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Entered at Poet Offlce. Franklin. N. C.. ae aeoood due matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Preai
Franklin, N. 0. Telephone M
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Bomb Tests and Fatalism
Next to self-pity, the worst thing that can be
fall a man or a nation is to fall victim to fatalism ;
the feeling that things are going to happen, that
they are beyond control, and that, therefore, there
i& nothing anybody can do about them.
How far the United States has gone along that
road is illustrated by the attitude of most of our
government leaders about continued A and H bomb
tests.
There is only one point of disagreement about
the dangers of such tests ? there is disagreement
about how dangerous they are. Everybody admits
there is danger, from "fall-out" ? danger not
merely to those living today, but to unborn gener
ations. And for all anybody knows for sure, the
danger is terrible.
Yet most of us ? laymen as well as leaders ?
take it for granted we have no choice but to con
tinue to multiply that danger.
It's A Big Thing
So "Uncle John" Justice, when he held open
house the other day, served refreshments after all!
It was inevitable. In Macon County, it just couldn't
have failed to happen.
'"Uncle John", at 86, lives alone. He does his own
cooking. And so, when he announced plans for a
birthday open house ("Anybody that comes by and
wants to holler 'Hello, Uncle John', will be wel
come"), he explained he wouldn't attempt to serve
refreshments. (How keen his sense of humor still
is is illustrated by the confidential explanation he
gave The Press: "I get along all right eating my
own cooking ? but the dog died!")
/
The announcement about the Sunday open house
appeared in The Press on a Thursday. Came Sun
day, and some of the women of the Holly Springs
community showed up a little ahead of time ; they
were early, so they could spread out the refresh
ments for "Uncle John's" party, refreshments that,
?of course, included a birthday cake.
""A nice gesture", someone may say. "But why
an editorial about so little a thing?"
It is not a little thing! It's a'big thing! It's the
kind of thing that makes Macon County different
from many spots in these United States. It's the
kind of thing that prompted a Macon County na
tive, here recently for a visit after half a century's
absence, to remark :
t
"I hope you can keep your hospitality, your
neighbor! iness and friendliness, your willingness to
do a favor without thought of reward. . . . You
?don't find those things many places any more."
In many places, those things have gone out as
"progress" came in.
Does it have to lie that way? We don't think so.
And we'd add that the "progress" that takes such
a toll is no progress at all.
A Phoney
This newspaper is not strongly partisan in poli
tics. It seeks, instead, to praise what seems to he
good and condemn what seems to be bad, without
reference to which party is responsible.
The editor of The Press rarely has voted a
straight ticket ; and in 1952, he came very close to
voting for Eisenhower. He changed his mind only
when Mr. Eisenhower embraced, both literally and
figuratively, certain McCarthy-like Republican sen
ators.
But even if we were so partisan as to believe all
virtue resides in one party, all error in the other,
it is not our job to tell the people of Macon Coun
ty how they should vote in the November 6 gen
eral election. The decision is one for each voter to
make for himself.
It is our job, though, to point out, in politics as
in other fields, what seems to be hypocritical, or
phoney, or illogical.
Well, we think the platform the Republican na
tional administration is running on falls under one
or more of those.
It does, first of all, because it's just a little too
simple: "Peace, prosperity, progress". Very few
things, these days, are all that simple.
It does, in the second place, because the phrase
betrays a cynical low-rating of the motives of
American voters. It suggests that the majority of
Americans want peace ? at any price; that the
majority of Americans have as their chief interest
the making of money ? rather than the spiritual
values President Eisenhower .so often discusses ;
and that the American people are so unintelligent
as to confuse preservation of the status quo with
progress.
It does, finally, because the phrase just isn't quite
true.
Is what we have today peace, or merely an arm
ed truce? Has the United States, in the past four
years, really done anything constructive toward a
long-range solution of international problems?
Even so honest and objective an authority as Wal
ter Lippmann says that the President's chief con
tribution to peace has been his success in persuad
ing the American people to accept, one after another,
the accomplished facts brought about through the
initiative and/ruthlessness of the Communists ? a
divided Korea, a divided Viet Nam, a bottled-up
Nationalist China, a nose-thumbing from Egypt's
Nasser. Maybe this is the wise course, maybe it
isn't appeasement. But it is not peace.
And prosperity? True, a lot of the indices are
encouraging. But is a prosperity genuine when
such important segments of the economy are in
trouble as the farmer and the small business man.
Not only is the gap between what the farmer pays
and what he gets constantly being widened; the
small farmer is being as inevitably driven from the
land in this country as he was in Russia. And Dun
and Bradstreet reports failures among small busi
nesses is at the highest point since 1940 ? 11, 000 last
year, and 8,600 the first eight months of 1956.
And progress? It is quite possible that a "mid
dle of the road" course was exactly what was
needed the past four years. It is possible, following
the New and Fair Deals, that it was time to halt
for a while. Maybe that was what we needed. But
maintaining the status quo is not moving forward.
Mr. Eisenhower may be a great man. He un
doubtedly is a good man. And we do not question
his personal motives. But we think the platform
he's running on is a phoney.
Bouquet
Our best how to Mr. Preston J. Henn for some
thing that appeared in his Franklin Drive-In The
atre advertisement in last week's Press.
Beneath the Hollywood-produced illustration and
text ballyhooing the picture, "The Bad Seed", Mr.
Henn wrote the explanation that the picture was
"recommended for adults only because of the sub
ject matter". Th&i he added something he was
under no obligation to add: "This is not a sex pic
ture".
We like such honesty and decency. And we ad
mire the faith in people and the courage that led
him thus to repudiate the commonly accepted the
ory that the one thing all Americans are most in
terested in is sex.
"This is not a sex picture". In that sentence,
Mr. Henn paid the^ adults of Macon County the
compliment of assuming they really are adult.
Others' Opinions
(Opinion* expressed In this space are not necessarily those
_____ of The Press. Editorials selected for reprinting here. In fact, ?
are chosen with a view to presenting a variety of viewpoints.
They are, that Is, Just what the caption says ? OTHERS'
Opinions.)
Horsepower Vs. Horse Sense
(Philadelphia Bulletin)
Emphasis placed on horsepower In automobile advertising
was defended by car manufacturers at hearings this week
before a congressional group studying automobile and high
way safety. The defense was an attempt to answer the stream
of critical comment which had come to the group, urging
that safety rather than power and speed be stressed.
The increased horsepower of a car, according to the manu
facturers, makes it safer to drive by providing faster accelera
tion. But speed has not gone up at a rate comparable to
horsepower. The horsepower rating is obtained with an en
gine stripped of accessories, and much of the "200," "300" or
"400" never gets to the rear wheels.
This defense, however, does not answer thf criticism about
the emphasis which Is placed on speed, particularly In some
TV commercials. Speed needs no emphasis, for the difficulty
with most drivers today is their inability to hold a car down
to what is safe and reasonable. The rattles and shakes which
told a driver years ago when he was going at a high rate
are no longer present, and the smooth riding of the present
car puts the speedometer above 50 almost before the driver
knows it.
Emphasis on the correction of poor driving habits and on
safety would be far more in keeping with the needs of the
time.
Of Press Photography
(Greensboro Daily News)
There Is a great deal to be said on both sides of this argu
ment over the freedom of press photography.
Currently the argument Is boiling over a Pennsylvania de- '
clslon in which the Keystone State Supreme Court upheld
conviction of seven newspapermen for contempt and declared
that a court's dignity and orderly administration of Justice
take precedence over freedom of the press.
That last declaration Is not what the Bill of Rights says. It
offers another Illustration to emphasize that the Constitution,
generally written in clear, simple and understanding language,
Is no more than what the judiciary says it is.
We agree that the dignity of the courts must be maintained
and that judges have a right and a reason to act upon what
happens In their presence. But court business is still public
business; and the public has a right to see as well as to hear
and read what is going on. There must be, however, a limita
tion to the courts' arbitrariness. The right of an Individual to
privacy and protection when he is in the custody of the state
is also recognized. Public respect for the courts, upon which
administration of justice ultimately rests, Is hardly heighten
ed by judicial clamping on of the lid. ?
In the Pennsylvania case at point we shall not argue stren
uously about the court's right to ban pictures in the court
room. An accused person, whose innocence Is assumed until
conviction, Is due greater protection than a prisoner who has
been convicted. Taking and printing of the latter's picture is
no more than he should expect; it may be a deterrent to
crime by others. There is a vast difference, however, between
taking pictures in the courtroom itself, as one of the Penn
sylvania justices pointed out in a dissenting opinion, and in
courthouse corridors. Yet it was in a corridor that the pictures
of a convicted slayer which brought on a contempts citation
were taken.
Surely there ought to be a reasonable middle ground in
which both the dignity of the court and the rights of press
photographers and the public are recognized. The Dally News
frankly admits that press photographers in Its opinion at
times overstep their rights and disregard decency and per
sonal rights in their overzealousness or on orders from city
desks which after all have the authority of assignment and
the responsibility to pass upon every picture which is taken.
The worst example we have seen of such indefensible action
occurred within the past fortnight right here In North Caro
lina. Some photographer had the effrontery and indecency
to push forward and take a closeup of the Sampson County
grieving woman, whose six children had been slain by a father
who then committed suicide, as she was helped by two mor
tuary attendants to the funeral car which was transporting
her to the cemetery. For that sort of photography we have
no stomach whatever; yet it was moved on a press-association
telephoto wire and at least one North Carolina paper front
paged it.
The courts Indeed have their limitations upon banning
photographers. But so do the newspapers, and they'll be in
better position to criticize the courts when they meet them.
So far as we are concerned, personal grief or suffering falls
in the indefensible category.
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By WEIMAR JONES
In little newspaper offices
and back shops, from one end
of North Carolina to the other,
there is sadness.
For the non-daily newspaper
group has lost its most distin
guished member.
Not by death ? Miss Beatrice
Cobb Is very much alive; but by
growth. The almost inevitable
has happened ? Miss Cobb's
twice-a-week Morganton News
Herald has grown up into a
daily.
The non-daily folks are hap
py. of course, that Miss Cobb's
field has so grown as to de
mand a daily; they are proud
(though not surprised) that
Miss Cobb and .her associates
were ready, when the time
came to expand; and they are
glad for Miss Cobb,- and the
state, that her newspaper's use
fulness is to be expanded.
But, somehow, it won't seem
quite right, when non-daily
folks get together at press
meetings, for Miss Cobb to be
at the other end of the corri
dor, with the publishers of
dailies.
Her example, though ? not
In going daily, but during all
the years she was in the week
ly, and then the semi-weekly,
field ? surely will be accepted
by us on the little newspapers
as a challenge.
Because Miss Cobb has proved
a lot of things for us. She has
proved that there need be no
"a" in the term "weekly" news
paper. She has proved that the
size of the paper or of the town
has no relation to the bigness
of the person on the little paper
and in the little town; for she is
known in almost every corner
of the world, and wherever she
is known she is respected ? and
if she's known well enough, is
loved. Finally, they'll remember,
as they sigh in regret, then go
back to their beats and their
typewriters, that Miss Cobb
never has, and will not now,
confuse mere quantity with
quality.
And so, as "Miss Bea" moves
into her new and expanded
field, we on North Carolina's
little newspapers say heart
ily, albeit a little sadly, a word
that means a lot more than
Just good-bye ? fare well.
VIEWS
By
BOB SLOAN
Regardless of what Mr. Elsen
hower thinks or says, Adlai
Stevenson was right when ha
told the American public that
"the dust or fallout from the
hydrogen bomb cannot be swept
under the rug".
Failure at the President to
acknowledge the seriousness of
this problem, because it was
brought to the attention of the
public by a political opponent
rather than by him, or a mem
ber of his administration, Is a
sign of littleness.
Also, both Mr. Elsenhower's
and Mr. Nixon's cries that the
plan proposed by Mr. Steven
son would weaken our defense
are pure political talk.
For the present, we would
not reduce our present supply
of H bombs nor stop making
them.
Incidentally, our supply of
of these terrible weapons Is
much more adequate than our
potential to deliver them.
The net result of Mr. Steven
son's proposal Is that the Unit
ed States, and Great Britlan
and Russia, we hope, would
cease to place In the air a
poison so new and so deadly
that Its full effects to mankind
are not yet known. Fully cog
nizant of the fact that Russia
might violate her agreement,
Mr. Stevenson pointed out that
we could resume tests if other
nations did. And both Mr.
Stevenson and Mr. Elsenhower
have acknowledged that an H
bomb cannot be exploded any
where in the world without de
tection.
Proof of the seriousness of
this grave problem, is the fact
that scientists from all over the
country have endorsed Mr.
Stevenson's program.
Perhaps It is pure coinci
dence, but the same paper
which carried an account of
Mr. Stevenson's proposal car
ried the announcement of the
death of a prominent scientist
caused by EXPOSURE TO
ATOMIC RADIATION EIGHT
OR TEN YEARS AGO.
* ? *
Every Macon County citizen
has special reason to come out
and vote in the election this
November. For the second time
in history Macon County has a
native son on the state ticket.
The widely respected, popular,
and able, George Patton is a
candidate for Attorney-General
of North Carolina. I feel that
Republicans should join the
Democrats to give Judge Pat
ton the greatest vote from Ma
con County ever received by any
state candidate. C. E. Hyde is
the man opposing Judge Pat
ton. Who from Macon County
thinks this man is more able
and capable than Judge Pat
ton?
i 1
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press)
50 TEARS AGO 'ISIS WEEK
W. R. Roland writes from.
Verden, Okla.: "This is beauti
ful country, with fine lands.
The lands make from 45 to 60
bushels of corn to the acre.
Corn is worth 31 cts., flour 50
cents, per quarter sack, and all
groceries are cheap enough, but
dry goods are high."
R. L. Bryson, the shoe drum
mer of Sylva, was here yester
day trying to induce our mer
chants to buy before the winter
snows come.
A crowd of Franklin young
people enjoyed a "tacky party"
at Mr. W. J. Zachary's Friday
evening.
25 YEARS AGO
Franklin high school's athle
tic field, the donation of Mrs.
H. O. Cozad, was graded and
drained this week to make the
ground suitable for outdoor
athletic purposes, including a
football field.
R. D. Sisk, Franklin attorney,
made his third hole-in-one
Sunday afternoon on the Frank
lin golf links. Only one other
player, C. S. Brown, manager of
the Scott Griffin Hotel, has
been lucky enough to get a
hole-in-one on the local course
this year.
10 TEARS AGO
Two British war brides of Ma
con County men have arrived
here to join their husbands.
They are Mrs. Woodrow Zim
merman and Mrs. Marshall
Jones.
The Franklin Red Panthers,
after three straight wins, lost
to Andrews, 14-7, in a hard
fought contest Friday night.