Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Feb. 18, 1954, edition 1 / Page 2
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Ifixnukiiu nttii Chr 31ttjhlniths iHnrattmn Entered at Post Office. Franklin. N. C.. a a second class matter Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press Franklin. N C. Telephone 34 WEIMAR JONES Editor SOB S. SLOAN Business Manager 1 P. BRADY News Editor MISS BETTY LOU POUTS Office Manager CARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent FRANK A. STARRETTE Shop Superintendent DAVID H. SUTTON 8tereotyper CHARLES E WHITTINGTON Pressman SUBSCRIPTION RATE8 Outside Macon Countt Inside Macon County One Year $3 00 One Year $2.50 SU Months 1.79 Six Months 1.79 Three Months 100 Three Months 1.90 FEBRUARY 18, 1954 Stop It Now! One of the many wonderful things about living in Macon County is the tact that almost everybody is honest as a matter of course. It is rare indeed to find a place where you can le^ive home, for an hour or a week, and never have to think of locking doors. We'll keep Macon County that way only if we make it unmistakably clear that thievery will not be tolerated here. And so. while we ordinarily have great sympathy for a person caught in the toils of the law and rarely favor long sentences, we hope those respon sible for that series of break-ins in the Highlands area will be caught and convicted, and that the court will mete out sentences severe enough to deter anv would-be thief from coming to Macon County for his depredations. What better advertisement could we have for Macon County than to be able to say it is a place where thievery simply isn't permitted ? anil so doesn't happen? Mr. Slagle Retires The purpose of elections, in a democratic coun try, is to determine, fairly and honestly, the will of the people. ll has l>een our observation that that thought ha^ been uppermost in the mind of Mr. Siler Slavic during his period as chairman of the Macon County board of elections. It is a difficult, and often a thankless, job he has had, and because the evidence is that he has done it well. The Press regrets his retirement. To his successor, whose identity is not known as this is written, go our best wishes. Thtj duties he is taking on are a challenge and a responsibility. They are a challenge, because often the right thing is not the popular thing. They are a respon sibility for the reason that democratic government will live and function only so long as the people have faith in democracy, and they will have faith in democratic processes onlv so long as they have faith in the honest v and fairness of elections. More About Secrecy This newspaper last week listed four narrow areas in which secrecv in government sometimes may lie justified ? in the grand jury room, in the discussion of the characters and personalities of ap plicant- for positions as teachers in the public schools, in the preliminary consideration of the pur chase of property for public use, and where the national security clearly is at stake. It probably was clear in last week's editorial, but just in case it wasn't : ? Except where the national security is involved, this newspaper can see no excuse for secrecy in legislation, whether enacted at Raleigh or at Wash ington. Legislators serve simply as the servants and del egates of the people. Surely the people, who are to be bound by the legislators' actions, are entitled to know every detail of why and how every legislative decision is arrived at. " . Tactical Error ______ Friends and supporters of Senator Alton f.ennon must regret his outburst the other day when he re ferred to his opponent for the U. S. Senate as a "demagogue" and in other uncomplimentary terms. While he did not call his opponent by name, there could be no doubt that Mr. Lennon was referring to Kerr Scott. Aside from the issue of good taste and states manship, it almost certainly will prove a tactical error. la the first place, if the campaign becomes a dirty one. Mr. Lenfion must bear the responsibility of be ing; the first to engage in personalities. In the second, a candidate rarely indulges in naine-c^llinfr unless fhe is on the defensive; the public knows quite well that when a man begins to call names it is apt to be because he doesn't know what else to do. Friends and supporters of Mr. Scott, on the other hand, must be hoping he will not reply m kind. He can best capitalize, in fact, on his opponent's error by sticking to his pledge to conduct a clean cam paign. Whether Mr. Scott will do that remains to be seen. Others' Opinions THE ASK- IT TEST (Chicago Daily Tribune i Pick a fellow and ask him a question. If he says. "No com ment." he's a big shot, if he says, "I refuse to answer", he's a questionable shot; and if he says, "I don't know," he's an ordinary, confused citizen. DIDN'T VOTE FOR DEWEY , (Smithfield Herald* Isn't it about time for somebody to dig up that old one about the man who found it wise to vote for Dewey? Remember? Every time he voted for Dewey, times got better. Maybe that voter had something. He didn't get to vote for Dewey last time. And see? The business cycle took a dip. PUBLIC CONFIDENCE (Durham Sun) Wisconsin's Joe McCarthy has learned that even Joe Mc Carthy needs to have a certain amount of public confidence behind him. He has found that Abraham Lincoln knew what he was talking about when Mr. Lincoln observed that it is im possible to fool all of the people all of the time. Joe McCarthy felt the futility of procpeding with a one-man subcommittee (The Democratic members had withdrawn and the Republican members were merely rubber stamps I. Mc Carthy invited the Democratic senators to return to the sub committee ranks. He agreed to abandon his position that he should exercise dictatorial rights within the subcommittee. ( The Democrats have returned. It remains to be seen what McCarthy attempts henceforth; but, whatever it is and how ever the Democratic subcommittee members acquire them selves, McCarthy has confessed that he could not successfully assume arbitrary authority. He has bowed, for the moment at any rate, to public opinion. WHO READS POETRY NOWADAYS? (Greensboro Daily News i A modern poet recently suggested that people don't read modern poetry because they don't read any poetry because they don't read anything. That may be true to a considerable extent in our hectic age, but our guess is that many still read poetry ? mostly old poetry ? because they need to. It may be the poetry of the Bible in 1 the Book of Job, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes and the Gospels; the work of the philosophical poets, Lucretius, Dante and Goethe; the poems of those who "make this too much loved earth more lovely," Herrick, Shelley, Keats: or Shakespeare and Euripides who threw the searchlight of poetic drama into men's minds and hearts. When poetry comes to men speaking truth in terms of beauty, men will read it for thousands of years, indeed as long as there is light to read by or earth to stand on. But its talk of truth must be translated into beautiful words for it to be poetry. Man has no deeper or more constant desire than for "beauty, old yet ever new, eternal voice and inward word." That desire may turn to tawdry channels but it is always there waiting, if not hoping, for the best. Alfred North Whitehead, the philosopher, got at its essence when he said that "when youth once grasps where beauty dwells ... . its self -surrender is absolute." Poets may fail men, but poetry never does; it Is a well of living water which may rise or fall ' at times but which can never run dry because it is fed by springs older than man and deeper than the earth. fRANCIS C ANSCOMBE How Is It We Are Able To Hear? The Ear Is A Marvel Of Nature ? In Twin City Sentinel Salem College through Its De partment of Music has been making noteworthy contribu tions to the cultural life of the city. The recent piano recitals by demons Sandresky, Hans Heldermann and James Hart have been highly meritorious. The large attendance has at tested to the ability of the art ists and to wide-spread appre ciation of good music. How many of the audience considered how they were able to hear the music? Probably most folks suppose the musician produces the music and the listeners hear it. Actually that is not so. The skillful performer never makes any music at all; all he does Is to produce air vibrations! The music is creat ed in the minds of the listen ers! This is very comforting to the many unfortunates who do not know one note from anoth er;. It is a grand solace to realize that it is the marvelous brain of the listener and not the technique of the virtuoso that produces all the gorgeous music. The process of hearing is among the greatest of nature's marvels. The human ear con sists of three main parts ? the external ear, the middle ear and the Internal ear. The outer ear is a curiously contrived funnel to gather the sound waves and direct them Inward. Most ani mals have moveable ears, but humans have allowed the wig gling muscles to atrophy. The tympanum or ear drum is a very sensitive membrance at the entrance to the middle ear. This responds to the air vibrations and causes three tiny and delicate bones? the ham mer, the anvil and stirrup to be agitated according to the pitch, timbre and volume of the air vibrations. These bones act m , OUR DEMOCRACY b,M* | "THE SACRED FIRE LIBERTY" U preservation of the sacreS fire of liberty anS the Sestiny of the republican form oj government are justly consiSerci as See ply. perhaps as finallij.stakeS on the experiment entrusted to the hanSs of the -American people. ~~ Greor<j? <iJas [i i ry ton. flrtl ina.ii cjural aMiess April 30. IJBJ BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE MADE THAT EXPERIMENT WORK SO WELL FOR US, THE FREE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD -AND THOSE WHO ASPIRE TO FREEDOM LOOK TO THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC FOR HOPE AND LEADERSHIP IN PRESERVING THE SACRED FIRE OF LIBERTY*" do the dampers of a piano. They are embedded in and protected by the temporal bone and transmit the sound waves or air vibrations from outside to the inner portion of the ear, known as the labyrinth. Here is one of nature's mast erpieces. What are described as stiff hairs quiver according to the vibrations, and it is the op inion of some authorities that there is a separate hair for every one of the different sounds humans can apprehend ?some say 16,000. The cochlea or snail shell is probably the receptor or the place where vibrations are con verted into nerve impulses. The semi-circular canals make some contribution to the hear ing process, but their chiefest function is the preservation of balance of the whole body. The auditory nerve transmits the agitations of the various membrances, bones, muscles, fluids, hairs and emotions to the jrain, and an incomprehensible miracle occurs. These various vibrations are converted ? into something utterly different, to ivit. music. No one knows whether that A'hich is created within is the same as that produced without. Another matter which is worthy of attention is the manner in which the sound waves reach the ear. No two people hear the same music. The air vibrations proceed in all directions. Few come direct to one's ears. They may have bounced all over the place. Clothing and upholstery absorb much of the sound waves: mus ic in an almost empty room is not the same as when well fill ed. How can many variations en ter the ear at the same in stant? Suppose there" is a full orchestra and at least a dozen different kinds of instruments. How do the waves become com posite? And how does the trained ear hear several instru ments at the same time? / All sound waves travel at the same speed, but each note or noise has its own definite wave length. The human ear can re ceive over eleven octaves of vi bration ranging from about 32 to 32,000 per second, and they vary in length from 35 feet to Vi of an inch. Middle C has a frequency of 256 per second. The next higher octave has double Continued On Page Three ? Poetry Editor EDITH DEADERICK ERSKINE Weaverville, North Carolina JUST PEOPLE How high, how wide, how deep is GREAT, The applauded one, the potentate? His measurements are out of date. Just PEOPLE stand without the gate To meet the world ? just people wait, ?EDITH DEADERICK ERSKINE Weaverville, N. C, STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES CHAPEL HILL ? After more ;han five months tn Chapel Hill, [ still am amazed ? and given a lift ? by the remarkable honesty Df the young people attending the University. They are honest in many ways. First of all, ilhere is the basic way of not stealing the property of others. The students seem to leave books anywhere without fear of not finding them when they come back; rarely does anybody lock an automobile, even though coats or other valuables may be left in the car; and while students have often said to me that they had "lost" something, I am yet to hear one say that anything had been "stolen" from him. My personal experience bears out the point. Twice within re cent weeks, after having a meal at a restaurant, I have discov ered that my overcoat was miss ing from the place where I had hung it. In each case, when I returned for the next meal, there was my coat ? and the similar-looking one, that I had observed when mine was miss ing, was gone! They are honest in their work. The honor system has been de veloped here, over a period of decades, to an extent perhaps not equaled at any other school in the country. It is more or less standard practice for an instructor to write a quiz on the classroom backboard and then leave the room and not return until the end of the class period. Does nobody take advantage of such a situation to cheat? A few of the some 5,500 students here undoubtedly do. But I have checked not only official sources but have talked to many stu dents about It. And from every source I get the same reply : "Honesty Is taken for granted. Cheating Is very rare. There is less of it here than 'any place I know." Then, there usually is this significant added remark: "In the few cases where there is cheating, it usually occurs when an Instructor shows he does not trust his students." Finally, these Carolina stu dents ate honest In the hard est way of all ? In their think ing. They do a remarkably good Job of seeing things as they are, not as they might like OitlnMd on ri|* Three ? News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? By BOB SLOAN The local political pot to be ginning to boll, at least on the Democratic fires. More and mora possible candidates are being mentioned. However, sometimes when you hear that so and so is going to run far such and such an office always remember that It may be that no one has mentioned it to the alleged candidate. At present, the only person I have heard mentioned as a possibility for the office of clerk of the court is John Edwards. I don't know that he Is con sidering seeking the office, but I have" heard his name men tioned by a good many people. For register of deeds, Lake Shope will run again and prob ably without opposition in the Democratic primary. In the Sheriff's race, Harry Thomas has announced that he will seek the office again. There has been soime talk that George Byrd, state highway employee, and Clarence Byrd, former pa trolman, will seek the office. For representatives ? As yet there is no announced candi date (remember that this is be ing written Monday, by Thurs day we may have several). Among those I have heard men tioned are Clyde West, Jim Raby, and Rev. W. N. Cook. If anybody is going to run for the board of county com missioners or the board of ed ucation, they sure are keeping it quiet. My guess would be that there will be 10 or more candidates for the latter office ?there generally is. * * * ' ? ? Turning to the representative again. There is one law I would like to see enacted. When ever a representative enacts a law which pertains to this county only and when the law requires the expenditures of additional funds I think that it should be required that the law also state how the funds will be raised. In short, when a representative goes to Raleigh and passes a law which requires the school board to pay the bus drivers more salary or the board of county commissioners to pay out money for fire protection he should also have to include in his measure provisions (gen erally a tax increase which Continued On Page Three ? Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Press) 5? 'years AGO THIS WEEK We would like to have a few bushel of oats on subscription. Mr. D. J. Richards, of South Sherborn, Mass., was here Mon day. Mr. Richards owns a large body of land on upper Nanta hala, which he was here to look after. Mr. R. P. Palmer and Miss Carrie Rogers, of Clay county, were in town the latter part of last week, on a visit for a day or two. 25 YEARS AGO Miss Mattie Franks, of Greens burg, Indiana, has been chosen Indiana's Most Deserving Girl in a newspaper contest con ducted by the Indianapolis News in colloraboration with the Mary Pickford Studios of Hollywood, Calif. Miss Franks is well known in Franklin, being the grand daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Conley and Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Franks. As we understand the matter, the law requires that the ex penditures of the county be published each year. It now ap pears that this information for last year will not be available to the public. Mr. Harrison states that it is the duty of the old board of commissioners to have the county statement of" last year published. We have no idea that the old commissioners will do so. Hence the tax payers are destined to be kept in ig norance of what became of their money last year. With the development of Lake Emory will come better times. 11 TEARS AGO A second Home Hospitality week-end for a group of soldiers stationed at clemson College was sponsored by the young people's War Worker's Club this past week and again Hotel Ed wards was headquarters for the group. (Highlands Highlights t. Miss Kathryn Anne Hugglns, ? of Arlington. Va.. is visiting her parents. Mr. and Mrs. John L. Hugglns. Dr. J. L. Stokes. II, took a business trip to Durham last Tuesday.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Feb. 18, 1954, edition 1
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