The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, May 19, 1955, Image 2
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PAGE TWO
THE NEWBERRY SUN
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1955 '
1218 College Street
NEWBERRY, S. C.
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
0. F. Armfield, Jr., Owner
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: $2.00 per year in ad
vance; six months, $1.25.
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COMMENTS ON MEN AND THINGS
Fly-by-night people seldom build communities. The citi
zens who own their homes have roots deep in the ground;
they soon become interested in the schools, churches, play
grounds, as well as the quality of the local government, the
efficiency of the public services—and a score of other things.
There was a time when a young man bought a lot and
then saved the money for a house. Perhaps the time between
beginning to pay for the lot and the completion of a house
was a matter of years And we were taught to think soberly
about mortgages.
We live in a new era today.
“The housing boom continues at a record pace. In the first
two months of this year no fewer than 178,000 homes were
started, by far the hottest pace in US history and 25 per ct.
above last year. At this rate—if it holds—close to 1,400,000
new homes will be started in 1955.
But while the residential construction industry sets one
record after another, an increasing number of bankers,
mortgage men, industrialists and even builders themselves
fret about the future.. They fear the pent-up housing de
mand of War II is largely satisfied, or soon will be. They
foresee plenty of problems rising from the present building
'frenzy, and the high level of mortgage debt—as well as the
apparently inevitable decline to come.
New housing starts have exceeded 1,000,000 units in each
of the last six years. In the ten years ended last Deecember
9,400,000 new homes were built, equal to one-third of all
those standing when the boom began. This compares with
only around 200,000 a year in several War H years, when la
bor and materials were mobilized for the war effort. House
starts reached a post-war peak of 1,400,000 in 1950, then re
ceded somewhat, only to gather steam again in late 1953,
even while industrial production slipped. Last summer a big
boost was provided by the easy mortgage terms in the 1954
housing act.
Most experts agree that building will slacken later this
year. But US Housing Administrator thinks new units-in
1955 will reach 1,300.000 which would be the second highest
total on record. Walter W. McAllister, chairman of the Home
Loan Bank Board, places the figure for this yeear at 1,200,
000.
|jg| All the front page commentary on the situation under
scores the importance of this part of the nation’s business
The industry runs at $12 billion a year and a good part of
the 2,500,000 construction workers get their livelihood
from it. New houses generate a good part of the demand for
plumbing supplies, gypsum, lumber, furniture, rugs and a
variety of home appliances. The impact goes still deeper,
since a nice home, with all its appurtenances, helps symbolize
the Americafa Way. Sooner or later any proud homeowner
becomes addicted to such trivia and triumphs as posies a-
long the driveway (seed, fertilizer, hoe and rake) or a gay
rumpus room (plywood, paint; bar and booze). All this is
business for American business.
Just how many more new houses the country needs—or
w iU buy has become a multi-millipn dollar question. Be
sides the millions of homes built since Wqr H, there are
other factors which may indicate a slow-down; rising con
struction costs, already skv-high; fewer marriages, and con
sequent family formation, because of the low birth rate in
the Nineteen Thirties.
Even though new family formations decline, housing de
mand will be helped by the American habit of continual
moving and the simple desire to own a better castle. The
desire for a higher standard of living means.more houses
just as it does more cars.
One economist says there should be a ‘tremendous con
tinuing upsurge in new family formations to heights never
before known, beginning aboht 1961!’ Reason: the War II
babies will get married. And, as for the years immediately
ahead, the economist doubts that new starts will fall below
1,000,000 annually.
Other sources of continuing housing demand include in
dustry growth areas.
Suburbs continue to grow at the expense of cities. For
example, Long Island’s Nassau county population is up 50
per cent since 1950, while in the crowded New York City
boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn population has de
creased by 78,000.
Finally, even if new home construction does fall off, there
still remains a huge market for home repairs and moderni
zation. Nawadays house owners spend $4 to fix up old home
steads for every $5 which buyers (and their bankers) put
up for new homes.
Aside from row after row of new homes in old communi
ties, and complete new cities, the most spectacular by-prod
uct of the residential building boom is the heavy mortgage
debt. Today it totals $75 billion against $19 billion just ten
years ago. And it continues to grow. Latest figures from the
Federal Loan Bank Board show $2 billion new home mortga
ges recorded in January against $1.4 billion for the first
month of 1954.”
BEWARE THE TRAP
Let us hope that out of this easy credit will come a citi
zenship trained to appreciate the American way of life, even
as so greatly modified.
The very latest figures on loans for homes may be in this
statement from Chicago:
“Home loans by savings and loan associations for the three
months ended March 31 were 33 per cent higher than in the
similar quarter a year ago, J. Howard Edgerton, presi
dent of the United States Savings and Loan League, has
announced. >.
* The volume of home loans in the first quarter totaled
about $2.3 billion, compared with $1,744,000 in the corres
ponding period in 1954, he reported. Home loans for the year
as a whole should top 10 billion in 1955, compared with $8.3
billion last year, he predicted.
Loan repayments for the first quarter amounted to $1.2
billion, an increase of 29 per cent over the total of $942 mil
lion in the like period a year ago, he said. Repayments should
total $4.7 billion in 1955, he added. The other large source
of loan capital, savings, should show a gain of $5.2 billions
in 1955, a gain of $l billion over new savings in 1954, he
reported.
Dale Carnegie
-it; AUTHOR OF "HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING" ^
T F YOU think you can write a story, or a song or a poem, the chances
are you can. It must be in you, or you would not be clamoring for
expression. Having it accepted by a publisher of stories, or a house
that brings out songs, or selling a poem, is another matter.
A publisher once told me that one of the greatest mistakes in the
profession was a writer not knowing his market, and sending his
work to some publication, or publishing house for
whom it was wholly unsuited. Naturally, when a
writer has put down on paper hia innermost
thoughts and feeling, he thinks at once of publish
ers’ names that he sees most frequently. So off
goes his work to one of them, regardless of whether
those particular houses go in for his “type of stuff.”
So the second thing for a writer to do is 4o
learn his market. Many a good piece of work has
gone unread, or a lovely song unaimg because
has not been done. .
An unknown name is, of course, another obstacle.
CABNEGOp
Carrie Jacobs Bond, whose “The End of a Perfect Day” is sung
all over the world, could not get it published. So she had it printed and
went from door to door selling it.
The late Dr. Charles Wakefield Cadman wrote some to an
Indian legend and called it “The Land of the Sky Blue Water.” Eight
publishers turned it down. Most of them gave him miyi encourage^
ment, however. That song, long before Mr. Cadman died more Cum
a decade ago, sold more than a million copies, after the eighth pub
lisher recognized its quality and its possibilities.
I could go on and on with similar recitals. So if you want to write
something anything at all—write it; and don’t allow yourself to
become discouraged!
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This is an age of power, all kinds of power. The trained
man of science dreams of using explosive power for industry,
substituting coal, oil, gas and electricity. The electric power
leaders are experimenting to find practical uses for the so-
called Atomic power in the generation of electricity.
I quote something of interest on the general studies and
experiments to harness the incalculable energy which can
be released by atomic power.
“American scientists are hard at work seeking to harness
the limitless energy of the H-bomb for peaceful production
of power.
Success, if it comes, would be a matter of years. One
leading nuclear physicist says: Tt won’t come within the
next five yeears.’ But some day this effort could make ob
solete today’s new uranium-fueled atomic reactors. It would
employ plentiful, relatively cheap lithium as a prime source
of atomic fuel. •
One AEG statement woudn’t disclose any revolutionary
way to tap this H-Bomb energy. Much important work re
mains to be done on highly intricate problems. But lifting
the secrecy lid on what’s already known would enable indus
trial laboratories to get along on work they‘ve been ham
pered in tackling thus far. *
Uranium reactors being built for power purposes depend
on the atom-splitting process, known as nuclear^ fission,
which first made the atomic bomb possible. This reaction
occurs because one form of the mineral uranium gives off
particles called neutrons which have the ability to split the
uranium atom. When the atom-splitting takes place, enor
mous amounts of heat and energy are released. This reac
tion feeds on itself, in chain fashion; as more atoms are
split, additional neutrons are released. The process contin
ues until much of the uranium is used up. In a borqb, energy
is unleashed in an uncontrolled explosion. In a reactor, the
process is controlled so heat is generated more slowly and
over a longer period of time.”
As a plain American citizeii I am doubtful of much of our
effort to do with, or do for, so-called backward nations. I
know that the purpose is a noble one and I sympathize with
the magnanimous spirit which inspires our American world
mindedness, but I have spent a lot of time in foreign coun-
tries-^-ten years in one group—and I think we are the
world’s best-intentioned people but the world’s worst bung-
I thing our foreign aid was a grandoise scheme of hectic
dreaming, a sort of nightmare, and I think it continues as a
fervent hallucination.
The President and the Congress should balance our Na
tional budget by stern measures of elimination, as well as
resolute measures of retrenchment.
Here in South Carolina our budget should be balanced by
making the budget conform to probable revenue. Apparently
this is an era of unreason and all of us are as unbalanced as
the State government is.
Governments are like men and women; most of our people
spend large sums of money merely to gratify whims, or to
keep up with the neighbors.
We need a political martyr—a man who will do what needs
to be done; who will take the bull by the horns and choke
him. Such a courageous course would win the applause of
most taxpayers, though it might inflame and alienate tax-
eaters.
Q—Caa yon tell me ham hunting and flehtng ranks with ether sports?
A—In 1953 there were about 32 million hunting and fishing licenses
issued. For the same year, baseball drew 18 million paid cus
tomers. Rodeos drew 20 million and horse racing about 30 million.
Q—Can yen tell me aetoaBy hew many attended the dinner fat Wash-
fegton for Speaker Sam Baybnrn? Who got the money?
A—There were 3700 places set. More than that number attended at
a rate of $100 per plate. The dinner was in the National Guard
armory and was served by the combined cuisine of the Mayflower
and Statler hotels. Profit went to the Democratic National Com
mittee.
Q—Which President was l» who la said to have been drafted and hired
n snbstttnte to serve In the army far him?
A—Grover Cleveland was drafted for service in the Civil War by the
Federal Army. He hired a substitute, then a legal right.
Q- Can yea give me the names of ether army officers boaldco Flam
hewer who became President.
A—Generals Grant and Zachary Taylor became president. Other pres
idents have performed military service in some capacity, includ
ing Jackson. William Henry Harrison, Pierce, Tyler, Johnson,
Lincoln, Hayes, Garfield. Benjamin Harrison. McKinley, Theodore
Roosevelt and Truman.
Q—What are the qualifications pres crib ad for n president?
A—He must be a natural-bom citizen, at least 38 years eld end tor
At least 14 yaars a resident of the United States.
Q Peea the Library of Congress have a file of newapapecs?
A—Yes. The library receives 770 American newspapers and 870 for-
v eign. Only 210 American newspapers are preserved in hi»*di"gv
or microfilm: 800 of the foreign papers are preserved. The Library
also has about 20.000 periodicals.
From the Wildwood Independent
Record, Wildwood, N. J.: Remem
ber the prises that obtained back
in 1925?
You could get a new small car
for $500. You could get a good
cigar for a nickel. And you could
buy a reliable watch for one
dollar.
Those days are gone, no doubt
forever. But there are a few—a
very few—commodities in general
use which still sell at around the
1925 price.
Gasoline, the oil industry’s
principal product, is one of them.
Exclusive of the taxes, over which
the industry has no control, and
which are up 250 per cent, gaso
line now costs only slightly more
than it did in 1925. And, measure
by the barometer of performance,
it costs substantially less—for two
Igalkms of today’s motor fuel do
• the work that required three in an
earlier era.
- Various forces .have helped to
| bring this about. For one, con-
sumption is far greater, and the
more,we use of anything, general
ly speaking, the cheaper the
price. For another, the oil in
dustry has always been a leader
in scientific research designed to
produce new products, better prod
ucts, and lower-priced products.
And for still another, intense com
petition is a hallmark of the oil
industry—in refining, selling and
•very other phase of operation.
Very likely that has been the
greatest of all the forces. In any
line of endeavor, competition la
the consumer’s best friend.
From the Harvard Herald, Har
vard, Illinois: Recently the word
spread in Livingston, Mont, that
mountain lions had been spotted on
a nearby ranch.' The chase was
on and before the hunt was over
two large cats had been treed and
shot One measured se^-n feet
and weighed. 125 pounds and the
other was seven feet six inches
and weighed 145 pounds.
The interesting part about these
native lions is that they always
head for the false security of a
tree when the hounds are after
us assuring their ultimate
destruction. They cannot reason
that immediate security is, not
always the best—that the only
escape from the tree is down, into
a trap of their own setting.
Sometimes we people reason
as poorly. We encourage inflated
government spending and public
debt to get some easy money,
thereby setting a tax trap for our
selves just as the lion made the
fatal mistake of dimbipg a tree
for temporary relief.
More than one people has been
trapped into bankruptcy by the
baying of public spenders.
:
roue
W HATEVER one may think
about former President Har
ry S. Truman, his recent visit to
Washington was as refreshing as
a mountain breeze in the stuffy,
whispering-in-ears and censor
laden atmosphere of the Capitol
City.
Mr. Truman’s visit brought back
some of the human warmth now
missing here. His effervescense
and frank down-to-earth comments
were at wide variance to the
secrecy and behind-door meetings
of Congressional committees which
are now largely becoming the
rule, rather than the exception.
His rather corny adjectives, his
broad grin, his rubbing shoulders
with taxi-drivers, with people on
the streets, his very innate friend
liness, his early morning walks
which drew crowds everywhere
and friendly greetings from the
men and women on the streets—
all were in such broad contrast to
the stilted, looking-over-the-
shoulder, chilly and cheerless
attitudes and blank faces which
now pervade official Washington,
as to invite widespread comment
throughout, not only the news
paper fraternity, but almost every
where in the city.
More, Mr. Truman brought back
to Washington the two-party sys
tem. He made it plain there was
a Democratic party and a Repub
lican party and that next year
there is a Presidential election;
that so far afc he was concerned
there was no bi-partisanship about
this. There was no hush-hush
about his attacks upon the Admin
istration, nor upon President
Eisenhower where he thought the
President was wrong. And in so
—
doing he issued a plain rebuke to
the leaders of the Democratic par
ty in Congress who at best have
been politically afraid of criticis
ing President Eisenhower because
of his widespread popularity.
As a matter of fact it begins to
appear that many of the top Dem
ocrats in both Senate and House,
most of whom come from the
South, and who can be reelected
in 1968 almost without firing •
shot at the Eisenhower adminis
tration, have decided to use Just
those tactics. Which wiU make It
tough for the relatively few north
ern Democrats up for reelection in
1956, and who must base a cam
paign upon opposition to Eisen
hower and the Eisenhower admin
istration.
Debate and committee —
over the restoration of the 90%
of parity to farm prices set a
precedent It was such a remark
able precedent that Representa-
tive Harold D. Cooley, chairman
of the House Agricultural commit
tee a committee member for
twenty years, printed a committee
document and distributed thous
ands of copies to farm groups.
Tha pamphlet contained the testi
mony of Walter P. Reuther, Pres
ident of the CIO; George Meany,
President of the AFL, and the
presidents of lour or five unions
the CIO ranks, all in favor of
restoration of 90% of parity for
the farm basic crops.
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The writer of this column, has
for 15 years been saying that if
the Labor and Farm groups would
Mice get together on a single ob
jective they could get wi
they wanted in Congress.
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By Maurice Vincent
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T HE gentleman entering the
Silver Dollar Cafe wore tan
gloves and carried a silver headed
type that
concealed a long and
Tha genflaman, ]
Quincy Harrigan by name, was
known by tha police of three con
tinents for certain felonious activi
ties concerning the v banking pro
fession. Every literate person in
the world had heard of “Come
counter, ttowd his hat at an ex-
Mr.
nate
counter, tipped his hat at an
passive angle and looked at tha picked up his cane, and
waitress who appeared to be
slightly flustered. She was staring
at the man as she might geze at
an exotic bird.
, “Coffee, my dear,” said Mr.
Harrington gently. He had a weak
ness for pretty girls and Trexy
Hartman was decidedly a pretty
girl Mr. Harrington’s tastes were
generally pretty jaded . . . and
expensive. But this girl could well
be an exception, Mr. Harrington
mused.
“What is the name of the banker
in this village, my girl?” asked
“Come Again.” He waved n hand
expressively and on his little finger
glittered a stone large enough to
blind a locomotive headon.
“Mr. Grange Hartman .... sir,”
said Trexy.
Harrington
fashioq that
believe she
of Einstein’
ory-
“And where does Mr,
. . . live?” asked Mr.
softly. It was his fashion to
make a social call on the bankers
of his choice. What went on at
those conferences only the bankers
and f Mr. Harrington were aware.
Mr. Harrington considered this
knowledge as business secrets and
the bankers were generally too
reluctant to bring up the subject
. . . even to the police.
“Mr. Hartman.... Uvea
tha street (she pointed a
0 In the white hou
“Mr.
thing.
of money, the
the Silver Dollar Cafe, and
them to the gaudy stranger.
“Would you...give this money,
to my
Harrington aa
his walking stick
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his gloves.
tleman’s poise had left him.
**My dear,” said Mr.
ton sadly. “You have just
a fine career.”
Trexy looked at him, not
standing. There was a light in
eyes that no one, e
Harrington, had been pri
to see. “Come Again”
recognised the look and
him a bit sad to think of
wasted years. As he arose f
the stool, leaving his coffee
he looked at the
of the Silver Dollar. __
glanced at the lovely features 1
Trexy Hartman.
He handed the money
the girl. ‘ “Must be gc
soft,” he muttered. He
his gloves and stfc
you to to leave. He
“WiU you
again?*
“I doubt it,” said
ton. Then he
“Congratulate your
upon his good fortune...
him teat “Come Again”
ton win not paas this wa:
He’ll understands Then,
polite tip of his expensive
was gone.
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L The science of kinematics relates to (a) motion; (b)
(c) relationships.
2. Otiose means (a) vain; (b) still; (e) apparent.
3. A shake is (a) walking stick; (b) tall military cap; (o) foal
weather garment. ' :
ANSWERS
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WEED CUTTER . .
With an bat thr
shawn, a discarded
or U
ms a mowtng ,
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