The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, May 21, 1964, Image 24
Board of
The eight gentlemen at the top
of these two pages are South Car
olina’s members of the Board of
Directors of the biggest corpora
tion in the history of the world.
Each of us is a stockholder of the
corporation, known as the Feder
al Government, which is pres
ently celebrating its 175th anni
versary.
The pictured two Senators and
six Congressmen constitute
l/50th of the vote in the United
State Senate and about l/72nd
of the vote in the House of Rep
resentatives. Back when it all
began in 1789, South Carolina
had l/13th of the say in the Sen
ate and l/13th of the vote in the
House.
Needless to say, the corpora
tion has grown a bit bigger
through the years, necessitating
more leaders in Washington
headquarters for the purpose of
handling all the money and its
related responsibilities.
Our first directors met for 519
days during their first two years
and helped spend about $8 mil
lion. The current directors will
likely meet for about 600 days in
two years and spend about $200
billion — 25,000 times as much
for about 40 times as many peo
ple.
Spending money, and taxing
the people for this money, is only
oiie of many major Congression
al responsibilities. Checking up
on the President, whom we elect
rather than trusting his selection
to the Congress, is perhaps the
most time-consuming job of our
representatives. It’s the Presi
dent and his two and one-half
million employees who recom
mend to Congress spending pro
grams and then actually put the
money into circulation if Con
gress gives it to them.
Congress traditionally keeps a
close eye on the President’s oper
ations — or at least they did
prior to the billion-dollar age of
the 1930’s. Now, it’s almost too
complicated to determine who is
doing what under the Presidency,
and many members of Congress
have accepted the inevitable and
6
Rap. John L. McMillan
Rap. L. Mandal Rirars
of United States
are not concerning themselves
with such mundane topics as
money — particularly as long as
they are getting their share in
the form of a thousand-and-one
benefits. For example:
There’s the $22,500 salary plus
a $2,500 tax free expense allow
ance that makes the job fairly
attractive, a personal staff ($50,-
000 ih House and $120,000 in
Senate), almost unlimited long
distancjb telephone calls and tele
grams, free postage, free station
ery (including items that can be
used as gifts such as pen and pen
cil sets, leather goods, etc.), su
perb air-conditioned offices both
in Washington and at home, a
large allowance at the Govern
ment Printing Office for books
and booklets both for themselves
and their constituents, a recrea
tion room for massages, exercise
and steam baths, researchers and
writers in the Library of Con
gress to write their speeches or
prepare outlines of same, Com
mittee staff personnel to write
speeches and prepare outlines,
automatic machines which will
do everything from writing form
letters to the folks back home to
actually signing the letters with
a legal signature, a recording stu
dio to facilitate reaching the vot
ers via radio, a television studio
to make it easy to prepare film
coverage for TV, and so on.
Of course there are things of a
less personal nature but which
can help a man get reelected to
office. These include advising
the President (if he’s in the same
political party) who should get
a good portion of the key Fed
eral jobs in his state — as well
as Post Office rural mail carrier
jobs, assisting the local political
and business leaders to get vari
ous Federal projects into their
areas to assist the economy, and
helping constituents resolve
their differences of opinion with
a sometimes unreasonable agen
cy of the Federal government.
In addition to collecting taxes
and approving spending pro
grams, Congressmen decide on
such matters as whether or not
to declare war against enemy
nations, who may migrate to the
United States, and how to regu
late interstate and foreign com
merce.
Obviously, in bodies as, large
as the House (435 members 1 ) and
Senate (100 members), it be
comes necessary to devise a sys
tem of getting things done. Com
mittees have been the answer.
Chairmen of the various commit
tees provide the necessary order
and (hopefully) leadership. To
avoid political deals outside of
committees, chairmen are select
ed on the basis of the number of
consecutive years they have
served on the committee. This
puts the pressure of leadership
once again in the hands of the
voters, for they can see to it that
an incompetent Representative or
Senator is defeated so that he
cannot gain the influence and
power of a committee chairman
ship.
It is not necessary that a Sen
ator or Congressman limit his
time and interests to his commit-
MAY, 1964
Getting difficult to beat man in office
The trend toward long tenure in Congress by South Carolinians is
a definite one begun at the turn of the century. Prior to about 50 years
ago, the average U. S. Representative from this state served about six
years, and the average U. S. Senator from South Carolina remained
little longer in the nation’s capital.
Today, Senators Olin D. Johnston and Strom Thurmond are assured
of Senate terms of 24 and 12 years respectively (barring death), while
Representatives John McMillan, Mendel Rivers, Bryan Dorn and Rob
ert Ashmore are in their 26th, 24th, 16th and 12th years of office.
There are two schools of thought regarding the longer terms' of
office: (1) that it’s wise to select a good man and to keep him in the
job accumulating tenure and the power that goes with it, and (2) you
can’t beat a good politician once he’s in office for he has too many
things working for him.
Altogether, 212 South Carolinians have served in the House during
the past 175 years, and 51 have represented this state in the Senate.
In the case of the Senate, many of these 51 served only a few months
as interim appointments (such interim appointments are not provided
for in the House).
Representatives who served most of six terms are as follows:
Richard Winn, 1793-97 and 1803-13; William Butler, 1801-13; Thom
as Moore, 1801-13, 1815-17; William Lowndes, 1811-22; Starling Tucker,
1817-31; George McDuffie, 1821-34; R. Barnwell Rhett, 1837-48; Isaac
E. Holmes, 1839-51; John McQueen, 1849-60; George D. Tillman, 1879-
93; William Elliot, 1887-90, 1891-93, 1895-1903; David E. Finley, -1899-
1917; Joseph Johnston, 1901-15; Asbury F. Lever, 1901-19; Wyatt Aiken,
1903-17; James F. Byrnes, 1911-25; Fred H. Dominick, 1917-33; William
F. Stevenson, 1917-33; John J. McSwain, 1921-36; Hampton P. Fulmer,
1921-44; Allard H. Gasque, 1923-38; Thomas S. McMillan, 1925-39; But
ler B. Hare, 1925-33, 1939-47; James P. Richards, 1933-57; Joseph R.
Bryson, 1939-53; John L. McMillan, 1939 to present; L. Mendel Rivers,
1941 to present; John J. Riley, 1945-49, 1951-62; W. J. Bryan Dorn,
1947-51, 1953 to present; Robert T. Ashmore, 1953 to present.
Senators who served most of two terms are: Pierce Butler, 1789-
96, 1802-04; John Gaillard, 1805-26; William Smith, 1817-23, 1826-31;
Robert Y. Hayne, 1823-32; John C. Calhoun, 1833-43, 1845-50; William
C. Preston, 1833-42; Andrew P. Butler, 1846-57; Matthew C. Butler,
1877-95; Wade Hampton, 1879-1891; Benjaniin Tillman, 1895-1918;
Ellison D. Smith, 1909-44; James F. Byrnes, 1931-41; Burnet R. May-
bank, 1941-54; Olin D. Johnston, 1945 to present; Strom Thurmond,
1954 to present.
Federal funds to South Carolina
Are we getting our money’s worth for taxes going to the Federal
government?
A difficult question to answer, and one which should be studied
closely by the taxpayer!
In the area of Federal rebates to states for the countless programs
described on pages eight and nine, South Carolina received $89 million
of the more than $7 billion paid out to all the states in 1962. (In 1964,
$10.4 billion is budgeted for payment to states.)
A breakdown of the 1962 payments to all states and South Carolina
follows:
pa Tm •nil paymanlt
Fadaral grants programs to aU states to S. Car.
Agriculture Experiment Stations $ 31,521,495 $ 691,044
Coop. Ag. Extension work 63,373,746 1,470,215
School lunch program 151,972,399 3,793,480
National forests fund 35,671,616 417,197
Submarginal land program 391,987
Cooperative marketing projects 3,290,000 27,500
State and private forestry coop. 11,442,611 340,635
Watershed protection, flood control 32,449,018 114,768
Value of commodities donated 71,878,027 505,497
Special school milk program 86,685,047 621,414
Removal of surplus ag. commodities 195,650,404 1,783,380
Highways (trust fund) 2,590,788,486 38,987,423
Other highway programs 31,798,877 148,497
State marine schools 499,120
Lease of flood control lands 1,492,156 3,638
Civil and defense mobilization 11,478,624 171,331
Research in civil and defense 1,057,638 4,258
Civil defense disaster relief 7,318,682
Printing house for the blind 400,000 4,083
Conference on aging 1 —9,508 —26
Colleges for ag. and mech. arts 1 7,276,500 91,118
Cooperative vocational education 39,797,725 748,267
School construction and survey 59,248,637 708,281
Maintenance and operation of schools 207,639,466 3,194,900
Library services 7,414,221 196,082
Defense education activities 50,189,647 388,162
Education of mentally retarded 509,377
Communicable disease activities 2,363,177 97,296
Tuberculosis control 3,973,585 59,072
General health assistance 17,873,506 353,764
Mental health activities 5,913,981 91,784
Cancer control : 3,355,518 57,976
Heart disease control | 3,296,567 75,946
Environmental health activities 2,633,541 51,687
Polio vaccination —5,761
Hospital and medical construction -— 159,692,441 3,549,556
Waste treatment works 44,085,200 790,564
Health research facilities 1,921,580
Maternal and child health services 18,113,755 378,269
Services for crippled children 19,795,003 459,981
Child welfare services 13,613,088 308,749
Medical assistance for aged 19,579,088
Old age assistance 1,215,164,973 12,356,743
Aid to dependent children 701,302,286 5,602,276
Aid to permanently disabled 182,817,338 3,379,258
Aid to blind 48,122,548 753,711
Office of vocational rehabilitation 54,932,040 1,169,256
Wildlife and fish restoration 20,925,019 178,499
Migratory bird conservation 488,391 66
Payments under Mineral Leasing 34,736,941
Special Interior Dept, funds 17,869,428
Bureau of Indian Affairs 6,418,761
Unemployment compensation (trusts) — 358,552,447 3,369,107
Federal airport program 64,797,596. 279,969
Payments under Federal Power Act 54,782 183
Urban renewal program 140,918,364 166,445
Urban planning assistance 3,045,194
Public housing contributions 140,243,564 l r 418,385
Small Business grants (research) —1 879,994 18,630
Tennessee Valley shared revenues 6,478,577
Veterans homes for disabled 7,569,754
Veterans supervision of schools i 1,414,440
Miscellaneous grants 77,700,495 31,083
Total grant payments 7,101,863,200 89,403,759
THE SOUTH CAROLINIAN
Today, more people belong to Blue Cross than to any
labor union or church group — more by far than voted for
either party in the last national election.
Blue Cross enjoys the greatest endorsement ever given to
any single program for hospital expense protection. What surer
evidence that it serves people's needs in an exceptional way?
Through an exclusive working relationship with hospitals,
Blue Cross provides benefits in a unique form.
“Personalized Benefits," they’re called, and they're truly
personal. For rather than a fixed allowance in dollars of so
much per day, they provide benefits as actual hospital care.
Thus, the help expands to fit the illness. To obtain these ben
efits, a member merely shows his Blue Cross card on admission
to the hospital. It's all simple and sensible and thoroughly
practical.
Last year. Blue Cross provided 66 million days of care to
members. The Plans not only paid out more than any other
organization in the field, but delivered far greater value.
Behind these Blue Cross achievements is a deep sense of
public responsibility. This is why Blue Cross has pioneered so
many noteworthy advances — including protection for senior
citizens, more than 5 million of whom are enrolled as members
today.
Popular acceptance proves the Blue
Cross method works, that it can continue
to meet people’s expanding needs. For
full details on membership, contact Blue
Cross, 709 Saluda Avenue, Columbia,
South Carolina.
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