Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / May 21, 1959, edition 1 / Page 2
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She Higlilauiia fHanmiatt weim.h: jo.ves Editorial I 'age Editor THURSDAY MAY 21, 1959 SOMK I'OINTS Before We Forget ?We can, il we will,1' learn from every unhappy experience. Huh labor incident here some three months ago was no exception; and maybe, before that incident is put out of mind, it is worth while to make clear a few points about it. First, though, let it he said that this newspaper always has been pro-labor. It ha>, that is, in the sense that it always lias been for the small -man, who sometimes has been exploited, and who some times has had nobodv to help him fight his battles. It has been for the small man, whether lie worked for the other fellow or for himself; whether he was a plumber or a farmer or a day laborer. In that sense, we are still pro-labor, 'if What we are not for is abuse .of power. And abuse of power by a labor union is' equally as bad as abuse of power by a corporation. Here, it seems to lis, are some of the more ob vious points suggested by our own experience here in Macon County; points we'd do well to keep in mind in the future: Point \o. 1. In this country, we have freedom of movement and freedom of speech : and you and I cannot long stay free unless we are willing for the other fellow to be free, too. A labor organizer has every right, so long as lie violates no law, to be here; and every right to advocate unionism. No. 2. Whatever il was that happened to the labor organizer, who was- here last February, it probably was wrong, and' it definitely was foolish. When a small group used pressure, no matter how slight, (o get him to leave town, tin- door was thrown wide Open for the charges he made charges that went from one end of the count rv to the other. \'o matter how flagrantly lie libeled this community- and the evidence is he did libel it?and no matter how wrong it is for a labor union to countenance such misconduct, the initial fault lav with Macon County people. No. 3, I leavy industrialization and labor man agement problems go hand in hand. It is rare in deed that a community has one without the other. For even if the employes of a plant get a com pletely fair break, and thus have no need of a union ? and sometimes they , do, sometimes they don't ? a big pay roll offers the perfect target for the union organizer. No. 4. As a community gets one or two or three relatively big plants, it adapts its economy to those big pay rolls, and soon becomes dependent on them. That is to say, the community loses a jxart of its freedom. No matter how lair-minded and public spirited the plant management, the com munity's own self-interest leads it to go to almost any lengths to make sure the. plant management gets from the communitl whatever it wants. ("Suppose tluv closed down; we'd be ruined!") No. 5. 'There is a wav to provide jobs and at the same time avoid both unionism and plant dom ination? a lot of small, varied industries, prelerably employ ing not more than five or ten men each. And that type of industrialization would have many other advantages, among them tlu-se: (a) The closing of one or two or three such small -plants would not seriously affect the community's economy ; and (It) since such small industries would be widely varied in what they do, a nation wide economic "bust" in any one line of manu facturing would not . cripple the community. (Ke member how hard hit the North Carolina I'iedniont was, not so many months ago, when the bottom dropped -out of textiles?) Our Blood Boils! Hep. Watts Mill, Jr., of Durham, lias introduced a legislative hill that would raise the tax 011 juke boxes and (urn the reveiitie <0 raised over to the N. (". Sy<;-j>IVnr?v Orchestra. Comment iny on the mcaMire, the Creensboro Daily N ews [remarks that th^' "J I ill' hill- is. ,inti hillbilly" ; t'vi it \frks (n make IrUliil! i t: it' j i;i \ the freight on 1111:.-! .!' a m? >? Maylx} so. We haw 1.0 ?u> com i 1: t inns ;? I ?< >ui.. that. Nor arc we str ? :oi:-l\ either "fer or ; In" Mr. Hill's measure. lint we do take violcm? <-\TTp tioii t-o soini I hii'Lf (.Ise ihe J>uily News' a--ni , lion that what conies out 01" lodav'- juke Lvws is hillbilly music. It ain't! It's about as cloje in yen it inc mountain music as "Sweet Adeline" is lo alUe ' thovcn sonata. Imagine comparing "Yon Ain't Nothin' Mm A llouti' Dawg" with "Sourwood Mountain". I , 1 1 f* >lks want to l'v.en to Beethoven from the X. ( . Symphony, we -:r let 'cm ; ii tliev want to listen to bebop or rink 'n' ro.l, mavbe tliat's all riyht, too. lint o'.ir mountain blood l>oils at putting the racket that comes ironi juke boxes in the same class with the .mountain classic: "Down the road, down the road, Can't get a letter from down the road." That, at least, makes some sense. How To Make Scholarship Stylish (Greensboro Dally News) The Frankjin Rotary Club up In Maoon County has taken on an annual project that ought to interest other civic clubs. Last month it sponsored a scholarship banquet honoring the 40 students who scored highest in scholastic ratings at the Franklin High School ? to from each of the four classes. Roy Armstrong, former director of admissions at the Univer sity of North Carolina and now executive secretary of the John Motley Morehead Foundation, spoke. He urged students to "pledge to yourself that you will make scholarship at Franklin High School stylish." Roy Armstrong can say that again. The Franklin effort, as Weimar Jones notes in The Frank lin Press, was no effort to downgrade other important aspects of the school curriculum. There Is a place for athletic prowess, leadership, good citizenship, et cetera. But today's schools, in the mad rush toward extracurricular activities, have forgotten their central mission. Part of it may be education of "the whole child." But the focal point re mains the teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic. And contrary to the belief ,of many teachers and parents, enrichment of the primary and high school curriculum Is not more important than a sound groundwork in the essentials. A child must learn the basic subjects first whether he intends to go to college .or not. The Franklin Rotary Club has set a meaningful example for other civic clubs, many of which are searching frantically for worthy projects. What could serve better purpose in our time than to put the emphasis .on scholarship in a time when the free world is engaged in a competitive race for survival? "Education is the greatest adventure we can experience," DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Files ot The Press 65 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1894) The colored Episcopal school at St. Cyprian's will close to night with a public entertainment. We made a visit to Clay County last week, and found the road across the Nantahala Mountain in as good condition as we have ever seen it. The mile posts put up on this side of the mountain are very convenient, and we would suggest the propriety of putting some on the other side, and on the road across the Tusquittee Mountain. Clay County might expend a small amount for powder and fuse to blast out some of the large boulders that stand out in the middle and jut out from the banks . . . One of the greatest needs In this section Is a dally mall route from Aquone to Hayesville. There is no direct mail communication between Macon and Clay, and it re quires two or three days for mail to pass from Franklin to Hayesvill?, although they are only one day's travel apart. 33 YEARS AGO (1924) Mr. and Mrs. Andy Reid, of West's Mill, were visitors in Franklin last Friday. Miss Elizabeth Johnston has returned to her home here from Winston-Salem, where she has been teaching the past winter. 15 YEARS AGO (1944) A memorial service and decoration of the graves at the Sugarfork Baptist Church will be held Sunday. 2nd Lt. Charles F^. Hunnicutt, a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress, was recently awarded the Air Medal. 5 YEARS AGO (1954) A large tract of land in the Tesenta section has been pur chased as the site for a new camp for Boy and Girl Scouts. FRANKLIN ONCE LOOKED LIKE THIS ? This picture of Franklin, taken from Rogers' Hill, was made in the early 1900's. In the right background is Trimont, with the old Academy (now the Terrace) appearing as though it sat at the foot of that peak. At the skyline, a little to the left of the center, is the tower of the courthouse. In the fore ground, to the right of the center, is the old Palmer home (inow Wood's Motor Court), and to the right of it is the Palmer wagon and blacksmith shop, in about the spot where the Wood apartment house, just west of The Press, now stands. Other identifiable old buildings are the Everett Franks house, the home of Mrs. Laura Robertson (earlier the Charlie Smith house), and the John Trotter house. The picture, leaned The Press by the Rev. and Mrs. L. B. Hayes, was found by Mrs. Hayes among the possessions of her mother, the late Mrs. Sam L Rogers. The photograph, Mrs. Hayes assumes, was made by the late Green Trotter, the only photographer here half a century ago. Roy Armstrong told the Franklin Rotary Club. And of course he is right. How many other communities have wide-awake civic organi zations willing to honor the cause of scholarship in the pub lic schools? Canton To Have City Manager (Waynesville Mountaineer) The Canton board of aldermen and the mayor climaxed several weeks of screening of applications and of interviews before arriving at their decision ,on filling the post of city manager. The new program begins May 25, approximately 60 days since the citizens of Canton appro"., d the project of putting Canton under a city manager form of government. The Mountaineer said before the election and right after-1 ward that the City manager form of government has been most satisfactory in Waynesville and we have high hopes of its being equally satisfactory at Canton. The record of W. Gary Head, who will fill the position, gives every indication that he has many things in his favor for making a success of the new program in Canton. He has been well schooled, thoroughly trained, and has dedicated his life to this important field of city government. While he is reported to be "aggressive," he is still young enough not to be "set in his ways" and to work hand in hand with city of ficials as they map a program of progress together. Where There Is No Unemployment (Laurinburg Exchange) The problem of unemployment continues to plague the country, despite the fact that production is at a high peak and business generally is said to be good. And the unem ployed, like the poor, we seem always to have with us. * But there are .areas in our economic and social frame work where there is no unemployment. Many of the trades and professions are short of recruits, and many employers find it hard to get competent help. Unemployment is largely limited to the unskilled, or the less efficient worker. And there is a class known as "unem ployables." The machine age, the age of automation, and the age of special skills, makes it hard on the worker who is not qualified for a special task, or who "can do anything." For that reason young people of today should look long and hard at the facts before quitting school, or foregoing an op portunity far a' college education. Or at least, they should prepare themselves for some particular work, or master a trade or skills which will always, make their services in de mand. - The man or the woman who can do a worth-while job and do it well is not likely to be out of work for long. Excellence always commands a premium in the labor market. Aggravating Factor (Matador, Texas, Tribune) Frequently a delicate constitution is aggravated by chronic laziness. STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES I was chatting with a friend who happens to be a physician. "I saw an article somewhere", I told him, "headed 'Tell Your Doctor EVERYTHING'." Then I added, with a chuckle: "I'll bet some of them do just that". "You ought to try practicing medicine in one of the fashionable sections of New York City", he replied (as though I'd ever try practicing medicine anywhere!'. "There they really do tell you everything. You have to hear all about what happened to a woman's fur coat, or the illness or her poodle, or how 'trying life is with the kind of maids ope can hire today ." He sighed; then went on: "And of course your patients, men as well as women, talk on forever about their symptoms; usually, symptoms any layman would recognize as not physical at all, but mental ? symptoms that re sult from an artificial way of living, from being possessed by possessions, from an ingrowing interest in nothing but self. "It's worst, I'm sure, in the big cities, but it's everywhere ? every where but here in the mountains. That's the main reason I'm prac ticing in Western North Carolina. A doctor gets fewer neurotics here than anywhere in the country." That struck me as about the highest compliment anybody could pay the mountain people, so I wanted to know how come. "How do you account for, that?" I demanded. "It's a matter of mental health", he replied promptly. There was a pause, then he added: "And that, basically, is a mat tar of chaxacter. Something has made the people here in the mountains tough enough to see things as they are. not as they'd* like 'em to be: and to face the fact they're that way. People here, most people, don't try to run away from life. "It's a matter of character . . \ That set me thinking; set me asking myself some questions. They are questions. I suspect, we might all do well to ask our selves, and try to find answers to: What are the circumstances, what is the attitude, here in the mountains, that h?s bred char acter? And, whatever it is, are we pre serving and cultivating it? or are we destroying it? Cai? we, in fact, hope to do other than destroy it if we continue our frantic efforts to make this region, and the people in it, exactly like the t regions and the people everywhere in the United States? G. H. ENFIELD How Mustaches Originated The wearing of mustaches -be gan centuries ago, when the Christians were driving the Moors, DESERVES TO GET WELL Anyone who can swallow an aspirin tablet at a drinking foun tain deserves to get well. ? Arapa, Colo., News. hi: EE l)OM IS EVERYTlilXG Here's Story Of Stanley Yankus' F ight Against Government Bureaucracy (EDITOR S NOTE: A chicken farmer named Stanley Yankus, Jr., has appealed his years Long; fight against government bureaucracy to the court of public opinion. What that fight is all about is told in the state ment . below, which he recently made before a Congressional committee.) Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee. Permit me to express my deep appreciation for t lie opportunity given me to very briefly call attention to 'one of the inevitable results' which follo w the enforcement of' the Agricul tural Adjustment Act of 1928. as amended. 7 The - following is a very brief 'atemcnt of what 1 would like to .say' and I hone that, af^er it i-. r>ad. I may be permitted lo Civ large upon the p:\ ent utuaUon \\0 ,vt wili h: pp."!i if ti:e present trend in government continues, in my opinion, band upon mv ex? peril nee. is that the people of the United States of America \v .11 no longer be free and independent, nor will this be/ a ' free" nation. My name is Stanley Yankus. I have lived on my 100 acre farm since April. 1943. I raise wheat, and barley and feed it all to my chickens. I have never signed an agreement with thp A.S.C. lAgri culture Stabilization and Conserva tion Board > . I have never accepted any subsidies. In the fall of 1953 an A.S.C. agent said I could not laise wheat and feed ft to my chickens. I thought this was con trary to everything American. I asked the A.S.C. man how I would be able, to mhke a living if I couldn't use my land. In 1954, my wheat fines equalled my entire ret income. That particular year 1100 chickens ciicd in 10 days from a bad disease. E".t;s were (heap ard feed ?,vas.|VRh. clue to fjpport 'prices. My wife find I made only Sl/000 that year. In' the year 1! >5 1 u i * fined al)3tlt S1X::4 on, The Mai til i-'U" of Reader S Dxc t ir>r> izine hac an artii le cntitl. d -"The f;;vai > Crime of Stan!' y Yarkiv '?' Wl. ?! is my crime? A man d i s liave t<5 commit- an offense to get fined or punished. I did not seil any wheat. Then my offense had to be using land for producing crops. Now, Congressmen, I would like to put the shoe on the other foot. You have passed laws permitting the Bureau of Reclamation to put new land into production. In the year 1955 alone, the Bureau of Reclamation' added 136,000 acres of land into production. So who is more' guilty of the strange crime of producing crops? The Bureau, of Census also states that;, 6 mil lion bushels of wheat were im ported in 1955. I did not add to the surplus of wheat, but you did. since you have the power to regu late imports. During the years 1951 to 1958. inclusive. I was fined $4,562. plus interest and costs. Because many of the farmers in my situation had been thtotish courts and received adverse derisions. I decided tp ap ical through the press to the Asicrhan people. Tl>e Detroit Tunis was the first laigi? news paper in the nation to champion mv cause. The division of power ? legisla te. executive and judicial -f has been a fundamental concept of English and American law. The AS.C. has nullified this concept, because a bureaucrat in the ? Department of Agriculture can write a regulation through the Federal Register whicli has the effect of law. The A.S.C. can and does execute and administer these laws, and the A.S.C. acts as judge and jury in determining a farmer's guilt. I am not fighting for the right to grow wheat. I am fighting for the right to own property. If I am forbidden the use of my land, then I do not own it. My rights do not e::cend much beyond the i;Wht to pay t;>xes. This is tyranny. The Fifth Amendment of th? Constitution says "r.o per on shall be deprived of life; liberty or property without , due process of law." The right to trial bv jury is one of the due processes cf law which Ivts been ('? nied me. My rlcht to liberty should cer tainly 'be my* right to cani my own liwng on my own farm. Federal low should apply equally to all citizens. Yet in 38 states there are wheat restrictions, and in 12 states there are none. Thus, I am a second-class citizen because I live in a state where restrictions are imposed. For five years my wheat allot ment has been 10 acres per year. Since I began to seek publicity, the A.S.C. gave me an allotment of 28 acres for 1959. This is ample proof that allotments are estab lished arbitrarily. Not-only have I fed all the grain I have raised, but I have pur chased $12,000 worth of commer cial chicken feed each year. This feed contains wheat and so I have been reuucln.'. i' e surplus of wheat. I have not tfarrr.ed any otivr farmers. I have earned my own U.K. I have paid m.v taxes How can you Congressna is justify 'he laws which have f. stroyed in n. ..sis of making a Viny? V n.v people have told fv." ',!? >t I'.' would lose .everything by op posing these whru t laws. What is everything? Money :?> o! ror value to a slave I think freedom )s evti ytlrtr.g. in murganum wawo-ittK.iVL.iJ a horde of invaders of the Mo hammedan faith, from Spain. Many of the Moors were being converted to Christianity, and in the frequent encounters between the Christians and Mohammedans, it was often impossible to distin guish between the adherents of the two religions. As is often the case in such situations, manyi Moorish Christians suffered at the hands of their brethren. To avoid these fatal mistakes. ii was ceciaea mat an Christians should shave their beards, and leave only the hair on their faces which should be worn to form as nearly as possible the figure of a cross. To effect this the hair was allowed to grow on the upper lip and in the center of the chin under the lower lip. From that day to the present many men continue to wear a mustache. However, only a few today are adorned with a goatee. 4 BUT WHY THINK IN THIS AGE? The "think" signs we see promi nently displayed on the desks of rising young executives or elderly board chairmen were invented by the late Thomas Watson, the President of I3M. Inventing this Eiyn has always semed to me a contradictory thing for Mr. Wat urn to have done. Mr. Watson win th?' ,Prr; idint of a corp^;..i.? i that made electronic compute] s and elccironic brains so that yo i wouldn't h;ivo lo think. Yen Just preyed a button and ?oi the ri-.ht. equation or you fed the m:i. hir ?>' tlej'lioh results and it told So i whlrh party would carry the Sefcate.- Carolina Israelite.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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May 21, 1959, edition 1
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