Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Oct. 14, 1954, edition 1 / Page 2
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Hit t $\tnnklin press anb Hht 3Jigltlnn?ts ^LnztmiviVL Entered at Post OD?, Franklin. N. C.. u Moond o lw mitttr Published every Thursday by The Franklin I*i r? Franklin. M. O. Telephone M WEIMAR JONES Editor BOB 8. SLOAN . ..... .... . . . Buslnei J. P. BRADY News Editor MRS EDWARD CRAWFORD OBlce tfulfn CARL P. CABE Superintendent PRANK A. STARRETTX Shop Superintendent OAVID H. SUTTON . ? PHAR1.E8 E. WHI'ITINOTON SUBSCRIPTION RATES Oums Ma cok Cotnrrr Imsidc Macon Count* )n* Tear $3 00 One Tear Tj33o tlx Months 1.75 six Month* I TS Rme Month* . 1.00 Three Months 140 Then What Is This? The U. S. Supreme Court has said that segrega tion in the public schools is discrimination. It is dis crimination, the court has held, even when all the tangible factors are equal. i If that is discrimination, what is it when we in Macon County bar the parents of approximately 40 per cent of our school children from any say about who shall be members of the board that runs their schools? The countv board of education in Macon County should be elected. "'Light, Strangers!" In the old days, when travel was chiefly by horse back, almost the instant a stranger stopped at the hitching-post in front of a home, he would hear the shouted welcome: " 'Light, stranger, and come in !" The days of horseback travel and saddlebags are long gone; today it is far commoner, even in Franklin, to deplane than to dismount. But the old phrase remains fresh, sincere, and hearty. And on behalf of the people of Macon County, we hasten to say to Burlington Mills : " 'Light, strangers, and come in !" We are happy about the three million dollars to be spent on a plant here. We are happier about the 300 Macon County .persons to be employed. And we are happiest of all about the character of the con cern that is coming into Macon County ? Burling ton Mills is reputed one of the most enlightened corporations in the nation. In fact, every scrap of information that has come this way about the folks we now welcome as "our company" suggests that, when they have ceased to be "company" and have become neigh bors, they will prove the best of neighbors ? in their relations both with the community and with their own employes. Two Too Many, But. . . Emphasis on the rights and privileges of any one class is out of tune with both the tradition and the spirit of this nation. Obviously, the same thing is true of race emphasis. For that reason, we have always felt that the Na tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People was one too many such organizations. And the new National Association for the Advancement of White People made two too many. We do not like the methods, though, that arle being used in Washington, D. C? and Delaware to put tht latter organization out of business. It is the American way to let an organization or a cause or a doctrine stand on its own bottom. If it has merit, it deserves to stand; if it does not. it will fall of its own weight. It is the American wav to discredit an organization or a cause or a doctrine by logic and argument. Th.it is not the way situations in Washington and Delaware have been handled. There has been no debate about the merits of the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of White l'eople. or about its usefulness. The entire emphasis has been on smearing its founder and leader. The question of his character, it seems to us, is secondary and in cidental. The methods being used to shut him up are much too reminiscent of Nazi Ciermanv to be pleasant to consider. The best things are nearest; breath in your ijpstrils, light In your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars but do life's plain, common work as It comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life. ? Robert Louis Stevenson. \ Don't YOU Be One This is one editorial that writes itself. It does because it says what everybody must be thinking. It says a loud and hearty "amen" to the Frank lin and Highlands Garden Cluhs' admonition to one and all: "Don't Be a Litterbug". That is, don't leave or drop or throw out of cars, litter. Whether it be tin cans, soft drink bottles, paper handkerchiefs, or what-have-you, trash be longs in a can! , Litter costs Macon County dearly. It costs us in dollars ; all the tourists and would-be settlers who hurry on when they see dirty streets and highways and countryside. And it costs us in self-respect. More power to the Garden clubs in their cam paign of education: "Don't Be a Litterbug!" ? ? ? 1 Political Reminder This is to call attention to a longstanding pol icy of The Press: We do not publish political ad vertising in the last issue before an election. The Press will have only two more issues ? those of October 21 and 28 ? before the general election on November 2. Since our policy forbids our ac cepting political advertising for the issue of Oc tober 28, that leaves only next week's issue. Political organizations and candidates desiring to do advertising are asked to keep this in mind. The deadline for advertising is noon Tuesday. SPECIFIC INFORMATION (Pathfinder) In round numbers the people who don't mind paying taxes total 000,000,000. / I have lived eighty-six years. I have watched men climb up to success, hundreds of them, and of all the elements that are important for success, the most important is faith. ? Cardinal Gibbons. Others' Opinions BURLINGTON MILLS COMES WEST (Ashevllle Citizen) Franklin and Macon County have won deserved recognition in the decision of the Burlington Mills Corporation to build a large hosiery plant near Franklin. It Is good news to all Tar Heels, who have observed with pride and all-round satisfac tion the steady growth of the Burlington Mills company In recent years. It Is especially welcome news In the whole region west of the Blue Ridge divide, because Industry has been lag gard In coming to some of the westernmost counties here. At a time when North Carolina legislators and citizens in general are deliberating over the state's need for more revenue, and therefore for more pay-roll plants and more tax-paying citizens and corporations, the Franklin Chamber of Commerce has set a fine example of how to take off coats and go to work for more Industries. Burlington's scouts are trained and experienced in finding favorable locations for new plants ? locations favorable in sev eral ways. Making surveys of a number of possible sites In several communities, Burlington's representatives very evident ly found an economic and human-relations setting at Franklin that met their hopes and specifications. Above afl, the Bur lington survey men found a group of businessmen ready and glad to go the second mile In friendly and helpful co-opera tion. (This three-mllllon-dollar plant is expected to begin op eration by next spring.) North Carolina no more than any other forward-looking state wants to be top-heavy with industrial plants. But this state's economic problem is far from any stage of congestion from industries. Indeed, our own college, university and busi ness economists tell us that North Carolina has been moving more slowly than the other Southern states out of too much agriculture for sound economic progress. Thus North Carolina still has room for more textile plants, particularly for those requiring a considerable degree of skill. Furthermore, if the textile industry has been first and fore most in the South's economic development, textiles often open the way for still more industrialization, and diversified industrialization requiring still higher degrees of skill ? and commanding still better wages. And so this transmountaln region, already having made some advance in Industrialization, finds it a good omen that Burlington Mills proposes to operate one of its 76 mills In a western county no longer remote by reason of poor transpor tation facilities. Reprinted From THE STATE Magsiine FISHING IN THE CULLASAJA RIVER ? A CENTURY AGO (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is from the book, "Letters From the Alleghany", describing the mountain region in 1848. The letters were written by John Lanman, probably one of the few outsiders to travel through this area at that early date.) Franklin, North Carolina May, 1848 The little village of Franklin Is romantically situated on the Little Tennessee. It Is surround ed with mountains, and as quiet and pretty a hamlet as I have yet seen among the Aileghan ies. On the morning after en tering this place, I went to the post office, for the purpose of obtaining a peep at the last number of the National Intelli gencer, whereupon the officiat ing gentleman informed me that I should find it at the office of a young lawyer whom he nam ed. I called upon the legal gen tleman, and found him, like all the intelligent people of the country, very polite and well in formed. In speaking of the sur rounding pictorial associations he alluded to a certain waterfall and added that the gentleman who referred ma tj him owned a plantation near the falls, on a famous trout-stream, and was an angler. On this hint I sent a couple of handsome flies, as a present, to my post-office friend, and in less than twenty minutes thereafter he made his appearance at my lodgings, and insisted that we should go upon a fishing excursion, and that the lawyer should accompany us. Horses were immediately procured, and having rode a distance of ten miles along a very beautiful stream called Kul-la-sa-jah, or the Sugar Water, we came to the chasm leading to the falls. Here we tied our horses, and while my companions commenced throw ing the fly, I proceeded" to the more profitable employment of taking sketches. 3 Waterfalls The chasm of the Sugar Water Falls Is about half a mile long, and immediately below the precipices are perpendicu lar and very imposing, reach ing an elevation of at least one thousand feet. The falls them selves are three in number ? the first and principal one being about sixty feet high. Empty ing into the Sweet Water, di rectly at the lower end of the chasm, is a tiny brook without a name, upon which I found a cascade of great beauty. The water falls near forty feet, but sings its eternal song in a shadowy recess, where hoary trees, mossy rocks, and exquisite vines, of every variety peculiar to the country, remain in their original wildness. As I clamber ed up the ravine leading to this cascade, I startled a doe from the green couch where she had been spending the noontide hours. I added a number of sketches to my portfolio, and after spending "alone In my glory" the whole afternoon, wandering from one chasm to another, I left the delightful valley with reluctance, musing upon the .marvellous beauty of every thing in the world farm ed by the hand of God. On arriving at the spot where our horses were tied, I found my companions both wearing uncommonly long faces, for they had not succeeded in killing a single trout. I joked my post office friend about his "famous trout-stream," and then, re mounting our horses, we paid a visit to his plantation, where we enjoyed a comfortable sup per, and continued on our way home by the light of the moon. Under any circumstances this would have been an agreeable ride, but on the present occa sion my companions did all the talking, and the substance of two of their stories I herewith subjoin merely as specimens: "I can't account for our bad luck in catching trout today," said my post-office friend; "but I do assure you that a couple of young men named Hyatt, and myself, once went a fishing in the Sweet Water, and we took one hundred and seventy-five trout. But this is not to the purpose. On that occasion we fished up the stream; and when we came to the mouth' of the .chasm, we saw a big buck, which we frightened towards the falls as we ascended. When we came near the falls, one of the Hyatts and myself stopped fishing, and went to work to corner the buck, and see if we could kill him with stones, or cause him to drown himself. There was no way for him to make his escape, except by running directly over us, and this we did not suppose he would dare attempt. He made many desperate efforts to get away, and at one time man aged to climb an almost per pendicular wall of rock to the height of some twenty feet, when he lost his foothold and fell into the pool below. He now became very much enraged, but we continued to pelt him with stones, though without effect ing any serious Injury. After bothering him for at least half an hour, the creature finally got upon the rocks at the lower part of the pool, when, he swept by us with great fury, and started down the chasm, mak ing some of the most fearful leaps that I ever saw. And now it so happened that we saw the younger Hyatt standing upon a rock and casting his fly upon a pool, where we thought the deer must pass in his down ward course, and we immedi ately shouted to the angler to "look out." He did so, and im mediately drew out a hunting knife which he had in his pock et, and as the deer tumbled into the pool, young Hyatt ac tually jumped upon his back, and succeeded in giving him a fatal stab, so that the animal merely crawled upon the rocks to die. It was quite late in the evening before we started for home, and we only brought the skin along with us; but as we left the chasm, we saw a large panther descending one of the cliffs of the gorge, as if hasten ing to have a feast upon the dead deer." Tells Story The "story" of my lawyer friend, or rather a fragment of his entertaining conversation was as follows: "As it Is impor tant, Mr. Lanman, that you should not leave our country without learning something of our great personages, and as our companion here is a modest man, I will give you. a brief sketch of his character. He is a gentleman of some property, for he not only owns the plan tation where we took supper, but one or -two others of equal value. He Is one of the oldest residents of this mountain reg ion ? a gentleman of fine moral character, and with/a heart as guileless as that of a child. He is a passionate lover of fr.nery, and probably explored the beau ties of this mountain land more thoroughly than any other man now living; he is also a great lover of botany, geology, Insect ology, and a dozen other ologies, and I believe has made a num ber of discoveries in all the favorite studies. As you have heard, he tells a capital story, and as you may see by looking into some of our southern news papers, he uses the pen with ease and a degree of elegance. He cherishes a love for the 'angle art,' and I must say usu ally succeeds in his fishing ex ploits much better than he has today. By profession he is a knight of the needle; but, be ing somewhat advanced in years, he amuses himself by ful filling the duties of deputy postmaster in the village of Franklin." The lawyer was here inter rupted by the hero of his story, who insisted upon his chang ing the "subject theme," and the consequence is, my readers will be disappointed in obtain ing any more information re specting the scientific deputy postmaster of the Alleghanj mountains. Interesting Indian But, leaving the intellectual out of view, the most interest ing character whom I have seen about Franklin is an old Cherokee Indian. His name i: Sa-taw-ha, or Hog-Bite, and he is upwards of one hundred years of age. He lives in a small log hut among the mountains, the door of which is so very low that you have to crawl into il upon your hands and knees. At the time the greater part of hli nation were removed to the Fai West, the "officers of justice' called to obtain his company He saw them as they approach ed, and, taking his loaded rifle In hand, he warned them nol to attempt to lay their hand: upon him, for he would certain ly kill them. He was found tc be so resolute and so very old that it was finally concluded b] those in power that the olc man should be left alone. H( lives the life of a hermit, anc chiefly supported by the char ity of one or two Indian neigh bors, though it is said he ever now occasionally manages tc kill a deer or turkey. His his tory is entirely unknown, anc he says he can remember th< time when the Cherokee natlor lived upon the shores of a grea' ocean, (the Atlantic,* and th< color of a white man's face wai unknown. Tells Of Mound In the immediate vicinity o this place may be seen anothei of those mysterious Indiai mounds which we find beautl tying nearly all the valleys o this land. And here it may no be out of place for me to intro' duce the opinions concerning their origin which prevai among the Indian tribes of thi South. By some they are sale to have been built by a race o people who have become ex tinct, and were formerly usee by the Cherokees merely as con venient places to have theii dances and their games. A sup erstition also prevails, that ir the ancient days every Indiar brought to a certain place i small bark full of the soil whicl he cultivated, as a tribute t< the Great Spirit, who in returr sent them a plenteous harvest SEE NO. 1, PAGE 3 News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? By BOB SLOAN A little more than five yean ago, the big problem before the people of Macon County waa, \ would we be able to build our school buildings. The bids had been opened and they were much higher than the amount of money available from the bonds voted and state help. What could we do? We needed the buildings and besides If we waited too long the county bonds would be defaulted and have to be voted again. Fortun ately, one group of men had so managed affairs Intrusted to them that they were able to raise the money and make It possible to get started on their school building program. The other day money was be ing raised to bring an industry here. In fact, we got an Indus try which will furnish employ ment to many and perhaps make it possible for some of our native sons and daughters to return home. The largest single factor in being able to raise this money was the fact that this same group of men who made the school building program possible made avail able a substantial part of the money required for this new project. This group of men to whom I refer are the board of com missioners led by their chair man, W. E. Baldwin. They have come through twice when It meant a lot to the county. In both cases they went down the line heavily on the side of progress. They were able to do so because they had not frittered away their strength (the county's money In this in stance) to meet the demands of each little pressure group that appeared before them. Also In each Instance they spent the money where it would help the county as a whole, not just one section. Two of these men are up for re-election this fall ? John Roane as member of the board of commissioners, and W. E. Baldwin as chairman of the board. The voters know at least this about them on the basis of their past record. If the reins of the county government are , placed in their hands again our affairs will be in the hands 1 of men who work for sound i progress that will benefit the ? county as a whole. Having served on the Board of Education for six years, I often heard It said, "We shouldn't have politics in our schools." With this I agree and 1 would like to 'add, "That If you don't want politics In the schools you had better keep the teachers out of politics." Incidentally with the expected coming of this new mill and related growth In population, the decision of the Board of Education to build as many . class rooms as possible and let ' other things go until more ' money is available looks wiser . all the time, because essential , class rooms should come first in a school building program. ! Do You ! Remember? 1 (Looking backward through the flies of The Press) ? 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK i Gov. C. B. Aycock was the > guest of Hon. Sam L. Rogers ? over Friday night. ? The following young ladies i from Macon County left last t week to attend the State Nor ; mal and Industrial College, at 3 Greensboro: Misses Sarah Gray, Pearl and Maude Barnard, Le ona Weaver, and Lizelle Hill. 25 YEARS AGO At the monthly meeting Mon !" day the town board fixed the tax rate at $1, as against 90 j cents for last year. t Miss Louise Porter, Bobby - and Beau Hames, and Billy ! Porter went to the circus In 1 Ashevllle Sunday. j The Franklin Power Plant 1 has been sold by the Jupollo r Company to the Empire Public ' Utilities Company. 10 YEARS AGO r A continued drive for salvag " ed tin cans is being made by 1 Macon County block leaders and 1 Director of Civilian Service 1 Corps Mrs. Gordon Moore. j Starting the 13th, the High l lands Red Cross Center will . hold all-day surgical dressings sessions each Friday.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Oct. 14, 1954, edition 1
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