?Ite Mmnklin yrm attfr Migkiattite JKarrmmtt entered at Post Office. Franklin, N. C., ss second cUm matter Published every Thursday by The Franklin Preas Franklin. N. O. Telephone 24 JONES ***?" \ 8. SLOAN Business Manager J.P.BRADY News Editor MRS ALLEN SILER Society Editor and Office Manager fiaffi. p. CABE Mechanical Superintendent PBANK A. STARRETTE Shop Superintendent ?AVID H SUTTON Stsreotypsr CTSRTT.8 K WHITTCNOTON Pumiiii SUBSCRIPTION RATES Outkss lltco* Conrrr mm Tw $3 00 ?ta Month* ITS Ikm Month* 1 00 Inns Macon County One Yeer WJO Six Months 1.73 Three Month* . 1.00 JULY 21, 1965 Time For Action Detours to right of us. Detours to left of us . . . And more detours to come! Almost since the memory of man runneth not the contrary. Franklin has been cut off, by one or more detours, from the outside world. And Franklin is a tourist town ! You can't have good roads, of course, without construction and the inconvenience connstruction imposes. But there is such a thing as planning. There is such a thing as consideration for the rights and convenience of the public. And there is such a thing as getting through. The end is in sight on most of our detours. But, at the snail's pace at which the State Highway Commission has been proceeding, we'll be cut off to the south for the next decade or so. If the state is going to build the road between Franklin and the Georgia line, it ought to let the contract, now. And it ought to see to it that that road is completed before the height of another tour ist season. Can We Compete? Unless the United States buys from Japan and other friendly nations that are dependent on ex ports. inexorable economics will force those nations over into the Communist camp. The alternative is to continue, indefinitely, to give them economic aid ? that is, gifts. And there is serious question of how long we can continue such aid and stay eco nomically strong ourselves. Meanwhile, we have equipped many of their fac tories with modern machinery and have passed on to their workers much American technical know how. In the light of that situation, plus the great dif ference in the standards of living, there arises the old question, the old fear: Can American industry compete? ? can it compete even in a world market barely free enough to permit these other nations merely to survive? That fear is graphically .portrayed in a cartoon on this page, reprinted from the Stanly News and Press, first rate newspaper published at Albemarle, in the heart of North Carolina's textile belt. Well, can we compete? The question, it seems answers. !. We must. to us, has at least three /. : 2. Nobody knows. Nobody knows because the experiment hasn't been tried. 3. We cannot, unless we rid ourselves of vast American waste. American industry is shackled on everv hand by waste. Here are three major sources: Waste by government, which results in unnecessarily high taxes on industry : waste in industry itself ? the top-heavy industrial bureaucracy that provides high salaries for quantities of unproductive "vice-presi dent.s" and "chairmen of boards" i- only one ex ample; and waste by labor. The most obvious in stance of the latter, of course, is the union demand that a labor-saving machine be allowed to save no labor; that three men still must be hired to do the job that, with new machinery, could easily be done by one. ? If we ckn save What Matters From Crumpler, in Ashe County, comes the pre amble to the constitution of a new organization, White Men, Inc. A part of what is said in this preamble seems to us to make good sense. Moreover, we can under stand what must be the feelings of the founders of White Men, Inc. ; because those who believe in ra cial segregation have been pushed around rather roughly, over a long period. It is only natural for them to feel they have to hit back. But while we can sympathize with their feelings, we have no patience with such an organization. The reason is pretty obvious : We already have one ra cial pressure group, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ? and that's one too many. The 1ST. A. A. C. P. isn't interested in the slightest in such things as justice for all, or in the national welfare: its sole objective is just what its name suggests, to advance a single group, col ored people. Presumably, White Men. Inc., would be equally class conscious and selfish. And never yet have two wrongs made one right. Besides, the' time has come when the question of whether we have or do not have segregation is un important. With this nation and Russia possessing nobody knows how many atom bombs, and now the hydro gen bomb ? and maybe the cobalt bomb is just around the corner ! ? there are only two questions of any real importance to Americans : 1. Can America stay free without an atomic war. and, if there is one, can we win it? 2. Can we go through a c A small time salesman treated himself to a Pullman ride from Boston to New York aboard a de luxe streamliner. Thrill ed by the train's luxuries, he entered the club car where sever al big business men were discussing the state of the economy. "A bad wtek," he heard one capitalist complain. "We netted only $130,000." "It was better for us," said another. "Wheat was hot and we ANOTHER PEARL HARBOR ' SH Hwi 4 Pn>) - ?r? -rclJrHB * t!a%T'L? INDUSTRY This editorial cartoon, reprinted through the courtesy of the Stanly News and Press, Albemarle. N.C., is attracting considerable notice throughout the Cotton Belt because farmers fear the "bomb" will hare aa impact on the raw cotton industry equally as severe as on American textile mills. cleared $250,000." Man after man told of such profits. Sud denly all eyes centered on the little salesman and someone asked, "How's your business?" "So-so," he shrugged. "Last year yellows were off half a mil lion, but reds were up a million and blacks up four million." Eyebrows raised in wonder, and one of the financiers respect fully asked, "What is your business?" "Me?" said the little fellow. "I sell jellybeans." News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? By BOB SLOAN On January 23, 1954, twenty one American youths decided to accept the way of lite of the Chinese Reds who had held them, in prison camps for a period of three years or more. Recently three of these men deckled to return to their na tive land. They have expressed a will ingness to be prosecuted for their mistake. I do not believe that these men should be prosecuted. I think that, as command er-in - chief of the army, Pres ident Eisen hower should announce that - any charges which the army has against, uiese Sloan men will be dropped and that they will be given a chance to start life all over again in their native coun try. What will serving a jail sen tence do for these men? Will it help to show them the difference in our way of life and that of the Chinese Reds? These three men came from unstable homes. Will a jail sen tence help them to adapt them selves to normal living condi tion? ? an adjustment that will be difficult to make under any conditions. Prom a diplomatic angle, if our prodigal sons are given the back of our hands, how sincere do we appear in our expressions of Christianity? If these men are tried and punished, we stand to loose a lot, both in our own respect and in the eyes of the rest of the world, and the only thing that could be gained would be that some could say that the law was carried out ? to the letter. Also it should be remembered that these three have returned home expecting the worst. If our country has the heart I hope that it has, they will re ceive better. This, I think, would go a long way in helping some unstable boys to find firm foot ing to build their lives on. STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES THOUGHTS IN SUMMER: Earlier in the season, we de plored the lack of rain. Well, we're getting it; plenty of it, it would seem . . . But is the amount of rain we've been get ting excessive? Seems to me. when I was a boy in Frank lin, we had a thunder shower almost every afternoon. Maybe that accounts for the fact things seemed so much greener then ... I wonder if they really were; or if it seems they were because then they were seen through fresh eyes and an impressionable mind. There are always compensa tions. F'lnstance, the coolness that comes with these after noon rains is far more refresh ing because of the heat that preceded It . . . And consider the beauty of the mountains; clear days are all right, but, for scenery, give me the moun tains when they're patched with sun and cloud shadows. Or, bet ter still, the mountains during a storm ? they're magnificent then. Speaking of hot days, Franklin really is hotter than it once. was. And that's not due entirely to natural causes. The climate in Franklin no doubt has changed, but buildings and pavements are at least partially responsible for the climatic change ... If you doubt that, leave Franklin on a sweltering day and drive out into the country, away from buildings and pavements. But no matter how hot the pavements here, a sure-fire cure for complaint about Frank lin's climate is a trip down In the lower altitudes. A couple of weeks ago In Winston-Salem, I found myself wonderslng how people ever lived down there, before the days of alr-con dltlonlag . . . And when I'd go out of an air-conditioned building on to the street, I wondered why anybody would live there, period. You leave the artificial cool ness of air-conditioning for tke .real weather outside. First, you think you've mistakenly stepped into an oven; then you feel yourself wilting, like a freshly set plant; and then you cease to care whether you ever get where you started . . . it's Just too hot to care! And to think, those poor, be nighted millionaires down In the Piedmont are sorry for us poor folks here in the moun tains! Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Preas) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK The examination of public school teachers began last Thursday, and a pretty good crowd enlivened the town that day. Mr, George A. Franks, who has a job in .Montgomery, Ala., arrived Saturday to spend a few days visiting his father's fam ily. On last Friday evening a branch of the Woman's Asso ciation for the Improvement of School Houses was organized here, and Mrs. C. W. Slagle was selected for President. About $8.00 was raised as a prize to go to the teacher who makes most improvement on school house in the county. 25 YEARS AGO Miss Dorothy Lyle is visiting her grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. S. H. Lyle, in Franklin. Mr. and Mrs. Harold T. Sloan and family spent Sunday visit mg relatives In Athens. Ga. Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Cunning ham made a trip to Baltimore last week for the purpose of buying fall goods for the Lead er Department Store 10 YEARS AGO Mrs. Jack Q Lever and moth er, Mrs. Eloie Franks, visited Mrs. Lever's mother-in-law Mrs. James J. Lever, Sr., in Co lumbia, S. C., last week. L. B. Angel, of Haines City Fla., is here for a visit with his mother, Mrs. T. W. Angel, Sr., and other relatives and friends in Franklin. Mrs. Jennie Sue Daniels has returned to New York City after a two weeks' visit with her sister and mother, Mrs. H D. Randall and Mrs. George L. Bell, at the Randall summer heme on Billy Cabin Mountain ?Highlands item.