University of South Carolina Libraries
PAGE TWO 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, S. 0. 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 By SPECTATOR Let’s go after business: that’s how a merchant combats a lull in trade. When everything is quiet, or dull, the live merchant doesn’t sit still and “raise” prices, does he? I know a progressive young man who has sent an em ployee throughout his trade area in order to solicit business from house to house. That is an expedient in the right spirit. Our Nation needn’t try that because it has too much reve nue now; it has become a sort of octopus; but our State needs money; our merchants need trade; our citizens need a diversity of employment to take up the slack. The day for large farming operations leaves at a tremen dous disadvantage not only the small farmer and his family, but the entire community, and all the interests of the com munity. A man needs capital if he would farm on a large scale; and it seems likely that only large-scale farmers will be able to compete in an age of mechanized agriculture. I know that every County has a few farmers who hold their own, even when operating as small farmers, but such men are exceptional men: the world is composed of ordin ary men, not geniuses; and the ordinary man and his fam ily must live. As a matter of fact, if they should remove all of us ordinary people there wouldn’t be enough people remaining to operate anything. I know that our legislators are as keenly aware of the general condition as I am; so I hope we may find a way to bring in new productive business so that several hundred thousand of our people may find regular employment at good wages. We Americans are becoming so accustomed to the flaunt ing of the Constitution that we accept whatever is done, and even proclaim it as thoroughly constitutional. Speaker Rayburn said (or was quoted as saying) that the President has a constitutional authority to send troops wherever he pleases, because he is Commander-in-Chief. That is entirely unsound in law; the President may act lawfully in such matters only when Congress declares war. Even the Congress has no constitutional authority to run wild all over the earth. Perhaps we should throw the Constitution in the waste basket so we may have no re strictions on our impulses. Would you endorse that folly? Certainly not! One of the most informative studies of conditions has been made by The First National Bank of Boston; I am using it, in part: “All citizens have an important stake and an over-riding interest in plans for taxing and spending, for it is only from their pockets that government revenues are obtained. Cur rently, there is an added urgency in efforts to get greater value for every dollar spent, due to the renewal of cold war tensions and the consequent prospect of expanded national defense and foreign assistance programs. Concern for the quality and cost of government is a per ennial problem, which seems to defy solution, for big gov ernment is inevitably wasteful. Any study of the budget, or the cost of government, runs up against a sheer magni tude and a complexity of data that baffle easy descrip tion and multiply the difficulty of dramatizing any solu tion. This awes and terrifies many able citizens, who shrink from their clear duty to better understand the budget pro cess, in order to promote economy, sound fiscal policies, and more prudent practices in raising and disbursing funds both in national and state capitals, and in their home towns. During the greatest prosperity this national has exper ienced, our governmental units in fiscal 1955 spent $110 bil lion, or around one third of the entire national income. And the trend since has been upward. This exceeded consumer spending in food stores, for tobacco, clothing, and housing combined. It represented the equivalent of $664 for every man, woman, and child. Of this amount, the cost of na tional defense was $246, while the remainder paid all other Federal, State, and local costs. Taxes amounted to $491 per capital, or the equivalent of more than six weeks of a factory worker’s labor at the present average hourly wage. In addition, during the year, all government debt outstand ing rose to $1,928 per capita—an aggregate annual gain of nearly $8.5 billion. Federal spending is nearly double that of the state and local governments combined, while 71 percent of all tax col lections goes to Washington. The fiscal 1957 budget expen ditures are now expected to be $69.1 billion, or $4 billion above the estimate of last January. This marks the larg est peacetime total with one exception, and was exceeded in only three years during World War II. The $700 million estimated surplus may be in jeopardy because of a slacken ing in corporate profits. With every prospect that the fis cal 1958 budget will show a minimum rise of $2-$3 billion, it becomes clearer that we are failing by a wide margin to get spending under control. Further, at a time of peak pros- THE NEWBERRY SUN RELUCTANT AWAKENING perity, we are achieving too limited a surplus to meet the re quirements of a compensatory fiscal policy. In the 1957 budget, 61 percent of the funds, or more than $40 billion, was allocated to major national security programs. There can be no question of our need to be strong and ready for any eventuality, but to deny, as some do, that there are substantial opportunities for economy in these expenditures, without weakening our defenses, is contrary to all logic. In certain areas the desire for more and more services, costing increasing amounts, seems to give too little attention to ultimate costs. The fact, that the prices of goods and services have mounted for government, even as for its citizens, dictates that the budget needs more care ful scrutiny than ever before, and no category of spending should be considered untouchable. Past efforts at economy and improved efficiency do not offer great encouragement. The second Hoover Commission, following our most far-reaching study of Federal operations, pointed the way to greater efficiency, to lessened competi tion of Government with business, and to savings, estimated as high as $5.5 billion per year. A balance sheet of prog ress over the eighteen months since its work was completed shows that, of 479 separate actions called for by its recom mendations, some Sl3 have been endorsed, in whole or in part, by the Administration. Of these, 193 actions, or 40 percent, have been, or are being, implemented, with poten tial savings estimated at around $530 million yearly.. This represents little more than some of the less controversial and less costly reforms. Much remains to be accomplished, if we are to profit by the excellent work, and this will re quire diligent efforts of everybody. An area crying out for courageous pruning is that of grants-in-aid to state and local governments. For fiscal 1957 these items, amounted to 6 percent of total Federal budget expenditures. The dollar total of around $4.5 billion, spread over some fifty different programs, is more than the total peacetime budget prior to 1932. In recent years this Fed eral aid has furnished 8 to 10 percent of state and local revenues. Yet these funds represent no gifts from Wash ington, but a return of locally collected monies, after the de duction of exorbitant administrative costs. Grants are frequently accompanied by burdensome and costly stand ards and controls which weaken the recipients. In addition, since they usually involve matching funds, they are a temp tation to extravagance, and one which therefore favors the wealthiest or most imprudent units. The Governors’ Con ference has more than once recommended that these grants be curtailed and that certain Federal revenue sources be M r. CLYDE T. ELLIS, Gener al Manager of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Asso ciation with headquarters in Wash ington, has taken dead aim against what he terms is a stud ied national lobbying campaign backed by private utilities “to poison the minds of the Ameri can people and their public offi cials against rural electric co operatives and public agencies such as municipalities, public power districts and the Federal power program." Mr. Ellis refers to a national advertising campaign in maga zines, newspapers, over television and radio which alleges “there is a privileged class of people In this country who pay little or no taxes in their electric bills, made up of those people who secure their electricity from govern ment wholesale power sources." He claims that the statement is false on the face of it since Rural Electric Cooperatives in fiscal 1956 purchased only 6 per cent of all Federally generated power, whereas private power companies themselves bought 10 per cent and private industry bought 20% of this federal power. Ellis points out that the total cost of this advertising campaign by private utility interests is “paid for by those who must of necessity buy electricity from the compaines who sponsors the ads, for they are monopolies within their respective areas. In addi tion, since the cost of such ads and other manipulations of the public mind are deductible ex penses for tax purposes, 02 per cent of the cost of this propaganda comes out of the Federal treas ury.” “We do not believe," Mr. Ellis said, “that it was the intent oi Congress for consumers and tax payers to pay the cost of their own misinformation." Mr. Ellis grants the right of privately owned public service monopolies to use such propagan da advertisements to place their views on current issues before the public, provided the owners do it at thair own expense. “But," he continued, “we are convinced that remedial legisla tion is today necessary to close the door to the use of ratepayer’s money collected to pay the cost of a public service for their own private purpose.” Mr. Ellis declared the Rural Electric systems, owned by farm ers are directly interested in these propaganda expenditures for two reasons: 1— Nearly two-thirds of the rural electrics are purchasing their wholesale power requirements from the privately owned public utilities, for which they paid $59,- 449,112 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1955; 2— Nearly one-third of the rural electrics are purchasing all or part of their wholesale power re quirements from Federal whole sale power agencies under laws attacked by these ads, and for which the rural electrics paid the government $28,844,795 in fiscal 1955. Ellis declares, as set out In the Congressional Record, that the cost of this program of “misin formation” runs into “many mil lions of dollars a year.” TELL US V0UR PROBLEm AMO LIT M PAM IT ON TOHCLP OTMCM M SOL VMM TIMMS. BY JOHN and JANE STRICKLAND TIT HEIN Edward Langly, Toron- » Y to, Canada, was/sixteen, his father taught him a lesson in over coming fear that he says has re mained in his mind ever since. This being the age when the aver age boy becomes interested in girls, he says it must have been the cause of him taking a neigh borhood girl to the movies. He walked her home after the movie, and when he stepped off her front porch there stood the neighborhood bully who said. “Come down off that porch!” That frightened Edward. He was wear ing a skull cap and as he stepped off the porch, he tossed it at the bully and when he reached for it, Edward hit him as hard as he could. Then he ran for home; ran into the house; ran up the stairs, and jumped into bed. From out side his window on the alley some one yelled, “I’ll get you in the morning.” He worried all night, even in his dreams, about what would happen to him on his way to school in the morning. The next morning as he started to dress, his fattier walked into his room, went to his closet with his school clothes in one hand and his dungarees in another. The dungarees he handed to Edward, the school clothes he re-hung in the closet Then his father went back downstairs, not having spok en a word. Edward dressed and started to school — tension and fear mounting with every step he took. As he turned the corner at the filling station he saw coming that big bully with a group of his friends. They went into a vacant lot, and here Edward began a fight in deadly earnest, determined to fight until he had won. After it was over, he went home. When he turned up the walk, his father stepped out on the porch with a look on his face that Edward had never before seen. Putting his arm around his son’s shoulder h^ looked at him with pride. “Without a word,” says Edward, “my father taught me the funda mental rules for overcoming fear and worry.” \ '/ addocated to the states, to enable them to finance the programs directly. The Commission on Intergovernmental Relations found unequaled opportunities for savings in this field, yet Congress, urged on by local pressure groups and unwieldly Federal bureaus continues to hand out billions in this costly form of ‘gift.’ Repeated deficits in ur over-all government spending, and continued resort to borrowing, leave little hope for tax reduction, unless we d .land more for our tax dollars. Suc cess in Congress, in state capitals, and in city and town halls will never come until ci/zen apathy diminishes and all of us take more interest and demand action. Businessmen can be of inestimably greater help if more of them will bring to bear on gqvemmer. .orations some of the management talents which have so richly served the American productive machine. To achieve sound(“ " seal policies, greater economy, and more of our spendi e closer home will help in the fight against inflation, tr rg wider personal discretion in the spending or saving f our incomes, and buttress our eco nomic strength in this uneasy world.” $25,000,000 Andrea Doria sunk off Nantucket July 25 1956 bv pumping air into hull. ’ 7 CROSSWORD PUZZLE 9 f^tto rmnrrrr PUZZLE No. 431 ACROSS ugh shelter ushed ad coven- posed to eather ne owing out mainder emite nk of canal oosite trpath rrelatire either eifle island •ew pine lishes ap on one it atuities mntaln in >e’s triple wn h eggs :ee strikes .) of roses move rountry ibr.) 1 marsh charl- i gift out 49 Bitter vetch 50 Diners 52 Sun god 54 A direction 55 Agreeable 61 City of Wyoming 65 Disembark from a ship 66 Lasso 68 Weight of India 69 Great Lake 70 Go in 71 An ancient country N. of Persian gulf 72 Assists 73 Plants „ 74 Lairs DOWN Ruler of Iran At this place Turkish title Valuable gems Small bar racuda Pale Greenland settlement 8 Man’s nickname 9 Woody plant 10 Floor 11 Appellation carpeting of Athena 12 Nuisance 13 A son of Adam 21 Anger 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 23 51 (Rom. num.) 26 Yell 27 Abode 28 Particles 29 Look at fixedly 30 Dislikes intensely 31 Toward the center 32 Analyze grammatically 34 Feminine name 35 Kind of bear 36 Appears 39 Roman road 43 Abhorred 48 Swaps 61 Collection of facta 53 While 55 Entreaty 56 Hook money 57 Wife of Geraint 58 Angers 59 Baseball team 60 Portal 61 Vehicles 62 European 63 Ardor 64 Male sheep (pi.) 67 Spread for drying Answer to Psszle Ne. 430 THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1957 - V CROSS d ideas from other editors From The Houston Herald, Do than, Alabama: If some day the newspaper man or magazine edi tor should print the contents of his wastebasket, there would prob ably be a riot. There certainly would be trouble in many homes, arrests in some direction, shot guns in others and troubles all around. But the patron never sees the wastebasket. He only glances at the beautifully printed pages, com plains if one letter is upside down, growls his disappointment if one name in five hundred has hap pened to go wrong, kicks because his communication signed “tax payer,” has been condensed into respectable English, frowns be cause the editor didn’t take his advice regarding his neighbors stray dogs and is generally dis gruntled, not so much at what he finds as what he fails to find. He knows his share of the waste basket, but If he could look at the contributions made to that recept acle by his neighbors and friends, he would thank God for the exist ence of a man with sufficient in telligence and courage not to print all he knows and to temper even that he does print. • • • • From The Suburban List, Essex Junction, Vermont: Farmers com plain about the higher cost of sup plies and farm equipment that compared years they have to buy no\ with what they paic ago. The railroads have higher cost of operation as well as increased prices for all equipment they buy. In 1947 a railroad box car cost ^x>ut $3,900. The pltee today is just about double that or $7,800l Pretty much all the expert ac countants are agreed that busi ness, industry and farming are now working under a new economy of high prices. In all that I read it doesn’t look to me that there will be any lower prices for many years to come, if ever. From the Catskill Mountain ' Saugerties, New ing around the tion tour, moto: towns whose often cause a laugh. Some of : In travel- on a va ca pe ss through not a reel in our own area, whose names wn take for granted, probably cause as much mirth to newcomers. Few towns can top “Big Indian" for an odd name (nor give head line writers more fun) unless it is “Kiskatom," “Sundown," in the western tip of Ulster County, hast received its share of comment; while “Shady" was publicised a few years ago in a national maga zine and “Accord" was the source of a quip on sfimationwide radio program. ■ i ■«** IBBPI Sir !■ k H 'II S*B » 'aas* •''i* ’yta a 1 ►'r* jehji ? * a rw ST ^ StH T r -? ft ^ ! 2* READY MADE . . . Ne need te en$ and groove nee as spiles if yen have only a few maple trees yen obtain sap for syrup of sugar. An old-style clothespin o firmly Into plaoo, does an effective Job and provides for ball ef tbe pail. - CASBAH TENSION . . . French soldiers in Algiers test bundles drtth mine detectors in search for arms and explosives hidden by Nationalists. This cm' That Lloyd Jordan was the third successive Harvard football coach to be released before his agree ment with the university had ex pired. During seven years, Jor dan’s teams won 24 lost 31 and tied three . . . William “Red” Holzman quit as coach of the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketball Association “by mutual consent’* . . . Among other recent resignations in the field of sports was that of Warren Woodson, who quit as football coach at Ari zona. The Wildcats won four and lost six, their worst season in several years. Woodson was quoted as saying his Job at Ari zona “was the most miserable experience of my life." . . . The San Francisco Seals report reser vations are going fast for the late March appearance of the Boston Red Sox against the Seals in three exhibition games. The Seals are a Red Sox farm club, but the Sox haven’t appeared in Frisco since 1911 . . . Paul Hornung, Notre Dame star quarterback, received a reported $16,000 for signing with the Green Bay Packers—making him the highest paid rookies ever . . . Chris Brashear of Britain, winner of the Olympic Games 3,000 meters steeplechase, has announced his retirement from track competition. BEST SHOT . . . Mrs. Less Mandel of Chicago set 3 new trap-shooting records in 1956, leading all men and women with 99.6 for 1,006 targets, and .994 12-gauge high average, missing only 7 of 1,206 targets; 616 target consecutive nm and 4 gun aggregate of .957, 3588 on 3750 targets.