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f?6e ?t atiMitt 1 ii?\ and Slip Higlilanifi iflarmtiati WEIMAR JONES Editorial Page Editor Thursday, November 10, 1960 COURT IN TROUBLE Confusion Confounded Most of us learned as children that one lie in evitably leads to a whole series of lies. In order to cover up and justify the first lie, we must tell half a dozen more ; and each of those is likely to re quire still others. Sir Walter Scott's phrasing of that idea, in Verse, s "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive !" has become a part of the language because it de scribes so well an experience that is universal. Exactly the same sort of thing happens when we act on the assumption that a good end justifies bad means. Because a principle, which experience has proved right and true, stands in the way of quick and easy accomplishment of what seems a desir able end, we violate the principle. Whenever we do that, we quickly find ourselves in hot water, because we have taken a position that is false; and in order to justify that first false position, we must take a whole series of other po sitions that are false. Which of us has not had that experience! * * * Rarely has this been better illustrated than by the U. S. Supreme Court's 1954 school decision. No doulu the Court's intentions were good. It was motivated, probably, by concern for the rights of the Negro, and, almost surely, by an even grav er concern that the United States .should appear well in the eyes of its world neighbors. The end, that is, seemed so desirable as to justify whatever means were necessary. But it is a basic principle of this government that the courts must operate under law, and that the Supreme Court has a single function. It's job is not to make law, no matter how desirable; its job, and its only job, is to say what the law, as written, means. Yet, to outlaw school segregation, the Court had to toss out the window a considerable body of law, notably the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution itself. Because that position was a false one, it was inevitable that trouble should fol low. The Court, in fact, found itself in trouble even before the opinion was written. It found so little law to justify the decision, it felt impelled to look for justification in the fields of sociology and psy chology ? important fields, to be sure, but wholly alien to a court of law. It has been in trouble ever since. For six years now, it has been trying, first to justify the original false position, and more recently, to save face. The result has been a series of opinions on this ques tion so bizarre as to stagger belief. The latest of these was pointed out not by some Southern segregationist, but by The Saturday Evening Post. A year ago. The Post recalls, the Supreme Court held (in (ireene v. McKlroy) that an industrial en gineer, who had been denied access to classified in formation in a defense plant because of his alleged left-wing associations, must be restored to his job. He must be, said the Court, because he had had no opportunity to confront his accusers. That. opinion read, in part : Certain principles have remained relatively immutable in our Jurisprudence. One of these is that where gov ernmental action seriously injures an individual . . . the evidence used to prove the Government's case must be disclosed to the individual so that he has an opportunity to show that it is untrue. While this is important in the case of documentary evidence, it is even more important where the evidence consists of the testimony of individuals whose memory might be faulty or who, in fact, might be perjurers or persons motivated by malice, vindictiveness. intolerance, prejudice ,or jealousy. We have formalized these protections in the requirements of confrontation aind cross-examination. ( I But when a recent similar ease (Hannah et al. v. Larche et al.) involved Southern election regis trars accused of keeping Negroes off the votinjj lists, the Court held that the constitutional ri^ht of an accused to confront his accusers did not apply. Unlike virtually every civil rights decision since 1954, this one, written by Chief Justice Warren, was not unanimous. Justice Douglas wrote a vig orous dissent. These and other recent decisions, The Post com merits, "suggest that a citizen's constitutional rights depend on factors not mentioned in the Con stilution." It then concludes that : (Until a new case involving the right of accused persons to confront their accusers conies along, the ignorant layman can be pardoned if he is con fused.) * * * Perhaps the ignorant layman can be'. pardoned, too, for wondering if the justices of the Supreme Court ever read the Constitution. They read, no doubt, their own and previous de cisions of the Court ? which often are complex and obscure. But do they read the Constitution itself ? which usually is simple and clear? That question is prompted not by these decisions alone, but by many others in recent years ? includ ing several that had nothing to do with segrega tion. * * * On this point of confrontation, the Constitution says : "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted wHh the wit nesses against him." Note the word "all". Is there any ambiguity there? Could any high school student fail to understand that plain, simple statement? Yet the Court, entangled in the web of its owrt decisions, seemingly has failed to. For it has clearly held, in this latest decision, that the word "all" really means "some". No Longer True Once attain, Macon County youngsters have shown what kind of stuff they're made of ? win ning stuff. At the recent W.N.C. Fat Stock Show, they made a virtually clean sweep. F. F. A. and 4-H boys and girls from this county brought back home with them prizes for the grand champion, the reserve champion, the best county group of five ajnimals. the best group of three; and all of the 25 calves from this county won blue ribbons. In the one field where Macon didn't take top place, showmanship, a youth from this county, Spike Maddox, placed second. To him and the first place winners ? Miss Gene vieve Whitmire, Reagan Amnions, and those whose calves made up the county groups ? we offer con gratulations. .*? Macon youths have brought honor to their coun ty so often in recent yeans, it begins to look like a habit. Most of us are beginning to take that sort of thing for granted. That, of course, would be a mistake. Such hon ors don't come as a matter of fact; they come as a result of hard, intelligent effort. And the one thing neither adults nor youngsters here can afford is complacency. Happily* though, our young people have dissi pated a once rather general inferiority feeling ? a feeling that "nobody in Macon County can do any thing". That, it has been proved time and again in recent years, just isn't so any more ? if it ever was. Easy t (Brunswick, Ohio, Leader Posti It's easy to recognize a well-informed man; his views are the same as yours. New Look At F. D. R. (Roanoke Rapids Herald > The third volume of "The Age of Roosevelt," Arthtir Schles Inger, Jr.'s comprehensive history of the New Deal, has re cently been published. It is entitled "The Politics of Upheaval" and is chiefly concerned with ilie years when some of the first challenges to the Roosevelt program were beginning to appear. Many will strongly disagree with some of the conclusions drawn by the author and with some of the evaluations he makes of people and events In that period. Schleslnger is an avowed liberal and makes no pretense that his judgments are not colored by his political philosophy. Yet even conservative critics should find the book interesting. For that was an era of positive and colorful personalities, a time of social upheaval and realignment. There are those who believe that the New Deal took Amer ica down the path of Fabian socialism. Schleslnger's conclu sion seems to be that Roosevelt and the New Deal saved capi talism when the wheels had just about stopped. Whatever the reader's viewpoint as to this, the book Is fascinating be cause Roosevelt emerges as an understandable human being In an age of significant change. What Do People Work For? (Stanly News and Press) Someone remarked recently, "Most people nowadays work with Just two things In mind: their paychecks and quitting time.'' In other words, It Is no longer popular to be concerned over doing a good Job, or with making certain that you give your employer his money's worth. Labor unions have, to some extent, fostered the growth of this feeling with their apparent advocacy of squeezing from the employer every possible advantage during their bargain ing. The advent of so many attractive forms of recreation has also tended to cause people to long for quitting time, so that they can be on the golf course, beside a fishing hole, or else where. Whatever the reason for this tendency may be, it is foreign to the best interests of both employer and employee. Further, It is the sort of cancerous thinking which eats away at the moral fiber of the nation and supports the "get by" attitude which seems to be becoming more and' more prevalent. It should be pointed oat, however, for the benefit of those who may want to adopt the paycheck and quitting time as their two major objectives in a day's work, that the people who do adopt that philosophy rarely get promoted from their starting spot. There will perhaps always be some who feel that the world owes them a living and that the least they have to do Jn the way of work the nearer their Ideal they will reach. Such In dividuals are mentally and physically lazy. They, generally speaking, have neither the ambition nor capacity necessary for advancement. On the other hand, there are still Important positions be coming vacant with amazing frequency. They will go to the man or woman Who has conscientiously sought to do a good Job, to give full measure of work for the pay received, and has shown a sincere desire for greater responsibility. If the "paycheck and quitting time" philosophy has become the motivating force in the life of the American working man, then it Is a sad commentary upon the nation and its people. That philosophy can lead but to decay and failure. DO YOU REMEMBER? Looking Backward Through the Files of The Frew 65 TEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1895) H. H. Raby has graved out his whiskers, a la Burnside. Mr. Geo. H. Bidwell returned from Massachusetts to Corun dum Hill last Friday. Messrs. Lyman and Walter Deal returned from the Atlanta Exposition Monday evening. Miss Anna Slagle is at Barium Springs, N. C., at the orph anage, where she lias employment. J. S. Sloan .and wife, W. W. Sloan, Leon Sloan, Lyle Jones, Miss Laura Jones, Jimmie Lyle, and James Dryman left yes terday to visit the Atlanta Exposition. 35 YEARS AGO (1925) The broadcasting station at Franklin is becoming widely known as P-E-P. Someone ought to lay. in a supply of ten's for use as real estate offices here next summer. 15 TEARS AGO (1945) eagle's Cafe has been sold to W. L. Keener, of the Gold Mine section, and will be operated by Mr. and Mrs. J. Phil Tate, son-in-law and daughter of Mr. Keener. The Cowee P.-T. A. and community have raised money over the pasi two years for a school lunchroom, which now is in operation. 5 YEARS AGO (1955) Temperatures here during the past seven days ranged from a high of 71 to a low of 19. H. H. Gnuse, Jr., of Franklin, has been reelected commis sioner of the Smoky Mountain Boy Scout district. STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES A newcomer was speaking the other day of the unusual expres sions he's heard since coming to Macon County. What he said was not in criti cism; in fact, he remarked that most of these expressions, though wholly new to him, were crystal clear. that they said exactly What was meant. In a vivid way. "But I heard one recently," he commented, "that left me puzzled. A woman was speaking of a min ister we both know, and she said, emphatically: "He's a trash-mov er'!" To the newcomer, the phrase o injured up the picture of a sort of garbage collector; yet he had noted that the woman spoke the words In a tone that was clearly complimentary. "Just what did she mean?" the newcomer inquired. A Macon native was quick to supply the answer: "A 'trash-mover' is srmeone who, when he cleans up, really moves the trash; hence, the term means a hard, fast worker." II * ? * Only the other day I heard an other mountainism. once In reg ular use here, but which X hadn't heard in a long time. A man in the post office lobby, noting that the postal clerks were putting up mail a little longer than usual, commented: "The mail must have got here later than common." You don't often hear the word "common" used In that sense; yet what could be clea or? The mall was later than la o:tmmonly the case. A variation of that that once was common here: * the answer, when a person was asked, "How are you?" 1 "Why, I'm as well as commo?..' Another way the same idea of ten was put was: "I'm just fail- to middiin'." * ? ? TV'. I or three weeks ago, I wrote a little p!ece ah rat our use here of a wo d in a sense that you won't find in the dictionary. That little piece ended right in mid-air. The person reading It V must have had a feeling some thing like he would have II, watch ing a motion picture, he saw a man jump off a high building, fall halfway to the ground, and then suddenly stop falling. What happened, of course, was what often happens in newspaper shops. The last two or three line* of type were (topped or test or in some way disappeared. How that happens always la a puzzle to the folks who work a round print shops, so It must be a mystery, indeed, to the reader who finds a piece eroding in the middle of a sentence. As children, we all heard the admonition. "If at first you don't succeed, try, t y again." Well. I'm doing just that in this corner this week. I'm trying, once more, to get that piece in type, correct ly and octapletely. Yet I have a sneaking notion something will happen to it again before it reach es the reader; for I've noticed ; time and time again, that when ' you make one mistake about something, every time you try to correct it, you make another. (And that's true of all of us, not just those on newspapers.) Anyway, I'm trying again. Here's that little piece again: The word Isn't In the diction ary, and that's too bad; because It oanveys what Is meant more clear ly than any of the dictionary sanctioned words that seek to say the same thing. The word, which I'd guess is a mountain Ism, is "loafer." Used as a verb, mind you ? not as a i>:un, which Webster does recognize. ( "I'm Just loaferin' around." Could there be any question In anybody's mind what the speak er means? The woad, indeed, creates an immediate mental pic ture of a fellow dcii* nothing, doing it In relaxed fashion, and enjoying doing it ? and surely, "loaferin' " should be enjoyed. Too bad the dictionary dlaesn't list it! Too bad, too, that the ability to "loafer" isn't more evenly di vided. Most of us fall- either Into the class .:lf those who need to "loafer." but can't, oc those who need to work, but wont. "BEQUEATHED REAL WEALTH On 3 Mans Last Will (EDITOR'S NOTE: Below is the last will and testament of Charles Louns berry, Chicago attorney. The will, the story goes, was written while he was confined in an Insane asylum. In view of what the world is like today, readers may wonder if the man who was shut up in an asylum may not have been one of the few sane people, while all the insane were left free. The document, said to have been legally probated and put knto Cook County (111.) records, is reprinted here from "The Record", insurance publication that is distributed locally by Macon Insurance Agency.) I. Cliaiies Lounsberiy, being of sound and disposing memory, do hereby make and publish this my last will and testament, in order, as justly as may be. to distribute, my inte ests in the world among the succeeding men:' That part of my interest which is known in law and recog nized in the sheep-bound volumes as my property, being inconsider able i;nd of no account. I make no disposition of in this, my will My right t.:' live, being but a life estate, is not at my disposal, but. these tilings excepted, all else in the world I now procced to devise and bequeath. ITEM: I give to good fathers and mothers, in trust to their . children, all go:d Uttle wo ds of praise and encouragement, and nil quaint pet names and endear ments; and I charge said parents to use them Justly, but generous ly. as the deeds of their children thall require. ITEM: I leave to children in clusively, but only for the term of their childhood, all and every flower f the fields ahd the bios Says The South Is Being Tried' For Failure To Conform (EDITOR'S NOTE: The arti cle below, from Thr Cleveland Tlmn at Shelby, Is reprinted here not bKaaw It represent* the editor's viewpoint or the \iewpolnt of all Southerners ? obviously It doesn't: but be cause It Is a rood statement of a viewpoint that must be tak en into account for any rral understanding of the South, past or present. Mr. Sensing, the author. Is executive vice president of the Southern Stat es Industrial Council.) By TIIIRMOND SENSING With the opening of another school year, the American read in* public will be subjected to In numerable newspaper and maga zine articles that purport to de scribe what is taking place in the B:uth. Writers will be swarming into the Southern States because the South is on trial before the na lion. One section, of course, has no right t: try another section, especially one like the South that has given scores of great men nnd millions of soldii'rs to de fense of this country. Neverthe less, the trial which is. In fact, a kangaroo court proceeding, will be carried on in the "liberal" press. Donald Davidson, long-time profess" r at Vanderbilt Univer sity and one of the great writers of the South and the nation, has written an essay in National Re view which touches on this trial. In this essay, entitled "The New South ahd tile Conservative Tra dition," Prof. Davidson discusses the continuing struggle In which Southerners a;e involved as they seek to defend the high conserva tive principles of the American Republic. Prof. Davidson cites the term "the New South" as one which Is but a blunt Instrument to Inflict damage on this region. This "New South," he says, "is the North's wishful image of what the North wants any pre.sent South f become; and this is, pre sumably. a South that accepts or submits to Northern views and' be comes as much like the North as pos-ible, no matter how Kieat the injury t. Southern ; bliefs and principles, no matter how exten sive the cost in material and so cial terms." i The terms "New South" and "Old South" arc but straw men that enemies of constitutional government erect with the s le purpose of knocking down, there by hurting a region that sticks to sound ideas of government. Srutherners, as Prof. Davidson reminds his readers, are enemi.ts of the Power State. They are wedded by history to the convic tion that American society is not a creature of an all-powerful gov ernment. They believe that the individual <-omes first, and that government is a servant not a master of men. Holding these views, South am conservative* have much in com nv n with the new conservatives of the North and We?t. Only the straw men erected by the "liber als" prevent a common front by conservatives in all regions. Nev ertheless, such a front is grad ually taking shape. In the mcanwhi'e. the Sou'h' remains the bulwark of constitu tional government in the Unit States. It is the storehouse of sound ideas about the way p oplc tan live together in state and na tin. Prof. Davidson well describe* the unique Southern contribution. "The actual South thrtt I know." says Prof. Davidson, "is not enslaved by any theory of the past: but as a .v.mewhat tradition al society it retains continuity with Its past without being er. cumbered by it. It is not enslaved Dy any theory of th? future, and in particular it does not accept The kind of futuiLvm which holds that the present must b 1 deter mined by a distant and unpre dictable future. It Is therefore oult2 natural for this actual South to wrefile with problems r'w and o'd in an earnest, tough mird?d. pragmatic way, for that is ii deed the wav the South be ll ves th.y should be approached if 'ial catastrophe is to b; avoid ed." Tils trim "the actual South", !? ore al' Southern rs shoald .re member. It means a region that looks to e"Oriomi~ prgre'S both on the farm and in Industrial communities, while at the same time rerkine to preserve faith in limited eoverrment and the rights cf the individual t.~ determine his w.v of lif" without dictation bv any federal, bureaucracy or leftist olisarchy in judicial robes.. >oms of the woods, with the right to play among them freely ac cording to the customs of the rhlldren, warning them at the 'Jimf time against thistles and thorns. And I devise to children Ihe banks of the brooks and the ?olden sands beneath the waters thereof, and the odors of the wil lows that dip therein, and the white clouds that float high ever the giant trees. And I leave the rhildren the long, long days to be merry in, in a thousand ways, and the night and the trail of the Milky Way to wonder at, but. subject, nevertheless, to the rights hereinafter given to lovers. ITEM: I devise to b;ys joihtly, all the useful Idle fields and com mons where ball may be played, all pleasant waters where o^e" may swim, all snow-clad hills1 where one may coast, and all st; earns and prnds where one may fish, or where, when grim winter comes, one may skate, to h.-Jd the same for the period of their boy hood. And all the meadows, with the clover-blossoms and the but terflies thereof; the woods with their appurtenances; the squirrels and the birds and echoes and ftrange noises, and all distant plates, which may be visited, to gether with the adventures then-, found. And I give to said boys each in his own place at the firs fide at night, with all pictuit-s that may be seen in the burnin" w*od. to enjoy without let or hindrance, or without encurv brance or care. ITEM : To lovers I devise their imaginary world, with the stars of the sky, the red roses by the wall, the blo m of the hawthorne. the sweft strains -f music, an1 aught else that they m ly desire to figure to each other, the lan insness and the beauty of thci. love. ITEM; Tt> those who are ro lon"er children or youths, r lov ers. I bequeath the power to havj "lasting friendships, the capacity for courage, and undaunted faith ITEM: To our loved ones with ?nowy crtwns, I leave memory, i the peace and happiness of old a<te. the love and gratitude ol their children * until they fall asleep.
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