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PAGE POUR THE CHAPEL HILL NEWS LEADER Monday Chapel Hill News Leader Leading With The News m Chapel Hill, Corrbom, Glen Unnox and Surrounding Areos Time To Pause And Reassess Ourselves The tragedy in a fraternity house a few days ago was only one in a series of trage dies, involving violence and self-destruction that has afflicted Chapel Hill in the last few years. , Is there something wrong about our life here? Beneath our outward tranquility and be low our pleasant surface is there strain and anxiety? , Is this a localized condition, or is it a part of the neurosis that seems to have gripped the entire nation? We have to ask what is responsible- Too much materialism? Too great a sense of a vacuum that must be filled with rack ing amusements? Too little time allowed for thought and reflection? Too large the pressure to achieve, get ahead, rise in the world? Too much latent fear and frustra tion? , Only a few years ago Chapel Hill was re- Is There To Be No Intelligence In Politics? The party signing himself O. J. writes in the Greensboro News a note on the prog ress of women in Chapel Hill politics which we reprint on this page. He expresses both surprise and admiration—surprise that wo men have any political sense, and admira tion for their efficient handling of condi tions at the town’s North Precinct- We happen to know that this writer loves and has labored hard at precinct work. But hitherto he has found small sympathy and little help until the League of Women Vot ers came to the rescue. Running through the article is a confes sion that he has been in the habit of giving an undue low rating to the competence of women in those portions of a man’s world, that have been set aside as peculiarly sac red to males. But there is no evidence that creation intended in the first place to give complete intelligence to one sex and with hold it from the other. Therein lies an admission that we have been trying to get along with a one-sided— which means lop-sided—world. The male sex must try to catch up with 1954. Trade and commerce long ago lifted women out of the house and put them in offices and at machines where they have been subject to the same conditions as men. The attempt to cut them off or preserve them from all the affairs of life has meant that we have been trying to do without one half of the possible intelligence in the world. , The attempt has been a failure. Any at tempt to suppress intelligence, or to pre vent its free functioning, is to be condemn ed whether it applies to sex, race, or creed. There is never enough of it in the world. The League of Women Voters has shown us that there has not been enough in Chapel Hill, either. For that they are to be thanked. But they are only beginning. We feel it is going to be a wonderful show. We Need Bi-Racial Committees The immediate creation of bi-racial com mittees in every community—that is our Number 1 suggestion for dealing with the results of the U. S. Supreme Court’s de cision against segregation in education. White people and Negro people are to gether cdricerned; and together they are capable of working out the problem on lo cal and regional levels. Both Chapel Hill and Carrboro have white and Negro residents who for many years have labored together in perfect ami ty. That amity and co-operation should con tinue in order to carry out a ruling which is now a basic law. The law is unquestionable. But custom? Throughout human history custom has ev er been stronger than law. That fact must be considered when old habits, old arrange ments, old stratifications, must be broken up and placed in a new pattern. The whole community, town and coun try, white and colored, must face the fact that the court’s decision will vitally affect not only the schools but the University it self. For example, a campus janitor said the other day to a University professor: “I got a daughter off at school. Can I send her to the University now?” The answer is bound to be yes, if she is an American citizen, has the proper credits, and can otherwise qualify. We cannot for ever down one class of citizens without be ing kept down ourselves. Opportunity and equal rights to all—that has always been the American creed. We are now to undergo a test as to whether we really mean it. The whole world will watch our action. Neither race can now afford to go off in to an emotional debauch and substitute oratory and dramatics for sound sense. There remains only the question of pro cedure. Here the Supreme Court has been wise. It has said there will be time. This time can well be utilized for study, research and examination, by joint commit tees, of every phase of the new situation. Brains, judgment, a desire for fair-dealing, are not a monopoly of either race. The democratic, the fair-minded, the A- merican way of life, is now on trial. Wrong About Women In Politics r.................................y garded as a quiet village with a singularly blessed life and a simple charm, yet all of a sudden we find ourself growing into a bustling town filled with huge, ugly build ings and a tightening atmosphere. Old res idents ask what has become of the old care less freedom, and visitors inquire what has become of the old liberality of thought and opinion. The people of the United States have a- chieved a material success which has the rest of the world amazed and envious. Our standard of living soars beyond the dreams of our fathers. Yet for these benefits we have paid a price. A vortex may create much dust and noise, but its interior is hol low. A man remarked the other day that the only time he finds a quiet moment for communion with his own soul comes when he must attend the funeral of a friend. A civilization that has come to that point needs a new direction. Bosto^ Mass:mi -> Mad/sonWis \ Chicago In.,^- ^ e, - , ColumbUSQrw- Sen Francisco Chompalgn’lltianaUii^ ^'^•^Oncinnaff O V Chape!m Qioi NashviVeTenn-m ^An^Jas mMemphis Term O. J. in Greensboro News" fThis is a belated expression of appreciation of the services being offered the citizenship of North Carolina by the League of Women Voters. Acceptance of the assist ance is and perhaps will indefi nitely remain problematical; but, and we do not discount the ef forts of the Young Democrats and Young Republican Clubs, the women are really doing more to ascertain the views of candidates on national, state and local levels than any other group, association, organization or what-have-you. That their platform presenta tions, reinforced by radio and the newspapers, may sometimes seem to limp slightly or halt is not due to stage managers or scene shift- ters, but to the actors themselves. When better informed candidates . do a better job of presenting their views on issues of the day the women will have more help ful and perhaps more diverting programs. 1 haven’t tuned in on all of the performances, and there may have been a few reports which I have not read; but I’m sticking in there in hope the candidates will improve their pitching. Let that go as the vote of thanks Fd offer for the all-over work of the league. Now a word more personal. As a voter in what at last general election and in the primaries of 1952 was about the worst-crowded precinct polling place in North Carolina, I’d like to attest to my admiration of the best job of mak ing well-nigh impossible balloting conditions tolerable and effec tive I’ve ever met. Old hands of Chapel Hill’s North Precinct had been cussing conditions under which more than two thousand voters would have to pass through the eye of a needle to strain at a gnat or swallow a camel in the local fire station, which never should have been constituted a polling place. They were well beyond their wit’s ends when the League of Women Voters offered to help. man. And, with a card index, more industrious and better in formed—and certainly not-less- intelligent—help at the polls, we cast about 2,500 ballots with greater. ease than we had ever contrived to deposit 200 before. I’d like to say that I and my male neighbors who had for some decades been having to do with the conduct of local elections were both hopeful and enthusi astic in our welcome. But we were neither. It was more in despera tion, admitting that they could do no worse than we had been doing, that they were given their chance. What I’m getting around to is the confession that Fve been wrong in my notion as to the in fluence of women on politics. When I became an equal suffra gist, which was some years be fore I cast my first ballot, I put my support thereof on the sim ple basis that the women had the same right to indulge in vot ing futility we males had. Down the years there had come little to encourage a belief that the handling of electiqps was im proving. They showed us something. From their ranks was selected a new woman register. Did Mrs. Harold Walters click? I’ll tell a It is, and I think it will con tinue to improve and largely through the work of the women. They may go on voting for cand idates for some of the strangest reasons possible to a sentient hu man being; but their capacity for detail and their willingness to do the household chores of a re public will aid incalcuably in ar riving at a time when elections will more nearly make sense. Mesdames and , Misses, my manners! ^Memp City OkiaM Ala\ Legend Existing stations Houston I Texas MtCheaha I Ala> Stations to oper- ^aXe about June 1st JS Stations to oper ate bMiJan.lst.l955 Education-Type Television Programs Rising To Meet Demand (From The Christian Science Monitor) With the opening of a program distribution center on which the educational TV stations can call, something very new indeed has been added to the teeming Sr waves from which so many mil lions of Americans are now drawing home entertainment and diversion. It means more education - type programs. “High time,” too, ac cording to many television view ers. In fact, there is good reason to believe that the appearance of educational TV is well-timed. For there is a real and grow ing demand for more of the kind of educational programs which CHIPS W. T. Polk, speaking at the Faculty Club luncheon, joined a host when he won dered out loud why North Carolina, which is ordinari ly regarded as a peaceful not to say humdrum state, shows up in the statistics as a lead er in aggravated assaults, meaning the free use of knife and pistol. People not ac customed to the social rules prevailing in NC can take comfort from Polk’s assur ance that Southerners “shoot and cut only members of the family or close friends-” S. H. Hobbs, Jr., explains the uncomfortable figures by pointing out that sociolo gy has noticed that in this state crime is apt to have two targets: crime against property or crime against the person. The courts pun ish the first fiercely but deal lightly with the second. Felix Hickerson needed all his mathematics lately when he went to the curb market and bought seven eggs. The woman who wait ed on him was ready enough to sell him a dozen eggs for 49 cents, but when she tried to figure what seven would cost at this rate, she got ber wildered and Felix had to help her out with pencil and pad of paper. * * ♦ Years ago Y. Z. Cannon, who used to be a world traveller, got in a tight spot from which he was rescued by the Salvation Array. He never forgot the favor and remembers annually to send the Army a contribution of gratitude. Customers know ing of this annual gift sometimes help out the fund by adding something to the price of a haircut. He says he had to dip into it to pay for one of the first subscrip tions to the News Leader. ••f! * 4; Chapel Hillians who keep a bird feeding station often invest in a special bird seed collection packaged for the purpose. This never fails to bring in the birds, but in an emergency it has been found that old bread moistened and put on a board will al so please the customers, while cornbread made with a bit of fat is best of all- Some birds develop a taste for burnt toast well wetted. are even now- becoming increas ingly popular on the commercial networks — programs like the “Nature of Things,” “Adven ture,” the “Zoo Parade,” “Ding Dong School,” and others. Many parents are disturbed at the effect on young fry of the .great predominiance of “west erns” on TV program schedules. They are calling for more variety in the programs which are served up to pre-school children. They have expressed a desire for more plays like “Tom Sawyer,” for more natural science programs, more children’s plays, and the dramatization of Bible stories. Six noncommercial TV stations may seem almost hopelessly out numbered as compared with the hundreds of commercial stations. But by fall eight more education al channels will be taken up. These will be well distributed around the country—Boston, Se attle, Chicago, Denver, Chapel Hill in North Carolina, Birming ham, Athens in Georgia, and Ok lahoma City. This means that by the eiiH of 1954, some 40,000,000 Americans will be able to tune in an edu cational TV program. Will Be Big Enough It means that “Junior” will be big enough to speak up for himself, and that his voice, small though it may be, will be heard throughout the nation. Before too long that voice will ; be swelled by some 17 more sta tions now known to be in vari ous stages of the country’s big gest centers, such as Philadel phia, Columbus, San Antonio, Memphis, the District of Colum bia, Buffalo, Champaign in Illi nois, Nashville, Atlanta, Jack sonville, and other well-known metropolitan centers. Plans for these stations gener ally hinge on money. It takes To A Kindly Town-Goodbye By Weimar Jones- (Returning to Franklin, N.- C., after a year’s work as lecturer in journalism at the University.) Chapel Hill no longer is the vil lage some of us knew in other years. And the University no longer is the little college where everybody knew nearly everybody else. For growth is a law of life; we could not halt it, even if we would. Happily, though. Chapel Hill and the University somehow have managed to keep much of their earlier atmosphere. The town still has all the important things one expects from life in a village; kindliness, neighborliness, and cordiality—and the knack of siz ing people up for what they are, rather than for what their titles and positions say they are. And the University has main tained in remarkable degree the facility of handling students as though they were individual hu man beings; it has maintained, too, the important corollary of that—the maximum of personal freedom. The complete freedom of The Daily Tar Heel, which 1 am told is unique on college cam puses, symbolizes the way free dom is taken for granted here. To express the hope, as I leave Chapel Hill at the end of my sec ond sojourn, that this commun ity can hold on to these things that make it so unusual is no mere nostalgic wishful thinking. As it grows, the shape of a tree can be determined; the same is true of a community. Chapel Hill and Carolina are living proof that it is. Of the kindliness and charm that are here, Mrs. Jones and I can speak from first-hand know ledge. Nowhere, at any time in our lives, have so many—students, faculty, townspeople — been so cordial, so hospitable, so thought ful. She is so enthusiastic I jok ingly accuse her of trying to qual ify as a charter member of the Chapel Hill Chamber of Com merce. My own feelings are equally pronounced. IDENTIFYING MARK I am reminded ef a cute story in this connection. A father and his five-year-old son had gone to a pet shop in a city to buy the lad a cat. As they were return ing home on the bus, tiie boy kept asking questions about the cat, and other passengers on the bus got interested in the boy and his cat, straining their ears to hear the boy’s question and the dad’s answers. “Is this a mama cat or a papa cat?” the boy finally asked. “It’s a papa cat,” replied the father promptly. “How do you tell?” questioned the boy curiously, as the passen gers cupped their hands behind their ears to hear the answer to this one. “He has whiskers, doesn’t he?” replied the father calmly.” Horace Horse in Stanley News and Prm. _ . The Woman's Viewpoi $250,000 or more to build a tele vision station, and as much again yearly to operate it. This looks like a lot of money to a lot of people. Actually it is probably less than it takes to put on just two big-name com mercially sponsored network programs. The first three stations to get on the air—Houston, Lo,s Ange les, and East Lansing—made it because they had rich institu tions or individuals back of them. Three of the others which will participate in the May 16 pro gram came up the hard way, through community fund - rais ing efforts. It is apparent that most of the money for “Junior’s” support will come that way. It may turn out to be the better way. At any rate, it is a method which gives the community not only a vested interest in the project, but a grass-roots knowledge of it. It happened this way in Wil mette, Ill., where a committee of mothers assigned themselves to watch and report on commercial television programs for a week. At the end of that time, they had a list of 77 murder stories, 50 shootings, 30 gun fights, 7 kidnappings, 59 fist fights, 2 knifings, 22 sluggings, and so on. And all this during the Christ mas season. That did it. The Wilmette women jammed on their hats and started punch ing doorbells. In four days they had raised $6,000. to start the Chicago campaign on its way to a nearly $11,000,000 total. Chica go is one of the stations, Channel 11, expected to be on the air next fall. This is proof again that edu cational TV is not just something that is being thrust on the pub lic for its own good; but some thing tha'? the public wants right now. Chapel Hill women were quick to express their convictions a- bout the Supreme Court deci sion to end segregation in pub lic schools. A grandmother said: “My first reaction is that non segregation is good theoretically, but is not going to be easy to put ipto practice until the South has educated itself to the idea. It must come through the minds and hearts of the people, and will never be made to work suc cessfully through mere legisla tion.” A housemother said non-segre gation is a test of our democra cy as well as our Christianity— and the less fuss made about it the better. It is the duty of ev ery good citizen to make it work, she declared. A secretary regards it as one of the highest steps taken on the part of democracy and humanity in recent times. She feels that it will prove helpful to both races. Two maids in one of the dor mitories said they reckoned it is all right, that they really hadn’t thought much about it. One of the Negro cooks in a cafe downtown declared with feeling that she and her parents, and grandparents before her, had gone to a Negro school, and that she does not want, her children to go to a mixed school. A writer wonders how those Negro children who have had in ferior schooling will feel about competing with white children who have had the best training available. “I am very happy over the de cision,” a graduate student in math said. “I feel that it will eventually raise the economic and educational standards of the South to those of the North.” A middle-aged woman favored working toward segregation through education, since this is a more normal way. She feels that compelling people to abide by the law will cause trouble. A senior from Princeton, N. J., said she had seen non-segrega tion work out successfully in the North. A clerk in a drug store de clared fervently that she is not in favor of ending segregation. “Negro children should have just as good schools as ren, but they should Lihe own schools.” ™ An elementary Wu'Th' she definitely thinks IS a wise one and that Jt y be happy to teach £ * ★ * ‘lor . Hill Child little girl was talking telephone. “Whom are„hy ing to. honey?” her fatCnts uod, she replied, "mF. he say?” “Oh, I can’t >36 the line is busy.” id; ★ * * ^ It was little Susie’s church. As soon as she,- ed, she leaned over and- ed_^ to her mother, * * * A teacher said very nj. to her class, “May l attention, please?” Tlin,';. boys, aged 11, stood J luted smartly. ‘ ★ * * Jo One father and daughter were driving^' post office about a wed*^' the daughter had been i* ^ at the Easter service copal Church. As they w4“' ing the church, the daujli| “Daddy, dump me out ^ say my prayers and yona; me up when you came ^ ★ * * ' A little girl had ten; to put in the collectioij With great dignity and! she dropped them in os| time. * * * mm Heard In Passing: Twij- sors have identical black;" One rainy day the wifei of them was sitting in; while her husband got it from the post office. Ase sitting there, the ow black Dodge dashed dni walk with a paper over Is! He leaped into her car ad! ed to drive off. She loi him coyly and said, Tmli ed, professor, but whati suppose your wife will sajf * w * Grandmother walked itt the other day carryings: day overdue book on ‘li ing Your Memory.”-E. t. Letters To Editor: Praise And Blame To The Editor: When your new venture into the local journalistic field was an nounced a short time ago, I looked forward to the coming of the first issue with a great deal of anticipation. I expected some thing fresh on the local scene. Judging from the caliber of the staff, I thought we would have something beyond the usual small townish newspaper. I expected to see honest, sober, and straight forward reporting. After reading your first issue this afternoon, I am somewhat disappointed. I have been on the staff of high school and college newspapers, and have been a ra dio and news writer and an nouncer. In my opinion, your front page story captioned, “A Snake Loose In Phi Delt House,” was in very bad taste, and if such stories are needed to sell your paper, I’m wondering if perhaps the Chapel Hill area doesn’t really need another paper after all. This example of reporting is worthy only of papers such as the New York Daily News and New York Mirror. To play up an un fortunate incident, which had bet ter be left to rest, with a Mickey Spillane type of sensationalism is utterly reprehensible. This type of writing should be left to the paper-backed pocket books. I have noted that the same writer who ■wrote this article, wrote quite a different type of story in the Thursday morning News and Ob server. (I hope that you may have read Charles Kuralt’s editorial on the incident, which appeared a few days ago in The Daily Tar Heel.) I agree that it was not right for the University to clamp a ruling of secrecy on the affair. However, ^’^cuse for newspapers to fill in the gaps where no facts are available with fictional ac counts, conjecture, and innuendo. In view of the extensive press coverage devoted to the affair for almost a week, all that would have been necessary was the ac count of the coroner’s inquest which you placed as an anti-cli- rnax at the foot of your sensa tional article. Otherwise, I thought yt®! ; was pretty good. It is urW that it had to get off to: start by featuring suck: tasteful article. Such a slot? betrayal not only of the I, good journalism, but of ft*** lie trust, and can be nothing more than a to the reputation and state paper which wa.s foundoii the prospects of a brigHi Did I expect too niuck!| Sincerely yours, Warren H. Ransler (Storfent, UNC Schi»lil| P.S.: I note in passing f proximately two coluiffl! on page six were devotel| account of the Water I sponsored by the Phi Del Fraternity, which broiif^ leading women’s swimini®* in the country to Chapelt-;;^;; several records broken, lected donations for Hill Recreation Fund. “I that men do oft lies inter (In case you wondered,! a member of the PhiDeSI fraternity.) ->■ (The gentleman is It was the facts that " tional. We merely them.—Ed.) iteirii iM nmji Chapel Hill Nev/sIi*'. . Published every Mond>!|!.; Thursday by the News t Company, Inc. Phillips Russell Roland Giduz ... L. M. Pollander - E. J. Hamlin Five Cents Per Copy- SUBSCRIPTION (Payable In Adva t-, BY CARRIER: 10c f 45c per mo.; months; $5.20 per BY MAIL: $4:50 ? MAll.,: I-- , ,1 $2.50 for six inontns, for three months. ^ - Permit for err^rance as^ v, mail matter at the P * at Chapel Hill, N. the Act of March 3, y| be applied for-
Chapel Hill News Leader (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 24, 1954, edition 1
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