The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, December 24, 1943, Image 4
BUY
BONDS FOR CHRISTMAS
THE NEWBERRY SUN
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1943
Holiday
Notice/
Offices in the County Court
House will be closed on the
following dates, pn account
of the holidays:
. FRIDAY, DEC. 24
i£'i#
SATURDAY, DEC. 25
and
SATURDAY, Jan. 1, 1944
1943
Tax Notice
After the close of
business on
December 31, 1942, a
1 per ct. Penalty
will be added to all
unpaid 1943 State
and County taxes.
J. RAY DAWKINS
COUNTY TREASURER
THE SPECTATOR
Whom does the Spectator repre
sent? My esteemed friend of the
years, Mr. Fitzhugh McMaster, edi
torializing in The News and Herald
(Winnsboro), under the flattering
heading “No Fool, He”, says the
Spectator’s interests are those of or
ganized business, other things being
equal. Well, let us accept that—so
what?
Spectator is the opinion of its
author. He bows and scrapes to no
body. Never has Spectator advocat
ed selfish advantage for any inter
est; never has it opposed a laudable
plan, unless on constitutional ground,
or because the State should not un
dertake it for reason of principle or
sound financing; never has Spectator
failed to speak vigorously for the
farming interests; never has Spec
tator failed to speak for the genera!
public interest if a special interest
stood in conflict. -
Since the matter of Organized
Business has been brought up, 1
make the same point for it.
Organized Business really fights
for the man or enterprise which is
being unjustly attacked. Some
times Organized Business has not
only defended or advocated meas
ures for the general public, but has
done so in opposition to a group of
very powerful members. I could tell
Mr. McMaster all about that.
Is it not a fact that through Spec
tator and over he radio I have al
ways written and spoken for the
farmer. Mr. McMaster must know
that.
It so happens that nobody has eve*
suggested subjects for me to tall
about or write about. Speaking and
writing what I think may not be ir
harmony with some of my friends
but I shall continue to do both with
complete independence, with proper
regard for the dignity of the radic
and the press.
What' really irritates my friend
(and he is a true man) is that he
embraces the New- Deal, whereas I
am not always quite as enthusiastic
as he is over the messianic charac
ter or mission or ministry of the
gentlemen of the White House, who
masquerades as a Democrat, though
doing violence to all Southern Dem
ocrats, except the few whose charity
covers a multitude of sins.
We have not a Democratic party
in power, but a conglomerate aggre
gation of New Dealers, Republicans,
Time-servers, Job-seekers, and Syco
phants. Even two Cabinet officers
are well-known Republicans.
_ If all the New Dealers were as
high-minded as Mr. McMaster, as
unselfish and unseeking, the Not
oel. Unfortunately the New Dea
s so practical that it must be judg
ad on the basis of practicality. I
has no spiritual concept or force; i
‘alks of stuff for tse body and play,
ball with anybody who crawls ove:
the fence.
CHRRISTMAS is in the air. No
thing quite so distinguishes thr
country a s the thrill of the Christ
mas season which begins about th<
first of December. All is aglow,
atingle, and Santa Claus greets m
in person and in spirit.
There is a great ado about buy
ing. It all simmers down to thought
fulness for others. First, of course
come the little fellows, with the
candy, cake, fruit, toys—and what
not. Then the others. •
No one need be reminded that thr
Spirit of Christmas is what counts
for it in indeed, a gift of the spirit.
The very word “CHRISTMAS”
means a celebration of the Christ
There was the babe of Bethlehem
who became the man Jesus. Jesus
was a common name, as John is
with us. My Spanish friends name
streets Jesus, Maria, Jesus Maria,
Espiritu Santo, Todos Los Santos,
Los Apostolos, La Virgen, Dios To-
dopodoroso, Santa Cruz, Los Afligi-
dos, and son on. WE have a feeling
that the common use of such words
is sacriligeous.
In conversation, even without ex
citement, you man hear a Spaniard
say, Jesus, Jesus Maria, Dios Mio.
I think we might do well to dis
tinguish between Jesus and the
Christ. Christmas is not in honor
of Jesus, but of the Christ, signify
ing the Saviour, the Mesiah, The
Lamb of God, The Redeemer, The
Prince of Peace, the Mighty God,
Immanuel, or God with us. For the
Christ who came in lowliness; and
who was despised and rejected of
men, wag of the Triune Godhead,
and lived before the creation of the
world. It is beyond our range of un
derstanding that the Son of God
should walk among us, tempted in all
parts as we a re» bringing to our sim
ple understanding the Fatherhood of
God and the Way of Salvation. Nor
do we grasp it yet in its fullness
and power. As Tennyson said:
“That we who have not seen Thy
face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace;
Believing, where we cannot prove.”
The love of God which prompted
che coming of the Savior is the key
note of the occasion. All the frills
and furbeloes are splendid if in that
spirit. Christmas, as a mere occasion
of over-eating, is a sad perversion
of the meaning of Bethlehem.
The government should buy space
in the newspapers, as I see it. That
.s not a subsidy, of the sort we ob
ject to. That is the same as paying
for any other service commodity
Why should a newspaper give a
ftf adYertising space? Advertising is
its life-blood. Nobody advocates
subsiding editorals, or newspaper po
litical policy. .
The government is collecting mon
ey from every source; it has money
for every sort of thing in every oth-
ir country. Why, then, does it not
pay the newspapers? Let us say,
rather, why not buy its advertising
space?
The government collects income
.ax, even a withholding tax, - which
I think is quite all right. The gov-
rnment has some sort of tax on
.verthing you touch, or see or hear.
Why tax the people with a care-free
ibandon; and then virtually drive
jven small wage-earners into a cor-
ler to buy bonds; and then depend
on the aroused spirit of the people
co give and give, and keep on giv
ing, - as an act of patriotism?
With all that we pour into other
ountries in a fancied campaign of
good will, or rehabilitation, on Uto
pian lines, why not pay the press
ind the radio for advertising ser
vices ?
No one connected with either the
press or the radio has ever mention
ed this to me. But I once was a
newspaperman and I know all about
their problems.
Instead of the government pro
ceeding properly, as a matter of le
gitimate business, merchants and
others in business are urged to buy
space to “back the bond sale”, and
such as that.
There is no such reason why this
charity should be appealed to.
Let the government pay its way
so far as a service or commodity
has a compensable value. Even then
>eople will have much to give and
nuch to do at their own cost.
The Sumter Item quotes Senator
Maybank as saying that he will sup
port an amendment to freeze the
Jld-Age Pension tax at 1 per cent
>n employers and 1 per cent on em-
iloyees if Congress should provide
ndependently for the four million
nen and women in the service whose
payments have been discontinued.
The question arises: Is this a mis-
mderstanding on the part of the
Senator? If he is thinking of unem-
iloyment, this is not an unemploy
ment tax; this Old-Age InsuraYice
tax, so far as I see it, has nothing
to do with returning service men
md women.
The record shows that there were
millions of persons paying the tax,
is of June 30, 1943. From a total of
*ifty million persons 31,130,000,000
vas collected during the fiscal year
jnding June 30, 1943. The papments
luring the same period amounted to
3176, 000,000; the trust fund on June
30, was 34,268,000,000. So why
should even four million service men
and women threaten to absorb the
fund? But, as I said, the Senator
ust have been thinking of unemploy
ment benifits, not Old-Age clais.
Even if this fund were charger ble
with benifits to returning service
men, there is no reason to believe
that all four million will suddenly
attain to old age.
The return of the millions now in
the military services will present a
grave problem bo employers if the
men and women are given unemploy
ment benefits, charged against the
trust funds of their former employ
ers. We may concede that they
should have something to tide them
over, but it should be a Federal ap
propriation for that purpose.
To clear this up: not everybody
has paid the old-age insurance tax.
AMERICAN HEROES
BY LEFF
It would not be fair to take the mon
ey paid by one specially-taxed group
and pay it to another group which
had never contributed to it.
As to the unemployment benefits-.
If returning soldiers are given bene
fits chargeable against the trust
funds of former employers; and the
benefits to those who took their
place must also be charged against
that account, the employers will
face the payment of double benefits.
That will mean that their taxes will
be increased.
Perhaps half of the soldiers, sail
ors, marines and airmen worked for
who were not covered by the unem
ployment insurance. Weuld they get
nothing ?
Isn’t it apparent that all such ben
efits must be paid from a special
national appropriation?
Even if four million become eli
gible for benefits - all four million -
the total would not reach a billion
dollars. The Old-Age Insurance has
a trust fund today of probably 35,-
000,000. And the total of all the
trust funds for unemployment com
pensation is now about five billion
dollars
feme
If you haven’t gotten arou
£|5 to buying a Second War Load
Bond, stop and think what
would mean to you if our sol- '
diers hadn’t gotten round to
the fight.
►ET THE BELLS OF
CHRISTMAS RING MERRILY...
May they ring in a Season of good
cheer, of happiness, of fellowship,
of all things good. Because of the
loyalty of our friends, we have en
joyed a successful year, and in
recognition of these friendships
and favors we say “thank you”.
The season's best to you is our
Chf! tmas wish.
Stokes’ Drug Store
GOOD WISHCS
FOR
Christmas
AND THE
New Year
Carolina Remnant Store
A veteran Naval flyer at 25, Lieut. Robert Pershing Williams, of
Pierre, S. Dak., prowls the Atlantic in a Grumman Avenger torpedo
plane, hunting the German U-boat, HU battle station a plane carrier on
the ocean. He lias just been credited with the destruction of 3 U-boats,
and damage to a fourth. His bravery and \igilance guard our convoys.
Our ITar Bonds fuel his plane. Give War Bonds for Christmas.
Holiday
Notice
This Bank will not be open
for business on the follow
ing dates;
Saturday, December 25
and
*
Saturday, Jan. 1, 1944
The South Carolina