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(Ehc Highlands Jftarmtinit
Entered at Poet Office, Franklin. N. C.. as second class matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
Franklin, N. C. Telephone 24
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Badly Frayed
There is widespread feeling that a happy sequel
has been written to the story of the two North
Carolina former prisoners of war who were denied
their POW compensation. The men arc going to
get their money. So the case has dropped out of the
newspapers, and within a few weeks most Ameri
cans will have forgotten it.
But is the sequel a happy one?
Is it a happy sequel even for Daniel Lewis Wheel
ess and Perry McDonald Walker, the Tar Heels
whose routine claims for $2,000 each ? for time
spent as enemy prisoners ? were first denied, and
now arc to be paid? For remember: the denial was
based on secret information that they had collab
orated with the enemy. That information remains
secret. So while they will get their money, the two
still have been given no opportunity to clear their
names.
Is it a happy sequel for the other 250 POW's
whose claims also have been denied, also on secret
information? The anonymous source that sent down
word that Wheeless and Walker would get their
money was silent about the other 250. So far as
anybody knows, their names, too, will remain
smeared ? and they won't even get their money.
(They didn't have the good fortune of Wheeless
and Walker, who hired the partner of a powerful
U. S. congressman as their lawyer.)
Is it a happy sequel for the cause of pood gov
ernment, and for those freedoms our government
was created to assure? The entire proceeding, time
after time, openly flouted the plain, basic mandates
of the Constitution of the United States. But has
there been any hint of repentance, any suggestion
the same thing won't happen again?
Is it a happy sequel for the thing the army was
trying to protect, internal security? Since it is vir
tually impossible for a person to disprove a charge
on which he is denied all details, presumably Wheel
ess and Walker have not disproved the charge ?
though they have vigorously denied it. Why. then,
isn't the secret information that was so damaging
before equally damaging today? If it proved these
two men collaborators then, doesn't it still do so?
Yet they are given their compensation!
Is it a happy sequel for. the standing of the armed
forces in public opinion? On a basis of secret infor
mation, the army said one thing yesterday ; with
identically the same secret information in the files,
the army, through the Foreign Claims Commission,
says the exact opposite today. The conclusion is in
escapable that the army has changed its mind, not
because it thinks it was wrong in the first place,
but because it finds itself unable to buck public
opinion and an aroused congress. The suspicion is
inescapable that the money was paid these men as
a patent, though perhaps indirect, bribe for silence
about their "rights".
Is it a happy sequel for you and me and other
nlain citizens"-'
Now that these two are to pet their money, most
of us close our eyes to the violation of their rights.
Isn't that a rather unhappy commentary on our
moral sense?
Isn't it a rather severe indictment of our indif
ference to freedom?
And isn't that indifference rather frightening evi
dence that, in the United States today, the slender
thread by which freedom hangs is, indeed, badly
frayed ?
Now that we've settled the primary problem of
who is to coach football at Carolina maybe we can
devote some attention to the secondary matter of
who is to be the University's president.
Symptom
Nobody would have believed it possible, in
Franklin. But it's happened:
Somebody stole from a nativity scene!
One of the spotlights used by the Franklin Gar
den Club to light the scene it puts up each Christ
mas, in the field just off Fast Main Street, at the
foot of the Town Hill, is gone.
Every circumstance makes the crime a shocking
one. First of all, the fixture cost only a few dollars: ?
its slight value suggests the temptation could not
have been great. Second, to steal from an organi
zation that unselfishly devotes its efforts to the
good of the whole community is a despicable sort
of thing. Finally, where* the theft occurred is im
portant ; to steal from a picturization of something
deeply sacred to millions is so low as to be incom
prehensible to most of us.
The incident is most significant, though, as a
symptom. Coupled with the recent breaking open
and robbery of a Lions Club container of funds for
the blind, it suggests a question :
Are we in this community losing something rare
and very preciovis, ? an almost universal honesty?
How nearly universal it is is illustrated by the fact
that almost nobody here (except newcomers) ever
thinks to lock a door.
That question raises another that every parent,
every citizen, needs to ask himself : How much at
tention is being devoted to teaching the difference
between what is mine and what is yours ? in the
homes, and the Sunday schools and churches, and
the schools of Macon County?
It is just possible there is a connection between
these incidents and the ever-growing number of
mothers of small children who work outside their
homes. If there is, then we're paying a terrifically
high price for a higher standard of physical living.
Others' Opinions
Definition
(Legion Monthly)
Home cooking: What more women should be!
Great Divide
(Greensboro Daily News)
Yet another indication of the vast chasm between white and
Negro customs in the South comes to light in Dr. Ellen Win
ston's report on illegitimate births in North Carolina last
year.
Of a total of 9,920 children born out or wedlock in the state,
8,320 were Negro. A vast portion of the State Welfare Depart
ment's Aid to Dependent Children allotments, therefore, goes
to mothers of these children, white and colored, thereby put
ting a cash value on degeneracy and making illegitimate
child-bearing a profitable undertaking.
~ Nobody~can properly~"allocate responslDility for this stat^^f
affairs in the South. A huge part of the blame stems from the
original horrors of slavery itself, perpetrated on the Negro by
the white man. He cannot relieve himself of the burden of the
Negro's degredation by casually pointing his finger.
Yet the vastness of the problem is enough to overwhelm
men of good will in both races. More than eight times as many
colored as white children were born in illegitimacy last year.
FORESTRY -U.S. A.
EVERYMAN*
EMPIPE
P0 VM KNOffnur W> OM A SUCMWUMW
WRIST LAND? TOO DO- YOffR SNARE OF IMC
NATIONAL FORESTS IS SUtiNTlV MORE IMN OMT
ACRE, ABOUT THE SIZE Of A FOOTBALL FIELD
waT55b
-war
rOPAGE
WILDLIFE
wrap* mmngm
YOUR ACRE, AICH6 WITH THOSE OFVOMZ
FEUOW AMERICANS. MAKE UP* PUBLIC FOREST
RESOURCE, PROVIDING MANY PRODUCTS MK>
SERVICES. truly, "every/wanS EMPIRE."
Yet North Carolina's Negro population is less than one-fourth
the white population.
Dr. Winston sees the problem as one for the "character build
ing organizations" of the state which "should be challenged to
increase their efforts to deal preventably with this problem."
Dr. Winston is right. North Carolinians, white and colored,
should confront the problem like so many others which some
times seem to overwhelm us in the field of race relations.
Basic Cause Of Accidents
(Chapel Hill Weekly)
"Vaughan's car failed to round curve and went into a ditch."
This is a sentence from the report of a fatal accident near
Durham last Sunday morning. ?
"Failed to round a curve," "left the road on a curve," "got
out of control and left the road." Phrases like these, with the
car the subject of the verb, as though the car were a con
scious agent, are seen every day in newspaper reports of acci
dents. What it means is simply that the driver was going at
dangerous speed. Of course he wasn't compelled to. He could
have gone more slowly if he had so desired. But, when you
view the whole frightful picture of automobile deaths and in
juries, it is not so far wrong as you might suppose to hold the
car responsible.
Every competent person and organization that has ever made
a thorough investigation of automobile accidents has come to
the conclusion that they are caused mainly by excessive speed.
And excessive speed is the result of the high power of auto
mobile engines.
If there had never been made a car capable of going over
forty miles an hour, millions of people killed would be alive
today, and more millions seriously injured would be whole and
well. Would people in general be any less happy if such a speed
limitation had prevailed? Would civilization be any less ad
vanced than it is? Answer these questions for yourself./
While the world continues to wring its hands in despair
over the killing and maiming, more and more power is put
into automobile engines. All the persuasion for more careful
driving, all the horrors laid before the eyes of newspaper
readers by photographs and realistic descriptions, all the urg
ing for better law enforcement ? all these do little good. With
the population including such a large element of inconsiderate,
stupid, and reckless people, the free use of the modern auto
mobile engine, with its tremendous power, cannot have any
other result than a terrible toll of deaths and injuries on the
streets and highways.
VIEWS
BOB SLOAN i
Farm policy will certainly be
one of the big topics of discus -
sion for the next several
months. Articles will be written
by many who are better Inform
ed on the subject and moch
more astute In giving or at
tempting to give a solution to
the problem than I. However, I
would like to make the follow
ing observation, concerning one
phase of the program that is
being advanced by President
Elsenhower
Years ago, as a means of
promoting better conservation
practices, Henry Wallace and
others advocated the develop
ment of a soil bank. Under this
program, farmers would bo paid
to retire from production a por
tion of the poorer land on their
farms. This land would then be
cared for according to praottea6
recommended by trained gov
ernment agents. As a ne&u at
promoting better conservation
practices, it had its merit. As
a phase of our economic sys
tem which will help adjust the
dropping farm income wtUi the
price rise on the commodities
the farmer buys, (Elsenhower's
purpose In advocating this), tt
may not work so well.
At least, it doesn't seem to
me that the small farmer, call
ed by Mr. Benson the sab
marginal man, will benefit. To
begin with, the amount they
would receive for retiring an
acre or two of their small tract
of land would be too small to
materially affect their economic
circumstances. On the other
hand, the large farmer, who
could possibly retire several
hundred acres from production,
would receive a substantial
check.
Actually, if put into being at
this time, it seems to me that
this will be nearly the final step
in eliminating the small farm
er for the benefit of the larger
producer. Whether he is, as Mr.
Benson says, sub-marginal, we
will do well to realize that since
the beginning of our country
this same man has been re
garded as the backbone, partic
ularly in times of stress.
Shall we now say to him:
"Economically, you don't pro
duce top production. Since the
pace is too fast for you, we are
going to kill you off and put
you out of your misery of tar
ing to keep up"?
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press)
50 YEARS AGO THIS WOK
Miss Margaret Bryson west to
Asheville last week to beoome a
trained nurse in the Mission
Hospital.
"Sandy" Munday sold six
head of mules to Mr. Looney
Zachary Monday. Mr. Zach&ry
will take them to his home in
middle Georgia.
The mail hack on the Dills
boro route broke down Monday
and the carrier came in pack
ing the mail bags and harness
on the two horses. Part of the
papers were soaked with rain.
25 TEARS AGO
A concrete bridge will replace
the iron bridge across the Lit
tle Tennessee River at Frank
lin on Highway No. 28 and 285,
James G. Stikeleather, District
Highway Commissioner, has told
county commissioners W D.
Barnard and C. H. McClure.
Messrs. Hoyt Ledford and
Raymond Dalrymple, of Frank
lin, spent the first half of the
week in Highlands. ? Highlands
item.
Messrs. W. T. Moore, FYank
Moody, and Walter Gibson re
turned last Friday, after a visit
of ten days In Crystal River ,
Fla.
10 TEARS AGO
Miss Mary Appley left Wed
nesday to spend some time In
Cocoa, Fla., visiting her grand
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Matlock, of Winston -Salem,
came in Sunday for a visit with
their mother, Mrs. James M.
Morrison, who is ill at her home
in the Oak Grove community.
Miss Sue Bryson, who is em
ployed in Tokoma Park, Md?
is spending several days rltittng
her grandparents, Mr and lira.
R. L. Bryson, Sr., at their home
on Totln Street
WALTER SPEARMAN
CAN A CHANGING SOUTH SAVE THE BEST FROM THE PAST?
What is "the Southern way
of life" ? and are we In danger
of losing it in this changing
South, 1955?
Realization of the enormous
changes occurring around us
today may bring increased re
sistance from those who abhor
change, so let us examine our
"Southern way of life" and see
what it really is.
Certainly the Southern way of
life Is more than saying "you
all," or liking turnip greens and
hominy, or being hospitable to
strangers, or keeping our wom
enfolk on a pedestal.
Two contrasting pictures of
the South were painted In
"James Street's South," In
which he wrote:
"Folks can't agree if ours Is
a land of moonlight or moon
shine, Tobacco Road or tobacco
factories, Texas Cadillacs or ox
carts, Uncle Remus or George
Washington Carver, Hugo Black
or Claghorn, hydrogen plants
or hot air, R. F. D. or TVA,
hospitality or hostility, violence
or tranquility."
Contrasts were also emphasiz
ed in W. J. Cash's somewhat
acid portrait In his book, "The
Mind of the South":
"Proud, brave, honorable by
its lights, courteous, personally
generous, loyal, swift to act,
often too swift, but signally
effective, sometimes terrible, in
its action ? such was the South
at its best.
"Violence, intolerance, aver
sion and suspicion toward new
ideas, an incapacity for an
alysis, an inclination to act
from feeling rather than from
thought, an exaggerated indi
vidualism and a too narrow
concept of social responsibility
. . . sentimentality and a lack
of realism ? these have been its
characteristic vices In the past."
Perhaps William T. Polk sum
med it up best in his new book,
"Southern Accent":
"The South was rural, agra
rian, easy-going, poor and proud
of its distinctive way of life.
Now it is becoming urban, In
dustrial, hard-working, compar
atively prosperous, and relative
ly standardized."
* * ?
What IS this Southern way of
life?
It is a life of the senses ? or
at least of these following
senses :
Sense of place. Even when a
Southern family leaves its plan
tation home to tenant farmers
or to the winds and the bats and
the owls, or when it allows Its
city home to be converted into
a boarding house, its roots are
still deep in Southern soil. This
fe?ling for a homeplace, so
strong in the stories of William
Faulkner and Eudora Welty,
underlies Southern thinking,
giving it a distinctive and per
sistent Southern flavor.
Sense of family. Where but In
the South would you talk about
"a first cousin once removed"?
And where can a Southerner
go in the South without soon
digging up either "kinfolks"
digging up either "kinfolks" or
"kinfolks of kinfolks?" Perhaps
anywhere else you wouldn't
even try. When a Southern girl
goes to her first big ball, why is
she always told to "remember
who you are"?
Sense of oneness. When two
Southerners meet anywhere in
the world ? New York, Paris
or Burma ? they immediately*
establish a contact that does
not depend upon their mutual
Southern accent. It depends up
on a shared past, born in the
suffering of the Civil War and
Reconstruction, nurtured in the
poverty of lean economic years
and cemented In a period of
outside criticism of the South.
Will this unity crack up under
the pressure of Industry, wealth,
a two-party system and disputes
over segregation?
Sense of proportion. In the past
the Southerner has known that
graciousness may be more ad
mirable than efficiency, that
personal satisfactions are pref
erable to money, that leisure
wisely employed Is better than
overwork. Will newfound wealth
disturb this old sense of propor
tion?
Sense of humor. Southerners
In New Orleans Item
feel there is a genuine place In
life for humor ? tall tales about
how Great-Uncle Ed outwitted
the Yankees or Cousin Ed
caught an alligator, Grand
mother's little family stories
with a humorous twist, amus
ing incidents out of Negro or
mountain or bayou folklore, or
just plain rowdy stories for the
country club porch or the
small-town Saturday night. Did
we learn to hide our poverty
and heart-break ? or do we just
relish a good story?
Sense of religion. The South
as a region has been known as
the Bible Belt for generations.
We Southerners have long gone
to church regularly to repent
our sins and see our friends.
But religion in the South has
become much less the advocate
of "pie in the sky bye and bye",
for which the churches in the
mill town and in the tents on
its outskirts were criticized
three decades ago.
The abundant life here on
earth is now regarded as a vital
concern of the church, in its
relation to housing, education
and other social aspects of
everyday life.
What we have we cherish.
What we are we do not want
to lose. So now the question
faces us:
Can we retain what Is good
from the Old South and still
profit, spiritually as well as
materially, from the blessings
of the New?