Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Jan. 5, 1956, edition 1 / Page 2
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Sit* Jflnmklnt tyrtss unit (Ike Jfatjmiftn EntwwJ U tat Office. PrankUn. N. C, aa aeeond claaa matter MUM ?!?) Thursday toy Tba PrankUn Pub PruUlu. N. C. Telephone 34 mm e. sloan Buainaaa J. P. BBADY MML ttlS Society Editor and ? t. OA BK . .... Ilnkulol SopnlaHMaBt ? w,*m 1 1 Shop Superintendent DATXD a. SDTPOM Commercial Printer a a CHAWPOBJD SUBSCRIPTION RATES Octsiu Macon CotnrrT Ik RISC Macom Cotmrr One Tear OJt Que Tear au Months ITS SIX Month* lA Ulna Mn?th? ljO* Three Mentha IJ9 DECEMBER 5, 1956 Badly ^Frayed Freedom hangs by a slender thread, always. In the United States today, the thread is badly frayed. Consider what happened to Daniel Lewis Whee less, of Rocky Mount, and Perry McDonald Walk er, of Mount Olive. The details of the incident are somewhat complicated ; what is involved is simple. Some people in Washington either never have read the Constitution of the United States, or they have no feeling for that document, and for the rights it enumerates ? save one of contempt. Consider, too, that, had these Tar Heels not chosen to fight, the country never would have heard of their cases, or of the similar cases of some 250 other former Korean prisoners of war. And consider that this is but the latest in a long series of such incidents that have come to light ? nobody knows how many nevef came to public at tention. Wheeless and Walker filed routine claims for the $2.50 the law grants servicemen for each day spent as enemy prisoners. In their cases, the amounts were about $2,000 each. (That means about 800 days for each in a Korean prison camp!) That was a year ago. For more than eleven months, nothing happened. Then, only three weeks before the deadline for getting Jheir claims approv ed or forfeiting them, the two learned the claims had been disallowed. The reason : "Secret" informa tion, furnished by the Army to the Foreign Claims Commission, that the two North Carolinians had collaborated with the enemv. t Wheeless an<l|Walker demanded a hearing before the commission. They were warned that they must .pay for their defense; they were told that the burden of .proof would be on them. They insisted. They finally got a hearing ? the last day before the dead line. They asked for the specific information on which the charge was based. It was denied them. They asked to face their accusers. That was denied. They asked for the names of their accusers. That. too. was denied. They were charged with treasonable collaboration, but were given no bill of particulars. The unsubstantiated general charge they denied emphatically, presenting their own evidence arid that of other witnesses. The point, of cours^, is not the long period these men spent in prisoner-of-war camps, nor the amount of monev involved. The point is not that the Army ? which had given them honorable dis charges and their back pay, and has been paying them compensation for physical disabilities suffer ed while thev were prisoners ? contradicts itself by denying this latest claim. The point is not that, fol lowing the hearing, word has come down that these two men will get their money. The point is not even whether they are guilty or innocent of colla boration. The point is that the Constitution of the United States, time after time, plainlv savs one thing, while the U. S. Army, via the Claims Commission, just as often, and just as plainly, says another. The Constitution says an "accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy, and public trial". The Army con victed these men on secret evidence, without semb lance of a trial, either speedy or public. The Constitution says no person shall be "de prived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law". The Army deprived these men of the $2,000 ? their "property", until and unless they ~"\were proved 1 guiltv ? without a vestige of "due process." The Constitution says an "accused shall be in formed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him". The Army said "no: this is 'secret' information," The Constitution says an accused shall "be con fronted with the witnesses against him". But again 1^? Army ?-M. "no". Revival AlonejNot Enough We had hardly finished observing "Safe Driving Day", an event proclaimed by the President of the United States and staged with all the dramatic trappings of modern psychology and modern ad vertising, before we set a new Christmas record of slaughter on the highways. "Safe Driving Day" was only the latest in a long list of similar events designed to obtain safety, through education and appeal to the emotions ? and we turned from it to killing 600 in a single week-end. That suggests that an old-fashioned revival meet ing, desirable as it may be, isn't enough, in the realm of highway safety. In North Carolina, we really have worked at this matter of highway safety. And in this state, we seem to have demonstrated (a) that speed is a major factor contributing to highway deaths; and (b) that enforcement of speed laws helps. It doesn't help enough, though, because the North Carolina toll still is so high that Govern or Hodges has declared the situation demands "something very drastic". The truth is that, human nature being what it is, a certain proportion of drivers are going to use all the speed available within their engines, and that it would take the entire U. S. Army to strictly en force the laws against excessive speed. Yet there is a solution ; one so simple and so ob vious, it is surprising it hasn't been invoked long ago. Speed, a major killer, can easily be curbed, at its source ? the automobile factory. Mrs. Horace Hurst Mrs. Mary Lou Gray Hurst possessed in gener ous measure the fine traits that are so common among the people of this mountain region. Quiet and unassuming, a person of great gentleness, she nonetheless could speak out positively when occa sion demanded. She was open-hearted, as well as open-handed ; and considerate, in the little things that loom so big in human relations. And she pos sessed the rare gift of being able to discriminate between the important and the trivial ? a gift en hanced. no doubt, by her keen, but always kindly, humor. v ;1 n Illustrating her sense of proportion was her em phasis on her duties as a mother; somehow, in a busy life, she found time for effective work in her church and her community, but these outside activ ities she always kept in their rightful place ? defi nitely secondary to her home. Xone of this is spectacular ; but it i.s significant. Mrs. Hurst's life, in fact, illustrates the point that all the great are not famous. For many of the so called great would have been greater had they pos sessed some of the common sense, the innate good ness. the stability of this woman who was hardly known outside her own count v. ? Letters Keep Forests Green Editor, The Press: Now that the fire season is here again, I wonder how much of our natural resources will go up in smoke from careless brush burning, a neglected campfire, or a careless smoker. North Carolina produces more wood furniture than any other state in the nation, and ranks sixth in the production of lumber. We also produce 5.3 per cent of its pulpwood. More than 91 per cent of North Carolina's commercial for est area is privately owned. Half of the state's forest land is owned by farmers. So let's everybody help keep our forests green. B M. SWEATMAN Route 1, Franklin. Must Face Desegregation Dear Mr. Jones: The segregation issue continues to boil with no sign of any significant easing of the tensions, or the tempers. We are all proud that this racial bitterness does not exist in serious mea sure in Macon County. One reason for this favorable condition is that we live in a section of the South where the Negro popu lation is small and where both groups have had friendly at titudes toward one another. However, ultimately we are going to have to face desegrega tion and do something about it. Will we be prepared to meet the issue intelligently and fairly when that time comes? As good citizens we want to do what is right for the best inter ests of all. Will we be intellectually and spiritually ready for such a task? This letter is to suggest that we discuss the implications of desegregation as fully as we can. No doubt many people in the Oar (Great America & | * Qrc? ni mxrt */si0kf ] <4ortrr * APAjrr. FU5ED MTO OHt TR\MK i /f**r po er i**ml . SACfMMOriO, CM.tr. AHV * X>5Tf?, mo., ee?At4 /ww* ??, i?bo. -Meiw ?ucm ffS? *iae*s fciim \*4\jt ML fa VaUOIP 5XARXE/ "STEATTIT, V*&{. HRftftJEP 8e*6ies -ro HUNT A?<lS . OW GOOQ R4/5 THE pO<S* FOOMP /OO BfiUS C^rMVURA CDllf6fcy OF 5>V.?5tlURy/ 14. C., SCORZT* im 89 coMSircOTrvt football >ro*T?* >f UHKX 9Q*r*T PfODVCrt WPDTWM, MC. town and county have Ideas that may be helpful and would certainly clarify our attitudes and thinking. We need this mu tual exchange. Possibly we can organize a "town meeting" to discuss and argue the issue. Or, perhaps we could select a rep resentative group from the organizations we have In Macon County to discuss this most timely and serious matter. If we can come to some level-headed conclusions we might well establish a basis for action. We might even become a help to other parts of the state facing the problem with bitterness. At any rate can we pool our resources to face the challenges and dangers of desegregation? Can we do it courageously and without prejudice? Can we reach fair and democratic conclu sions In regard to this issue and then act on them? Sometime we are going to have to answer such questions. We would be wise to do our studying now for that examination. Sincerely Franklin. (REV.) S. B. MOSS Others' Opinions Wouldn't You? (Pana, HI., News-Palladium) You'd think that a nation smart enough to produce H-bombs could provide a shoe string that wouldn't break. Why States Lose Their Rights (Burlington, N. J., Press) The states have lost many functions to the federal govern ment. They will lose more if they do not take a good look at themselves and cure some of their deficiencies. This message was brought by Meyer Kestnbaum, President Eisenhower's spe cial assistant on federal-state relations, to the American As sembly sponsored by Columbia University's School of Business. According to Kestnbaum the states handle many tasks which they should delegate to the cities. He said further that the states are not adequately equipped to perform their proper duties. They should give cities more home rule; redlstrict their legislatures so that they represent people and not acres; give their governors more power; and modernize their constitu tions. . . . The Carnegie Gospel (Peterborough, Canada, Examiner) The late Dale Carnegie's message was contained in his title: everybody ? well, almost everybody ? wants to be more per sonally powerful and successful than they are. The secret was simplicity itself; be friendly, don't argue and find fault, and never, never tell people that they are wrong. There is a good deal to be said for this technique, but as a philosophy of life it lacks substance. There is something cynical and opportunist about agreeing with people and buttering them up simply for what you can get out of them. And In order to carry out the Carnegie Gospel you must be very short of opinions of your own. You must be careful not to develop any convictions or principles for which you might feel It necessary to fight. You must take care not to develop any personality which might offend somebody, and you must be ready to swallow a good deal of dirt in the hope that, at last, it will prove to be pay dirt. Millions read the book; thank Heaven, few have acted on its counsel. Is This 'Free Enterprise'? (Harry Golden In Carolina Israelite) In Chester, South Carolina, the folks sold bonds in small denominations to the citizens of the community, $50 and $100 bonds, and they raised $150,000 with which they are now build ing a factory for a couple of Northern carpetbaggers, operating under the name of the Puller Shirt Company. I know nothing of the Puller concern and they may be fine people. However I do know of several fellows who did not put up a red cent of their own money but who were put Into busi ness by Southern towns ? in South Carolina and In Mississippi. No? a red cent of their own money. The people of the town gaye them a plant, wired the place for them, ? and one fellow ev^n got his help FREE for the first week while they were "Warning". 1fThat kind of free enterprise is that? And what will happen to the moral fibre of the Puller brothers and the other manu facturers? VIEWS ?r BOB SLOAN It has become quite the fash ion recently to designate tome year as the "critical yew." Everyone who knows roe, real izes that if there is anything that I strive for, it Is to be in fashion. 80 here goes. The year itefl will, I think, truly be a critical year. By the end of the year it will be ap parent ? If it isn't atrabdy from Khrushchev's recent spwch, whether or not there is even an ounce of intent behind Rus sia's peace propaganda speeches. I believe that it will be obvious to the rank and file of Amer icans that we were played for a sucker at the Geneva peace table. We will then try to de cide whether to spend millions more strengthening our de fenses or get compatible with the Idea that communism and capitalism can live side by side in something that I think is called peaceful coexistence. On the domestic front, either the American market will fin ally have become saturated with consumer goods and our economy will be sagging or our buying public will be absorbing production at a rate not be lieved possible a few years ago, except by some starry-eyed in dividual such as Henry Wal lace. Frankly, I believe that times, generally speaking, will be as good as they are at the close of 1955. In politics, Eisenhower and Stevenson will again square off against each other for the Pres idency ? may the best man win. Speaking of Henry Wallace, twenty-five years ago, he was advocating a soil-bank plan to meet the problems of agricul ture In our economic world. Now the Republicans are talk ing of one. During the thirties, he was "cussed" for wanting to slaughter surplus pigs to help the farmer get a better price for his pork. Today that staunch Republican senator, Bourke Hlckenlooper, of Iowa, suggests (See Back Page, 1st Section) Do You Remember? (Looking backward tbrou gb the files of The Fran) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK The roads are putting on tbeir usual winter costume? and that is bad wear ? and our mails are beginning to grow more tardy in arrival. The people of this section awoke Sunday morning to find the ground covered with snow to the depth of two or three inches, the first snowfall of this winter. It is somewhat remark able that the appearance of snow was delayed until the very last day of the year, as we usually have half dozen snow storms by this time of the year. Messrs. G. P. 'and John White, of Flats Township, were here Monday, the former to put his son, Charley, and the latter, his son, Lawrence, and daughter, Ada, in Franklin High School. 25 YEARS AGO Profs. O. F. Summer and F. C. Hentz arrived Sunday after noon, after spending the holi days in Pomaria, S. C. ? High lands item. Dr. W. A. Rogers, representa tive from Macon County, and Mr. Robert Patton left Monday for Raleigh. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hlgdon have moved from Diilard, Ga., to the house on Bidwell Street recently vacated by Dr. and Mrs. R. M. Rimmer. A square dance was given at the home of Fiddlin' Jim Cor bin at Mountain Grove on Tues day night, in honor of Mr. Cor bin's birthday. 10 YEARS AGO Miss Jean Keener has return ed to Atlanta to resume her business course, after spend ing the holidays with her par ents, Mr. and Mrs. T. M Keen er, on Flat Mountain. ? High lands item.. Bowden Dryman, who has been serving in the armed forces in the European theater for several months, has receiv ed his honorable discharge and has returned to his home near the Cozard Roller Mill Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Mieike and son. Charles, who have been visiting relatives and friends in Pittsburgh, Pa., have returned to the home of Mrs. Mielke's mother, Mrs. Martin Jones, on Bonny Crest.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Jan. 5, 1956, edition 1
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