Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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i PAGE FOUR 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, S. C. PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY By ARMFIELD BROTHERS <• - *. Entered a* second-claa* matter December 6. 1937, at the Postoffice &t : 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 Manner Of Choosing' President How is a President of the United States chosen? Two of my radio brethern suggested this talk. The best starting point is the beginning, as a rule, though one may become so confused by side issues that he may occasionally save time by starting at the end, or conclusion, and then go back step by step. Let us imagine that* great and renowned figure, John Doe, as a candidate for the presidency. How does he be come a candidate? He may have cherished the ambition for many years, although nobody else regarded him as of presidential stature. Consider the Colossus who heads our Government today and lifts the whole world to. new heights: who would ever have suggested him for the presi dency? We might consider for a moment Senator Russell. It isn’t clear who first thought of the Senator. He was not identified with the States Rights campaign of 1948, but has been a respected figure in public life for some years. Now that he has been suggested, his name is put on the ballot in some States so that those States may ex press their preference for him, or for some other Demo crat. The Republicans, of course, have the same pro cedure within their party. If Senator Russell should be favored in these tests, over all other Democrats, he would probably become the Democratic candidate. But there are other factors to consider: the nomination is really made in a National Convention; and the National Convention may disregard all this favorite-son voting. So we come to the National Convention: it is the important body. Who compose the National Convention? Each State Democratic Party will elect and send to the Convention in Chicago a certain number of delegates. These delegates in Convention will nominate someone as the Democratic candidate. In South Carolina we of the South Carolina Democratic Party start at the bottom with the local club. Each club elects delegates to a County convention; each County convention elects delegates to a State Convention; and each State Convention elects delegates to the National Convention. We Democrats don’t act with becoming seriousness at times. Frequently at the club meetings there are not as many in attendance as the number of delegates to be selected by the club to the County Convention. The time- honored procedure is for someone to offer a motion to elect all those present as delegates and then to think of others. We ordinary, unpolitical citizens are too indifferent: the politically-minded bretheren, however, do not overlook even these small beginnings. For a top figure, or one politically ambitious, much planning will be done to gain even this sort of recognition. As a man once said, he looks to see if there is an angle for him. When the National Convention meets, most of the dele gates sweat and steam in the heat, while a few political engineers lay plans for some sort of steamroller. A convention may fail to choose any recognized leader, as when A1 Smith and William Gibbes McAdoo battled in the Houston Convention. Finally the convention chose John W. Davis, a great lawyer, but not a top political figure. Now let us assume that the Democrats choose Senator Russell, after many bargains, compromises and deals. So the Senator becomes the Democratic hope. I do not over look the grave possibility that Russell, Kerr, Kefauver, Stevenson, Harriman, Ewing and John Doe may battle all week and, like the men on the lake of Gennesaret say in despair, “We have toiled all night and caught nothing.” Yea, verily, all week with no constructive result. Then a. solid bloc of Truman satellites will hear a mystic Mace donian cry for little Harry to “come over into Macdonia and help us.” And little Harry, who likes to quote Scrip ture, will say, in the words of the Great Apostle, “I was not disobedient unto the Heavenly vision.” Nay, Nay. When the Republicans have nominated Richard Roe, (I use that familiar figure so as to hold the scales even be tween the adherents of two good men—Taft and Eisen hower—) so when Richard Roe becomes the Republican candidate and Russell the Democratic candidate, where are we? Well, we’ve made some progress, for hundreds of real and imaginary local celebrities have attended all the Conventions and gained due recognition, clear on down through their children’s children. After all this I regret to say that the real election is |not yet. A President is not elected at the polls: all this elaborate preliminary I have presented is a rich and de lightful meringue, but the real pie is yet under some layers of meringue. A President is elected by the Electoral College. Friends, the “Electoral College” is not a school of learn ing: the word “College” here means a group of men of special powers or for a specific work, as the College of Bishops. Well, what is this Electoral College? Article 2, of the Federal Constitution prescribes that each State shall appoint a number of electors (8 for South Carolina). No Senator ox Representative in Congress may be an elector, nor any one else “holding an office of trust or profit under the United States.” If it were not so stipu lated it is a safe and irrefutable presumption that our eight electors would inescapably include Federal officers. However, they are ruled out unless little Harry should throw that out the window, too. Someone has written that not even, a Notary Public may be an elector. That is an error of course. At any rate if we Notaries Public for South Carolina were barred it would be difficult to find eight electors, don’t you think ? Since South Carolina is entitled to eight electors how do we choose those eight? Each Party in this State names eight men; those eight for us will be named by the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party. Well who chose the Executive Committee? Well, we go THE NEWBERRY SUM FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1962 New Job-New Tools ; A//‘Sf-rs S'SSS/ssX?. ashineton • # back again. When the County conventions chose delegates to the State Convention each County Convention chose a member of the State Executive Committee. But the State Convention elects the Chairman of the Committee who is expected in any emergency to prove himself “great in counsel and mighty in work,” as we read in The Book. This is a long and tedious recital, my brethren, but those studious, thoughtful and hopeful comrades of mine brought all this on themselves: Not in slang, but in very truth, they asked for it. Even so. Where are we? The Democratic Party and the Re publican Party will each name eight citizens. We shall elect eight Democrats in this State, in all probability, un less the Trumanites and Pendergast Democrats hold out for all the iniquities which have infuriated our people, for the Trumanite crowd seem to be disciples of Shake speare’s McBeth and continue to abuse our patience with the exultant cry “Condemned be he who first cries Hold; enough”! You observe that I have purified Shakespeare. And, after all, Shakespeare can stand a lot of fumiga tion and still wield a puissant pen. We had arrived at this place; that the eight men chosen by the State Executive Committee are elected, let us assume. I have also assumed that the eight are men, which remains to be seen. Since other States also have electors what happens? Here the Constitution speaking for itself: “Manner of choosing president and vice- president.—The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the num ber of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certi fy, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the cer tificates and the votes shall then be counted. The per son having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons haying the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choos ing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. . And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other con stitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally in eligible to the office of President should be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.” As you have taken note, if no one should have a major ity, the House of Representatives shall elect the President, each State having one vote. The House would vote on the three having the highest-votes in the Electoral College. It is this possibility which is so heartening to us, that we of the South may hold the balance and force the election by the House of Representatives. It has happened, you know, in our history. Of special interest is this fact: that, the ei&ht electors from South Carolina could decide to vote for someone never mentioned; they could exercise their own discretion and disregard Parties and instructions. By the same token the Electoral College—which is all the electors— might decide to elect somebody unknown and unmention ed, though they vote separately by States. “Tax And Spend, Tax And Spend” “We seem to be operating by a double standard, one a standard of efficiency for business, and another, a stand ard of extravagance for government. Business is asked to cut expenses and accept smaller profits for its stockholders in order to hold down prices to consumers, and to pay more taxes to the Government. The people are told to do with out luxuries, conveniences, and actual necessities, in order to give more of their earnings to the Government to spend. Certainly it is reasonable to demand the same standard of efficiency and economy from our Government that we must practice as businessmen and individuals.” OF A MAZE of more or less dramatic developments comes a bona fide and serious contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in Averell Harriman, director of the mutual security ad ministration. While he is little known among the rank and file of voters, is rather shy and retiring in disposi tion, is lacking some of the color deemed necessary in a presidential candidate, and comes from a wealthy family of Wall Street bank ers and railroad builders, Harri man has a record of service in government over the past 20 years which maiks him as a real con tender for the nomination—backed as he will be by an almost solid New York delegation at the conven tion. Harriman’s governmental service dates back to the early days of the Roosevelt New Deal when he was named by President Roosevelt as a special assistant to Administra tor Hugh S. Johnson of NRA. Since that time, he has served in several capacities such as a trouble shooter in the lend lease administration, the war shipping administration, the war production board, the mu nitions assignment board and chair man of a special mission to the USSR. He has served as ambassa dor to Moscow, ambassador to Great Britain, secretary of com merce, as President Truman’s roving ambassador in Europe in the European economic cooperation administration and has attended all but one of the bi-lateral meet ings of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill includ ing the Atlantic conference, the Washington and Quebec confer ences, Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam, and the Casablanca conferences! • * . * Among the dramatic, events dur ing the past week comes the > threat by Republican house member George Bender to attempt to im peach President Truman as a re sult of his steel mill seizure; an at tempt in the senate headed by Sen ators Ferguson of Michigan and Knowland of California to shut off any money for use by the Presi dent in the seizure of the steel mills; threat of the President that he would hold congress in special session until January 1 if necessary to get the money to carry out the defense program and the mone> necessary to bolster NATO in Eu rope headed by General Eisenhow er; continued and deeper friction between the forces in the Repub lican party supporting Senator Taft and General Eisenhower for the presidency, which some political observers declare is rapidly work ing up to a wide-open party split which could be fatal to the party’s chances of winning in November. • • • In a speech to the American Vet erans of World War H (AMVETS) President Truman let go both barrels at the house for what he termed a “fake economy wave” in an election year over slashes in military and mutual security appro priations. The President said, “If I have to call a special turnip day session every day from - now until the first of January, we’re going to get this thing done, and it’s going to be done right.” “Slashing appropriations is fine,” the President said, “until the day comes when we find that we don’t have the tanks, we don’t have the planes, we don’t have the guns that we need to meet the situation with which we are faced. And we have to pay for those headlines—not in money, but in lives, the lives oi our soldiers, sailors and marines.” The President declared that it may be an election year over here, but the Kremlin won’t take a vaca tion simply because of the politica) situation here . . , there is only one real language they understand That is this. (And the president held up his clenched fist.) ’ * * * President Truman pointed to the disaster in the Missouri river basin as an indication that many times our Democracy cannot make up its mind until some such disaster strikes. “I spent'all day Wednesday lock ing over a terrible disaster on the upper Missouri river that could have been prevented if we could only have gotten people to appre ciate that it might come ... we should not have to have that kind of disaster if we make up our minds—and spend the money to make the effort—to do the things which are necessary to prevent it And that’s what I’m pleading for.” CRUELTY AND MAN’S CHARACTER (Winnsboro News & Herald) The period between May 4-10 is “Be Kind,, to Animals Week” and it will be observed with varying degrees of earnestness throughout the nation. There was a time when those who dared raise their voices in behalf of God’s dumb creatures were ridiculed as crackpots. L&rdly man in the mass had little thought for “the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air” and these lowly creatures had no rights which man was bound to respect. Man, Homo Sapiens, had dominion over them all—a dominion as abso lute and cruel as was Adolf Hitler’s over the Germans. That time is past, or at least, is passing. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals through the years, in fair weather and foul, has kept the faith. It has educated where possible and punished where necessary. It has endeavored to avoid sentimentality and has wisely emphasized common sense ixr the treatment of animals. In season and out—and this is one of the significant if less understood concepts—it has attempted to show the brutaliz ing effect of unnecessary cruelty to animals on the character of man. The Society has portrayed the beauty of kindness, the nobleness of mercy, and its mission is accomplished, slowly, perhaps, but surely, we think. Fo: certainly the people are passing from the old idea em bodied in the quotation— “I am monarch of all I survey, My right there are none to dispute From center all round to sea. I 'em Lord of the fowl and the brute”— TO — “He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small, For the Great God who madeth us He made and loveth all.” f - Si w >>• DOESN'T SEEM TO LI HIM DaieCarmk; AUTHOR UF "HOW TO STOP WORRYING ANO START LIVIN! Discover What You Can Do |}R. S. A. HAMRIN, professor of education at Northwestern Uni versity, Evanston, Illinois, told the following in his “Guidance Talks to Teachers.” I think it will interest you. At one time it was Dr. Hamrin’s job to inform those who were- doing unsatisfactory work that they had to improve or be dis missed. One day he told a girl who had been failing for two consecutive quarters, and to whom they had given considerable ssistance, that she could no longer continue in he college. Her response was puzzling! She just at and smiled at him. Had she cried or become mgry Dr. Hamrin would have probably knewn /hat to do because these were the more common eactions in such situations. Finally she said, “Well?” And he responded vith another “Well?” Now she replied, “Now .hat you have told me what I can’t do, I suppose /ou and your committee are going to give an equal amount of attention to what I can (Jo.” Dr. Hamrin says that was a real lesson for . him. Knowing what the girl could not do was n iie important, but it was more important for Dr. Hamrin and hii committee to find out what the girl could do. He went on to ex plain that she was out of place in a teacher’s college, that she was not especially interested and that she probably lacked the type of academic aptitudes required. However, he continued, they had found that she had an unusual knowledge of fabrics, and that hei interest and ability to work with people was at a very high level. Then he introduced her to the manager of a local store where she started working in the dry goods department. Result? That girl is now a highly paid buyer in one of the finest department stores in the entire country. B, M. Edwards, South Carolina National Bank head, speaking in Georgetown the other day said: “1 don't like to live out my life too rapidly, but I am willing for the next eight or nine months to pass just as quickly as it possibly can be done, because of the encourage ment that we have that President Truman will be gone from the White House after January 20. THE PAUSE THAT SCALES I have often wondered why a bass pauses momentarily after striking your minnow and before swallowing it. I found out the other day from a travelling salesman. Ho said that a bass always scaled'a minnow before taking it into its tummy, hence the pause. He grabs the minnow first by the head, runs off a short distance, changes ends with it and starts the scaling process, which, apparently he does in short order. Sounds like a fish tale to me but if you want to believe it, and if you are one of those im patient fishermen who just can't wait even a little to see wh&t’s on the end of the line you might try scaling your minnows before offering them to. the bass. The basal probably would appreciate your thoughtfulness. SHOULD HAVE TOLD HARRY! «, ‘Any government like any family can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuation of that habit means the poor house.”—Franklin D. Roosevelt FOR THE PURE IN HEART ; ; : "4 £ I know a few flower lovers I would tell of the growth of mountain laurel in this county, to which I was intro duced by friend Homer Schumpert some years ago. A trip there Sunday reveals that it is now in full bloom and is just too beautiful for words. It is certainly worth a trip and if you are the kind of nature lover who.winces every time you take a bloom from a bush I will be glad to intro duce you to this pretty spot. Mr v—motorcycles t —stagehand —baby shoes 'Yeah—Well Just How Far was It Rolled?" Test Your intelligence | Score 10 points for each correct answer in the first six questions: 1; An introvert loves: —solitude —crowds —food; 2. In the theater world an angel is a: —financial backer —playwright ’ —curtain-puller 3. The lowest throw at dice is: -box-cars —snake eyes —Decaturs 4. The new "mydn” wonder drug* come from:. —roots —minea —animals —molds 5. The novel Xvanhoe was written by: —Byron —Wordsworth . —Scott —Locke 6. Abraham Lincoln was preceded in the presidency by: —Buchanan —Johnson -a—Grant —Arthur 7. Listed below are four important foreign cities and opposite them, scrambled up, the countries in which they are located. Match them, sowing 10 points for each correct answer. (A) Brisbane —Egypt (B) Sofia —Australia (C) Alexandria —Finland (D) Helsinki —Bulgaria Total your points. A score of 0-20 is poor; 80-60, average; 70-60, superior; 90-100, very superior. (Answers to .Quiz on Pafls Six) . :