The Kings Mountain Herald
Established 1883
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-Bub Hah er
David Baity.Advertising Salesman and Bookeeper
m«m Elizabeth Stewart.Circulation Manager and Society Editor
Neale Patrick...Sports Editor
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Eugene Matthews Horace Walker Wade Harteoe, Jr.
Paul Jackson Monte Hunter
TELEPHONE NUMBERS — 167 or 283
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TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE
The tear of the Lard is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction,
vers 1:7.
Pro■
Television Honesty
Reams of conversation and comment
have appeared with the decision ot
Charles Van Doren to “tell all” concern
ing the rigged television quiz shows
from which he grossed $129,000.
As is typical, some have been inclined
to condone the action of Van Doren and
others, while others have condemned
them heavily.
There is some suspicion that some
newspapers have particularly enjoyed
the situation as they have put the torch
to television — which competes with
newspapers for advertising revenue, the
staff of life for both media.
Then there have been many who have
taken a middle course, deploring Van
Doren and the riggers, yet all the while
being quite willing to temper condemna
tory justice and to be forgiving to Van
Doren and the others for making a con
siderable moral mistake that most folk
make once or more in their lifetimes but
which are less advertised.
On the other hand, only the callous
will agree with the Allentown, Pa., mer
chant who paid $10,000 to get an em
ployee on one of the shows and said re
cently he regarded the incident as no
more than a business transaction well
worth the price.
As come out of most troubles, good
should arise.
Television is a new industry, as years
go, an extension of the also young radio
industry and largely manned by persons
radio-trained. In radio’s heyday prior to
television, the emphasis was more often
on collecting the cash, rather than pro
gramming, with much more soapbox op
era than legitimate theatre. Today, it’s
pretty hard to switch on the television
set and get much more than a steady
stream of commercials and shoot-’em
ups of the western or private eye var
iety.
Fred Friendly, managing editor ot the
Washington Times-Herald, said in Cha
pel Hill a few years ago that he regard
ed a newspaper’s prime duties as the
purveying of information, via its news
columns, and of educating its readers,
via its editorial page. He acknowledged
a place for entertainment (comics, cross
word puzzles, features on stars of stage
and screen) but decried those remaining
news vehicles which paramount enter
tainment to the basic functions.
The newspaper industry is a gray
beard, compared to the television and
radio branches of mass communications,
and the newspapers of a century ago,
and less, hardly were paragons of vir
tue. At one time, no self-respecting poli
tician with ambition failed to have his
own newspaper, and its contents were
heavily slanted and often plainly libel
ous. Newspapers still have the problem
of balancing the budget which means
the publisher has got to be honored. But
the long-lasting, easily recheckable qua
lities of the printed word tend to make
newspaper morality not only right, but
actually good business.
The Van Doren business should help
about everybody connected grow up.
The television industry can be expected
to present some improved fare and cer
tainly the contrite ex-Columbia pro
fessor has learned a great lesson. It is
a fact that quick riches are seldom as
important as they may seem and often
times are the result of dubious moral
action — unless one is lucky enough to
find a gold mine or oil well in his back
yard, both acts of God.
The Mountaineers
Kings Mountain football fans, after
many bleak years, have been able to
smile and laugh after Friday night
games for the past five or six years. The
Mountaineer entries have finished one
two during that period.
Today the Mountaineers are again on
top the league perch and are assured of
a tie for the top spot, though the lofty
position may have to be shared with two
other entries.
What the outcome will be in the way
.of playoffs or other arrangements will
await the outcome of Friday night’s ac
tion involving Rutherfordton and Shel
by.
The fact is that Kings Mountain, in
regular season play, has earned a share
of the perch, a tribute to the hard work
of the players and coaching staff.
Education
A British author-scientist, in a recent
article in the Saturday Evening Post
was analyzing the communications void
between scientists and literary experts
and, in process, compared the education
al systems of the British, Russian and A
mericans.
He praised America’s mass education
effort, condemned the tendency of the
British to school a select few, and said
both are inferior to the Russians in sec
ondary education. Americans, he noted,
don’t make the educational process real
ly rough until a student hits graduate
school.
Rightly or wrongly, it’s easy to guess
that a corps of high school and college
youngsters of the United States will be
quick to disagree. Those going to col
lege, of course, will be quick to say that
the “jump” between the high school
pace—usually loaded with extra-curri
culars—and the college pace is terrific.
If a college student negotiates the fresh
man year, he can usually go forward af
ter that.
America has done a massive job in
mass education. Most Americans can
read and write, if only passably, an ac
complishment of this century. Today, a
growing trend in education is to educa
te qualitatively as well as quantitatively,
as represented by the still experimental
work with the brightest students in “fly
ing sections”. A bright future is also for
seen in the experimental education by
television, whereby mass education can
be applied with benefit to the student
and a freeing of funds which should lead
to improved pay for teachers, yet a less
er comparable increase in tax bite.
This is American Education week and
the motto of the sponsors is “Praise and
Appraise Your Schools”. Praise is deser
ved richly for the mass educational job
accomplished. An appraisal would sug
gest a tougher course at the high school
level and a broadened curriculum.
Gas Rates
The city’s gas engineer is to make a
rate recommendation soon, the recom
mendation to bei based on the soon-to
be effective increase the city gas system
will be paying its supplier, Transcontin
ental Gas Pipeline Corporation.
Application by Transco was made sev
eral months ago and increase is being
made effective prior to approval by the
Federal Power commission and effected
state utilities commission. At the
same time, Transco will put funds in es
crow for repayment to customers in e
vent the rate request is denied or ap
proved only in part.
When Transco filed its rate applica
tion, it was indicated here that the six
percent increase wouldn’t effect residen
tial schedules. Now, Mayor Glee A. Brid
ges says, he isn’t sure, noting that the
bond arrangement gives the gas engin
eer considerable prerogative in setting
rate schedules.
Since the residential rates are high
er than the others, it is to be hoped that
they can be maintained as they are.
The hard-to-understand “demand"
charge assessed by most utilities is a
very real factor in the city’s monthly
gas bills. This charge is 80 percent,
meaning that the city system pays in
the summer months 80 percent of the a
mount of its largest previous bill in the
previous year. In other words, the city
bill is never less than 80 percent of its
previous high, whether the gas is con
sumed or not.
Though it looks unfair at first glance,
the “demand” charge results from the
fact the utilities have to maintain ca
pacity for peak loads which occur in the
cold of winter.
Since the city, unlike the private u
tilities, escape federal, state, and local
tax bills, it is presumed the rate in
crease, if any, will be less than for custo
mers of private distributors like Public
Service, Piedmont Natural Gas and oth
er companies.
Congratulations to Mrs. Arnold W.
Kincaid, among 54 alumni honored re
cently by Gardner-Webb college, and to
Fred Withers, high school faculty mem
ber, elected chairman of the state Tele
vision-in-the-Schools committee.
MARTIN’S
MEDICINE
By Martin Barman
Ingredient*: bits of nows,
wisdom, humor, and comment.
Directions: Take weekly, if
possibles but avoid
overdosage.
My wife and I had supper at
one of the Howard Johnson res
taurants the other night, and I
sampled one of their exotic des
serts.
m-m
This is unusual for me, as I
am normally quite well satis
fied with a spot of vanilla ice
cream, usually having supped
sufficiently before dessert time
arrives.
m-m
But the menu did make ’em |
sound glamourous, not to men
tion up-to-date. Two of the
weird concoctions derived their
names from the space age.
There was a Sattelite Supreme
and the Rocket. Since I didn't
purlpin a menu, I don’t rememr
ber all the many ingredients in
these two offerings hut they
were multitudinous, both with
peppermint ice cream bases.
The copy was intriguing, too.
The menu claimed that the
Rocket was “ready to take off”
• for the introduction to the Sat
telite charged “ready, aim,
spoon!”
m-m
I decided to he more or less
conservative with a Coffee
(Maple, featuring coffee ice
cream smothered in maple syr
up, topped off with copious
whipped cream and mammoth
roasted peanuts. The menu had
called for almonds, but I guess
the cupboard was bare. No mat
ter. I couldn’t navigate the
whole course anyway.
m-m
From the weekend traffic
through Kings Mountain, it can
be guessed that the mountain
areas have enjoyed heavy week
end travel to witness the beau
ties of nature in the autumn.
m-m
Except for more of it and bet
ter viewing points, a mountain
trip to see this annual explos
ion of color was not mandatory.
A trip to Charlotte is sufficient.
Crowder’s Mountain has been
unusually burnished this season
and Wilkinson 'Boulevard trees
are colored richly.
m-m
Actually, a trip about Kings
Mountain alone can provide
plenty of excitement for the
color conscious. The yellow
maple in the Carl Finger yard
has been unusually beautiful,
as has the yellow-red maples in
the yard of Dr. J. E. Anthony.
m-m
Paul Amen, the Wake Forest
football coach, will do the
speaking honors at the Lions
Club football banquet in early
December. In a way, Coach
Amen invited himself, though
it was probably unwitting. In
vited for last year’s banquet
speaking chores in November,
Coach Amen professed himself
solidly 'booked throughout De
cember, and December is the
time for a football banquet. He
laughed over the telephone,
“Ask me for next year.”
m-m
A second thought and a few
phone calls later produced a
second thought with the Lions
program committee. Booking a
speaker for the next year
would sure save a lot of strain,
pain and telephone tolls for the
program committee. A letter
was posted and attracted from
Coach Amen a tentative accept
ance. A reminder was posted
by this year’s program commit
tee a few weeks ago and the
date was made solid.
m-m
It’s pretty difficult to have
one’s cake and eat it at the
same time, though the Lions
club has been very lucky in this
respect on its annual football
banquet which, the unchecked
out memory box recalls, began
about 1934. Last year was a
quite lucky one. Lenoir-Rhyne
Coach Clarence Stassavteh had
one night in December open,
and it just happened to be the
particular night the Lions club
wanted. Naturally, the Lions
club wants to have a top-draw
er speaker at all its occasions,
bulwarked both by a facile ton
gue and a season well-dotted
with victories.
m-m
A year-in-advance invitation
can be hazardous, for a poor
season can have a coach get
ting the gate about the time of
his speaking engagement. It
appears that the Lions have hit
with Coach Amen, who is direc
ting the best Wake Forest sea
son in four years. Fact is, Mr.
Amen dreams of trouncing
Clemson, Duke and South Car
olina and maybe having to drill
his Baptists through New
Year’s Day.
m-m
Many top-drawer speakers—
coaches have been on the Lions
grid banquet rostrum, but Coach
Amen’s appearance here will
be the first for a Wake Forest
Coach since Peahead Walker
did the job many, many moons
ago. Coach Walker was one of
the best of many good speakers
the Lions ever had and Carl
Suavely, the ex-Carolina coach
prctoably was the most dry.
Age-Old Fallout Problem
Viewpoints of Other Editors
ANOTHER PROBLEM FOR
THE SCHOOLS
Time was when reading, writ
ing and arithmetic, along with a
smattering of Greek or Latin
and a dafb of history, made up a
good basic education.
Time also was when the sky
was the limit, When it took weeks
or months to learn about the la
test trouble in the Indian terri
tories or across the sea.
No more. Things 'have speeded
up, stretched out, interlocked, ov
erlapped and generally complex
ed themselves so as to be prac
tically unintelligible to anybody.
The basic education of yester
day has become about as ade
quate for modem day life as the
Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria
would be for space travel. Our
educational system has struggled
manfully to keep up with the ex
panding needs of our society —
and with a good measure of suc
cess. Still, the graduates coming
out of our high schools are sci
entifically and economically il
literate.
Science is a specialized field
that must be entrusted to the
specialists. But economics is
something that every family
head, housewife, jobholder, bus
inessman, taxpayer, voter, public
official and legislator has to cope
with individually, collectively and
constantly..
Economic knowledge is impor
tant enough, in the affairs of in
dividuals. When the future of
Whole communities, states and
the nation rest on policies and
candidates chose by popular
vote, economic knowledge is im
perative.
Something new needs to be
added to the basic three “r’s” of
education —■ and that’s basic e
conomics, taught early and thor
oughly in our schools. — Trans
sylvania Times.
AGE OF UNCONCERN
Someone remarked recently
that this is coming to be an Age
of Unconcern.
After some reflection on the
statement, it was decided that
there is considerable truth in it.
Less than half the qualified vo
ters can be counted on to cast
ballots in an election in this
county.
Many parents, by their actions,
show little concern over the con
duct of their children.
In many instances, workmen
demonstrate that they are more
interested in getting their pay
dheck than in producing for their
employer.
Sometimes, it seems that some
professional men become more
interested in the fees they col
lect than in the service they ren
der.
If we are to believe actions, the
average church member has only!
a little concern for the spiritual
welfare of Ws fellowman.
It could 'be, however, not so
much unconcern as the concen
tration of concern on selfish in
terests. It has been said, and
with a great deal of truth, that
America today Is the most ma
terialistic nation in the history of
the world. We have all become
so concerned with the pursuit of
the dollar and the higher stand
ard of living which it will buy
that we may neglect our govern
ment, our children, our own effi
ciency, and the broadening of
our spiritual outlook.
Closely associated with our pur
suit of the dollar is the search
for pleasure, and when we are
not concentrating on making mo
ney we are apt to be giving our
undivided attention to some activ
ity calculated to meet our hun
ger for pleasure.
nhe principal danger in such a
situation is that in our concentra
tion on material things and on
pleasure we are prone to neglect
things which are as important or
more important to the complete
life.
Continued unconcern for oth
ers and for the spiritual side of
life can so blunt the keenness of
human sensitivity, until people
are unable to respond to the
higher values of life. — Stanly
News and Press.
NO TRICK TO IT
There is really no trick to set
ting: children to follow a Straight
and narrow pafth. Just live in a
-orner hous and seed the lawn.—
Changing Times.
THE ROOT OF JUVENILE
DELINQUENCY
What is at the bottom of the
rising tide of juvenile delinquen
cy in America?
Professor SheMon Glueck and
his wife, Dr. Eleanor Glueck, of
Harvard have probed the ques
tion in a book (‘^predicting De
linquency and Crime,’’ published
iby Harvard University Press) and
have concluded that family life
has more to do with the way
children develop than the nei
ghborhood in which they are
raised.
The Gleucks cite a “perfect” ex
ample of a child headed for ju
venile delinquency:
"Johnny is always harshly dis
ciplined by his father ... The mo
ther generally leaves him to his
own devices, letting him run a
round the streets and not know
ing what he does or where he
goes ... The father dislikes the
boy ... The mother is indifferent
to her son, expressing little war
mth of feeling for him ... or
she is downright Hostile to him.
... The family is unintegrated
because, for example, the mo
ther spends most of the day a
way from home, giving little if
any thought to the doings of the
children, and the father, a heavy
drinker, spends most of his leis
ure time in bars and cafes, ig
noring his family.
Fundamentally, delinquency
flows from a lack of love in the
home. That has been said before,
but has not been said too often.
What has not been said enough,
perhaps, is that parental love
does not mean giving children a
free hand to do whatever their
impulses tell them to do. Harsh
discipline may drive a child
to delinquency, but no discipline
at all may be equally ruinous to
the child’s development. Children
will be disciplined in homes
where they are truly loved. Wise
and conscientious parents will
discover techniques of discipline
which do not run counter to gen
uine love but rather fit into a
pattern of warmth in the rela
tionship between parent and
child.
The Gluecks have diagnosed
the trouble. But the unsolved pro
blem is How to induce delinquent
parents to love their children or
how to lead parents into the
ways of wisdom that happily
combine love and discipline into
a formula for successful child
development. — Smithfield Her
ald.
TEXAS ’RECESSION*
The old Texan was asked by a
poll taker If he thought the re
cession would have major politi
cal repercussions in the Lone Star
State, "Son, we don’t have a re
cession down here," replied the
oldster "I’ll admit, though, our
boom is wofse’n it’s been a good
while.” — Wall Street Journal.
1 A TEARS AGO
A V THIS WEEK
Items of news about Kings
Mountain area people and
events taken from the 1949
files of the Kings Mountain
Herald.
Plans were shaping up yester
day for next Thursday after
noon’s Christmas opening cele
bration in Kings Mountain and
the annual pre-Christmas visit of
Santa Claus.
Members of Kings Mountain
high school’s football team—vin
tage of 1922 — have received in
vitations to gather for a reunion
dinner at the Kings Mountain
Country club Friday night
Social and Personal
dub members and invited
guests assembled in the home of
Mrs. Fred Plonk last Thursday
afternoon when she entertained
the Ace of Clubs.
The home of Mrs. Drace Peeler
was the scene of the November
meeting of the Kings Mountain
Garden club.
Mrs. C. Q. Rhyne delightfully
entertained members of the
Thursday Book clUb at tier home
on Thursday.
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