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Entered at Poet Office, Franklin, N. C., as second class matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
Franklin, N. C. Telephone 24
WBHCAR JONES . . . .
, BOB 8. SLOAN ....
J. P. BRADY ....
MBS. ALLEN SILER .
MBS. MARION BRYSON
CAT P. CABE ....
RANK A. STARRETTE . .
O E. CRAWFORD . . .
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?AVID H. SUTTON . . .
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THURSDAY, MAY 17
A Question For Three
In the Democratic primary election May 26,
voters will select a nominee for this county's rep
resentative in the General Assembly ; then, in the
general election in November, the people of the
county will choose between the Democratic and Re
publican nominees.
After they have made their choice, how would
the people feel if the governor or the state supreme
court should decide that the people had made a
poor choice, and appointed someone else? That, of
course, would be the very reverse of democratic
government ; it would be so alien to democratic
tradition that it is inconceivable that it, could hap
pen.
Yet exactly that can happen in the case of an
?equally important office, membership on the county
!board of education !
Under the state law, members of the board of
education are nominated in the Democratic pri
mary, but are appointed bv the General Assembly.
The law says the Assembly "shall" appoint those
nominated, but it provides no penalty for failure
to obey that provision ; so occasionally the Assem
bly ignores the wishes expressed at the polls, and
appoints a board of its own choosing.
'That is a bad law, of course. It is bad in that it
-disfranchises Republican voters in the choice of
- those who are to direct the schools attended bv
children of both Republicans and Democrats. And
it is bad because there is no more reason for the
?General Assembly to appoint county boards of edu
cation than for it to appoint sheriffs, or clerks of
v court, or registers of deeds.
Two wrongs, though, do not make a right; and
because we are operating under a bad law is no
excuse for compounding the wrong.
The point is not whether the legislators' motives
are good or had, when they appoint their own
boards of education, nor even whether they select
better hoards than the voters. The point is : Are
the people going to .select their own officials, all
the time, or only when their choices meet with the
approval of somebody in Raleigh?
That is a very important point. And so The Press
directs a plain question to the three men running
for the Democratic nomination for representative:
If you are nominated and elected, will you, or
?will you not, appoint to the board of education
the men selected in the primary election?
We think the people are entitled to straight-for
ward answers to that question from the three can
didates, Mr. Finger, Mr. Houk, and Mr. Sorrells.
The columns of next week's Press ? the last be
fore the primary ? are open for their replies.
Refreshingly Different
It is gratifying to learn, from a letter on this
page, that a group of Macon County school chil
dren, visiting the state capital, drew praise for their
?good manners.
It is a commentary on our times that courteous
behavior should be so rare as to be refreshingly dif
ferent : for good manners arc nothing more nor less
-than thoughtfulness and consideration of others.
Though there is no course in that subject, cour
tesy should be ? and, here, it evidently is ? taught
in the schools. The first and lasting lesson, though,
is learned in the home ? children absorb considera
tion of others from seeing it shown by their par
ents.
You and I cannot control what happens in Ral
eigh or San Francisco or Boston ; we can what hap
pens in Macon County. And it is up to each of us
to see to it that good manners never become un
usual here.
Profoundly Revealing
"You can rest assured I am not looking for any
den mothers for these recruits platoons."
i
So spoke the Marine Corps' new inspector
general of recruit training. The pronouncement
came after a few hours' visit to Parris Island, the
scene, a month earlier, of the swamp death march
on which six recruits were drowrfed.
This remark, by Major General David M. Stroup,
would hardly he classified as profound ; it may,
however, be profoundly revealing.
For it suggests (a) worship of "toughness" as a
virtue in itself ; and (b) something ail-too common
in the armed forces ? contempt for the civilian and
all his works.
Both attitudes are essentially adolescent. For in
variably the bully is the person who hasn't grown
up. And just as invariably it is only the immature
who are tolerant of no group but their own.
i
Incidentally, the determination of .some ? not
all ? military authorities to maintain toughness
may be the chief reason for the constant lowering,
during the past decade, of the draft age. Probably
it is not so much lack of physical stamina that
makes an adult ? of, say, 28 ? a poor recruit as
the intellectual and emotional maturity that leads
him to resist indoctrination in adolescent attitudes.
Conversely, the fact that the military gets most of
its recruits from the adolescent age-group may ac
count for the readiness of so many servicemen to
defend toughness ? they were indoctrinated with
an adolescent idea while still adolescents. It is a
little like the college hazing of another era; the stu
dent who was hazed most severely as a freshman,
a year later, as a sophomore, was the most enthu
siastic advocate of hazing.
Den mothers on a military post? Obviously not!
But equally obvious is something O. J. Coffin
suggests in the Greensboro Daily News : As a rule,
if the boys "make good marines, it will be mostly
due to what they learned from their mothers".
Then Mr. Coffin adds this sound comment :
"General Stroup and all other Marine Corps
commanders should somehow be made to realize"
that "sons are still reared to be soldiers, if and
when the need occurs ; but they are sons first and
soldiers second."
Toughness is iiistified in'the name qf discipline.
And of course there must be discipline in the armed
forces. But discipline and toughness, as the latter
term is used bv the military ? toughness that
sometimes approaches brutality - ? are not the
same things ? as advocates of toughness could
quickly learn, if they would take the trouble to
look up the definitions of the two.
The word "discipline" comes from the same root
as "disciple".
Bouquet
Flowers to Mr. Dean Henson, the director, and
members of the cast of "Rest Assured", the play
presented by the Dramatic- Club of i:he Franklin
High School, Friday night at East Franklin School.
It was a creditable performance.
Perhaps the best way to say just how creditable
is to point out that interest in such 'amateur per
formances usually is tied to personal interest in the
individuals taking part. ("Isn't Jim, or Mary,
good?") But Friday night the audience often for
got it was the Jim or Mary they knew and became
absorbed in the characters Jim and Mary were por
traying.
? Letters
i
Union Students Win Praise
Dear Weimar: ,
Raleigh, of course, Is accustomed to seeing groups of school
children visit the Capitol and the other points of Interest
here. Her citizens adopt a rather hopefully skeptical attitude
about the behavior of visiting students, remembering experi
ences In which the visitors were discourteous, If not worse.
Whenever a tradesperson or a state employe remarks upon
the good behavior of a group, It is refreshing; particularly
this Is true when you can adopt some of the flavor of the con
duct which is remarkable by Its being unusual.
A recent week-end, ( Prinplpal Art Byrd and Mrs. Byrd
brought about thirty of the young people from the Union
Elementary School to Raleigh for a visit. From the time they
arrived until they had eaten their last meal, this group re
ceived favorable comment from restaurant owners, hotel peo
ple, guides, the capltol steward, the butler at the Governor's
mansion, and many others, about their attentiveness, courtesy,
and excellent behavior.
Raleigh has seen many similar groups, but Raleigh especi
ally enjoyed having this fine delegation from .Macon visit
here. I know that the parents and teachers will be especially
pleased to know that these representatives from our county
have captured the good wishes and appreciation of the people
of Raleigh.
V
All of the Maconites here are proud of these young people,
and extend a cordial invitation to any group which will up
hold the fine pattern these Union students set.
Raleigh, N. C.
G. A. JONES, JR.
Views Of A Marine
Editor, The Press:
First, I would like to thank yon for the article In The Press
a couple of weeks back, "Who's Responsible". That Is the best
comment I have read concerning S/Sgt McKeon, drill In
structor of Platoon No. 71 here at Parris Island.
I have been stationed here two years and 111 probably spend
my last 12 months down here, as much as I hate to. The
normal tour of duty at Parris Island is two years, but you
can hardly find a man down here who hasnt been down here
at least 30 months.
I guess some of the people have wondered why they don't
just go ahead and give Sgt. McKeon the "shaft" and get it
over with. Sure, the 9 o'clock coffee drinkers have hanged
him a dozen times haven't they? I would like to ask you (the
readers) this."What do you know about the drill Instructors of
Parris Island?" Sure, you know about one of the unfortunate
ones. I know them pretty darn good. I work with them. How
many people who aren't in service prut in 19 hours hard work
every day? Very few! That's the average working hours for
the average drill instructor here on the Island. Up at 4:30
a. m. Shave and then get the skin-heads up. Go to chow at
5:30 a. m., fall out for drill. School on military subject, rifle
classes, day after day. Noon chow and back at it. Then eve
ning chow and back to the barracks for his evening review
with the men. Taps at 10 p. m., but not for the D. I. (drill
instructor), he's up shining shoes, brass, and ironing uni
forms so he can set a good example every day for his men.
I would like to leave you with this question: "How many of
you would like to take the places of some of these drill ln
instructors here at Parris Island?"
The big political leaders have the pressure on their subject
this electlonyear. Don't be one of the followers who condemn
these men, just think what you would do ?n case you had to
train street walkers, pool sharkles and every day high school
boys to be marines, something to live up to, brother.
PFC. DAN W. ANGEL
U. S. M. C., Parris Island, S. C.
Here in Western North Carolina is an ideal spot for handi
craft work and when I say handicrafts, I mean honest, well
made products which are typical of this region and its people.
I do not mean shoddy, worthless pieces which can quickly be
copied by some Brooklyn factory.? Governor Luther H. Hodges.
New Bedford (Mass.) Standard- Times
Segregation 'Mess' That Ike Deprecates Should Have Been Foreseen
In two recent press confer
ences President Eisenhower dis
cussed the school segregation is
sue in the South, saying this is
"a time when we must be pa
tient" and try to avoid "a tre
mendous fight that Is going to
separate Americans and get
ourselves into a nasty mess."
Unfortunately, the "mess"
which the President deprecates
already exists and should have
been foreseen, when, under
White House pressure, the ? Su
preme Court reversed the law
of 60 years standing with ref
erence to school segregation in
the South.
Several cases Involving alleged
discrimination against Negroes
in Southern schools were pend
ing In the Supreme Court when
former Governor Warren be
came the new chief justice. The
views of the President against
segregation were well known, as
may have been those of Chief
Justice Warren. But to make
doubly sure the Supreme Court
made the "right" decision, the
President instructed Attorney
General Brownell to appear in
the case, as a "friend of the
court," urging desegregation.
Two important provisions of
the Federal Constitution are In
volved in the desegregation de
cision. The 14th Amendment,
approved in 1868, forbids any
state to "deny any person with
in its jurisdiction the equal pro
tection of the laws."
The other provision of the
Constitution directly affecting
the desegregation problem is
that one which specifically says,
"The powers not delegated to
the United States, by the Con
stitution, nor prohibited by it
to the States, are reserved to
the States, respectively, or to
the people."
Under the former provision of
the 14th Amendment, no state
could discriminate between Ne
gro citizens and whites with
reference to schools or other
wise. Under the second provi
sion, the 10th Amendment, con
trol of the schools was specific
ally reserved to the states, as
not having been delegated to
the Federal Government.
Obviously, under the 10th
Amendment the South had the
undisputed right to control its
schools, unless its policies vio
lated the 14th Amendment for
bidding discrimination between
Negroes and whites. For 60
years the Supreme Court had
ruled the 14th Amendment re
quires "equal" school and other
facilities, but not identical; in
other words, schools and other
facilities "may be separate, but
must be equal."
The Warren decision, which
the President now faces with
pleas for patience, destroyed the
school formula of the South, a
formula under which admitted
ly the Negroes of the South and
the South had made steady and
peaceful progress for more than
half a century.
In a windy decision by Chief
Justice Warren himself, the
chief justice said in effect, "The
very fact of segregation con
stitutes discrimination, gives
the Negro a sense of inferior
ity, etc."
That this is untrue is evi
denced by the fact many of the
leaders of the Negroes in the
South and the North, including
many of the Negro school teach
ers of the South, not only feel
no Inferiority as a result of
segregation, but object to at
tempts to force desegregation
upon either Negroes or whites.
Though the President may
not himself have been influ
enced by political considera
tions, the Warren decision was
heavily weighted with politics.
Leaders close to the President
undoubtedly told the President
desegregation, lf accomplished
during his Administration,
would go a long way toward
winning back the Negro vote of
the North. This vote had been
lost to the New Deal of the
Roosevelt-Truman era.
Not only was such a purpose
highly improper, but it has not
and it will not work. For one
thing, there is no segregation
problem in the North ? for there
is no segregation. For another
thing, the Negro vote, to what
ever extent it was and is Demo
cratic, is influenced by the New
Deal philosophy, which only can
be cured, if at all, by the proc
ess of education, a process
which has been rudely struck
down in the South by the re
cent Supreme Court decision.
Another equally Improper con
sideration which is thought to
have been Influential in the
Supreme Court's "political de
cision" is that there was think
ing emanating from the State
Department that "desegrega
tion" would eliminate Com
munist-inspired criticism of the
United States in India and oth
(See Back Page, 1st Section)
VIEWS
Br
BOB SLOAN
Each February and March that
-oils around brings a new case of
iconomlc blues singing from local
nerchants. It is our let down time
jf the year. But nearly always
)y mid-May we have bounced back
md are rolling along in high gear
vith our eyes on new goals. It
loesn't seem to me that such is
lie case this year. ?
Here are a few straws in the -
wind.
I have heard more comment
:oncerning how difficult it was
?o collect back accounts than I
lave heard since going to work
'or the paper in 19^7.
Last year those advertised . for
;axes by the town of Franklin
lumbered 36; as compared to 46
Shis year. The number is small
>ut that Is an Increase of roughly
Ms percentagewise.
Recently a local contractor told
ine that he had the smallest
unount of Work In sight for the
'uture that he had had in three
rears. Generally speaking this
;ime of year you can't even get
uiyone in the building business
a stop long enough to speak to
rou.
Van Raalte has been on part
lime production now for about
six months.
Several filling station operators
lave told me that there Is less
tourist travel now than they have
seen at the same time of year
for several years.
Here is hoping that this doesn't
nean that retrenchment time has
:ome yet, but we should all keep
n mind that it is coming sooner
jr later.
? * *
There are many different types
jf segregation. To me some seem
more justifiable than others. One
that has never made particular
sense to me is segregated seating
in the busses and trains. If a man
buys a ticket on a bus or any
public conveyance he should be
ible to pick his seat on a first
:ome first serve basis. No differ
ence has ever been made in the
rate charged:
Proof that "fictional prejudice"
Is the only factor that has stood
In its way in the past was found
recently in Richmond, Va? where
the tras company posted signs that
(See Back Page. 1st Section)
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press)
50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Mr. W. H. Shanck's new
brick machine has been busy
for several days past. It worked
nicely and makes very nice
bricks. A kiln of 80,000 will soon
be ready for burning.
?
Henry Angel went to Bryson
City Saturday, there to Join his
brother, W. E. Angel, and to
gether they go this week to
Oregon and later to the State
of Washington.
A telephone message received
Saturday informed The Press
that the first Tallulah Falls
Railway train crossed the state
line Friday at the Locust Post,
and entered Macon County
from the south. It was a work
train, but it was a train all the
same. The dream of more than
a half century has been real
ized.
25 YEARS AGO
Dr. O. F. Schefflin, of West
Palm Beach, Fla., has returned
for the season to his summer
home. ? Highlands item.
Police Chief Bob Henry an
nounced this week that begin
ning Monday of next week he
would enforce strictly the town
ordinance limiting parking on
Main Street in the business dis
trict to one hour.
Misses Aileen and Tilda War
ren, of West Asheville, have
been visiting on Ellljay.
10 YEARS AGO
A Macon County post of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars will
be iftstituted at a meeting at
the court house at 7:30 p. m.
Friday of this week. J. D. Cole,
district commander, will present
the charter.
Mr. and Mrs. Julian Zoellner
have moved to an apartment on
West Main Street. Mrs. Zoellner
has accepted a position in
Highlands Drug Store, and Mr.
Zoellner is with the Highlands
Electric Company's force of
electricians. ? Highlands item.
Peter Wendel Keener, of the
U. S. Marines, who has Just re
turned from northern China re
cently, visited his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. W. A. Keener.