Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Aug. 5, 1954, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Ike Jfitnttklxn $kt BJigblaiiits (Mutanmn htand u FM Oflet. FruUh, ? 0- M noood r I ??? hMi FublkM mry fiiundar by ItM taaldk Prw Pnnklln. N C. I ?. SLOAN }, p. BRADY Km Editor MBS BBTTT LOU POUTS OOo? M?n>? ? OARL P. CABS M?rh?nlr?1 Superintendent PRANK A. 8TARRrrn Stop Superintendent DAVID H SUTTON M?W CHART iBfl K. WHTTTINOTON Pieeemen ? SUBSCRIPTION RATSS Ouiuu Macon Coumtt Imoc Macom Coowtt Ob* Year $3-00 Ou Titr C JO ?U Months 1.71 Six Montba . 1.71 three Month* 1.00 Three Months 100 AUGUST 5, 1954 I ... To Him Who Waits I ' . I "All things come to him who waits." Well, they come, if he waits long enough ! The folks over Nantahala way have been waiting these many years for a good road direct to their countyseat, and at last they are going to get it. Contract for the construction from the end of the blacktop, at Cold Spring (on Wayah Bald), to Feisty Branch is to be let September 7. One thing after another has delayed start of the work. Now that a date has been set for letting the contract, it is to be hoped that construction will be speeded. It is to be hoped, too, that if the $512, 000 now available for the Nantahala road is not sufficient to build it on to the Nantahala School, that whatever additional funds are necessary will be found ? and without delay. The spirit of the law authorizing North Caro lina's highway system calls for roads for all. West Macon is one of the few places in the state where the spirit, until now. hasn't moved. Lefler Speaks Out Down at Chapel Hill is a man with some dis turbing habits. First, he is in the habit of seeing things as they are, not just as it is fashionable to see them, or as people would like to see them. Sec ond, he is accustomed to analyze, question, and think. Finally, he habitually speaks his mind. The combination makes for a terribly disturbing ? but eminently healthy ? influence. The latest unpopular remark of Dr. Hugh Lefler, University of North Carolina history professor, is to the effect that the merger of the University at Chapel Hill, N. C. State College at Raleigh, and Woman's College at .Greensboro, into the Greater University of North Carolina has proved a failure. The merger, Dr. Lefler says, has failed to do any of the things it was designed to do ? and has created new arid difficult problems. As the Chapel Hill News Leader comments. Dr. Lefler merely said what everybody familiar with the situation has known, but which nobody hitherto ?"has dared say". The New.s Leader explains that "the consolida tion was not a natural outgrowth; . . . not an organic growth formed by inevitable tendencies" but "a consolidation imposed from without". It was a depression period merger ? and has since been accepted as inevitable and desirable; taken for granted. Exactly the same thing might be said aborit state support and control of the public schools; > that centralization, too, was not one carefully thought out and adopted as the best way to operate the schools. It was an emergency ? almost a pan i icky ? measure of. the depression. And it's been continued not because evidence has been compiled to show it is the best way, but because it just has come to be taken for granted. Discrimination More money is spent per pupil here for the edu cation of Negro children than for the education of whites. That is true not only in this county, but in a number of others in this region. In Macon, the annual per pupil expenditure for whites is $142.73. The per pupil expenditure for Negroes is $164.17. That's a difference of nearly $22 ? in faVor of the Negro child. Suppose the figures ran the other, way: We in Macon County would be charged with gross racial ?discrimination. Since the figures are not in favor of the whites, but of the Negroes instead, isn't it gross racial dis crimination still ? against the whites? That sounds like a logical question, doesn't it? Well, logical or not, it doesn't make sense. For there is a good explanation for the apparent dis crimination. The explanation is that a very small .proportion ? 2.16 per cent ? of this county's school children is Negro; and it costs more to operate a school for such a small number. The apparent discrimination actually is an effort to make the educational oppor tunities of the two groups approximately equal, and thus to avoid discrimination. The situation is a perfect illustration of how deceptive statistics can be. It suggests, too, that we would all be wise to look beyond and below statis tics and surface apnearances before jumping to conclusions ? and ' ling charges. A lot of folks outside of the South could have kept their blood pressures down if they had done that in the past ; a lot of folks in the South can keep theirs down if they will do it in the future. ? Letters ... OF HOPE AND LOVE Editor, The Press: Your editorial attached ("Religion? and Flowers", Issue of July 22) reminds me of the lines below, that X find helpful: Do flowers talk? Why, yes! They talk and laugh and sob and sing And bend their heads, and whisper low; And every day they bring A Royal word of Hope and Love From Hope and Love's own King. New Orleans, La. GEORGE G. WESTFELDT A HOME TOWN ENTERPRISE Editor, The Press: Many has been the time when I have heard people say how wonderful it would be if Franklin just had a bakery. Well, Franklin has one now and a very good one. The bakery car ries an almost unlimited variety of cakes, pies and pastries. Indeed, it Is a credit to a town of our size to have such a good bakery. But we're not going to have it long, if we don't start patronizing it at a better rate than we have recently. To lose the bakery we have now would be to lose any that we might possibly have in the future. Why? Because if it failed to pay off for a man who really knew the baking busi ness, would it not also fail to pay for others? Fellow citizens, let's get together and support our home town bakery. When it's gone, we'll be wishing again for a bakery, but another one might be a lot longer coming than this one was getting here. ? Sincerely, Franklin, J. L. WEST, Jr. July 29, 1954. COMPLAINT FROM A TRAVELER Editor, The Press: I am thankful I live in South Carolina instead of North Carolina ? because of the unfair way we were treated as we came through your town Sunday night of last week. As we were traveling somewhere between Franklin and Clay ton, Ga? a patrolman stopped us, informing us we were mak ing 65 miles per hour. Our car didn't register over 50 at any time, so how could we know our speed was that far wrong? We hadn't passed any car; we have never consciously broken the law. My son bought the car in San Francisco to come home on leave. He doesn't drink, and isn't a reckless driver; he had no trouble coming through any of the big cities. But his fine was $50 for speeding. I think that an outrageous fine. What hurt me so was that that was part of the money he had saved to get him back. He is defending you, as well as me. Just how ungrateful can those back home be to the boys in service? I wonder, when he gets back to Indochina, how he will remember Franklin, N. C. The trial was set for August 23, but my boy has to be back in San Francisco August 8. The patrolman wouldn't change the date. Another thing: As we were following your patrolman back to Franklin, we passed the town speed limit, which reads 25 miles per hour. I don't know what speed his car registered, but ours was on 40 miles per hour. Now who broke the law, and who should pay? Very sincerely, Central, S. C. MRS. W. D. BREWER (EDITOR'S NOTE: Patrolman H. T. Ferguson, who identified himself as the arresting officer in this case, said he clocked the Brewer automobile for about four miles, "and he was speeding ... 65 to 70 m. p. h." He disclosed that the driver also was charged with Improper use of lights. "He drove close to my bumper all the way back to town with his lights on bright; we met about three cars on the way in, and he did not dim his lights for any." (With reference to the speed sign at the town limits, Mr. Ferguson pointed out it reads 35 miles, and said he slowed , to that speed on entering the town. ? ' (It seems to this newspaper that Mrs. Brewer has no leglti mate complaint about the arrest, tf the ear waa exceeding the ?peed limit. The law fixes that limit at M miles; we think it U a food law, and should be enforced. And while It Is un fortunate that, In this ease, the $50 had to come out of a serviceman's savings, moat persona will agree that an automo bile operated at excessive speed la juat aa dangerous driven by a serviceman aa by a civilian. , (Mrs. Brewer does have a legitimate complaint, though, In that no provision Is made for prompt trial of non-realdent traffic law violators. August 23 Is the date the next term of superior court opens here; tinder the present law, the case could not be tried earlier than that. The officer has no con trol over the date. (What the present law does Is to force a non-resident to post a bond (the $50 In this case was bond; the equivalent of the usual fine for speeding) and then, because It Is imprac tical to return for trial weeks or months later, to forfeit the bond ? whether he Is guilty or Innocent. And technically, forfeiting the bond does not clear the court record; technical ly, an offender who forfeits his bond still can be haled Into court and put on trial, and fined a second $50. (The next General Assembly should make provision for prompt trial, In a court other than superior, of non-residents charged with traffic law violations. That course is dictated by common sense, as well as elementary Justice.) - For prying Into any human affairs, none are equal to those whom It does not concern.? Victor Hugo. Others' Opinions THE CANTON VIADUCT (Waynesvllle Mountaineer) Canton officials have made public their stand on the viaduct. They have gone on record that they will not oppose the project, as long as it does not cost the Town of Canton any money. t IV. The state is asking that the town pay one-third of the right-of-way costs, whatever that might be ? perhaps better than $100,000. The action of the Canton officials ? the first since the proj ect came up nine months ago ? at least brings the whole mat ter out into the center of the ring. ? The state has made their proposal; the Town has made theirs. Now what? The state maintains that the one-third cost of .right-of-ways through towns Is their standard regulation. Canton replies in substance that "we do not want the viaduct bad enough to pay out money which we do not have, and would have to go to the expense of borrowing." The $750,000 allocated for the project last fall by Governor Umstead remains Intact, Just waiting for the final disposition of the matter. The viaduct is more than just a Canton project. It will serve the entire area. For that reason, we hope the two groups, while now nearer together than ever, can find an early and satisfactory solution to the remaining hurdle and get the mat ter settled. STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES It would be nice if some rich man or company would come to Macon County, set up a $10, 000,000 or $20,000,000 manufac turing plant that had no unde sirable features, ask no favors of the community, hire and train local labor, and provide employment for all. It would be nice. But it would be a little like a visit from Santa Claus on July Fourth! It may happen sometime. But if we are wise, we won't just sit back and wait for it to happen. If we are wise, we'll try to do something, in the meantime, for ourselves. There are a number of things we can do. It is quite possible we can sell a number of very small industries on the advan tages of setting up shop in Macon County. Easier still ? and perhaps even more sensible ? we could establish a number of small industries ourselves. (There is plenty of capital here to do it; all that is needed is a little imagination and a lit tle nerve.) Easiest of all, we can encourage and patronize the industries and businesses we have. To keep an industry or business that already is es tablished is much better than losing it, then going out and getting a new one to take its place. Most of us are so accustomed to thinking in terms of size, we are likely to forget that ten businesses that employ ten men each are just as good as on6 industry that employs 100 ? even better, because with a single big one, the community has "&11 its eggs in one , basket. \ Every business, even if it em ploys nobody but the owner, is a pay roll. A letter elsewhere on this page illustrates the point. Franklin has a bakery. Those who have patronized it say it is a good bakery; and certainly a good bakery is an asset to the community, quite aside from the number it employs. But, ac cording to Mr. West, we are in danger of losing it because not enough people patronize it. ? ? ? I never have believed it rea sonable to expect people to patronize home town businesses if the customer can't get the quality he wants at home; or if he has to pay substantially more to get it. But it is a good bet that a lot of people buy from mail order houses without bothering to see If they can get what they want at home ? and with out any comparison of quality or price. The same undoubtedly is true of the bakery. Many people undoubtedly would patronize it if they had patronized it once, and found what was available there, espe cially in the way of quality. They continue to buy mass produced bakery products at a grocery store not because they are necessarily getting what they want, but simply because it has become a habit. * ? ? And speaking of quality, it is my personal belief that there is no item on which the Amer ican people are being gypped so consistently, as far as qual ity is concerned, as on mass produced bread. Next time you buy a loaf of this stuff manu factured by the million loaves in Chicago or St. Louis or Kal amazoo, just taste it. Rather, just try to taste it. You won't be successful, for the good rea son it has no taste. As far as taste goes, it might as well have been made out of sawdust or talcum powder. How do we make bread in the great manufacturing plants? First of all, we eliminate all Continued on Page Three ? News Making As h Looks To A Maconite , ? BOB SLOAN I agree heartily with Mr. J. P. Brady (for once) when he expresses the Idea that one of Franklin's greatest needs Is more recreation tor tourists. In fact, since I have been pound ing the keys off and on for the last couple of years on this same subject I am the least bit Inclined to say, "Brady, you are late, but I am glad that you see the light." Once again I would like to say that along this line, I be lieve that Franklin's greatest need Is a topnotch swimming pool and eighteen hole golf course with grass greens. Since large amounts of water are re quired for both the swimming and the grass greens, It is a sort of a community problem. The day that the town board wakes up and provides the water at a very low rate neces sary to change the water In the pool every twenty-four hours and sufficient water to water grass greens, Franklin will start looking up as a tourist center. There is this about It In case you want to look at the matter with an eye to business. "Thar's Gold In All Those Tourist Cars That Pass on Through". While on the subject of furn ishing tourists (and home folks as well) with entertainment Mr. Brady and Frank Plyler and others who worked to put the Folk Festival across are cer tainly to be congratulated. It Is goofi. It has come of age and is now an established institu tion, long may It live. * ? ? Once again I would like to suggest that we not wait until the week before the general election this fall to start con sidering our candidates. Then is the time when it is hard to find true facts for aU the mislead ing propaganda that is in the air. Concerning the County Com missioners, here is a question I would like for all voters to ask themselves before they make up their minds. Can you name any given period of time that Ma con County has made as much progress In developing its schools and various other pub lic institutions such as health, welfare and agricultural insti tutions as they have since Mr. W. E. Baldwin became chair man of the county commis sioners. I think that you should consider the progress we have made and that it should have a great influence on your vote. A proven record of ability is a good thing to vote for and a bad thing to exchange for one composed of words. Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Press) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK A CARD TO THE PUBLIC? Having the contract to carry the mails from Franklin to Dillsboro for the next four years, I will have a Hack or Pole Buggy leaving the Post Office at 4 A. M. and 11:15 A. M. for Dillsboro; also leav ing Dillsboro for Franklin at 4 A. M. and 12 ,M. All Macon County people going from Franklin will be carried with safety for $1, also all persons wishing to stay overnight in ?> Dillsboro, will be brought with the morning mail for $1. Con nection made by the 11:15 mail with the five o'clock train for Asheville. I respectfully solicit your patronage.? W. J, Zachary. 10 TEARS AGO Mr. and Mrs. C. E. .Dockery, of Weaverville, have announc ed the marriage of their daugh ter, Miss Dorothy Dockery, to Pfc. Harry Kinsland, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Kinsland, "?>f Franklin. Pfc. Radford E. Jacobs, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gene L. Jac- t obs, has been serving the past " 10 months in the Southwest Pacific. Pvt. John Wiley Lenoir, son of .Mr. and Mrs. Ben Lenoir, of Cartoogechaye, has returned to California after spending a 10 day furlough at home.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 5, 1954, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75