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Entered at Pott Office. Franklin, N. C.. as second clau matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
Franklin, N. O. Telephone 24
J JONES Editor
BOB 8. SLOAN Business Manager
J. F. BRADY News Edltcr
CARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent
FRANK A. STARRETTB Shop Superintendent
DAVID H. SUTTON Stereotyper
CHARLES E. WHITTCNGTON Pressman
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Outbids Macon County
One Tear W OO
m Month* I TS
nine Months 1-00
Irara Macon County
One Year 12.50
Six Month* 1.75
Three Months 1.00
Let's Set A Record?
Have you paid your 1954 Town of Franklin
taxes?
If not, you have just three more days ? today,
Friday, and Saturday ? before they are advertised.
Why suffer that embarrassment and be put to that
extra expense?
For the convenience of taxpayers, the town of
fice in the Bank of Franklin building will be kept
open Saturday until 5 o'clock.
Since last week, 43 Franklin taxpayers have
come in and paid their last year's taxes. Ninety
four still haven't.
If each of those 97 will get busy and pay his
taxes, this week, we can set a record, for our Cen
tennial year ? not a single taxpayer advertised as
delinquent !
Are you one of those 97?
Answer Own Arguments
In a space of just two hours, the North Carolina
"House of Representatives last week passed a bill
appropriating 640 million dollars.
And the bill was passed exactly as it had been
-approved by a joint sub-committee.
Thus -the legislators themselves have answered
their own argument about secrecy. They have
argued that secrecy in committee is defensible,
since debate and voting on final passage are in the,
?open. But by their own actions, members of the
Tlouse have proved that the only debate and the
only votes that count on the appropriations bill are
those at the committee sessions.
In the light of that, what valid argument can be
made for secrecy in the appropriations committee
and its sub-committees? The money being spent
belongs to the people. Since it is theirs, they have
a right to know, in detail, how and why and BY
WHOM it is spent.
When?
Just five weeks from today Franklin's centcnnial
celebration will open.
When are we going to start cleaning up the town
in preparation for its big- birthday event?
How We Think
While all good editors seek to influence what
their readers think, the best editors are interested
most of all in how their readers think. The good
editor knows that if his readers think honestly and
straight, it follows that the answers they come up
with usually will be the right ones.
That has been the philosophy of Don Shoemaker
?during the 14 years he has been writing editorials
for The Ash evil I e Citizen.
\
Over that long period, it was inevitable that the
way the editor of The Citizen thought should have
influenced the way the people of Western North
Carolina think. That influence lias been beneficient.
Piecatisc Don Shoemaker is, first of all. an hon
est man. He is, second, a careful student; he has
consistently set the example of first getting all the
fads, and then trying to look at them as they are,
without either prejudice or wishful thinking, lie is.
fin^llv, a man whose brilliant intellect is matched
by a passion for fairness and justice.
His departure, for a new and larger assignment,
is a loss to this region, of which he has been so
loyal a champion.
We Point With No Pride
What happened to Franklin voters last week?
Had everybody gone fishing the day of the town
election?
While the people in other Western North Caro
lina towns were proving their interest in public
affairs by casting record or near-record votes, less
than 40 per cent of those registered in Franklin
took the trouble to go to the polls.
It is hard to explain. First, because it isn't in
keeping with the Macon County tradition of being
a state leader in voting in elections ; second, the
number of new names that went on the registration
books before this election indicated keen interest;
and, finally, how account for the fact that 190
fewer people voted last week than in the town
election of 1953? In this election, only 307 ballots
were cast, as contrasted with 497 two years ago.
And while Franklin was slipping backward,
Highlands was casting one more vote than the rec
ord total of 265 in 1953.
Maybe it was because Franklin folk had com
plete confidence in every candidate in the race;
and nobody can deny that every man running
would have made a good alderman. Apathy,
though, is the more likely explanation.
Whatever the reason, letting the other fellow do
your voting isn't the way to get good government,
town, county, state, or national.
Had The Votes
They had the votes to do it.
That's the only possible explanation of the action
of the majority of the General Assembly in refusing
to change the absentee vote law. Really, it was the
only argument advanced in defense of the action.
It was the only one advanced because it was the
only one there was to advance.
For another two years, the Democratic party in
North Carolina will continue to say :
"The absentee vote law isn't good enough for
Democratic primaries, but it's good a-plenty for
general elections."
If that makes sense, then the Constitutions of
the United States and of the State of North Caro
lina don't !
Furthermore, to anybody who can see beyond
the end of his nose, it isn't even good partisan
politics !
Others' Opinions
CHECK
(Dallas News)
Our position is that with women demanding equal rights It
would serve 'em right if they got 'em.
A DESERVED RECOGNITION
(Sylva Herald)
The Herald extends congratulations to Dr. D. D. Hooper
upon having been recognized and presented a certificate ol
record and an emblem for 50 years of practice by the North
Carolina Medical Society. The presentation was made at a
meeting of the Society at Pinehurst on Wednesday* This high
honor comes to one who deserves it. When Dr. Hooper began
practicing medicine over 50 years ago it was quite different
irom today. To reach his patients he had to ride a horse or
go by buggy when the roads and trails were passable, usually
at night because most emergencies have a habit of cdming at
that time. Today the doctor sees the majority of his patients
in his office or on a hospital bed, some few are visited in
the home but good highways and the automobile make it simple
and easy to reach them.
Those old time doctors served their fellowmen well and
often under great hardship, and in many cases without pay.
WHAT LITTLE GIRLS ARE MADE OF
(London Answers)
"Sugar and spice and all things nice ? that's what little girls
are made of." Or so we were told in the nursery rhyme.
Perhaps you never felt inclined to believe it, anyway, but
now the legend about the sweetness of the female should be
demolished for all time by the findings of a professor and his
assistants at Albany Medical college in New York. After an ex
haustive survey of the chemical constituents of girls, the re
port says they are made of:
Enough chlorine to disinfect five swimming pools; 1,400 cubic
feet of oxygen; 30 teaspoons of salt; 10 gallons of water; 5
pounds of lime; 31 pounds of carbon; enough glycerine to ex
plode a heavy naval shell; enough glutin to make 5 pounds of
glue; enough magnesium for a photographer to take 10 flash
photos; enough fat for 10 bars of soap; enough iron to make
a sixpenny nail, and enough sulphur to rid a dog of fleas.
No spice, you will notice But the sugar? Here the analysis
makes some concession to the famous nursery rhyme. The
average girl's body eontains sugar to the quantity of ? four
ounces!
GOOD TOURIST SEASON AHEAD
(Waynesvllle Mountaineer)
From all quarters there comes Indications of one of the best
tourist seasons this area has ever known.
Yet on the other hand, we are surprised to find that so
many people are taking it for granted that the particular area
does not have any competition when It comes to the tourist
business.
i
We do not know of a more competitive business than the ef
fort that is being made to get that tourist dollar.
$
Just look at any travel magazine, the travel section of the
large metropolitan newspapers, and you'll understand how
many different places are after the tourists.
We must realize that this business is highly competitive and
make our plans accordingly. It L means for one thing, that we
cannot let up on our consistent advertising program; must
continue to improve services and facilities and put our "hearts"
Into the program.
A good start has been made this season here In Haywood
and a continuation will bring about a bountiful harvest.
ITS POWERFUL
THE ODOR OF WILD ONIONS
Horace Horse In Stanly News and Press
The odor of onions filled the
air last week out In East Albe
marle, and it was the wild va
riety. I discovered that city em
ployees had been working on
the Albemarle cemetery, and
the wild onion crop had been
leveled to the ground.
The odor lingered for two or
three days, revealing the poten
cy of this plant which is not
> good for a single thing except to
"mess up" the air, beef, chick
en, turkey, and other foods.
The cultivated onion Is no
weakling, but apparently does
not have the strength of its
wild first cousin.
Up in the mountains, they
have the ramp which is said to
be especially strong, and every
spring they have a ramp-eat
ing convention. I believe Thad
Eure, secretary of state, is pres
ident of the Ramp Eaters, and
the convention Is quite an af
fair which draws a large at
tendance. Margaret Truman was
Invited to attend this year, but
turned it down more or less
promptly. I have an Idea she
looked up the word in the dic
tionary, and that was enough.
I have never been invited to
the Ramp Convention, and will
make no special effort to at
tend if I am. I would not eat
the ramps, yet being around
folks who had, would be enough
of a deterrent. There would cer
tainly be one in the crowd who
could not talk a conversation
without putting his face right
up in yours and keeping it
there even if you kept backing
away.
Back in the days when there
was a mad rush to fill up the
freezer lockers with a few
' steaks and copious quantities of
stew beef, I rushed out In the
county to a fellow who hatl beef
cattle to sell. Never for a mom
ent did I give consideration to
the wild onion angle of the
deal. The meat was as pretty
as could have been found any
where In the world, including
Armour or Swift packing houses.
But when we cooked the first
steaks, the house smelled like
East Albemarle after the ceme
tery had been given its usual
spring trim.
After trying to eat a few
packages of the meat, I gave
up, and offered It for sale at
a discount. A man who had a
contract to feed a couple of
hundred Boy Scouts bought it,
ground it up, and served it to
the boys in hamburger style
with a thick slice of onion in
each roll. It was good eating
under such circumstances and
the boys gained in weight 11
not in flavor during the week.
Of course, beef buyers know
it takes several weeks to elimi
nate the wild onion tang, but
I was inexperienced. All I want
ed to do was to fill up the lock
er, so I could brag about hav
ing it full.
Up In Haywood County, I
learn from the Waynes villa
Mountaineer, a man who pro
duced 28,000 bushels of apples
last year, switched late In
March to onions after the freeze
had burned up all the apple
blossoms. He ordered five hun
dred bushels of onion sets, and
started to work.
My testimony in this matter
will be that onions are power
fully poor substitutes for ap
ples, even the scrubby "seconds"
or "thirds" that are usually
found in Albemarle food stores.
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By WEIMAR JONES
An atomic war must be avoid
ed at all costs ? that seems to
be the feeling of many Amer
icans.
And today the Eisenhower
administration appears to re
flect that view. Instead of "un
leashing Chiang" and seeking
to free the enslaved peoples,
the administration now seems
determined to find some for
mula short of a hot war that
will enable us to live in the
same world with the Commun
ist dictators.
But, ask Senator Knowland
and others, is any real and
lasting peace possible between
the democracies, on the one
hand, and Communist totalita
rianism, on the other? Can they
coexist in the same world, or
ultimately must one destroy the
other?
Senator Knowland holds that
there can be no real peace and
that ultimately one must de
stroy the other. Thus he op
poses any and every concession
to the Communists, and many
parsons who hold his conviction
feel we should destroy the Com
munist dictatorships before they
become strong enough to de
stroy us.
Whether they are right or
wrong, their viewpoint is well
presented in a personal letter I
had the other day from a
friend in a neighboring state
presented even better, it seems
to me, that it has been pre
sented by any U. S. senator.
"I hope and pray", my corre
spondent writes, "that Ike,
Eden, Dulles, and Senator
George are right and Knowland
is wrong, I hope Senator Know
land never has an opportunity
to say 'I told you so'.
"I know that Syngman Rhee
and Chiang and Knowland are
considered obstinate and bull
headed, but sometimes I have
an uneasy feeling that my son
and daughter might sometime
wish that opposition to the ad
vances of Communist encroach
ment on free territory might
have been more obstinate.
"I find a parallel In Hitler
and the Sudetenland. If it was
wrong for Hitler to murder and
enslave, the atomic bomb does
not make it more right for
Chou to enslave and brain
wash.
"Danger of death shouldn't
change the principles of free
men. Peace without Freedom Is
meaningless, and how long can
the world remain half -slave and
half-free? Or was Lincoln a
fool?
"If people behind the Iron
and Bamboo Curtains are ever
to regain their freedoms, they
must resist and fight back, and
yet we are trying to impose
passive resistance upon both
Rhee and Chiang in hope that
the leopard changes his spots,
and in the meantime we lose
self-respect and human beings
die. Where are the heroes in
this struggle? Is evil to triumph
through default?
"It is not a matter of war
and peace but of slavery and
freedom, as I see it, and death
to a free man must be always
preferable to slavery, even il
that death be from an atomic
bomb.
"Is Communism some how
nicer than Fascism? I don'1
know, but from what I have
read and heard, I doubt it
Should we have coexisted wlti
Hitler' Was NevlHe Chamber
lain right?"
News Making
As ft Looks
To A Maconite
? By BOB SLOAfl
The old saw that there are
two sides to every question has
been brought home to me very
strongly within the past week.
The Incident was In connection
with my work at The Franklin
Press.
Last week we were Informed
by the post office people that
It would be necessary for us to
sort the papers we mall more
completely and to fill out a
form giving the number of
papers and total weight foi
each zone. This naturally In
volved more work for us and
we were, to put It mildly, dis
pleased. Many
remarks were
made by mem
bers of The
Press organi
zation con
cerning the
post office and
Its service.
Most of them
were unfair
and typical or
the kind of re- Sloan
marks people
make when have to change
their way of doing things. We
felt that someone else's job was
being pushed off on us.
Remembering the old saw
mentioned above, after think
ing about the matter I believe
that the post office Is meeting
the newspapers more than half
way.
To begin with newspapers are
charged a very very low rate.
It costs The Franklin Press
about $7.00 to mail approxi
mately 2,500 four ounce copies
of the paper to all parts of the
United States. The reason be
hind this low rate is that Con
gress felt that It would encour
age the spreading of the news to
all people. This, I think, Is good.
However, newspapers take ad
vantage by exchanging papers
to the extent that the mails are
cluttered up with papers that
in many cases are never even
opened. These papers are hand
led by the post office and take
as much time to handle as live
mall.
Another old saw that news
paper people should remember
Is that "You get what you pay
for". The newspapers expect
gopd service, but they very bit
terly opposed a recent proposed
rate increase. Looking at the
question as fairly as I can, I
think that the newspapers
should expect to help the poe>t
office In every way possible, or
be willing to pay a higher rate.
Newspapers, particularly since
they spend so much time de
manding efficiency in govern
ment, would do well to look at
both sides of the question. If
(See Back Page, 1st Section)
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press)
SO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Kope Elias was perambulating
the streets of Bryson City last
week.
.Miss Helen, daughter of Mrs.
Miss Helen Allison, daughter
of Mrs. Lelia Allison, arrived
home Saturday from school at
Waynesville.
Miss Mary Dawson, of Bry
son City, arrived last week to
spend a couple of weeks visit
ing her sister, Mrs. W. J.
Zachary.
25 YEARS AGO
Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Root spent
the week-end in Walhalla, S.
C., with friends. ? Highlands
item.
Charles Robert Patton enter
tained the members of the sen
ior class at dinner at his home
Saturday evening, May 3.
Mrs. Frank Bidwell, of Spring
field, Mass., arrived Monday to
visit Mrs. George Bidwell at
"Road's End" camp.
Miss Ida Moore left for Knox
| ville, Terin., last Saturday,
' where she will spend a month
! visiting her aunt, Mrs. W. A.
, Collins.
10 YEARS AGO
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Moore and
family have returned from Wil
? mington, where they have been
1 making their home.
| Capt. and Mrs. Jesse N. Tes
? sier left on Monday for Savery,
. Wyo., for a visit with Mrs. Tes
sier's sister, Mrs. W. T. Hays,
and Mr. Hays. Capt. Tessier re
[ cently returned from overseas,
' where he spent several months.
Dr. and Mrs. Henry W. Gante,
i of Anderson, Ind , are spending
? some time at their camp on the
Franklin Road. ? Highlands item.