». The Kings Mountain Herald
’ Established 18*9
A weekly newspaper devoted to the promotion of the general welfare and published
for the enlightenment, entertainment and benefit ot the citizens of Kings Mountain
and its vicinity, published every Thursday by {he Herald Publishing House.
Entered as second class matter at the postoffice at Kings Mountain, N C.. under Act
of Congress of March 3, 1873
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Martin Harmon..Editor-Publisher
Robert L. Hoffman .Sports Editor and Reporter
Miss Elizabeth Stewart.Circulation Manager and Society Editor
Mrs. Thomas Meacharn.Advertising Salesman and Bookkeeper
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Eugfene Matthews Horace Walker Jack Heavener Bill Myers '
Charles Miller Paul Jackson
TELEPHONE NUMBERS—167 or 283 ~~
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TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE
A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. Proverbs 15:18.
Hospital Auxiliaries
Serious effort is being made to or
ganize four groups of women’s auxilia
ries to aid the operation of Cleveland
County’s twa hospitals.
Separate units are being formed,
which means that Kings Mountain area
citizens will be asked to give volunteer
time only at Kings Mountain hospital.
Some may be inclined to ask “ Why,
auxiliaries?”
The reasons are many, but not the
least among them is the increasing high
cost of operating a hospital. Hospital
administrators the nation over are plag
ued with rising costs for everything they
buy, every person they employ. It means
that, unless some volunteer aid is ob
tained, the costs of hospitalization must
also rise.
Needless to say, these costs already
seem pretty high to the person faced
with a bill and there’s a why to-that, too.
Some people are unable to afford the
cost of hospitalization, yet that does not
alter the fact of their illness. The result
is shown graphically in the 1955 opera
ting statement of Kings Mountain hos
pital. Of a gross business of something
over $200,000, Kings Mountain hospital
had to show $56,000, or about 25 percent,
as uncollectible and chargeable to cha
rity care.
An afternoon per week at a local hos
pital, multiplied by numerous volun
teers, can do much to keep hospital costs
from soaring, in addition to adding con
siderably to well-being of patients, plus
community awareness of the vital ser
vices a hospital provides.
Ides Oi April
For the second consecutive year (and
it is presumed Congress will leave it that
way) the nation has to face the Ides of
April or April 15, which is national tax
report day, also state tax report day.
It used to be the Ides of March, which
Julius Ceasar was supposed to beware
of and didn’t, resulting in Caesar’s death.
Like the taxman after the taxpayer,
Brutus and friends would probably have
got Caesar anyway.
What has been the result of the
month’s stay of tax judgement? Does
the month’s respite really benefit?
Undoubtedly, the accountants are the
happiest group involved, for there are
more calendar year tax returns than fis
cal year returns, which means majority
of folk can’t go to work on their tax re
turns until after December 31. The ac
countants get an extra ou uays iu juccl
their deadlines.
But some don’t like the change. Mer
chants, for instance, figured the late tax
return date dampered Easter-season
business. Indeed, many Kings Mountain
citizens owe the price of a suit or coat
to the tax man down at Raleigh. And the
average taxpayer himself, no whiz at
bookkeeping merely used th-^'Vra 30
days to loaf and procrastinate.
At any rate the Ides of April are ap
proaching, which means it's only 10 days
’til deadline time.
Congratulations
The membership of Macedonia Bap
tist church is to be commended, and
highly, not only on the attainment of a
fine new church building (cost $61,000,
value $125,000), but on the progress and
growth of the church snce its struggling
beginning in late 1920.
It is interesting, too, that only one of
the original charter members is still list
ed on the church roll. Many churches
owe their progress to continued long
term interest and work by. founding
fathers. Yet Macedonia Baptist church
is only 36 years old.
Macedonia has built a church with
plenty of growing room. It is designed
to handle twice the present member
ship.
The Herald joins the community in
commending the members of this church
and in hoping that it won’t be too long
until the church will again face a space
problem, result of continued growth and
progress.
All Fouled Up
H. B. Godfrey, the state ASC adminis
trator, borrowed armed service lingo
to describe the presently planned 1956
federal farm bill about to be passed by
Congress. Mr. Godfrey, who has been
connected with the agricultural red tape
since Henry Wallace ordered the pigs
slain, termed the bill “all fouled up.”
He was correct in his assessment of
the reason. It’s an election year and
everyone wants to get in the act. Thus
the conference committee considering
the election-year farm bill is straining
at every point to be all things unto all
men. Effort is being made to please the
cotton man of the South and West, the
grain grower of the Mid-West, the tobac
co man of the South, the peanut grow
er, etc., etc. It now appears that the bill
will retain 90 percent of parity for basic
crops and also include the new provi
sions for “soil bank,” where Uncle Sam
will pay, and well, for a farmer’s agree
ment not to plant particular allotments.
Another provision will encourage the
farmer’s becoming a timber grower, with
an annual payment for acreage used,
plus 80 percent payment of the cost of
planting seedlings.
It sounds like a pretty good giveaway,
all in all, if a farmer has enough acre
age and enough allotments of the restric
ted crops. If cotton pay-offs for not pro
ducing are set at $50 per acre some
plantation owners could do very nicely
by not planting. All they’d have to wor
ry about would be their income taxes
for the next year.
The tree business doesn’t sound too
bad, though many farmers will be re
luctant to tie up their acreage on long
term contracts. After all, the situation
could change. There could be another
war.
What President Eisenhower will do—
veto or sign reluctantly—is not known.
As some have pointed out, he could veto
and hope Congress, in the press of other
business and election-year strain, would
return him nothing but the soil bank
provisions. But the GOP is in trouble
with the farm vote.
Of all the parity supported basic crops,
cotton seems the safest to support. It
does not deteriorate with age, does not
get “hot” or invite bugs like wheat. The
essential problem for cbtton is storage.
Man has never done very well, though,
in ignoring the basic laws of supply and
demand, and it is doubtful this nation’s
hodge - podge farm bill, no matter in
what form it is reported, will have much
greater success.
Textile Picture
The textile picture isn’t quite as bull
ish as it was a few months back, due to
several factors, industry men say. A
mong them is the slow-up on autos,
which finds production off about 20
percent from last year, and this effects
upholstery makers and tape makers in
the textile trade, among others.
There is also the factor of Japanese
imports, which make their way to Ame
rican markets and can be vended cheap
er, even after paying the long-distance
freight bill.
There was the upsetting fact for some
mills of the increase in the minimum
wage.
Another factor is that, for the past 18
months, textiles have boomed along on
six-day, three-shift production.
Like autos, perhaps moreso, textiles
have to catch the breath a bit before
charging on to new- production records
with changed patterns, new styles, new
blends and the other new' creations
which turn the public into rabid buyers.
YEARS AGO Items of news about Kings Mountain area peopie and events
THIS WEEK taken from the 1946 files of the Kings Mountain Herald.
Members of the Kings Moun
tain Junior Chamber of Com
merce will . hold their charter
night banquet at the Woman’s
club Friday night with some 125
members and guests expected to
attend.
Kings Mountain high school
musicians captured the lions
share of high ratings at the dist
rict music contest held at Lin
colnton last Saturday as they
brought back 6 of the 12 number
one ratings awarded by the judg
S octal and Personal
Mrs. Hugh Hoke and son,
Charles, of Lincolnton, visited
Mrs. Hoke’s parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Charlie Fulton Wednesday
Mrs. H B. Jones had as her
guest this week her mother. Mrs.
Andy McCarter, of the Bethany
community. 9
Mrs Hulda Goforth, of Wins
ton Salem, is visiting relatives
here.
MARTIN'S
MEDICINE
B| Martin Harmon
Ingredients: bits of news,
wisdom, humor, and comment.
Directions: Take weekly, if
possible, but avoid
over dosage.
Easter is past and spring
seems to have come. In fact, it
arrived two days before Easter,
giving a large boost to apparel
sales in the final pre-Easter
whole Easter weekend the glo
weekend, and providing the
rious sunshine it deserves. The
air, in the morning, had its cus
tomary Easter nip and bite
m-m
Did the bright weather cause
any last-minute Easter parade
fashion problems? Unquestior
ably it did, as a conversation
between two ladyfolk I over
heard indicated.
m-m
One said she hoped it would be
chilly (so that she would be
well-dressed in her new spring
coat)- The other hoped it
would be warm (she hadn’t in
vested in coat, but in gay Eas
ter-season frock). I believle the
children were the best-dressed
ever, the little girls with their
gay bonnets and the little .boys
with their grown-up looking
suits and sports outfits
m-m
It’s a good thing the lady
folk are interested in the fash
ion business. If they weren’t
the youngsters wouldn’t look
as cute, nor the ladyfolk, and
many men would continue
wearing a suit until it dropped
off.
m-m
Speaking of the weather rte
minds of John Smathers’ me
mory on Easter of 1948- John
was ushering at a church in
Charlott^ and during the ser
vice, as John relates, snow
started falling “out of no
where.” When the preacher had
benedicted, the . church-goers
had the surprise of their lives
By this time, the snow was
peppering heavily, and the fine
ly dressed folk wore looks of
dismay and chargin as they
emerged from the church. John
didn’t tell me the date of Easter
that year and I haven’t re
searched for it. But I remem
ber a snow in 1936 on March
31. And it was a big snow, to*,
m-m
But with April here and Eas
ter past King Winter should
be gone on his annual summer
trip Now all can settle down to
the pastimes of spring, which
would include baseball, more
time on the golf course, school
finales o| one kind and anoth
er, and, of course, spring fev
er. I’ve already been afflicted
a time or two and if it comes
again I’ll have to break out
the sulphur-and-’lasses
m-m
Spring sbems a particularly
nice season of the year for a
drive through the community’s
growing residential areas and
I usually make it about this
time every year. Continually,
it is amazing to see the quick
upspringing of new residences.
Drive out by the golf course,
on Edgemont Drive, or tour
Crescent Hill, or the former
Whitesides property in East
Kings Mountain. Some homes
are brand new, with plenty of
yard work in store for the men
of the houses; others, in that
condition last year, now sport
green lawns and burgeoning
flowers and shrubs- Another
spot that is going to look good
when landscaping work begins
to show results is thte Gantt
Crawford Belvedere Heights.
m-m
Bulldozer operators, masons
and carpenters can work wond
ers in a short period of time
m-m
Spring notes: Among the
prettiest sights in the commu
nity is the E. W. Griffin resi
dence with its many blooming
flowers and trees . ■ . which re
minds there’s nothing to im
prove a community as much as
the high caliber residences and
concurrent landscaping • . . .
hurrah for the power mower
• . . with the demise of winter,
the budget gets a little freer,
as utility bills drop and futel
bills evaporate . • . Oilman
Grady Patterson and Coalman
Tea Weir were crying on each
other’s shoulders the other day
in this vtein: “Sold anything to
day?”, Ted asked of Grady.
“Not much,” was the reply, “I
think 25 gallons of oil and we
had to deliver that. You’re
lucky You don’t deliver bags
of coal ” Ted agreed he hadn’t
sold much either, but added,
“Oh, yes. We deliver the coal
in bags.”
m-m
Getting a dollar’s worth of
haircut the other day from G.
L. Wright, I was intriqued by
his question about what kind
of tonic to use. “Will it be Rob
in Hood?” I'd never heard of
Robin Hood, and G. L. Explain
ed this one is the current fa
vorite of the small fry who are
switching allegiance from ano
ther brand known as Davy
Crockett or some other televi
sion program favorite. "If
they’re under eight years old
they gotta have some tonic and
it looks like Robin Hood is
running ahead, "G. L. contin
ued
m-m
Poor Davy’s star has set.
Boomed by television, newspa
per serials, and novelties, Davy
went to the top fast, too fast
for some, including the movie
Promise for a Troubled World
• s'
Viewpoints of Other Editors
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
PRACTICALLY
ABOLISHED
In a quiet way North Carolina
has practically abolished capital
punishment. The change came a
bout through three legislative
amendments over a period of 12
years
By two amendments mandatory
death sentences have been re
moved for convictions in crimes
of burglary, arson, murder and
rape- A third amendment allows
a defendant to plead guilty of
first degree in a capital case. If
the State accepts the plea, the
sentence is automatically life
imprisonment.
These changes in capital pun
ishment laws represent as much
a triumph for the gradual ap
proach as they do an advance
ment into a more civilized life. In
fact, we wonder how much pro
gress there would have been if
the question had been made a
great issue.
Capital punishment is an emo
tion-laden term. If the question
had put on an “all-or-nothing”
basis and lines were tightly
drawn, the situation might have
so strongly aroused opposition
that the first step forward could
never have been taken
Although new laws have all but
left the gas chamber idle—execu
tions have fallen from 23 in 1947
to only one in the last two years
—capital punishment has not
been abolished- There are, as
Judge Don Phillips says, enough
teeth in the law to deal with “hor
rible" crimes.
Even so, " 'e have never believ
ed that capital punishment has
acted as a deterrent \ to crime,
either today or in the past. Lecky
in his History of European Mo
rals tells of the hanging of pick
pockets in Old England: All the
pickpockets on the island would
congregate at the public hanging
so they could ply their trade
while the crowd watched the gal
lows. Evidence in other countries
and in other eras casts doubt on
the theory that the threat of capi
tal punishment serves as a re
straint on criminals.
North Carolina is doubtless
moving toward the day of no ca
pital punishment. In the process
of reaching that goal it has pro
ved that the moderate approach
to problems is oftentimes the.
best- — Greensboro Daily News
HIGH-PRICED
INDIGESTION
,The most unfathomable crea
tion of the political factory in
our times is the $100 a plate din
ner. Most individuals with any
.respect at all for their stomachs,
consideration for their home
lives, or a decent taste in enter
tainment will shy away from all
public banquets of any nature
whatsoever, excepting only those
for which their business or con
science obligates them- The food
is at best mediocre in compari
son with the home table, and
more often-abominable; the. so
cial amenities are stilted and ar
tifical, and the speeches—great
honk, the speeches!—are teither
strings of wisecracks by profes
sional pokesmiths or flat disser
tations on the state of the world
that curdle thle ham and pump
kin pie.
A person who would pay $100
to subject himself to such an
evening is either a dedicated soul
or a lamb who would follow any
sheep that said "Baa!”
If mtemory serves, the Demo
crats, riding the boom of $2
wheat and pie in the sky, inaugu
rted this political pot with a $25
dinner, which later advanced to
$50. $75 and $100. The Republi
cans not being on the gravy train,
promptly countered with 50-cent,
chicken box rallies which were ef
fective propaganda. Now that the
outs are in, the Republicans are
shilling out the $100, and the
Democrats sneering on the side
lines.
It isn’t the politics of the thing
but the asinity that prompts
these remarks. Even if Marie An.
tionette were baking the cake, to
pay $100 for a meal and some
speeches is a fine example of in
sulting the human body—Garden
City (Kan.) Daily Telegram.
makers By the time the movie
was released Davy was passfe.
An ad in a paper recently read,
“Davy Crockett T-shirts, for
merly $1, now 3 for |L" Suc
cess, she flefes.
"GIVE-AWAY A
GIVE-AWAY"
Evteryone read this week that
President Eisenhower wants
more money lor foreign govern
ments. In a word he says that
we must be ready to outbid Rus
sia to aid these foreign countries
whose support they are seeking.
We said it under Roosevelt and
Truman and we repeat again un
der Eisenhower that we don’t
think you can buy friendship by
giving money to Governments
who seem to change leadership
everytime America sends them
a check.
The “Foreign Aid” or "Give
Away” program was very un
popular under President Tru
man- The newspapers, in the ma
jority would come out editorially
in hot blasts every time that Mr.
Truman asked for more money.
Where are those blasts today- Its
the same program but with only
one change and that is there is
a different President asking for
it.
Those who are against so much
Foreign aid only say now—"Pre
sident Eisenhower is being ill-ad
vised.” We think that same
thing and we had the same
thoughts about President Tru
man. Our contention was that
President Truman should have
swept this ill-advice away and
we think the same thing about
the present administration
Would it not be better if we
have to buy the friendship of the
world if we just ask each coun
try one question and that is . . •
"How much will your friendship
cost us?” Then when we receive
the answer just give them the
money and close the transaction.
Everyone knows that Insurance
companies make money buy set
tling with clients, whom they cal],
friends, in a lump sum instead of
dealing them out cash by the
month.
So let us take a lesson and set
tle with these countries with a
lump-sum check. But for heavens
sake let us not pacify them by
allowing all their manufactured
products to flow freely into the
country like the Japanese tex
tiles are doing today—Belmont
Banner•
DEATH'S BY-PASS
What’s causing the many fa
tal accidents on the new stretch
of U- S. Highway 29 which by
passes Kings Mountain?
This road was opened only last
October, yet six persons have
been killfed on it- Four others
died in an accident before the
seven-mile stretch was opened.
That’s a total of 10 fatalities
in about seven months.
But don’t be too hasty to blame
it on highway construction.
The four who died before the
bypass was opened did so because
of racing on the newly-graded
highway.
A motorcyclist was the next
victim
A collision took the life of
number six. Then four persons
were killed in a headon crash
March 12 This wreck occurred
on a rainy night when visibility
was poor.
The highway patrol believes
that the majority and perhaps
all of these people lost their lives
because of driver carelessness.
It all gets back to the fact that
we can bame the roads and wea
ther conditions all we want too,
but the ever-recurring truth is
that carelessness or recklessness,
or both, which cause most deaths
on the highways. — Gaston City
ten.
HISTORICAL ITEM
Department store advertis
ments by no means are to be
read only in search of bargains.
They also yield information on
manners and modes, and some
times even on history, ancient his
tory at that. Here are examples,
encountered just the other day:
Davy Crockett T-shirts, were
51 now 3 for $1.
Davy Crockett caps, were $1
to $1.25, now 39 cents.
Davy Crockett gun sets, were
$3 98, now $1 49.
Remember way back when...?
—St Louis Post-Dispatch.
GOT HIM PICKED OUT
I never hate, anyone — but if
I ever do, I’ve got the louse all
picked out — CatskUl Mountain
(W. Y.) Ncvok
In
font
with
your
fasti
Enjoy
Cheerwlne
at home.too.
Buy a
carton
today.
1220 kc 1.000 walls
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IT SHOULDN'T take persuasion to get you to talk
about your insurance problems. After all. loss of your
home, household contents, automobile or other prop
erty to disaster would be a serious financial blow. We
shouldn't have to urge you tct insure adequately a
gainst such catastrophes.
Why not call on us now? Make sure that, if trouble
strikes, you'll have the protection you need to be free
from worry and loss of your property dollars. Drop
in at this Agency today.
C. E. WARUCK INSURANCE AGENCY
PHONE 9 203 W. MOUNTAIN ST.
KINGS MOUNTAIN. N. C.
“Tell the Governor
the cow’s after kicking
over the lantern
and me barn’s
on Fire!**/
Long Distance
puts you In touch, Pastor
MRS. O'LEARY and her cow nearly
burned up old Chicago. When the heat is on
for you to close a business deal in
Chicago—or tell big news to a friend in
the next town—keep cool. Call Long Distance.
It's fast. Easy. And costs so little.
It's Twice As Fast to Call by Number
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