Hill Stump, nephew of Mr. and Mrs. Bud Johnson of South
Grantsville, became a national figure one day last week with his name in large
headlines in many newspapers.
He is cashier of a bank in Adrian, near Buckhannon. Two
strangers stepped up to his window with drawn revolvers and demanded and got
$1,300. Before the robbers could escape, Stump engaged them in battle and shot
one of them. A short time later, one of the bandits was found dead along the
roadside where his companion had flung him from the car. The other was captured
on the outskirts of Buckhannon.
It is strange that, 17 years after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. is
still faced with the threat of military aggression. In other words, World War II
did not bring peace to the world, as we had hoped, but merely produced a new
antagonist.
In some ways, the threat facing the U.S. in 1958 is far more
ominous than that which faced us in the days immediately preceding World War II,
and on Dec. 7, 1941. In those days, Americans were confident that, once
committed, they could muster the resources and manpower to subdue their foes.
We had the protection of two great oceans, the Atlantic
protecting us from Hitler, to a large extent, and the Pacific serving as a
barrier to the Japanese, far from the West Coast. Today, we have neither the
barriers nor the time to muster the resources--in the event of an attack.
Seventeen years after Pearl Harbor, we face a challenge from an
enemy who is stronger numerically, and who threatens to surpass us industrially.
Who could have seen that humanity would still be plagued with the grim threat of
tyranny?