Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Dec. 22, 1955, edition 1 / Page 2
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dh t Iflntttklrit ^ rrss nttft (Eke Mighlanbs jMntanian Entered at Poet Office, Franklin. N. C.. as second class matter Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press Franklin. N. C. Telephone 24 DECEMBER 22, 1955 Christmas, 1955 In the okl days, a strong nation simply took what it wanted from its weak neighbors. Usually without debate or warning. Then came diplomacy. Nations sought to attain their ends by peaceful means, by negotiation. But diplomacy relied on an alternative: the strong nation always could resort to war. Now President Eisenhower ha> publicly declared that modern war is so terrible it has ceased to be an alternative. All we have left is diplomacy ? with out its club. Meanwhile, we have lost our monopoly, first on -the A-bomb and now on the H-bomb. Mean while. too. the Russians are said to be outstripping us in scientific education. Finally, the Russians ap pear to be winning the contest for men's minds: to mighty China it now is adding the Near Hast. Furthermore, the totalitarian Communist block has two intangible but tremendous advantages over the west; it is net handicapped, as we are, by the divisions inevitable in a democracy, nor is it halted by the inhibitions t'iat accompany the moral sense. ? * V Perhaps the Communist dictatorship will disinte grate. Maybe the people will revolt. Possibly the Communist leaders will change. Well, the Russian government survived the death of Stalin. We've entertained the vain hope of revolt for a generation. And "the spirit of Geneva" was dead within weeks ? and proved to have been a mask while it lived! ? * * * Is it just a question of time, then? With war ruled out (and the winners of an atomic war would have conquered a barren world!), must we ulti mately submit or be destroyed? There is one possible alternative. We might try Christianity. (We never have.) Just as men really pray only when they become desperate, so they try religion only when every thing; else has failed. This is not to suggest we disarm overnight. But we might, as a beginning, shift our emphasis. We might put our first reliance on the spirit that is Christianity, with physical force relegated to a dis tinctly secondary position. Such a shift \<ould put us on a different plane from the Russians; it would give us a spiritual strength to counterbalance the many advantages posessed by our enemies : it would arm us with a weapon the Communists do not understand ? and that, therefore, would be terrifying to them. Visionary? Idealistic? Impractical? It is the paradox of two thousand years that *ien have failed to see that its practicality is Chris tianity's most obvious characteristic. Tt is the one really workable technique in human relations yet devised, and of course it is so workable and so uni versal because the technique is the mere outward symbol of a spirit that transforms ? -and is con tedious. " v Money Pinch May Do It Sometimes economics will change what neither righteous indignation nor straight thinking seem to affect. That isn't a very flattering commentary on kuman nature, hut it's true. The combination of prisons and highways in North Carolina may prove to he an instance. We've hired experts to study the set-up, under which roads and prisons are lumped together for administration, and they've come up with the con elusion most North Carolinians probably had reached already ? it isn't right, from the viewpoint of the real purpose of prisons, and it isn't intelli gent, from the viewpoint of building and maintain ing roads. We've talked about it for years ? but nothing has happened. Now, however, as Mr. Ted Reber points out in his penetrating comments on this page, a situation has arisen that will make a lot of us feel the econom ic pinch ; road maintenance, right here in Macon County, is suffering ? because of the cost of prison ?peration. There just isn't enough money, we are told, in the State Highway and Public Works fund to do both jobs adequately, and so the roads are being neglected. Well. North Carolinians aren't going to tolerate anything that will interfere with their abil ity to travel, comfortably and speedily. So now we may do something about a setup that is both ^vrong and stupid ? separate the prisons from the' highways, spend highway funds for high ways, and appropriate enough money to adequately operate the prisons, toward their objective ? reha bilitation. V ? Letters Highways vs. Prison Costs Dear Mr. Jones: In a news item on the front page of your valued newspaper of last Thursday, our division engineer, Mr. C. W. Lee, of the State Highway Department, described Macon County as being in "bad shape" from the standpoint of road maintenance funds. To many of your readers, this article must have been surprising and rather bewildering, to say the least. In all fairness, let it be said, however, that the State Highway Department is in no way responsible for this puzzling condition. In my opinion, they are doing an excellent job with what they have to work with, and with one hand tied behind their back. Some rather surprising facts will be uncovered, if we take a look behind the scenes of this situation. For example, I wonder just how many citizens and taxpayers of Macon County know that the cost of keeping prisoners at the local prison cajnp is paid out of State Highway road maintenance funds for Ma con County ? and to the tune of $4.50 per day, per prisoner. In this regard, let me quote from a letter I received recently from Harry Buchanan, State Highway Commissioner for our 14th Division: "On July 1 of this year the cost of prisoners to the High way Commission was increased from $3.60 per day to $4.50 per day. Our maintenance funds in .Macon County were insuffi cient before this happened, and this has caused an additional expense of $50 to $60 per day in your county." Neither the Highway Commission nor the Prison Division are to blame for this obsolete set-up ? it's the law! The two should be disintegrated by the next Legislature. Yesterday, I talked with J. E. Cutshall, our local prison superintendent. He told me that they have an average of 60 prisoners, although there are 73 as of this writing. Sixty pris oners, at $4.50 per day each, amounts to $270 per day, or al (See Back Page, 1st Section) Si CRY OF I HE FIRST CHRISTMAS What Is Christmas? Christmas is the star on top of the tree. It is a carol in the night. It Is the gift of a cloak when a coat was was asked. It is gold, frankincense and myrrh to the needy, the humble and the sorrowing. It is a present of Truth wrapped in Beauty. It is "good tid ings of great joy" to a wicked, weary and incredulous world. Christmas is a stocking hung with Faith and filled by Love. It is homecoming, the orange glow of an open door on the blue snow shadows with well-remembered faces in the back ground. It is the night depository in which past-due payments are made on debts of friendship and love which have accumulated during the year. Christmas is an inspired insight into the joy of life at the core of the universe. Christmas is the candle in the darkness which no whirlwind can blow out. It is a song from a star, a halo In a stable ? The late William T. Polk long-time associate editor of The Greensboro Daily News. STRICTLY ? PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES Two-thirds of a century ago this was a tiny hajnlet, set on a hill, with perhaps a slightly larger number of the few fam ilies that made up the com munity living outside than with in the corporate limits. It was cut off from the rest of the world ? no railroad, no telephone or telegraph, and mails that sometimes didn't come till the next day, or even the next week; for roads, a slow-winding succession cf mudholes and rocks had to serve. And Franklin was poor ? t-.rr'bly poor, by today's stan dards; poor In everything ex cept the quality of its people. A vivid picture of the Frank lin of that day, and particu larly of Christmas here in the old days, is sketched in some lines written by Mrs. Lily Lyle Jones to her father, Dr. J. M. Lyle, Christmas, 1891. The ties of kinship; the big family gatherings; the money poverty (the gift referred to is said to have cost a qur.rter) ; the confusion of many children, accentuated by the noise of their Christmas fire-crackers, probably the one big extrava gance of the entire year; even iftar Jfot: 3 ;Brhtq Umt A ND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowl edge and of the fear of the Lord. But thou, Bethlehem Eph ratah, though thou be Uttle among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that Is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Behold, a virgin shall con ceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlast ing Father, The Prince of Peace. ? ? ? ?"THE angel Gabriel was sent * from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her. and said, 'Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lo?d is with thee: blessed art thou among women," And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, "Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, be hold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son. and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David : and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Then said Mary unto the angel, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" And the angel answered and said unto her, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her, who was called bar ren. For with God nothing shall be impossible." And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." And the angel departed from her. ? ? ? WOW the birth of Jesus Christ ' ' was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came to- ? Here is a man whu was born in an ob scure village. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never went to college. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accom pany greatness. Nineteen centuries have come and gone. Today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when 1 say that all the armies that ever marched; all the navies that ever were built; ail the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as power fully as has that one solitary life. ? Phillips Brooks. gether, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear npt to take unto, thee Mary thy Nvife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save the people from their sins" . . . Then Jos eph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not till she had brought forth her first born son: and he called his name JESUS. AND it came to pass in those "? days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. . . . And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Naz areth, into Judea, unto the city of David, whioh is called Beth lehem, (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espous ed wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them In the inn. And there were In the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, k>, the angel of the Lord came upon them; and the glory of the Lord shown around about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them. "Fear not; for, hehold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shep herds said one to another, "Let us now go even unto Bethle hem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying In a manger. And when they had seen It, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard It wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorying and praising God for all the things t!hat they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. ? ? ? MOW when Jesus was born In ' ' Bethlehem of Judea In the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, "Where la he that Is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east; and are come to worship him." When Herod the kin- ^ heard these things, he ?ub eVnd all Jerusalem wTto ".An<J when he had gatoSed oJ thf f, prl06ts and scribes the people together he dp =sv'?sH >? *T?SS, g 5? Wft S 3rjm ?"*e a Governor, that ch^n rule my people Israel 3" when he had priv J ' d 'he wise men inouir. thp?stthem dlllgently what time the star appeared. And he sent ? Go a? BethIehem' and saw Go and search diligently for the young child; and when 1 2?.n'?Sh:m i<? worship h(m a|^y conle an<1 ?f IF sijsywii young child was. When thev -eeXStea\h7oyrej?iCed ^ young child with Mary hi! mother, and fell down and wor shipped him: and wh?n 7hey had opened their treasures Presented unto hi m eittf ' gJb and frankincense, ^ And being warned of God in ?nto their SS way. And when they were df Parted, behold, the aneelrff t*~ Lord appeareth to Sh in ? JorVCji -hild to destroy Wm." yOUng en he arose, he tooir EHH rn8"? Lorri h 5. as spoken of the 2? ofWt wftasg th ItT Herod' when he saw S?SSi IS ,s?; - a which sought thp are dead Israel J:"6 land of dweif in 1 .f? he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that day's horseback mode of transportation ? all these are suggested. For this Christmas letter-in verse I am indebted to Mrs. W. M. Bryson, of Franklin, Route 5. She copied it from an old scrapbook and sent it to me the other day. GRANDPA'S GIFT Dear Pa, 1 wanted this Christmas to make you a gift; So I called on old "Santa" to give me a lift. He told me his sleigh was full to the brim, So I felt no uneasiness but left it to him. The day before Christmas he brought his sleigh round, And in all the great parcel just guess what I found. There were presents for women and no end of toys, # Dolls for the girlies and tops for the boys. I searched through his sleigh and I searched through his pack, That the picture folks tell us . always hangs to his back. But for fathers and grandpas I searched through in vain And could never a present worth naming obtain. And tomorrow is Christmas", said 1 with a tear, "And we all go to Grandpa's to bid him good cheer." At last when his patience kad clean given out And I was disgusted and ready to pout, He asked me if all of the chil dren would go To "Grandpa's", said I "Yes, certainly so". Then he counted them over, "Harry, Maggie and Paul. Gene, the two Lauras, Lyle, Willie and all." With Leona and Jimmie, Aunt Mary and Dan; And I know that he pitied in his heart the poor man. "Then" said he. "take this whip to your lather and give Him my very best wishes that long may he live To keep it and use it, for e'er the day's done He will wish I'd sent twenty in stead of just one. Xow if he gets tired of crackers and noise, tr~ir if A* ? ? ? *v mj quid me giris and the boys. v But tell him the children al) through the year. Count 'Grandpa's' and 'Christ mas' of all things most dear, And if for one day his patience they prove. In the end they will pay him With kindness and love." VIEWS l BOB SLOAN Franklin is losing out on one thing that most of the rest of the communities of Macon County are sharing in. Where is our community development program? Not only do we have great need for one, but there is something to be gained from the people in a community working together for the good of the whole that can be gain ed in no other way. Franklin, let's not miss out on this op portunity. * * ? A great deal is said against control of production and prices in agriculture, but the proof of a pudding is in the eating. Let's look at the situation here in Macon County. Dairy farming and tobacco are the two forms of agriculture that we have here where both the price you get for your commodity and the amount of production are con trolled to a certain extent. It seems to me that they are the two most dependable forms of income for a farmer here. Also it seems that those who have engaged in either of these forms of farming have not lost much of their independence or pride, two sins which are laid at the doorstep of controlled produc tion. Again, it is Christmas and again the Franklin Lions Club is sponsoring the Dime Board to raise funds to make sure that, if possible, every child in Macon County has a happy Christmas. This Is one of ' the finest projects we have. Proof is, that it has been operated year after year, and the people support it very generously. One of the interesting things about it is where the money comes from. It is given by children who have come to town with only a dollar to spend for a long list of family presents; from people, young and old, who have limited incomes, but who get pleasure from having an opportunity to contribute to making someone else happy at Christmas; from people of dif ferent races; from strong church workers and some who never go to church but within whom In some way the Christ mas spirit of sharing has found Its way.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Dec. 22, 1955, edition 1
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