The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, August 18, 1955, Image 2
PAGE TWO
THE NEWBERRY SUN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1966
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.
COMMENTS ON MEN AND THINGS
“The Story of Creative Capital,” a very readable publica
tion of The DuPont Company, seems worthy of even wider
publicity bacause it tells so clearly and attractively what
every one should know about what we call capitalistic busi
ness. Capitalistic business is most of the business we know.
The farmer buys a piece of land and either pays for it now
or borrows some money. In any case he hopes to own the
land and all the tools and machinery on it. We are a nation
of men and women who are small capitalists; we try to own
and operate our farms and stores and shops.
t"
Let me quote freely from the entertaining book:
“In a single day recently, nearly one million Americans
acted as capitalists. The transactions in which these people
took part bore a familiar stamp. One man bought a farm;
another, a store; a third, a share of corporate stock. Repeat
ed thousands of times over in communities across the na
tion, gaining with each repetition, such individual decisions
to invest produced a financial avalanche. On this single day,
a total estimated at more than $150 mllion was invested.
Most of them knew only that in accordance with basic
American principles, they were practicing thrift—putting
their savings in some investment with the hope of obtaining
a return. Only a few, perhaps, fully understood how so
many of the invested dollars would come back in the form
of better goods on the store shelves at lower prices; in more
jobs and higher wage scales and added leisure hours for
workers; in new school and highways, churches and hospi
tals; and in all the things that spell, progress not only in
dollars, but in terms of human betterment.
Though some of their savings went into home mortgages
or government uses, the great majority found their way in
to the industrial economy. There, they provide the means
to buy more efficient tools and build new plants, and by so
doing bring greater industrial output. If mass production
symbolizes America’s unparalleled economic development,
it is mass capitalism that has made it possible. The Ameri
can people, aspiring to improve ways of life,’have found in
mass capitalism an artful suiting of means to ends.
Americans are now investing more than 40 billion a year
in their future. In a national economy which produces more
than $350 billion a year in goods and services, an average
of one dollar in nine is being set aside to build a more pros
perous economy for tomorrow. The nation’s private invest
ment is comprised of the cumulative savings of people from
every walk of life and income group.
For the most part, stockholders arepeople of moderate
means. Among the families in which stock is owned, one-
third have an income of less than $5000 per year. Three-
quarters are in the $10,000-or-less bracket. There are more
than one million stock owners with incomes under $4000.
The figures belie the one-time popular notion that ‘capital
ists’ are people of spectacular wealth. They deny, too, that
capitalism is the singular province of business men. More
farmers than business executives own stock, though the lat
ter hold more ‘shares; and housewives outnumber either.
Today, almost one half of the shareholders of American cor
porations are women.
From Biblical time there has been a sharp distinction be
tween hoarded money, which serves no purpose, and capital.
The parable of the Talents tells of a nobleman who richly
rewarded two servants for investing, and doubling, funds
he put in their hands, but cast out the third servant who
buried the money entrusted to him. Then, as now, capital
was an investment from which some return was expected.
In early America, capital requirements were small. Most
men were farmers or artisans. Tools were simple and in
expensive, and most workers owned their own. If their needs
exceeded their funds, interested friends invested some of
their savings. As late as 1850, four out of five workers
were classed as individual proprietors. Today, by contrast,
four out of five workers 5 are employees. The tools in use
are so complex and so costly that no one man possibly could
afford them. Men need organizations that permit them to
share the costs, the risks and the effort with one another.
The corporation is such an organization. Reduced to its es
sentials, an industrial corporation is but a means of bring
ing together the savings of many to finance the facilities
and manpower essential to modern production. Invested
savings serve precisely the same function in a corporation,
with an investment of more than $2 billion, as in the col
onial artisan’s shop. They are still the means by which men
buy tools, and thus produce and have more.
Capital is the lifeblood of enterprise. It is an essential
to all business ventures, both great and small, as blood is
to a human body. The amount needed varies as widely as
the enterprise themselves. For a youngster’s lemonade
stand, $1 may suffice. To refurbish a corner cigar stand,
$1000 may be needed. To produce a textile fibre like nylon
takes tens of millions. It is this variation in need that makes
America a nation with large corporations as well as small |
lemonade stands.
LITTLE GUY WHO CARRIES THE LOAD
The same point applies to return on investment. A young
ster realizing a 10 per cent profit on a $1 investment in his
refreshment business does as w$ll, in one sense, as a corpor
ation earning $100 million on a $1 billion investment; each
makes a 10 per cent return on investment. The profit on a
particular business varies with a number of factors, among
them are the astuteness of management and general busi
ness conditions. But judging the size of profits by dollars
alone is misleading.
Savings alone, lying unused, mean nothing. A forgotten
piggy bank is valueless. The* hoarded gold of King Midas
created nothing, and served no higher purpose than gratifi
cation of personal greed. Only when put to use do savings
become capital, and only when given direction in filling the
needs of the market place does capital become creative.
To this extent it might be said that savings, like men,4>e-
come productive only whenpurposefully employed.
In modern practice, it is the function of management—
whether it be,the owners themselves or managers selected
by the owners— to direct capital into creative channels. The
cycle begins with a need, and an idea for filling that need
with a new or improved product. Laboratories must be pro
vided for experiment and development. When an idea be
comes a useful product, commercial production is planned.
That means construction, and more funds are required.
Then follows the need for ‘working capital’ money to fin
ance raw materials and payrolls. Thruout the cycle, man
agement must direct both technical and human resources
to achieve the maximum usefulness of each dollar of cap
ital investment. There is no sure formula. Investment in
evitably involves risk, patience and adaptability. But, crea
tively used, capital has given Americans opportunities to
attain new heights of well-being.
In the past 10 years, the capital invested by U. S. industry
in plants and equipment has totaled $215 billion, an amount
equivalent to $5200 for every family in the U. S. This cap
ital has spurred the rise of national income from $181 bil
lion in 1945 to $300 billion in 1954, and has helped bring a
steady rise, over these years, in the purchasing power of an
average U. S. family’s income. In the chemical industry,
with efficient production often possible only in plants run
ning 24 hours a day, turning out a dozen or more products
at once," the capital investment in a single plant may reach
$100 million—as much as the market value of all the real
estate in a city the size of Newburgh, N. Y. with a popu
lation of 32,000. * ^
No one has ever been able to guarantee a profit, in Du
Pont, or anywhere else. The men and women who help pro
vide the capital for industrial growth always have encoun
tered risks. But it is dead certain that nothing ventured is
nothing gained, and history is on the side of the venture
some. Past experience shows that the capital that makes
man more productive leads to higher wages, lower prices,
and rising human welfare.
In the past 15 years DuPont has invested $1.2 billion in
plants and equipment, much of it for improved machines
and processes. In the same years, the average DuPont work
er’s output per hour more’than doubled. This is a classic ex
ample of capital’s ability to make two roses bloom where one
bloomed before.
The workman of today produces as much in one hour as
his 1850 counterpart did in five. Significant to' the compar
ison is a notable reduction in physical drudgery. Tools to
day provide 96 per cent of the energy used in manufacture,
compared to 26 per cent in 1850. Significant, too, is the fact
that there are nine times as many jobs in the U. S. today
as there were a century ago.
Throughout capitalism’s history, investment and living
standards have climbed together. Investment, providing the
tools to increase the individuals output, has made possible
higher wages, more leisure, and added job benefits.
In the past 25 years, individual purchasing power Idias
climbed 40 per cent. The average work week has been cut
from 44 to 40 hours. It is no accident that over the same
25 years the total number of jobs has increased. Better
tools lower production costs. As prices drop, demand in
creases, and more jobs are created. Tools, the greatest crea
tors of jobs yet devised by man, have set a pattern of ex
pansion that has lifted to tat employment in the U. S. from
45 million to sixty million in a quarter of a century.”
CHATTEL SLAVES VS. WAGE SLAVES
Negro slavery was a flop in the North.
The accent there was on manufacturing and the
Negro was at his best when teamed up with a hoe and a
Si
AUTHOR OF "HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING'
N ORMAN L. MILLER, 2432 Buena -Vista Drive, Huntington, West
Virginia, says when he was elected an Elder in the Church, it was
an event in his life, which was to change it more than he can telL
One of six children, and reared in a Christian home, he knew the
meaning of family prayer and went to church each Sunday. One thing
his father impressed upon him particularly was the importance of
clean living. He was most emphatic on the subject
and its control over his everyday life.
However, he had excluded religion from his every
day life for a number of years. Although a member
at the church, he questioned his own fitness for the
office of Elder. Being urged, he decided to give it
a try.
The following Sunday he found out that one of his
duties as an Elder was the morning prayer. He was
stunned; he bad never spoken before a large group,
much less prayed before one. With head bowed, he
called on God for the first time in earnest, for the CARNEGIK
guidance and help he needed. And his prayer was answered.
From this experience he found there was a Friend who would give
him courage and confidence. Now whenever he has a tough—task to
perform or a tough customer to contact, he stops and calls on Hfan
He never has to face a task alone.
CHANNEL .
AUGUSTA • GEORGIA
SUMDAY, AUGUST tl. IMS
AM—Pared* of Quartets
PM—The Wonder Boy
PM—Industry On Pared*
of Christ
PM—Thto IS Tbs Lite
PM—Zoo Pared*
lOtse
10:30
Ut«
•n Andy
Of*
MOMDAT THRU
M.*M
U*S
WEDNESDAY. AUGUST
1:30
•ttt
0:St
•:4S
7:00 M
7:30 PM—Biff Town
3:00 PM—Kraft TT *
3:00 PM—This Is YourLife
3:30 PM—Playof th* Wook
10:00 PM—Tm Th* Law
10:30 PM—Soldlor Pared#
11:00 PM—SHr» Off
THURSDAY. AUGUST *S. 1333
3:13 PM—CI*co Kid A Hot Doe Party
*.;SS
::5.
/ 7:00 PM—Groueho Marx
7:30 PM—Mak* tho
3:00 PM- “
0:30 PM —
3:00 PM—Lux Video
10:00 PM—WMNllnO
11:00 PM—Sign Off
71UDAY, AUGUST 30. 1033
I D CIO ■
3W0 PM—World of Mr.
3M3
4:00 M
4:30 PM—Howdy Doody
tWO PM—Let's
MOMDAT. AUGUST 33.
3:30
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1333
Q—I am on the Veterans Administration pension rolls, and in such help
less condition I am entitled to additional money for constant aid
and attention. If my mother provides this aid, will I receive my
additional allowance? v
A—Yes. You may receive the additional allowance even though a mem
ber of the family provides the necessary services. It is not neces
sary for you to hire an attendant in order to qualify for the pay-
, ments.
Q—Can yon tell me how much money the Government has invested In
the TV A and what return the Government has to show for it?
A—Since 1933 the Government has invested approximately $1.5 billion
in the Tennessee Valley authority in seven Tennessee valley states.
One effective measure of return on the money invested is income taxes,
paid in those seven states. In 1933 individual federal income taxes
in the seven states amounted to 3.4% of all income tax revenue
collected by the Treasury. In 1953, twenty years later, these same
taxpayers were paying 6.i% of the total national income taxes. In
terms of dollars, the increase proportion of taxes paid out of the
seven states amounted to over $8 billion or about/five times the cost
of TVA. This does not take into account the millions TV A has paid
into the U. S. Treasury, or the saving in losses from flood damage,
or savings to users of electric power in lower electric rates.
Q—How was Florida acquired from Spain?
A—In 1819 the United States assumed and later paid claims df the
United States against Spain in the amount of $5 million. No money
was paid to Spain directly.
Q—Are presidential electors nominated or elected?
A—In some states electors are nominated at party state-wide nominat
ing conventions. In most states, however, they are nominated at
primary elections and listed on ballots in the general presidential
election.
cotton patch. The thrifty manufacturers of New England
had a cheaper and more efficient labor supply readily at
hand in the White wage slaves already there and the im
migrants from Europe who came flooding in.
A healthy negro field hand in 1860 cost $1,000 in
Virginia and as much as $1,500 in New Orleans. A new-born
slave baby was wort^i $200. The chattel slave had to be fed
and clothed and taken care of in sickness and in health.
When he got'too old to work he had to be provided for.
Some states made it illegal for slaves to be work
ed on Sundays under pain of a fine of five pounds. It was
against the law to work a slave more than fifteen hours a
day in the summer and fourteen hours a day in winbu^
The average work day was about eleven hours. The slave
was given a holiday between Christmas and New Year’s.
Louisiana prescribed by law that every slave had to be given
a minimum of 200 pounds of pork a year.
The I^ew England White wage slave wasn’t nearly
as expensive and a lot more efficient He represented no
capital outlay. He worked for starvation wages. Laborers
in the north in 1860 were earning 60 cents a day, and a
day was often 14 to 16 hours.
The plight of women workers was even more appalling.
In New York City, during the Civil war, women umbrella
workers, after laboring 18 hours from six in the morning
to midnight, earned three dollars a week. Seamstresses in
the underwear crafts got seventeen cents for a 12 hour
day. When the wage slave got sick he went off the pay
roll. When worn out by age and hard work, he was dis
carded like an old shoe.
Bells rang at daybreak in most factory towns.
The wage slaves—men and'women, boys and girls—had to
report to the factory gate in fifteen minutes. An hour later
they wefe allowed twenty-five minutes fot whatever break
fast they had brought. They got another 25 minutes at
mid-day. The gates opened again at eight o’clock that night
to let the wage slaves go home. In the Eagle Mill at Gris
wold, Conn., the work day lasted fifteen hours and ten min
utes. At Patterson, New Jersey, women and children began
the day’s work at 4:30 in the morning. Overseers in some
textile mills cracked a cowhide whip over the backs of wo
men and children. *
That isn’t to say that chattel slavery was to be
preferred to wage slavery. There were folks who used to
say that back in the middle of the past century, but when
ever Abraham Lincoln heard them Old Abe would sort of
hunch those bony shoulders of his and cock his head to one
side and burn them down with a single sentence.
“They’ve written volume after volume to prove
slavery a good thing,” he’d say “but I never heard of a man
who wishes to take the good of it by being a slave himself.”
(The above was taken from a book called “Then My Old Kentucky
Home Goodnight.” The book deals largely with segregation and the 1
negro question in general. It is witty and informative. You can get
a copy for $1 by sending that amount to W. E. DEBNAM, Raleigh,
North Carolina. It is well worth the dollar.)
8:30
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Sport*
i*l Nows Careren
PM—Th* Early Show
PM—lYs A Great Ufa
PM—Hobart Montgomery
PM»—Orient Express
PM—Mark Sabar
PM—impact
PM—Sign Off
TUESDAY, AUGUST 33. 1333
PM—Annie Oakley
PM—Talent Parade
PM—Th* Weatherman
PM—Vaughn Monro* Show
PM—Camel News Caravan
PM—Place th* Pace
PM—Arthur Murray Party
PM—Summer Theatre
PM—I Led S Live*
PM—Truth or Ct
PM—Police Call
0:00
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1303
AM—Roy'
PM—Georgia'Carolina Farm
and Roma Hour
PM—Feature Playhouka
PM—Saturday Theater
PM—Jamboree
PM—Western Theater
PM—On Camera Augusta
PM—Osark Jubilee
PM—People Are Funny
PM—Th* Dunnlnger Show
PM—"On# Touch of Venus"
PM—Your Play Tima
PM—l awre-c# Walk Shoe.
PM—Sign Off
JV;
mi&m
S^h«duE# Subject to Last
Changes and Corrections.
■ X «C!
I
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MS;:::-:--*::::::;
‘C'lGURES released by the De-
* partment of Commerce show
ing the national income well over
the $30Q billion mark and the gross
national product at a new high of
around $375 billions look well in the
headlines. But when some other flg-
are placed beside them they in some areas there ia a *
to lack luster.
Fot instance the Department of
Commerce figures which do not ^* I ‘b r in automobile
show in thf headlines show federal
debt as of this month at about $279
billions; the public debt at the states
at $10.2 billions and for local units
af government at $27.7 billions, all
for a total public debt owed by the
taxpayers of about $317 billions in
round figures.
Add to this public debt a private
debt of $341.9 billions and we have a
gross debt owed by the people of
the United States of about $859 bil
lions of dollars. This private debt is
about a 10% increase over last year
and the graph is still rising, both as
to private and public debt.
A breakdown of the private debt
shows that of the $342 billions, cor
porations owe about $176.7 billions
and individuals $185.3 billions. Of
this $165.3 billions farmers owe
$17.6 billions on mortgage debt,
over a billion increase from last
year. Non-farm mortgage debt to
tals some $94.7 billions; commercial
loans, $12.7 billions, stock market
credits, $10.4 billions and consumer
credit debt $36.1 billions. Consumer
credit debt which includes all in
stallment sales debt on automobiles
and household gadgets is up more
than $3 billions from last year.
In connection with
consumer
debts the comptroller of the cur
rency has just recently sent letters
of warning to the 4806 national
bank advising that bank examiners
would henceforth report on their in
stallment credit and'other consum
er credit The letter pointed out that
to loosen terms’
type of credit is
by accepting payments
ing maturity which are lower
previously considered
Any attempt to assay the
the Geneva conference at the
mit is pure conjecture,
tiling which may be said for
is that the representatives
four countries went to Geneva
spirit of good feeling and ap]
left the conference in the
mosphere.
The Russians at San F:
only a few weeks before
had indicated they would a
Geneva meeting in a frame
described as peacefully im
When President Eisenhower
his offer to exchange military
formation, the Russians, still
and changed the subject (
offer the President had e
to gain and nothing to
Russians everything to 1
nothing to gain, since as a
racy our armaments are
less an open book which the
sians are able to read,
know little about
ments u either conv
clear. We do know now that we
consistently under-eOtimated .
ability to keep pace with us.
* J
This An 1 That
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WINS PGA . . . Deng Ford, 22,
beat Cary Middlecoff 4 and S to
capture PGA title and $$,303 at
Detroit’s Meadowbreok C. C., ve-
tag only 54 pette In SS holes. Be*s
lint “freshman” since 1961 3e
trinmph in PGA.
26 at
1 . . .
5.4
hits to
by 271495 paid
rider Jei
City At