The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, March 29, 1940, Image 4
PAGE FOUR
THE NEWBERRY SUN
FRIDAY. MARCH 29, 1940
— — — M
1218 Collect Street
Newberry, S. C.
O. F. ARMFIELD
Editor and Publisher
One Year $1.00
Published Every Friday
Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937, at
the post office at Newberry, South Carolina, under the
Act of March 3, 1879.
Emancipation Down On The Farm
According to the nation’s three foremost farmers, the president, Mr.
Secretary Wallace and Postmaster General Farley, the farmers of the coun
try are engaged in a farm program that will spell “emancipation” for them
in the future. That seemed to be the substance of the radio remarks made
by these three distinguished farmers recently when they addressed farmers
seated at banqueting tables thruout the country celebrating seven years of
new deal “emancipation.”
As we listened to the talks of these three great and successful farm
ers, we wondered how the banqueting farmers looked at the success of em
ancipation thus far achieved. Just a few minutes before we had glanced
at the market page in a daily paper. Hogs, were about 5 1-2 cents a pound,
eggs twelve cents a dozen and other farm products at just about bottom.
Did the farmers enjoy “emancipation” talks and five cents pig at the
same banquet table?
A few days before these radio talks took place, a Washington newspaper
commentator said Mrs. Wallace was gaining quite a reputation as up-and-up
hostess in the capitol, and told of the gorgeous flowers she always had at
her functions to cause guests to “oo-h” and “ah”—free flowers from the
government hothouse.
As the voice of that great farmer, the president, died away on the
ether waves, we tried to guess how many years must elapse before farm
wives generally would reach the social position where they could become
umpty-ump hostesses, and share the “emancipation” of free hothouse flowers
while their husbands thrill at the “emancipation” of flve-cents pig at the
banqueting board. .
It is said that these barnyard talks were intended as a sort of “liquid”
fertilizer, irrigated out over the country via radio, to make two farm votes
spring up where none grew before. How successfully they will achieve that
objective remains to be seen. Perhaps New Hampshire gives us a clue as
to the popularity of farm emancipation. Last week, in a presidential pre
ferential primary, the voters of that state polled a three-to-one vote in favor
of the Republican party. It should be evident, even to the dullest, that New
Hampshire farmers do not choose to be emancipated.
The Worker Pay*
Some of our best known leaders seem to have taken a lesson from
Washington. More and more their actions are guided by political considera
tions; the interest of the working man in having a good job and a permanent
one is apparently regairded as secondary to the business of jockeying about
in an effort to gain personal advantage.
It is no secret who pays for this—in opportunity as well as the coin of
the realm.
The worker pays.
He pays for labor racketeering.
He pays for the useless and unjustifiable strikes that throw him out of
a job for months on end.
He pays for the internecine warfare which has disturbed labor’s ranks
for years.
There can be no question, but that the cause of legitimate unionism
which will advance the real interests of the workers has been seriously dam
aged by the extremists. And whether they shall continue their destruction
is up to the rank and file of labor.
First sign of spring: When the good wife begins to lament that she
has “nothing to wear.”
Confucius say: He who wish to secure good will of Hitler must carry
him many barrel of oil out of his own well.
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Gives Evils of Punitive
Damages Practice
By SPECTATOR
SPRING is here; the little fellows
are shooting marbles all over the
place.
Farmers, sit steady; lots of time to
plant cotton. Don’t rush in. Rem
ember cool nights and lice work
against cotton.
The Lancaster News comes to me
replete with attractive material.
Friend Barton, once closely associat
ed with me, has treated the Lancas
trians handsomely and I rejoice in
seeing their appreciative advertising
response.
The arrest of the Governor of
Georgia by order of the Federal
Court brings up a fine point of law
and constitutionality. Probably the
Federal Courts will rule that a man
is a man before the law, whether a
Governor or just anybody. The same
would apply to a President if he
should violate a law of Georgia, while
in Georgia. But, those who cling to
the old order of things challenge the
right of the Federal Court to arrest
the Governor of a State. Of course
Governor Rivers is himself such a
New Dealer that he should not deny
the right of the Federal Government
to do anything. I spoke of the FED
ERAL GOVERNMENT, but what we
have is no longer a Federal Govern
ment, but a NATIONAL GOVERN
MENT, state authority and import
ance being relatively unimportant to
day.
After all is said about the case
technically,—and I am aware of the
technical constitutional issues—it
goes against the grain to have the
official state acts of a Governor
brought before a United States
Court.
The point at issue is that the Gov
ernor having removed the Highway
Comissioner, the Commissioner sought
the protection of the Federal Court
on the ground that his office had been
taken from him without due process
of law.
Spectator hazards the guess that
the “due process of law” was never
intended to cover any such case.
Business men are urging that we
change our practice with regard to
punitive damage awards. This is
the second of the proposals endorsed
by all the Chambers of Commerce of
the State, the first being the repeal
of the tax on intangibles which I dis
cussed last week. In speaking of
business men I think it unfortunate
that men working for salaries and
wages regard themselves as exclud
ed. That is a misunderstanding.
Most of our business men work for
salaries, even if they own the busi
ness; and there is no difference be
tween wages and salaries. I should
be perdfectly willing for someone to
pay me handsomely and call it wages.
To go a bit further, the only differ
ence between wages and salaries on
one hand, and dividends and profits
on the other, is that you are sure to
get the wages and salaries, whereas
noboby is sure of profits and divi
dends. To prove that, the records
show that during the depression the
great business enterprises of the
United States paid out twenty-seven
billion dollars from their surplus to
maintain their organizations; and the
record also shows a three hundred
per cent increase in wages in fifty
years, together with a great ir creese
in taxation, while in this same >eriod
the perce tage of net pro'its a the
volume of production < : ac' .ied. I
once held u little stock myself in
one of the biggest concerns in the
United States, which frequently in
creased wages, but never paid me
one cent in dividends durinir the five
or six years I held the stock. I am
trying oqly to establish as a fact
that in the long run we are all busi
ness men, regardless of the kind of
stake we have in the concern. Labor
is business, and the man in overalls
is a business man and does a lot of
business to get his pay; just as the
manager may worry day and night
how to keep his wheels going and
make a good showing to his board of
directors. So, then, when I talk
about business men, I am not advo
cating anything which is not for the
general good, as I understand it.
Perhaps some of my readers do not
know about punitive damages. This
is what I mean: if a poor plow-
hand were to brush against me with
his car I should probably have my
emotions rise to the boiling point,
brush off my clothes and go on my
way; hut if that car or truck or bus
belonged to some wealthy concern
there would be a suit against it for
thousands of dollars. A suit to make
an example of a person for fraud or
some flagrant act is something known
for many centuries, and the practice
comes to us from the English Com
mon Law; which is the basis of most
of our law; but in South Carolina we
have an unfortunate reputation for
having so allowed damage suits where
the damage was small, but the defen-
dent rich, that this reputation does us
a great deal of harm, advertising our
state as the happy hunting ground of
damage-suit lawyers. This, of course,
is unjust to most lawyers.
As soon as it is urged, to restrict
the punitive damage practice, some
one raises the cry that the restric
tion would help big business. Well
let us be frank and ask the question,
why not? Are we the enemy of big
business ? Or are we keenly anx
ious to get more big business to South
Carolina ? The bigger the business
the more people who are employed,
and the more wages paid, and the
more taxes paid; so don’t we all want
more big business to come to our
state? But I have an answer to
that. Every man who carries a lia
bility policy on his car is paying nine
dollars a year more for the ordinary
Th« Appointment of
W. H. Davis and Son
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five thousand dollar policy than is
paid by automobile owners of Geor
gia, not to mention about sixteen dol
lars more than is paid in Kansas.
That is what our insurance costs us
because of the damage suit practice
in our state. We men who drive
cars, little fellows we are in the busi
ness world, yet we pay to the in
surance companies nearly a million
and a half dollars a year more than
we would pay if we lived in Georgia.
The insurance companies charge us
higher rates because of the suits they
have to settle under our punitive dam
age practice. Another good answer
was given by a friend of mine who
is well known as an outstanding lead
er in the ranks or organized labor.
At a hearing on this matter before
a committee of the House, Earle Brit
ton used an illustration which was
very apt and timely. He made the
point that the Legislature passed the
Workmans Compensation Act, which
limits the amount which a working
man may receive for injuries suffer
ed in the place where he works;
therefore, if a limitation of recovery
is good for a working man, why isn’t
it good for everybody else There is
no answer to Mr. Britton except that
he is right. There can be no excuse
for limiting the amount of damage
to a man who is hurt in actual em
ployment, while allowing Tom, Dick
and Harry to sue for unlimited sums.
In many cases the actual damage is
more or less trivial or fanciful, but
the idea is to get a big verdict under
the pretext of punitive damages. Our
courts are prostituted when they be
come a theater of extortion.
As soon as a suit is filed for twenty-
five thousand or fifty thousand dol
lars that suit becomes a contingent
liability against the company or in
dividual. He must depend entirely
on the whim of twelve men under the
sway of tremendous emotions played
on by an astute advocate. No one
can embark upon a business with any
degree of assurance if subject to the
menace of a predatory practice.
I am making no argument against
the payment of the actual or just
damage. Every reason of justice re-
? uires that all men stand equal be-
ore the law; that the poor man and
the humble citizen shall be fully pro
tected against the rich and powerful;
but equal justice requires that we
should not prey upon anybody and
make him' a victim merely because
he is big.
In the effort to draw favorable at
tention to South Carolina for new in
vestments I think we may find in
I this a plan in which all may cooper
ate. The pointed remark of Mr. Brit
ton is to my mind conclusive; if it be
fair to labor to limit the right to sue
and the amount for injuries it is just
as right and proper that the same
principle should be applied to all
others.
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Hardware
AMERICANA—
Ruse
When a hold-up man ordered Isaac
Smith, owner of a Roxbury, Mass.,
garage to open his safe, Smith replied
apologetically: “I am a stranger here
myself, buddy. I’m just waiting for
a ' friend.” Baffled, the gunman
quickly departed. »
Pet
The crow that gives farmers at
Lakeview, N. C., the most trouble
is not a pest but a pet. The bird is
a talking crow named Hoppie, owned
by John Hanes. When farmers,
plowing their fields, tell the mules to
giddap,” Hoppie often appears,
shouting his favorite word: “Whoa!”
Fire
Volunteer firemen of Milmont Park,
Pa., were embarrassed enoueh when
their own fire-house caught fire. To
make matters worse, none of them
had a key to the building, so they
had to break down the door. Then
they had to get help from three
nearby departments to put out the
blaze.
Identification
Applying for relief in Pompono,
Fla., during the recent cold wave, a
colored woman didn’t know the age
of her four children. Closest she
could come was to tell the investiga
tors: “I got one lap child, one creeper,
one porch child, and one yard young
’un.”
Petticoat Rule
In accordance with its traditional
leap year custom, Aurora, 111., (pop.
52,000) turned the city government
over to its young women for a day.
Named police magistrate, Mary Whit-
els ordered the arrest of all eligible
bachelors and fined them silk stock
ings, flowers and candy. Seeking to
escape penalties, 167 prisoners pro
posed to the pretty judge.
GEMS OF THOUGHT
Deeds
Every man feels instinctively that
all the beautiful sentiments in the
world weigh less than a single lovely
action.—James Russell Lowell.
I must do something to keep my
thoughts fresh and growing.—James
A. Garfield.
Goodness and philanthropy begin
with work and never stop working.
All that is worth reckoning is what
we do, and the best of everything is
not too good, but is economy and
riches.—Mary Baker Eddy.
It is the little things well done
that go to make up a successful and
truly good life.—Theodore Roosevelt.
Let us decide honestly what we
'can do, and then do it with all our
might.—Amelia D. Barr.
Have You Borrowed Money
on your
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In case you have borrowed money on your
life insurance, we will be glad to discuss our
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The South Carolina National Bank
Newberry, S. C.
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CONSULT
MADAM CECIL
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you just what you want to know about friends, enemies or rivals;
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mise to make no charge unless you find me superior to any other
analyst ever consulted. There is no hope so fond, or wish so
great, that I cannot accomplish for you.
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I give you never failing advice on all matters of life, sueh as
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