State

Ye Country Editor III. Where From Here? So you stuck around to see what, if anything, was to be done with the country editor whom we placed among those present and accounted for? He could, should and. I trust, will fetch about a new appreciation of the thought-provoking qualities of printer's ink. He unquestionably has the eye of an audience of those simpler souls of whom God must be fond, because He made so many. He — that's ye edi¬ tor — may have the car, too, if he will take it. Speaking as one of those simpler souls, I can vouch for the fact that they are awed by life's complexities. They know man is no longer an amoeba; he must exercise himself up and down, endways and sideways. Questions should have answers, too, or why the questions? But we who arc not socially secured haven't time to do our every daily dozen of setting-up exercises under the direction of a psychiatrist and/or psy¬ choanalyst — even if they should be one and the same person. We must in a sense still roll our own hoopla, dree our own weird and suage our own night-sweats. Who better to help us than ye edi- GUARD VITAL ZONE KEEP MOUTH AND THROAT CLEAN¬ ER WITH OLAG. CONTAINS SALT ^STaSTSItIi AT DRUG STORES EVERYWHERE tor, who should know a bit of every¬ thing? And if he can keep his own shirt on, he will be of incalculable assistance with our contriving to do the same. Mind you. we arc not asking him for an immediate determination of In¬ dochina or Senator Joseph McCarthy. But we do want a bit of advice as to when to sow turnips or transplant collards. We want to know if the coun¬ ty commissioners and city council arc levying sufficient taxes and expending it wisely. We demand a little — not too much — of response to Question No. 22 of Methodist Conference: "Are all the preachers blameless in their lives?" But we must know about the home¬ town and rural community boys and girls who have made good and need to be assured that success has not made them snooty. We want more black and white stuff — that ought to be easy with good ink and newsprint — and less of gray, mauve, maroon or cerise. We would like some yes and no in place of per¬ haps or maybe. Not that we arc asking the country editor to be dogmatic or overprideful of his opinion, but he has the time and has accepted the responsibility for analyzing matters of public business for which we lack facilities. We don’t ask him to know all the answers, but we do expect him to try to inform himself and us about those things for which society imposes re¬ sponsibility upon us. This doesn't mean that we crave pictures of two-headed infants — let him leave that to metro¬ politan horror vendors. Nor do we de¬ mand all the testimony in divorce or sex perversion cases — just what dispo¬ sition the courts make of such matters if people we know arc involved; Bobo, Babs, or Tommy What’s-His-Namc may lie where reckless drinking flung ’em. If Rev. So-and-So preaches a good sermon, he should be quoted; but if Supt. Such-and-Such fills in with a per¬ functory piece of pulpiteering, forget him and it. Exercise good taste, Bro. Editor, and encourage ours and ordinary decency. And help us reaffirm our faith in peo¬ ple — whom the wisest of my Raleigh friends and acquaintances, the late George Justice, divided into two kinds: “Just plain folks and danged- four- flushers." — O. J. Coffin. These Trees Were Planted November, 1953, By GIBSON TREE SERVICE Durham, N. C. IRRIGATION SYSTEMS ALUMINUM and STEEL PIPE SPRINKLERS PUMPS For Plant Beds, Row Crops and Pastures DILLON SUPPLY COMPANY Raleigh Durham Rocky Mount Goldsboro THE STATE. OCTOOER 9. 1954 1 9