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&ite Iffntttklitt |rm att& Che Jligblanite fflttttmmn Entered at Post Office. Franklin. N. C.. as second class matter Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press Franklin, N. C. Telephone 24 ? JONES Editor BOB 8. SLOAN Business Manager J. P. BRADY News Editor MRS ALLEN SILER .... Society Editor and Office Manager OARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent FRANK A. 8TARRETTE Shop Superintendent DAVID H. SUTTON . . . Stereotyper CHARLES E. WHITTDVOTON SUBSCRIPTION RATES Outsiss Macon Countt brans Macon County One Tsar $3 00 One Tear $2.90 Ms Months 1.79 Six Months 1.79 Three Months 1.00 Three Months 1.00 A Terrible Dilemma President Hisenhower and the U. S. State Depart ment face some hard questions as they prepare for the conference "at the summit", the meeting of the heads of the Big Four, starting Monday at Geneva. And how they answer the questions will deter mine their approach to the problem of peace or war. Why all the "sweet talk" from the Communists in recent months? Most informed opinion in the State Department seems divided between two answers. One group holds that, because of bad crops, internal dissatis faction, and other factors, the men in the Kremlin (and possibly the Chinese Red leaders) need a few years of peace to enable them to catch up with the West in the cold war ; the second group, on the contrary, believes the Communists, since they pos sess the H-bomb and since they have such a strangle hold on their people, feel strong enough to play along with the West, deliberately postponing war until a time that suits their best interests. Obviously, our attitude and actions at Geneva will be different, depending on which explanation we accept. As a matter of fact, it is just possible that neither of those explanations is correct. Can we cynically rule out the possibility that the Communists gen uinely want a workable, long-term peace ? what they call peaceful co-existence? Because if that is true, and we reject the olive branch, then we shall wreck what may be the world's only hope of peace. We can't afford, of course, to forget the Com munists' record, or to close our eyes and just hope they have reformed? But it would be equally fool ish ? and fatal ? to forget that no real peace can come out of diplomatic fencing for advantage; that any real peace must be built on honesty, fairness, and confidence ? and that confidence begets con fidence. Again, our approach and our position will be com pletely different, depending on what we think are the Communists' motives. If we assume they hon estly want peace and proceed on that assumption, we may lose our shirts to them: but if we assume they seek advantage only, when their real aim is peace, we may lose the chance for peace. And beneath and back of these and scores of other questions is a terrible dilemma : Shall we insist upon justice for all peoples ? and risk an atomic war? Or shall we seek a long-time peace on a basis of the status quo ? and thus con demn millions to slavery? Put another way: Is an atomic war to be avoided, at all co>ts? Or is our ultimate aim freedom for all, whatever that costs? Put still another way: Is it possible to keep peace in a world that is- half slave and half free? Sometimes It Is One of Charles Dickens' characters commented: "The law is a as,." Sometimes it is. It was, it seems to us, in a federal court in New York the other day. A L\ S. district judge held that a village ordinance, prohibiting planes from flying over the village at altitudes lower than 1,000 feet, is unconstitutional. Presumably it stiil would he unconstitutional for the village to pro hibit planes from coining over at altitudes of less than 50 feet ! A man has the right to use force, if necessary, to prevent another from entering his home. But the court has held he has no right ? even through his local government ? to prevent another from entering and destroying the quiet of his home. ? What good are our constitutional property ] rights, under such circumstances? 1 How? From the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina, the agency that collects and dis burses unemployment compensation taxes, comes an amended set of "Rules and Regulations". The book is 68 pages of small type. Since we haven't found time to read it, we are in no position to sug gest it could be shortened. We venture, though, to raise a question : How does this agency ? and all the others of both state and federal government that have similar sets of rules and regulations ? expect anybody to be able to read and learn all these regulations and still have enough time left to earn enough money to pay the taxes? ? Letters DECLARATION OF WAR Editor, The Press: The recent Supreme Court decUion against segregation was a formal declaration of war. The battle Is now raging. People are taking sides everywhere. They are fighting with words. The arguments for segregation are piling up, while the argu ments for integration are doing the same. Both sides are using the Bible philosophy, theories, and facts on which to base their arguments. The Integrationists are winning battles In some parts of the country, while the segregationists are win ning in other parts. There is no indication that the fighting will end soon. It will continue for centuries. Blood may be shed and lives may be lost as a result of the fighting. This war started many years before the Supreme Court passed down its formal declaration. But what started it? Did it have Its beginning when the slaves were brought to this country? South American countries also brought slaves into its boundaries. But, those countries are not having this trouble. South American Negroes were freed without a terrible war. Racial prejudice In South America Is practically non-existent. The bulk of the blood flowing In the veins of South Americans Is mixed between and among whites, Indians, and Negroes. Did the present war of segregation have Its beginning when the North forcibly freed the slaves in the South? The South would probably, like South America, have freed its slaves be fore 1900 anyway. The people of the South didn't like being forced Into freeing Its sifeves. When we saw we couldn't wlft the bloody fight against the North, we .resorted to segregation on a wide scale as a means of fighting. The North tried to force the South into placing the Negro and the whites on a same and equal basis. The Northern armies forced our armies, to surrender, but they did not force the South into Integration, which was their main objective. The Civil War intensified an old evil: race prejudice. Race prejudice caused segregation. Because of racial prejudices, we Southerners condemn the North for its integration practices. However, in the absence of racial prejudice, those Northerners condemn the South for its segregation practices. Don't misunderstand, the North and the Negroes are preju diced too. Most of the North and the Negroes are prejudiced against segregation. While the South is largely prejudiced for segregation. People become prejudiced when something causes them to become prejudiced. Soime Republicians are prejudiced for their party, some Democrats are prejudiced for their party, and both sides can stack arguments on top of arguments to prove that their side is right. The same is true of segrega tionists and integrationists. Both are prejudiced. You may say that prejudice against the integration of Ne groes and whites in the South is a good practice. Or, you may say that it is not good. If you take either side, then you are prejudiced. The Supreme Court of 1884 was prejudiced for segregation while the Supreme Court of today is prejudiced against it. V Any person who is prejudiced racially, politically, or any other way, will sooner or later suffer disappointments if Aimuunmm, mi 12 if m vimihia f Ttmsm uuimt ntmtt that xmuxtoas AM tTAU nUMMCH MKT HAT ATTIMTT TO W Huua Hsumits m mm* or cujaih sauoas m mkt act iMfAtriAuy m this nsnar tKurm mis or m tu Myron com t WH MIMM SnaFIlt THAT 'Ml HUMS w/u um on nm, no cowsms muwio. rum w/u sror ufoki kvumim on* UnSTOCK." mm* kvu or m samc ka/ixoad was THAT VASStHtlK COMMCTOKS MUST WLAK snots wmu on wty, socks hot utuiut things don't go to suit him. However, if the laws and turn of events are on his side he may become happy. In this present war between the segregationists and the in tergrationists, there will be much disappointment and loss of sleep by everyone who is prejudiced either way. So, we come to the crossroad to decide whether to continue to be prejudiced or not to be prejudiced. If we take the road of any type of prejudice, we will suffer emotionally, at least. And, our minds affect our bodies. It may be best if we take neither side in this war. if we want to stay healthy mentally, socially, physic ally and emotionally we should let the battles rage. If we are prejudiced we will suffer defeat. Franklin, N. C., Route 5. WILFORD CORBIN Others' Opinions Saw Poetry In Trees (Atlanta Journal) Joyce Kilmer wrote some inspiring lines in his beautiful poem "Trees" which has been recited by many a school child in the fall or spring of the year: I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree Up in Ellijay Thursday Lumberman Andrew Gennett (son of the late Andrew Gennett, once of Franklin ? Editor) must have been thinking about Joyce Kilmer's lines when he decreed that Gilmer County's famous "Big Poplar" would be preserved. The big tree, which measures 19.6 feet in circum ference, was to have been chopped down and made into uku leles and banjos. But Gennett stepped back and looked at the giant of the forest and decided, quite fittingly, that instead it should be preserved as a memorial to his 77-year-old uncle who has spent 50 years cutting timber. "Maybe I'm wrong but I believe a tree like that, alive, is worth more than all the ukuleles and banjos in the world," commented .Mr. Gennett. A lot of people will agree with this lumberman who appar ently can see poetry in trees. His soft feeling for the big poplar would have delighted Joyce Kilmer. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. H. CLAY FERRER WHAT IS THE SOUTH? IT'S MANY THINGS In Winston-Salem Sunday . Journal-Sentinel ID finilfVl is n ? 1 1 ~e T4. ? * iiu -wuv/ii 10 a gaiucu iuii ui roses wet with the morning dew of May. It is the old Huguenot cemetery in St. Augustine; the iron grilled work on the porti coes of old houses in the Latin quarter of once languorous New Orleans; the magnificence of old Charleston's magnolia gardens and the look of puzzle ment and pleased surprise on the face of restored Williams burg. It is the oyster boats on the Chesapeake and the vast deep shadow of the Washing ton monument across the Mall; dress parade on Worden Field; and the "mighty Mo" steaming into Hampton Roads. It is blue smoke curling from a dozen tobacco barns in a quiet Old Belt valley late in September and, in any ware house town, the mellifluous if monotonous chant of the tobac co auctioneer. It is the orange groves at Palatka and the moss-festooned cypresses of Okefenoke. The South Ls a golden dreem joiled around Mt. Mitchell, Grandfather and Table Rock. It s a legend of Virginia chivalry, Carolina boldness, and the gal antry of the Deep South. it is a wegro jazz band play ing with home-made instru ments in a shoeshine stand in Durham, Atlanta or Chatta nooga, a Gene madge snap pin' his gallust and exhorting woolhats in a red-hot Georgia Sun, a Huey Long spell-binding the Cajurts in the Louisiana canebrakes. The South is Virginia Dare, Daniel Boone, Jefferson, John Calhoun, Jeff Davis and Rob ert Edward Lee. It is Dixie, the Swannee River, My Old Ken tucky Home and Old Black Joe, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Deep River. It is a mountain woman chanting the ballad of Barbara Allen, a folk pageant at Manteo or Cherokee, and John Henry with that hammer in his hand. It is Ol' Man River rolling across the levees in the bayou country, the sweat of leathery faces in the steel mills of Birm ingham, and the clatter through the swamplands of the "Cannon Ball Express." Too, it is the sea of fog which fills the mountain valleys on a summer dawn, and the patter of rain on the roof of the cabin in the cotton. The South is the unmarked grave of the lynched Negro; the inescapable county seat Confederate monument; the memory of the Ku Klux Klan and reverence for "Marse Rob ert" and "Stonewall." It is Oak Ridge and oil wells, TVA and textiles. It is Tobacco Road an-d Jim Crow, harassed but lingering illiteracy, moon shine liquor, crap games in shantytown and death by pistol or knife in slum alleyways. It is the expanding school house on the hill, the planeta rium at Chapel Hill, the Duke tower chimes at twilight, the rotunda at Charlottesville, and the rising spires of a new Wake Forest. It is the pulling power of traditions long held, the magic of dreams and the enchanting persuasiveness of the alluring myth, and the wistfulness in spired by the memory of defeat and sacrifice. It is William Faulkner, Ers kine Caldwell, Paul Green, James Street, Eudora Welty, brooding Tom Wolfe, and all the rest of the moderns who see the South as it is today, as well as the romanticists of an- i other era who magnified the j grandeur of a South that never | existed. Bill Polk, James Street and many another writer has tried ' to define and explain the 1 South, but in the end admitted i it defies definition and it is < largely inexplicable. , 1 But certainly it is a pleasant 1 land populated by a hospitable, warm-hearted people who do not take life quite so easily or leisurely as once they did. They s are a people both bound and i free, courageous yet presently r apprehensive of the impact of j new social forces ? wise in their s way and determined yet pla gued by deep uncertainties. Yet because the South is San j Juan Hill as well as Appomat- v tox, Normandy Beachhead and e Okinawa as well as Vicksburg -] and Atlanta, her people go for- g ward now in faith, confident { that the same vision, warm hu manity, wisdom and courage which mastered disaster in the t, past can help the new South tl to dissipate her fears and blow n the fogs of doubt away. ? News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? By BOB SLOAN Are we going to be able to take care ol everyone? What I have reference to are the tour ists that will be here in Macon County once our various high way projects are completed. To all appearance, we are having a better than average tourist sea son yet our main travel routes from both the North and the South are blocked by detours. As has been said before (and evidently needs to be said sever al more times more) what we nccu are some "Stoppers." I ; will give the following illu- | stratlon to ex- | plain just what I mean. Vari- J ous roadside | establishments | near here I nearly always I have an Indian I chief or a black bear out front. Sloan They don't plan to sell either the Indian or the bear, but peo ple stop to look ? and then they trade. Macon County has many "Stoppers", but we don't put them out front where the pub lic will see them and want to stop and look. Just a few of things here, which I think are sure fire tourist attractions are: the Ruby Mine on Cowee, Bridal Veil and Dry Falls, Wayah Bald, White Oak Bottoms, Corundum Hill, and many others. Any one of the above, I believe if prop erly publicized would attract thousands of tourists or cause many of those passing through to stop. Let's get the "Stop pers" out front by all the forms of good publicity that we can use. One of the best is for each of us to be aware of what we have and to tell everyone we see. ? * * Macon County has long been a leader in public education. We have had many first and near firsts. We were one of the first counties to have a compulsory school law. For many years, it was said that we had the high est percentage of college gradu ates to our population in the state. Let's make sure that we are among the first to make sure that the Negro population is not discriminated against in educational opportunity. Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the Hits of The Proaa) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Mr. Sam L. Kelly Is having the posts put up for the tele phone line from Franklin to Silver Birch Lodge. He had them up as far as W. B. Len oir's yesterday morning. Mrs. M. C. Allen and two children, of Forsyth, Ga., ar rived Thursday to spend several weeks with relatives here. Dr. W. A. Rogers has pur . hased for himself a new buggy and a fine pair of horses. 25 YEARS AGO Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Brown and their two daughters, La vinia and Dorothy, have arriv ed to spend the summer here. They have rented Miss Rebecca Harris' home at the foot of Sunset Mountain for the sea son. ? Highlands item. Mr. and Mrs. Van Sisk, of Charlotte, are visiting Mr. Sisk's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dean Sisk, here this week. Mr. Russell Cabe, who has aeen stationed at Lake City, Kla., with the U. S. Forest Serv ice, has been transferred to 3ranby, Vt. Mr. Cabe visited ?elatives and friends in Frank in on his way to Vermont. 10 YEARS AGO Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Bryson ind daughter, of Warner Rob >ins, Ga., have been visiting elatives and friends in West's tfill community for the past everal days. Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Scott lave returned to their home in lew York, after spending two veeks visiting Mrs. Scott's par nts, Mr. and Mrs. John H. Thomas, at their home on Iotla Itreet, and other relatives and riends in Franklin. A group of observers from he Highlands Museum viewed he eclipse of the sun .Monday lornlng from Sunrise Rocks. ? hghlands item.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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July 14, 1955, edition 1
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