about corruption, graft, bribery, influence peddling.
And they recall just as well the Ineffectual measures taken
by the Administration to stamp out these evils. The people
have no reason to want to forget these things. On the con
trary ? shocked and deeply offended by them ? the people have
every reason to want to remember them. And they want pos
itive, determined steps to eradicate them.
There is just one more point to take up here and that is
that maybe President .Truman doesn't know what the word
"mess" means. You find people sometimes who go through life
with an imperfect understanding of a fairly common word.
Like, for instance, you'll sometimes find a fellow who thinks
a tycoon is one of those big storms out around the South Pa
cific; that a typhoon is a big, fat captain of industry; that a
buffoon is something you jab into whales; and a harpoon is
a jokester.
Webster's New International Dictionary, a fat, authoritative
tome weighing as much as a bucket of rocks, has a whole list
of meanings for the word "mess."
Most of them have to do with meals, particularly as applied
to the ones seamen eat. That's not the meaning we have in
mind, Mr. President. Meaning No. 2 says mess can mean the
milk given by a cow at one milking. Not that one, either, Mr.
President. Nobody's sore about the milk some cow gave in
Washington.
Meaning No. 3 says mess can mean the food givfn to a beast
at one time. Nobody's begrudging a horse his hay. But with
meaning No. 4 we begin to get some place. In fact, we arrive.
Meaning No. 4 says mess can mean, "A confused, inharmo
nious, or disagreeable mixture of things; a medley; a hodge
podge; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from
misunderstanding; a state of confusion, embarrassment, or
the like; a muddle; a botch."
That's what we meam by mess, Mr. President. All those
things.
We fancy that between now and the Nov. 4th election untold
millions of American voters want to be told ? with some real
authority? about what is going to be done about cleaning up
that mess ? M-E-S-S, that is.
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By WEIMAR JONES
Remember the old days in
Macon County when . . .
A lot of the women still wore
calico dresses and poke bon
nets?
And a man's low-quarter shoe
was a "slipper" ? something sis
sy, for dudes?
And putting on long pants
was a major milestone in life
And the work day was 12
hours and the work week six
full days, and the pay 50 cents
or maybe a dollar a day?
And people were supposed to
settle their store accounts once
a year? And what a disgrace it
was if they couldn't? (It was
unthinkable that anybody who
was anybody wouldn't if they
could.)
And there were stepping
stones across Franklin's Main
street ? somewhat precarious in
surance against stepping in the
mud?
And Mr. Tom Angel went
around to the homes of pros
pective travelers to wake them,
so they'd be ready when the
hack to Dillrboro left at 3:30
or 4 a. m.?
And there were bowls and
pitchers and slop jars in every
bedroom? (How in the world
does a whole family get along
today with Just one bathroom?
Maybe they don't bathe as
much as people once did!)
And the story went the rounds
that a Macon County resident,
when "water works" first came
in, had the commode Installed
in a corner of his living room?
And the first automobile ar
rived In Macon County, and
how people were reported to
have stood behind trees as it
passed, for protection in case
the thing exploded? (Moderns,
comparing present-day models
with that old White Steamer,
probably would agree that the
tree-hiders of that day maybe
had something, at that.)
Ah, those were the days!
? ? ?
Or were they . . .?
That all depends.
If you're over 60, you'll prob
ably say they sure were; much
better than today's crazy way
of living . . .
But if you're between 40 and
60, you may wonder; might be
wise to ask somebody else's
opinion.
Try the young fellow of 20.
Hell tell you, right off. And
he KNOW8. He'll tell you so
himself.
News Making
As It Looks
To A Maconite
? By BOB SLOAN
There are three observations
I would like to make concern
ing the campaigns being con
ducted for the office of presi
dent of the United States by
Adlai Stevenson and Dwlght
Eisenhower.
1. As the two men unfold
their views on the various ques
tions there is one man above
all others who must be chuck
ling to himself as he looks
down on this struggling world.
By now many of his "crack
pot" schemes were to be aban
doned. The man, Franklin
Roosevelt, must enjoy 'seeing
practically every major legis
lative idea that he introduced,
endorsed by the candidates of
both major parties. If they are
honorable men, his policies are
here to stay. And the reason
they are here to stay is that
the American people found that
instead of "crack-pot" schemes
they were sound ideas. Yes, Mr.
Roosevelt probably likes the
idea that the people are in
favor of seeing that the gov
ernment is an instrument which
is used by the people to im
prove their way of life.
2. Is Mr. Eisenhower really
doing much, to create a. two
party system in the Soutfi when
he comes through our country
side proclaiming the same pro
gram that the Democratic party
has been running on far the
past 20 years? The only mea
sure I can find the General
has differed with Mr. Steven
son on Is the Tide Lands Oil
issue. But, for example, take
the Social Security program. His
only change would be to give
higher payments. On the farm
program; he adopts the parity
concept. In fact, he advocates
including many perishable prod
ucts under price supports which
are not now included. This idea
w as first mentioned by the
Democratic secretary of agri
culture, Charles Brannan, but
has not been enacted into law.
It seems that the General has
decided to run on Roosevelt's
platform.
3. With the above thoughts in
mind it seems safe to say that
the real issue is not between
the candidates but between the
parties. If both are advocating
virtually the same thing, then
the people should look at the
voting records of the parties
and see which will support more
closely these New Deal mea
sures. There is no need electing
a man who is advocating a pro
gram that his party will not
back.
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press)
56 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
The highwaymen who held up
and robbed a bakery in Kansas
City was evidently cut of
dough.
The Franklin High school
now has 144 pupils.
Mr. Thos. Liner, who lives at
the mouth of Tessenta creek,
Smith's Bridge township, .rais
ed two watermelons of the
Jumbo variety, which he sold
last Monday, that weighed 57
and 58 pounds.
Mrs. Perry Gaston and daugh
ter, Addie, of Buncombe county,
are visiting relatives here.
25 TEARS AGO
Macon county is to have a
new courthouse and jail, the
two to be combined in the same
building. This was decided by
the Board of County Commis
sioners at a called meeting on
Monday.
The present county farm
should be sold and a decent
home built for the poor, near
the city limits.
Miss Elizabeth Deal left Sun
day for Burnsvllle, where she
will begin teaching in the
Burnsvllle High school.
Miss Margaret Cozad left
Thursday morning for Weaver
ville, where she will be in col
lege.
10 YEARS AGO
Dr. Frank T. Smith, who with
Mrs. Smith will spend the wint
er in Richmond, Va., last Sun
day was honored by the Masons
for his 58 years of membership.
~The following notice was in
serted in a weekly newspaper:
"Anyone found near my chick
en house at night will be found
there next morning". (Frankie
Macon).