Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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JIM FARRELL EDITOR LUCRETIA JONES DAVE LUNDGREN MANAGING ED AD. MNGR. EDITORIALS Whose image? Many in the so called "older generation" are concerned about the attitude of today's vouth toward traditional religion. If the organized church would take a moment to look at itself, It might see that the biggest roadblock to accepting the faith is posed by the church itself. The church is basically professing one idea and exhibiting another. When Southern Baptists get so upset over a black man's picture on the front of their quarterly that they cancel the edition, the admonition '"love thy neighbor" seems rather shallow; hypocritical if you please. And what about the Methodist Church trying for two years to "find a suitable plan'" for merging the black with the white conference'" leads one to believe that the only suitable plan is one that keeps the white minority in control. And let's not forget the numerous incidents throughout the nation of black men going to white churches and being shunned by the white congregation. Most of the time, the visitors are seated in the front of the church. This is not a place of honor. It is an attempt by some of the more con siderate members of the church to not embarrass the blacks. When they're in the front, they can't see the people in the back walking out. The Pope and his yes-men have decided that no married man shall be a priest, making the many children of many priest bastards. The Irish Catholics have decided that they are the "chosen people" to wipe out the Irish Protestants. But it takes two sides to fight. Thank God the British are willing to accept "the white man's burden" and make the world safe for Protestants. Voltaire said, "If there had been no god, man would have created one.' Perhaps Genesis should read, "And Man created god in his own image." RUSTY ROBINSON JJIm -.MI AG MtWR) VOU CAN EXET ME 70 KEEP IN 7bUI W/T7 THE M/IORIT/E9' Harriet Van Horr Power BY HARRIET VAN HORNE Columnist Let us now pause and say a few kind words in favor of millionaires. It seems we have in our midst some high-minded, noble-hearted ones, rare as whooping cranes. At a time when so much of our political life is callous and corrupt, it warms the heart to read that there are 60 men, handsome contributors to presidential campaigns, who are now going to put their money on the men who promise to fight for certain overdue reforms. Among them: breaking the tyranny of the congressional seniority system and overhauling the laws gover ning campaign spending. Ultimate aim: the financing of all cam paigns by the government, thus reducing the insidious influence of lobbyists and fat-cat contributors with special interests to be defended. The camel isn't likely to pass through the needle's eye in our time but these 60 men of means deserve at least a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven. The informal "millionaires' club" that met at 21 this week to agree on the strings they'll attach to their checks in '72 are not mere $100-a-plate-dinner patrons. They represent, said the New York Times, a potential contribution that would finance one-quarter of a presidential campaign. When you recall that 21 committees raised $21 million to elect Richard Nixon in 1968, you may conclude that the wishes of these movers and shakers will carry weight. Though only a few names were publicized, these millionaires were obviously Democratic. (And why Our times Goodby( BY SMITH HEMPSTONE They buried Chesty Puller at high noon on an apple-sweet Oc tober day, the notes of taps thin and sad'on the crisp Tidewater air. The most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps did not hit the last beachhead alone. They were all there: Chapman, Walt, Shoup, Greene, Silverthorne, Thomas, more than two dozen generals from a service in which stars come neither quickly nor easily. Pink-cheeked recruits down from Quantico and turkey necked old timers, crackers who could remember how Chesty won his first Navy Cross against Sandino in Nicaragua 40 years ago. More than 1,500 Marines and ex Marines found their way to that remote churchyard in Virginia to pay final homage to a superlative fighting man who in his own lifetime had become a myth. The wonder of it all is that Lewis Buarwell Puller lived either to make general or to die in bed at the age of 73. Haiti, Nicaragua, Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Inchon, Yongdonpo, Chosin Reservoir. At any of half a dozen places Puller might have left his bones to whiten with those of so many of the brave men he led. For Chesty led from out front and insisted that his of ficers and "only" 60 per.cent of its enlisted men in the caves of Peleliu's Bloody Nose Ridge. its enlisted men in the caves of Peleliu's Bloody Nose Ridge. te to the fat does 1he word "millionaire" always have a vulgar ring? It's 'a Stella Dallas word, like "limousine" or "drapes" or "serviette." The reforms they'll be pledging candidates to promote are basic to honest democracy. And they are overdue because, for I he past century, we've sent men to Congress who are pledged to fight for the bills their backers paid them to fight for. It's a rotten system and it has given us some rotten congressmen, secure in t enure and giving their first loyalty not to the people but to their rich patrons. Consider the way our legislators have paid off their political debts in past years. The oil and gas lobby traditionally sweetens the kitty for senators who will support the oil depletion allowance. All industries that are regulated, in theory, contribute handsomely to keep the government from inquiring into their rates. Among them: railroads, truckers, power companies. Because the Corrupt Practices Act forbids corporations from donating money to candidates, all the contributions must come from individuals. Banks, for example, have traditionally ordered their employees by letter to contribute to congressmen who represented their interests. Former Sen. Willis Robertson of Virginia once ram med through a bill legalizing six bank mergers that had been for bidden by the Justice Dept. His next campaign was practically paid for by the banks he had helped. From the foregoing it should be clear that Congress will never 0 to Chest But although Puller bore to his grave the scars of a dozen wounds, the God in whom he reposed such quiet trust denied him the bat tlefield death for which, in reality, he was born. Making general was another matter. For in the service as in civilian life there's a small hello for a man wit h a salty tongue unafraid to use it on his superiors. Chesty always maintained that "the fat-assed generals" had it in for him and indeed he did not win his first star until he had served 33 years, won an unprecedented five Navy Crosses and led his First Marines out of "Frozin' Chosin," carrying t heir dead and wounded, trailed by the shattered remnants of less favored regiments and better equipped (from materiel aban doned by other units) than when the Korean front collapsed. Those "fat-assed generals"-or perhaps the Women's Christian Temperance Union (he always insisted that Marines fought better on whisky than on ice cream )--saw to it that the barrel-chested Puller never commanded anything larger than a regiment in combat. His third star was a "tombstone" pi'omotion (made on the occasion of his retirement because of his 56 decorations for valor) and they turned him down in 1965 when he tried to get recalled to active duty so that he could go to Vietnam. Inst ead, his son went ; young Puller lost both legsand pnarto..f cats reform itself, that progressive men will never defeat the mossbacks who sit on appropriations com mit iees until campaigns are totally financed by the U. S. Treasury. It will be interesting to see how many Democratic candidates--all of whom are to be invited to the millionaires' club to declare themselves--will respond to this unprecedented suggestion from the money men. Among the guests at this lun cheon was John Gardner, of Common Cause, the only lobby representing the plain people in Washington. Significantly, its main target is also the overhaul of the corrupt and creaky machinery of Congress. It is John Gardner's theory that institutions never change unless forced to do so by an irate public or the threat of impoverishment. "Even excellent institutions run by excellent human beings are inherently sluggish," Mr. Gardner has written. "They are not hungry for innovation, not quick to respond to human need, not eager to reshape themselves to meet the challenge of the times." Just how sluggish our govern ment is may be seen in the recent upturn in citizen actions. When the canning industry has to petition the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare to set up more exacting standards for canned foods--lest botulism become a national scourge--it's clear that Washington is delinquent in its duty. When Ralph Nader, the American Civil Liberties Union and others have to turn to the courts to sue for our basic rights, Congress isn't reoresenting the people. Copyright 1971 Los Angeles Times y Puller six fingers in a land mine ex plosion. To serve under Chesty was to have a good chance to die. And yet enlisted Marines, who are not given to the adulation of their generals, fought for the chance to follow him and came down out of the mountain hamlets of half a dozen states to bury him last week. Curious. Or is it? It was much the same with that strange, harsh, God-fearing man, "Stonewall" Jackson, Puller's fellow-Virginian. Jackson would have a hungry Confederate soldier shot for stealing apples in Maryland and yet his butternut legions cheered him to a man whenever he showed himself. As Lee remarked sadly aft er Chancellorsville, Jackson's presence on the bat tlefield was worth that of two crack regiments. So it was with Puller. No soldier ever loved the brilliant Douglas MacArthur. Which leads one to the conclusion that enlisted Marines, with that curious intuition of unschooled men, realized two things: That Chesty Puller was tougher than any of them and that , despite this and almost because of it , he genuinely cared about them. He might --almost cert ainly would lead t hem int o hell, but he would be with them all the way and out the other side, savoring their victories and mourning their deaths, for they were all, no less than his own blood and bone, Chest y's true sons.