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THE NEWBERRY SUN Sun 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, S. C. 0. F. Armfield Editor and Publisher PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937, at the Postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In S. C.. $1.50 per year in advance outside S. C., $2.00 per year in advance. COMMENTS ON MEN AND THINGS BY SPECTATOR lawyers before the Boards and Commissions of the State. It is a bad practice because the legislator had undue' influence bad or so nervous that calm since he may cast a vote for What is the matter with us? The newspapers tell us day by av of scares and alarms and crimes. Have we become so and repose are impossible? Or, is it that everything is now played up by the papers and radio commentators? Almost every day I rejoice in my citizenship in South Car olina. Here we are far from the “madding crowd’s ignoble strife.” as Shakespeare says. But just as I feel the pride of my Carolina background—and present, and foreground, too— 1 hear something unwholesome about this State. We have no big bosses who can issue orders to their underlings, but we have developed a legislative condition which should be cor rected. Without indulging in names we have such a state of affairs that an Administrative Board or Commission of the State will fail to act on public matters because a member of the Legislature passes the word that he wants the petition de nied, or wishes such delay as may be prejudicial to the inter est of a petitioner. Much has been said of the evil of legislators practicing as or against the officer or offi cers, if the choice be by the Legislature; or he may have something to do with the fix ing of the pay of public offi cials. The men who prepared the Constitution thought they had made State officials in cluding Judges, independent of the Legislature. They thought they had done that by stipu lating that a salary might not be increased or reduced dur ing the term for which the of ficer, or Judge, was elected. That was easily evaded in re cent years by providing expense accounts and travel funds. Most of the State officials have been granted increases by subterfuge or legislative disregard for the Constitution. I do not say that they are overpaid; I am refer ring only to the method adop ted for increasing the pay. Now, if the Legislative whim or favor may increase pay by sub terfuge, it may just as easily reduce the pay. Do you imag ine that the Legislature loses or gains in influence by pro- ■c««*<«<c«(cic«ic!eictci«e«c>c««>s«>c«<c«c>c<cic>cw(S>c<cic<c>K><<cte>c«<c«tc«!eie« OH’S Expressing our oppreciotion for your courtesies of the post and attending compliments of the Season. F V V * y y 1 y y y sr y y y y y y 9 Buzhardt Furniture Co. DON ROOK GRADY GRAHAM ELDRED AMICK HUBERT WICKER TOM GRAHAM JAMES LANGFORD JIM MORRIS MARK KELLEY w A 5 * 3 x 3 x x X 3 X X 1 X X I X X 1 X X X £ X X y y y 3 3 y 3 y 5 ceeding as it does? Practicing law, as it is called, before the State Boards is one thing, and should be stopped, but passing the word in pri vate to one’s beneficiary on a Board or Commission is a prac tice which is not open and sub ject to public hearing. For ex ample, if a legislator practices as a lawyer before a State body we can assume that the whole proceeding is a public record and open to public hear ing and public inspection. But if one merely passes the word on the quiet, that is a practice which makes the State Gov ernment the plaything, the pri vate intrumentality, of some one acting in the dark. There are many rumors of that, with names and dates and places. We have full control of the Counties, by legislators by which the nod of the lawmaker is the royal sign of the cortsent or denial. In local matters, the General Assembly bows to the Senator and Representatives of a Coun ty as though the so-called County delegation were a leg islative body. Almost no Coun ty Supply Bill is passed which does not contain provisions in complete disregard of manda tory provisions of the State Constitution. Sometimes this may be due to ignorance of the Constitution, but one hesitates to suggest that any legislator is ignorant. If not a matter of ignorance, then what? Is it just indifference to the Constitu tion? Are they assuming that if no one challenges the act in Court it will be the law of the land? And that is true. The greatest failure of our National and State Government is the wide-open break in our law. What is the law? We, a people under a gov ernment of law, do not know what the law is; and the courts are frequently so far at sea that the law changes with the Judges. If one would study our gov ernment, government through out the United States, includ ing the National government, he would wonder why we had not found how to have laws which are clear and beyond dispute. Haziness of the law, however, is not the reason for the State’s ignoring the Con stitution. The most dangerous trend in America is not the attitude per sonified by Mr. Truman; or the weak spirit of Congress in playing me-too politics with the President: we expect poli tics in the Executive and Leg islative branches of the Gov ernment—although a brand of politics of distinctly higher practice; but we did not ex pect the courts to play me-too politics with the President, as though the courts were merely a part of his Administration and bound to do his bidding. The attitude of the Federal ju diciary is the most dangerous development in our land. You and I would like to think that a man is a Judge because of his thorough ground ing in the law, in the law, and because of his character and temperament, and because of his commonsense; and we find our free institutions without a champion whn Courts merely echo the whims of a vote-seek ing politician. I happen to be a member of the Hoover Committee for the Reorginization of the Execu tive Departments of the Nation al Government, though I am o, no ■ value to the undertaking Even if a few millions were saved they would be like chic ken-feed in comparison with the grandiose squandering ad vocated by the President and meekly authorized by the Con gress. I can’t shout with joy over the outlook, but I do find comfort in the achievements of business. Before me are five papers telling about business. One tells me that the American people are buying more things in cans. Our British friends have no cans; they put them in tin. You will recall the_play on the word “can.” An English man, looking over a field of tomatoes — also tomattoes and tomartoes-—asked an American “What will you do with all those tomartoes”? Th e Ameri can said “We eat what we can, and what we can’t we can.” This left our English brother a bit confused—we eat what we can, and what we can’t, we can—so the American explain ed the word “can” in conserv ing. Our English friend en joyed the play on the word can, and tried it out on a fel low Englishman in this style; “Those Johnnies across the wa ter have a saying that they eat what the can and what they can’t the tin." Well, the article calls this “Tin Can Civilization” and says that there has been a 70% increase in tinned commodities in ten years. Everything from paint to prune juice and nut cakes can now be bought in tin or cans. Beer, dog food, cat food, potatoes, bread, cheese pastry, fresh milk, lemonade, cosmetics, marshmallow whip, whipped cream. Florida packers say they will need three hundred million cans in 1950, California calling for sixty million cans. Pet foods now use a billion and a half cans. So my cats are members of a large company. About 210 plants make tin cans. Tin cans, by the way, are about 98% to 99% steel, with a thin coat of tin. A big field for canned stuff will be the automatic machines. It is estimated that 35,000,000 cans of chocolate milk, tomato juice, apple juice, and other things, are sold by vending ma chines in a year. The use of vending machines is increasing rapidly. One is being prepared to sell hot sandwiches. In tin are our old friends salmon and sardines, while the ««««««««««(«'c<c'ciete<e'*jc«'e«'c>c<c<c«t««c'c«tc>etc:c«i£'e<c«>wfc'ct«'cic<««* y y ■ y y V w H V V V I y i y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y ■ y M€RRY CHRISTMAS It’s time for Christmas Carols, time for wreaths and holly, and time especially for us to wish that your Christmas this year be a jolly success. Hutchinson & Snelgrove venders still depend on candy principally. We are prone to think of Christmas as it was observed in the big houses of England and America, years ago. Great quantities of food and drink, snow and ice, the coming of friends and kindred, all mingled with a warmth of humanity and geniality. We have much of that today, much good liv ing, rich eating, hearty fellow ship, but the real meaning of the day must not be drowned in liquors nor forgotten in riot ous indulgence of any kind. Some folk think the Christmas season, and especially Christ mas eve, is a suitable time for a real debauch, heavy drink ing. Can anyone conceive of a celebration more foreign to x to occasion? A spirit of rever- ! * ence, by all means, should sig- x nalize the coming of Him whom the Book calls Immanuel—God with us. It is inconceivable that any person should care to enter the presence of Jehovah drunk. How, then, do we plan to drink , X ourselves into the spirit Christmas? The spirit of Christ- j X mas, by all means, but not the spirits for Christmas!! The Christmas story is a wondrously beautiful one, of the Son of God coming into the world as a baby — th e great event at Bethlehem in Judea, in the_ stable. In the simplici ty of *it all we see goodness, greatness, graciousness — all without pomp or trappings of rank. Humility and simple liv ing were enthroned that day; man was to see the personality of the Creator in the life and ministry of the Son. Everyone has heard the sweet Christmas carol of th e great preacher, Phillips Brooks: “O little town of Bethlehem.”. In recent years we hear it in every mechanical contrivance. In the first years we recall “The hopes and fears of all the years, are met in thee tonight.” But the third verse is significant: “How silently, how silently, .. The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, But in this wprld of sin, Where meek souls * will re ceive him, still The dear Christ enters in.” I am making this recording because of my engagement in Wiashington with the Hoover Committee. Upon my return I’ll tell you about the meeting unless some thing more interesting comes up. A jft Whitfield’s Ready-to-Wear i X X X 1 X X X £ Sam Cook’s Beer Parlor 5 B v * V V w ¥ % ¥ ¥ g i i i i i 1 i