The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, January 28, 1970, Image 10
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ENCOURAGING ACTION
Two actions announced last week
on the County Council legislation for
Laurens County are encouraging.
The Laurens County legislative
delegation introduced legislation to
jraise the salaries of the five council
members from $1,200 to $2,400 a
year. This was done in an etfort to
try to attract competent, qualified
candidates for the county’s first
Council, which will take oftice next
year.
No one can make a career of the
County Council at $2,400 per year but
the figure is realistic in that council
..members will not be asked to serve at
a financial sacrifice. The new salary,
which already has been approved in
the House of Representatives, should
at least cover councilmen’s expenses.
* On another front, it was announced
that the Greater Clinton Planning
Commission is having a study con
ducted on the County Council legisla
tion. J. C. Thomas, chairman of the
Planning Comtmission, explained, “This
bill, which already has been passed
but which still may be amended, is of
vital importance to Laurens County.
Our county will be governed according
to the bill. We feel our Planning Com
mission should understand it thor
oughly. Also, if any changes are to
be recommended, now is the time to
do it. It takes effect next January.’’
We applaud the Planning Commis
sion's interest and attitude. We hope
that all citizens will make an effort to
be familiar with and understand the
County Council method of operation.
As Mr. Thomas said, it is of vital im
portance.
We support the County Council
method of governmental operation be
cause it will give us more ‘home rule’
in Laurens County. We are also hope
ful that we will have a field of quali
fied candidates for these important
posts.
We encourage civic clubs and other
organizations to become informed
about the County Council and to en
courage progressive, industrious peo
ple to offer for County Council.
HIPPIES' ARENT NEW
Those who are troubled by the
‘hippie-types’ often feel that the long
haired, unwashed, dissatisfied young
people are the burden set aside for
our particular day and time. And
some of the hippies seem to have the
idea that they are entirely unique
(“We are the best educated, most in
telligent generation in the history of
the world,” one of them commeted re
cently on national television.)
For both groups, we recommend
this quotation:
“. . . A youth approached me. He
was bearded; his clothes were dirty;
he wore a student’s cloak and he look
ed like a typical New Cynic of the
sort I deplore. I have recently writ
ten at considerable length about these
vagabonds. In the last few years the
philosophy of Crates and Zeno has
been taken over by idlers who, though
they have no interest in philosophy,
deliberately imitate the Cynica in such
externals as not cutting their hair or
beards, carrying sticks and wallets,
and begging. But where the orginial
Cynic despised wealth, sought virtue,
questioned all things in order to find
what was true, these imitators mock
all things, including the true, using
the mask of philosophy to disguise li-
cense and irresponsibility. Nowa
days, any young man who does not
choose to study or to work grows a
beard, insults the gods and calls him
self Cynic.”
That was written by the Roman
Emperor Julian in the Fourth cen
tury A.D.
MARK MARCH 10
Mark down March 10 as hopefully,
an important date in the progress of
Clinton.
That’s the day a public hearing
will be held on one segment of the
1 proposed by-pass around Clinton. The
segment is on the east side of Clinton,
. extending from S.C. Route 72 south to
S.C. Route 72 north.
The by-pass is badly needed, as we
have pointed out many times in our
editorial columns.
We encourage a good attendance
at the public hearing. W r e also encour
age the expression of views by per-
. . sons who will be affected by this seg-
o ment of the by-pass so that State
' Highway Department officials will get
a true picture of the public’s senti
ment.
Circle March 10 on your calendar.
We hope it will be a major step for
ward for Clinton.
MINORITY?
We read with interest a recent re
port that psychological group sessions
are planned in Greenville for “normal”
people.
That doesn’t really surprise us.
The way things have been going,
“normal” people are the ones who
need help these days.
WORTH
ABOUT
'".Today responsible men of
action are determined to help
bridge the affluence gap, to
help change the conditions that
are the root causes of our prob
lems—not only in unemploy
ment, but in education, medical
care and housing. Businessmen
are helping lead many of these
efforts because they know their
image can be no better—not
only in the eyes of the poor but
"Just a slight formality..."
Peace Comes T» Biafrs
...
m ’ .> • v •
'2«CHlE50tE -
Kinff Fee tan* Syndicate
Pollution
And Protest
also in the eyes of the public
and especially in the eyes of
today’s college generation—
than the performance of the
business system in serving all
our citizens.
John A. Hill, President
Aetna Life & Casualty
BY THURMAN SENSING
Executive Vice President
Southern States Industrial
Council
Many shrewd political ob
servers conclude that prevention
of air and water pollution will be
one of the big issues of the 1970s.
The way candidates for office are
climbing aboard the anti-pollu
tion bandwagon suggest that
these observers are right.
There’s potential for both good
and bad in the enthusiasm for
environmental protection. Cer
tainly, air and water pollution is
very important. The air we
breathe and the water of our
streams are priceless national
resources. The health of our peo
ple depends on success in deal
ing with pollution. Progressive
industry is just as concerned as
any other group with checking
pollution -- more so, in fact,
since innumerable companies are
devoting large sums to prevent
ing air pollution and to cleaning
up water used for industrial pur
poses.
The danger is that the anti
pollution drive will fall into ir
responsible hand and be guided
by emotionalism rather than lo
gic. The ultra-liberal WASHING
TON POST, among other jour
nals, has suggested that the fight
against pollution is a “new focus
for student protest.” If there’s
one thing the anti-pollution cam
paign doesn’t need, it is the ir
responsibility and emotionalism
that has characterized organized
student protest in recent years.
To be sure, activity by res
ponsible, informed students is
desirable. Volunteer community
efforts to get rid of pollutants
and litter are very much needed.
Anyone who has traveled in Wes
tern Europe knows that the coun
tries on the Continent are doing
a far better job than we are doing
in getting rid of street litter.
What should be hurtful, however,
is an anti-pollution drive that
has political overtones of a fight
against free enterprise. Unfor
tunately, such overtones can be
detected in some areas and some
pollution controversies. If the
New Left becomes heavily invol
ved in the anti-pollution struggle,
it undoubtedly will seek to por
tray industry as a demon
that wants to pollute America.
Progressive industry already
is fighting pollution -- for com-
monsense economic reasons, if
no other. In industrial operations,
pollution is synonymous with
waste. Thus modern companies
are trying to trap pollution em
itted from smokestacks and en-
devoring to transform the wastes
into useable by-products. Ameri
can industry already has devoted
huge sums to this end.
Most water pollution, of
course, is of an organic charac
ter and isn’t the result of in
dustrial processes. But industry
often gets 100 per cent of the
blame. More public information
is needed on this point.
Beyond this, there is a need
for understanding and pers
pective on the part of lawgivers
and the general public. Some de
gree of pollution of our environ
ment is inevitable as long as
human beings exist on this pla
net. Every bit pf heat generated
represents thermal pollution of
the atmosphere, but mankind
can’t get along without heat sour
ces. Aircraft pollute the skies
with jet fumes, but modern man
wants considerable more rapid
means of transportation than
sailing or paddling.
The need is for the federal
government and the states to de
velop environmental standards
that cover the requirements of
health and economic progress.
A community could eliminate in
dustrial air and water pollution
if industry were eliminated --
but modern society can’t do with
out industrial plants. Ironically,
many of the people who are ready
to sacrifice industry in order to
get the kind of pure air one ex
pects in a national park also are
insistent that government acti
vely participate in raising living
standards.
Well, we live in an industrial
era, and that’s what the vast
majority of people want. They
want the jobs and tax revenue
generated by industry. If extre
mists among the ranks of anti
pollution workers gain the upper
hand, there won’t be any way to
raise living standards. Economic
advances are the direct result
of private investment in indus
trial operations.
Fortunately, the same Ameri
can industry that generates jobs
also generates anti-pollution
know-how. Reasonable standards
can be developed and put into
effect. Meanwhile, local govern
ment can zone land areas for in
dustrial, residential, and recrea
tional uses. In other words, the
pollution problem can be over
come in the United States with
out creating a politically-orien
ted “protest movement” and with
out anyone becoming irrational
about industry.
American industry has a
fascinating story to tell about its
anti-pollution efforts. It should be
incouraged to tell the story
so that professional protesters
won’t have an opportunity to move
into the forum of public dis
cussion and vilify American en
terprise.
2-B—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C., Jan. 29, 1970
SENATOR STROM
i THURMOND
M reports to the
"PEOPLE
THE DECADE PAST
Kindergarten
Finances
COLUMBIA - Which costs more,
providing state-supported kin
dergartens for children or not
providing them?
The South Carolina Department
of Education reports that 9,304
children were retained in the
first grades of public schools
last year. That’s about 14.1 per
cent of the total first grade en
rollment having to repeat the
first grade.
In taxpayer terms, the total
cost of these first-grade repeat
ers is about $3,451,784. That’s
multiplying the number of repeat
ers by $371, or South Carolina’s
per pupil outlay for elementary
children last year.
A basic argument supporting
expansion of state kindergarten
programs is reduction of the
number of children having to re
peat the first grade. Well-or
ganized kindergarten programs
prepare a five-year-old for more
successful entry into the first
grade and beyond.
And it doesn’t require new math
to figure this: that $3.4 milliod
necessary to finance another year
in the same class for the same
first graders could have been
used to extend kindergarten
classes to about 20,000 more
children.
State Department of Education
officials admit that some of the
children would have repeated the
first grade anyway -- but not as
many if they had benefited from
kindergarten experiences.
Which is the wisest investment:
providing programs that allow a
five-year-old to fall in love with
learning for the rest of his life;
or putting the same money and
the same children in the same
classes for another year of ex
penses and trial?
South Carolinians are applying
their money and taking their
choice. The state now has 67
demonstration kindergartens
serving 3,700 children. An addi
tional state appropriation of $1
million has been requested in
order to serve a total of 11,500
children next year. There are
about 55,000 five-year-olds in
South Carolina.
With the beginninR of a new
decade, the press has been full
of many reviews of the past ten
years. Most of these summaries,
including those by self-styled
liberal commentators, have not
failed to convey a feeling of dis
tress and disappointment with
the achievements of the past
decade.
We are constantly reminded
that this is the decade which
saw the United States become
engaged in a major war abroad,
which saw the unprecedented
eruption of racial violence in all
sections of the country, which
saw the doubling of ordinary
crime in every city and in rural
areas as well, which saw the
crumbling of the public educa
tional systems, and^. which saw
the spiraling of inflation robbing
the poor of their subsistence
and the prudent of the incentive
to save.
DECADE OF LIBERALISM
When these commentators re
cite this dreary account, they
all fail to note that this decade
past may rightly be called the
Decade of Liberalism. It may be
a bit unfair to blame all these
ills upon liberalism, but we can
not omit the fact that our
American liberals triumphantly
came to power in 1960.
They had the optimism of
their creed, the confidence of
their solutions, and the self-
righteousness of those who con
sider themselves a morally su
perior elite. They not only had
handsome majorities in Con
gress; they quickly assembled a
brain trust of prime intellec
tuals to beef up the Executive
Branch, and they could count
upon the Supreme Court to ex
tend any reformist program to
absurdity. One would never
guess, looking at the slim Presi
dential margin in 1960. that thev
would be thrown out by a much
healthier margin at the end of
the decade.
One can only conclude that
liberalism has failed, just as any
obsessive ideological thinking
must fail. A man obsessed re
fuses to believe he can be proved
wrong. He cannot conceive of a
test which would invalidate his
beliefs. Scientific study is ba<ed
upon the rule that the same
facts will always give the same
results under the same circum
stances. But the liberal believes
that mankind will somehow be
different in the future, if
enough money is spent upon
education, and the superstitious
prejudices of the past are
eradicated.
LIBERAL PREJUDICE
Unfortunately, liberalism it
self is a bundle of unexamined
prejudices. Chief among those
prejudices today is the feeling
that our major ills today are
war, poverty, racism and ig
norance. Each one is considered
a “problem”, which, when solved,
will result in peace, prosperity,
brotherhood and universal de
mocracy. However, if we look
about us today, we see that none
of these is our real problem. To
day, the real problem is liber
alism itself.
For example, we know that
every citizen rightly wants to
improve his material circum
stances. We know that educa
tion gives him the tools to d
so. But we also know that edu
cation becomes irrelevant to the
real needs of human beings when
it is divorced from the religious
and cultural foundations of the
people. The liberal drive to re
move God from the classrooms,
as articulated by the Supreme
Court, and to abolish social dif
ferences through the abolition
of pluralistic school systems
amounts to nothing less than
cultural genocide.
Despite the prescriptions of
the liberals for ending poverty
and so-called racism, common
sense tells us that happiness is
not necessarily related to either
being poor or being wealthy, and
that success depends ultimately
unon the choice of wise goals
Wars will c-ase -only when the
instincts of mankind for aggre<
sion and domination fade away
Nor need we expect that educa
tion will bring wisdom and
tolerance. Indeed, the Christian
religion teaches us that wisdom
is more apt to be found in an
humble home than in the palaces
of kings’ -or in the lectures of
university scholars
We must not In* surprised,
then, that the liberals who
sought to govern in the pa^t
decade aggravated our real
problems with their supposed
solutions. The Nation has, by
and large, rejected their ideolog
ical approach. The remnants of
such thinking must be complete
Iv swept aside. Those who now
govern must take stock of the
pitfalls which yet lie ahead
f not prrparrd or pnntrd at govrrnmm t rxpcn»r)
PARSON TONES SAYS
■rfr
Name-Calling
Truce Needed
Dear Mr. Publisher:
We've inherited another cate
gory to put folks in - thanks to
the President. We now have a si
lent majority. First we had
Democrats and Republicans.
Then we picked up groups like
socialists and communists.
Somewhere we discovered the bi
gots and the liberals. The flood
walls broke down and we got ra
dicals, conservatives, doves,
hawks, hippies, middle-class,
pigs, the loud minority and now
the silent majority. Sounds like
something the TV commercial
people dreamed up. Wonder what
happened to just plain people.
Personally I’m getting a lit
tle tired of folks trying to disect
our society like it was a labora
tory frog. I never did think you
could put labels on people like
post toasties.
You take Brother George for
instance. Everybody in the church
calls him a conservative. On the
other hand young Ben Twist is
known as a liberal. The only
trouble Ben is liberal withevery-
thing that don’t belong to him,
while Brother George is the other
way around.
Another thing - Ben is the dove
and George is tiie hawk. You
couldn’t drive George into a fight
while Ben has had six brawls
since the first of the year. Ben
can live in peace with an idea
but he can’t get along with peo
ple.
The silent majority is the most
confusing group of all. My wife
is silent on some things and
talks a mile a minute on others.
I know lots a folks who’ll talk
their heads off about anything -
til you get to religion and they
shut up like a clam.
So, Mr. Publisher, you see how
confusing this whole thing is. Next
time they hold a moritorium I
hope it’s on name calling. I just
hope you and yours enjoy a good
week, no matter what you are.
Parson Jones
"It'd be great to go south for the winter-
someplace like Bismarck, North Dakota..."
TAX MAZE—‘T regard the
complexity of our tax laws as
contributing as much as any
thing else to the public dissat
isfaction,” said Rep. Joel T.
Broyhill (R.-Va.). “A year
ago, more than 26 million tax
payers had to seek paid assist
ance in the preparation of their
federal income tax returns.
More than $600 million was
spent by our people to have
someone else tell them how
much they owed their govern
ment. A means must be found
to provide a more understand
able tax system—one that the
ordinary cUjzen can apply
without having to i
assistance."
ig to seek special