The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, July 14, 1950, Image 4
Wi'
tin
1218 College Street
NEWBERRY, S. C.
0. F. Armfikld
Editor and Publisher
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937,
at the Postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In S. C., $1.50 per year
in advance outside S. C., $2.00 per year in advance.
COMMENTS ON MEN AND THINGS
BY SPECTATOR
The City of Sumter will have
a reduction in the tax-millage,
I’ve read: three mills will be
taken off. Charleston County,
the City of Beaufort and now
the City of Sumter—are re
ducing taxes. The Capital of
the United States and the State
of South Carolina will please
take notice.
jp*
V: •
A letter has come to me from
a gentleman who seems to kno\*
something about the power busi
ness. I quote the letter:
“I have followed with much
interest your comments about)
the fight that is going on be
tween South Carolina Electric
& Gas Co. and government
power proponents.
Thinking over all I have heard
over the radio about the electric
utility business in South Caro
lina—and other states too, there
are a few thoughts that I want
to pass along that nobody is
talking about. We hear it said
so often that since government
has entered this and that busi
ness that private operators have
boosted their production and cut
rates too. Why have electric
utilities extended lines into rural
areas and also reduced rates
since such programs as REA and
Santee-Cooper came into being?
The answer seems to me that
not because of, not in spite of,
government agencies having come
into the electric utility field, but
simply because of the good old
American way of doing busi
ness—supply and demand have
worked through the profit and
loss system for expansion.
Just about ' the time govern
ment was entering the electric
power business, hundreds of
manufacturers in the United
States began to mass produce
all kinds of electrically operat
ed gadgets at prices that people
could pay. And what happened?
The home that formerly paid a
“light” bill (for lights only) be
gan to pay an electric service
bill where the ‘(light bill”
formerly was about $2.50 per
month for about thirty kilowatts
of electricity, the electric ser
vice bill is now about $12.00
for about 600 kilowatts.
Therefore, because of greater de
mand, the production has in
creased to fill it; and from what
I read in the papers, few sections
of the United States have suf
fered a shortage of power.
As water pumps, ranges, wash
ing machines, water heaters, re
frigerators, etc. were improved
and sold in huge quantities the
makers of electric line materials
improved their products also and
made it possible for power lines
to be built with lighter, stronger
wire, fewer poles, cross arms and
insulators. This of course made
it possible for electric utilities
to build longer lines to serve
fewer customers than formerly,
and still cut rates per kilowatt,
I can remember back in 1933
that the utility operating in low
er South Carolina offered a sub
stantial rate reduction to resi-
dental customers who would use
more power per month.
Of course we all admit that
any utility is a monopoly, but
there are legally constituted “um
pires’’ to regulate them. We all
will admit also that a utility, or
any other business for that mat
ter, operated by government, will
always have the “edge” on simi
lar concerns run according to all
the rules of the game of Ameri
can business. There are certain
water power projects that have
been financed by independent
companies and I do not know
of any that have been able to
charge off any part of the
cost of construction to naviga
tion, rei lamanation, irrigation or
recreatioa. Money for the con
struction was furnished willing
ly by investors and not extracted
from all people for the benefit
of those in the water power area.
Likewise, taxes constitute a con
siderable sum of the overhead in
any operating company, which
is not the case under government
operation.
The REA Program has help
ed many a farm family and
therefore still can do much good
for many more, provided that a
program is used as originally in
tended. Likewise public power
projects can perform good ser
vice if not used to destroy exist
ing taxpaying businesses. As I
recall, when Santee-Cooper was
being promoted the idea was
that the low cost power produced
would be sold as much as pos
sible through operating compan
ies in the area.”
Certainly a very calm and col
lected man is that writer; and
he seems to have summed up
everything well. On the other
side, listen to this:
“The electric companies in the
Southwest area made offers to
guarantee to the public all bene
fits of savings that might re
sult from use of governfent hy
dro-electric power instead of
company-produced steam power.
The companies guaranteed to
build all the lines that might
be needed to distribute the
power. Their offers would savd
a proposed expenditure of $200,-
000,000 in tax funds and
every possible public benefit
would result from acceptance of
these offers.
But. NO!—such a sensible.
B
Afa&Afcmyy
M s/iif mas/ it.
WATCH YOUR SAVINGS GROW
YWM Haw*
■ • _
You get “more for
your money” in
an insured savings
account at this
friendly associa
tion. Substantial •
dividends paid on savings. Come in and
open your account now—and watch your
savings grow!
(M»>
W^k
1* 1 Ymt
1* 1 Y«*n
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ts
10
30
35
$ 360
530
1040
1300
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1040
3060
3600
1 TOO
1560
3130
3900
PLUS DIVIDENDS
money-saving plan as suggested
by the electric companies isn’t
quite what the Southwestern
Power Administration wants!”
Then again, we find the Depart
ment of the Interior trying to
persuade the Federal Power
Commission to refuse a per
mit to a private company in
Virginia because the Government
may want to build a public pro.
ect there. That will have a queer
sound to you: it should. Don’t
you see that certain minor of-
ficals in Washington make plans
and the country plunges down
more deeply into Socialism.
I’m almost willing to admit
that Congress doesn’t know what
is going on; but, then, why does
Congress vote such broad author
ity to the Etxecutive depart
ments?
Congress has been so busy
creating Government Corpora
tions, Authorities, Boards, Com
missions, and all that, that
Congress does not know what is
going on. Washington has be
come a bureaucrat’s paradise.
As long as Mr. Truman or any
of his crowd is in control this
trend will continue. The only
measure of relief will come
through cleaning house: half-way
measures won’t do any good.
Why doesn’t Congress assert
itself and curb all this ocialis-
tic foolishness? Well, Congress
men want to be Committee Chair
men: we are sold to the enemy
for a chairmanship, really some
one’s personal vanity. Would not
a dozen stout-hearted men with
out Committee assigments be
worth more to the Nation than
men who are always out on a
limb wishing to be sound and
sane men but compromising be
cause they think they must play
the political game with the in
siders who hand out the loaves
and fishes? Can’t we restore
our Government to its Consti
tutional functions? Worst of all,
a generation has grown to man
hood believing that the Govern
ment should have all power!!
I was once a bureaucrat, so I
recognize not only the man him
self, but v the symptoms which
proclaim the bureaucrat—one day
arrogantly strutting around and
the next day bowing and scrap
ing. I wasn’t that sort of bureau
crat, but I have seen thousands
of that type.
Some years ago I attended ser
vices whenever the President of
Peru attended officially. There
were men at these Church ser
vices so thoroughly imbued with
the boot-lick habit that they were
not concerned with the service
itself, nor the devotional spirit;
nor did they observe what the
archbishop was doing; their one
concern was to do as the Presi
dent did. If by straining and
craning they saw that the Presi
dent was kneeling they slid to
the floor as though on greased
panels. The one, great concern
was to be in harmony with the
President. So, in the talk about
the President’s Palace, the hang
ers-on were cocksure one day
and bumptious, but strutting
completely “about-face” the next
day. So their little song was
always a servile adulation ,a
"me-too” raised to the highest
degree.
I saw that in the news from
Washington today. Six months
ago our Government told the
world that we wouldn’t fight
over Korea and Formosa. Why
do our men in Washington talk
so much ? Even if we had pur-
pjossed in our hearts to let
Korea and Formosa be stifled
or strangled why did we have
to publish that? As I recall,
the military men earnestly ad
vised defending Korea; Mr. Tru
man decided that Korea and For
mosa were not worth much, if
anything, to us. Perhaps he was
right. But why, then, all this
fever of war preparation later?
Any man with ordinary common-
sence could foresee that Russia
would take Mr. Truman’s atti
tude as a leave to seize what she
wanted. If we had said, that
we would protect Korea and
Formosa Russia would probably
have held-off; but, certainly, our
attitude was the usual bung
ling. Even today—some state
ments from Washington tell us!
that we shall not risk a war
over Korea. What, then, are
we doing?
The oft-repeated statement
that we have a “well-calculated
risk” is nauseating. The first
time Washington used that
phrase “calculated risk’’ was
when our armies were nearly
torn to pieces and thousands of
men caught in foxholes in the
Bulge.
Let’s not make any more such
“calculated risks.”
What is our policy today? Do
we mean to fight, if necessary?
Are you informed about this
Korean matter? Japan conquer
ed Korea some years ago. Under
the agreement between Mr.
Roosevelt and Stalin Russia oc
cupied the Northern part of
Korea, to the 38th parallel; the
United States the land South of
the 38 th parallel. We with
drew our troops some time ago,
clashes and bickering with the
Russians. In course of time
Russian-inspired Chinese Com
munists seized about all of
China. Anybody could see that
Russia would sooner or later
seize, or inspire the seizure of,
all Korea and Formosa as a step
ping stone to Japan.
I think we would be wise to
maintain strong forces. Then
Russia would listen to us. But
what, really, is our policy?
Let America be strong and sin
cere; and let us stop this pid-
FARMS
AND
FOLKS
CUT ‘EM LOW AND
USE IT ALL
Back in the spring I was with
a county agent and we stopped
to see a tract of timber that had
been selectively cut.
One of the men from the State
Forestry Commission had mark
ed the sawtimber and the pulp-
wood to come out. The farmer
sold the sawtimber first, as ad
vised. Then he sold the tops and
pulpwood on the stump.
Thus a fine job was done in
farming the woods. What need
ed to come out had been harvest
ed, tops were utilized in the
pulpwood operation, and the
woods were left in the fine
growing shape. And there will
be other harvests there before
too many years.
There was only one bad fea
ture in the whole operation. The
sawmill man had cut stumps too
high. Some of them were knee-
high, wasting valuable wood, and
leaving impediments to hauling
there in the woods. The pulp
wood man had to cut his stumps
so low you could hardly see
them. And the tops were so
used up that the fire hazard
was greatly lessened.
FIGHTING WEEVILS
County Agent of Darlington was
busy with their well-organized
boll weevil fight when I was
there in mid-May. Seven hun
dred fifty farmers had attended
their county meeting, at which
the experts from Clemson show
ed the guns and told of the am
munition for this fight..
The Farm Bureau, Grange,
County Agricultural Committee,
and all agencies worked together
there in trying to get every
farmer to protect his cotton with
poison properly used. That en
tailed surveys in the different
communities to see who could
poison their own cotton and who
needed custom service. Those
who could do custom poisoning
were listed and those who need
ed it were served as nearly as
possible.
Most of the counties are wag
ing similar intensive fights this
(continued on page five)
dling all over the world.
FOR RENT—Furnished rooms,
hot water, private entrance.
Phone 466. 2tp.
We are pleased to announce the
payment of our . . .
30th Semi-Annual Dividend
Amounting To
NEWBERRY 7
Federal Savings
AND LOAN ASSOCIATION
OP .NEWBERRY
ESM
J. K. Willingham, Sec’y Newberry, S. C.
$59,283.
Paid To
2091 Investors
Each Investment Insured up to $5000
NEWBERRY FEDERAL
Savings & Loan
Association
John F. Clarkson, President
J. K. Willingham, Sec’y-Treas
*
Newberry Federal
Savings and Loan
Association
,
i
Statement of Condition
JUNE 30, 1950
• ij
m
ASSETS
First Mortgage Loans $
Stock In F. H. L. Bank
$4,154,323.04
i 45,900.00
x:
fg.
Cash on Hand and ini Banks f 281,730.00
Furniture and Fixtures j j f 12,037.06
Other Assets ) 2,372.66
LIABILITIES
■
Savings Accounts
Borrowed Money
Loans in Process
Other Liabilities
$4,209,977.59
NONE
46,659.36
291.08
mISs
Reserves & Undivided Profits 239,434.73 11
$4,496,362.76
Each Account Insured Up To $5,000.00 By
an Agency of United States Government
OFFICERS
JOHN F. CLARKSON Preiident
M. O. SUMMER Vice President,
J. K. WILLINGHAM Sec'y-Treasurer
John F. Clarkson
M. O. Summer
DtKECTORS
J. K. Willingham
C. C. Hutto
E. B. Purcell
G. K. Dominick
• ''..A*’.- .
: -- ii-