The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, December 25, 1952, Image 19
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Thursday, December 25, 1952
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THE CLINTON CHRONICLE
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Pasre Tlfree
A Regular Chronicle Feature
COST OF EDUCATION IS TOO
HIGH, ROGER BABSON THINKS
Expenses Going Up But
Institutions Getting
Fewer Gifts.
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By ROGER W. BABSON
Babeon Park, Mass., Dec. 22.—I
believe that free colleges and uni
versities, unencumbered by Gov
ernment ties, are essential to our
economy. I am sure General Eis-
enhowr — due to his experience
with Columbia ndversHy—believes
likewise. We both are disturbed
by the weak financial condition of
hundreds of our important col
leges.
Costs Up — Contributions Down
Inflation has forced operating
costs sky high, while taxation has
kept gifts down low. This
course, the
wi
Vi
f
%■ 4
is, of
result
of short-s i g h t e d
legislation of
“soak the rich
and excess tax
business..’ We
have reached the
point where very
few indiv i d u a 1 s
believe they can,
afford 'to confrib”
ute large sums to
educational insti-
Rojtr W. Bsbisa
tutions.
An indication of the end of this
kind of policy is hinted at in a re
cent issue of the Harvard Business
Review: Harvard’s endowment stood
at $139,000,000 in 1940, with total
annual operating expenses of $11,
000,000. By June, 1951, Harvard’s
endowment had reached over $200,-
000,000; but annual operating ex
penses had risen to over $32,000,000.
, In other words, during that period,
while its endowment increased 46
per cent, its operating expenses
zoomed 195 per cent! Probably close
to half of our colleges are current
ly operating in the red.
Cost of Education Too High
To help relieve this financial
stress, colleges have raised tuition
costs, increased class size, trimmed
faculties, and raised board and room
rent. The result: the old, large col
leges now cost parents $2,000 per
year. AdTtolhis cTbttfihg, transpor
tation, and amusement, and Dad is
lucky if he gets out of it for $2,500
per year “It is true that this"T©st
can be reduced by enrolling your
son in a college of Business Admin
istration which combines four years’
work into three years; but this mans
your boy must work.
How many fathers can afford $2,-
500 per year for four years when
the top 20 per cent of our popula
tion holds 93 per cent of our total net
savings? This leaves the bottom 80
per cent with but 7 per cent of our
national savings. Add to this the
fact that the average annual earn
ings for all full-time employees in
the United States are around $3,-
250 and you begin to think that the
old colleges and universities may be
pricing hemselves out of the market.
Should present trends continue, t
am afraid that Harvard, Yale,
Princeton, and other famous institu
tions will be for only the privileged
few who can afford their education,
rather than for those who most de
serve it. This, ordinairly, would be
dangeous for a free society. Democ
racy needs the best character and
brains of its citizenry, irrespective
of their families’ wealth. But I be
lieve that today the smaller and
more economical institutions are
really developing better meHw
Government Aid Given 1h TW4-50~ f
Even under present conditions,
the Government has already been
generous. At the height of GI edu
cation in 1947, the United States
Government was paying 50 per cent
of the colleges’ operating costs. For
the fiscal year ended in June, 1950,
the Government contributed $3,617,-
516,287 for general educational pur
poses. It is this form of financial
aid that has kept many colleges
alive these last few years, although
this is not a saisfactory educational
practice.
Our colleges should have further
substantial aid both for operating
expenses and scholarships to worthy
students. Corporations could easily
contribute to philanthropies 3 per
cent of the 5 per cent allowable net
taxable income which, the law per
mits them to give tax free. This 3
per cent would come to about $1 1-4
billion. If 25 per cent of this, or
about $300 million, were tabbed for
higher educational institutions, in
cluding business schools that -do, *=
such a fine job with Individuals, the
problem might'be solved. But will
business respond ~before-4t—ie too
late? What will your company do
about this important issue?
NO RAIN. DEAR . . . This
young lady makes a pretty pic
ture down in sunny Florida on
Christinas eve as she poses with
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
Although Florida lacks snow it
makes up for It in other beau
ties.
Christa Rose
Enhances Yule’s
T’ke
Ckhl&tm.a&
Sjpihit
The goodness ond
helpfulness of the
Christmas Spirit are
the things that hove
^ kept it alive for two
*
thousand years.
The teachings con
tinue to give us the
standards on which
w e c a n pin our
faith.
With such thoughts
uppermost in our
minds, we wish you
a blessed Christ-
IW mos -
WE PLEDGE OUR BEST ’
A MERICANS usually decorate
their homes at Christmas time
with holly, evergreens, or hot
house plants. Recently, however,
they have found a new friend in
the ChristmaS-rose. Nurserymen
say this plant’s popularity has
skyrocketed in the last few years.
The Christmas-rose is not really
a rose at all but belongs to the
crowfoot family. It is a small plant
no more than a foot high when
mature. Nevertheless, it can put
forth seven or eight small white
roselike blooms tinged with pink.
Called by botanists Helleborus
niger or black hellebore, it gets
this name from its black stalks.
The Christmas-rose is no freak,
no super-precocious flower or
early-blooming plant This ligiti-
mate child of winter flowers nat
urally in December or January. It
withstands snow and low tempera
tures, demanding only some sort
of shelter from the snow.
Hellebonis niger does not prepa-
gata well in the United . States.
Hence, most at the tiny plants are
imported from Belgium knd the
Netherlands.- They . develop- best-
only in the western pert of those
countries where they thrive in soil
peculiar to the region.
The ancient Romans knew sbeut
the Christmas-rose and eagerly
sought it for medicinal use. They
believed that eating the veots
would “clear the brain, cure stu
pidity and. relieve insanity.”
“Let him sail to Anticyra,” said
the poet, Horace, of an ill friend.
Anticyra was a Greek town where
the black Hellebore flourished.
The Helleborus family is indige
nous to southern Europe and the
Mediterranean regions. The
Christmas-rose variety came orig
inally from Austria.
t—-
:
Noel Preparat|ons
Started in Norway
In Middle of Year
C 1RISTMAS just couldn’t help
being the event of events in
Norway when grandmother was a 1
girl.
Without exaggeration, prepara
tion for Christmas actually began
six months before December 24.
Everything which was used-
food, clothing, household fumish-
ings—wa^ prepared in the home.
Even the leather for shoes was
tanried from hides raised on the
homestead.
The cloth for apparel, from the
skin out, was woven on hand
looms. Cobblers came to the house
and made the shoes; dressmakers
and tailors came. Everyone in
the household had to have a new
wardrobe for Christmas and. since
tailors and cobblers and dress
makers could not be at all places
at once, it was necessary to get
an early start.
When the butchering was fin
ished—in October or November—
the suet was melted and the can
dles were made. The children
always had a hand in making the
little ones for use on the Christ
mas tree. And they usually made
one which had three prongs which,
placed at the very top of the tree,
represented the three wise men.
The Rose of Christmas
Was Young Girl's Gift
T HE Christmas rose blooms at
an unusual season, from De
cember to March, with white,
aometimes pinkly colored blooms.
Because of the soft tinge of pink,
the flower has been given the
name Christmas rose.
Legend tells us that when the
Wise Men were journeying to
ward Bethlehem, they came upon
a young girl who was tending her
sheep. The girl complained to an
angel that she had no gift for the
Holy Child, whereupon the entire
pathway to Bethlehem was flow
ered with glistening white Christ
mas roses.
Madelon. the girl, offered the
flowers, and when the fingers of
Jesus touched them they became
suffused with pink.
x&S::-#:::
Wmwm
illill
May the divine blessings of Chrisfnnas
besfow on your heart the fullness of a
rich and happy season.
1 This being the season when happiness prevails everywhere
—we want to join the spirit of the occasion by saying to you,
one and all, "Merry Christmas." You hove been loyal and lib
eral in your patronage and we deem it a privilege to have the
opportunity to serve you.
With the splendid remembrances of the harmonious associations we
have had with our many good friends in this area during the past, we
eagerly look forward to a continuance of them in the future.
I We sincerely hope that these friendships have been as pleasant to
you as they have been to us.
^ May this be your happiest Christmas and may the New Year bring
you some i)ew joy each day.
Giles Chevrolet Co.
SALES — SERVICE
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