North Carolina Newspapers

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. 0«, under Act of Congress of March 3,1873. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Martin Hannon ... Editor-luMlSher David Baity .Sports Editor and Reporter Miss Elizabeth Stewart.Circulation Manager and Society Editor Mrs. La Faye Meadham ..Advertising Salesman and Bookkeeper MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT Horace Walker Wade Hartsoe, Jr. Paul Jackson Eugene (Matthews Charles Miller * (Bill Myers Bob Myers TELEPHONE NUMBERS — 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 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. • , Romans 8:2. Furious Fifties? The decade from 1920 to 1930 has been termed in song, hisitory and folklore as the “Roaring Twenties”. A lot of folk were getting filthy rich, or thought they were, and a lot of folks were acting like they were rich, whether they were or not. It was the era of the flapper who danced the Charleston, men in bearskin coats, flashy autos like the Stutz Bear cat. It was the era of speakeasies and bathtub gin, plunges in the sttock mar ket that could make a man a million or break him. Then came 1929. The string ran out with the stock market crash and there followed the Terrible Thirties with breadlines, Hoover carts, privation and want. Is the decade from 1950-1960 to be delineated in history as the “Furious Fifties”, comparing to the “Roaring Twenties”? There are some pieced of evidence that the decade is earning the title. In a re cent issue of the New York Times, a furniture firm advertised a mink-back ed, mink-trimmed sofa for $2,045. Of course, this advertisement was beamed primarily to the carriage trade but why the waste of a mink-backed sofa? A plain Lawson, with foam-rubber cush ions, allows one to sit quite comfortably at much less sitting fee. It’s inconceiva ble that the purchase of such a sofa could do anything more than show of opulence. This ia surely a lone indication, but there are more. The decade has been marked by a continued and continuing growth of the live-today-pay-tomorrow philosophy, and the nation’s citizens! are loaded with assets. However, they’re al so loaded, with weekly and monthly pay ments. It makes no difference whether the person is of high or low financial Station. The more a person’s income, us ually the more he owes. There are many hedges now available to cushion the impact of the 1929 finan cial debacle. Among them are unemploy ment compensation, social security, Se curities and Exchange regulations, strict control of banking practices. Insurance v sales have been setting annual records, with concurrent growth in backlogs of cash value reserves. But the mass attitude is not too good. Many give the appearance they’re on the back car of a mammoth roller coaster, are enjoying the thrill, and don’t ever think they’ll have to get off and pay the fare for another joy ride. But history, Biblical and otherwise, in dicates they will. Motor Vehicles Commissioner Ed Scheidt is to be commended for his quick action on ordering a driver’s lic ense examiner returned to Kings Mount ain for accomodation of the many motor ists in this area. The Herald has always believed that government should go to the people, not people to the govern ment. One man can move 28 miles and save untold miles and time for a great number of people. For instance, Exami ner Lee Nolan processed more than 30 license applications and renewals last Thursday.Had 30 people been required to drive to Shelby, the total mileage log ged would have been 840. No safe esti mate could be made on the man-hours saved by Mr. Nolan’s calling at City Hall here. Mr. Nolan is over-pressed to han dle the whole of Cleveland County mo torists by himself. The officials in charge should cease delay in employing an additional examiner, for which they have had authority since July 1. Foote Mineral Company’s announced wage increase, effective September 1, Y*' can be interpreted as reward to employ ees for effective and productive work in compiling cost and production records here during the first six months of 1957. Foote obviousily operates on the princi rple that all employees share in the suc cess of its operations, and, in turn, also deserve to share in the profits derived therefrom. Loaded Deck The hearing for business establish ments gouged by last February’s in crease in the commercial power rate schedule was farcical, for it wasn’t a hearing at all. There had been prior caucus and a greement that no relief would be grant ed as was apparent to all present at last Thursday night’s city board session. The commissioners presented a mimeograph ed sheet comparing July power bills of the 18 effected firms with what they would have been had the same kilowatt hours been purchased from Duke Pow er Company, from the City of Gastonia or from the City of Shelby. According to these figures, these firms have a cheaper bill from the City of Kings Mountain. At least two commissioners couldn’t restrain smug grins when the bill comparison sheets were broken out and distributed. However, the commissioners didn’t quite give the whole story. One key col umn was missing. This was the compar ison of the July power bills for thesle 18 firms bad the base rate schedule not been increased by 59 percent. The Herald resubmits that the rates u tilities, or other cities, collect for power is of little correlation to that charged in Kings Mountain. A utility is a tax-payer, not a tax collector. As for Gastonia and Shelby, who knows the particular situ ations there? Commissioner Ben Bridges, who has paring of the tax rate as one of his prin cipal aims, acknowledged during his speech of declination that Gastonia makes no charge for paving city streets. There are no street-paving assessments in Gastonia. He also said he understood that the City of Shelby’s tax rate is con siderably lower than Kings Mountain’s. He was right. The City of Shelby tax rate is 80 cents per $100 valuation, com paring to.Kings Mountain’s $1.50. Commissioner Boyce Gault in charge of the electrical department as electri cal commissioner, commented after the no-relief action that summer would soon end and that the commercial firms would get relief from the weather. The Herald and other firms are not thinking solely about 1957. Short term financial pains are handleable. All are thinking about future years and how much more gouging is in store, particu larly if more power-using refrigeration motors, and lighting are installed, as would be normal for progressive busi ness firms. The facts of the case remain: 1) with the rate increase returning the city divi dends for only a minor portion of the last fiscal year, the city still racked up a 40 percent profit of $100,000 on $250,000 in power sales; 2) the city board appar ently intends to see that a few customers bear the brunt of the primary line re construction which is needed today, will become mandatory tomorrow. The increase is a penalty on progress, is a potential deterrent to firms which have further power-using facilities on the want list. A public hearing is no hearing when the conductors of the hearing have made their decision in advance. The hearing was a waste of time for all con cerned and a sham. Item one on the business of obtaining a National Guard Armory here seems to be obtaining the “local” share of about $22,000 and what additional monies might prove necessary for the “extras” which the federal and state participa tion won’t provide. The community needs an Armory and badly, both for the benefit of the highly-rated National Guard unit and as a public building a vailable for many different kinds of com munity functionsi. YEARS AGO Items of news about Kings Mountain area people and eeents THIS WEEK taken from the 1947 files of the Kings Mountain Herald. Richard Barnett, entry chair man, reported 30 horses already entered through Wednesday in the Fourth annual Lions club Labor Day horse show. In spite of so-called high build. ing costs, much construction is now underway in Kings Moun tain, according to a listing of building permits issued by the City of Kings Mountain in the past seven weeks, which indicates I a total cash outlay of $117,900. Mrs. .Frank Sisk and daughters will leave Friday for Charleston, ! West Virginia, where they will visit with Mr. and Mrs. James 1 Teague. MARTIN'S MEDICINE By Martin Harmon IngredientsB bits of news, Wisdom, humor, and comment. Directionsa Take weekly, if possible, but avoid •overdosage. A lot of folk would figure it worth a picture, with story, that Rev. and Mrs. Douglas Fritz are back home after a trip to California and return via Volkswagen, the German - made midget car, which looks mighty small compared to Fords and Chevys, very small compared to Cadillacs and Lin colns, and almost infinltesmal when compared to the big trac tor-trailers Which1 haul a big portion of the nation's freight. Fact is, it appears the Volks wagen could meet a big truck, meet it head oh and be none the worse for wear, using the Keystone Cops method of going under. m-m Doug praises highly the little fellow which vends foT $1595. It took him along the high ways at a GO to 65 miles per hour clip i(!Doug didn’t talk any about speed limits en route), embarrassed the handsome Cadillacs in the desert, and brought him and Miss Anne home salfe, sound and com fortably after nearly 6,000 miles from here to there and back. m-m uoug s mgnway moat is air cooled, rather than water-cool ed. In the desert, Doug’s little car sailed through without stop, other than that ordered Iby the driver. The big Cadillacs were sitting on the roadside, their radiators steaming and their drivers ditto. m-m The Fritz pair took the Sou thern route out, stopped iby Carlsbad Caverns, and made San Francisco and other Cali fornia points. The return trip was Northern, requiring navi gation of the (Rockies. No trou ble was encountered in this direction either. The Fritzes made Salt (Lake City, swam in Salt lake, went to church at the fabulous (Mormon Temple. m-m (Mrs. IFritz looked across the temple, gasped a bit, said ‘“Doug, that man across there looks just like (W. K. Mauney. m-m Doug looked, blinked his eyes, replied, “Yes, it does. Fact is, he is.” m-m They greeted and chatted, commented on the smallness of this expanse of mass called world. m-m Kings Mountain preachers, Mexicans and Coloradans pro bably think, should be kept at home locked up. W. (L. Pressly just missed an earthquake in Mexico. (Doug IFritz didn’t quite miss the Denver, Colorado, floods. It was the closest squeak the Volkswagen had. Doug reports the Denver streets washed out and the water up to the fenders. m-m “I used to think Kansas City was pretty far West. "Doug re marks, “but now I think K. C. is pretty far East.” m-m Mrs. Fritz was the statisti cian of the trip. (Her figures re vealed the small-sized car had provided 34 miles for each gal lon of petrol, and that the lod ging cost was $3.98 per person iper night, rather considerably less than the tariff at the Wal dorf-Astoria. Doug says the motel business is getting mighty crowded out West, and that it’s not necessary to stop at the motel with the biggest swimming pool. (He also mar veled at the massive growth, still growing, of California. (Some miles from any city, two residential building develop ments were underway, one vir tually completed. It had 5,000 homes. Across the road, a sec ond 5,000-home development was underway. m-m When I talk to travelers, I get excited and want to go too. But I never seem to be able to get very far north or south of (North Carolina. m-m Mrs. Boib Rosburg, noting last .week's mention olf a possible forebear of Boxing Champion IFloyd Patterson, called to say her maid, originally from Wa co, was a Patterson and is a cousin of the Chamip. My grandfather’s top workman of the 1880's, Harold Patterson, was the grandfather olf the Champ. m-m Quote of the week goes to the six-year-old son Of Coleman Stroupe, the city commissioner who acknowledges he’s spent a lot of time at City Hall since taking his oath of office. Coleman reports it himself. Said his six-yeax-old son: "Dad, you stay at City Hall so much 1 don’t see why you don’t move your clothes up there.” Good Movie: ISilk Stockings” starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. If Ed Tutor gets »it booked, I’ll see it again. Second Helping . Viewpoints of Other Editors ON WASTING TIME; SHOULD CHILDREN'S EVERY MINUTE BE FILLED? A book with a most arresting title has been attracting atten tion —" (Robert Paul Smith’s "Where Did You Go?” “Out.” "What Did You Do?” “Nothing.” Since the Ibook is an argument for wasting time, we are at once prejudiced in its favor, albeit the volume relfers to wasting time in childhood. While thankful that somebody has had the wits and courage to challenge the notion that children always have to do things, we wait with eagerness and the still more courageous writer who will extol a similar policy for adults. But now we are talking atoout the children. Several Items printed on this page in recent weeks have ques tioned whether life today, for both aduts and young folks, is not too highly organized. The book with the arresting title is the most elaborate attempt we have yet seen to expound this thesis. Mr. Smith recalls, for instance some of the delights of an un planned youth: “Many, many hours of my I childhood were spent in learning how to whistle, how to snap my fingers. In hanging from a branch of a tree. In looking at an ant’s nest. In digging holes. Making piles. Tearing things down. Throwing rocks at things.” Various adult supervisors counselor's, directors, instructors, coaches and so forth that hedge in a child’s existence today may serve a useful purpose tout we cannot help but feel that they are too numerous and that they do not inspire a great deal of that quality which is childhood’s special province, carrying a spec ial meaning of its own: “(Having Fun,.” lAn editorial In the (Raleigh News and Observer rounds out this subject with a disposition on the old-fashioned back yard ("likely to toe untidy and all cluttered up with horseshoes and fishing poles and (balls and ibats and dogs and cats ... a high board fence around it and us ually a large tree that was ex cellent for climbing"), as con trasted with back yards since landscaping has come in and that area has (become “a pretty place for tired adults to rest in deck chairs . . . (And the rest meets his friends in a pulblic park or asks them into his house to watch television.” Is all lost then for childhood? Of course not. All children are made of more wonderful stuff than that. iWe suspect that des pite, an in some cases even be cause of, organization, children still have plenty of fun. And each generation, we suppose, has its own pleasures or types of pleasures. (But we see in Mr. Smith’s book and in nostalgic reminiscences like that of the News and Observer a warning to parents that children often should toe left alone to find and ! make up and enjoy their own kinds of entertainment. 'Was ting time” and "doing nothing” remained honored occupations in our scale of values. Southern Pines pilot NOT ANY MORE Some families can trace their ancestors Iback 200 years but can’t tell you where their chil dren were last night. Changing Times BEST PART OF LIFE There are great days ahead for those who are willing; to ven ture, willing to work, willing to keep a youthful viewpoint and willing to admit that the best days are always ahead. The part of life is the part we have yet to live , Ivanhoe, Minn., Times The surest way to make sure you’re unpopular is always to be right. • Franklin Press WHAT'S ALL THE SHOUTIN' FOR? We’re not as concerned as some of our editorial (brethren seem to be that Governor Hod ges parted iwith tradition in ap pointing a civilian with little military experience as Adjutant General of the State of North Carolina. We’ll admit, however, to some surprise at the outcry that has come from military people. This, it would seem, is not in charact er with the stoicism that seems to be a part of the military rou tine — the "do-your-duty-come what may” business that we hear so much albout. In the first place what is a state’s Adjutant General? The best explanation we’ve been giv en is that he is the counterpart of the national government’s Secretary of (Defense. If such is the case then it would seem wholly non-essential whether or not the appointee had military experience beyond the statutory requirements. Capua Waynick has these requirements. Why then should Governor Hodges stick with the traditional appointment of military people to this post? We see no reason why Ihe should. Capus Waynick, in long years of service to state and na tion, has proven himself an able administrator. 'He will be assist ed (by military men with ade quate experience to take care of the military aspects of the job. There are also able commanding officers who will do a good job, as they have always done, in the field. Why the outcry? It would appear that much is being made of the Hodges pen chant for doing things that do not conform to any certain pat tern. If these things cut his poli tical enemies they set up a hue and cry albout "injecting” poli tics. They’ve said it about his highway commission appoint ments and now .they're saying it about his appointment of Cap us Waynick. It’s a case of being "damned if you do and damned if you don’t". The point that many people are overlooking is that the Gov ernor’s power of appointment is his to do with as he sees fit sin ce the success or failure of an appointee in a job is also his. If he makes a mistake, therefore, he can be held to account at some future date. We believe that the North ICar olina National Guard, once the grumbling and blustering comes to an end, will emerge as a stronger outfit than it has been —at least at the tap administra tive level—and strengthening that level seems to have been the principal aim of Governor Hodges In appointing Capus Waynick. Chatham County News.. AIN'T IT SO? ay BILLY ARTHUR The London disarmament par ties are like a formal party. No body wants to Ibe there till'e verytbody else has arrived. • * * • * iA model wife is one who thinks her husband knows as much as her kin folks. Touching sight: iA little boy looking at a freshly painted door. a a a a a One thing albout a mosquito, he presents his bill after bunk ing hours. If modem poets "learn in suf fering what they teach in song,” haw much pain they must have endured! To be popular nowadays a man has to toe as rich as Tommy Mamdlle or let his hair grow so long it looks as if he should be sheared. r * • * * * The Treasury Department says the new dollar bills will be cir culated In September. Let us hope by that time someone will find something that can be bought with one. Better Check h for Size Have you "measured" your fire insurance it fits the current value of your property? Get together with us for an expert re-eval uation of your insurance needs. THE ARTHUR HAY AGENCY ALL KINDS OF INSURANCE" PHONE 182 , Modernize, repair, beautify... Don’t delay!... Do it today—Take time to pay—Pay for It (be easy way —through monthly payment*—oat of income- Home Improvement not only add* to your comfort, but It alto adds to the value of your property. coverage recently? Do you know whether :Enjoy improvements now Pay out of incomel « *•1001 JA« i.ss-SSssS '’tfSSSa** omy to w »^\1H\\ yWMfc ELMER TWiOT lumber co. IF HflMi 84 end DO IT TODAY —TAKE TIME TO PAY Telephone Talk by FLOYD FARRIS Tout Telephone Manager STILL WITH US? I hope you’ve been enjoying reading these “Telephone Talk” columns. We try to make them interesting and informative. More than that, they’re sort of like a personal chat with you and that’s fine, since I don’t get around to seeing all of our good customers in person. This telephone business is a mighty interesting one, and through Telephone Talk I want to keep you informed about it and pass along tips from time to time to help you get the most from your service. Meanwhile, if you have any questions about any particular phase of your service, why not drop me a line at the Business Office and I’ll do my best to give the answer. • • • BELL SYSTEM CREDIT CARDS are a great con venience to those whp travel. The only thing nec essary is to give the operator the credit card num ber. This new system makes it easy to handle calls when yo uare away from home. It is also conven ient not to have to carry cash along for telephone calls. Mr. J. E. Herndon is a booster for the Credit Card System. He has found one most convenient when he is traveling as he frequently does!. • • • EASY DOES IT — Seems to me most folks live in a hurry, hurry world, especially when they get out on the highways. So, whether you re on va cation, weekend or just a ‘‘Sunday visit trip,” it’s wise to do all your speeding by telephone. Leave in plenty of time, and if you’re delayed on the.road, just phone ahead to let folks know. You’ll find convenient outdoor phone booths everywhere. Long Distance is fast and easy to use and it costs so little, especially when you call station-to station after six P.M. on weekdays or any time Sundays. And remember—you save time when you call by number. SUBSCRIBE TO THE HERALD