Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / April 28, 1955, edition 1 / Page 2
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Cltr fflfttnklm l^ress nub (Ik* (Mntanmn Entered at Pact Omc?. Franklin, N. C-, u ??court cIam mitttr Published erery Thureday by The Franklin Preee Franklin. N. C. Telephone 14 WEIMAR JONES Editor ?OB 8. SLOAN Bualneea lluuiv t. P. BRADY New* Edltcr CARL P. CABE | . Mechanical Superintendent PRANK A. STARRITTE Shop Superintendent DAVID H SUTTON . . . CHARLES E. WHI'ITINOTON Stereotyper SUBSCRIPTION BATES Outside Macon County One Tear 13.00 Six Month! . . 1 75 lUree Months 100 T?iw MA COn UODHTI One Tear *2.50 81* Months ? > ][? Three Months ? 1 00 APRIL 28, 1955 Part Of Old Fight * Much has been made of the part played by racial feeling in the decision of the General Assembly to drop such men as Dr. Clarence Poe and L. P. Mc Lendon from the board of trustees of the Univer sity of North Carolina. Dr. Poe and Mr. McLendon, along with others, became marked men, it is said, when they voted to permit Negro and white county agents to sit to gether in class, at annual refresher courses at N. C. State College. (Representatives of the two races would eat and room separately.) This may have been the immediate cause of the firing of Dr. Poe, Mr. McLendon, and others. But we suspect the motive lies deeper. For this is not the first time outstanding, long-time members of the board have been dropped. Two years ago, for example, such members as Collier Cobb, Jr., Mrs. Laura Cone, Kenneth Tanner, and John Sprunt Hill were dismissed. And other Legislatures have drop ped still others who had served long and well. There is considerable evidence that this latest action really is a part of a struggle that has been going on for decades ; that it is part of the effort of the Tory element in North Carolina business (and of course all North Carolina business is not Tory) to gain control of the University. So long as Frank Graham was at Chapel Hill, this element was balked ? hence the unreasoning hatred of Graham. Since Graham's departure, it has been making progress. Liberal after liberal (many of them business men) has been dropped from the board. And a tangible evidence of what is happen ing is the way the School of Business Administra tion at Chapel Hill ? and the kind of thinking it represents ? is rapidly overshadowing the rest of the institution. Basically, what has just happened probably is part of the age-old clash between those, on the one hand, who believe an educated man -faces facts as they are and tries to think things through, no mat ter how unpleasant the conclusions; and those, on the other, who consider any freedom that would endanger the status .quo gross sacrilege. Thankful For Congress The people of Western North Carolina should he thankful for Congress. Because it is to Congress credit is due for the fact there are to he no tolls on the Blue Ridge Parkway. State officials, chambers of commerce, news papers, and the general public could have shouted themselves hoarse, but all their protests would have had no effect on the appointive officials of the Na tional Park Service. Congress, in answer to public appeals, got action. This is the perfect illustration of the fact that Congress, whatever its faults, is the one agency that stands between the people and the bureaucra cies of the executive department. Call For Emotion (Governor Hodges made a penetrating remark in a speech in Charlotte Saturday night. The people of North Carolina, the governor pointed out, "have come through many periods when they could not see the sun for the clouds". We have won out because "we have refused to give in to the forces of defeat and pessimism." In the "crisis in our life" brought about by the Supreme Court's segregation ruling, "we must not fail". Then he commented : "'Emotions are stronger and more powerful than thought and reason." We Americans are constantly admonished to re ly on thought and reason, rather than emotion. Often there is the implication that we should be ashamed of emotion. It is true, of course, that emo tion needs the check-rein of thought and reason; but it is equally true that emotion is the motive power of our society, as well as of our personal lives. The governor wisely recognizes that, and would have North Carolinians call on their better emo tions in this "crisis" ? the emotions of calmness, courage, and prayer. To lick this problem, we'll need thought and rea son aplenty. But, in the final analysis, we'll lick it only as we summon those qualities Governor Hodges urges ? calmness, courage, and prayer. Others' Opinions IT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR (Helen F. Jackson in Morganton News-Herald) Spring comes to the Carolinas like a dancer in pink tulle slipping onto a bare brown stage. The orchestra is still playing winter music, with crashing brass and wailing woodwinds, when the tulle catches in the bare branches of a crab tree and bursts into frothy pink bloom. Other dancers follow in frilly white, leaving the woods alight with dogwood and then the music pauses and becomes muted, as the rain nymphs fill the stage in clouds of swirling gray mist. The stage darkens briefly, the music swings into bird song, and in the gathering light the dancers steal away leaving foot prints of daffodils in the greening earth. SECRECY AND SAFETY, TOO (Raleigh News and Observer) The idea that the only people who deserve protection in con nection with highway crimes are those who commit them dies hard in this Legislature. Now comes a new bill by Representative Edwin Pou of Wake which would make secret the records of driving license suspen sions and revocations. Everybody "who knows anything in North Carolina knows that one of the most serious problems in high way safety is the frequent action of people whose licenses have been suspended driving all the same. Obviously, to keep a close ly guarded secret the fact that the licenses of such people have been suspended would serve their arrogant disregard of the law and of the safety of other people. This Legislature has gone far in keeping secret from the people much of the legislative process. If it should begin now in an endeavor to cover up also the .results of judicial pro cesses, we should really be embarked upon something. It is quite probable, of course, that some of those whose behavior at the wheel has been such that their licenses have been re voked would like to cover that fact. It is probable, indeed, that most people convicted of law violations on the highway or anywhere else would like to hide it from their friends, neigh bors and fellow citizens. It would be better, however, to keep secret the names of law violators who are in prison than those of people who are not supposed to be driving on the roads but who, particularly if secrecy helped them, might very well be. In terms of both secrecy and safety, no bill introduced at this session is so directly designed to distort sound public policy for the benefit of those who threaten the public safety. ? Letters MORE ABOUT HATS Editor, The Press: I wish to refer you to The National Geographic Magazine, February, 1951. In it you will find "American Processional; History on Canvas". The pictures give some idea of how the people dressed and the hats they wore during the 19th century. The hats are very much like the ones described In the April 14 issue of The Press. Various forms of hats have been worn, beginning with the ancient Greeks and Romans; felt hats were worn during the Middle Ages; velvet was In vogue In Tudor times; a low crown ed hat decorated with feathers was worn by the 17th century Cavaliers. 811k hats were known In the 14th century. Straw hats and derbies date from 1850. In the 19th century the soft 0 hat or fedora became the style. The fedora Is a felt hat creas- f ed lengthwise (unusual) with a rolled hrlm, from Sardon's play t "Fedora". J Sincerely, t Highlands. (MISS) MILDRED ELEANOR JACKSON. Education makes a people easy t? lead but difficult to drive; easy to govern but Impossible to enslave. ? Lord Brougham. i , STRICTLY j PERSONAL I b ' By WEIMAR JONES J V The eagerness, the faith and courage, of youth make It al ways appealing. And present day youth has a clear-eyed honesty and realism that com mand respect. I was reminded of that when I read a couple of letters I've had recently. Two passages will Illustrate ? and they are much too good not to pass along. The friend who wrote Is a young man In the army, now on the sea, sailing to Korea. In the first letter, written while he was still in the East, he was anticipating the trip across the continent: "Tomorrow I entrain for the West Coast and thence, after an undetermined number of days or weeks of waiting, I will be off for the Far East. I'm still little boyish about trucks and trains and that sort of thing . . . could ride in the cab of a big tractor-trailer for days just to hear the Diesel roar and watph the intricate gear shift ing. If I'm that big of a fool about trucks, you can imagine my passion for trains. Besides the thrill of a transcontinental train ride, there's the reward ing roll call of exciting Ameri can cities: Richmond, Washing ton, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Spokane, etc." xne second lener came irum a West Coast army fort: "While I've got a typewriter handy, I'll let you in on a secret: A transcontinental train .ride is enough to fire any man's imagination. I can think of no better spiritual sendoff for a man going overseas in the Army than the lapping up of all that Americana in three days. Gives you a warm patriotic feeling that makes you want to stand up on the parapets and shout in freedom's name." Then, because he is a mem ber of today's young genera tion, he added: "I'll see how much of my re action is false when I get into my Korean foxhole next , month." As long as young Americans think and feel and write like that, this country has little cause for fear. ( ? # * I was much interested in the mottoes of the various states, published the other day by Sam Ragan in his News and Observ er column, "Southern Accent". All 48 have mottoes except Ohio. I had taken it for granted t ;hat all state mottoes were In f _>atin, like North Carolina's 'Esse Quam Vlderl", but only 22 a ire In foreign tongue, and they j. iren't all Latin ? French and c Spanish phrases also are among t hem. , s To my surprise, only nine of f he 47 states emphasize liberty r md freedom In their mottoes ? t Uabarria, Delaware, Iowa, New i Hampshire, New Jersey, Penn- 1 jylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and t ,Vest Virginia. Whatever the ex- s Sanation, it is worth noting c ;hat eight of those nine lie in c ,he East. The Union is stressed by six, f [llinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, r tfevada, North Dakota, and Ore- 8 jon. Oregon's motto, in fact, is c simply the two words, "The Jnion". Again, whatever the ex- 1 Sanation, it is noteworthy that J lone of these six is on the At- ' antic seaboard. The mottoes of five states ? v Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, and South Dakota ? emphasize man's dependence on 3od. What I would call "chamber j of commerce" (advertising) mottoes ? like Indiana's "Cross roads of America" ? are used by that state and four others, Michigan, Montana, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Of all the 47 mottoes, my preferences are North Carolina's "Esse Quam Vlderi" (To Be Rather Than To Seem), because it is descriptive of the character and temperament of Tar Heels; ? New Hampshire's "Live Free or Die", because it is a stirring call to man's devotion to free dom; and West Virginia's "Mon- : tana Semper Liberi" (Moun taineers Are Always Freemen), because it is true. (What is it about mountains that hardens men's determination to be free?) ? * ? There's a distinctive quality about mountain humor. If it's the real thing, you'd recognize it anywhere, under any circum stances. It is as clearly marked as if it bore a brand. For instance; Some men here the other day were "goin' on"; that is, jok ing ? but of course without even a trace of a smile. One was telling how poor he was, how little he had. "I ain't got nothin' he de clared. "Not a thing in this world. All I've got is a bad name ? and people gave me that." Where, but in the mountains, could you have heard that? The Smith field Herald Why Is Red China Hostile To U. S.? "Regardless of what the Pres ident or the State Department may say to the contrary, we cannot absolve ourselves of a share In the bltune for creating a crisis In the Far East." Thus does Harold O. Gelwlcks, writing In The Christian Cen tury, commit the heresy of sug gesting that our side of the world as well as the Commun ist side may be lacking in rlghetousness. Mr. Gelwlcks, a former Army Intelligence offic er, spent years In China during World War II and after the war. He writes out of a back ground of on-the-scene experi ence. Without condoning evil acts of the Chinese Communists, he reminds us that the Chinese Communists have "an arguable case" as well as the United States. What Is the case of Commun ist China? "The simple and inescapable facts are that since 1945 the United States has been Inter vening In the Chinese civil war, and that as a consequence we have earned the hostility of the Chinese Communist govern ment," writes Mr. Gelwlcks. "The crisis we have faced In Korea, Indo-China and Formosa are inseparably linked to these basic facts." Our intervention was legal, but it "exposed lis to the likeli hood of being held accountable for our actions by the Chinese Communists, and to the appli cation of whatever sanctions they could muster." We armed and equipped Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government before it had to flee the mainland. After Chiang's flight we with held recognition of the Chinese Communist regime even though that regime had demonstrated that it had control of the mainland. We endeavored to prevent other nations from recognizing Communist China. We have continued to give material assistance, military supplies and military advice tc Chiang's fugitive government on Formosa ? the arch enemj of the Chinese Communists. We have supported Chiang': attacks against the mainland. All these things we have done and many of us have assumed that we not only had the legal right to do them, but we had the moral duty to oppose Com munlsm by force. What many of us have overlooked Is that the hostility of the Chinese Com munists toward the United States Is a natural consequence of our hostility toward them. If our goal Is continued in tervention in the Chinese civil war ? that Is, if our goal Is to help Chiang Kai-shek regain his lost power on the Chinese mainland, then we have aban doned a policy of peace and have decided upon a course of war ? war that could embroil all the nations and bring about the end of civilization. If our goal is not war, but s peace, we should and must abandon any further thought of i participating in the Chinese ; civil war or any further thought of letting Chiang Kai-shek i think we are supporting him In ' a come-back attempt. We should i and must begin to prove to the ; Communists that we regard the ' Chinese civil war as a closed affair, that we have no Inten i tlon of trying to crush the new Chinese regime by military , force, that we seek peaceful 1 settlement of the strictly Inter - t national Issues. 1 We should not do these ? things to admit that we are cowards, which we certainly are not. Nor should we do them to suggest that the whole trouble In the Far East Is our fault, which It certainly is not. We should do these things to estab lish a basis ? perhaps the only basis ? for a settlement of the Far Eastern crisis without re sort to warfare that could de stroy both sides of the world. The Atomic Age calls for states manship, not boldly proclaimed military ultimatums. No one can predict with as surance that our withdrawal from the Chinese civil conflict will result in a decline of Chin ese Communist hostility toward the United States. But one can be sure that there will be no peaceful settlement of differ ences between the United States and Communist China if we persist in fanning the flames of the Chinese civil war by keep ing alive the myth that Chiang Kai-shek can make a comeback on the mainland. It is not time to appease Communism. But it is time to get to the bottom of the trouble in the Far East and uncover even those acts and attitudes of our own that have helped to create the crisis. News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? By BOB SLOAN At the April term of court, ne Franklin citizen, who asked or a trial by Jury, was acquit ed of a charge of speeding. This was, I think, a very lealthy thing for the court and he law enforcement officers. No one believes any stronger han i that "the strong arm of he law should be upheld" when ight, but the Ime should ; Lever come /hen we place !: he prestige of I he law above ij he cause of ustlce. As a spectat >r In court here have ieen times /hen ? I felt hat minor vlo Sloan atlons were decided on the iasis of what the arresting of lcer said and that was final. This Is a very dangerous sltu ,tlon for several reasons. First, t could cause officers to be ome too sure of themselves and 0 not take the pains they hould in finding out all the acts they possibly can before naking an arrest. Second, if he court supports an officer by landing down an unjust decls on based on Improper informa ion the citizenry have less re pect for all the various facets if our law enforcement ma hinery. Trial by jury, and with it the eeling that before those twelve nen you can obtain justice, is 1 very basic thing in our so iety. It Is no reflection against the aw enforcement officials if they iccaslonally make an arrest hat doesn't stick. Rather, in ny opinion, It is to their credit, t shows that they are only luman in making an error. The lay we should really begin to vorry is when every man ar ?ested is found guilty as charg ;d. Then you will know that ;here is really something wrong. Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Press) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Misses Carrie and Grady and Masters Harry and Frank Jar rett left Saturday afternoon to visit relatives at Dillsboro, and attend the commencement ex ercises of Sylva High School. Mr. S. Clark, Jr., of High lands was in town yesterday. From information gathered from citizens from different parts of the county, it appears that most of the peaches have been killed, but there are some left. Apples have not fared so badly, but still much damage has been done that crop also. Mr. George H. Bldwell and his mother, accompanied by Mr. Willcutt, a "friend, arrived from the North a few days ago. 25 YEARS AGO Mrs. Leonard Pearson enter tained the Girl Scouts at her home at an overnight party Friday. The girls enjoyed a pic nic supper and a marshmallow toast. ? Highlands item. Miss Nancy Patton is at home, after taking a business course at Athens Business College. Misses Ruth and Hattie Slagle, Elizabeth Setser, Carolyn, and Frances Nolen, and Dorothy Ray, Messrs. Johnny Southard, W. L. Setser, J. Robert Dal rymple, Charles and "Red" Nol en, and Lake Shope motored to Clayton and other points in Georgia on Sunday afternoon. Miss Edwlna Dalrymple, who has been teaching In the pri mary department of the Hayes vllle graded school, returned home Saturday for the summer. 10 YEARS AGO Mrs. Vinnle Rickman has re turned from Oak Ridge, Tenn., where she spent a week with her daughter, Miss Helen Rick man, who is employed there. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Leach, Jr., of Daytona Beach, Fla., were here last week visiting Mr. Leach's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Leach, Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Roliver J. Bath and son, Michael, of Charles ton, S. C., arrived Monday for a short visit with relatives here and in Franklin. ? Highlands item.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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April 28, 1955, edition 1
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