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•I 4 / V Page Four THE CLINTON CHRONICLE Thursday,. June 4, 1953 • H- ^ COMMENT ON MEN AND THINGS By The Spectator Senator R. M. Jefferies wrote a letter recently to his excellent county paper, The Press and Stand ard, and I found it interesting and informative. I asked Mr. Jefferies to boil it down a little and to per mit me to use it. I quote from Mr. Jefferies: "In response to your note of the Toth. I thought the statement pre- pared at my request by the State Auditor about the costs of the pub- 'ic schools and how the costs were paid was just about as simple as we could make it. I told the Audi tor that I did not want an account- mg report but that I wanted simple figures to show total costs and where the money came from, also tvhat taxes were taken off when :he sales tax law was passed. It was not the purpose of that statement to analyze how school expenses wore paid prior to the sales tax law. The important fact which the State Auditor’s state ment supported was that all of the proceeds of the sales tax, all of the liquor tax earmarked by the Con stitution for schools and a consid erable block of General Fund reve nues are being used to^jpay school expenses. , At the time of the passage of the sales tax law it was definitely un-! derstood that the sales tax would! be a substitute for then existing! taxes or would serve to prevent the imposition of additional taxes of other kinds. One of the prime considerations for the passage of! the.^ales-4ax^4aw-was- to provide -aj FINE FURNITURE Down Through the Years Trc. Jones & Sons The Best for Over Fifty Years CLINTON, S. C. Plus Thirteen Other Stores in South Carolina more adequate method of financing the public schools. It was never represented by the Legislative Committee that made the study prior to the passage of the sales tax law; or by anyone supporting the sales tax that appropriations from the General Account would continue at the old rate. The trend how r ever since the pas sage of the sales tax law’ seems to me to go deper each year into the general revenues of the State to meet the ever increasing costs of public school education. This is evidenced by the fact that during the next fiscal year over fourteen million dollars of general revenues will be necessary in addition to the sales tax and the liquor tax to sup port the educational program. I have not taken the time to check budgets, but speaking purely from former appropriation bills or state memory it is my recollection that the approximate sum of tw’enty-! nine million dollars wras the highest, appropriation ever made from the General Account prior to the pas sage of the sales tax law, w’hich sum was appropriated the year be-, fore the sales tax law w’as passed.) Nearly half of the General Account appropriations the year before the sales tax law came from the emer gency taxes repealed at the time of the passage of the sales tax law w’hich shows on the Smith state ment in the sum of approximately twelve and onq-half million dollars. If the Legislature had continued appropriating from the General Ac count the sum of twenty-nine mil lion dollars per year plus sales and liquor taxes, then additional other taxes would have had to been lev ied for the General Account. The 'Legislature thought it did enough w’hen it passed the sales tax law without the same year increasing other forms of taxes. There is much confusion over the state on this question of school fi nancing. Unfortunately some teach ers seem to believe that the main purpose of the sales tax was to in crease teacher compensation. A few r of the leaders in the Teachers Association have done the teachers a great disservice by stating that the entire proceeds of the sales tax do not go for the payment of public school education. They seem to ex pect the Legislature to increase ap propriations each year from the General Account as well as to de vote sales tax and liquor taxes to education. i The passage of the new school law along with the sales tax 1 brought about a new era (I was about to say “New Deal”) in public school financing and accomplish ment. The State promptly took over the entire building program and the total expenses of school transportation. The first year of the sales tax the teachers received a heavy increase in pay by reason of a new schedule of salaries based on certificates which amounted to about seventeen and one-half per cent over the old salaries. That year it took an appropriation of $33,900,000 for the purpose of teach-- ers’ salaries alone. In addition to the increase in the 1951-52 salaries the Legislature at the session just closed voted another ten per cent increase. We have never paid teachers in this state the salaries that most of them deserve but many of the in equities have been removed and through the years there will be a continuing improvement in sal aries based on the present certifica tion plan which gives automatic increases for betjer training and long service. ^ I do not know whether the above comments will clarify the situation any, and if you need additional in formation I suggest that you get in touch with State Auditor J. M. Smith w’ho I know will cooperate v/ith you in the fullest. It is a fact which the record clearly establishes that the total amount secured from the sales tax and the State’s portion as w-ell as a sizeable appropriation from the General Account now go to pay the costs of public educa tion, and it was to prove this known fact by figures t quested the State Auditor to pre pare the simple statement which you saw in the Press and Stand ard.” The average citizen is not always informed; in this matter there is quite a lot of misinformation. It is the common impression that the Sales Tax is just a new tax an ad ditional tax, imposed on the people, with all the taxes of 1950 continu ing in full force. I call attention to what Mr. Jefferies says about that. In this connection I recall a conversation with MV. Jefferies in his offeie in Moncks Comer about 1949 or 1950, as I recall. He told me then that he thought a Sales Tax should not be merely a new burden, but should bring a measure of relief in other taxes. I appreciate both the courtesy and the thoroughness of Mr. Jef feries ip writing this letter; it speaks for itself. HOUSEHOLD HINTS Draperies which do not need much cleaning will probably be brightened with a dry cleaning. Use a large paper bag and place in it a mixture of two parts corn meal and one part flour. Place the drapery material in this and shake vigorously. Then remove the drap ery and shake out thoroughly. Washable shades are best cleaned with a soft cloth dipped in suds and wrung out very dry. Rinse with a cloth dipped in clear water, then drung dry. Hang at full length on the windows to dry. Alcohol rings from varnished surfaces can be removed by rub bing with a cloth dipped in linseed oil. Then polish with furniture wax to a fine gloss. Paint on windows will usually yield, to rubbing with a cloth dip ped in heated vinegar. Stubborn spots will often come off readily when peeled with a razor blade. Spots on lineoleum can be treated with a cork dipped in gasoline. 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