Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Aug. 4, 1955, edition 1 / Page 2
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t S\tnnklin , nnb (Ehe Highlands JHacmtmtt Entered at Post Office. Franklin. N. C., at 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 ICRS ALLEN SILER Society Editor and Office Manager aARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent FRANK A STARRETTB Shop Superintendent OAVID H SUTTON Stereotypy SUBSCRIPTION RATES Ormzss Macon County Iran Macon County One Tear $3.00 One Tear 12.50 9& Months 1.79 Six Months 1.79 Three Months 1.00 Three Months . . i 1.00 Double Standard Last' Friday was a (lark day for three young men who have known few bright ones. i Billy C'owart, son of Georgia mill workers who separated when he was six, lied about his age and was admitted into the armv before he was 16. Otho Bell, Mississippi farm bo . whose mother died when he was born, also lied and was accepted by the arms a few days after his 17th birthday. Lewis Griggs, Texas youth who never seemed to quite fit in anywhere, enlisted the day after he was 17. Billy was still only 17 when he was captured by (he Chinese Reds; Otho was 19, Lewis 18. They were in Chinese prison camps for periods ranging from nearly three to three and a half years. What happened during those years, nobody knows. We do know that other men, more mature arid intellectually stronger than these youngsters, have succumbed to Communist indoctrination, and in less than three years. But whatever the cause, these three were among the 21 American service men who, in January, 1954, finally refused repatria tion to the United States. We do not know, either, what has happened in the year and half since they turned their backs on country, home, and family. But recently these three changed their minds. They wanted to come back to the United States; and last Friday their ship docked in San Francisco. There they were joyfully reunited with members of the families they had not seen for five or si* years. That joy was brief. Within minutes, the United States Army had arrested them, loaded them into the back of a truck, and hustled them off to an army stockade. There they will remain the weeks or months it takes the Army to get ready to try them. They are charged with seeking special prison favors for themselves, by willingly cooperating with their Communist captors in preaching Com munism, and by informing on fellow prisoners. One of the charges is inlorming on fellow prisoners for stealing. Quite possibly they arc guilty; and no doubt the Army will convict them and sentence them to long prison terms. Maybe . they should be punished. Maybe their youth and their backgrounds should not be taken into account. Maybe the army is correct in saying right is right and wrong is wrong; in saying the law is the law, and those who break it must be punished. But it" that i.-N true, does it not apply to the Army itself, as well as to individuals in the army? What, then, i.^ the UniteTl States Army's own record for morality and abiding by law? On the score of morality, let's go back a bit to the cases of ( pis. Kdward Dickinson and Claude Batchelor. Remember them? At Pantuunjom, the United States government was frantically begging American prisoners of the Chinese to come home. Repeatedly, they were promised immunity from punishment for any wrong-doing. Dickinson and Batchelor accepted the promise at face value. And what happened? The army tried them, convicted them, and sent them to prison. Now consider the current case in the light of law. The military code says plainly that no American soldier may be dishonorably discharged, except after conviction by a court martial at which the de fendant is present. But when these men chose to stay in China, the Army promptly ordered them dishonorably discharged. That returned them, of course, to civilian status. They no longer were in the Army. Yet it is the Army that arrested them, it is the Army that will try them, and it is the Army that will punish them. Have we come to the point that, once a man has been in the army, he is to be under military control forever? is the army always to own him, body and soul? And is there any basis in law for this? Then there are the terms of the Korean truce. It specifically provides that no serviceman, on either side, shall ever be punished for refusing repatriation. It is true that the charges brought against these men have nothing to do with their choice at Pan munjom, but can anyone doubt that what the Army really is trying them for is desertion? Other wise, why has nothing been heard, these 18 months since the truce, of the charges that are made now? Last Friday was a dark day ? and not for these young men only. It was an even darker day for Americans who believe in a single standard, who prize their national self respect. Because the Army that broke a solemn promise, in the cases of Dick inson and Batchelor. now flouts the very law it in vokes. That Nantahala Road There are a number of things about the Nanta hala road situation that we do not profess to know. We do not khow, in the first place, the problems that are faced, now and always, by the State High way Department, the L". S. Forest Service, and the U. S. Bureau of Roads. We do not know for sure ? nobody seems to know ? who is responsible for the reported transfer of the funds, that were to have completed the Xantahala road, to the Croatan Na tional Forest in Fastern North Carolina. Finally, we do not know what were the considerations back of that transfer. Nor are we experts on road building. But we do know what some of those who are ex perts say ; the head of the Forest Service and the highway engineer and highway commissioner in this area would not urge the completion of the Nanta hala road without good, expert reasons. We do know that common justice demands that the people of the Nantahala area, cut off for gen erations, get one road, complete, at long last. We do know it doesn't make sense to build two ends of a road and leave a little unbuilt link in the middle. We do know, if there are compelling considera tions for ignoring all these factors, that the people of the Nantahala area are entitled to be told what those compelling considerations are. Relief? And A Challenge "Our aim is to make men, not criminals," de clared Supt. John E. Cutshall last week, when an nouncing that the Macon County Prison Camp is changing from a felon's prison to one for youthful first offenders. Mindful of the superintendent's sincerity and qualifications, citizens of the county are confident he and his staff intend to prove out this ambitious 'statement through a strong rehabilitation program, with special emphasis on sports, something all young men, regardless of circumstances, under stand and enjoy. Since the announcement, most have been quick to admit they welcome the change. The nearness of the camp and its more than 60 long-termers and lifers always has produced uneasiness, particularlv for those living in the vicinity of the prison. This new rehabilitation program should ease these tensions, and, Supt. Cutshall hopes, spark the spirit of cooperation in the public. 'The real test of this | irogram will be the number of voung men who find themselves and become useful citizens, he feel>. "We're going to. need a lot of help from the out side," the superintendent declared. Macon County has never turned its back on a worth-while project, Mr. Superintendent. If it's co operation you want, you'll get it. Resounding "The difficult, we do immediately; the impos sible takes a little longer." That wisecrack seems applicable to Macon Coun ty and its forthcoming fair. "It can't be done", we were solemnly assured when this newspaper .started advocating a fair, some eight years ago ; "it can't be done unless you finance it with gambling and cheap shows", a group interested in a fair was solemnly assured by an "expert" some four years ago. Well, it is being done. The wiseacres and the experts are about to be proved wrong. Just how badly wrong will be revealed by the fair itself, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of next week. Judging by the way Macon County people have been working together in recent years to do other "impossible" things, we'd guess the proof will be resounding. AN OSTRICH WITHOUT A NECK? ? Silly idea, isn't it? Makes the rest of him ra.ther useless. Well, that's just about what we'll have on the Nantahala road, if that little link in the middle is left unfinished. ? Letters 'Kepi For Posterity' Dear .Mr. Jones: Congratulations on the recent Centennial Edition of The Franklin Press. It was super and we loved every bit of it. My copy is being kept for posterity. Sincerely, El Reno, Okla MRS. CHAS. H. (KATE) PERRY Tribute To Franklin In a letter to a friend, Mrs. Edward Eaton, who left here years ago to return to Cambridge, Mass.. pays tribute to Frank lin. Mrs. Eaton's , son, Ted, wrote a paper for the United States on isotopes; as a result, the U. S. State Department requested him to go to Geneva, Switzerland, as a consultant to the con ference on peaceful uses of atomic energy, which will open there today. Commenting on the honor to her son, Mrs. Eaton wrote: ' You see. Ted received his education from the Franklin schools during his r.n most susceptible years, and I want Franklin to receive credit for it. This is my way of expressing my admiration f3r Franklin." STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES I always am fhled witli v.or.der by the marvel of fiyir.4 And I was amazed again the other day when Mrs Jones and I flew from Knoxville. Tenn.. to Carbondale. 111. We didn't, but we easily might have had, lunch in Franklin and supper west of the Mississippi River. The only reasons we didn't, in fact, were that we weren't hun gry when we left here at noon, and so took along a lunch; and our destination was east of the Mississippi, but our route took us via a town in Missouri, so that we were on the other side of the Mississippi long before we sat down to supper in Illinois, on this side. Thus we crossed the Mississippi twice. And I must say, seeing it from a plane, the Father of Waters was a great disappointment From an altitude of some 2,000 feet, it looked about like the Little Ten nessee! , . . . How big some of the commercial airliners are can be apperciated only by comparing them with familiar things. When a big truc'c. carrying baggage, drives up to the side of the plane, the truck re minds you of a child's toy. and men working on the wings re semble ants. That those huge ships, carry ing 30 or 40 or SO or more pas sengers. with all their baggage, can get off the ground, and once up. can remain aloft, seems in credible. Less impressive is the speed, because, at 250 miles an hour, you are hardly conscious of motion at all. I might mention, too, that we felt considerably less uneasy at 3.000 feet than at 1.000. At the higher altitude, you often can't see the earth: only great masses of clouds, like soft pillows, below you. a bright blue sky above, with perhaps a storm some where down under you. At the lower altitudes, seeing the earth below you, you realize what a long way you'd have to fall. Watching the earth pass be neath is fascinating, though. It's an entirely new and different per spective. Always interesting to me are the geometric patterns of the farms and woodlands and subdi visions and colleges and army camps. In the agricultural areas, there is a variety of figures ? squares, rectangles, triangles, and occasionally something very close to a circle. The farther west we went, the more frequent the squares. ? * * Impressive, too, are the organi zation, the careful timing, and the speed with which everything is done. A plane lands at a port, discharges its pasengers a#d their baggage, takr ; on new passengers and their baggage, and sometimes refuels ? and is off the ground again three minutes after it lands. The bus companies and trains might well take a tip from avia tion. They might, too, in courtesy; the airline folks go all aut to make everybody happy. We were particularly interest ed. one morning, in watching the stewardesses "fix" breakfast. We (See Back Page. 1st Section) News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? By BOB SLOAN The question of what to do with the three American boys who once elected to stay in Commun ist China, but have now decided to return to their native land is in many ways a difficult one, and still is with me. Since these men have been ao cused by their fellow prisoners of betraying their fellow soldiers in an effort to im prove their own lot, in all fair ness to both their fellow prisoners who may have suf fered because of their actions and those who have previously been similarly accused and s,oan tried, these men must be tried. After all, it is seri ous business when soldiers at tempt in any way to lighten their lot at the expense of their com rades. If the army took no cognizance of the fact, it would certainly be damaging to the morale of the entire organization, and this thing so precious and necessary to any good organization has in recent years been weakened too much by civilian interference. However, I feel that there are special circumstances in this case. First, the very fact that these men at one time chose to stay in Communist China rather than re turn home, I think, should be considered as evidence that they were emotionally unbalanced at one time. Second, the fact that they re turned voluntarily, even in the face of a possible death sentence, shows that these men now realize that they made a great mistake. Third, the fate of these men will not only be of great concern here at home, but will be careful ly viewed by thousands in many countries. Today a part of our foreign policy should be directed toward selling the idea that our government has as one of its cardinal principles the spirit of brotherly love. If, after a fair trial, our country extends to these men a spirit of forgiveness rather than that of stern and unrelent ing captor, will not the rest of the world be more apt to feel that our professions of Christian ity are more sincere? That these men will be found guilty for the most part as charged, I have little doubt. For one thing, they have not denied the charges. In fact, they have practically admitted them. Nor. as previously said, do I see how the Army could fail to try them, (See Back Page, 1st Section) Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Press) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Mrs. J. R Price, of Albemarle, N. C , and Mrs. George H Cor well, of High Point, N. C , arrived last Thursday to spend someone with their mother. Mrs P. C. oaston. Mr. H. A. Penland. formerly of this county, but now of Anderson. S. C.. is here for a week's visit and to look after some business. Mr. J. A Munaay sold his livery business last Thursday to Tom Shepherd. Tom can't stay out of the business long at a time. 25 YEARS AGO Mr. M. A. Mattoon. supervisor of the Pisgah National Forest, and family, of Asheville, were guests the past weekend of Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Cunningham. Mr. and Mrs. L. Hulm and fam ily. of Atlanta, were visiting Mr. and Mrs. T. P. Moses a few days the past week. Mrs. Arvil Fouts and baby are spending several days with friends and relatives on lotla. She will return to her home in Winston Salem in a few days. 10 YEARS AGO Miss Carlene Jamison, who is doing stenographic work in Ashe ville, came over last week-end to spend a week with her mother. Mrs. Carl Jamison, at her home on Riverview Street. Pvt. Carter E. Talley, of the Finney General Hospital, Thomas ville, Ga., spent a week-end leave with his family at the Talley home on Spring Street. ? High lands item. Miss Margie Blumenthal. who attended summer school at Wom an's College of the University of North Carolina. Greensboro, has returned to Franklin to spend the summer with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. M. Blumenthal.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Aug. 4, 1955, edition 1
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