5h* Ifirattklitt press
a?i
(Lhr ^Highlnniis JKarimian
Entered at Post Office. Fronkl'n. N. C.. as second class matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Preas
Franklin, N. C. Telephone 24
WEIMAR JONES
BOB S. SLOAN
J. P. BRADY
MRS ALLEN SILER
MRS. MARION BRTSON
CARL P CABE
FRANK A. STARR ETTE
DAVID H SUTTON
Q. E CRAWFORD . .
. | . Editor
Business Manager
News Editor
Society Editor and Office Manager
Proofreader
Mechanical Superintendent
Shop Superintendent
Commercial Printer
Stereotyper
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Outside Macon County Inside Macon Coumtt
One Year $300
,61* Months .... 1.75
Three Months 100
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Six Months I TS
Three Month* 10?
Point Overlooked?
. . have 1 overlooked another point?" asks the
writer of an interesting letter on this page about
racial discrimination.
V
Well, it's just possible there is a point on this
matter that has been overlooked ? and not just by
Mr. Corbin.
Mr. Corbin agrees there is no such thing as abso
lutely equality of opportunity; but he argues that
the smallest inequality, where the races are in
volved, is discrimination. That mirrors general
opinion ; the word "discrimination", in fact, is al
most never used today without the preceding ad
jective, "racial".
The point, then, is a question:
Is racial discrimination worse than any other
kind? if so, why? and how?
Supreme Court decisions, quoting the Constitu
tion, seem to say it is. And if there is any doubt
about the meaning of the court's words, there is
none about its actions. Two illustrations: For
three-quarters of a century, the court failed to ban
freight rate discrimination against an entire region :
and today it fails to ban discrimination in favor of
veterans (and, therefore, against all other citizens.)
The court says racial discrimination is worse
than other forms. That makes it law. It does not
necessarily make it right. Both the court And the
Constitution may be wrong. (They often have
been ? if the court is right now, it was wrong all
those decades it supported the "separate but equal"
doctrine; and we have acknowledged that the Con
stitution was wrong each time we have changed it.)
As a matter of fact, aren't all of us ? from the
Supreme Court on down ? practicing a sort of re
verse-order discrimination when we say one dis
crimination is more wrong than another?
The Hospital Tax Vote
From a purely practical and short-range view
point, it seems too bad that the proposed High
lands Township tax levy for support of the High
lands Community Hospital was defeated. As a prac
tical proposition, it leaves unsolved the problem of
where the money is to come from to operate a
good institution that is badly needed.
The Press, nonetheless, hails the decision of the
township's voters. Because, while we are sure the
cause was good, we think the method was bad. It
just doesn't make sense to spend public tax money
for the support of a privatelv-owned institution ?
no matter how good the institution, or how public
spirited and unselfish those who operate it. And
even if it had worked satisfactorily in this partic
ular instance, the precedent would have been bad
because the principle is wrong.
The voters of Highlands township evidently still
hold to the conviction that no end, no matter how
good, justifies means that are bad.
S-D Day
Today (Thursday) is Safe Driving Day.
Honesty compels us to confess we find it a bit
hard to become enthusiastic about all the various
, "weeks" and "days" set aside during the year.
In the fiyst place, there are too many of them.
Anybody can get enthused about one "week", but
whose enthusiasm will hold out for a new crusade
every week in the year ! And, second, if the cause is
so worthy, why confine our support to a single
week or a single day? To do so is too much like
confining religion to Sundays.
There's a major weakness, too, in this and other
traffic safety campaigns that appeal to the public,
it seems to us, because a partial solution that is
close at hand is consistently neglected. Most expe
rience confirms the belief that speed is a major
cause of traffic accidents; and it would be relative
ly simple to control speed at its source ? the auto
mobile factory. Yet we continue to permit the fac
tories to turn out more and more powerful auto
mobiles ? arid then urge people not to use the
PQwer made available to them ! ,?
After all that is said, though, there remains a
need for Safe Driving Day. proclaimed by the Pres
ident of the United States. If it can do anything to
dramatize the terrific toll automobiles take, we're
all for it. Besides, if we can .prove, on a particular
day. that it is possible to materially reduce that toll
by the use of care, surely all of us will drive a little
more carefully the other 364 days in the year.
'People Are So Friendly'
Months after a brief visit here, an Ohio man re
membered Franklin so pleasantly, he took the time
and trouble to write a service station here to ex
press his appreciation and admiration.
In a postal to Manson Stiles. John E. Craine, of
Rockford, Ohio, wrote ;
Was just looking over some of the pamphlets we kept
while on our trip this summer. I found one of your
cards and remembered the fine service we received at
your station. Thank you! We also enjoyed our meals at
a grill not far from your station while we were in Frank
lin. Of all the towns we were in on our vacation, we were
impressed most by your town. The people are so friendly.
It must be a wonderful place to live.
This is a wonderful place to live. And of course
what chiefly makes it so is just the thing that im
pressed Mr. Craine: "The people are so friendly".
Let's keep it that way !
? Letters
Bouquet
Dear Mr. Jones:
While bouquets are being handed out for the recent improve
ments at Rankin Square, things done there for the past twenty
years should not be overlooked.
For that long period of time, Miss Lassie Kelly has kept the
grass mowed, the square raked and cleaned, and the fence
painted. As a matter of fact, it was she who had the first
fence erected.
Recently Miss Kelly has had rhododendron and hemlock set
out at the back of the lot and has planted tulip bulbs around
the monument. Don't we all owe her a word of appreciation?
MRS. PRELO DRYMAN.
Franklin.
Takes Issue With Editorial
Editor. The Press:
Whereas I almost always find your editorials constructive
and logical, I must take issue with the November 17 editorial,
entitled "Points Often Overlooked", as being neither (except
ing the first and last paragraphs). 1 agree with both those
points, although the first one is incidental and you have mis
applied it.
You state that "there is no such thing as absolute equality
of opportunity, as between either groups or individuals". I
cannot argue with that statement. But you are using this fact
to justify the former practice ?f transporting Macon County's
high school Negroes to a school at Sylva. I cannot agree that
this practice was not ever a serious instance of unfair dis
crimination simply because some white children have to ride
almost as far to consolidated schools. The first practice is now
unconstitutional while the second is not. More importantly,
the second practice (white children to consolidated schools)
is purely incidental to, and does not bear upon, any rabial
discrimination issue.
We cannot justify inequalities (which can be removed)
simply by saying absolute equality cannot be achieved.
Or, have I overlooked another point?
FURMAN CORBIN, JR.
Columbus. Ohio, and Franklin, Route 5.
It's Driver Needs 'Re -Tooling'
Editor, The Press:
President Eisenhower, has designated December 1 as "Safe
Driving Day", but, if the people do not cooperate, his procla
mation will be an empty paper.
Sixty million motor vehicles operated on the highways of
the nation this past year, ten million had accidents, thirty
six thousand we?e killed, and one million, two hundred fifty
thousand were injured. Property damage was 4.5 billion dollars.
This does not take into consideration the suffering of the in
jured.
One million people have been killed In the first fifty years
of motor vehicle operation, and it is estimated that, at the
rate we are traveling now. it will take only 25 years to kill the
next million.
Within a few minutes after you leave home In the morning
and move out on the highway, you may be dead, on the way
to the court house and jail, or you may face financial ruin as
the result of- a motor vehicle accident. The highways are being
improved and the automobile industry is introducing some
see, and be seen!
A
Check your
\ before dark.
REMEMBER ? you have to see dancer to avoid it! The State
Department of Motor Vehicles says 57 per cent of the fatal motor
smash-ups occur at night. Check your headlights ? cheek acci
dents!
safety features in cars. However, the man behind the wheel
is the one that has to be "re-tooled", if motor vehicle acci
dents are to be reduced. Against the few safety devices which
the automobile industry has introduced we have the other side
of the picture. Continental talks about 320 horse power, Cadil
lac 310 horse power. Speed and power are being emphasized
more now than was the case in the '20's. With speed limits
what they are today, we all know that such horse power and
speed are not only utterly useless but dangerous.
After a child is born it Is given the most loving care by Its
mother. Our health departments render a hrilliant service In
the prevention of childhood diseases. The medical profession,
with the know-how and skill that set the standards of the
world, ministers to our youth faithfully. Our churches de
votedly bring them up In the paths of religion. Our schools
patiently open up the paths of wisdom for our children. But
what is the pay off? All too often It is death or Injury by an
automobile, the cheapest and the most terrible weapon yet
devised by man.
If the worst comes to the worst, is there anything that can
be done about this situation? There is, and It may be done in
Washington. The federal government may set the speed laws of
all states at 45 m. p. h. Great numbers of O. P. A. men, may,
in plain clothes, again ride the highways as they did In World
War 2, and if an offender is caught, he may know for sure he Is
going to lose his driver's license for a three-month period.
This is one possible solution of a situation which has now be
come a national disgrace.
DR. FURMAN ANGEL
Franklin.
a
Others' Opinions
Aiming
(Yuma, Colo., Pioneer)
v You're not driving your car after you pass 65 miles an hour.
You're aiming it.
Visiting With TV
(Loleta Powell in Smithfield Herald)
I visited for1 a week end in a home recently with a television
set. I wanted to hear about a trip to Maine, the chickens, the
tobacco, the strawberries, the ramlly itself. But did I? I got
Oeorge Gobel, some time-wasting hill-billies, Art Linkletter, and
' a sleek-headed inhuman wrestler. While the family ate, cooked,
walked across the house, went out or in, it was with one, one
and one-half, or two eyes on that 17-in. glass product of Gen
eral Electric. If you moved injudiciously, you were eyed acridly
as a screen blocker. If you said anything, someone ? if anyone
happened to have you intrude upon the fringe of his con
sciousness ? shushed you summarily.
Strange Reversal
(Carolina Israelite)
Forty years ago, as America's "Robber-Baron" era was
coming to a close, in the days of Ida Tarbell, Jack London,
Eugene V. Debs, Clarence Darrow, and Morris Hillquit, the
"enemies" in the "class-struggle" were "Rockefeller", "Carne
gie", "Prick", "Harrlman", and later "Ford". I remember the
time when a speaker could warm up his audience by merely
shouting, "Rockefeller."
But this can happen only in America. During the last ten
years, the period of America's greatest crisis in HUMANITAR
IV'ISM, the champions of civil rights have been "Rockefeller",
?Ford", "Carnegie", and "Harrlman". Amazing, Isn't it? What
a story that would make. Eugene V. Debs would probably turn
over in his grave if he knew that The Nation, The New Re
public, and Commonweal, the three great liberal publications
of our day, have been waging a bitter struggle defending
"Rockefeller" (Foundation) and "Ford" (Fund For The Repub
lic) against the right-wingers of our country; while a "Harrl
man" is considered to be too far "left" by even some of the
liberals themselves. Thus what has happened In recent years
Is that the names of the richest men In the world have be
come anathema to the arch-conservatives.
News Making
As It Looks
To A Maconite
? By BOB gUHi
In the news people can't seem
to stay away form the 1957
Presidential election, so I be
lieve that I would like to get
out on the speculation limb
early. One reason is that I am
going way out and I want
plenty of room. Barring another
heart attack of at least equal
seriousness, I think that Presi
dent Eisenhower will be a can
didate for re-election.
As the time draws closer more
and more pressure will be ex
erted to get the President to
ask the people to keep him in
office. Also unless "Ike" does
have a serious relapse, news
paper accounts will picture the
president's health as getting
better and better. If Mr. Elsen
hower's recovery continues along
on a normal basis, the public
will be led to believe by some
accounts that his health is bet
ter than it was before he suf
fered the heart attack.
Stevenson will again be the
Democratic nominee. After it
becomes clear that Mr. Eisen
hower is to be the Republican
standard bearer many Demo
cratic hopefuls will get cold
feet and not be so anxious to
champion the cause of the
Democratic party.
* * *
Considerable has been written,
and said about the extreme at
titudes of the NSACP with some
cause. However, some Southern
state officials are just as rabid
ahd foolish in their charges
against this organization.
Take for example, the case of
Marvin Griffin, Governor of the
state of Georgia. In the past
several months considerable
scandal has been brought to
light concerning the use of
funds by the state highway de
partment and other state agen
cies. But, how does Governor
Griffin explain all of this? Bven
though the state auditor is two
months late in making an an
nual report and leading Geor
gia newspapers are making
charges in print about the cor
ruption in his administration,
Governor Griffin says there is
nothing to it. It's just a lot of
propaganda stirred up by the
NSACP folks who want to dis
credit his administration be
cause of his strong stand for
segregation. It seems that the
people of Georgia, who have
swallowed a lot in their time,
about have their craw full.
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward thro?h
the ffles of Tbe Prw I
50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
W. R. Bulgin has been reap
pointed postmaster at Cullasaja.
His four years were out in Aug
ust. He has renewed his bond
and expects his commission this
week for four more years.
Some of the visiting attorneys
who attended court here last
week were Walter E. Moore and
Felix Alley, of Webster, Jos
eph Hooker, of Dillsboro, and J.
D. Mallonee, of Murphy.
Bas Jacobs, who has been in
Wyoming several months, reach
ed home Thursday evening.
25 TEARS AGO
Mr. F. N. Johnson and daugh
ters, Hallle and Launa, of
Clarkesville, Ga., were visiting
here last Sunday.
Attorney Dover Fouts, of
Burnsville, was in Franklin
Wednesday bn legal business.
Mr. J. B. Carringer, of Mur
phy, is attending court here
this week.
1* YEARS AGO
The Franklin Panthers closed
their season Thanksgiving Day
with a decisive 7-0 victory over
the Murphy Bulldogs.
Mr. and Mrs. Clifton Swafford,
of Charlotte, spent the Thanks
giving holidays with relatives
and friends In the Iotla com
munity.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Edwards,
of Douglas, Wyo., are visiting
Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Edwards at
Hotel Edwards.? Highlands item.
F. F. A. Chapter Holds
Turkey Shoot Wednesday
Members of the Franklin chap
ter of Future Farmers of America
held a turkey shoot among them
selves Wednesday of last week
Sharpshooters taking gobblers
home for Thanksgiving were Riley
Henry, Eston Cook, Huel Sorrells,
Ralph Allen, and Ralph Hall.