S. The Kings Mountain Herald
' Established 1889
A 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 its vicinity, published every Thursday by the 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. La Faye MeaCham.Advertising Salesman and Bookkeeper
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Eugene Matthews Horace Walker Jack Heavener Bill Myers
Charles Miller Paur Jackson
telephone numbers — 167 or 283
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TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is with
out sin among you, let him, first cast a stone at her. St, John 8:7.
The Voting Results
North Carolina voted a clear-cut en
dorsement of the Pearsall Plan last Sa
terday, making law of legislative enact
ments drastically changing the state’s
school set-up to obviate, yet live legally
within, the dictates of the Supreme
Court’s decision requiring de-segrega
tion of public schools.
The heavy majority recorded for the
Pearsall Plan in virtually all the 100
counties underlines the original assump
tion on which the Pearsall Plan was for
mulated.
North Carolinians are not yet ready
for de-segregated public schools.
The Pearsall Plan may never be used.
It may be used and found acceptable to
the Supreme Court. It may be declared
illegal after testing through the courts.
None can predict the final result.
But the voting result was important
because it should inform the Supreme
Court and both high and secondary po
liticians of the nation that North Caro
lina’s generic thinking is not attuned
today to abrogating a mode of living to
which it has been accustomed for cen
turies.
Happily, the voting is just as clear,
yet most honorably and palatable a
means of informing the sundry politi
coes, as the unhappy, unfortunate vio
lence in Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas
and other southern states.
Governor Luther Hodges’ post-voting
statement pointed out that the issue
was discussed with sincerity and vigor
on both sides, but that the disputants
were gentlemanly and credited the op
posite viewpoint with good motives, too.
That, said the Governor, is the North
Carolina way.
Adoption of the Pearsall Plan certain
ly does nor. bring to a final conclusion
North Carolina’s problems as created by
the Supreme Court. But it was a credi
table effort to tailor the law to meeting
the changing situation and an effort
which again marks North Carolina as a
sane, thoughtful people.
Political Steam-Up
Politics, the great national sport, is
steaming a bit and quite likely to reach
the boiling point somewhat in advance
of voting day on November 6.
The reason is simple and comes from
the fact the Democrats think they can
regain the White House, which they
lost under an avalanche of Eisenhower
votes in 1952. CoiToboration comes from
the most recent Gallup poll, which finds
Eisenhower’s friends down to 52 percent
of the total sampling. While Adlai Ste
venson only rates 41 percent, with the
remaining seven undecided, the pro-Ike
total is a far cry from the previous re
ports listing the Pi'esident with 65 to 69
percent support.
Maybe the questions were different.
Anyway, Dr. Gallup has enheartened
the Democrats who were already sniff
ing victory by virtue of an examination
of the 1952 results vs. the 1956 prospects.
Stevenson’s manager has found that a
switch of a mere 858,000 votes in 14
close states in 1952 would have put Ste
venson in the White House, rather than
Eisenhower.
Will this switch be effected in 1956?
Well, maybe. It appears the South
split will not reoccur and that this will
give Stevenson a heavy starting bulge.
Mayor Wagner of New York, who will
seek a Senate seat, is expected to help
lead New York into the Democratic co
lumn with its 45 big electoral votes.
Worse factor disfavoring the Demo
crats is that the Republicans read the
newspapers, too, and some are making
signs indicating they know this election
is far from being in the GOP bag.
Two strong personalities head the
two tickets. It’ll be hard for the loser
individually, but it’s the kind of situa
tion designed to prove the theory that
democracy produces the best candidates
and the best government.
Constitution Week
Next week is national Constitution
Week, a reminder of the adoption of a
code of law which embodied the doc
trine of freedom previously unknown to
the world.
This Constitution, written by far
sighted men more than a century and a
half ago, has had few amendments add
ed during the period, though its specific
terms have been stretched to cover
many various and changing situations.
One of the major phrases in the Con
stitution has been “the public welfare,’’
which has a variety of meanings for a
variety of people.
Only last Saturday North Carolina
took a step, in adopting the Pearsall
Plan, to obviate the current thinking
of the nine Supreme Court justices, who
think the South, in its school segrega
tion, is, abrogating the Fourteenth
amendment.
Commenting on the Court-created
problem, one Kings Mountain citizen re
marked, “I’ve read the Constitution
many times and I have re-read the por
tion which says powers not expressly
provided in the Constitution for the fe
deral government are expressly reser
ved to the States.”
.This is the crux of the agrument be
tween the South and the rest of the na
tion on matters at issue.
But where there are people of diver
gent views, there are bound to be dif
frences of opinion and of interpretation.
The Constitution remains an amazing
document. It’s design of government,
featuring separate executive, judicial,
and legislative departments, is the fam
ed check-and-balance plan which has
stood the test of time.
Democracy is notably inefficient and
there is no question but that an enligh
tened dictatorship can operate (for a
time) with more dispatch. But the Con
stitution embodies the willingness of
America to sacrifice a bit of efficiency
for the right to limit the tenure in of
fice of a blackguard or scoundrel.
Freedom of speech, freedom of assem
bly, freedom to worship as one pleases,
all these and more are provided in the
Constitution of the United States. It has
been the key to the continued growth
and well-being of this nation.
The state’s legislators, as a result of
last Saturday’s election, will get more
pay, though it will still not be commen
surate with the offices they hold. The
legislators got $10 per day (up to 60
days) back when it was possible to get
a good hotel room for $2.50 to $3 per
night. The rates have more than doubled
now, as have food costs. Assuming the
legislators draw the new legal maximum
of $1800 for 120 days, they can’t figure
on banking anything after paying a 120
day hotel bill, buying food, and paying
the commuting costs between home and
Raleigh. A legislator has to get home
on weekends to keep acquainted with
his constituents’ wishes.
The small incidence of exception ap
plications under the city district school
assignment plan is a tribute not only to
school officials who carved the plan, but
to parents of school children who have
accepted the plan. An exception ratio
of less than one and one-half percent,
among a pupil population of 2100 is a
small proportion indeed.
A deep best bow to Charles Mauney,
winner of a $400 scholarship in State
College’s School of Textiles. This, inci
dentally, is Mr. Mauney’s second scho
larship award.
Don miss the Beth ware Fair this
weekend. It’s a fine event for fun, fro
lic, education, and conviviality. Three
big days, Thursday, Friday, and Satur
day, remain.
10
YEARS AGO *teras °* news about Kings Mountain area people and events
THIS WEEK taken from the 1946 files of the Kings Mountain Herald.
Kings Mountain Cotton Oil
Company reported to the Herald
this week the first bale of cotton
to be ginned in the Kings Moun
tain artea. Owner of the 488
pound bale was Hubert Herndon,
of near Grover.
Teachers in the city school sys
tem will be guests of honor at a
dinner meeting of Kings Moun
tain Junior Chamber of Com
merce to be held at Central school
cafeteria Friday at 6 o’clock.
Social and Personal
The American Legion Auxili.
ary met at the home of Mrs. Cy
rus Falls last Thursday night.
Mrs. J. S. Ware and Mrs. Lloyd
Phifer were joint hostesses
Misses Betty and Peggy Black
welder and Miss Jean Baker, of
Philadelphia, Pa., have returned
home after spending a month
with Mr and Mrs. J. C. Jolly,
grandparents of the Misses
Blackwelder.
MARTIN'S
MEDICINE
By Martin Harmon
Ingredients: bits of news,
uoisdom, humor, and comment.
Directions: Take weekly, if
possible, but avoid
overdosags.
The late Dr A. L. Hill had a
gift for the quick, pungent
phrase and exhibited a keen
sense of humor. One time.it is
told, Dr. Hill had suffered a
minor auto accident which gave
the back of his black Ford an
eaten out appearance An inte
rested acquaintance accosted.
Dr. Hill and inquired, “Doc,
what happened to your car?’’
Dr. Hill is supposed to have re
plied. "The moths got in it.”
m-m
Last Thursday morning a
bout 9 o’clock, Ware & Sons’
former cotton gin building, now
used for storage and feed mix
ing, looked like it had been
visited by an army of moths.
However, the “moth” was a big
tractor - trailer loaded with
40,000 pounds of sugar. Parked
in the Ware & Sons lot while
the driver got unloading in
structions, the air brakes failed
and the tractor rolled into the
side of the tin gin, damaging
in siding and a feed mill. The
truck would probably have
made a non-stop trip through
the whole building had it not
been stopped by an old and
heavy unused safe.
m-m
The accidtent might have been
tragic. Sage Fulton was stoop
ing over picking up some de
bris with his back to the truck.
Workmen Oakley Schenk and
Brady Adams saw the driver
less truck rolling and began yel
ling. Sage got in high gear fast
and escaped.
m-m
Last weekend gave Kings
Mountain the loveliest Septem
ber autumn weather I remem
ber. It should have been an Oc
tober World Series weekend,
from the weather standpoint.
How many folk fired up heat
ing units? We escaped at our
house with some judicious use
of the kitchen oven and an elec
tric heater, but a sweater felt
quite in order.
m-m
My landlady, Miss Carlyle
Ware, has a summer home at
Bon Clarken, the ARP summer
assembly grounds, and tells an
interesting story of an incident
there this summer A young
boy about eight or nine was
cavorting and gyrating in the
pool, which gyrating caused an
onlooker to comment to a lady
nearby, “That little boy acts
just like Elvis Pressly, doesn’t
he.” The elderly lady looked
mystified and replied, “Perhaps
so. I don’t know Elvis Pressly.
You see, I’m not an ARP.”
m-m
Of course, Elvis, the rock-and
roller, ain’t no ARP either, but
a mighty lot of Presslys are.
m-m
Kays Gary, the Charlotte Ob
server reporter, draws some
good assignments. I should
think a reporter’s portfolio of
dream assignments should in
clude covering the Miss Ame'
rica contests at Atlantic City.
It was even better when he
could accompany home a win
ner in his paper’s circulation
area. Miss McKnight is indeed
a pretty lass. I wouldn’t have
thought (passing through Man
ning, S. C., a few weeks ago
bn route home from the beach)
that hot, sticky, sleepy Manning
would be producing a 1956
Miss America. With Miss Uni
verse and now Miss America,
South Carolina will be making
Georgia look to her laurels as
the "peach state.’’
m-m
Last Saturday’s amendment
voting attracted an unusual
turnout in Kings Mountain, con
sidering there were no persona
lities involved in the issues un
der discussion and the twin fact
that folk, usually, don’t pay
much attention to amendments.
Chief interest was embodied in
the Pearsall Plan voting but the
one getting the most wise
cracks was that proposal to au
thorize men to convey powers
of attorney to their wives —
previously illegal in North
Carolina. Wray Williams grunt
ed, “Huh, don’t see why they
need to vote on that, for the
womenfolk already have the
po wer, whbther it’s legal or
not. Some bachelor who doesn’t
know any better must have
geared that amendment up.”
m-m
Anyway, it passed, another
victory for the woman suffrag
ists.
Morte important, I think, is
North Carolina’s current law
regarding men who die without
wills. In this instance (if there
are no children, maybe even if
there are) thfe wife inherits half
the man’s personal property,
which includes furniture. I
think the law should be chang
ed. It ain’t right for a widow
to havfe to buy out other heirs
for her own furniture. Yet it
happens every now and again.
The wife and I had a delicious
dinner at the home of Dr. and
Mrs. Jessfe Caldwell in Gastonia
last week. Their new home en
southwest Gastonia’s Park
Lane Road has a three-side ex
posure scifeened-in porch plus
open terrace on the back with
one of the best views of Crow
der’s Mountain, Kings Moun
tain and the rest of the rangle
I’ve ever seen.
Kibitzers
I
Viewpoints of Other Editors
GOD COULDNT DO IT
Havle you ever been brought up
suddenly with a flashing realiza
tion of how the world has pro
gressed in 50 to 75 years?
So many marvels which are
commonplace today were un
known to the people of the
1890’s.
Take ice for instance. Every
one has his own ice-making ma
chine in his home now. Two score
years ago the ice wagon was a
familiar sight along any residen
tial street in the summer time,
and the ice box was just that.
But few of us can realize that
there are among us even today
men who saw the great wonder
the miracle of manufacturing ice
for the first time.
Goldsboro’s first ice place was
started by the Weils and the New
Hanover Bank in 1888. The pro
moters acquired an old saw mill
site on North Center Street. The
ice plant is still there. Before it
was sarted, ice was shipped from
New England by boat to New
Bern. Thence is was transported
to Goldsboro and sold at 5 cents
a pound. Only drug stores had
ice for sale.
E. J. Jeffress says the records
of the start of the ice plant are in
books which Herman Weil has.
Jeffress recalls that the original
ice making machine in Goldsboro
could produce two 100-pound
blocks of ice.
A year or so ago Lisbon Lee of
Meadow community of Johnston
County came to visit his nephew,
Dick Freeman. He was recalling
how as a young fellow he came
to Goldsboro and stared in un
belief as he watched ice being
made.
The awe of the thing still was
upon him when he met a friend
in Smithfiteld.
“You know,” he fold the friend,
“I saw in Goldsboro today man
doing something that God could
not do.”
“We have been friends a long
time,” said the friend, “and I
have always found you truthful to
this time. If you know of any
such miracle fell it to me.”
"In Goldsboro the other day,”
was the the reply, “I saw them
making ice right there in the mid
dle of summer?” — Goldsboro
NeiosArgus.
CHANGING TIMES
The death recently of Mrs.
Irene Langhorne Gibson, widow
of the artist Charles Dana Gib
son, calls to mind the complete
turn of the wheel of social his
tory has made. She is supposed
to have been the original of her
husband’s pictures in the old
Life magazine of the Gibson
Girl—a young lady with a sad
profile, a huge pompadour, a
germ-catching skirt, and high
buttoned shoes. When she went
in 'bathing she wore a soggy
woolen skirt, long stockings and
sandals that collected sand.
A favorite song of the period,
often delivered by a girl student
at school commencements, was:
“The Lips That Touch Liquor
Shall Never Touch Mine.’’
When the Gibson Girl went
out for a ride it was in a buggy
behind a horse that could, if
pushed, go ten miles an hour,
rhe nervous driver would Ibe a
young man wearing a high glos
sy collar, rattling cuff links, and
high shoes that ended in a tooth
pick point.
Telephones were few, hence
‘dates” were made by note de
livered by mtessenger. The reply
would be on perfumed paper.
The iron curtain descended at
11 p. m. Girls who stayed out af
ter that hour were called “fast’’
and mother used the word be
fore their sons with an unutter
able intonation.
Wednesday and Sunday nights
were “company" nights. A visit
on any other night was regarded
as a declaration of intentions.
The father was the head (and
sometimes czar) of the family.
It has taken the woman of the
house 56 years to dethrone him.
—Chapel HM News Leader.
EXECUTIVE POSITION
A college alumni group had
fust held a class reunion. After
the party broke up, several of
the members strolled on down
the street together. To their dis
may, they spied one of their
number (he had not attended
the reunion) lying in the gutter
ON CHANGING PARTY
NAMES
‘The <Sreat Crusade” has ta
ken a new direction. The Repub
licans are determined to change
the name of the Democratic par.
ty to "Demoncrat party.”
A few Republican orators
scornfully referred to the oppo
sition as the Democrat party in
1952. At the recent convention
in San Francisco the “party line”
handed down to speakers appa
rently was to attack the Demo
crat party, not the Democratic
party. We may expect more of
the same from now until Elec
tion Day in November.
“Democrat party” is used by
the .Republican speakers in tones
of derision. There is also the sub
tle suggestion that the party of
Jefferson, Jackson, Wilson and
F. D. Roosevelt is not democra
tic. Hence, the “ic” must be left
off.
How can the Democrats coun
ter this new turn of the Crusade?
It has been suggested that De
mocrats campaign to change the
name of the Republican party.
By dropping off two letters from
the word “Republican.” iBut not
the last two letters—the first
two instead. Then we would
have it the “Publican party.”
The Democrat who thought of
this reasoned that the hew name
would be appropriate. The Publi
cans of Bible days were tax col
lectors who used their office for
private gain.—Smithfield Herald.
JUST TOSSING MONEY
AWAY
American aid has undoubtedly
been of considerable assistance
to several nations. But there are
occasional failures in the pro
gram. One such is Bolivia.
Bolivia fell under A radical re
gime which expropriated the tin
mines and engaged in what is
called agrarian reform. As a re
sult, less tin is toeing mined and
farm output is not suficient for
the country’s needs. With these
failures in supply, inflation is
taking a grip on the country.
Money is being cheapened at
the rate of 10 per cent a month,
which is a world record for any
peacetime regime.
American aid apparently is be
ing used to make good Bolivia’s
shortages tout is doing nothing to
solve that country’s ibasic prob
lem of more production to stop
the erosion of money values. The
economic assistance is therefore
going to waste.
Meantime the radicals of Bo
livia are denouncing “Yankee
imperialists” without whose aid
they would starve.
Coming elections might install
a new regime which will do bet
ter. If that doesn’t happen,
American aid administrators
should take another good look
at Bolivia to see if something
better cannot toe done than
throwing money down a rathole.
—Kannapolis Independent.
HONESTY ALWAYS
PAYS
One of two women riding on a
bus suddenly realized that she
had neglected to pay her fare.
“I’ll go right up and pay it,”
she declared.
“Why toother ’’ asked her
friend. “You got away with It,
why worry ”
“I’ve found that honesty al
ways pays,” she declared vir
tuously, and with that she hur
ried forward to pay the driver.
In a moment she returned tri
umphantly.
“There, I told you honesty al
ways pays. I handed the driver
a quarter and he gave me
change for 50 cents!” — Stanly
News & Press,
apparently asleep.
“Isn’t that a shame?” exclaim
eed one of the group. “Who
would have thought it of good
old Joe Blow?”
“Yes, wasn’t he president of
the senior class, and the one we
voted most likely to succeed?"
put in the class secretary.
The i figure on the ground
spoke up. “I’ll bet you think I’m
drunk,” he muttered in an ag
grieved tone. "Well, I’m not. I’m
just saving this parking space
for my boss’ Cadillac’.—Catholic
Digest.
CHEERWINE
gives you
e/icfoc/s
TASTE with
a TANG!
HARRIS FUNERAL HOME
—Ambulance Service—
Phone 118 Kings Mountain, N. C.
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