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71st Year ? No. 51 SECTION A Franklin, N. C., Thursday, December 20, 1956 Price 10 Cents Twenty-four Pages
1
merry
Christmas
, Monday Sets New Record
At Franklin Post Office
Christmas hit the Franklin
Post Office with a haymaker
Monday, establishing the day as
the biggest in history.
Catching his breath under the
onslaught of cards and packages
conspiciously marked with "Do
Not Open 'Til Christmas" stick
ers, Postmaster Zeb Meadows re
ported the following morning that
Monday's stamp sales hit an all
time dally high of $772.20.
In addition, the office staff (no
extra help was needed, Mr.
Meadows said) figured in the can
cellation of 18,000 letters and
cards, not to mention many pieces
requiring hand stamping and
about 7S0 pieces of parcel post.
Hiey had the job well under
control and "everything up" by
7:30 that night, the postmaster
said.
Monday probably will stand as
the peak day of the Christmas
season, for things in the office
started a downhill slide toward
normalcy Tuesday and Wednes
day.
"At least we're hoping it was
the peak day," Mr. Meadows de
clared, against a backdrop of knee
deep packages. ,
Macon County Behind Only
One In College Enrollment
Macon leads all but one
neighboring county In the num
ber of its high school graduates
who enroll In college.
Comparative figures are con
tained in a county-by-county
survey made by the State De
partment of Public Instruction.
They show that Macon's per
centage ol 23.8 per cent is top
ped only by Swain with 38.5
per cent. These compare with
the state average of 31.3 per
cent, the low of 7.6 per cent
(Tyrrell County), and the high
of 48.1 per cent (Pasquotank
County, including Elizabeth
City).
The percentages for Macon's
other neighboring counties look
like this: Cherokee, 18.7; Clay,
14.4, and Jackson, 20.2.
The figures are reported to
the department by each high
school principal the second
school week in September.
It is not known how other
principals determine the num
ber of their graduates who go
on to college, but Harry C. Cor
bin, of Franklin High School,
uses the number of students
who request transcripts. A rec
ord of a student's high school
grades must precede him to col
lege and, on the basis of the
number of records (transcripts)
sent, Mr. Corbin believes he has
an accurate figure for those en
rolling.
Nile F. Hunt, coordinator of
teacher education for the De
partment of Public Instruction,
conducted the survey. In ans
wer to a letter from The Press,
he wrote:
"I believe the national aver
age of high school graduates
attending college is about 31
per cent, or essentially the
same as our state average.
"Another Index often used is
the percentage of college-age
youth In college. In this latter
respect, North Carolina ranks
next to the bottom, if not at
the bottom, among the 48 states.
This seems to indicate that the
chief difficulty In North Caro
lina Is Keeping high school stu
dents in school until they grad
uate."
Auto Lands Here...
An Oldsmobile flew into Frank
lin the other day. And with no
engine, at that. The landing was
made without incident at the local
airport.
Car of the future? Not at all.
in fact this Olds is of vintage
1901-03. It's the body of one of
America's early horseless carriages
and was flown here for the E. S.
Purdom Company to make a
replica. The original body then
will be put into storage as an
antique.
Owner of the Olds body is I. W.
Steele, Jr., of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mr. Purdom says Mr. Steele is an
antique car collector and that
when the new body is finished,
Mr. Steele will have the auto
assembled. <?
Mr. Purdom believes he can
duplicate the body in about one
?week. Work, however, won't get
under way until after Christmas.
The body will be made of ash.
Auto manufacturers of the early
1900's weren't very careful about
putting the dates on their cars.
Mr. Purdom says. ("They were
more concerned with getting the
things to run.") This makes it
difficult to establish the date of
the Oldsmobile model.
A man who was the assistant
chief engineer at Oldsmobile from
1934 to 1941 is a friend of Mr.
Purdom's and is helping the local
craftsman secure the original
drawings for Olds models of the
1901 to 1903 period. He is M. A.
Thorne, now engineer in charge
of vehicle development, engineer
ing staff, General Motors Corpor
ation. Mr. Thorne was in Franklin
on business recently and took a
look at the body.
Mr. Purdom has an owner's
book of instructions for the early
Olds autos and reading it offers
a contrast to cars of then and
now. For instance, the Oldsmo
bile's engine was mounted behind
the driver. It had only one clyin
der, the gas tank held but four
gallons, and steering was done by
means of a lever that rose verti
cally from the front of the car
riage.
At least two of the old car's
features are again in use today
after being discarded along the
way and then improved and re
introduced the auto makers. These
are the single pedal on the floor
board (for the brakes) and a band
transmission.
? PrvM SUA Photo
This is a picture of the OMsmobBe flown here for some face
lifting in the shop of E. 8. Purdom. Looking it orer are M. A.
Thorn e, a General Motors official, and Mr. Purdom (right).
GIRLS RACK <
UP 2 MORE '
CAGE GAMES
Boys Divide Theirs;
Teams To Play Fines
Creek Here Tonight
Franklin High's lassies chalk
ed up two more victories this
week In their climb toward the
conference championship.
The bops split their games,
bowing to Cullowhee and de
feating Webster.
Meeting Cullowhee last Thurs
day night at Cullowhee, the
girls squeezed by in a close
game, 44 to 42, with Lucy Hen
ry bucketing 20 points for scor
ing honors. In the boys game
that followed, Franklin ended
up on the short end of a 51 to
41 score. Willard Smith hit the I
hoop for 21 points to lead his |
teammates in scoring.
Playing in the local gymna
sium Tuesday night, the girls
took an easy victory over Web
ster, 77 to 22. Mavis Gibson
copped scoring honors with 22
points. The boys, paced by Gary
Clark and Dean Long, who
racked up 20 points each, won
67 to 58.
Tonight (Thursday) the
Franklin teams will play Fines
Creek at the local gymnasium.
The first game of this non
conference clash is set for 7:30.
No more games are scheduled
until after the holidays.
Fouts Wins
Soil Post
Milton Fouts, of Franklin, Route
4, is the winner in this month';
election to elect a supervisor for
the Macon County Soil Conserva
tion District for a three-year term.
He defeated J. S. Gray, of the
Hicjcory Knoll section, who had
been nominated for reelection to
the three man board, which over
sees conservation work in the
county.
The election was held county
Wide the week of Dec. 3-8.
Edwin T. Bradley, of Route 3.
and Robert C. Parker, of Route 1,
are the other two members of the
board.
Weed Allotments
Now Available
Through A.S.C.
Farmers may now make appli
cation at the county Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation of
fice for 1957 burley tobacco allot
ments.
Miss Mildred Corbin, office man
ager, cites the following require
ments for securing an allotment:
1. The farm operator shall have
had experience in growing burley
tobacco, as a sharecropper, a ten
ant, or as a farm operator during
two of the past five years.
2. The farm operator shall live
on and obtain 50 per cent or more
of his livelihood from the farm
covered by the application.
3. The i arm covered by the ap
plication shall be the only farm
owned or operated by the farm op
erator for which a burley allot
ment is established for the 1957-58
marketing year .
4. The farm shall be operated
by the owner thereof.
5. The farm or any portion
thereof shall not have been a part
of another farm during any of
the past five years, 1952-56, for
which an old tobacco acreage al
lotment was determined.
Miss Corbin said applications
may be filed through Jan. 31.
Post And Auxiliary
To Attend Christmas
Program In A Body ,
Members of the American Leg
ion post and auxiliary plan to at
tend the community Christmas
program at the Franklin Metho
dist Church tomorrow (Friday'
night in a body.
At the end of the program, they
will go to the recreation room in
the basement of the church for
refreshments to be served by mem
bers of the Music Study Club and
the auxiliary. This will take the
place of the regular meeting of
the groups.
The community program will
start at 8 o'clock.
Christmas Candids . . .
' Press Photographer's Hidden Camera Investigates
ifule Shopping)
Ray "Jaybird" Henry And Friend
Billy Horsley, 29 Months, Hugs A Teddy
Jimmy Watts, 9, Is Just
Lookin'
Wayne Cunningham
Wants Gift Wrapping
bam, H
""g ?
Mother And Daughter Make A Decision
won
Salesgirl Susie Wallace Is 'Pooped'
County Prepares
For Christmas
With the temperature as in
congruous to the season as palm
trees to the Nantahalas, the cel
ebration of Christmas on Tues
day by Maftonlans appears like
ly to be warm in weather as
the stores In search of gifts.
Merchants are , expecting a
bumper-crop from now through
Christmas Eve. ?
Most Will ClOM
Most businesses in town plan
free. Suppose the situation
were reversed, and you were a
refugee in Hungary.
As a self-respecting person,
the first thing you would
want would be a job, a chance
to stand on your own feet.
And that is the first thing
the thousands of Hungarian
refugees in the I'nited States
want ? men and women whose
only crime is that they hate
( ommunism and dictatorship.
Have you a job some Hun
garian refugee could fill? If
you have, it would be the fin
est Christmas gift you could
give.
If you can offer employment
for one of these Hungarian
refugees, write a letter to
Refugees, care The Press.
Your letter will be forwarded
to the proper agency tt Camp
Kilmer, N. J.
Be sure to say what the job
is, what the pay, what the
working conditions, and If
housing is available.
The week's tempera?ur< _
are recorded in Kranklin by Mansm
U. S. weather observer; in Highlands by
Tudor N. Hall and W. C. Newton. TV A
observers; and at the Coweta Hydrologic
Laboratory. Readings are for the 24-hour
period ending at 8 a.m. of the day listed.
FRANKLIN
High Low Rain
Wed., Dec. 12 59
Thursday 62
Friday 62
Saturday 64
Sunday 69
Monday 72
Tuesday 66
Wednesday
HIGHLANDS
Wed.. Dec. 12 52
Thursday 56
Friday 58
Saturday 58
Sunday 63
Monday 66
Tuesday 60
Wednesday ?
COWEETA
Wed.. Dec
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
12
57
61
64
63
69
69
65
46
45
56
52
49
38
41
40
42
50
54
53
45
40
44
42
44
53
57
52
47
36
40
43
1.54
.06
.58
.82
.21
.00
.00
.00
.80
1.40
1.08
1.82
1.19
.00
.00
.00
1.23
.37
1.S9
1.25
trace
trace
.00
.00