Beckley Post-Herald from Beckley, West Virginia • Page 4

rouR BECKIEY POCT- A UFUBUCAN FOB IJ PUBLISHED BUSINESS DAY BECKLEY NEWSPAPERS CORPORATIOM S39-343 St TtkphCMies All Bocklcy mall prjvilefoi tuthortod at pool offloet at Buckley. W. ted Hintoo. W. E.

J. HODBL EdHor National Advertising Representative WARD-GRIFFITH COMPANY. Ntw York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San FrancUco. Lot Greenville MEMBEK OF THB ASSOCIATED The Avodated Prwc is entitkd to tha uae for of all the local newt printed la ttUf at well aU AP newi dUpatehaa. IF DESTRUCTION IE OUR LOT, wt fa author and Hnwhar.

As a nation man, we tiva through oil time, or alia bv svicida, Aba Lincoln. At High Levels West Virginia is now in its second century of existence as one of the fairly strongly United States. The residents of this beautiful mountain domain are in the process of taking stock of the first 100 years and resolving to do more and better in the next 100 Or at least some of them are. Of course, there are many who couldn't care less beyond the dollars that may be in store for them. With people it is still a matter of dirty as usual and the devil take the hindmost even if the hindmost is the state as a whole and the future of our generations.

And, too, there are the almighty buck chasers who will create more and more eyesore junkyards around all the major -West Virginia cities. and. along all the heavily-traveled highways. They, couldn't care less what happens long as they "get away with it." are the big operators who couldn't 'care less. I.

The little ones who operate along the line (without using any brainpower) merely throw beer bottles and bage and papers out along any and all and even befoul their own Cyards into eyesores. PERHAPS WORST OF ALL, are the law enforcement officials who somehow find it easy to ignore all the comment, publicity, and pictures which appear in newspapers and on radio and television about -the existence of such reputation-besmirching disgraces right at their very doorsteps. Obviously these are the types of elected officials who don't care a hang whether they live up to the oaths of office that they took. And the crying shame of it all is that there does not seem to be a single official from the governor down to prosecuting attorneys and police officers in the whole state who is willing to lift a hand to enforce the junkyard laws. In some respects our second 100 years 'is starting off more poorly than the first 'which began amidst war, strife, and tremendous internal dissension within the state.

i The greatest need for rededication is not with the people but with our public officials. It is they who must set the example if West Virginia is ever to evolve into something more than a backward and half-forgotten potential mountain paradise! More Conservation Education Nothing is more important to West Virginia at this time (although 40 per cent of the state's people ruling the Legislature is closely akin) than conservation. Governor Barren's Conservation Education Conference this spring in Charleston was therefore most timely. Conservation of water is basic to it all. Too, water must be kept pure.

It should be held where it falls, just as long as possible, if only to prevent erosion of soil that may in time fill up reservoirs created by the building of for "flood control." The word conservation applies to everything in nature. It begins with water. A mistake is generally made in listing items to be conserved, when soil is generally mentioned first-- soil, water, forestry, fish and game, et cetera. Only by conserving water, retard- Ing its run-off, and flood prevention, does conservation fully accomplish its mission. Too, with raindrops being retained where they fall, their evaporation is more widely scattered, clouds are more rapidly formed, and total rainfall increases.

That of itself facilitates growth and production of fruits, vegetables, forestry, and virtually everything in nature. Eeckley, high in the hills, and not of itself suffering from water pollution Vnol 1 a sewa disposal plant back in 1938. Charleston, the state's biggest city as well as its capital, is only now (25 years later) working out a plan keep its filth out of the Kanawha Sane, intelligent conservation education should have its place in all of the public schools, colleges, and universities throughout the state. It happens that the most brilliant lecture delivered at the Conservation Education Conference was that of Dr Paul A. Miller, president of West Virginia University, the state's top educational institution.

The WVU Conservation Workshop for elementary and secondary school teachers should be continued, and consistently enlarged-that the basic elements of conservation should eventually become familiar to them all. It is the hope of this newspaper that the Conservation Education Conference and more such continuing activities may speed further the wholesome adduced there. 'Honey' Cast Peopl Perform In Delug BECKLEY POST-HERALD, BECKLEY, W. FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE iy EMILE J. MODEL From all we hear about it, the Statehood Day Centennial celebration in Charleston yesterday waa not a complete washout, but darned near was.

hoping toat Beckley's big day tomorrow will draw decidedly better weather. We gather that the parade is truly likely to be overwhelming. And of course the big opening of the Centennial year production of "Honey in the Rock" will almost certainly be a great attraction once again. The drama, which some are now referring to as a "musical" it seems, IS greatly changed from the two previous years, but somehow we find it hard to picture as just a musical. True, it has lots of music and dancing.

And it appears that there is more of it for this season's performance than heretofore, but it still.is basically a story of fairly heavy drama in times that were often pretty grim. The music and dancing are largely of the folk type and are incidental to the story, being the sort of entertainment that our pioneer forefathers had to make lor themselves. Thus the music, dancing, and snatches of both high and low comedy are more in the nature of relief from the heavy drama and tragedy -than the actual 'nature of the play. However, the "Honey" singers and others who went, to Charleston to take part in various functions there, and get soaked to the bone, apparently went all out and drew more favorable attention than most anything else, except perhaps the President's two-and- a-half-minute speech. If brevity is the soul of wit, President Kennedy is either one of the wittiest men around or else he is lazy and not willing to "perform" in the rain very much.

The "Honey" youngsters did perform in the rain extensively. And then they ended up in an impromptu performance in the lobby of the Daniel Boone Hotel which-attracted a lot of attention, of course. John Anthony, a member of the chorus who has a fine voice, we are told, sang the "Ballad oi John Henry" accompanied by Jim Bob Kessinger on the banjo and nearly brought down the impromptu house. Of course, this is all second-hand information. We did not go to and could not have except with great difficulty.

When it turned out that there was almost a continuous downpour and that the President barely spoke, so to speak, we were quite happy that we not made the great effort to be there. When you think about all the money that was spent on that 2.5-minute speech, it must have cost a thousand dollars per second. The plane and its crew and all the secret service boys 'that did the chore twice- They came down and went through the motions early so that they would what the score was completely when JFK himself was on hand. And even reporters with cameras were not allowed anywhere near the great personage unless they had been properly accredited and lined up beforehand; We had a nice invitation frotri Govr ernor Barron for 2:15 p.m., after which the whole affair was moved back for the President's convenience. Somehow it strikes us now that everything might have been more lively if brother Bobby had done the chores as originally planned.

The attorney general seems to have more life and spunk about him and probably would have been perfectly willing to speak for 15 or 20 minutes and even iead cheers for the Mountain State. He spoke at some length to anti- segregation recently with an electric megaphone instead of a public address system and a statewide television network. Of course the real difference is that Bob Kennedy still doesn't have a trip to the White House for four years bought, sealed, and delivered. If the weather is good, we imagine Beckley's celebration tomorrow will be considerably better even without JFK. And top of the morning! ANSWER QUESTION: It doesn't right to rm hrrt and pay a mvsk director for our church.

What is your opinion? ANSWER: A minister of music sometimes has as important a ministry to a Christian congregation as does the minister who preaches. God has gifted many men with a ministry in music. The question of whether or not that particular music director is worth his salary is a question for the leaders of the church to determine. Certainly if the purpose a director of music is to entertain a group of religious people, then it has no place in the church. If.

on the other hand, he can assist a congregation in glorifying God through the medium of music, i hen there is no reason why he could not be a paid, qualified music director, I agree with you that terms sound rather mercenary and professional, but it need not be so if put on a spiritual basis. It has been said by some that Martin Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our had as much to do with bringing about the Reformation as did the preaching of the reformers. It is of course debatable, but it does point up the significance of musk in worship. 'Knock And It Shall Be Opened- When? Andrew Tally-A Posh Private Train For Bonn Envoy Ended WASHINGTOH-I am all for our our ambassadors living the luxurious life, with fur-3ined swimming pools for those nippy mornings, and will even overlook an occasional belt of champagne from some dame's high-heeled shoe. But I am glad we have Rep.

John J. Rooney around to breathe down oui- diplomats' necks. Rooney is a New York Democrat and chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee i polices the State a rtment's money bills, and he has saved the taxpayers $119,000 a year by "eliminating a private train based in Bonn. Such exercises in frugality have become a career with Rooney, and perhaps it is time we put his face on a stamp, or something. ROONEY DISCOVERED last March that our ambassador, to Germany had a private three-car train, with a crew of eight -including a headwaiter, an assistant waiter, and a sleeping car conductor.

He did a little investigating, and then brought up the matter at a subcommittee hearing when Assistant Secretary of State William R. Tyler took the; stand. Tyler told. Rooney the train "symbolized the U. S.

commitment to Berlin," that it for ambassadorial trips from Bonn. across Communist East Germany to Berlin. He said if the train were abandoned, West Berliners might regard it as a weakening of American interest in Berlin. Ha! replied Rooney, but wasn't it a fact that only eight the train's 44 trips in 1962 were to THEN, WITHOUT WAITING for a reply, Rooney reported that the other trips made by the train were to such comfy-cozy places as the Bavarian Alps, Berchtse- gaden, and "other resorts, and asr sorted cities only an hour from Bonn by car. It also was used, Rooney said, to take the ambassador to dinner parties and for sightseeing junkets.

Tyler heard Rooney out, and then went back to the State Department where an order was hastily issued discontinuing this posh passenger service. EVEN IN THIS ERA of the fast buck, the train seemed a trifle superfluous. After all, it was not as if the ambassador to Bonn -now George McGhee would be reduced to hitch-hiking if his choo- choo were taken away. He's also got a tax-financed Cadillac and chauffeur at his disposal, and can borrow an airplane from the Air Force for long trips. No American ambassador has yet been caught in a -trolley car or a cross-town bus.

IT IS TRUE A TRAIN has its advantages. Even a Cadillac seldom sports a dining room, and those plush VIP flying machines of our military sometimes run short of vintage wines on a long- flight. But both are capable cf transporting an ennui-ridden diplomat to a soothing ski resort. anyway, it is the American tradition to rough it a bit in the service your country. As for the train's prestige value to the prosperous West Berliners, Uncle Sam will just have to take the chance of their being plunged into a state of mass depression.

But if the Kremlin claims a victory on this one, Congressman Rooney's conscience need not bear the full burden of guilt. A lot of taxpayers will be glad to help him worry about it for $119,000 a year. Looking Ahead-Big Wish Of US. Fanners Less Government Control By DR. GEORGE S.

BENSON We hope that the result of the recent wheat referendum will serve as a notice to the U. S. Department of Agriculture and to the Congress that this particular segment America's farmers wants less, not more, federal intervention and control. If the vote for! stringent wheat controls had been yes, this might a meant closing the door to a free agriculture. Already having a foot-in-the-door toward full management of the nation's farmers, the USDA wanted to take a full step that could have led quickly to controls across the board.

"Satisfactory farm programs are difficult to formulate." Thus began a pre-election folder distributed by the Extension Service to Arkansas wheat growers. You can certainly say lhat again and again. You don't need to tell the farmer, however, for he knows well enough. Congress, after many perennial failures of its efforts to "do something," should be getting the message that the farmer does not want to be regimented. This idea apparently has not yet occurred to Secretary Freeman, who undoubtedly will try again to obtain the power to say who, what and when to farmers.

REGARDLESS OF THE outcome of the recent election, the power-seekers will not give up. Since other "elections" may be attempted in the future, certain conclusions rmght be -drawn from the conduct of this one. First of all, one might wonder whether it is advisable to have an election conducted by an agency that is far from impartial. The secretary was insisting to the last that he could tell no fanner how to vote, yet his propaganda was flowing out from Washington in a tidal wave, He was declaring on the eve of the a favorable vote iTneant fi wheat, an overiirnpJificatlon that couW easily decww, Apparently the USDA WM hoping: the small farmer would not influence the results, for voting was made difficult for the farmer. He alone was required to register in advance, and to declare him- self to participate in the program if it was accepted.

Doesn't it seem obvious that such tactics could have kept some from voting? THE SECRETARY also called May 21 "an important day" for the wheat farmer. What he did not say was that it also was an important day for other kinds of farmers, especially feeders of cattle. Considerations of freedom how would a wheat farmer who also grows livestock and buys feed make a decision about his vote? And what of- every consumer and every taxpayer, for all have an economic stake in this complicated problem. This was more than an election in which, as the Secretary announced, the farmer set the price for his 1964 wheat. As to election procedures, the USDA, while making small growers to participate in order to vote, allowed the vote to both tenants and landlords, husbands and wives, and even children of wheat farmers who share in the crop.

The government appears to have been trying to do everything possible to get itself a favorable vote. Various farm groups and associations were fighting out the. issues and calling for yes or no votes, but this is an entirely different things from'government attempts at influencing the referendum. BUT FREEDOM was apparently the big issue. It is significant that all Americans are freeholders of important rights and privileges from which they ought not be dispossessed.

Farmers are perhaps the freest of aB, snd it is no secret that they wfll suffer economic disadvantage in order to keep as much freedom of action as possible. But when the market is less free as a result of government intervention, so that the individual has to be coerced by bureaucratic decrees, we all atf- fcr. Any man's kns of freedom horti me. DMpUe attempt! to influence the vote, wheat fcave turned down the certificate plan. The power hungry may try again.

Let us remain that proposals for government management, if accepted, can one by one take away freedom. Whether Yesterday And Today-History Of The Old Blake Homestead iy SHIRLEY Noah Blake, his historic property at Hill Top in Fayette Coin- ty, and His philosophy of life will be the topic here again today. He will be 77, Nov. 7, and his whole life has. been lived within a "whoop-and-a-hoUer" from where he discovered! America.

Behind where; the Top a Inn now is south of Oak Hill, Noah Blake was born in a log house. That was on Nov. 7, when Ja-i cob Beeson was our governor and Fayette County had a population of only 15,000 or 16,000. When Blake was born, the Hatfield-McCoy feud was going. When he was three or four years old, Blake's father took him and the rest of the family of James Thomas Blake to live where Noah now lives.

For more than 70 years he has lived in the old borne place. IN THE LONG RUN the one who stays put is jusfc as well off as the one who knocks about all his life, going from pillar to post and living from hand-to-mouth. One who gets married and settles down may not see as much of the world but he will not miss as many meals as the guy who's always on the go. Noah Blake chose to dwell under his own vine and fig tree, as the.Biblical expression goes. WHEN NOAM tLAKI was bort, the attending physician was the lite Dr.

Benjamin H. Ogden, an early Oak Hill physician. Ogden came to Oak Hill from Jef- feraonviik, Ind. just about the time Blake was born. He was a bachelor and had his office in a corner of the, old runshackled' buMng that stood on the Giles, Fayette and Kanawha Turnpike at the intersection of the old Minden Road.

It was Dr. Ogden who sold Oak Bill's first real estate. This subdivision was long called Ogden City. Then when J. S.

Lewis got the property it was changed to Lewistown, its present name. Ogden was given to administering chloroform to self to induce sleep. On Nov. 27, 1903, he took too much and was found dead. They shipped his body back to Jeffersonville for was 56 at death.

NEAR THE BLAKE HOME was where U. Col. George Croghan, Confederate cavalry leader, was mortally wounded on Thursday, Nov. 14, 1861. In his diary entry of that date, Col.

Rutherford B. Hayes wrote, "We heard of General Benham's skirmishes killing Col. St. George Croghan today--colonel of Rebel cavalry and son of Col. George Croghan of Ft.

Stephenson celebrity. Died in a bad cause; but Father O'Higgins of the Tenth (Ohio Regiment), says he behaved like a Christian gentleman. Colonel Smith wears his sword. Shot through the sword belt." Colonel St. George Croghan a Hit body was packed in laH and sent to Gfluley Bridge, From there it was sent to his family in Georgia.

He died at the Hiram Hill house at ESU Top, which for some time (he home of tte late Frank Brown but now a nursing home. EARLY HUNTING stories art a part of the repertoire of old settler, Noah Blake. One oT the pioneer Harveys of this area told Dowefi Blake, grandfather of Noah, of 'a hunting episode that took placer on Devil's Backbone-the high ridge in back of Sun on the waters of Dunioup Creek- years ago. While hunting one day, one of the Harveys caught a bear by the ears and went 'round and 'round win the bear, yelling for help as the struggle continued. Help arrived and the bear was killed.

It is the first time I haw heard of a person getting a bear by the ears. EVERETT, WYLIE, of Blake- town near Scarbro, told Noah Blake about being out hunting when he came upon an old she bear and a couple of cubs oa Coal River. Frightened away by the hunter, the old bear and one of the cubs made off to safety. But Everett Wylie managed to catch the other cub. In the resulting melee the young bear scratched him and almost tore Wylie's clothes off him.

But the hunter was stronger than the bear and finally subdued the animal. Drew Pearson-Express Agency Would Kill Parcel Post WASHINGTON The publci seldom knows how the backstage lobbies operate in Congress. But if at a future Christmas they find no more parcel post available, they should know how the Railway Express company operated on Capitol Hill last week. It all happened behind the closed doors of the House Post i Committee when Postmaster General Ed Day asked Congress to take over the job of rate-making on parcel post; This-was prompted by two laws put across by. the Express Agency lobby, requiring parcel post to operate without a loss, yet simultaneously prohibiting parcel "post -from profitable packages in the big cities where while requiring it to deliver unprofitable packages in the rural areas where it's ex-.

pensive." It was the one Negro niember of the House Post Office Committee, Robert Nix of Philadelphia, a Democrat, who suddenly deserted the-Democratic administration and lined up with southern enemies of the Negro and Republicans to bafl out the Railway.Express lobby. In general, Negroes benefit, from cheap parcel post rates more than others. HERE'S THE INSIDE STORY of what happened. During the first day of committee debate, the Kennedy Administration won, 13 to 10. Two independent Republicans who believe in protecting the public, Robert Ellsworth of Lawrence, and George Wallhauser of Maplewood, N.

voted against the express lobby. So did Congressman Nix of Philadelphia. But with the Democrats winning, Republicans began stalling for time, waiting for. 12:01 noon when the House, would be in session. Exactly at 12:01, Rep.

August E. Johanseh of Michigan, looking at the clock, raised a point of order." "The House is in session," be. observed, "we can no longer meet." During the congressmen began hearing from the banks and Railway Express representatives back home. Seldom has the heat been so terrific. When committee met next day, Texas Democrat Lindley Beckworth, friend of the big utilities.who had been absent, turned up to vote against his fellow Democrats.

Two Republicans, Joel BroyhiU of Arlington, and Glenn Cunningham of Omaha, absent the day before, also had been prodded into being present. This gave the Railway Express lobby 12 votes against 13 for parcel post and they needed one more. THEY GOT IT from the Philadelphia Negro Democrat "I have read in Drew Pearson's column," remarked Albert Watsen of Columbia, S. "that. I am supposed to be in the pocket of the Railway Express lobby.

I want it known that I resent that innuendo. I resent being mentioned in the Pearson column. I am voting the way I see fit." "Last year," remarked Republican Johansen, puffing through a long slim cigaret holder, "that fellow Pearson reported exactly how we voted in this committee. It was supposed to be secret, but he had it down just right" At one point when Watson, a strong South Carolina segregationist, tried to ad.foum the committee meeting. Nix, the Negro integrationist voted with him.

This would have had the effect of putting parcel post out of business June 30. The vote failed to pass by a 12-to-12 tie. But the administration proposal to turn parcel rates over to Congress also failed to pass 12-40-12, thanks to Nix's desertion. Filially the committee adopted a compromise giving parcel post a 3-year period of grace during these are "programs" established by Congress beguilefrienti' of power-seekinj; polkjcans, wt shall have to keep saymff NO if we aft to keep America from grtfed io.tt* fte futwe. which it did not have to.come within 4 per cent breaking even.

"THAT TAKES OFF the heat," exclaimed Nix, with a sigh of relief. "I fully expect everything that transpired here today to appear in Drew Pearson's column," remarked Watson, "I hope that members of the committee will not talk about our deliberations." While Congressman Nix of Philadelphia was deserting Negro consumers who need low parcel post rates, another Negro performed a valiant, unpublicized job of preventing violence in the massive march by. Negro citizens along Avenue. That peaceful march was attributed in part to the common sense of Washington Negro residents, also to the alertness of the Negro commissioner, John B. and Kennedy's D.

C. adviser, Charles Horsky. UNKNOWN TO THE PUBLIC, these two met with march leaders Rev. Franklin Jackson of the NAACP, Julius Hobson of CORE, Rev. Walter Fauntroy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and H.

L. Dixon of the Federation of Civic Associations. During the two-hour closed- door meeting, Duncan proposed that the three commissioners who govern the nation's capital make a public statement that Washington would adopt a housing anti-discrimination ordinance, that no police dogs would be allowed to break up the march; that no fare hoses would be used; and that poHce would be courteous and recognize the right of the marchers.to protest. Washingon is integrated more than any southern city but, even it. was feared the marchers might get out of hand.

The.Black Muslims were on deck to stir Mp trouble. In the end, the march was completely peaceful and the police were praised by the marchers for their courtesy. Our Readers Speak-- If 7 Rips Welfare Officials; Failed To Aid Dying Man I would like to cite an example of the apalling policy of barbarity and inhuman attitude that the West Virginia Department of Welfare and their inane excuses for denying a desperately ill and dying client medical or hospital care. On.June 3 I got- a phone call to come to the assistance of a dying friend in I was told by the lady of the house that Mrs. Gladwell of the Greenbrier County Welfare Department had said that since this dying man 'had used up his alloted 13 days in the hospital that she could do nothing unless he was examined by his and pronounced a hospital, case.

Mrs. Gladwell, as this man's visitor, knew he had no doctor nor money and that there was no medical doctor in Alderson. I called her hand by enlisting the help of C. L. Lobban, funeral director, to take the man to Union to be examined by Dr.

Hancock who pronounced the man critically in. Both Lobban and Dr. Hancock refused payment for their services. Dr. Hancock called the Greenbrier Hospital and said the man was desperately ill and was on welfare.

We went to the hospital and were-kept waiting over an hour. Mr. Wiseman, business manager, informed me Welfare Department would not pay the bill and thje hospital would not take him in. I asked Mr. Wiseman to phone Mrs.

Gladwell and tell her the man's condition. Still she refused aid and would not permit his admission to the hospital on DPA. Wednesday a petition soliciting money was passed around in Alderson and in two hours admittance money was donated. Mr. Lobban took the man to'the Hinton hospital where he died Wednesday evening but the Welfare denied him aid to the end.

Mr. Lobban had called the Lewisburg and then the Charleston welfare offices in an effort for medical aid but they said whatever the District 8 did was all right thereby closing the door of sympathy and aid to a dying 71-year- old man. The Welfare Department failed miserably to act to hdp this man and yet there is no limit of 13 babies an unwed mother can have and make $25 per month for each until they are 18. At the last session of the Legislature, legislators from the governor on down ran over one another trying to increase salaries of already well paid public officials; the needy poor was left without funds, tbey voted themselves a clean hffl of health by pointing a finger at the other fellow thinking they could keep con- fusme the public and fooling them into thinking they were their brothers keeper. Surely these vnttures who" refuse aid to the destitute, sick and dying, think more of their positions ami jobs than-they do of their souls: You and I as voters can remedy the deplorable situation by refusing to vote for any candidate who favors or says he favors salary increases to any public servant as long as the poor and needy are on relief.

Ira Alderson Notes On The News- firm ptoi. off jurpfo fend ami it back to.