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PAGE TWO THE NEWBERRY SUN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1955 1218 College Street NEWBERRY. S. C. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY O. 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 I read the annual report of a great National corporation recently and IVe thought over it while driving miles and miles over the State. It brought to mind something I heard a short time ago—that we should be in favor of SMALL businesses instead of BIG business. That appeals to our sympathy because most of us are en gaged in business in a small way. We think of the man planting twenty to fifty acres, or operating from one to three mules. But this country is fast getting away from that; tractors are seen all around us. There is a point at which machinery becomes less expensive in operation than mules and men behind the plow. Of course there may be machinery which costs too much for a few acres. It is probable that we of the South may have to produce cotton in competition with countries of cheap labor; we can't compete in a world market unless we can produce as cheaply as the others. The remedy will be more machinery, larger cotton plantations, with lower cost per pound. That may mean farming by corporations. That may bring about the loss of the life on the farm as we know it. Progress, however, points that way. What would an automobile cost if made by hand, as wagons were made a hundred years ago? The two thousand dollar car would probably cost at least six thousand dollars, even with inferior tires. Heavy investment in machinery makes a lower cost for each part. That great investment is based on investigation and experimentation. The gasoline we use in our cars today is much better than the gas we used in the Model T. The improvements are based on expensive tests and laboratory development. Says a mammoth oil corporation: “Crude reserves in the ground were larger at the end of 1954 than at the beginn ing of that year. That was because that company—and all other companies—are constantly buying land and making expensive explorations and tests. This company I am talk ing about invested $600,000,000 last year in expending and improving plants and equipment. That big figure is just two percent morethan it spent for the same purpose in 1953. And, in addition to the $600,000,000 spent in 1954, it in vested $164,000,000 for leasing, exploration, dry holes and other costs involved in the search for oil. During five years the affiliate, or subsidiary companies, belonging to the big company, spent for plants and facilities $2,500,000,000. I quote this explanatory statement: “The need for very large capital investments year after year is one of the striking characteristics of the oil business; they are es sential in order to meet ever-increasing demands and to maintain our position in this highly competitive industry." That great company has 300,000 stockholders; it isn’t a millionaires’ club; the man whose purchase of stock made him number 300,000 bought eight shares through the Thrift Club. We have gasoline everywhere. No other country has such convenient pumps and other facilities. I am not on the payroll of any oil company; I am interest ed primarily as a student of economics, as well as one who has to buy quite a bit of gasoline. My mind ran along this line following a conversation I recently had with a graduate of the Citadel who is now an executive in a concern not selling gasoline. He is a student of affairs and talks to me as a one-time instructor at The Citadel. I find him very stimulating. How would you like to go back to the era of smokey, smelly, dim oil lamps? Even the oil is cheap because pro duced as I’ve said about gasoline. But today we have elec tric lights, electric power, at the turn of a switch. You don’t have to run out and recharge a battery, as we do for our cars; the current, the power, is there. Well, how can the company know whether you will use ten 100-power lights tonight, or darken the house for a week? How does it know whether a thousand operatives will rest an after noon throughout the territory? It must be ready for all demands. That means heavy investments, heavy costs, and we have cheap, dependable power day and night. The company serving this territory spend millions and millions every year in order to be ready, because it can’t tell how many of us will suddenly install air conditioners, yard lights—and all those items of present-day good living. One night, just a week ago, the telephone at the head of my bed started to wake the dead. It was two o’clock mid night. I touched a button and had light. What a con venience. I don’t know whether that gentleman is a late sitter or an early riser, but there was his telephone at his hand and at my head. 'In the days of little oil companies, little power companies and little telephone companies we had no such service. And now comes natural gas, brought to us from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, through hun dreds of miles of big pipes. What a convenience! Well I recall, just six or seven years ago, riding across Texas at "PLODS HIS WEARY WAY" night—that is part of Texas—I saw flares burning. That was natural gas set on fire because it was a nuisance. We didn’t know what to do with it; it was as useless to us as cotton seed was to our forefathers. Do you know about that? Cotton seed, so rich in oil, meal, hulls, linters, was a waste material. Then someone had a bright idea and used the seed for a stable bed!!‘And now so valuable today that a few Maine sardines in cotton-seed oil can’t be dis tinguished from high-priced French sardines in olive oil— and so on, except by people of such acutely sensitive taste perception as to be miserable at all times. A story from Geneva. “The first global atomic conference ended with the two leading commercial powers, Britain and America, each starting with a supercilious air at the other’s program for building nuclear power stations. England’s distinguished newspaper, the Manchester Guar dian, seemed ready to burst into derisive song. It plastered this on its front page: ’The United Kingdom has made, and proved, a claim to be more advanced in the development of atomic power than any other country, the United States and Russia included. No wonder the British delegates as well as the exhibitors at the commercial exhibition, wear a smile of bouyant confidence’. This divergence of opinion, which is both honest and ex pert, can be explained simply. In their quest for atomic pow er the two nations are traveling quite different roads—and with very good reason. The big fact about England is that it is running out of coal and of men willing to mine coal. Thus fuel for conven tional electric utility plants is becoming fabulously expen sive and much of it must be imported with expenditure of dollars that are hard for the British to come by. Under these circumstances even inefficient atom plants can be competi tive with the old coal burners, so the British government certainly is going to build a lot of them in a hurry. Seven teen large atomic stations, some of them powered by more than one reactor, are slated to begin production within the next decade; the first will begin producing electricity next year. But even in launching its atomic program Britain has encountered a grave problem of fuel. For the first phase of its civilian construction—involving a dozen sta tions—it wil have only natural uranium available to put in the reactors. In this natural form only one atom out of 140 is the kind that will ’burn.’ The great bulk of such fuel will be inert. Designing an atomic furnace to utilize such an inefficient fuel is like designing an orthodox plant to bum peat. The British have made the best of a bad proposition; they are building ’safe’ atom plants, ones that seem sure to work. But they will be bulky, expensive, primiil e affairs. Tons of carbon dioxide gas will carry heat rather inefficiently from the reactors to water boilers; steam from this water will drive turbines and thus generate electricity. It will take eight or ten years apparently for England to obtain a significant supply of enriched fuel. Now turn to America. The United States, with abundant cheap coal and oil, really has no urgent need for atom power. Officials of the companies which make reactors say I frankly that most of thejr utility company customers have no early expectation of cutting costs by building atom plants; their primary motive is to stake this out as an area of pri vate rather than public power. And since the first atomic stations are, at best, going to be less economic than orthodox modern coal-fired plants— are, in effect, going to be subsidized by purchasers and their power customers—the American gambling spirit comes into play. Instead of concentrating like the British on one ’sure’ type of plant, the Americans are experimenting with a be wildering variety. One can think of these U. S. Commercial experiments as forming the pattern of a roulette wheel. One or more of the gambles may be a winner—may prove able even in America to undercut the cost of producing electricity from tradi tional fosil fuels. If so, there could within a few years be a stampede to atomic power that might dwarf the big Brit ish program. England’s scheme now looks larger partly be cause it is socialized, planned as a unit by government of fices and projected far in advance. When the atom power rush gathers force in the U. S. it will develop as a host of individual corporate decisions made only when the time is • •• ' ripe.’’ T HE most recent evidence of arbitrary censorship in the Ex- excutive Department of the gov ernment at Washington has run afoul of a Congressional Committee. As a result, a full-dress probe of censorship in the name of security likely will be one of the burning issues in the second session of the 84th Congress. This latest evidence of peacetime censorship comes at the hands of Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks who has refused to make information relative to his depart ment available either to the pub lic or to a House Judiciary sub committee. Secretary Weeks charged the house committee with playing, politics, with an attack against free enterprise; said it was no business of the Congress to probe into the operations of his Business Advisory Council. The Secretary's arbitrary refus al is the result of the same kind of thinking among some business men who have come into govern ment, that has resulted during the past several months in the resig nation of two or three cabinet members . . that what he does, or his department does is no busi ness of the Congress, and there fore is not the public's business. It is the same kind of thinking that many top business men take into government . . . they fail to realize when they enter the gov ernment that the rules are changed . . . they cannot do as they please, or operate the government's busi ness as they would their own . . for the Government's business is the public's business, and the Congress as the elected represent ative of the people has a perfect right to investigate the operation of any governmental agency. Secretary Weeks is hiding be hind two false premises: (1) that the President’s security order gives him the right to decide what is and what is not security; (2) that his Business Advisory Committee is financed with private funds, draws no pay from Con gress, and therefore Congress has no business investigating what his Committee does. But that isn’t true. The Council has official status which makes it a part of the Government as an advisory group to the Department of Commerce. Here’s what hap pened. The Bureau of the Budget, with the approval of Secretary Weeks eliminated many of the services which the Commerce De partment was giving to business generally. These services in the way of industrial and other busi ness surveys were invaluable in formation and open to all business, large and small Business rebelled at the Ipss of these services! So Mr. Weeks set up an Advisory Committee supported by contribu tions from Big Business firms to provide these services to Big Busi ness. Result is Little Business is shut oft from the service. Mr. Weeks contends, as other business men in the Government have contended, and as the Presi dent has contendWd thus far, that the executive branch of the gov ernment has a right to keep its af fairs to itself, secured by a Presi dential order, against the prying eyes of Congress; that the Presi dent has the constitutional right to do so. i n c t o n Q—Will tbm Senate continue the investigation into the appointment er nomination of Mr. Allen Whitfield to be a member of the Atomln Energy Commission? • w A—Likely not. Mr. Whitfield withdrew his name before final actloo was taken, so is no longer a contender for the post Some mem- ; ben of the investigatinji committee were hot pleased with Mr. Whitfield’S given reasons tor withdrawing his name. For instance Whitfield said some questions asked him were of an extraordinary nature that would involve a question of breech of legal ethics. Some would like to have the public judge whether they would so involve, but the majority likely wm now let the matter drop, years age I applied for disability cempeneatien. but I - ppotatment for phyaleel examination with V« Oaa 1 can me a of data eC the begin aa application. If application. payments the old one. were admitted without having been territories. It has a unicameral legislature of one House consisting of smaller states has the largest population of about 600,000, has a with StO members. Dale Carnegie •jf- AUTHOR OF “HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START UVING" A/f RS. MARIE A. DUSSEAULT, 00 Quirin Street, Manchester. New Hampshire, has written me a letter that X fori wiB help some reader of this column. She says: 'Tor about ten yeers I have been a professional worrier, afraid of criticism, almost to the extent of making myself sick. I got to the point where I could hardly digest anything and my weight went down to 94 pounds. Then one Sunday night my hnehand and* I were looking at Ed Sullivan’s *fce was her secret ta r ing eo happy, and ashed E rite ewer thought of the pest and troubles that might have come her army. 1 She replied, ‘Ed. tt you want my secret, you may have it. It is very simple. Every night when I go to bed I pull the shade down and forget all about the past. Every morning X start a new day.* "Just then X got right up from my chair and' said to my husband. Tf Gloria Swanson can pufi the night and make herself happy so can L* My hue- & ) band root from Ids chair, went to the bookcase and pulled out on Worry, threw it on my lap and said, ’Read this book. 1 *T did read the book and found in it ao much many helpful suggestions for conquering worry that my life transformed due mostly to just one suggestion: Tri the dead pari remain dead and live ea^h day for that day alone.* ** i* ■■■■■■■■■ ■—mist Many of our older residents may remember the sight of e horse with white trappings hauling a white beans through the streets. Three score and more yean ago, that white hearse was necessary because of the number of children and babies* who died. Major medi cal advances have made baby death an Infrequent event, elimi nating the need for that "little white hearse." In the report of the Board of Health for 1954, there was only one death in the bracketing from 2 days to 24 yean of age. Compare this with the report of 1909. That year the record indicates that six ty (00) died before the age of one year. From one year to 'two, 13 more died, and from two to ten, 12 additional. Of the total of 178 deaths forty-five yean ago, the grim reaper took 79 babies under gfcreti a chance to live. an unaware of it, the impact social' security in the United States is having a profound effect on the economy. It will have an even more telling effect in the years immediately ahead. Experts estimate that a million Americans will come wider Social Security pension plan in this coun try 'bach year from now on. The program is twenty years old. and the number of Americans being retired under the program has not approached figures which are now being recorded. Although Social Security and pensions have been commonplace in many countries for decades, government pensions and many pensions now being offered by prfct vate businesses are just now en compassing the vast majority of Americana reaching retirement age. This is a factor which will tend to ease the effect of economic r«* cessions, open up new jobs tot younger workers, -iactuem jobs by maintaining a high level of buying power, and act as a stabilising to la pther ways. This Is Freaa the R of ala Tribone, Enfa- im. Alabama: Thouah of u* r lieve the level of purchasing power in thi.c cv 'ry is to relatively high in coming years. >•;'. ■ ACROSS 1 Paradise 0 Gambling % token S Expense* 14 Ceremony 18 Rabbit 16 Startle 17 Ox of the Celebes 18 Appellation of Athena 15 upper bract in grasses SO Of a religious fast day S3 Thin, narrow board 34 Roman bronxe 28 Sea eagle 27 A language 29 Dams 33 Cravat 34 Form of “to be” 38 Errors 37 Unclothed 41 Canvas shelter 43 Chairs 48 Tree 48 Kind of cloth 48 To pry 80 Prefix: not El Dawn goddess 83 Scantiest SB Vegetables 60 Location 60 Native metal 61 Wrote “Two Tears Before The Mast** 63 Cautioned DOWN 1 Of a period - of time 2 To eat 3 Short jacket 4 Tidier 8 Grooves • Man’s nickname T Angers 8 Resounds 9 Army officer 10 Palm leaf i var.) :ast Indian tree 13 Woody plants 13 Crush 21 Goddess of discord 23 Suitable 26 American TtiHInrui 28 Kind of tide / 29 Flying . l mammals 30 Extent of land 31 ^ 32 Reaches across 36 Halts 38 Cows „ _ . 30 Ron of Seth 40 Depression 42 Row . 44 The eowfeerb 47 Ribbon-. gsrs-y . 48 South Seas’ canoe SS As it stands (mua.) 84 Sharpens • 83 Contend* 88 Cultivated 67 Fail to follow suit in cards _ (var.) 88 Showers frozen rain 63 Opposed to aweather 64 River of Africa 66 Danish weight 66 Incapable of hearing SB Guido’s high note 70 Scotch for John V