The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, October 16, 1969, Image 8
v'S
UNMENTIONED LOOPHOLE
A tempest is swirling through
;iCapitol corridors over what one Wash
ington newsman dubbed the “only un-
•nnentioned tax loophole”—the tax-ex-
: -empt status enjoyed by Big Labor,
i: Reported ready to step into the
;?eye of that tempest is a bipartisan
‘igroup of Senate Finance Committee
^members including Paul Fannin (R-
•iAriz.), Carl Curtis (R-Neb.), Harry
f*Byrd (D-Va.), and Senate “Watch-
r !dog” John Williams (R-Del).
The Finance Committee is con-
rducting hearings on the House-passed
: : tax reform bill. In the interest of tax
.'justice the bill taxes investments made
:?by churches and foundations and oth-
. : er tax-exempt organizations, hits the
: :tax privileges enjoyed by the oil inter-
: : ests and imposes heavy penalties on
:any spending by private voluntary
•foundations for political purposes. \et
';the highly favored tax status of un-
: : ions is preserved.
*• As one might expect, nobody has
: ;yelled louder or longer than the AFL-
CIO bosses about tax “loopholes”. The
- : AFL-CIO Executive Council even went
-^so far as to urge the Senate to “guard
bagainst attempts by lobbyists to pre
serve and widen their special loop
holes.”
Some critics, including the Nation
al Right to Work Committee, are now
masking: “What about Big Labor’s own
•tax loophole?" Labor unions are pri-
; vate, tax-exempt, have vast millions
: of dollars invested in unrelated busi
nesses. One leading analyst estimates
that half of organized labor’s $3 bil-
lion annual income comes from invest
ments in unrelated (and untaxed) busi-
■ ness— and spends tens of millions of
compulsory dues dollars annually for
political purposes, in open violation of
the Federal Corrupt Practices Act.
Why are they accorded special
treatment in Congress? The reason
could be the use of compulsory dues
for political purposes. An estimated
$60 million was poured out last year
in a vain effort to defeat a presiden
tial candidate the union bosses called
a “disaster”. The figure exceeds $200
million when you take into account
state, local and municipal elections and
the vast millions in indirect costs for
such things as union staff time, “edu
cational” pamphlets, telephone banks
and computerized get - out - the - vote
drives. Joseph Rauh told the Supreme
Court when he was general counsel for
the United Auto Workers: “When a
union member pays his dues, he has
paid for his political action.”
Many members of Congress are in
debted to labor bosses for the cam
paign support provided by union or
ganizations financed through the in
voluntary contributions of wage earn
ers who may be opposed to the candi
dates chosen by the union heirarchy.
The National Right to Work Com
mittee states its hope “that the Sen
ate hearings will lead to the removal
of the tax-exempt status of any pri
vate organization using compulsory
dues dollars for political purposes.
Such an action will rectify a basic in
justice involving both labor law and
tax law. It will contribute greatly to
a fairer distribution of the tax load
and will most certainly gain the ap
plause of all fair-minded citizens by
demonstrating that Congress is wil
ling to deal equitably with even the
most politically-powerful special in
terest lobby.”
We agree. And we hope that Con
gress musters the courage to do the
job.
PROTECTING ACADEMIC FREEDOM
The U.S. Senate is currently giv
ing consideration to a bill entitled The
Academic Freedom Protection Act, or
S.1988. The act, m the words of
one of its sponsors, Sen. Strom Thur
mond (R-SC) : "... prohibits anyone
from interfering with the orderly ad
ministration or operation of a federal-
p ly assisted institution by—
m 1. Committing an act of violence,
or threatening violence;
2. Obstructing access to, egress
from, or use of the premises;
3. Entering or remaining in any
structure for the purpose of in
terference; and
4. Committing any act in violation
of law, or any duly adopted reg
ulation of the university.
“Such persons may be imprisoned
for 3 years or fined $5,000. In ad-
.* dition, anyone who conspires against
such prohibitions may suffer the same
> sanctions.”
>. We note the use of the restrictions
at “a federally assisted institution.”
•: This means the institutions that we
v are supporting with our tax dollars.
.Private schools using private funds,
? : $nd those state schools which receive
no tax funds irom the federal govern
ment, would not be affected by the
bill.
We deplore the need for this kind
of legislation, but we recognize the
fact that the need exists. Our educa
tional administrators have in many
cases catered to the whims of the rad
icals at the expense of the students
who truly want to better themselves.
It is questionable whether the bill
would deter the hard-core revolution
ary, but it might act to discourage the
.4heep who join in the fun, out of bore
dom, and there are those who claim
that the followers are far and away
the majority in most disruptions.
There will be many cries of “foul”
raised in opposition to the passage of
8.1988 and we can guess who the
screamers will be. We see no danger
in the bill unless one plans to com
mit an act of violence, obstruct free
passage to and from facilities, sit in
and interfere with the rights of other
students or faculty members, or vio
late laws and break university regula
tions. If we planned any such acts,
we might oppose the passage of the
bill, too.
"Chairman Mao's five-year plan is to outlive Chiang Kai-shek.*
We Dumped Over The U. S. Last Year
48 Billion Cans And 26 Billion Bottles...
King Feature* Syndicate
Airlines Suffer Severe
Nose Dive In Earnings
BY BABSON’S REPORTS, INC. HELP FROM FARE BOOSTS
WELLESLEY HILLS, MASS.-
Plagued by the weighty restraint
of inflating costs, the nation’s
airlines continue to suffer from a
severe profits squeeze. Thus far
in 1969, reported earnings of
nearly every airline have nose
dived. The outlook for the re
mainder of the year does not in
dicate any significant rebound.
There were some extraor
dinary reasons for this poor per
formance, including the 21-day
strike against American Air
lines. Nevertheless, the main
causes of this lackluster earnings
picture have been rising ex
penses, inadequate fares, and de
clining load factors. Revenues
have continued to trend upward,
but costs have risen faster. Asa
result, profit margins have been
subjected to an intense squeeze.
In short, the airlines are in a
period of profitless prosperity.
Earlier this year a fare in
crease of 3.8C was authorized.
Despite this advance, several
airlines reported lower 1969 se
cond -quarter earnings than in
the corresponding period last
year. Three major carriers were
forced to omit quarterly divi
dends on their common stock.
Primarily, this was due to in
creased expenses, but, also, traf
fic did not grow to the degree
anticipated. Furthermore, this
profit decline is being accentu
ated by the huge capital outlays
for new jumbo jets and support
ing ground equipment.
In the future, these new jets
are expected to provide major
cost reductions and allow pro
ductivity gains. However, some
airlines are having difficulty ar
ranging financing for this equip
ment. Western Air Lines, a fi
nancially hard-pressed carrier,
SENATOR STROM
THURMOND
REPORTS TO THE
PEOPLE
RESPECT OUR POLICE
The time has come for the
ordinary citizen to stand up for
law and order Our law enforce
ment forces deserve our full
support and respect.
A campaign of character as
sassination is being waged
against the police, in an effort
to undercut their efforts to keep
the peace. This campaign is par
ticularly aimed at our young
people. If a whole generation
should grow up without a
healthy attitude toward the lo
cal representatives of the law,
then the future stability of the
Nation will he in doubt.
POLICE BRl TALITY
Too often when a policeman
attempts to do his duty, he is
met with the cry of ‘‘police bru
tality.” This phrase originated
as a Communist and radical
slogan intended to turn the
tables on the policeman. Instead
of focusing attention on the
criminal, it focuses on the man
who is trying to stop the crim
inal.
We must remember that,
whenever the law is violated
through physical activity, there
must be force applied either by
the criminal or hy the police
man. The criminal who is intent
upon a violent act must be met
with an equal force. Even the
law breaker who seeks to avoid
violent acts is nevertheless com
mitting a violent action in spirit
against our legal system.
A policeman must be allowed
to use whatever force is neces
sary in a given situation to ap
prehend the criminal or to pre
vent his escape. It is hypocriti
cal to accuse the police officer
on the beat of using “excessive
force” when he is engaged in
deadly action where split-sec
ond decisions are required.
POLICEMEN KILLEb
It is easy to second-guess a
brave officer weeks later or
months later when impartial
witnesses may have fled, and it
is impossible to recreate the ten
sion of the situation.
In 1968, there were 64 police
men in the United States who
did not have the opportunity to
second-guess their own actions;
they were killed by criminals
in the midst of their duty. Be
tween 1960 and 1968, a total of
171 police officers were killed in
the line of duty.
Even more important is the
fact that, in 1968, there were
15.8 assaults for every 100 offi
cers on duty. That means that
every policeman who goes out
on his beat knows that he has a
16 percent chance of being
wounded that day. Every police
man who has to make an instant
decision about the use of deadly
force has such a probability
hanging over his head. He must
try to figure out whether this
time is the time his number is
up, or not.
SUPPORT FOR POLICE
There are some who say that
a policeman should take special
training courses in the social
sciences, so that he will learn
the alleged “causes” of crime,
and the so-called “problems of
the community.” Such theoreti
cal concerns must not burden
the working police officer. He
does not have time to be a soci
ologist, and to debate the causes
of crime while the criminals are
escaping.
One way of demonstrating
support for the police ia to de
mand that Congress pass the
Administration’s crime bills that
have had no action in Congress.
U. S. Attorney General John
N. Mitchell, in a recent speech,
pointed out that the Adminis
tration has presented more than
20 crime bills. However, since
the Congress is controlled by
the Democratic Party, nothing
has happened. “When the public
elected this administration, it
wanted action against crime,”
the Attorney General said. “We
have done a great deal by exec
utive action. But the monetary
purse and the legislative sword
are controlled by Congress.”
The public must demand that
these anti-crime proposals re
ceive attention.
2-B—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C., Oct. 16, 1969
Grocery Bills
Include More
Than Just Food
canceled a $150-million aircraft
order. To stop further deteriora
tion of the airlines’ finances, the
industry requested and received
a second fare increase this year.
Although this increase amounted
to 6.35^, it is still not suffi
cient to allow an adequate rate
of return.
INTENSE COMPETITION RULES
Why the airline industry’s
floundering fortunes 0 The fierce
competition that exists between
the carriers is a major cause.
In an attempt to gain a greater
share of the market, the airlines
add more, costlier, and bigger
planes to their fleets. They also
provide more services, try to
lure more travelers with eco
nomy plans.
But the fact is that there are
too many carriers serving the
same routes. The CAB, which is
responsible for route awards,
seems to grant new operating
territories to satisfy every line’s
demands as much as possible.
This type of policy inevitably
leads to smaller and smaller
pieces of the pie until each of the
carriers is left with only a few
crumbs. Under these conditions,
there is an awkward period when
profits from lucrative routes
dwindle to marginal proportions
because traffic simply cannot
grow fast enough.
EMPHASIS ON BOOSTING
PROFITS
Airlines are pursuing another
tactic which could enhance their
profitability. The holding com
pany concept recently employed
by the nation’s railroads to fa
cilitate diversification is being
adopted by some airlines. United
Air Lines has already estab
lished such a corporate vehicle
to facilitate non-air line ventures.
This provides an easy way to
separate airlines activities from
related ventures such as hotels,
car rentals, and restaurants --
which are peripheral to passen
ger and freight transportation. By
isolating their transportatiwi bu
siness, airlines hope to achieve
a more equitable fare structure.
LOOKING AHEAD
Despite the gloomy near-term
outlook, prospects for the 1970s
seem brighter. Capacity addi
tions are expected to be less
than traffic increases, allowing
load factors to bounce back. Due
to the industry’s leverage factor,
traffic gains above the break
even level permit larger amounts
of revenue to flow through to
operating profit. There is a good
possibility that next year could
see some earnings turn-arounds.
Hence current problems of the
airlines should diminish in in
tensity during the decade ahead.
The bulk of the industry’s prob
lems seem already to have been
discounted by the stock market
BY MARY W. MONHOE
County Office Manager, ASCS
Our modern American way of
life is evidenced by the ever
growing business of super mar
kets. These grocery stores are
steadily becoming “variety”
stores because they carry every
thing from ladies hose, aspirin,
garbage cans, lawn mowers,
shampoo, encyclopedias, to fat
back and chitterlings.
Its true that this American way
saves the housewife many steps.
It is also equally true that the
housewife purchases non-gro
cery items and then complains
about the high cost of food.
Each week, on Thursdays, to
be exact, my mother purchases
the weekly groceries. Each week
on Thursdays at approximately
12:15 o’clock, I’m greeted with
this statement (and ultimatum).
“Someone else will just have to
buy groceries. Everything goes
up each week. What makes the
cost of groceries go up and up?”
This week, as a result of read
ing a USDA publication entitled
“The Farmer and Consumer”, I
carefully examined her “gro
ceries”.
First, I removed all items that
were not food; soaps, mops, de
tergents, toothpaste, deodorants,
insecticides, waxes, cooking u-
tensils, aspirin, magnesia tab
lets, notebook paper.
Of the items left, we found that
substantially less than one-half of
the so called “groceries” was
food. <
Everyone is concerned about
the cost of food. But just to set
the record straight, it is not the
farmer who is “mopping up”.
Out of every dollar spent for food,
the consumer pays 40 cents for
products and 60 cents for mar
keting service.
The farmer’s share of the
dollar depends on the price he
gets for his commodity and the
cost of marketing the commodity.
The more the marketing service,
the greater the cost.
For example, take a product
like a loaf of bread that re
quires processing and servicing
from the unmilled wheat to the
packaged loaf. The farmer’s
share of that dollar is 14 cents.
For eggs, where the packaging
is obligingly done by the hen, the
farmer receives 65 cents of each
dollar spent at the super market.
His share on other items is re
ported to be; choice beef-61 cents;
corn flakes-8 cents; apples-39
cents; potatoes-31 cents; canned
corn-12 cents; canned peaches-
17 cents.
However, the money our farm
ers get from that dollar is not
all profit. Gross income of the
U.S. farmers RIGHT NOW' is
more than 50 billion annually
while realized Net income is
about 15 billion. Using these fig
ures, if the farmer gets 40 cents
of each dollar spent, he spends
31 cents of that producing his
commodities and has only nine
cents left.
Urban or non-farm people do
not realize how much of their
own income depends on the A-
merican farmer. Agriculture is a
50 billion dollar customer in the
American economy. The farmer
is one of America’s largest buy
ers of petroleum and steel.
Farming is still the nation’s big
gest industry.
The per-capita income of farm
people is lagging behind that of
non-farmers by 25 percent. Yet
the American farmer has become
so efficient that farm productivi
ty increases five percent each
year. In 1968 one U.S. Farm work
er supplied food and fiber needs
of 43 persons, whereas in 1957-
59 the needs of 23 persons were
met.
The price of food has increas
ed. Other items have also in
creased and much more accord
ingly over the past 20 years than
the cost of food. Medical care,
for instance, has increased more
than 100 percent; housing more
than 60 percent. The price of
food has increased about 40 per
cent more than it was 20 years
ago--but remember the paycheck
has increased also. Wages have
increased 130 percent in the past
20 years.
One hour’s pay today can buy
two and one-half pounds of round
steak. In 1948, one hour’s pay
would buy only one and one-half
pound of steak. In 1948 we spent
25 percent of our “take home
pay” for food. Now it amounts to
a little over 17 percent of our
“take home pay.”
So let’s set the picture straight.
The cost of food should not be
blamed on the farmer, because
the price of food in the past 10
years has gone up only two-thirds
as much as the other things we
buy.
We all have a stake in agri
culture—-the food we eat, the
clothes we wear—the water we
drink, the forests that supply
lumber for homes, habitat for
wildlife, beauty for tired eyes. A
healthy farm economy depends
upon the understanding of the 96
percent urban population of A-
merica.
Development of sound agricul
tural policies should be of con
cern to every American.
So the next time you hear some
one complaining about the high
cost of food- —set him straight
about the prepared and ready to
serve foods, the canned foods,
the brown & serve rolls, the TV
dinners. Tell him its not the food
but the marketing service that
takes most of his so-called “food”
money.
All of us except the veryyoung||
have never had it so good. Re-1|
member the good old days when
Ma canned the winter food and
baked the bread and really cook
ed from “scratch”. And back then
Pa kept a cow and reluctantly
milked before breakfast. A few
chickens roamed around the yard
and the kids gathered the eggs.
Pa worked a garden and Ma
churned the milk once a week.
Such measures today would cut
food costs, but men and women
have found they can use their
time more productively in busi
ness or industry or mechanized
farming.
As for my part, I’ll leave the
food preparation business to
mass production and to the
dietary genius of Jane Parker,
Aunt Jemima and Tnfty Maid.
And I give thanks for the skilled
merchandising of modern food
store managers. With their spe
cialized services, in America
more people eat better with less
effort than anywhere else in the
world.
WORTH
a&aaws
ABOUT
Aesop may have invented
the fable, but married men
improved on it.—Rex Gold-
thorpe, Tri County (Wise.)
Press.
There seems to be some
thing in human nature that
makes us feel that profit is a
poor reason for helping others.
But this is a feeling we should
resist. To give a man some
thing because we feel it would
be good for him, in effect, es
tablishes a relationship of su
perior to inferior. It is difficult
to do good without being con
descending and paternalistic
on the one hand, and without
perpetuating dependence on
the other hand. To hire a man
because he needs a job rather
than the job needs him, for
example, is to assure him that
he is useless. Conversely, to
help a man because it is in your
own interest to help him, to
hire him because you need his
labor, is to treat him as an
equal. In such a relationship,
the message comes through
loud and clear—the employer
If you look like your pass- , h h “ “f abilit> '
port photo, you probably need „ ma . n , he earn hls
- ‘ Pay and stand on his own feet.
—Henry Ford II
the trip.—R. Taylor Harris,
The Tri-County (Arlington,
Ga.) Courier.
‘Some women look good in
(not prepared or printed at povemment expente)
Textile and fiber manufac
turers represent the only one of
four broad commodity groups
whose prices remain below mid- . .
1968 levels this year, according * ,a ^ s ^ u !, that ? oes not a PP , > r
to the bulk of them.” James A pound of cotton has more
to the New England Letter of H. Russell, The Belton (Tex.) tensile strength than a pound of
Boston. Journal. steel.
Chairman of the Board
Ford Motor Company
* * *