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Never Forget That These Editorials Are Tk& Opinion Of One Man
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U- The Cuban Decision
The Cuban decision finally reached by
President Kennedy this week was inevitable,
and our only criticism is that it was post
poned for so iong.
Of course, we recognize that it was per
haps necessary to prepare world opinion
with the warning speech in September,
which spelled out the grounds upon which
this action of this week Would be predicated.
Presidents, fortunately are charged with
greater responsibilities than even the wisest
editors; and where our action might have
been impulsive, that of a president must be
deliberate. /
Blockade is an act of war, but it is short
of war.
Blockade is dangerous. .
But leaving Cuba to the tender mercies of
the Soviets is even more .dangerous.
Our own country has deployed nuclear
weapons around the world, but until now
we have not turned these weapons over
even to our oldest and most responsibly al
lies. At present there is a national indigna
tion over even the suggestion that we should
sell the French an atomic submarine.
Of course, we should assume that the
Soviets would still control the trigger of any
weapons that they might install in Cuba,
but the risk of letting these weapons fall into
into the hands of paranoid egomaniacs of
the Castro breed is much too great to be
permitted.
The nation obviously will back President
Kennedy in this decision, for in such mat
ters of great importance as this there is
np room for partisan politics.
Our only political impulse is to hope that
President Kennedy will soon recognize some
of the ancient truths about domestic af
fairs as well as about foreign affairs, and
that we can return our federal budget to
some degree of fiscal sanity before it is
to late. s
• £&-•
More About Courts
1 Li •
As the time for voting draws nearer the
pressure in support of' the court reform
amendment to the North Carolina State
Constitution grows.
This paper opposes- the amendment be
cause: 1. It’s not needed, 2. It make those
judges who handle the majority of our
criminal cases appointive rather than elec
tive, 3. It’s almost certain to he more ex
pensive than the present systeus, 4. It’s a
substitution fobjiower-the General Assem
bly already has but has refused Jo exercise,
and 5, It would set up a centralized admin
istrative office to supervise the courts.
We Strongly favor making bills of Court
cost uniform in every court in every county,
and we favor making justices of peace sal
aried rather than lee -officers.
But the General Assembly already has
.i_____i_*1.
higher caliber than elective justices ot peace.
If one reaches this illogical assumption we
should do away with all elective offices, and
make them appointive 1 since one might pre
sume that the ultimate goal in every branch
of government is to get the best qualified
person possible for a given job.
We recognize that the elective process is
not perfect, but we also know from a cas
ual interest in history that appointments
cap be just as deplorable as elections.
We prefer the present system of inferior
court because local control over these courts
insofar as salaries, steff and office space
are concerned is complete, and there would
be absolutely no local control? over the
system of courts this proposal would in
augurate.
the av
point where
: to. vote
when a
tanding for
well qualified
the same port. _ ,/■;.
Of course^' there are the blind voters on
both the RepuMican and Democratic side
of the fence who refuse to desert the party
of their fathers, even when the party has
long since deserted them.
This year however, in view of the em
barrassing predicament that" Lenoir County
Dehibcrats; pat -themselves jn and with a
elate of aMe candidates from the Republican
party for representative and county commis
sioner there will be more ticket crossing
than at anytime in recent years.
M
WSij-iMu
J_
’Hpn
Himalayan War
All wars are bad, but the nearest thing
to a good war that we can imagine is the
boundary dispute between Red China and
Yellow India.
Nehru, Menon and Company brandished
their “might” when they seized two tiny
enclaves belonging to Portugal.
The Red Chinese have been keeping their
huge army busy with forays in Korea, Indo
China, Laos, Viet-Nam, TibeKand in keep
ing peace among their own starving people.
So they each have an “invincible army”.
So'Tet them fight.
The Red Chinese have little to gain in
this undeclared war side from keeping their
troops busy, and the Indians have little to
lose ip a. ngbt over a few frozen mountain
peaks.
But the pressure, to a degree,-is taken off
the relentless cold war that has been go
ing on for IS years between the United
States and Russia.
No doubt President Kennedy took care
ful note of the Sino-Indian fight in reach
ing his Cuban blockade decision. For with
its two largest neighbors at war Russia can
not be totally concerned about the affairs
of Castro’s Cuba.
Nehru has been caught in the net of his
own pious two-facedness and the Chinese
have been stuck on the flypaper of their
own awkward belligerence.
So be it.
Problem: Finding It
This note from the American Legion
Magazine jokingly explains the problem a
lot of us have today:
A young politician who was caught in the
“left-right” tug-of-war kept getting urgent
telegrams from his old-line politician fath
er, and the latest implored: “Stay in the
middle of the road!”
The beleaguered young ..politician wired
back: “Intend to. Got to find it first.”
Have you had that feeling recently?
Next week the tobacco selling season come;
to an end on the Kinston market, and al
though the market sold considerably more
tobacco this year than last the prices have
been disappointing and far too much to
bacco has gone into the stabilization pool
The buying companies may kill this stab
ilization goose if they abuse it too badly.
una can:
landscap
out of Tar-.—, -7—
mountains of North Georgia, back
the foothills of Northwestern South
lina and back through Charlotte to ‘-,
a look at the Carolinas largest city,
Our trip got off to an extremely pleasant
start when* we took the advice of Judge .
John Larkins and stopped in the motor
hotel of hjs friend C. V. Henkel in States
ville, and I recommend this stop to anyone
who is in that neighborhood and would like
a realty pleasant night and delicious food.
Henkel has purchased the old Vance Hotel
in Statesville and is completely remodeling
it into the swankiest small inn you’d like to
see. Indoor pool, marble baths (with tele
phones) and most pleasant of all — real
ly reasonable prices.
So if you’re taking off for the mountains
and would like to break that long ride with
an extremely pleasant stop, make that stop
in Statesville. And Statesville is an extreme
ly pleasant community, too. Clean streets,
beautiful churches and stores make it a
nice place to stop all around.
Asheville, as ever was a disappointment
to us all. Perhaps I have a built-in prej
udice against Asheville but it is so dirty in
comparison with the other mountain cities
(except Enka and Cannon where the paper
mills stink up and smoke up the atmo
sphere).
And Asheville was choked with Shriners
who were in the process of holding a pa
rade, so we got tangled up in that traffic
maze and instead of spending more time
we fled westward toward Cherokee.
Maggie’s Valley between Asheville and
Cherokee was beautiful and the old coun
try store provided a pleasant stop along
the way and permitted our children to see
a lot of gadgets that they had never seen
before; such as a grindstone, bear trap,
cracker barrell, cradle churn, stick candy,
chestnuts, and a real — but not working —
whisky still.
From Cherokee we went to Franklin,
where I learned why Weimar Jones prefers
to be a country editor rather than editor
of a big city paper. And then into Georgia
and over into South Carolina. We hit Clem
son at a bad time. Saturday afternoon just
after Duke walloped the Tigers but this
did not detract from the beauty of the
campus, although it did make an aggrava
ting contribution to the funeral-like pro-,
cession of traffic from Clemson to Green
ville. Then tp Spartanburg where we spent
the night and saw 'their-beautiful new court
house. ' ' ■> •
Charlotte on Sunday is better than Char
lotte on c weekday. I had never been to
Charlotte on Sunday. Traffic is less con
gested and one has time to drive around
>— as we did for an hour or so — looking at
the downtown section, where a large urban
renewal program is underway and where
some o£ the swankiest motels are located
that we saw anywhere along the way.
From Charlotte we swung south since noi
of us had ever been to Monroe, Wadesbot
or Rockingham, each of which is small b