Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Aug. 25, 1955, edition 1 / Page 2
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(lit* Iffrattklitt -JjJrsss anil ?he 3iigMnrtiis Jftntjmratt Entered at Post Office, Franklin, N. C., u second class matter Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press Franklin. N. C. Telephone 24 WKDIAB JONES . Editor SOB 8. SLOAN Business Manager J. P BRADY - . . . News Edltrr MRS. ALLEN SILER Society Editor and Office Manager CARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent FRANK A. STARRETTE Shop Superintendent DAVID H SUTTON Stereotypy SUBSCRIPTION RATES Orrrsss Macon Countt e Macon Couwtt One Tear . $3 00 One Tear *2 30 mix Months 1.7S Six Months 1.78 Three Months 1.00 Three Months 1.00 AUGUST 25, 1955 On The Other Foot? At last the military admits a man can be broken both mentally and physically. Since history is threaded with an infinite number of instances to bear this out, the military's change of heart comes as no surprise. In drafting a new code of ethics for the country's fighting men, the military makes it "G. I." by vaguely implying that soldiers are only human be ings (i.e. flesh and blood) and can indeed break down when subjected to severe mental and physical tortures. Basically, the code of loyalty is good, but it has a glaring flaw. It fails to define the breaking point, and therefore gives the military still another vital hold over its men ? decision of who "breaks'' and who doesn't. Service life, it appears, is one-sided enough as it is. This new "axe" will hardly improve things. And this raises the question: Is a code needed at all? Why should the military have to question the loyalty of all young men in service? A bad apple will rot anyway. A hand raised high changes noth ing inside a man. And have the fundamental concepts of our de mocracy slipped so drastically that the Pledge of Allegiance no longer suffices? All this military hand-wringing over traitors is out of proportion. A quick appraisal of the situa tion shows that statistically only a tiny fraction of men who fought in Korea turned to the other side. If the military must have its codes, then why not one designed for its own self-improvement? A code that puts the "shoe on the other foot" and clearly defines the loyalty and moral obliga tions of the military to its men? There's plenty of room for improvement here. . . . Carl S. Slagle Carl S. Slavic embodied the best traditions of his mountain background. He was. a big man, big in frame, and mind, and heart. A kindly person, he loved people; and his in nate consideration for others made him a good mixer, despite a trace of the reserve so character istic of the mountain .people. Possessed of a pleas ant sense of humor, he laughed much : always with ? never at ? others. His hospitality was genuine and gracious, without being effusive; he had carried over into this age the spirit of the old days when a dozen unexpected guests were urged, sincerely, to stay for a week. And he was a man of such solid character and such open frankness that his friends usually knew, beforehand, how he would react to any situation. So il was no accident that his life, like that of all great souls, was simple and logical. A .country boy (like most Macon County boys of that day), he was ambitious: so he went to col lege. He loved the mountains and the mountain people; so he came back to Macon County to live. He was most at home in the outofdoors and work ing with growing things: so he became a farmer ? and a good one. He was loyal, to family, friends, community, and, most of all. to his duty: so he served wherever he was needed ? as legislator, civic leader, church' worker. Hut it Was not chiefly the big things he did. that were generally known, that made Carl Slagle be loved; it was more the little ones, that few people knew. Such as this one: , Some years ago, a neighbor's only farm animal died. Carl Slagle was not content to console with his unfortunate neighbor, to wonder what he was going to do, to say "I wish I could help you". No ! That same day one of the Slagle horses, harnessed and ready for work, was in his neighbor's barn ? to be used as long as needed. That was Carl Slagle, not just at his 'best ; it was the kind of thing Carl Slagle did often, and as a matter of course. What seems a first-class suggestion comes to us in a letter from a friend : "Cabbage is going to waste in the fields here; excellent cabbage. But it is going to waste because prices are so low. Why not a sauerkraut factory here in Macon County?" Why not, indeed? That's a way to turn cabbage into a form that it could be saved until prices are higher. A sauerkraut plant would seem exactly the type thing we need here. It would use a farm product, and thus help the farmers ; put people to work, and provide employment ; and, perhaps best of all, it's the kind of industry that could be financed with local capital and thus be a home-owned industry. The suggestion fits in perfectly with the pro gram Governor Luther H. Hodges is advocating. Evolution of a crusade: 1945 : "Of course we aren't trying to displace segregation ; all we want is to eliminate discrimina tion." 1950: "Of course we aren't going to have mixed marriages ; all we want is to eliminate segregation." 1955 : "Of course you can't avoid amalgama tion . . . well, that's desirable, too/' A Rip Van Winkle who had gone to sleep In the early sum mer of 1914 and woke up now would feel that he had emerged Into a world of barbarism ? a sophisticated and streamlined barbarism, of high technical competence, but barbarism none theless by contrast with the world he had known. ? Elmer Davis. Evolution Others' Opinions 'No Comment' Dangerous (Greenville, S. C., Piedmont* No comment is a good, safe answer most of the time but not when a wife asks her husband what he thinks of her new hat. Secret Service Blunder (Raleigh News and Observer) r The Secret Service does an excellent job of guarding the President of the United States and makes few blunders. But the Secret Service blundered over the last week. end when it caused the Observation Tower at the Gettysburg Bat tleground to be closed to the public for whom it was built to serve. Fortunately this action was rescinded before the close of the week-end. The tower was closed because it overlooks the Eisenhower farm as well as the battlefield and is within shooting range of the farm. Obviously such a situation adds to the job of the Secret Service. It is equally obvious, however, that the job can be done Xas it is now being done) by guarding the tower when it is open to the public. When the President movss in large crowds it is frequently necessary, in order to protect him properly, to inconvenience the public. But, when the choice is between inconveniencing the public and inconviencing the Secret Service, the public should always come first. After all, both the battlefield and the tower were at Gettys burg, and attracted many visitors, long before Mr. Eisenhower bought a farm there. ? Letters Thanks Business Men Editor, The Press: We owe the business men of Franklin a great big "thank you" for supporting our first annual fair. Especially are we grateful to everyone who worked so hard. I remember the time I went to the Cherokee Indian Fair, when our truck broke down and we had to walk almost half way back. Such experiences make you appreciate a fair nearer home. This year we have had more fun and recreation with the centennial and the fair. We need more years like this one. Now that we have made a beginning, I hope we can have another chance to bring in exhibits for a better fair. Before too many years, maybe we can have a place for exhibits. We never could have done as much in our community de velopment program without the interest of the business firms. Very truly yours, MRS. R. D. WELLS Editor _____ ?iUlbUr I nPfrV EDITH DEADERICK ERSKINK A L1 J Weaverville, North Carolina AGE A friend with logic said to me, "Although your years are eighty three, Since you retain a lucid mind, And in tomorrow interest find You're still not old." "But should a man one half your years Abandon hope, give way to fears, And hold aloof from life today, From joys that should adorn his way ? That man is old, Yes, very old." A. D. BREWER. Franklin. STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES STRICTLY PERSONAL ? ED P .. How often do we hear it said, by someone who has never taught: "Teachers have an easy job". Or a teacher say: "Teachers get so few rewards". Those are extreme statements of opposite views ? both wrong. For the job of the teacher ? the good teacher, that is ? is far from easy. And I know of nobody who gets greater re wards. There have been many times when I have felt I would not, under any circustances, be a teacher, as a regular proposi tion. But at others I have wished I had my life to live over, so I could become a teacher. I have had those different feelings depending on whether I was more conscious of the re sponsibility, on the one hand, and the opportunity, on the other. To a conscientious teacher, the training of impressionable children must be a responsibil ity that sometimes seems crush ing. There are so many things it is so easy to do wrong; so many instances in which even a Solomon would not know what is the wise thing to do; so many young lives that can so easily be warped ? by an angry tone, a wrong attitude, or a misunderstanding, f*y the child, of words the teacher thinks are clear. On the other hand, there is always the dang er, through a wrong-headed kindness, of spoiling the child by making things too easy for him; for, after all, what les son is more important far all of us to learn than that noth ing worth-while ever comes easy! An easy job? How would you and I like, when we went home at night, to have all the day's possible failures, in moulding human lives, on our minds and our consciences? But what an opportunity! Consider two things: (a) Among the some 4,000 Macon County children who are start, ing back to school, who knows how many potential Lincolns and Lees there may be, how many possible Columbuses and Einsteins, and, perhaps most important of all, how many who never will be famous, but who will deserve to be, because of their innate greatness and their quiet contributions toward making this a better world, in the tomorrows? And (b) in every child, there is a potential, and none of us ever fully de velops what is within us ? how much we do, depends, to a large extent, upon those who teach us when we are young! Inside every child is a spark. The good teacher seeks, some how, to get within the mind and heart of the child and to fan that spark into fire. Who could have a greater reward than, sometimes, performing that miracle! So this is my salute to Ma con County teachers, as they go back to school. For the ter rific responsibility they bear, they have my sympathy. For the well-nigh ?divine opportun ity that is theirs, they have my somewhat envious congratula tions. Adlai Stevenson's Views Heart Of Education Still Is Good Teaching (EDITORS NOTE ? Below arc excerpts from an address by Adlai Stevenson to the National Education Association.! Good school buildings are an asset ? but they are not the es-. sence of good education. The real heart of good education remains, as always, good teaching. We must if we want to improve the quality of education, attract into teaching and hold there a far larger num ber of our ablest young people. Compensation must be geared to ability and performance, and op portunity afforded for advance ment to a high level based on merit, as in other professions. And above all, teachers must be freed of the shackles of bigotry and anti-intellectualism. and the indignities of loyal oaths and un written blue laws which no long er apply to other citizens. ? * ? We are well advised. I think, to take very seriously the admo nition that education for all may come to mean real education for none. The struggle is very real today between massiveness, stan dardization, conformity on th3 one hand, and on the other the spirit of individualism which has given freedom and democracy and life itself their meaning. We must, then, work together to forge better tools for the ever en larging job of educating fast growing numbers of our children for in always more complex life. Equally must we struggle ever lastingly to keep education a process of enrichment ? of the mind and spirit of the young American whose destiny is mea sured only by his wisdom. * * ? It is unfortunately true that educational inadequacy is less ob vious to the naked eye than is the sight of a man out of work, of a factory shut down, or of a hungry family: Yet to look squarely at the issue of education is to face noth ing less than the central question of whether civilization is to prove a fulfillment of divine and ration al purpose ? or a bitter mockery. * ? ? In a very real sense the central issue of education is the central issue of today: how a civilization which has reached, at least in America, unprecedented heights of material well-being and unlocked awesome secrets of the physical world is also to master the ways for preserving its spiritual and moral and intellectual values ? for preserving, if you please, those very things that are the essence of civilization. In a narrower, more political sense the issue of education is how democracy can be made an instrument by which a people work together to mobli lize the strength of the commun to fight ignorance as effectively as we have fought every other enemy which has threatened us. Our public schools take much of their strength from the million:; of private citizens who are involv ed directly in their affairs ? the boards of trustees, the parent teacher associations, the room mothers, and all the others. Local control keeps alive continuous de bate and the freedom to experi ment. It insures a wholesome di versity in educational plans and practices. It helps to keep public education from becoming an in strument of stifling conformity and uniformity. Not sentimental attachment to tradition, but hard headed good sense demands that by keeping control of education in the local community we keep the spreading branchrs of an ever en larging democracy always close to the roots. News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? By BOB SLOAN Carl Slagle is gone. Who will the people of Macon County, both young and old, the well to-do and the poor, turn to for counsel? It seems to me that there is no one here whose ad vice will be sought by so many. Young men considering buying a farm or some change In their farming methods traveled up Cartoogechaye or In later years through Wal lace Gap to the beautiful Black Place to talk it over with "Mr. Carl" before they made the move. Office seekers in the Democratic party were little inclined to run until Sloan after they had discussed the situation with this calm and deliberate man. Successful busi ness men sought the opinion of this man who was so much a part of our county and who understood so well the senti ments of our people. People went to Mr. Slagle not only because he knew Ma con County, Its problems and its people so well, but also be cause here was a man who reasoned soundly and clearly and here was a man who would give the same careful and deliberate reasoning to your problem that he would his own. And behind his careful reas oning was a delightful, slow breaking, sense of humar that would often reduce your moun tains to dust and change your troubles to laughter. To me, It wouldn't seem exact ly true to say that Carl Slagle was typical of Macon County, but a phrase that would hew closer to the mark would be that in this man one would find the heart of Macon Coun ty and a man whose heart was in Macon County. Carl Slagle is gone, but the decisions he helped so many to make will influence our county for many years. Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Press) SO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Mr. J. O. Harrison is making preparations to build a new dwelling. Mr. Scroop Enloe, of Dills - boro, was here last Thursday. Miss Christine .Memminger, of Highlands, gave a straw ride last Saturday evening in honor of Miss Katharine Bryan, of Charleston, S. C., who is vis iting the Memmingera at their summer home, "Rosemary". Those present were Misses Weods, Elliott, Perry, Gibson, Bryan, Memminger, and Messrs. Sloan, Woods, Joe and George Inglesby, Elliott, Thompson, C. Coradenco, and Van Wyke. 25 YEARS AGO Mrs. Ed Cunningham has as houseguests her brother, Mr. John Fulmer, and family, of New Orleans. The past week has seen a larger number of tourists cars on the streets of Franklin than have been seen at any other time during the summer. All the hotels and boarding houses report a "full house". A number of young people, ^ members of the Franklin Ep worth League, went on a camp ing trip to White Oak Bot toms Wednesday and returned Thursday. They were chaper oned by Mrs. R. F. Mock. 10 YEARS AGO Mrs. Grace Carrington and daughter, Betty, have returned to their home in San Mateo, Fla., following a visit with Mrs. Carrington's father, J. E. Cabe, and Mrs. Cabe, at their home In the Otto community. Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Church and young daughter, Carol, have returned to their home In Newark, Ohio, after a two weeks' visit with Mr. Church's mother. Mrs. H. E. Church, at her home on Harrison Avenue. ? ~Mrs. M. H. Gude. of Bain, bridge, Md., arrived Saturday for a visit with her father, Col. Ralph H. Mowbray. ? High lands item.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Aug. 25, 1955, edition 1
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