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Show "rryjdeorfreTther editors "" THE EDITOR of the Page News and Courier, Luray,. V., recently re-cently discussed a problem In his editorial columns that has long worried many a country editor whose greatest Interest Is his community com-munity and its betterment. How many home town readers can apply these words to their own community commu-nity T "One of the puzzling traits of our community and we suppose of all small communities is that public meetings for the purpose of discussing discuss-ing Important civic problems are . poorly attended. Last Thursday evening eve-ning no more than ISO people were in attendance at the panel discus-. discus-. slon at the Luray high school which went Into all phases of the school situation In Page county. Nevertheless Never-theless when this problem is placed before the public for a decision . those who have shown no Interest will demand, and probably get, a big audience for their opinions. "Evtryont, of tours, ii tn-Hlld tn-Hlld to thtir opinion. But first tbty should bant an opinion bsstd on tsutbtntic information snd sound judgment after study of tb facts. Snap judgment judg-ment is tb path to error. Good judgment must b forged quietly, quiet-ly, with realism and a gtnuin desire de-sire to arrive at a logical and Practical solution in tb light of the facts. We know of no way to accomplish this except to work ' for itand this is no easy task. "Well Informed people are motivated moti-vated not only by what they read but by what they hear, see and talk. Reading is merely a means to 1 an end. It Is essential but it must be supplemented by a genuine interest in-terest in the subject and there is no better way of evaluating that in terest than to count the noses at a public meeting- like that held last Thursday night." The Big Shortage In the Brldgewater Tribune, Brldgewater, S.D., Editor Roy H. McKoWn commented on his community's com-munity's greatest shortage: "It looks like one of the greatest shortages to be encountered In the Brldgewater area in the year 1952 will be young men. We'll hope that the year brings enough promise of peace that before its end the trend will be back home rather than away." That hope is being echoed weekly in the grassroots press of the nation. na-tion. Similar Thoughts Somewhat along the same Une, the editor of the East Texas Light, Tenaha, Texas, commented on his community's problem of keeping its youth at home: ". . . We are spending large sums in building better schools ' and colleges, which it as it should be, to educate our boys and girls for th better things of life and to bold better positions, but or doing do-ing so little toward advancing . programs and plant whereby they can obtain a job, create a business, or do other things to mail a living at borne, thus forcing forc-ing them to go to larger fields. "We hope the Club (Businessmen) (Business-men) will take as one of its projects proj-ects for the year to encourage more of our young men to stay among us and help to make our community more prosperous and, with their knowledge, help make it a better place to live." |