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The Arguments Against Until '!'? other day, we'd never heard of the Commi! t ? ? Against Summit Kntanglenient. We h ;! ! no brief for the organization, for the Rood r -a- in we know nothing about it ; for all we know, if :na'.' be a bad .organization. But good or bad. it Ivi < done '.ati effective job of summarizing the ai's'ii why President Kisenhower should have.no t rue.!: u :th Russia's Khrushchev at a sum mit. meeting. With* the warning to the reader that this is only one side of the question, we pass along the com mittee'^ -tatement as being the most logical, con cise presentation of that side we've seen. The committee urges the President not to attend a Summit Conference because: ? 1. It wilt further increase Soviet prestige. 2. It will further discourage anti-Communists every where and weaken their will to resist. 3. It will play right into the hands of all of the ap peasement-minded politicians, and weaken the position of the firm anti-Communist statesmen, in all the govern mental circles of the remaining free world. 4. The results of the last "summit conference" have proved to be huge gains for the Soviets, and huge losses for the anti-Communist forces. We should be guided by this experience. 5. Experience has further and fully demonstrated that any agreements which the Soviets do make will be ignor ed or broken, as soon as it suits their convenience. 6. The only questions raised or discussed will be as to HOW FAR we will give in to Soviet demands. Under such conditions we have all to lose and nothing to gain. 7. The President of the United States is seriously handi capped. in bargaining in any such conference with a man like Khrushchev. The President's commitments are not final, but must later be ratified by the Senate, as is well known to the Soviet Premier, who can himself speak with dictatorial authority. 8. It is an unconstitutional way for an American Pres ident to conduct foreign affairs. Treaties must be entered into with the ADVICE an,d CONSENT ?f the Senate. Even if retroactive consent is later obtained, both Senate and Executive are violating the Constitution as to the ADVICE of the Senate during the negotiations. 9. Syngman Rhee is correct that "what is morally wrong can never be politically right." It is morally wrong to fraternize with .murderers. It. And Jacques Soustelle is correct that, when dealing with the Soviets, .always or on any issue, "to negotiate is to surrender." Fresh Eyes See More When you or [ visit New York or sonic other city for the first time, we see and are impressed by things the natives are unaware of. Because those things have been before their eyes day after day and year after year, people who always have lived there no longer really se? them. The same thing, of course, is true of Macon County. That fact of human nature gives special point to the letter on thi-> page from Mrs. Julia K. Phillips. She, in fact, has ;i double advantage over those of us who were reared here. She can recall her first # impressions. She is no newcomer, though, but has become one of us. If America firsts where she came from, if the people lose sight of what brought them along, if she listens to the denier.s and mocker;, then will begin the rot and dissolution. ?Carl Sandburg. GROWING PAINS ? w a ^ \~ 0COWCTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE CO. Pity Poor Pete Pete feels that the whole world is against him. No miftter how hard he tries, he can't seem to please his mother. Unless mother changes her wavs, Pete may become a weak, submissive, anxiety-ridden mart. Or perhaps even worscj he ir.ay develop into an aggressive threat to society. Two Tests (Arapa, Colo., News) The test of courage comes when we are In the minority; the test of tolerance comes when we are In the majority. Takes Cooperation (Irish Digest) No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. We Probably Would! (Frederick, Colo., Farmer & Miner) If we could see ourselves as others see us, we'd probably deny it. Negro Or Colored? (News Alliance Bulletin) Negro or colored? Which term Is more acceptable? An Ebony Magazine survey of 10 leading Negroes shows them not so much concerned with racial designations as with the battle to be treated as Americans. The magazine points out that the dictionary definition of Negro is "a black person of African descent.'; Yet Africans themselves disown the term, and it is "spurned by dark-skin ned subjects of all nationality groups but ours." Ebony says that baseball star Willie Mays, entertainer Sam my Davis. Jr., and internationally known woman leader at torney Edith Sampson prefer to be called Negroes. Daisy Bates, Little flock's desegregation leader, Is annoyed by neither term and feels that inasmuch as Negroes are all colors, they are colored. The Rev. Martin Luther King and Congressman William Dawson have no preference. Roy Wllkins and Lester Granger, executive secretaries of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People and the Urban League, respect ively, use Negro and colored Interchangeably. The most vocal of the leaders surveyed was attorney Sadie T. M. Alexander, who likes neither term, preferring instead to be called an American. "Ethnologically inaccurate though it may be," concludes the magazine, "the word Negro has official status, Is legally binding. Little can be done about that. "The real problem is the man called Negro. If he would spend as much time dignifying his race as he does decrying its designation, if he would quit worrying about the label and concentrate upon improving the product, the name would take care of itself." Why War Is Unthinkable (Joseph C. Jahn in Suffolk County, N. Y., News) If mankind is to perish in a therrno-nuclear holocaust, I hope there is time left for one last bitter laugh at the thought that 14 years after the start of the atomic age homo sapiens hasn't found a way to live in it. Most of us are so uninformed about the meaning of this new power and what it can do to the human race that it may be written down as history's greatest joke, providing 'there is anyone alive to record it. Dr. Hardin B. Jones, of the University of California, a dis LETTERS 'Gem In The Rough' " ? ? Editor, The Press: I have been Interested in ,the discussion about the court house. I am very much in favor of renovating the present one. I admit there is little in favor of it, in its present con dition. I agree it's an eyesore, as it is. And the type of re pairs heretofore certainly have not" improved its appearance. I believe there must be many Maconlans who are interested in preserving this llhk with their historic past, but have just neglected to express themselves. I am not a native Maconlan, but when I came here ten years ago with the thought of purchasing a piece of property, naturally I was interested in the town? the possibilitiees of its future growth, background, etc. The thin? that Impressed me most was the old buildings ? the courthouse, the building then used as a library (the old Masonic Halli and since torn down, "Dixie Hall", and one or two others. I should hate to see Macon County sacrifice this link with its earlier days; they were evidently, to a substantial extent, ones of culture. I find it hard to understand why some woman's club has not found this a worth-while project; it is to the women of the country that we are indebted for the preservation of most of our fine old' historic buildings. The most notable example is Mount Vernon, which was saved through women's foresight. In a sad state of disrepair when a group of women decided something must be done about it, today it is an attraction to thousands upon thousands of visitors every year, from all over the world. Many other examples could be cited. In fact, the value of the old and historic is now so well recognized that millions are spent in reproducing things we have not cared enough about to save in the first place. Williamsburg, of course, Is the outstanding illustration, but by no means the only one. Some of our young people say a new courthouse should be built, so we'll have one to be proud of now and one their descendants can be proud of. No one can be sure that a type of architecture popular today will be at all acceptable tomor row. The City of Philadelphia started out to build a city hall that would end all such problems; some thirty years, and something more than $26,000,000 later, when it was turned over to the people of Philadelphia, it was already outmoded! Franklin's courthouse has its roots deep in the soil of Ma con County. I will admit your courthouse, In its present state, does not inspire pride. And for those who have looked upon it day after day and year after year, It takes an active imagination to see much in the way of possibilities. But a competent architect could certainly do wonders. With efficient planning, I sincerely believe enough waste space could be utilized to accommodate records for a long time. For a more attractive outside, the buildings in the rear could be purchased and razed, forming a plaza toward Church Street. (I hope the owners of those buildings will understand nothing personal is intended.) That would seem much more desirable and attrac tive than a cross-road and parking lot. (There could still be quite a bit of parking along the side, as at present.) These are the merest suggestions; but I should sincerely like to see Macon Countlans keep their courthouse. They may not value it, as is suggested by the type of repairs perpetrated against it; but I cannot help but think, if it were properly renovated, there would be a pride that no new building could bring forth. That calls to mind a small town in Georgia I have never visited, but which I never pass through that my eyes do not go to its neat, tidy courthouse, beautiful because of its simplicity. I am sure there are more people interested than have com mitted themselves; and surely it is too big a decision not to let your commissioners know how you feel. Your courthouse is a "gem in the rough"? waiting to be cut and polished. (MRS.) JULIA E. PHILLIPS River Bend Road, Franklin, Route 3. tingulshed scientist, put it this way last week: A major nu clear attack on the United States would leave a generation decimated by death, weakened by radiation, and with genetic damage that would be passed on to countless descendants. Half of the 40 million survivors of a nuclear war on this country would die from radiation and associated disturbances within a year or two. Of the remaining half, the least that would happen would be a reduction of their life span by some 11 years. And that, friends, covers all of us. They would eke out an existence for a while on land contaminated by radioactivity, swept by forest fires, and erod ing into dust bowls. Millions would starve or die of thirst and disease would run rampant. What is even worse Is this scientific forecast: The 40 mil lion Americans under the age of 40 who would survive the at tack Itself would produce from 24,000,000 to 960,000,000 new genetic mutations distributed over some 30 succeeding genera tions. Nearly one thousand years of sub-normal human be ings. Not a nation wiped out, but worse: A nation disfigured and lost, perhaps forever . . . not just the rubble of cities but the birth of millions of human monsters for generations to come. This, then, is why there must be Geneva conferences and summit meetings, no matter how futile they may appear, and why we must learn how to live with the Russians and the Chinese, and they with us. This is why a group of top inter national scientists, of every possible shade of political opin ion, should sit at the summit with the political leaders and make their voices heard. This is why war is unthinkable, and why flag waving no longer brings joy to many hearts, but strikes terror to many souls. In Own Backyard (Eaton, Colo., Herald) Growth of Washington bureaucracy has been viewed with alarm by most of us, yet here in Colorado In the school situ ation and with the state taking over driver licensing from the counties, we see the same thing building up yet fall to recognize it. . DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Files ol The Proas 65 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1894) FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL? The fall session will open Mon day, August 20, with M. C. Allen as Principal, and Miss Hat tie Sloan, Assistant. The latter has had a thorough Normal training, and is especially qualified for teaching primary and intermediate branches. Pupils from the country can secure board in private families at a very low rate. Tuition from $1.50 to $3 per month. ? Adv. Jos. E. Rickman is putting down lumber to build a new store house near the Academy (now the Franklin Terrace). A small company of Indians from Quallatown was in town yesterday and played a game of ball on the east side of the river. 35 YEARS AGO (1924) Mr. H. D. Dean has been appointed superintendent of the Sunday School here for the coming year. ? Etna Item. Dr. and Mrs. J. H. Fouts spent last Tuesday In Asheville. 15 YEARS AGO (1944) The Rev. George Cloer, of West's Mill, has been nominated as the Republican candidate for representative, in place of Robert Fulton, farmer of Cullasaja, who previously was chos en but declined the nomination. Mayor W. H. Cobb has been elected president of the High lands Chamber of Commerce, to succeed S. C. Russell, re signed. 5 YEARS AGO (1954) Five Franklin Boy Scouts have been selected for initiation into the Order of the Arrow: Herbert McKelvey, Tommy Gnuse, Lewis Cabe. Gary McKelvey, and Gilmer Henry. Mrs. J. Ward Long won the sweepstakes aw.ard and one of the two tricolor awards at Saturday's annual flower show of the Franklin Garden Club. > We Americans Wantonly Disregard Our Heritage (EDITOR'S NOTE: Should Maron County's ancient court house be torn down? Light is cast on that question by an articic that appeared in last January's Reader's Digest. Ex cerpts from The Digest piece appear below.) An architect visiting West Point a few years ago was admiring the Superintendent's residence, beau tifully situated to command a sweeping view of the West Point Plain. The oldest building still being used at the Academy, this one has housed almost every Superintendent, and so has his toric as well as architectural value. "We're tearing it down for more barracks room", an officer told him matter-of-factly. The architect was horrified. Couldn't it possibly be saved? No, the plans were made. The visitor hastened to Wash ington and buttonholed congress men and senatorsi but could in terest none. Then he had an In spiration: he called on Senator Harry F. Byrd, of Virginia. "Sena tor," he said, "did you know that Gen. Robert E. Lee's famous home while* he was Superintendent of West Point is about to be destroy ed?" The senator was incredulous. "Get me West Point!" he said to his secretary. No one will give a verbatim report of the ensuing conversation, but the destruction plans were canceled and today this architectural landmark still stands, used and admired. The patriotic architect Is but one of many Americans who are alarmed at the wanton razing ol places precious to our heritage. All over the country structures that help recreate our past are being sacrificed to make way for shopping centers, superhighways, skyscrapers and "subtopias." Studies indicate that at least 25 per cent of the finest historic and architectural monuments that existed' in the United States in 1941 have been destroyed. Much of this destruction is the result of callous disregard of cul tural values. Residents of Charles ton, S. C., used to point with pride to their Orphan House Chapel, designed in 1802 by Gabriel Mani gault. one of the finest of early American architects. Culturally it was of national importance and when a mail-order house acquired it along with other property for "a retail store, Charlestonians begged the company to spare the charming chapel. But it was destroyed to enlarge the parking lot. Boscobel. a classical mansion dat ing from 1804, was considered one of the most distinguished examples of Hudson River architecture. Lo cated in Westchester County, N. Y., on the grounds of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Veterans Hospital, it w&s in rapidly de teriorating condition in 1950. De spite local efforts to save it, gov ernment officials declared it sur plus property and sold it for $35 to a wrecker, who tore it down. Even in ruin It was beautiful. Admirers of the old house raised enough money to purchase the dismantled structure and niove it. piece by piece, to a 30-acre park site at Garrison, N. Y. There it lies today, while devoted sponsors go about the heartbreaking job of collecting funds to reconstruct the mansion as a community center and museum of Hudson Valley history and art. Why save old places? What can they contribute to living in the world today? A nation with no regard for Its past will have little future worth remembering. We need authentic, tangible reminders of our national virtues and heroes to make us feel a part of the best in our heri tage. Properly presented, they breathe life Into past experience. Historic preservation speaks lo the spirit. In 1942 an Army private wrote to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., about his visit to colonial Will iamsburg: "Of all the sights I have seen, and the books I have read, none ever made me sense the greatness of this country with more force and clarity than when I saw Williamsburg slumber ing peacefully on its old founda tions." Williamsburg and Cooperstown, N. Y . are famous. But many a lesser-known locality, taking a fresh perspective of its past, is finding an old courthouse or resi dence, even a covered bridge or a tavern, that Is rich in historical associations. A number of cities have put entire areas under architectural ? Continued on back page First Section * STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONtt Things aren't always what they seem. Or maybe a better way to put It Is to say most of us are so sure we're going to see what we expect to see. it takes something of a shock to make us shed our pre conceived notions, so our eyes car. show us what is really there. I had some illustrations of that on a recent trip to a newspaper conference at Carbondale, 111. I wanted to make the trip by train from Knoxville (which I had to reach by first driving to Cherokee, and there taking a bus>'. So I wrote in advance for train schedules, etc. I was told I'd go via the Southern to Corinth, Miss., where I'd change to an "I. C. Ry." train. I was warned, though, that that train runs only every other day, from Corinth to Carbondale on odd days, and back again on the even ones. What sort of a train that must be. to run only every other day! I thought; so I considered going by air or bus. But because I've found that every new experience is interesting, If not always com fortable and convenient, I decided to go by rail, just to find out what an every-other-day train was like. I took It for granted it'd be a slow-poke little affair, maybe a freight with one or two passenger coaches attached. Imagine my sur prise, therefore, when It turned out to be the Illinois Central Rail way's long, sleek, luxurious "City of Miami", which runs from Miami to Chicago, and is in such a hurry it doesn't even stop at Corinth, a town of 15,000, unless it's flagged! Later I learned that many of today's big, fine trains operate on every-other-day schedules. In other words, I suddenly realized my as sured misconception of what I was about to see was based not on a reasonable assumption, but on my own ignorance. The second eye-opener had to do with Corinth. I'd never been in Mississippi, but I'd read a lot about it, ? almost of all of it unfavorable. So I was prepared to see not what my eyes showed me. but what somebody else had told me I would see. I looked for hordes of Negroes, for a few old Southern mansions, for shantytowns, and for shiftless poor whites, obsessed by sex, pre judice, and hate. As I entered the railway station waiting room, I was met by a gang of the laziest, skinniest, mangiest looking cats I'd ever seen. And when I went to the rest room, it not only was the fifties'; one I can recall; there was no pretense of any place to wash hands. "Wejl, what did you expect of Mississippi?" I found mysell say ing. Then a disconcerting fact came to the surface of my mind: Thi*/ was in Mississippi, true; but X was the property of the Southern Railway. You couldn't fairly blame a whole state for what a big rail road was responsible for, In a single station within that state. So I set out, in my three-hour wait, to see something of Corinth. Except for a porter in the station, I saw not one Negro, not one Southern mansion, no special evidence, no matter how hard I looked for it, of obsessions with sex and prejudice and hate. It may be X saw some of the "poor whites" some novelists delight to depict; they were white, and un doubtedly some of them were poor. But Corinth wasn't what I'd look ed for at all. Truth is, except for the flatness and some bales of t cotton, it might have been a large-scale replica of any West ern North Carolina town. Once again a fact gave me a start: Corinth, I learned, is only 4 '/a miles south of the Tennessee line and is perhaps more closely connected with that state than with Mississippi. Because I was -within the borders of Mississippi. I had assumed I'd find the con ditions that exist . . . maybe . . . in the southern part of that state. Later, I was to hear the com ment. not from a Mississipian, that "Mississippi is the most maligned state in the Union". And 4 I recalled the snide remarks I've so often heard ? and made ? about that state. As though there were any state that doesn't have good people as well as bad, good customs as well as bad, good ' "ways of life" as well as badjj And I found myself wondering: When we ridicule other states and places and people, aren't we indulging in a bit of holier-than thouing? If we can find enough wrong with the other fellow or the other town or the other state, it makes us feel not quite so guilty ourselves, by comparison. However that may be, I came home with the conviction that our eyes would do a lot better joty for us all, if our minds would let them see what's there, instead of telling them what to look for. PLEASING TO TAR HEELS A Poteat Returns HENRY BELK in Greensboro Daily News Many a Tar Heel who honors the Poteat name for its contribu tion to education and enlighten ment will be pleased with a bit of news from Duke University. Dr. William H. Poteat will join the faculty of the Divinity School of Duke University. He is a son of the late great Baptist liberal WHY NOT FOLLOW EXAMPLE OF U. S.? Wife to Husband: I wish you had the spunk the government has. They certainly don't let being in debt keep them from spending. ? Arapa, Colo., News. preacher. Dr. E. McNeill Poteat, of Raleigh. He is a great-nephew of the late scholar, biologist and Christian. Dr. William Louis Po teat. long-time president of Wake Forest College. A sermon by "Dr. Billy" before the Baptist State Convention at Winston-Salem in the "monkey trial" period staved off what was shaping as an at- ' tack to unseat the great man for his views on evolution. That speech will be remembered in North Carolina history as one which kept this state out of a Scopes case incident. "Dr. Billy," a layman, was called to give the "sermon" when the regularly scheduled minister was taken ill and could not do it. That great Latin teacher, musi cian and, most surprising, Shriner, the late Dr. Hubert Poteat of Wake Forest College, was a cousin of the educator coming home to North Carolina. Dr. Hubert, or "Old Thunder," as he was affec tionately known, ended his days happily teaching Baptist preachers at the Southeastern Seminary. Such a character must have beenj a bit shocking to some young preachers, but much good in realistic thinking and discussion he must have done them. And of course generations of Meredith College girls will recall the late Miss Ida Poteat, sister of "Dr. Billy," who headed the college's art department. Hundreds of Carolina students will identify Dr. William H. Po teat as the "Young Dr. Bilty," who charmed and stimulated them as professor of philosophy at the University at Chapel Hill. He left Chapel Hill to join the faculty of the Episcopal Seminary at Austin, Texas, two or three years ago. , It will be splendid to have such a scholar back at work In higher education In a state where his family has made such bright con tributions. GLAD SHE DOESN'T LIVE NEXT DOOR I came home the other night and found all four children screaming, the television blaring forth, the washer and the dryer both running. After things calmed down a little Hallie remarked to me in a very serious tone, "I'm sure glad that I don't live next 4 door to us. I think the noise would drive me nuts." ? Jim Parker In Chatham News.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Aug. 6, 1959, edition 1
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