Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TSE NEWBERRY SUN PAGE FOUR 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, S. C. PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY By ARMFIELD BROTHERS Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937, at the Postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. SUBSCRIPTI9N RATES: In S. C., f 1.60 per year in advance outside S. C., $2.00 per year in advance. COMMENTS ON MEN AND THINGS By SPECTATOR Appearances Deceiving What does Mr. Truman say about running again? Does he say that he will not seek re-election? Or does he say that he will not accept a renomination? General Sherman is quoted as saying that he not only would not accept a nomination but that he would not serve, if elected. That was going far, but it was quite understandable English. Calvin Coolidge mystified us a bit by saying that he didn’t “choose to run.” If I say that Mr. Truman may be sincere in declaring that he will not seek the nomination although unable to resist those who would stampede the National Conven tion for him I am not being churlish, I am merely talking practical politics and discussing a very practical and practising politician. Any man with a grain of political sense can easily imagine that the Truman declaration will cause the organized Southern opposition to relax its ef forts; then a half-dozen candidates will fight to a finish and Truman’s friends could stampede a tired and dis gusted Convention. At these Conventions all sorts of skull duggery is resorted to. Do you recall that our Governor Byrnes was expected to be nominated for Vice President with Mr. Roosevelt? Then Mr. Roosevelt wrote and said that if he (Mr. Roose velt) were a delegate he would vote for Henry Wallace. Mr. Roosevelt never intended to support either Mr. Byrnes or Mr. Wallace, but he used language that deceived every body, perhaps those gentlemen included. So, when a politi cian speaks we must weigh his words, his exact words, with every possible shade of meaning, and even when we think we have him nailed down we must be prepared for some feat of agility that will enable him to wiggle out. If you think I am being unworthily incredulous, even improperly suspicious, remember that convention in Chicago when three or four gentlemen had reason to believe that Mr. Roosevelt was supporting each of them for Vice President. Even while our Mr. Byrnes was regarded as floor leader and trusted representative of Mr. Roose velt, Mr. Roosevelt sent Harry Hopkins to operate in special confidence and sececy. Balance The Budget—With More Taxes Some years ago we heard of a mighty effort to balance our State budget. Everyone believed that the plan was to reduce appropriations, but not so; the plan was to put on more taxes. Of course that is one way to balance a budget: spend without limit, then pile up the taxes. When I was just a little boy, along with my handsome and distinguished friend, Edwin Belser, the Democrats ad vocated reduction in the import, or tariff duties. William Jennings Bryan thundered majestically against the Re publicans and the high tariff. The Republicans declared in favor of revising the tariff. That seemed to convince everybody that Mr. Bryan was attacking a strawman. Bryan insisted that when the Republicans promised to revise the tariff they did not promise to reduce it. Many people became impatient with Nebraska’s eloquent son, but when the Republicans won the election they proceeded to revise the tariff, as promised: they revised it, but up ward. So Bryan was right: they revised it; yes, but made it higher. So, don’t believe what you hear and distrust even, what you see; that is the surest method of dealing with some of our political masterminds, especially if of Pender- gastian flavor. ‘Soaking The Rich’ Shall we soak the rich? Says The First National Bank of Boston: « “Many persons are under the impression that the fi nancial troubles of the nation could be saved by ‘soaking the rich.’ But such an assumption is based upon sheer ignorance. If all personal taxable incomes in the upper in come brackets were confiscated by the Government, the amount would be sufficient to finance current Federal operations for only a few days. It is obvious, therefore, that the bulk of any substantial increases in taxation must be borne by those in the lower income groups, but this would mean impinging further upon their living standards. Not only is the Federal Government spending a large proportion of each person’s income, but also it is absorbing about 81 percent of all taxes collected, leaving only 19 percent for state and local governments, as compared with 61 percent for these units in 1939. The Federal Govern ment has invaded so many tax fields and is taking such a large proportion of the funds available that state and local / governments are hard pressed to finance their regular activities. To relieve the situation, the Federal Govern ment provides grants-in-aid, which cover such items as highways, public welfare, schools, health, and the like. The Federal administrators dictate how the money is to be spent and specify the standards to be met. Here, then, we have a system whereby the money collected from the people of the states has strings attached. Many states are opposed to this system and would much prefer to finance their own activities, according to their require ments, but feel compelled to dip into the ‘grab bag’ in order to get back part of the money contributed by their own citizens. The system not only is demoralizing but also it is making the state and local governments vassals of the Federal Government, thereby threatening the existence of self-government. 0 Profligate Federal spending has not met with much public opposition as the majority of people believe that American resources and financial capacity are unlimited and that our wealth has been expanding at a rapid rate. But this is a tragic illusion as can be shown when the fig ures on national wealth are corrected for price distortions. Our wealth in terms of 1929 dollars gained only 12 percent from 1928 to 1948, according to a study made by the Na tional Bureau of Economic Research. During this period, however, the population of the country increased by more than 21 percent. Therefore, in terms of 1929 dollars, per capita national wealth in 1948 was more than 8 percent be low that of 1928. We have reached the stage where Governmental claims on national income are mounting in snowball fashion, while productivity—which is the only true source of in come and wealth—has increased over the years at an annual rate of only about 3 percent. As a matter of fact, since the' start of hostilities in Korea, productivity has shown no gain, according to the National Industrial Conference Board. ' The most discouraging feature is the lack of concern or understanding of fiscal affairs on the part of the top men in Government circles. Apparently the only way to avoid disaster lies in the hope that the burdened taxpayers will arouse from their lethargy and insist upon the elimina tion of waste and extravagance of all levels of govern ment—Federal, state, and local.” Labor Opposing’ Socialism We seem to be waking up. The Aiken Standard and Review says, editorially: “In the last year or so, an impressive list of labor or ganizations has gone on record in opposition to the social ization of industry. The Michigan State Utility Workers Joint Council, which is made up of CIO utility unions, took that step recently. It called for a halt of government ownership of utilities before it enmeshes the entire labor movement. It pointed out, in effect, that ‘cheap’ government power is a fraud, as many of the real costs are paid for by taxes. It then asked that this be changed ‘so that the taxpayers of one section of the country are not paying for lower electric rates charged in other parts of the country.’ Union labor’s changing attitude toward socialism is high ly significant. Up until relatively recently, the major labor organizations stood solidly for public ownership of utilities of all kinds. Now labor has been discovering that when government takes over, labor’s hard-won rights go out the window. No group can bargin on fair terms with all-powerful government. Free labor and free enterprise have fought many bat tles.” ' Looks To End Of Marshall Aid I went to the black waters of the Edisto recently as guest of my great friend, Mr. B. M. Edwards, the well known banker. Down on the Edisto, though, Mr. Ed wards is a delightful host and a warm-hearted comrade. Comrade Dutrow brought in great bags of fish and my genial^ companion, Mr. John Campbell, was always though- ful of us visitors. As usual, the guests (I was a member of the lodge, not a guest) were men of first rank in the life of the State. I quote with permission a letter to Mr. Edwards from an English businessman: “Yours is a great country and the country is inhabited by great and kind peopple, but I do hope that these people will go to the polls one day and throw out what is bad because the way things are going you will surely wind up with a hang over which will take years to cure, and from which hardly anybody will escape. I also hope that this crazy Marshall Aid business to un deserving countries like, for instance, France will come to an early end, because your country will never earn one per mill, of gratitude. To the contrary, as soon as you re duce payments you will earn abuse. The main thing for the world is for America to remain solvent" because if your country goes, all goes, so it does not matter whether it is a Democratic of a Republic Gov ernment, as long as it is a Government who knows how to Govern and will take the consequences of drastic actions necessary to remain solvent.” Yes, verily; that subject of his Britannic majesty speaks the sober truth. HOT AND HUMID Washington has regulated about everything else and now a congressional committee is after the rain makers “and others who hope to control the weather.” But even so that is about the most sensible thing to come out of Washington in a long time. Just suppose some rain maker with a hang-over wants to make it rain so he can sleep soundly under a tin roof just when you want to set out your cabbage plants or go fishing! On the other hand it would be nice to be able too order a first class blizzard just when your mother-in-law is coming for a visit. We’ll have to give this whole matter a good think. ashmgton ••••••••••••••••a* P RESIDENT* TRUMAN’S an nouncement that he would not be a candidate to succeed himself still overshadows all governmental news in Washington as the political experts cast about now for a prob able Democratic nominee for the presidency. This column in the week March 10 to 10 predicted that *Tt is known definitely that President Truman prefers NOT to run again and his wife and daughter are dead set against his' trying for another term.” We pointed out that, al though the President is now physi- cally fit and feels he has a life ex pectancy of at least 15 years, anoth er term of four years in the presi dency would probably cut his re maining years in half. Thus, this column attempted, without specific statement, to condition the public to the fact that Mr.. Truman did not intend to run again as he an nounced a the historic Jefferson- Jackson day dinner in Washington. • • • As a result today in Washington you can gtft an argument in any hotel lobby or up on the hill or wherever you may be as to whom the Democrats will nominate at Chicago. Or as a matter of fact as to who will get the President’s nod as his successor. From time im memorial it has been a political axiom that the incumbent Presi- deht has much to say about his suc cessor. But this column believes that 1952, insofar as the Democrats are concerned, will be an exception to this rule and that for the first time in more than 20 years the Democratic national convention will be a wide-open affair from scratch, with the responsibility for picking a nominee left solely in the hands of the delegates themselves. In spite of this fact, President Truman does not intend to sit out the rest of his term in inaction. He has promised he will take the stump, and so said in his fighting speech, one of the best he ever has made, in behalf of the Democratic party. Likely he will not take ac tion until after the convention in Chicago, July 21, but he will go down the line for the nominee, whoever he is. And although this may not take the form of a “whistle stop” campaign, he likely will hit most of the big cities for set speeches in behalf of the nominee. Although the. President will not take part in the party nomination, he will in all likelihood have a hand in setting up the party platform upon which that candidate must run—and he must run also upon the record of the Truman Admin istration. ‘'e • • — I N THE MEANTIME two fleet- term senators up tor reflection this fall called each other'# bluffs and agreed to take their feud to the courts. Senator William Benton of Connecticut some months ago filed an ouster proceeding against Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wis consin as unfit to be a senator in that he had deceived the senate on at least 10 specific instances. The senate privileges and elections com mittee has been investigating the charges for months. Recently they have asked for a senate vote of con fidence after McCarthy charged they could not legally make the probe. McCarthy criticized Senator Ben ton for making the charges under a cloak of immunity, although Mc Carthy himself has been careful to make all his charges under the same senatorial cloak. Benton of fered to waive this immunity if McCarthy wanted to sue. McCarthy sued for $2,000,000, saying Benton has slandered and libeled him. Ben ton said he would accept the suit if McCarthy would agree to a trial of the issues before election. Mc Carthy agreed. Now there are some In the Senate who declare Benton does not have the authority to “waive immunity” since this is a constitutional pro vision. Concensus is that McCarthy will not go into court before elec tion. • • • Another Big Business executive has given up and resigned his gov ernment appointment—Charles E. Wilson of General Electric, as De fense Mobilizer. John Steelman, presidential assistant, has been named temporary head of the office of defense mobilization in his place. Mr. Wilson, able business execu tive, has made many mistakes since he took over his job, the first in not naming any labor leaders to top spots in his organization. He tried to remedy this when labor took a walk from the wage stabili zation board. SOME FISHING NOTES From Samuel Johnson: “A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.” The old meaniel But from the grand old man of all things piscatorial we have this gem: “We may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: ‘Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did;’ and so (if I might be judge), God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.” It goes almost with out saying that that is from Izaak Walton. Test Your Intelligence Score 10 points for each correct answer In the first six questions. 1. The sculptor of the famous statue “The Thinker’’ is: —Botticelli —Rodin —Degas —Michelangelo 2. A dowsing-rod is used in: —searching for water —diesel engines —rowing contests —foundries 3. The Walker Cup is awarded to: —swimmers —runners —tennis players —golfers 4. The smaUest unit of liquid measure is the: —ounce —drachm —minim —dram 5. Bonneville Dam is in the state of: —California —Montana —New York —Oregon 6. The man in the Bible who died twice was: —Archimedes —Lazarus —Nebuchadnezzar —Abraham 7. Listed below are four historical kings and opposite, scrambled up, the countries which discarded their rule. Match them, scoring 10 points for each correct answer (A) George III —Italy (B) Louis XVI —United States (C) Nicholas II —France (D) Humbert II —Russia Total your points. A score of 0-20 Is poor; 30-60, average; 70-60, superior; 90-100, very superior. Answers on Page Six FASHION NOTE There is no moral question involved. The average wo man who wears slacks is just too big for her britches. DON’T SHOVE BOYS! S Want ad in a S. C. weekly: “FOR RENT—Three nice rooms, share bath with landlady. Very reasonable.” LYING FEMALES Dr. Jean Walker MacFarlane, after a study of girls for 25 years says: “Girls learn quickly how to sidestep som of the heavy pressures of society by telling out lies or by using, evasion; it takes boys about two y longer to discover the effectiveness of lying.” PLAT AND LEVEL 191 An exhange says that if you refer to a person a le\ headed he feels complimented, but to say that he is flat headed would hurt his feelings something awful. All which brings to mind the little boy who promised to good for a nickel and whose mother reminded him he should be good for nothing dike his father. THE TWO FOR ONE I died for beauty, but was scare Adjusted in the tomb. When one who died for truth was lain In an adjoining room. He questioned softly why I failed? Tor beauty/ I replied. 4 And I for truth*—the two for one; We brethren are,’ he said. —Emily Dickinson. r r'i IT’S COMBAT JUST THE SAME A draftee in Greenville pulled Holy Writ on the last week to prove that he should not be sent to quoted from Deuteronomy: “When a man hath a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither a be charged with any business, but he shall be free home one year and shall cheer up his wife which hath taken. . Pretty sound argument but they took him just MATTER OF THE MONUMENT If it were in the power of this column we would i once declare and affirm that the Soldier’s mom should be placed on Memorial Square; not that we any very decided preference in the matter but account of Jailor Berley Shealy. We have never anyone to want anything quite so earnestly as wants that monument on the square. Before jailor Berley was somewhat of a civic leader around End, a good man who was always called upon to hat for this or that. In the hat passing Berley from the good folks in his end of town many dollars the hospital and the memorial from the people who those hard-earned dollars for their work before spindle the looper and the loom. Berley told them memorial would be placed on the square and the liked that. They liked the idea that some of the bo; West End who died on battlefields far away wo remembered in a prominent place in our city. So you see now why Berley feels so strongly the monument. He has a conscience and its both him. He wants to make good on his promise to the people of his old neighborhood. And besides it seems to us a memorial to the dead is little out of place on the grounds of an institution cated to healing and where no little attention is given the therapy of brightness and cheer. V-Xr m .a - ■■ . life A DROWSY CONVENTION In the good old days of Democrat conventions in N berry there was always someone to wave the flag and sign to hell and damnation the predatory skunks who were grinding us under foot. In last week’s convention the only thunder came as a far-off rumble (not in the least omi nous) from Tom Pope; said he hadn’t prepared a speech. Well, I happen to know that Tom can make a blistering speech without prior notice. It just seems that the day of heart-bleeding over the plight of the “deer peepul’ has sort of gone out of style. Why, not a single individual even so much as hinted that we throw the rascals out. There are still rescals in politics, aren’t there. Sure! Then why? So much for Newberry and its panty-waist convention, but what about Saluda? Ah, Saluda! Those rugged an cestors of the Butlers and the Gary’s of old Edgefield! They lowered the boom brother! Hear the Honorable So lictor Jeff Griffith, brother of our esteemed Judge: “Let’s not be taking doles from Washington or anyone else!” Let us not forget the greatness of this country of ours.” Let us cling to those things which made it great.” And from the Honorable B. W. Crouch: We ask nothing but freedom and liberty of action.” We are hastening towards Socialism, or communism.” We have here in the South too much of the spirit of defeatism.” And there was much more from the Saluda o just as meaty, just as pungent and just as reminiscent the fighting days of yore.