Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Aug. 5, 1954, edition 1 / Page 2
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The Kings Mountain Herald Established 1889 \ weekly newspaper devoted to the promotion of the general welfare and published for the enlightenment, entertainment and benefit of the citizens of Kings Mountain and It* vicinity, published every Thursday by the Herald Publishing House. Entered as second class matter at the postoff)?'e at Kings Mountain, N. C., under Act , Of Congress of March 3. 1873 * 11 " 1 1 ? ' . , " . ' ' ? *?" 1 ? ' 11 ' " ' ? 1 ' ' EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Martin Harmon ....,' Editor- Publisher Charles T. Carpenter, Jr Sports., Circulation, News Miss Elizabeth Stewart ( Society Mrs. Thomas Meacham Bookkeeping, News MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT Eugene Matthews Horace Walker David Weathers . Ivan Weaver* Charles jyriller Paul Jackson (?Member of Armed Forces) TELEPHONE NUMBER S? 167 or 283 SUBSCRIPTION RATES PAYABLE IN ADVANCE ONE YEAR? $2.50 SIX MONTHS? <1.40 THREE MONTHS ? 75c BY MAIL ANYWHERE TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE Yea, many people and strontj nation. s shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Zechariah &:tt. Gas Picture The statements of the city's gas en , gineers, Barnard & Burk, on the com parable cost of natural gas with other fuels are quite rosy. The assumption, of course, must be, for new installations and with no figuring of changeover costs for extant installations. Thus it is doubted that there will be a great exodus from use of oil, coal, and electricity as competing fuels for small users; And some people remain afraid to use gas, in spite of the assurances of the engineers and experts in the natural gas field. But many people will consider use of gas ? for heating, cooking, and other purposes ? when they contemplate new homes, new commercial buildings, and new manufacturing plants. The investment by the city should prove beneficial to many citizens and, in turn, furnish the city a hedge against competition with its profit-making elec trical distribution system. Gas service would have arrived, publicly or private ly. Since the electrical system even now needs expensive rebuilding, with conse quent heavy cost, it is also assumed that changeover of some citizens and firms to gas, plus use of gas by new installa tions, will delay arrival of the day when the electrical system rebuilding reaches mandatory status. Briefly the gas picture today is this: For $10 a person will be able to obtain a gas tap to the edge of his residence or business firm, which many people have already indicated they will buy ? re gardless of their immediate intentions to use gas. After the distribution sys tem construction the tap fee will be much greater ($75 having been the en gineer's recommendation). Natural gas is non toxic Resident En gineer Bill Edwards says, as other types of gases are, and pilot lights in gas stoves and other units will be safety de vices against the explosive characteris tics of natural gas. The Otis Perry case points up the re quirements of the federal government for hospital facilities for veterans and also makes people wonder how it is pos sible for the huge Salisbury plant to be without space for sick service veterans. Needless to say, there is some suspicion that the Salisbury VA hospital admis sions chief may have slipped into the un happy habit of saying "no" as a matter of coure. The incident also points up the unhappy situation in Cleveland County, where a four- by-eight foot County Jail cage, minus bunk, is the temporary lodging place for our own mentally ill, a situation we understand is to be remedied with the upcoming hospital plant construction. The law provides medical care for veterans, and if the facilities are insufficient, Congress should appropriate accordingly. If the several staffs are practicing lazy, red tapish skullduggery, there should be some pants kicking and head-chopping. Only six regularly scheduled perfor mances remain for the 1954 showing of "The Sword of Gideon", the fourth sea son of a battle drama commemorating the historical battle which turned the tide of the Revolutionary War in favor of 13 weak, struggling colonies against the powerful British. This year's out door drama has been revised, improved, and has many newcomers to the cast. Kings Mountain people should see it. Many home-towners, incidentally, are using the event to entertaih kin and friends from other cities. The nation-wide increase of theft and larceny, with occasional local incidents such as the recent break-in of the Piel residence, reminds that the easy money days are over and that, in normal times, smart citizens will take precautions to make unauthorized entrance to their homes more difficult. A New Tax L*s*.v Needless to say, a new tax bill em bodied in 875 pages of federal law will mean a considerable transformation in many phases of tax accounting, in cluding returns by individuals partner ships, estates, trusts, and corporations. For the great mass of the people, who file only individual returns, not too many of the pages will be applicable and therefore, of direct interest, but many provisions do provide Some relief for in dividuals, including retired people, working mothers, parents with depen dent children who have some income, and people who receive income from in vestments in the form of dividends. Many phases of the tax law represent compromises between the extreme views. One is the rock-ribbed conserva tives view which designs tax relief for the wealthy and well-to-do. The other extreme is the ultra-liberal views which follows the thesis of soaking the rich. Neither view is right and it is to be hoped that details of the big tax revi sion bill, as it is unfolded in actual re turn-making and taxing, will have avoided both. The provision for relief of dividend re cipients got the most headlines in the long discussions and work pn the tax bill, second only to the futile Democra tic effort to obtain increase in the per sonal exemptions. In these major argu mentative points, both sides had good and logical points, arid it can be easily figured that the push for higher perso nal exemptions ? which ought to be en acted ? cut somewhat the percentage of relief dividend recipients finally receiv ed. The principal contention of the group pushing for relief for dividend recipients was the very valid argument that taxa tion of dividends is, in fact, double taxa tion. Most dividends come from corpora tions, which have already paid a whop ping percentage of their profits in regu lar corporation income tax, the latter continued in the new bill at 52 percent. But Senator George and the losing Democrats were right in pushing for higher personal exemptions. The pre sent $600 exemption for individuals is most unrealistic, if the old policy of tax ing excess over living expenses is follow ed. A man and wife will do little more than eat out of $1,200 per annum the present man-wife personal exemption. When the personal exemption is rais ed again to $1,000 per person (if it ever is), then will be the time to consider fur ther relief in other categories. Even so, the GOP deserves credit for slicing the total of tax payments and, of course, the campaign orators will not likely let that fact be lost between now and the November elections. Democrats will counter with charges of "givea ways" to the wealthy, and, indeed, the changes in depreciation allowances, the big increases in depletion charge-offs which in the long- used provision for oil has made Texas a state of millionaries, will benefit directly the big taxpayer. Benefits to the working man will accrue only to the extent that the changes create more jobs, a rosy prediction of the GOP majority which only time will prove or disprove. One certainty exists among the uncer tainties. Forthcoming is a headachy field day for tax accountahts, tax law yers and all persons working on tax mat ters, including the Internal Revenue Service. The police department is quite in or der in cracking down on noise produc ing "cut-outs", which have long been il legal in North Carolina. While the po licemen are at it, renewed attention to in town speeding would be in order. West Mountain street has again become a popular in-city speedway, and un doubtedly there are othejr streets where feet are being applied too heavily to the accelerators. 10 TEARS AGO Items of news about Kings Mountain area people and events THIS WEEK taken from the 1944 files of the Kings Mountain Herald. . "Hie Kings Mountain Lions club will hold a benefit horse show here September 6 at the new Municipal stadium, begin ning at 2 pk. m. Cash prices will be given to the winners, and rib bons will be given to the entries in each class finishing 1 to 4. Social and Pergonal Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Davis and Miss Alda Jean Davis have re turned from a visit with rela tives In Georgia. Mrs. H. T. Fultbn and Mis* Le one Patterson have returned from a visit at Bon darken, w here they were guests of Mrs W. S. Diliing. Mrs. W. L Fortune, Mrs. Jones Fortune, and Mrs. Pauline Wea ver and Mr. and Mrs. Hunter Hudson, of Charlotte, spent the weekend at Lake Junahisfca where they were guests of Mr. and Mr*. Harvey Dulln. Mrs. W. L. Fortune remained for a long er visit. Jimmy Black of Wilmington was a weekend guest here at the home of relatives. MARTIN'S MEDICINE By Martin Harmon Ingredient*'. bit! of newa, t oiMom, humor, and comment. Directiona: Take weekly t if possible, but pvoul v overdosage. ? During the past few weeks the city board of commission- - era as well as other city offl. cials and numerous citizens^ have been doing p!??nty of gassing about gas, m-m nieht Resident Engineer Bill iuiwards, who works for Barnard and Burk, Joined the board in holding court to interview a large num ber of applicants for two city gas Jobs, one permanent, and the other temporary. In ail, the group Interviewed a dozen per sons, and considered applica tsar* 14 oth6? ,or the m-m Engineer Edwards, who will ?>L<iwlnd K'nga Mountain and Shelby superintending the two gas system Installation Jobs for the coming several weeks, is a tousled-headed guy who wears specs and puffs a briar pipe. His manner of interviewing was down-to-earth and his courtesy factor was as high for the obviously unqualified as for the hot prospects. m-m . He impressed thif observer as knowing what he's doing and being among the more solid of the experts" the city invittes in for advice on many matters from time . to time. m-m Frankly, I am among those who confess to some native fear of use of gas, but Engineer Edwards, I don't doubt, could almost make a believer out of me. Incidentally, he speaks confidently of Kings Mountain customer potentials at 1,500 ??d talks in terms ot ?JW-OUU first season patrons some who will begin taking son ^r'?r w^n'er heating sea m-m The Herald this week joins the newspapers publishing po litical Pplls, having subscribed to thte United States Poll which is conducted by the Princeton Research Service. The idea of the poll, as all of them, is to see into the future on matters political, by sampling opinion all over the nation, then pro jecting thte "averages". I sup pose the original idea stemmed from the horse and dog follow ers who pore over the form sheets to determine next day's winner at the tracks, , m-m Actually, political polls havte long been more reliable than the dog-and-horse form sheets, though the sad state of affairs of 1948, when Harry Truman embarrassed Dr. Gallup and Just about everyone else in the political handicap busintess, threatened for a time to put the ^pollsters out of business. ? m-m Kenneth Fink, who directs the United States poll, waxes eloquent (see story on front page) about his 1952 presiden tial - congressional results, not so much on the fact of picking the winners, but by the close accord in percentage of votes with the final counting. m-m In buying the service, the Herald fplt thte poll reports would at least furnish its read ers with an interesting diver sion, not to mention some in formation on the current think ing of our neighbors of 47 states. But the warning should accompany these reports to re member 1948, Opinions change, sometimes overnight, and pro jections sometimes go awry. Polls are worthwhile In indicat ing trends of thought, but they were never intended to be final. Otherwise, it would bte unneces sary to make the trip to the voting booth. m-m Comments on the informa tion in the U. S. poll would be appreciated. ??a Marvin Goforth, the meat huckster, ts one of the area's best story-tellers and he usual ly has a good new yarn or two everytlme I see him. Some times they Involve him, as this one did. - m-m Marvin was at a Shelby sales- f barn not long ago. when the of ferings were heavy and the sale r?n into dusk. Among oth er buyers and sellers present Were two bearded codgers from Avery county, who, Marvin said, had a jar of corn liquor they finally ?et between their feet. The fact that Marvin sat adjacent was purely cotnciden. tal, he notes, as he was not par taking. Suddenly a severe, serl ous - looking man came up to Marvin and askted, "Don't you Want to be saved?" Marvin, a good ARP, looked the guy in the eye and replied, "I atn't never been loet." *Tfau don't want to go to hell do yoU?" the self-appointed minister persisted. "No," was Marvin's lfeply, "1 like It right here." As the man gave up and walked away, the bearded characters commented, "What's wrong with that sptndily-togged fellow!: Viewpoints of Other Editors OFF WITH MILITARY The sudden and welcome rain storm of last Thursday afternoon acted as a reminder of how de pendent the American way of life has become on thfe single agency of electricity. Any inter ruption of the even flow of the electric current may be dlsas'tr-i ous. to town and country alike. For example, consider the caste of a chicken hatchery. It has $5,000 worth of eggs being sub jected to an even heat maintain ed by electricity. A storm disrupts the connections and in a few min utes a going business may .bq wrecked. In other places plants and hou ses dependent on electricity for power or light, or both,- may be put out of action by a single bolt of lightning. It appears that the more refin ed and complicated a civilization is, thte more vulnerable it is. Pce sent day America has a tremen dous lot of eggs concentrated in the one basket of electricity. Is there no other source of po wer to be had? Electricity is, to be suite, a useful and, within Its limits, faithful servant, but the instruments which convert and convey It are not dependable In all circumstances. Some alternative source of po wer for everyday concerns is needed. When electricity fails, we ought to be able to switch to something else. And there might be a a third alternate as well. It appeared at one time that atomic and thermonuclear dis coveries would comb to the res cue, but they have both gone off with the military. A scientist who can put them to peaceful and useful work will have the gratitude of a world. ? Chapel Hill Newt Leader HOW IT CAN BE TOLD. We hate the word. We'd rather not even mention it, but the pub lic continues to demand that we put It In print. Mr. John Doe calls. Then Mrs. John Doe, followed by a lot of little Does. Thfey want to know do we have any. Have we had any? What's the whole story' By now you've probably guess ed it Polio. That* s the word. We're super stitious, and we'd rather not men tion It, Just like an announcer at a ball game fails to say anything about the pitcher having a no hitter until the game has ended or the no-hit streak has been bro ken. But this time we yield to pub lic demands. ' We do not have any polio. We have not had any polio this year. And here is the situation across the state. Today North Carolina ranks 45th among the states of the na tion, and this time it's wonderful that the Tar Heel state has slip ped. It was shameful when North Carolina dropped to 45th rank ing in per capita income, letting South Carolina climb ahead of us, but not when our state ranks 45th in the number of .polio cases per 100,000 population (this rank ing is baaed on a five year study by the U. S. Public Health Ser vice). ??; Hugh Morton, chairman of the Skate Advertising committee, is proud of this latter 45th ranking publicised a* widely as that 45th ranking in .per capita Income. In fact, more widely publicis ed than that. For Mr. Morton wants the whale United States to. know that North Carolina Is re. latlvely free from the polio men ace over the year. He thinks that is not the Impression which is abroad now. North Carolina has of late had a lot of publicity con cerning some spectacular effort* to combat polio In some of our counties and this publicity Isnt doing the North Carolina tourist business any good Mr. Morton has a point there. If tourists are shunning North Carolina because of false Impre* ?ions they ought to be set straig iiiiiiiiiT"' *'*" f InlnrfffiTrlfiHi A STRONG TEAM People who tell other people how public affairs ought to be conducted (like editorial writers, for instancte) are always talking about "enlightened self-interest". And- well they should! For when one is motivated by enlightened self-interest it means that he has discovered some, at least, of the identity of his good with the com mon good. It means also that he thenceforth on that issue will re inforce, his devotion td the com mon good (which is understand ably diffused) by his devotion to his own concerns (which is, equ ally understandably, very particu lar indeted). One of the best and most com mendable examples of this we have seen in some time Is to be found in trie sponsorship of a new organization, Kteep America Beautiful, Inc., by the container and packaging industry. It has been the makers of the cans, bot tles, boxes, and wrappers who woke up first to the idea that they might be in for a good deal of ill will from those disgusted with the littering of highways and public places. So much for the sfelf-lnterest. But the man who made the em pty bottle on the roadside prob ably is irritated by the man who made the gum wrappers on the sidewalk. And they both are citi zens, too, offended by anybody's litter. The upshot of all this has been an alliance with organiza tions who are also against litter for til soils of self.lnterest and public-interest motives* from the American Automobile Association to the Garden Clubs of America. That's the way these things work. And it's a prtetty good way. Christian Science Monitor, GOVT SECRECY Government secrecy Is not con fined to office holders and bur eaucrats, it is firmly imbedded In the halls of Congress and as such acts as a precedent for simi lar action In other levels of gov ernment La?t week "Shop Talk" reported on an Investigation of U. S. Senators' views toward se cret Congressional committee hearings, conducted by thfe Sigma Delta Chi committee on freedom of Information. It was revealed that 11 Sena tors favor secret committee meet ings and 30 would not express their views to the SDX commit tee. ' ???>', E A E printed the list of Sena tors and where they stand on this issue. It was our hope that newspapers around the country would not* their Senators' posi tions. It seems to us that SDX has laid the groundwork ior construc tive reform In Congress to elimi nate the practice" of waiting legis lation behind closed doors. Last year 44% of all ? Congressional committee meetings were held In secret. The way is clear for journalistic groups to unite with SDX in formal discussions with Senatorial leaders to open the doors once again and bring Con gress closer to the people and vice versa. ? Editor and Publish. WHAT THEY HERE Visitors coming to Franklin over our four principal highway* ?fee the following between the city limits and the Main Street business section: 1. 152 , bill boards and signs shouting about everything from supersonic snuff to chlttHn' stomp*. 2. 4 Junkyards decorating the landscape. 3. ? truckloads of trash and dirt on the streets. 4. 1 faded, weed. hidden sign which whispers "Welcome, Frank lln Is a good place to ? BvV. ? Franklin Lions Chtb Bulletin ? ( ; ht with the facts. Let's let the world know wte're . thj In polio^caaes^ and, ^ I s iln ^ Jtpne Jwi?K i yowr ! taste/ think fresh/{ HARRIS FUNERAL HOME Phone 118 Kings Mountain, N. C. ? Ambulance Service? tt WE IAUNDER tfl the, &wjno ! * Our individualized *??n some spe cial care you do I Wet i*! ? or fin i*b, It ? spanking clean. | PHONE 1151 | Finger Laundry Don't spend hot summer days drudging over the family .. wash. Turn the chore over to us, while you relax i cool comfort.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Aug. 5, 1954, edition 1
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