Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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iHE NEWBERRY SDN sgttn 11218 College Street NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA O. P. ARMFIELD Editor and PoMisher Published Every Friday In The Year Entered aa second-class matter December 6, 1937, at tht postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. SPECTATOR Mr. H. G. Osteen, the well-inform ed and vigorous editor of the Sum ter Daily Item, has told me some things of interest about the ballot. Years ago, Governor Richard I Man ning, as we remember him, proposed a single ballot fo the Democratic Primary. I did not know that before this fight of Mr. Manning’s, the Democratic candidates (prepared their own tickets and went into a Demo cratic Primary with all the confu sion imaginable. The fight of Mr. Manning’s brought about the print ing of the names of all State candi dates on one ballot. Our Democrats seem to have managed to get a single ballot for the Democratic Primary, after much trial and tribulation; so it seems that we now may hope to have a single ballot in the general elec tion, rather than continue the prac tice of a multipolicity of tickets, with great confusion. Upon receiving Mr. Osteen’si in teresting letter I consulted Mr. A. S. Salley, Secretary of the South Carolina Historical commission. Mr. Salley always has the facts—and at his tongue’s end, so I was carried back to the early days of the South Carolina Democratic Primary, with all the practices of that early time. What strikes me as being odd is that no one seems toi have mentioned before that the Democratic Primary at first had no State ticket; but that each candidate prepared his own bal lot—just as we may do now in the General Election. For several years the Single Ballot, or State Ballot, has been vigorously advocated by in dividuals, by newspapers, and by petitions numerously signed, but the fact that the State Democratic lead ers had to make a fight for a State ballot for the Primary has not been brought to my knowledge until Mr. Osteen pulled the fact from his storehouse of knowledge. Well, now, what does it all amount to? Just this: The State Democrat- “■ic Convention separated the County from the State ticket; and put all County candidates on one ticket and all state candidates on another. That is the thing to do now for the Gen eral Election. . _ FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1945 My poor friend! suppose his em ployer should next time “raise him” $50.00, then $25.00 more, followed by $50.00 more—and so on. Imagine the poor fellow earning bigger and better salaries all the time—and re ceiving less! Some of us are afraid that he will—in course of time—be honored with such a magnificent sal- j ary that we shall have to pass the hat to buy his groceries! Wartime Champion The Government works against it self by its tax rates. Let’s consider some facts: A well-known man of my community, a prudent and thrifty man who knows) the number of cents in a dollar, was recently given a “raise” of twenty dollars a month. He felt good over it, naturally, and probably purposed in his heart to add twenty dollars a month to the usual deposit which swells his bank account every month. Imagine his chagrin on finidng in the mail his monthly pay check, but fifty cents less than the previous checks! In deed! The twenty-dollar “raise” put my friend in a higher bracket and netted him fifty cents less than he A Columbia barber tells this story: “I am working by myself. I close on Saturday afternoons because I can’t handle the work. My barber friends used to tell me that I was crazy; that I was passing up a lot of good money. Well now that they are in a higher backet because of their good pickings they tell me that I have more sense than they have.” Isn’t something wong about that? Isn’t the Government working against itself? Do not the tax brackets discourage work? Do they not penalize work? Might not the Government solve its labor problem, it’s so-called manpower shortage, by changing its brackets so that a man may enjoy the earnings of his labor and be stimulated to work longer hours? We must have enough in telligence to solve this, surely. According to reports a high offi cial of the Utilities Division of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina went to Washington last week . Inquiry brought the informa tion that the trip to Washington was official; that is, that our friend, the Utility administrator was not mere ly refreshing his mind ai ' spirit, af ter a year of gruelling toil and of ficial vexations. One may surmise as one pleases but the assignment of a highly-placed specialist in Utility public relations permits us to hope that he will make a survey of offi cial conditions in our Nation’s Capi tal. It is rumored widely that a ma jor difficulty there is that the Presi dent now has too much power, but too little light. Such a lack of bal ance is a delicate problem and de serves the most meticulous attention of our versatile! and engaging friend. Well the Mayor of Charleston re quested the Charleston County leg islative delegation to withdraw the bill which would have permitted the City of Charleston to charge as a license fee 20 per cent of the gross receipts of a business. So a dan gerous act has been avoided, with all the inevitable challenges in Court. There is a principle involved which we ought to ponder seriously: Why should any town or County or State enact tax laws to punish any per son o^ business? Mr. Roosevelt car ried that to the greatest and most menacing extreme in his attack on the power enterprises, but even he did not advocate such a measure of confiscation as was involved in the bill recommended by the City Council of Charleston and introduced in the Legislature. There is ample legislation on the books for every case. Certainly puni tive legislation should not be even proposed. South Carolina still supports town and County government largely by property taxes. AH the revenue yielded by property taxes throuough- out the) State is far less than the in direct revenue enjoyed by the State, and, in some measure, by the Coun ties and towns. The State collects no property tax. Now is the time WAR BONDS Attention was sharply focused upon a changed post-war hog pro duction by the selection of this 230 pound lightweight Hampshire barrow as the Grand Champion over all breeds at the recent Chicago Market Fat Stock Show, wartime version of the. International Live stock Exposition. Clean-cut. and firm fleshed, carrying a high propor tion of meat cuts in ham, loin, and bacon, and with a minimum of lard, he exemplifies the meat type hog advocated to meet the post-war problem of excess lard production. Champions of this top-ranking show were judged by R. L. Pem berton of Des Moines, Iowa, field secretary of the Iowa Swine Pro ducers’ Association and executive secretary of the Wartime Swine Industry Council. He stated that a meat type hog with a higher yield of ham, loin, and bacon, which could be readily finished at around 225 pounds or which could be carried on to heavier weights when the market situation justified, would best meet the production needs of the future. This Hampshire Grand Champion, Purdue Model 9th, was bred and exhibited by Purdue University, LaFayette, Indiana. He came in a husky litter of 10 pigs raised. Farrowed on June 4th, he weighed 230 pounds at the show when just 180 days old. In exactly 6 months from birth to market, that is making mnr'--"t topping pork at the rate of more than 1M pounds for every da'.- -d. Sign*! Corps Photo Gen. Kreuger, Gen. Kenny and Gen. Sutherland discuss invasion J I ilans on one of the Philippine Is- ands. They consider the vast quan tity of munitions that War Bonds buy and which make possible the ad vance of our armed forces. U. S. Treasury Department 5 for $1 Picture Offer Discontined After Saturday, Feb. 3. After the above date there will positively be no more pictures made at the above rate. ' NICHOLS’ STUDIO £& 1000 BOMBERS counties and towns, but always on condition that local property taxes 1 be reduced. The Legislature in re- ; cent years has made liberal and in- , creasing grants to help the Schools and to pay transportation costs, but the counties have not reduced the propery taxes in proportion. Both Counties and towns have the same: tendency to increase operating costs i that other units have. We regard the United States Government as the most glaring and inexcusable exam ple of waste and extravagance ever i known—(and I think it is all that and more—) but look over your County items and see if, in a small way, we are not doing about the , same. An item of $10,000 added to the budget of a small County will be reflected in the millage. A few hun dreds here and a few hundred® there will easily amount to $10,000. Of course $10,000 seems like small time spending. Who cares for $10,- 000? What does it amount to be tween friends? Individuals who watch every dollar in their personal business, and who would contend for a month over a hundred dollars, cheerfully approve large public ex penditures without batting an eye; it is easy to be open-handed with some one else’s money. Some legislators have done splend idly in holding down expenditures and otherwise working in their re spective counties. WAR BONDS received before the “raise” Fancy | to bring about a larger sharing of that, what? You see how it is. the big income of the State with the Legion. For Country’s Welfare Says Vice-President Truman Scnutiir Harry S Truman (D Mo new Vue-President, and the second Legionnaire to assume this high office, greets Edward N. Scheiberlmg, National Commando of the American Legion Senator Truman recently said that "The American Legion can make one of the greatest coiitribtitions to the welfare ol this great country if it assumes that lespotisibility ... it has always stood foi the welfare of the country first—and I knew thai will continue to be its policy.” The new Vice-President believes that veterans are destined to have an increasingly important role in the affairs of the nation, adding: ”1 am confident that the things for which this great Republic has stood and stands for today, will be sufg in the hands of the men who weie willing to fight and die, if necessaiy—to prevent the spread of tyranny—." The Springfield Republican—now a full-fledged champion of Mr. Roose velt and the New Deal—publishes some facts about the sale of liquor in America: I quote: “Americans spent more than $7,- 000,000,000 for alcoholic beverages in 1944—a new record. In actual quan tity, they drank—(1) More liq/uor than in 1943, but not so much as in 1942. (2) More beer than in any previous year. ( 3) Slightly less wine than in 1943. Those estimates were made by the commerce department and announced today. The $7,000,- 000,000 is roughly one billion dollars greater than the amount spent in 1943 and nearly two billion dollars above 1942 when $5,200,000,00 was laid down for drinks. The $7,000,- 000,000 is about $54 for each person in the country. Half of the billion- dollar increase over 1943 was due to higher federal taxes on distilled spirits. The tax rate rose from $6 to $9 a gallon last April 1. Two bil lion dollars of the $7,000,000,000 went to Uncle Sam in taxes. The Com merce department is talking about legally sold beverages. If bootleg ging were thrown in, the liquor would exceed $7,000,000,000.” Now how much does this help us to win the war? OBiciil U. S. Army Pbato Belgian woman places flowers on blanket-covered body of American soldier killed by sniper in her back yard. He gave hi* life for her free dom. Buy War Bonds to help his buddies continue the fight. U. S. Treasury Department come back in great strength. Nobody knows what the Russians will do, or when, but they have kept their plans to themselves and gone forward as suited them best. When you remember how much talk and rumor and speculation we have all) the time it is a marvel how the Russians do so much, while *ay- ing so little. Potato Picking Parson * IN NEWLY COMPLETED, modern (refinery units Sinclair produces each day enough 100-Octane gasoline to fly 1000 four-engined bombers on a bombing mission. In addition, Sinclair is producing aviation gasoline for training planes and many other petroleum products for war. Congressman Rivers of our first Congressional district has urged that our State provide a State, or secret ballot. My impression is that Con gressman Hare said something about this last year. These gentlemen know that in any close year the Re publicans may refuse to seat a Dem ocratic Congressman from South Carolina on the ground of irregulai- ty in our election procedure. It might be well to think of that. When this goes to the newspapers Spectator will be either in Memphis, or ready to leave Memphis for South Carolina. As you know, the Nation al Cotton Council of America meets every year. Spectator is a delegate and is one of the original members, he and Mr. J. Wade Drake of Ander son. The Cotton Council is the foremost champion of all cotton interests from producer through the spinners. Well, the Russians seem to have MARS HILL, ME. —Big down- east spuds spurred Rev. V. P. Musk, above, pastor of three rural church es near here, to beat all the Meth odist ministers in New England, city or country, in laying his money on the (potato) barrel-head for the denomination's current “Crusade for Christ” relief and reconstruc tion fund. While following the digger to help out Aroostook County’s labor shortage, Pastor Musk told his fel low potato-picker-uppers about their $700 share in the $25,000,000 post-war fund. Someone said: “Let’s all give It for each barrel.” The first $110 came this way from young pickers. This inspired the farmers. Bishop Hartman of Boston reports them not only first in his Area to raise their quota, but more than twice as generous as he asked.