The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1960-12-02
Political Windbag

ated by sudden and unexpected
revenues he had provided, in some
years doubling the County's normal
operations. He saw that common
honesty was not enough to keep
books and records in such shape the
County could tell what shape it was
in. He saw that money wasted in
honest inefficiency was as great a
burden to taxpayers as money lost
in conscious fraud. He saw the need
for systematic training of public
officials or the public service be-
fore going into office and there
after in continued training on the
job. If lawyers needed schooling
for advising human beings, and
ministers needed schooling for
guiding the human spirit, and
doctors needed schooling for work
ing with the human body, why not
schooling for officials working with
the body polite?
At this point his friend and
neighbor, Dudley Bagley, told him
of the efforts of a law school teach
er in the University of North Car
DINA to provide this schooling for
Officials, and he wrote a letter to
find out what was going on in
Chapel Hill, saying:
"My dear Professor, Senator
Dudley Bagley was discussing with
me the question of training for
public service, and he said that in
the book on "The Institute of Gov
eminent" l would find much of in
test.
! would be glad to have the op-
portunity of reading it, and if not
too much trouble, will you kindly
ask the proper people to forward
it to me, with bill"
The Professor sent him the book
and other materials describing the
work of the Institute of Govern
ment and received this letter in
reply:
"My dear Professor, It would be
difficult to express sufficiently my
appreciation of your letter of Janu-
airy LIST and of the m crit S
of the publications and popular
Government" which you so kindly
sent to me at Mackey's Island.
They will be preserved carefully
read and re-read. After l have
had an opportunity to study them,
l will write you again."
But he did not write; and time
marched on One day I got a tele-
phone call from Dudley Bagley
saying he was going to see man
who had expressed an interest in
helping the Institute of Govern
:ment, and that he would let me
know how he came out; but nc
word came; and l knew no news
was bad news: I saw in the paper
that Joseph Palmer Knapp's ashes
had been brought from New York
and buried in Currituck County. ]
put two and two together and
stopped with my wife at Mr.. Bag.
ley's home in Moyock, on the way
to her home in Portsmouth, Vir-
GINA, for the Christmas holidays
and found out why he had not call
/ ed me.
The coming of World War II hat
carried Mr.. Knapp to New York TO,
closer supervision of his business
interests; but he continued his IN
terest in the work of the Institute
of Government by calling Mr.. Bag
ley to New York to talk about
ways and means of helping,
and by listing the Institute
of Government on a memorandum
to his editors suggesting feature
stories about institutions which
were "doing things. But on the
very week of Bagley's visit the
Saturday Evening Post carried All
extended feature story on the In
stitute of Government. He hated
this rival of Golfers magazine
worse than sin and didn't want to
talk about helping anything OF
anybody.
i The Bagleys then told us Of the
Knapp Foundation and its con.
tinued interest in North Carolina
and Ida Bagley told US that while
Mrs. Knapp had been discussing
gifts for fisheries and curriculum
studies she had said she would like
to see her husbands name on Q
building symbolizing his interests
! in Currituck County and Nortl
Carolina. And then and there in The
) Bagley's living room on Highlane