Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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t DISSERVICE TO SOUTH f** * QMtfia Governor Letter Maddox’s recent run-in with a Congressman in Washington was viewed lightly, even j<’'tanorously, by some Southerners. | $ut to offidals of the South Carolina i Department of Education, it was a se- \ iious incident ^ £ Addressing the Clinton Rotary l Club last week, Deputy Superintend- Ralph Durham said, “We met re- t 1 . cently with the entire South Carolina § congressional delegation in Washing- $ fry We came away from that meet- ^ ing greatly encouraged that we could ^ get a fair hearing and some reason- solutions to our educational prob- Jems, particularly in connection with our efforts to comply with integration rulings. v ^ “Then that afternoon Gov. Maddox :^8Bit into the same dining room where ’itit had met He started passing out axe handles and had his run-in with the congress and, all of a sudden, the congressional atmosphere had chang ed. “We had tried to build on South Carolina’s good image as law-abiding, conscientious citizens. Then with that one incident, the old anti-South feel ing was stirred up again.’’ South Carolina was dealt another blow by the incident in Lamar. Peo ple won’t remember the grace with which Greenville complied with a court order in highly controversial cir cumstances. They will remember the T^mar mob which attacked two school buses loaded with school children. If the South is to expect to be dealt with fairly and with reason then its people must act fairly and reason ably. Those who act, or react, other wise, are doing a disservice to the South in general and its children in particular. SUGGESTIONS . Nobody asked us, but . . . Why don’t state law enforcement officials get together and with tele phone officials and set up one num ber people can call in emergency situ ations? It would be particularly helpful to people in distress situations away from home. Regardless of where they are, they could call a specified phone number for assistance. For example, the number might be ; : ',JjQ00. The number would be publiciz ed throughout the state. If a man from Charleston comes upon a wreck hear Clinton, he would know to go to I.-.the nearest telephone and call 1000 to : Report the wreck and obtain assistance for the people involved. As it is, he might waste valuable minutes trying to find out whom he should call. ACC TOURNAMENT Why doesn’t the Atlantic Coast Conference members move their bas ketball tournament back a week and change their format a little to fur ther assure that their best team rep resents them in the Eastern Regional playoff? As it now stands, the conference It jtpijzppainent winner represents the ACC in the Regionals. The regular season champion gets nothing but a Ipt of publicity and top seeding in the tournament. We suggest that the ACC tourna ment be moved back one week. If the regular season champion does not win the conference tournament then there could be a playoff game between the two teams during that extra week between the ACC Tournament and the Eastern Regionals. If the regular season champions win the tournament also, then they would be rewarded with a well-deserved week of rest and more time for preparation for the Regional tournament. That way, they would still have their lucrative tournament and every conference team would still have a chance to go on to the Regionals. The last-place team in conference stand ings still could qualify for the Region als by winning the conference tourna ment and then winning the playoff with the regular season champs. (Note: The above was written prior to South Carolina’s loss to N. C. State Saturday night, so it isn’t sour grapes. However, that game serves to prove the point. South Carolina swept undefeated through ACC and two tournament games but lost the championship game in the final minute of double overtime, bringing their season to an abrupt end and leaving them at home while other conference champions fight for NCAA honors.) EXPENSIVE SIGN Some folks visiting our nation’s ‘ capital may or may not, depending ....jipon their taste for architectural de- roWgn, be duly impressed with the mas- kive building on Seventh Street, S.W., occupied by “HUD”—the Department of Housing and Urban Development. We have heard of some folks who live in Washington and pass by the place frequently, who have yet to figure out the location of either a front or back door to the building, although they as sume that there is one, someplace. But if the structure doesn’t boast a front porch, at least it has a nice sign; a nice big sign. Eight stories high — and several yards wide — and built with stone, as the rest of the building. Nice lighting to illuminate the letters on the sign at night, al though, ’tis true, one lias to retreat for a distance to read the letters which roughly six or seven stories above street level : Freshman Congressman Lowell P. Weicker (R.-Conn.) was not only im pressed but slightly indignant when he discovered that the HUD sign cost $63,000. In a letter to his constituents, Mr. Weicker admitted that $63,000 might not sound like a great deal of money, when the interest we pay on our na tional' debt alone runs to many bil lions. But, said the congressman, “To me it represents $63,000 for a narcoL ics treatment and drug education pro gram. It represents the salaries for more teachers to relieve crowded class rooms. It is $63,000 in housing that was never built. “This $63,000 sign represents what a government cannot accomplish when it wastes money. It is a symbol of the thousands of $63,000 projects that (have) bled the taxpayer and produced no benefits. It is a reminder to Congress and President Nixon of the huge job we have ahead of us in redirecting the nation’s priorities.” DOUGLAS' VIEW A new book written by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas has hrised a storm of angry protest among of congress. In the book, ‘jPoints oi Rebellion”, the 72 year old jturist appears to justify the use of violence and disregard for law and or der by anti-American demonstrators. Me describes our nation, loosely, as “the Establishment” without defining exactly what he means by the word. For example, on page 53 he writes, *The major parties are controlled by the establishment and the result is a form of political bankruptcy”. He that our country is not con- bf the people, but by “special to fa re- and he ds- then follows with the accusation that “the powers that be faintly echo Adolf Hitler, who said in 1938: “The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting ... We need law and order.” Of course Mr. Douglas does not ex plain that the rioting youth in Ger many were in fact the fascist youth who helped bring Hitler to power and later became his Storm Troopers and Gestapo agents. But it seems to us to be altogether shocking that a man who is an official in the highest court of law in the land, should equate ‘law and order” with fascism. If Mr. Douglas has lost faith in a lawful society, governed by the people and for the people, then we must agree with some members of Congress who have already declared that be should Noble Experiment' Not Working BY THURMAN SENSING Executive Vice President Southern States Industrial Council Even as Prohibition was termed the “noble experiment” -- while it lasted, we have now reached the point in our experi ence when forced integration may be termed the “ignoble experi ment.” Almost 16 years after the U. S. Supreme Court rulings in the school cases, it is clear that the judicial policies set by the court are not working and actu ally are damaging to all Ameri cans regardless of race, creed or color. The social theorists who de veloped the notion of compulsory association did not take account of what is practical in human af fairs. The fact is that, today, black Americans increasingly in sist on freedom to associate with their own group. The nation should have known from the beginning that forced association would not work and would prove unacceptable to both major racial groups in the coun try. The Presidents of this coun try, from Thomas Jefferson to Harry Truman, especially in cluding Abraham Lincoln, have made strong statements to this effect over the years. The net result of the crusade for forced association has been to worsen race relations in many areas, to disrupt or breakdown the educational process, and to slowdown the progress of the people most in need of it. In the 1960s, the federal government demonstrated its power to compel the states to alter their laws and educational systems. But the gov ernment failed miserably at con structive efforts involving educa tion. Had forced association not been placed ahead of educational values, real learning would have been advanced at a rapid among people with a low level of edu cational attainment. The error of forced association was not recognized while court orders requiring it were con fined to the Southern States. But once the problem of forced as sociation became national in scope, then the public began to recognize the folly of court de cisions requiring racial bal ancing and similar measures. So now, at long last, the nation begins to take a new look at the whole question of association in a free country. In the North and the West, for example, there is a fresh awareness of the import ance of preserving or restoring the neighborhood school and the error of transporting students hither and yon in order that class rooms have a precise racial com position. Before long, the U. S. Supreme Court may be compelled to reexamine its central thesis on the psychological effects of racial separation in education, if for no other reason than that many black Americans want their children to attend schools in their home neighborhood where sur roundings are familiar and fellow students have the same back ground. Indeed it seems clear that if the nation seriously wants to improve educational opportunity and upgrade unskilled people for better employment it will have to dispense with the concepts of compulsion that only irritate and upset people and don’t add to their real knowledge or capabilities. Forced association, of course, is derived from the general so cialistic philosophy of compul sion--the idea that people must be made to do what social theo rists think is good for them. The idea of government selecting a person’s associates, of course, is ridiculous and should have been so regarded years ago. Had com pulsion been seen as the great est social evil, the country would have been spared the internal agonies and high costs that have resulted from the 1954 Supreme Court decisions. Progress in a republic should come through voluntary associa tion and through partnership. Progress cannot come from edicts regarding association. Certainly, public education has not been improved by the fact that the Supreme Court has act ed as the ultimate school board superintendent for the nation. Both white and black Ameri cans want a happier era than the country has had in the last 15 years. They want a calmer at mosphere in the public schools and better instruction in the ele- mentals that lead to higher edu cation and saleable skills. They want peaceful neighborhoods. And they want the federal government to stop writing the rules for as sociation and other personal as pects of community life. Hopefully, the country will ack nowledge the failure of the “ig noble experiment” and move on to more sensible and constructive ways of helping everybody get ahead in an enterprise society. * * * Famous “First” A picture of the U S. Sen ate in session was taken for the first time with the con sent of the chamber in Sep tember, 1963. It was taken when all but one senator were in the chamber for the test ban treaty ratification. 2*B—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C., March 12, 1970 SENATOR STROM i THURMOND A REPORTS TO THE PEOPLE A HOUSE DIVIDED The Senate Judiciary Commit tee has agreed to vote on the electoral college question by April 24. This means that those who favor the abolition of the Electoral College will try to get their proposed Constitutional Amendment to the Senate Floor in time for the States to act be fore the 1972 elections. Those who want to abolish the Electoral College generally be lieve that it should be replaced by a system in which each citi zen votes directly for the Presi dent and Vice President. The direct election plan would abol ish voting by States in the elec toral college. The smaller States would lose their weight and in fluence ni the political affairs of the Nation. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT Naturally, such a drastic change in the delicate system of checks and balances requires a Constitutional Amendment. The House has already approved the proposed Direct Election Amend ment, but Senate action is re quired before it can be suhmit- te 1 to the States. Thus it hap pens that, at a crucial time, those who would be expected to support the revolutionary direct election amendment suddenly find their ranks divided. For years it has been an arti cle of faith among the so-called liberal theoreticians that any re straints such as the Constitution places upon the electoral process are inherently undesirable. They have held that the historical ar guments in favor of Constitu tional compromise and the bal ance of power were of little value when compared to the visionary ideals of pure democ racy. Because these same liber als had held the reins of power for so long, it never occurred to them that even political power, as wielded by the hand of man. requires self-limiting restraints. For these reasons, the Sena torial sponsors of the direct election plan now find them selves under fire from a quarter they least expected. One after another, left-of-center journals and writers have become con verts to the sound principle that the electoral college may need reform, but it does not need to be -wept away. DIRECT PLAN ATTACKED One such example is Richard Goodwin, a speech writer to the Kennedys and to Eugene Mc Carthy. Goodwin says, in a re cent article: “There is good rea son to believe that direct popu lar election of the President might end that two-party sys tem which has helped make the United States the most stable and long-lasting democracy in the history of the world.” A little further on, Goodwin says, “The Electoral College has not only faithfully reflected the pop ular will; it has usually strengthened it by giving a can didate with a narrow popular margin a far larger electoral mandate.” Another well-known political writer, Theodore White, said in a recent article in LIFE .Maga zine: "To reduce Americans to faceless digits on an enormous tote board, in a plebiscite swept by demagoguery, manipulated by TV. at the mercy of crooked counters—this is an absurdity for which girodwill and noble theory are no justification." Mr. White is on sound ground. Alexander M. Bicktl, a pro fessor of law at Yale I'nivcr sity, has written a long and thoughtful article opposing the direct election plan Profcs-or Bickcl says: “A system of coun tervailing centers of power ii:a> l»e better for a country a- large and still as diver-e as our- than one in which Congiv-- and the President represent more nearly the same constituency " Piofe- sor Biekel calls for perfecting the present sy-tem, net for abandoning it. Now that the -o-,ailed lilx-r als are out of power, their theo retieians are more aw ate of the Deed to pre-erve our hl-torie method of guarding again-t the overwhelming of -mailer group in' massive majorities. The be-t way to perfect the present -v- tem is the -o railed district plan of reform, whereby the elec toral college Would l»' iho-eii according to districts, parallel ing the method of electing Rep resentatives and Senators Meanwhile, the proponent- of the direct election plan find then ranks divided. (not pri porrd m j>r m 11 d at Qttv* rti r» > n t > x t Save Our Environment The Editor: (This is an open letter to Gov. McNair which I hope you will find worthy of space in the Chronicle.) Dear Gov. McNair, To date, our South Carolina has been spared some of man’s in humanities to man. Progress has many defmitions, one of which is improvement. For the Governor of our State to knowingly invite a foreign in dustry, which has already ser iously added to the pollution of it’s own homeland, to contaminate our State is not progress; further it is unbelievable. Human habitation of the earth has come to a turning point, Ecology has become more im portant than the dollar. For what can one million of these do for your genetically impared grand child? Now, perhaps if we spend the taxpayers 19.2 million < n de contamination rather than BASF, there might be a new genera tion of normal healthy human babies. Must Port Royal Sound lie in the grave beside Lake Erie'’ Would you have our natural won derland become part of the “Hu man Zoo"? For the sake of our grand children and humanity stop con- sturction of this most likely polluter until impartial ecolo gical annalyses have been com pletely made, studied, and passed upon by non political actions. Sincerely, Mrs. Allen Barron P. O. Box 576 Newberry, S. C. 29108 Parson Jones Says Everything Has A Purpose? Dear Mr. Publisher: the same old mistake with sex that My mama always told me we made with arithmetic. We everything had a purpose. God didn’t make anything that didn’t have a purpose. I always believed that til I took a good look at the modern family. Now I’m not too sure. When I was a youngun the fami ly had a purpose. My mama taught me how to cook and my daddy taught me how to work. The home was a place where I ate, slept, played, and learned a little bit about everything - even sex. Over the years society has either got smarter or else the family has got dumber. Now-a-days we let the state provide the education and the play for our kids. They eat at the hamburger places, and live in their cars. Now there’s a move on to teach ’em about sex in the schools. So, Mr. Publisher, I’m wondering what’s left for the family to do, except to foot the bill. It looks like we may make thought by teaching kids to add and subtract it would make a better world. But we forgot to teach ’em how to be honest with their flggering. Now we’re gonna teach sex like arithmetic, believ ing that as long as they know what to call everything and what it does, everything will be fine. Only problem is sex ain’t arith metic. It’s emotional and it’s mo ral Sex involves love and you don’t learn love out of a book. A kid is equipped for sex when be is equipped with love. And, I don’t know of a much better place to get it than in the home. Mr. Publisher, I gotta sign off for now and take my younguns on a picnic. Believe it or not, that may Just help ’em out in their sex life some day. Who knows, they might even notice the birds and the bees. Parson Jones. * * * / / / V