EDITORIAL
Pay TV
Pay TV?
Sure, we'll go along with that ? on two condi
tions: (a) that we be given a your-money-back-if
you-aren't-satisfied guarantee ail the programs will
be worth paying for; and (b) that there be no
commercials ? for who ever heard of paying for the
privilege of being advertised to?
Whose Ox?
? ;
Reverberations from the recent clash of Lumbee
Indians and the Ku Klux Klan in Robeson County
continue to be heard.
That is not surprising, because the affair was
extraordinary in many respects. There was the
novel angle of an "Indian uprising" against whites
in the middle of the Twentieth Century. There was
the spectacle of a silly organization of bullies be
ing bullied. And there was the revelation that racial
tensions are not confined to whites and Negroes.
Another extraordinary feature has received scant
attention.
These facts about the incident seem clear : The
Klan had publicly announced its intention to hold
the rally, an act in itself not illegal. The Indians,
armed with shotguns and other weapons, used vio
lence to break up the meeting. Police officers and
state highway patrolmen, though they had been
alerted to possible trouble, remained a short dis
tance away until the Indians had administered a
beating to the klansmen. Charges have been pre
ferred against Klan leaders for inciting to riot ;
but no Indian, although their leaders have openly
boasted of the exploit, has been charged with en
gaging in riot.
Those facts suggest some questions :
Had it been an organization other than the Klan
that proposed to meet, wouldn't it have received
public protection? Had it been some organization
other than the Klan whose meeting was broken up
by a" mob, wouldn't the mob members have been
sought out and indicted?
Those questions are pertinent, because it is only
a step from breaking up the meeting of one organi
zation whose beliefs we disagree with to breaking
up the meetings of others ? of Catholics, or integra
tions, or Republicans.
Unless we protect the rights of all, the bad as
well as the good, and unless we punish violations
of law, without reference to who the violator is,
we soon will have no law? and none of us any
rights under law.
To Far Places
It has happened so often, most of us here no
longer are surprised when people who come to
Macon County are impressed by, the kindliness and
courtesy of its people. What most of us had not
realized is that people in far places are impressed,
too ? by those traits, as seen in representatives of
this county.
s .t .
Interesting evidence that this is true is a letter
to Franklin's mayor (published on this page) from
a man in Fairbanks, Alaska.
After some contact wtih Maconians, he and
members of his group have chosen this spot, "sight
unseen", as ideal for retirement.
Thus Macon's fame as a good place to live is
carried to far places by its sons and daughters.
Heroic Fly Killers
Nothing is quite so funny as the man who takes
himself too seriously ; for when he is trying hard
est to be impressive, he is most likely to act like
a clown.
Notable examples were Mussolini and Hitler.
There was nothing funny, of course, about the
tragedy they brought about. But their individual
acts and sayings ? considered apart from the final
results? were rediculous.
Today's dictators seem equally lacking in a
sense of humor. Consider, for example, the latest
announcement from Communist China.
There a new kind of purge has been launched,
against mosquitoes, rats, flies and sparrows. And
in this new campaign the people are called upon by
their Communist leaders to show "determined revo
lutionary stamina and exalting heroic courage".
Who but a lunatic could picture himself as heroic
killing flies!
Pick Macon, 'Sight Unseen'
To the Mayor,
Franklin, North Carolina.
The Caribou Club of Alaska and Canada has picked Frank
lin, North Carolina, as one of the most friendly cities in
America and the surrounding country an ideal place for Old
Sourdoughs to retire In.
North Carolina is the most original Anglo-American state
In the Union, and the North Carolina boys up here in the
armed services are extremely pleasant, with their politeness
and natural twang In their smooth drawl ? they are very
popular in all Alaska.
We have read a lot about the Piatt hounds and had one
of thejn up here for bear hunting and she proved very good;
in fact her pups, although half malemute or half husky, re
sembled Southern hounds far more than they did our wolf
breeds.
Some of us would like to hunt the Russian Boars and
wonder how they would compare with the Alaskan Kodiak
bear in the manner of big game.
Some of us have hunted all over the world, that is India.
Africa, South America, but none around here have hunted
the wild razor-backs.
GEORGE JENNINGS GALE.
Fairbanks, Alaska.
Letters
Enjoys Press
Editor, The Press: _
I enjoy The Press very much. Would like to have more
news from Ellijay, as I was bom there. I have many good
friends In the Cullasaja area.
HIRAM J. WILLIAMS.
Seneca, S. C.
Ideal Vacation
( Campbells ville, Ky., News)
My Idea of an ideal vacation would be a month on each of
the Thousand Islands.
Optimism
(San Angelo, Texas, Whit's Wit)
Optimism is the ability to speak of "my" car in the face of
a chattel mortage with 10 payments to be made.
Some kids are lucky. Their dads have dens. Other fathers
just growl all over the place. ? Rockmart (Ga.) Journal.
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Looking Backward Through the Files of The Press
65 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(1893)
The question of establishing a national park in Western
North Carolina similar to the National Park of the Rocky
Mountains has been considerably discussed lately and the
General Assembly of North Carolina has a resolution before
it memorializing Congress to establish such a park.
Mr. Elam Slagle, of Crawford, was in town Thursday dis
posing of some fine apples.
Married, February 1st, on Iotla, Mr. A. W. Horn and Miss
Lucilla Barnard, J. P. Campbell, Esq., officiating.
25 TEARS AGO
1 (1933)
Highlands is one of the wettest, if not the wettest, spots,
in point of rainfall, in the United States. The precipiatton
gauge kept* by Barry Hawkins, U. S. weather observer, at the
Rock House station in Horse Cove, near Highlands, registered
nearly 97 inches of rainfall last year.
A cooperative car lot poultry and egg sale will be conducted
by F. S. Sloan, county agent, all day Tuesday. /
10 TEARS AGO
Fred Deal, 13-year old Macon County 4-H club boy, won
first honors at last Saturday's Farmers Federation 100-Bushel
Corn Club dinner in Asheville. Young Deal grew 158.7 bushels
of hybrid corn on an acre.
The Franklin Board of Aldermen passed a motion at its
meeting Monday night to dig another town well.
After nearly a third of a century as a rural mall carrier,
Harold T. Sloan retired January 31. ?
The View From Poppa's Head
Strictly Personal '_Sy WEIMAR JONES
Like everybody else, I have my
own special set of peeves; things
I don't like and find it hard to
bring myself to have any patience
with.
Among them is the public
speaker who reads his speech.
In my dictionary, he isn't a
public speaker; he's a public
reader <? and often a poor one,
at that.
When a man gets up to make
a speech and reads it, word for
word, I take it as a personal in
sult. For it seems to me he is
saying to his audience, including
me, something like this: "I didn't
think you were important enough
for me to bother really to prepare
a speech. I could have so immers
ed myself in the subject as to be
able to get up and just talk; or
I could have written something
and memorized it word for word>
But you aren't worth that much
trouble." 4
So, when I see a man spread
out a manuscript and start read
ing, I feel like saying to him:
"... and you aren't important
enough for me to bother listening
to" ? and then walking out.
Of course when a man reads
a speech, he makes it doubly hard
for the audience to follow what
he says. For even if he is a good
reader, you find yourself wonder
ing if and when he'll lose his
place; and, after about 15 minutes,
you find yourself, when he turns
over a page and picks up a new 1
one, straining to try to see how I
many more pages there are. '
So the thing boomerangs on 1
the speaker himself. For when '
he reads a speech, he also is say- '
ing something like this: "I don't '
think anything I'm going to say :
is very important, so it doesn't I
matter whether the audience real
ly follows my thoughts, or just
watches my mouth work and my :
hands turn pages. So I'll read It."
At that press meeting I attend
ed in Chapel Hill recently, I saw
some striking illustrations of how
this thing works.
A national figure was on the pro- 1
gram; and, like so many national '
figures, he read his prepared 1
speech, word for word. Then he 1
threw the meeting open for
questions. In the question-and-an
swer period, of course, he was
speaking extemporaneously; and
I remember distinctly some of the
excellent things he said in reply
to questions. But his speech? I
couldn't have told you, an hour
later, even what its subject was!
And the best of many good
speeches at the meeting was made
by a man who never used a note;
he was so full of his subject, and
had so carefully arranged in his
mind what he was going to say,
that he talked for 40 minutes
to an audience that eagerly await
ed every word.
And I am sure everybody who
ISSUES Nti&U LLAKlr r Jl\(J
Who Is Underdog Now? Answer Seems To Be: Everybody
Robert M. Hutchins
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Following
are excerpts from an address
by Dr. Hutchins, president of
the Fund (or the Republic, at
the University of North Caro
lina January 18.)
Some 40 years ago, when I was
in college, we knew what was
wrong with the world. It was full
of underdogs, easily Identifiable
as such. They were the poor, the
workers, the Negroes, the aged,
the imigrants and aliens, the de
frauded, the unfortunate ? the
powerless who were Being pushed
around by the powerful. The task
of right-minded men was to come
to their rescue.
The New Freeuom for which
Woodrow Wilson was campaign
ing at the time was freedom for
the underdog. What made a man
an underdog was chiefly low
wages, long hours, bad conditions
of work, economic insecurity. The
principal test of right-mindedness
at that epoch, therefore, was the
attitude one took toward organ
ized labor.
The efforts of the liberalism,
or underdogglsm, in which I was
raised have largely succeeded. The
obvious groups of the downtrodden
and oppressed have almost van
ished. In particular, labor unions
have achieved enormous power.
Who Is an underdog now?
The answer appears to be that
everybody is . . .
The problem now, according to
The New Statesman, Is. that all
individuals are powerless confront
ing the concentrations of power
? government, business, press,
union, political party ? that make
up the society in which we live.
These concentrations deprive us
oi our autonomy, and if they treat
us unjustly, we may be unable to
do anything about It. It would
seem that Socialism cannot solve
this problem; for Socialism in its
only precise meaning requires
State ownership of the principal
means of production. The bureau
cratic oligarchy of the State
might be able to control other
oligarchies, but the individual
would be powerless still . , .
Our problem is abundance, ra
ther than scarcity. In this country
It is not always easy to tell who
is exploiting whom. Some corpor
ations doubtless deal more equit
ably with those affected by them
than certain "working-class" or
ganizations do with their mem
bers, their employers, and the
public. In this country It is not
always possible to tell who are
the employers and who are the
employed. The Teamsters Union,
for example, actually runs the
Industry that the so-called em
ployers "own". . . .
With the rest of ttie world look
ing for leadership to the United
States, we have not been able to
make striking contributions on
any but the eoonomic and military
levels. Ideas and Ideals that we
suppose were clear to our ances
tors have tended to become forms
of words that are useful as rhetor
ical flourishes or political weap
ons but that du not have much
visible effect in our daily lives.
When we are asked what we
stand for, our reply is likely to
sound like a cliche or a slogan.
The severity of the shock to
American public opinion adminis
tered by the announcement that
a Russian satellite was circum
navigating the globe can be tak
en to mean that we had had con
fidence only in our scientific and
technological superiority, in our
power and wealth, and, when
that was shaken, we had nothing
to fall back on . . .
We are a nation of employes,
and what the corporations don't
do to us, the unions will. We live
in cities, with nobody to talk to.
We have no means of appraising
the reliability of the Information
supplied us by the media of com
munication. We have the oppor
tunity, of which we all avail our
selves, of sending our children to
school, but we can say nothing
effective about the education they
receive.
We are supposed to make our
selves felt through political par
ties, but they are Just as huge and
remote and insensible as the gov
ernment Itself. The atmosphere in
which we live is anonymously
created, but deeply felt; we don't
know how we know what is not to
be done or said, but we know all
right. The institutions that dom
inate our Society have made under
dogs of us all.
The remedies that achieve pop
ularity are likely to be mere
slogans. We chant, for example,
about the right to work, ignoring
the fact that right- to-work laws
have hacj no effect, or about de
mocracy as the cure for Injus
tices that union members suffer.
Ignoring the fact that the most
democratic union, the Internation
al Typographical, is one of the
most anti-60Cial.
The institutions that should
help us to understand and im
prove our society, such as the
university and the press, have
been swallowed up by it. In the
last generation the universities
have become service stations,
rather than beacons. Their prin
cipal interest appears to be mon
ey, and they will engage in any
activity that seems likely to pro
vide it. So we are without cen
ters of Independent thought and
criticism.
If men equally devoted to free
dom and Justice can differ so
deeply about the philosophy in
which our rights and liberties are
rooted, we may well fear for the
safety of these rights and liberties
In our new society and our polar
ized world.
The first step that would seem
to be necessary Is an effort to
clarify the underlying Issues. We
do not have to agree, but we must
have intelligent debate. The role
of government, the limits of plural
ism, the requirements of unity,
and the nature of the moral belief
on which the United States rests
? these are issues that must be
clarified if intelligent debate is to
take place.
heard it remembers much of what
Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr., said
when he was called on to speak,
extemporaneously, during a gen
eral discussion. Again, it was a
question of a man's knowing so
well what he was discussing and
having his thoughts so well or
ganized that he could just talk,
I know everybody can't speak
extemporaneously. There are
many of us who find it necessary,
if we are to talk intelligently, to
write out every word. But in
that case, we can memorize what
we're going to say.
And I think people who are
going to speak in public ought
either to learn to talk without
a manuscript or memorize the
manse ript ? one of those, or stay
home.
REWARDS
A Thought
Today
(From yesterday's talk by the
editor on The Press' weekly
12:25 p.m. Wednesday program,
"A Thought for Today", over
Station WFSC). .
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it:
"The reward of a thine well
done, is to have done It."
Of course, since you and I are
human, we like other rewards
when we do something well. We
like monetary rewards for good
work. And we like even better
the praise of others. For there is
no human being who doesn't
covet the approval of his fellows
? the man who says he doesn't
just isn't being honest.
But nothing ever can bring the
same satisfaction our own knowl
edge that we have done some
one thing and done it well. It
may go unnoticed by others; it
may mean not an extra penny in
our pockets. But It is Its own re
ward. For if we can say In our
hearts of something we have done,
"This is the v"ork of my mind
and my hands, and it is good", we
experience, in our small way, the
Joy of creation. Even the Lord,
we are told In Genesis, looked
on His creation and found satis
faction in saying it was good.
We should be glad that life
is like that. Because oftener than
not, that Is the only reward we
will receive.
And so it seems to me one of
the secrets of happiness in this
life of failure and disappointment
and frustration is to forget the
other rewards and count on this
one alone. Then, if we should
make a million dollars because
we have done something well, or
if we should win the plaudits of
the world, that is something extra,
a bonus ? something we hadn't
counted on, and something more
than Is necessary for us to be re
warded.
Because, whether these other
things come or fall, always we
can have the inner satisfaction
of knowing that something we
have done Is well done.
The real reward of a thing well
done, ia to have done it.