(Die Slntnklm ^ress
attfr
Migitlanhs ^acmtian
Entered at Post Office. Franklin. N. C.. ae eecond claaa matter
Publlahed every Thursday by The Franklin Preaa
Franklin, N C. Telephone 24
WEMAH JONES . . .
BOB 8 SLOAN ....
J. P. BRADY
HISS BETTY LOU POUTS .
OARL P CABE ....
FRANK A STARRETTB . .
DAVID H. SUTTON . . .
CHARLES E WHTTTINOTON
Editor
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Newa Editor
. Office Manager
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Now Who's To Blame?
To quote the Clayton (Ga.) Tribune, the AAA
Motor Club of Georgia has slapped a "not recom
mended" tag,on US 23 and has branded the rough
mountain route through Georgia as "a bad way to
go-"
The Tribune calls US 23 the "life-line of the
tourist trade flowing through Rabun County".
This, The Press feels, calls for some expansion ?
US 23 also is the life-line of Macon County, whose
highways are now hacked to pieces by new high
way projects. Until this new construction (Frank
lin to Dillsboro and US 64 to Highlands) is com
pleted Macon is depending entirely on US 23 to
bring its tourists.
So, the Georgia motor club is putting the "evil
eye", not only on Rabun County, but on Macon as
well.
And, according to the Tribune, the blame for the
whole situation seems to be in North Carolina:
"Originally, word spread that the entire stretch
of new highway from Clayton (Ga.) to North Car
olina would be completed in the year of 1954. as
-agreed upon by North Carolina.
"'However, informed sources say North Carolina
will be unable to finish their road program, and
ibis has been delaying the action by Georgia."
It is a well-known fact that Highway Conunis
sioneV Harry F. Buchanan in June of last year
"borrowed" the $450,000 allocation for a new link
of US 23 from Franklin south to the Georgia state
line and is using the allocation to "speed up" the
completion of a 9.42-tnile link of US 23 from Cowee
Gap to Dillsboro in Jackson County.
Even so, The Press submits that the present
highway from Franklin to the Georgia state line,
although obsolete by today's standards, still is ade
quate to handle the flow of tourist traffic and
when compared with some in other states is in ex
cellent condition.
The flimsiness of Georgia's alibi suggests that
the blame should be elsewhere.
Blessing In Disguise
There is something in the Rible to the effect that
all things work together for good, and many ob
servant people have been amazed at how often that
proves true; how what seem disasters at the time
prove blessings, in the long run.
That easily could be the case about the destruc
tion by fire of the old Franklin high school build
ing.
f There is grave doubt as to whether that building
ever would have been entirely satisfactory, for any
purpose. But so long as it stood, many persons ?
possibly including school officials in Raleigh ?
would have felt it .should be used, rather than put
ting up a new building. The debate could have gone
on and on for years, with nothing done. Now the
debate is ended for us!
To turn this misfortune into good fortune will
require some effort, perhaps some sacrifice; but the
destruction of the old building paves the way for
the whole community to get behind a program for
an adequate' auditorium, to serve the school, Frank
lin, and the county. The "whole community" back
ing such a project should, and almost surely will,
includc all Macon County.
Exit McCarthy
It is our guess that Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
is on the way to oblivion.' It would not be surpris
ing if his name disappeared from the front pages
within the next year, <?r possibly within the next
few months.
The reason is simple; A lew persons have at last
summoned the courage to challenge McCarthy.
His vast power has been built on fear. "If you don't
support me, I'll destroy you", was the implied
threat he has used constantly. And so senators and
congressmen, government bureaus, and sometimes
the White House itself, it has appeared, have ab
jectly surrendered.
But at last he is being challenged. Among the
first, in congress, to speak out was North Caro
lina's Senator Hoey who. early in the McCarthy
Stevens controversy, said flatly that McCarthy was
wrong. Others have followed. And today the Mc
Carthy who always was attacking is on the defen
sive.
Some people have opposed him ? and have kept
their heads ; he has been proved less terrible, less
powerful than was thought. Others will take cour
age.
A bully can continue bullying only so long as his
bullying tactics create fear. The bully whom no
body fears is the most ridiculous figure imaginable.
Baptist Debate
The state papers are full of the Baptists' contro
versy over the three Baptist Student Union lead
ers who have been asked to resign ? and the reac
tion of many Baptist young people.
It's largely a Baptist, rather than a newspaper,
problem : besides. The Press poses as no Solomon.
But we do suggest there is much about the con
troversy that is healthy and encouraging
There have been times when a lot of people have
wondered, in recent years, if there was enough life
left in any of the Protestant churches for them to
get really excited about anything. Well, those peo
ple have their answer.
The loyalty of Baptist students over the state to
their leaders is heartening, regardless of the merits
or demerits of the controversy: and it should be
encouraging to their elders that these youngsters
feel so keenly about a church matter.
-Finally, as one on the outside looking in, we sus
pect that, basically. this is a clash of ideas, of con
servative vs liberal thinking. Out of such a clash,
hitter and unfortunate as it may seem at the time,
there nearly always come clearer thinking and new
vitality.
It seems always to have been particularly true of
the Baptist Church, as a matter of fact, that the
freedom it gives its individual churches and its
members encourages debate, and thus thinking.
Bouquet
To the Franklin girls' basketball squad, for win
ning the Smoky Mountain Conference champion
ship for the second straight year, our best mountain
manners, and a big bouquet.
A bouquet of big red florist roses? Of Camellias?
Of orchids?
No, indeed!
For these mountain lassies, that most exquisite
of spring flowers, the tiny, fragrant trailing arbu
tus that is found beneath the leaves on mountain
sides, about this time of year.
Others' Opinions
JUST HOW CRAZY?
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch*
The Truman and Roosevelt administrations were adminis
trations of unadulterated betrayal to communism and deep
dyed treason that last 20 long years. Such is the impression
that the Lincoln Birthday orators of the party in power axe
attempting to put over this week.
This Is an insult to the intelligence of the American people.
Apparently these partisan blabbermouths cannot remember
something that the American people know very well. This Is
the fact that Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles
enjoyed both trust and preferment in the Roosevelt and Tru
man administrations.
The blunt truth is that if it had not been for the opportun
ity for service accorded Mr. Elsenhower and Mr. Dulles by
Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and
John Foster Dulles would not today be the No. 1 and No. 2
men in Washington. Had it not been for their part In the ad
ministrations of "Communist treason," the chances are the
world would never have heard their names.
Just how. crazy can politicians get?
AMERICAS ULTIMATE ANXIETY
(Greensboro Daily Newsi
Dr James Cleland of the Duke Divinity School, a native of
Scotland, probed deeply at the psyche of America in his
speech to the North Carolina Press Association at Durham
last week end.
He found three significant traits In the "average Amerlc
an": (1) A pragmatic assurance ("The American Uvea In a
country which Is remarkably sure of Itself. He can evidently
do anything he has a mind to do; If It is Impossible, It Just
takes longer"); (2> a general nelghborlineas ('"Hi is is a
country of joiners. ... It U no wonder that group discussion
is an American phenomenon. The American is unwilling to be
left alone. If, by mischance, he is forced to solitariness, on
goes the radio or the television"); (3) ultimate anxiety "(There
is an underlying uneasiness of mind respecting the meaning
of life and the outcome of individual existence. ... It is
partly due to the fact of international responsibility. It is
ultimately due to the certainty of death. Therefore this aver
age American often has a sence of futility, of transience, and
of personal insignificance."). '
Dr. Cleland's analysis of Americans was charitable and came
from an understanding heart; he was transmitting in kinder
words the message recently delivered by James Marquand's
"Point of No Return" and Arthur Miller's "Death Of A Sales
man". The American, as we have known him from the fron
tier days through Sinclair Lewis's Babitry and Fortune Maga
zine's series on "How To Be An Executive's Wife", is supreme
ly the salesman and the builder. He found a virgin continent
and made it an empire; he was the natural-born salesman
and he sold his product because it was a good one? which the
world respects, admires and envies. Abroad the U. S. still
means steel mills, automobiles, fountain pens, superior plumb
ing and fabulous material comforts; most of the world wants
these things, but like the U. S. it does not always remember
that gadgets are not enough. America's automobiles were
made to go 90 miles an hour on the road to the country club,
not the road to eternity; the salesmanship prize, the big pro
motion are worthy goals only when they are not primary
goals; the end product of human existence is not a high
standard of living but a high standard of character; the
aim of the national budget may be solvency, but the aim of
the human life must be service ? to something lareer than self
All this Dr. Cleland is saying as Marquand and Miller have
been saying recently and as Sinclair Lewis and others said
earlier. For the paradox of America is, indeed, its pragmatic
assurance coupled with its ultimate anxiety. And the trouble
is, as Dr. Cleland sees it, "an underlying uneasiness of mind
respecting the meaning of life and the outcome of individual
existence" even in the midst of material opulence beyond the
imagination of nine-tenths of the world.
This philosophy does not deny that America has tremen
dous power, but it does express doubt about whether America
knows how to use its power wisely and well. It does not sati
rize Babbitry as harshly as Lewis or expose it as bleakly as
"Death Of A Salesman", but it does make the quiet point that
America will not find peace of soul until it puts first things
first. For we stand in the shadow of great empires of the past
which could not stand up under prosperity. Nothing succeeds
like success; but nothing corrupts like power.
Will America survive her astounding prosperity which
Charles Darwin i grandson of the great scientist) said in 1952,
is an "unusual" phenomenon in the 20th Century? Is Amer
ica changing and maturing under the stress of new conditions?
Will our "ultimate anxiety" give way to serenity of convic
tion?
These questions- will be answered by the historians of an
other era when they put their fingers on the pulse of the
20th Century as brilliantly as Dr. Cleland did at Durham last
week.
POPfrV MWH DEADSTOCK KRSK1NC
J WeaverriUe, North Carolina
COMMENT
\ >
Pride goes up and Pride falls down
As well as laughing humans
Who stub their toes and break their skulls?
And never a light illumines.
So why should we be high and proud
And gather ecstatic tattle
Or complimentary sighs and ohs ?
From man's effusive prattle? M
LENA MEARLE SHTJIX.
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
CHAPEL HILL ? Spring comes
early down here. To a moun
taineer, it seems incredible how
early.
It begins to feel and smell
like spring In January, and by
early February, you know spring
is on the way. By this time,
Spring is at its height, and
what a beautiful place Chapel
Hill is in the spring.
I am not the one qualified
even to try to describe it, but
Just how pretty it is, it seems to
me, is suggested by the story
in William Meade Prince's book
about this University town,
"The Southern Part of Heaven".
Meade tells how, in the old
days, one of the well known
village figures was about to die
and the equally well known and
beloved Presbyterian minister
called on him.
In the course of the conver
sation, the sick man asked the
minister:
* "So you think I will go to
heaven".
"Yes", was the reply, "I think
you will."
Then, after a long pause:
Another long pause, coding
with the reply:
"I think It must be a good
deal like Chapel Hill in the
spring."
? ? ?
A recent letter from our
daughter-in-law, In New York
with the baby en route to join
our son In Europe, told about
the number of servicemen's
wives and children being "pro
cessed" for the trip to Join their
husbands (and fathers) In Eu
rope, and some of the odd
things she observed.
Notable was this one:
One mother with two sets of
triplets, all six children mere
Infants!
? * ?
When I told that to friends
here, a lady (who was reared
in Haywood County i remarked
it reminded her of the rare ex
pression a little mountain girl
had for the idea of something
being plenty, or ample. The
child would say it was "a God's
lavish".
So, said our friend who for
Continued On Page Eleven ?
News Making
As It Looks
To A Maconite
? By BOB SLOAJV
Rep. George M. Shuford, (root
our congressional district voted
wrong last Thursday. Further
more be let down the people
who chose him to represent
them In Congress.
When Rep. Shuford voted
against a bill sponsored by
members of his own party
which would raise the Individual
exemption for each taxpayer
and dependent from $600 to
$700 and would knock out of
the tax bill a cut In the Ulx on
dividends from corporation
stock, he must have had a lapse
in memory.
He must have forgotten the
people he represents and the
traditional stand of the party
in which he claims membership
and? tram whose members he
asks for loyalty in a general
election.
Rep. Shuford was wrong be
cause traditionally the Demo
cratic Party has been the
champion of the masses and
the working man. It has ex
pounded the economic theory
that If the purchasing power of
the working people is kept high
our economy will have a sound
foundation to rest on. This has
been contrary to the Republican
theory that if industry is given
sufficient encouragement by tax
and tariff benefits that Industry
will prosper and eventually a
sufficient amount will "trickle
down" to the common everyday
working people.
If Rep. Shuford is aware of
the fact that production and
consumption are the two wheels
of the economic cart in which
we all ride he does not seem to
realize that today the consump -
tion wheel has been deflated
more than the production side
In fact, a glance at the nation's
warehouses will quickly show
that the production tire seems ?
to be suffering from too much
pressure. Certainly increasing
the amount of purchasing pow
er so that everyone has a little
would do more to increase the
nation's ability to purchase
consumer goods than reducing
the tax on stock dividends. The
extra money these people gain
by this tax benefit will most
likely be used only to purchase
more stocks since for the most
part people are inclined to pur
chase the things they need in
the consumer goods line before
they start investing in stocks.
On the other hand had the
personal exemption been raised
for everyone, many people would
have been able to purchase- con'- <
sumer goods which they want
Continued On Page Eleven ?
r
Do You
Remember?
(LnUii taekMu* hw gfc
the files of The Pna)
M TEARS AfiOi THIS. KCKK
The Press Is making arrange
ments to move to the HJggins.
building next week, and will oc
cupy the ground) floor on the
east side;
Last night at 10 o'tHoct.
lightning- struck and tore to
pieces the' large locust tree in
the back yard of Mr. W R.
Johnston's house on the corner
near the Potts shop.
Mr. WSl Watkins has gone
back to. Washington, after
spending soaae ttne at home.
? TEAKS AGO
Mr. I. C. MeOee, recently of
AshevOle. is now manager of
the local A ft P store, succeed
ing In this position. Mr. Ralph
BrvUey.
Nobody reads editorials, some
say. But Just bawl somebody
out In one and see what hap
pens.
Wonder how many farmers in ,
Macon County are plowing over
$100,000 worth of minerals to
grow 50 bushels of corn?
Last November the people of
Macon County were determined
to have a change. They got It.
At nearly every move they have
lumped out of the frying pan
into the fire. Now they will just
have to sizzle.
10 YEARS AGO
Major Gregg Cherry, of Gas
tonia, candidate for the demo
cratic gubernatorial nomination,
for governor of North Carolina,
paid a brief visit to Franklin
last Tuesday.
Alex Arnold has accepted
position on the Franklin post I
office staff.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sloan i
will leave Saturday to attend I
the graduating recital of their *
daughter. Miss Dorothy Sloan, ,
on Monday evening.