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ill he ifrnnklin l^rtss unit Che Bltghhtttiis JHanmiatt Second class mall privileges authorized at Franklin. N C Puollshed every Thursday by The Pranklln Press Telephone 24 established in 188S as The Franklin Press Member N. C. Press Association, National Editorial Association. Caroitnas Press Photographers Association. Charter member. National Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors BOB S. SLOAN Publisher snd Advertising Manager i. P. BRADY News Editor WEIMAR JONES .... ... Editor MRS ROBERT BRYSON f Office Manager MRS. BOB SLOAN Society Editor CARL P. CABE Operator-Machinist FRANK A. STARRETTE Compositor CRARLES E WHITTINGTON Pressman O E CRAWFORD Stereotyper DAVID H SUTTON Commercial Printer SUBSCRIPTION RATES Outbids Macon County Insui Macon County One . Tear $3 00 One Year *2 JO Six Months . . . - I TS Six Months I TS Three Month* 1.00 Three Months 1.00 ' Two Years 5.25 Two Years 4.23 ?Xtor-e Years 7.50 Thre?* Year* 0.00 THURSDAY. JULY 3. 1958 50,000 Voters Deceived Detailed documentation of what follows will be found in the Chronology that appears at the bottom of this page. The health of a public official is a matter of pub lic concern, because his health determines how well he can perform his official duties. The health of a candidate for office is of equal or even greater pub lic concern, for the same reason. Rep. George A. Shuford, suffering from a stroke, has been hospitalized since May" 25. Last week end came news from the Naval Hos pital at Bethesda, Md.. that the congressman is now sufficiently recovered to be able to take short walks in the hospital corridors. Mr. Shuford is an admir able gentleman. Three times he has been elected to the highest office, within the gift of the people of this district, and on May 31 was renominated for a fourth term in Congress; that bespeaks the pub lic's < confidence. During his years in office, he has won the respect of most and the affection of many ?of his constituents. This report of his progress to ward recovery, therefore, is welcome news to the people of the 12th -district, always sympathetic to ward illness and misfortune. * * * There is something else about Mr; Shuford's ill ness, though, that is deeply disturbing. His ailment was diagnosed as a stroke, with "slight paralysis". That diagnosis was made several days before the Democratic primary. But the true rtature of his ill ness was withheld from the voters until after the election. Instead, they were told, in a front page story in The Asheville Citizen, the very morning of the election, that he had been hospitalized for "minor surgery", that he was recovering from the opera tion, and that he would be able to go home "with in the next few days". Actually, it was later re vealed, the purpose of the operation, performed on May 28, was to "relieve the pressure" that had caused the stroke. The result was that 50, (XX) Democratic voters went to the polls May 31 under a complete misap-' prehension. The effect of what appeared to be a frank and complete statement, published on the morning of the election, was to reassure the voters that their congressman's health was unimpaired. Those facts that were given out were so given as not merely to hide the truth, but to distort it. What would the voters have done, in the May 31. election, had they known the true situation? No body .knows. Obviously, though, somebody in con trol of the facts was afraid for the voters to know. And so ? and this is what matters, and all that matters ? the voters were denied their right to pass judgment on the facts. They were, indeed, deceived > ? deceived purposely and deliberately, the evidence suggests. v- ' * * * Was Mr. Shuford responsible for this deception? Hardly ; because Mr. Shuford was a sick man at the time. ? 1 I Who, then, was responsible? We do not know. But we think it is high time somebody found out. It is true there probably was no violation of statute law, and thus there may be no l>asis for legal prosecution. But there was violation, flagrant violation, of a higher law ? the right of the people, in a democracy, to' know. Those responsible should be exposed, and made the object of such j>ublic , scorn that a thing like this can never hap|>en here again. What more appropriate agency* to dig out the facts than the one charged with responsibility for the conduct of elections, the State Board of Elections? ? * * The people have a right to the truth ; and it is to the press that they look for the truth. The press lias the obligation to get the truth for them. And 444 And Take Thy Form From Off My Door!' Quoth The Raven, 'Nevermore' " if it is sufficiently enterprising', the press can do just that ? as witness its success in getting and reporting- the facts about the illnesses of even the President of the United States. ( In this case, the press of Western North Carolina failed to meet its responsibility ? failed miser ably. The heaviest burdep, perhaps, was on the reg ion's largest newspaper, published in Mr. Shtrford's home city. But blame attaches to every newspaper in the district- ? including this one. By what they published in their news columns, or by their silence, the newspapers made possible this deception of 50,000 voters. Unknowingly, no doubt, they were, indeed, used to accomplish the deception. In the light of that fact, it seems to us the Western North Carolina press, or perhaps the State Press Association, might well make its own, separate investigation. t This situation outrages every normal sense of what is honest. Somebody, surely, should act. He Knew Better (The State Magazine) Reading in The State about Tom Harris' experience with a N. Y. cab driver who scorned Tom's ten-cent tip reminded me of a somewhat similar incident: Each year the N. C. winners of the High School World Peace Study and Speaker Program and their teacher-coaches are taken on an extensive tour of New York City, the United Nations and Washington, D. C. They travel by chartered bus ? 40 students and 40 teachers. While in New York, they used to depend on taxis, subways and tour buses for transportation. After one experience with taxis, they now plan nothing ihvolving taxi transportation. We had to go from our hotel to a special meeting only a few blocks away. Time was short and we decided to use taxis. The hotel Bell Captain lined the cabs up and we boarded them ? five to six teachers and students per cab, for a total of 15 cabs. I told the lead cab driver that f would ride with him and pay each driver as he unloaded at our destination. When we arrived, I noted that we owed the driver only 40c and thus I paid him and each other driver 50c. The first driver began the fun and each other' took it?up. They laughed derisively, cursed and shouted obscene exclama tions at me as they drove off. Each made a U-turn and head ed back downtown, and as each passed me, he threw a dime at my feet. I was somewhat angered, surprised (?) and embarrassed over the incident and at the shower of dimes tinkling down at my feet. Suddenly a little Negro urchin dashed out and be gan to gather up the coins faster than a pullet eats corn. He found all fifteen of them and Instead of running off with them, he came over and extended a dirty little hand with the coins. He couldn't have been over six years old. "They's all heah," he said. And then, "I'se sorry 'bout those po' white trash, but you knows how 'tis. THEY wuz BORN heah and can't be 'spected to know no better." I folded the boy's fingers back over the coins, told him he could keep them, thanked him for his courtesy and assistance, and asked him where HE was born. "I wuz born in Rawlee, Nawth C'lina," he proudly announc ed, "and I didn't cum heah 'til I wuz one yeah old. So X know how to behave t'wards strangers." JULY '4TH' FIRST OBSERVED ON 8TH The first celebration of the Dec laration of Independence was not held on July 4. It was held on July 8, 1776 ? four days after Con gress officially adopted thi his toric document. According to research experts with The World Book Encyclope dia, patriots who gathered in Phil adelphia's Independence Square are credited with originating what has been an annual celebration ever since. The great crowd heard John Nixon, prominent Philadei phian. read the entire Declaration. He stood on a towering platform erected seven years earlier by the American philosophical Society for the observation of a rare phe nomenon involving the planet Venus. Bells pealed throughout the day. John Adams' letters mention chmes, possibly those of Christ Church. As the rector of the church was a well-known royalist, the chimes were "rung; without benefit of clergy." Not until July 2 of the follow ing year did it occur to the Phil adelphia's that the celebration should tie repeated on July 4. A letter written by John Adams to his daughter tells the story of the next July 4, in 1777. Again bells pealed throughout the day. Warships anchored in the river were gaily decorated. Bonfires and fireworks lit the sky in the evening. Candles burned in the windows of nearly every home. Congress adjourned for the day. The government dignitaries en joyed a special dinner in a Phila delphia tavern, with music by a Hessian band, which had been captured at Trenton. During the after-dinner toasts, soldiers out side the tavern fired continuous volleys. This annual celebration of the Fourth of July spread slowly throughout the country, according to researchers, and even today, July 4 is not a national holiday by United States law. PLAYPENS FOR MOTHERS Young mother we know wanta a playpen; says when the kids get too wild she'll climb in the pen for protection and let them have the rest of the house. ? Mat toon (111.) Journal-Gazette. Strictly Personal It must be terrible in the great cities; because, even In Franklin, there Isn't an? place to think any more. I'm not talking about the kind of thinking that adds 2 and 2 and comes out with the sum of 4; or even the kind that takes certair reported developments into ac count and conies out with the con clusion that next month the price of goods is likely to be higher or lower. I'm speaking of thinking in the broader sense; letting your mind relax? and having it come up. un expectedly, with the solution to the problem that. In the midst of today's noise and confusion and strain. It seemed there was no so lution for. /bid beyond that, let ting your mind drift ? and having it come bp with some sense of ?ro portion, some balance between le past, the present, and the flr ture. That's getting to be almost im possible, because, even in Frank lin, where can you find a place the cars aren't whizzing by, the radio or television isn't blaring, the advertising signs aren't dis tracting your attention, and where there aren't people? Time after time, in the past few years. I've got in my car and driv* en out into the country, where | there would be quiet, to regain a little tranquillity But where can you really escape the noise, the rush, the (ear of this age? On the quietest country road you hear the traffic on the nearby high: way; and even on Wayah Bald, the Jets roar overhead. It's more than a personal prob lem with me; it's an individual problem for all of us. It's a na tional problem, too; because how can -we find anything more than stop-gap solutions for the nation al problems of our democracy when there Is no chance for the men and women who make up that democracy to get away, occa sionally, from the pressures of the moment and give the mind and spirit an opportunity to return to quiet sanity? ? ? ? And that recalls another situ ation. perhaps even more Impor tant : It seems to me we are cheating our young people In America by never giving them a little time to dream. There Is school or television or the movies or Bible School or Little League, or what have you. to occupy them every instant. Most of those things are good: none of them Is necessarily bad. But when does today's boy or sirl get a chance to sit on a moun tain-side, alone, and just dream . . or lie beneath a tree and gaze up through the thick-leaved limbs toward the sky, and wond e?? It is this wonder, theae dreams, stored up In youth, that feed all of as. If we are really to be any thing better than automatons, during the adult life of achieve ment. ? ? ? That list of tourist attractions In last week's Press was Imposing. It probably never had occurred to most of us that we had so many worth-while things here to show our visitors. Yet the chances are, that list, long as it was. barely scraped the surface. We'd find, too, if we sat down and made a list "of 'em, that we have a surprisingly large number of small industries, surprisingly t diversified. And, in almost every field, [Here is far more here than most of us realize. Fact is, there is perhaps no bet ter project that the Chamber of Commerce or some civic club could undertake than to catalogue all we have here; and then add the even longer list of all the possibili ties. It would surprise us all: further more, it would suggest the direc tion this community should take. THE NEXT 2 ST A TES Mow We Acquired Alaska And Hawaii Early statehood (or Alaska seems assured. And if Alaska is admitted to the Union as a state, surely Ha waii will not be far behind. And that raises many questions about the two. For instance, how did we get them, in the fir3t place? The two territories could hard ly be more unalike. Equally dis similar were the methods by which they became U. S. territories. All tfte evidence is we got Alas ka honestly. It was a straight-out business deal: Russia wanted to sell, and we wanted to buy. The price was agreed upon and paid ? $7,200,000. At the time ? 1867 ? the deal was negotiated by William A. Seward, secretary of state in the Andrew Johnson administration, the pur chase was called "Seward's folly" ? and that was one of the least emphatic of the derisive epithets applied; for Alaska seemed worth less. and the price out of all rea son. FAR FROM FOLLY As it turned out, the purchase was anything but folly, and the price modest indeed. For later, gold was discovered, and the gold alone taken out of Alaska amount ed to 50 times the purchase price. In addition, it was found to be rich in coat, petroleum, and cop per and other minerals. There is its vast forest wealth, too, its fish, its wildlife, particu TRANQUILIZERS AND NATURE Americans btve run wild gulp ing tranquilizers. If the cook, burns the toast, they take a pill to escape the irritation. If they forget to put the cat out, they take a pill. If the car can't start pronto, they take a pill. If the baby cries, they take a pill. If the Old Man is a little huffy, she takes a pill. If the Old Lady is a bit huffy, he takes a pill. Nature didn't intend it that way. Your tension reactions were built in there for your protection. Your sense of unease, of alarm, of unreadiness was put there to protect you from the Jungle crea tures. You were not intended to float on a pink cloud in a rosy chemically - manufactured securi ty. Now the scientists are extend ing tranquilizers to nature. The happy pills calm down the pigs, the lambs, the cows. They grow faster, utilize more of their food. And they even tell us a fabulous story of an experiment In Mary land on the use of tranquilizers in growing lima beans. They do say that the yield was Increased more than twice the average. You can believe that if you i want to. I'll wait for some more ' experiments. And also I'll turn > to a bit of exercise to loosen my ? tensions.? Henry Belk In Greens boro Dally News. HERE'S CHRONOLOGY: - How N ews Of Congressman Shuford's Illness Reached Public Sunday, May 25, Rep. George A. Shuford entered an Ashevllle hospital. Though that was only six days before the primary election that climaxed a hard fought campaign. It was later re ? ported that Mr. Shuford was fn the hospital for "a check-up". Here Is a chronology of how news of Mr. Shuford's Illness was fed to the public, a little at a time, via this Congressional dis trict's largest, newspaper, The Ashevllle Citizen: THURSDAY, MAY 29? A six line item In The Citizen announ ced that Mr. Shuford "has enter ed Memorial Mission Hospital for minor surgery and a check-up". (That was four days after he had entered the hospital, and the operation had been performed th* day before.) FRIDAY, MAY 30? A similar small Item said he was "reported as improved" following "a slight neck operation" on Wednesday. SATURDAY. MAY 31 (the day of the primary election) ? A story on Page 1 said "a favorable report was issued Friday, on the con dition of Rep. Qeorge A. Shuford, recovering from a neck operation". The story then quoted this state ment from Dr. E. W. Schoenheit. the congressman's personal phy sician: "Representative Shuford la making: steady, satisfactory and progressive Improvement follow ing a recent operation on his neck. Today he was np In a chair and has talked to a few close friends who have been permitted to visit with him. It is expected that he will return to his home within the next few days." WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11 I more than two weeks after the oper ation) ? This Item appeared: Rep. George A. Shuford (D-NC) will return to his home in Biltmore Forest Thursday from Memorial Mission Hospital, where he has been a patient since May 25. Attending physicians Tuesday said Rep. Shuford had suffered a slight stroke and that surgery performed on his neck May ZS was to relieve the prenure. Rep. Shuford, renominated In the May 31 primary, suffered slight paralysis, but doctors say that he has almost completely recovered. JUNE 17 (In a story about Mr. Shuford's report of his campaign contributions and expenses) ? The Citizen reported Mr. Shu ford "now recuperating from a stroke in the Naval Hospital at Bethesda, Md. 1N0 Information given about when he was trans ferred there.) Shuford was strick en a few days before the May 31 primary . . JUNE 24 (just one day short of four weeks after the surgery that was so minor It was said at the time "it Is expected he will return to his home within a few days") ? An Associated Press dispatch from Washington was quoted, say ing he still was Improving. In the Naval Hospital. larly fur-bearing animals, and even its agricultural possibilities: for three-fourths of Alaska is in the North Temperate Zone. It greatest value to the milted States today, though, is military. How would we feel ? how, indeed, would the Canadians feel? ? if this great northwestern part of the North American continent belong ed to our cold war enemy. Soviet Russia? IN DIFFERENT CATEGORY Our acquisition of the Hawaiian Islands (once known as the Sand wich Islands) fell in an entirely different category. And, strange1 ly, right here in Franklin evidence popped up the other day ' that throws light on that subject. For a hundred years, the islands were ruled by the monarchs of a single family. Then, in 1893, there was a "revolution". Queen Liluoka lani, allegedly, had tried to abol ish the Hawaiian constitution. She was deposed, and the new government sought annexation by the United States. CLEVELAND ACTS An annexation treaty had been submitted to the IT. S. Senate, but before the Senate acted. Qrover Cleveland came to the White House, in March, 1893, and promptly withdrew the treaty from the Senate. Why? With his blttff honesty, Cleveland said pointedly that the U. S. diplomat ic representative in Hawaii, aided by Marines landed from a U. S. naval vessel, had Improperly "aided" in the "revolution". The islands then became a re public, and all the evidence is. en joyed good government. But when William McKlntey was elected President in 1896. the agitation for annexation started again. And who spearheaded this renewed agitation? BEHIND PICTURE Welt, Col. and Mrs. Henry M. Wolfe, of St. Petersburg, Fla.. and Franklin, at their home Here last week were taking an old picture out of its frame. Back of the pic ture, they discovered a copy of The Oil City Derrick, a news paper published in OH City. Penn . dated February 1(C, 1897; and one of the big stories on Its front page was a special dispatch from Hon olulu. headed "Looking For An nexation"? a story that made it abundantly clear who was shout ing for annexation. Written in the high-flown lan guage of the day. the story com mented that "the bright star of JOBS AND HUSBANDS ? THEN AND NOW In the old days she got a job because she couldn't get a hus band; now the husband is easy to get if she has the job. ?Vernon. Texas, Trade News annexation, which never sets, ap pears to be approaching orbit" Then it added: "The persistency with which the nttle American colony here has labored in quest of American dom ination is commendable and worthy of success. "McKinley's election gave a wonderful impetus to the annexa tion movement; it had the effect of adding many new names to the annexation roll (climbing on the band wagon, we'd guess ? Editor); it quieted much of the royalist op position, etc." And a little farther down in the story is found one of the rea sons why the United States want ed to annex the islands ? a recip rocity treaty, signed many years before, that allowed Hawaiian sugar to enter the United States, duty free, but that did not bind the Hawaiians to buy their ma chinery and other items from American factories. The U. S. annexed the Islands the next year, 1898. CONTRASTING AREAS Everybody knows how different Alaska and Hawaii are in climate Perhaps not so generally known are the contrasts in size and in population. Alaska, which soon may become the forty-ninth state, is 11 times the size of North Carolina, more than twice as big as Texas. Hawaii, almost certain some day to become the fiftieth state, on the other hand, has a total area, in all 20 of its islands, only 'nth that of North Carolina. In population, the contrast is. the other way 'round. Alaska's 1950 population was only 129,000. while there were just under half a million people living in the Territory of Hawaii that year. UNCLE ALEX'S SAYINTS There is suck a thing as be ing so broad-minded that after while you get to be flat headed. If you let a child sass you when he's little, yon ean't right ly expect him to honor his fath er and his mother when he's old. What these economists, that advises the government and the rest of us, seem to be sayin' Is: "Don't worry about your debts ? you can always borry to pay 'em off." Well, we suppose these same fellers. If they was air plane engineers, would tell you not to worry about fallin' out of the plane; l( you're just high enough when you fall, you won't never hit the ground. DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Files of The Press 63 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK " (1893) Mr. J. Johnston was "complaining" of having roasting ears for dinner a few days ago. Mr. Alfred Shope sent to our office a few days ago a bunch of oats, the length of the stalks measuring six feet and three fourths of an inch.' The rapid growth of the University is matter for State pride and rejoicing. In two years, the student roll has grown from 198 to 316. 25 YEARS AGO ? (1933) Sunday, July 2, Miss CalUe Jones and Paul Hlgdon, of Htg donvllle, were quietly married. Mrs. Carl Slagle will entertain the Macon County chapter of the U. D. C. at her home on Cartoogechaye July 10. 10 YEARS AGO Macon County, in last Saturday's Democratic run-off pri mary, gave W. Kerr Scott 324 of the approximately 34,000 ma jority by which he won the party's nomination for governor over Charles M. Johnson. Ml^s Virginia Bryant has been chosen by the Franklin Chamber of Commerce to represent Macon County at the Rhododendron Coronation Ball at the city auditorium in Aahe vllle July 10.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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July 3, 1958, edition 1
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