THE SYLVA HERALD Published By THE HERALD PUBLISHING COMPANY Sylva, North Carolina The County lut of Jackson County ? A. GRAY and J. M. BIRD Publishers PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY Entered at the past office at Sylva, N. C., as Second Class Mail Matter, as provided under the Act of March 3, 1879, November 20, 1914. SUBSCRIPTION RATES One Year, In Jackson County $2.00 Six Months, In Jackson County 1.25 One Year, Outside Jackson County 2.50 Six Months, Outside Jackson County 1.50 Subscriptions Payable In Advance AS$bciArJUN'"^ A good name ii rather to be chosen than great riches, "and loving favour rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22: 1 THE TEST OF GOOD FAITH IN THE HEALTH PROGRAM In the lap of the legislature are the rel atively modest proposals of the North Carolina Medical Care Commission to give substance and reality to the health plan promoted by two governors and the 1945 set of lawmakers. It is hardly con ceivable that the plan will be either side tracked or mutilated. With characteristic Tar Heel conserva tism, the Commission is proposing a cen tral State investment of only $14,140,000. It seems unlikely that either Governor . Cherry or the legislature of 1945 could, have had a smaller figure in mind when they directed the Commission to imple ment the health plan. The recommendations of the Commis sion, derived from careful investigation not only of method, a task to which it was assigned, but of need, which the 1945 legislature assumed as self-evident, pro pose a capital investment considerably smaller than might have been expected. They propose, for instance, that the State pay only one-third of the total costs of the hospital building program tentatively projected under the inspiration of the Hill-Burton Federal statute. Of course the Cotnmission did not in clude in its figures the costs of improve ment of the facilities for care of mental and tubercular patients. Adequate pro visions for these will increase the total demand on the legislature by a large sum, but the grand total will be within the reasonable range of expectation for all who in campaign commitments, in party conventions and in the General Assembly have declared their purpose to effectuate a "health plan" for a State that needs one. Neither mild impeachment of the en thusiastic propaganda in favor of the pro gram ,nor the slight?and unsightly un candid?confusion over the relative im portance of schools and hospitals, should obscure the issue. North Carolina's need for more hospitals is clear and it is equal ly clear that the State faces a chance to build them with Federal and local help that is exceptional. The State govern ment cannot afford either to decline or to postpone seizure of this opportunity. In the State's fiscal planning it must distinguish between capital outlay and maintenance. Neither the health plan nor the educational system should be main tained with the so-called surplus. Right now the general fund is producing at a rate exceeding 100 millions a year, while spending is predicated on a budget of some 71 millions. One great problem of the legislature, greater perhaps than de cision as to use of reserves, will be the proper basis of.regular spending for op eration account. How much above the present 71 mil lions can we go in regular commitment for maintenance of public service? It is a difficult question in view of the high sensitivity of our tax plan. Money flows generously under that plan in good times; it dries up readily in hard times. What ever the decision may be about mainten ance commitments, they should not be based on a theory of deficit spending. That is, they should not be made with an idea of using surplus except to tide over a brief emergency. The State has been accumulating mil lions in reserves because it did not aban don what it declared an emergency tax device, the sales tax, after that device lift ed its finances out of the depths. The logi cal use of those reserves is to declare a dividend to the taxpayers in terms of greatly needed public service facilities, whether hospitals or school buildings. There should be no plan to use them gen erally to pay current operating costs. Therefore, there should be no confu Inside Washington Special to Ctntral Pre** WASHINGTON?CIO President Phil ip Murray's decision to extend the steel wage contract to May 1 adds up to a neat bit of strategy. It puts the pressure on John L. Lewis again., Murray's contract would have expired Feb. 15?right in the middle of congres sional consideration of new labor legisla tion. Another industry-throttling strike? such as steel?would have fired congres sional tempers and brought drastic labor .legislation down on the head of the CIO. Murray sidestepped, however, and put Lewis on the spot. The miners have been ordered to stay at work until March 31. Negotiations are expected to open March 1 for a new soft coal contract. If the union-operator talks fail, the miners will be on notice to lay down their tools at midnight March 31. In such a sit uation, Lewis would be the target of Congress. Some of the most ardent backers of Gov. Thomas E. Dewey for the Republi can presidential nomination already are planning to offer a compromise to Ohio's Senator Robert Taft although the GOP convention is 16 months away. These Dewey supporters see Taft as the man most likely to beat their candidate in his bid for a second chance to head the ticket. However, they also figure that Taft might be influenced to throw his weight behind Dewey and release the Ohio dele gation in event a deadlock develops which would otherwise pave the way for a "dark horse" candidate. This compromise would be in the form of the vice presidential nomination. But, it must be remembered that Dewey back ers plan to offer the vice presidential nomination to Taft only as eleventh-hour strategy. The Republican bill to reduce personal income taxes 20 per cent is sure to be thoroughly rewritten before it is ever passed by Congress. And even then the prospect is that it will be vetoed by Presi dent Truman. Opposition to the 20 per cent proposal has developed in Republi can as well as Democratic ranks. Rep. Carl T. Curtis (R) of Nebraska, a member of the House ways and .means committee, predicts the committee will change the bill to give low-incometax payers a larger percentage tax cut than those in higher-income brackets. In the Senate, Senator Taft (R) of Ohio has thrown out suggestions that tax payers earning up to $3,000 might be given special consideration. Taft empha sizes, however, that his suggestion does not mean he favors such an idea. These views add up to the following conclusion: The chances are that any tax reduc tion bill passed by Congress will give special consideration to low-income tax payers, perhaps by a moderate increase in exemptions, although there may be a straight percentage cut in addition?pos sibly 10 per cent. YOU'RE TELLING ME! Trepanning was so popular among the Incas that when their skulls are dug up nowadays they look just exactly like whitewashed bowling balls. . / One of the directors of a BritW^eom pany tried it. He had the medicos exca vate his noodle and short-circuit a fifth of his brains. On recovery, the story goes, he became so smart the boys elected him chairman of the board. Seems a drastic way of try ing to get a raise in pay. The ancient Incas and Aztecs, archeol ogists tell us, practiced trepanning. That means cutting a hole in a pal's head?but only with the best of intentions. sion as to the issue of teacher pay. That pay must rise and rise sharply. So mitet the pay of many other, public servants. The cost of living and disproportionate compensation require it But along with the strengthening of the public schools for the vital job of teaching can go now the furnishment of facilities needed to assure healthier, teachable students for the schools. There is nothing exceptionally ad vanced in the State's health plan. It is consistent with what is being demanded and being done elsewhere. We will not be ahead of the leaders if we adopt the Comrrtfssion's proposal but we will be far behind them, indeed, if we do not adopt it?N. C. Better Health THE (LAND) LORD'S PRAYER GWl US TWSPAV OUR PAILY r**e V i L f r y?8 pjjpWB Mil if# 5M * &A r^'V; ;-' - - ' + * ? //yv? ?r * v / ?.-* - *?'.?' >. ? *. ?* v /?V ??? ..? v , 1 ".' "" / "V h \ V. r-ii'I ' < & V.,; >V /? * ** Wm m3"K,\ m & If SSJsh >??''?? '"J w**+* v ACCOFSOtMG TO THE L ANDL.QQD The Everyday Counsellor By REV. HERBERT 8PAUGH, D. D. Marriage should be the happiest and most satisfying of human ex periences. It was ordained by God to be such, and when entered into with His blessing, and consum mated under His sought direction, it is. When we leave God out of marriage, anything can happen, and often it is a tragedy. An awful example of a godless and bitter marriage comes through the Asso ciated Press from New Albany In diana. Here a circuit court jury actiuiited Mrs. Goldie Sutton, 43, on a tirst degree murder charge in the shooting of her husband, Guy, 46. after hearing her testify th? : he h..d: "Broken her collarbone b y throwing her over a cliff. Stepped on her neck. Poured kerosene on her and tried to set her clothing afire. Tried to slash her throat with a razor. Threatened to pour hot grease on her. Singed he$ hair with a shotgun blast." ? Such a domestic tragedy did not happen all at once. The parties were not young, but middle-aged. They had evidently been fighting together for years* with final and tragic results. Too many marriages, often en tered into lightly, quickly become battlegrounds. Who hasn't heard the old wisecrack that an appro priate marriage hymn is, "The Webster, Savannah P.T.A. Hold Joint Meet Thursday Webster and Savannah schools held a joint meeting of their Par ent-Teacher Associations last Thursday at the Savannah school. The Webster organization was Fight Is On!" Marriage quickly be comes a fight ,when it is entered into selfishly, and with God left out. When a man and woman marry, they enter into a contract, "for better or for worse." It should and can be, "for better." But all too ^ften it is "for worse." The rising divorce rate indicates that. Let it be remembered that a man and woman must reach physi cal maturity before they can con summate a marriage. During the years of growth they have been reared in entirely different en vironments in which they have ac quired a variety of different habits: -? There must be a common de nominator in marriage if it is to succeed. That must be more than physical attraction, if it is to de velop into a fine satisfying com panionship instead of increasing warfare. There must be a willing ness to give and take. Above all, > we should remember that the per fect common denominator is a common faith in Almighty God, and active membership" in the same church. When a man and woman are divided in religion, they leave the door open for other dividing factors which quickly produce struggle and domestic warfare, and perhaps final tragedy. in charge of the program and pre sented Mrs. E. L. McKee, who spoke on the duties of the parents and the teachers in relation to the child. She stressed the need for close cooperation between the two. Savannah P. T. A. was in charge of the refreshments. 11 b bCKAP BOOK By R. J. SCOTT -SCRAPS" #/ ? CoAHE ROY WOOERS tfo**?4iy yrfk^ n.Y. AMtMAMf; ? H AS LO?< II TEETH- 25 SfiCHES HAVE BEEN CMCEK m HiS FACE AMD S?ALP DUE, To LACERATIONS,AMD MAS HAD A Ml EL DISLOCATION AMD A *RA?