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PAGE 2—The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. Thursday, July 20, 1967 LIFE LINES 1218 College St., Newberry, S. C. 29108 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY 0. F. Armfield, Jr., Owner Second-Class Postage Paid at Newberry, South Carolina SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $2.00 per year in advance. Six months $1.25. COMMENT on Men & Things By J. K. BREED IN That little flare up in Flor ence brings vividly to our att ention one of the weaknesses of our South Carolina government. Here in Florence, one of the progressive and outstanding cities of the state. It has a may or and Board of Alderman and, is self p'-overnintf, but is it now? And hereby hanpns a tale, as Shakespeare or someone else says. Even so. Although we have talked of liberty and democracy for at least a half century what is there to show for it? Well, Let’s take just a peep. The General Assembly is composed of Senators and Rep resentatives; they are State Officials and are paid by the State. Verily all are State officials and vote on State matters, but-and here’s the rub-althou^h a legislator is a State official and has one vote on State mat ters, he is verily a virtual dic tator in affairs of his country. It seems incredible, certainly ridiculous, that the budget for a county is authorized and a- dopted by the General Assem bly even though the Senator from the County (not a Sen ator for the County) like a real despot says what is what and why and wherefore. Harken to this: A county must ask the General Assembly to provide the money to pay Sheriffs, Deputies and many others, but within the county may be a half dozen little towns of five hundred population each that virtually are independent, even to appropriating money and imposing taxes. What think you of that anomoly? A County, even a big county like Charleston, Richland and Greenville, must receive its budget from the General As sembly though a half dozen little ( ommumties are virtually independent. Why not have a Commission to adopt a budget for the coun- t\ ? Now, strangely enough, cmne:' the puissant public of Florence (in the Legislature) can run rough shod over the opulent city of Florence. Mm h that is done by Fed eral officials, from the Presi dent down, make us wonder if we can find something within the State to marvel at. Don’t you think the Legisla tors should devote their full time to matters of the State, instead of being lords of the County and appointing even the Magist rates. In the counties, with possibly one exception, no one knows what the budget will be. Another thing: if a citizen of a County aspires to a State’ ap pointment the county Senator must be consulted. Why and wherein? I ask You. Why should not the Counties govern themselves? If a hun dred people may be self-govern ing as a municipality why should the citizens of an area and population equivalent to G towns govern itself? Let the Legislators keep out of local politics ami dedicate their talents to the operation of the state. There are many things to marvel at. Our Constitution clearly says one Senator for each County, but our Legisla ture has snent more or les: four months to pass the buck to the Federal Court. Why the Federal Court? Is not the Leg islature part of a Sovereign State? I ask you. Read the State Constitution and show r it to your Senator and Representatives. Observe our Great Democ- cracy! The National Govern ment in all departments med dles with the States; the States meddle with the Counties; the Counties meddle with the muni cipalities; the municipalities meddle with the people of then- respective bailiwick. So now! The Congress and Depart ments pour out money for all sorts of things. I don’t know what the authority is for so do ing but it seems that, in add ition to the Congress, there are dozens of officials, authorized to subsidize this, that and some thing else. So involved are we as a na tion that we are bewildered by the numerous fund-dispensing authorities that flourish in Washington with taxpayers money. I have mentioned several times that the State Constitu tion intended that the Gover nor should make appointments, just as the President does. Un fortunately the phraseolgy was a bit cloudy. “The Governor shall commission the Officers” says the Constitution; and the General Assembly absorbed all that, letting the Governor sign the commissions as though he were just a clerk. Some day we may have £ President, as well as a Gov ernor, who will proceed accord ing to the mandates of the re spective Constitutions, as the Spaniards say. THE COAST GUARD Nearly 200 years old, our Coast Guard was first established to en force tariff laws and guard against smug glers. During the 1 800’s, the CoastGuard successfully mounted a campaign to wipe out piracy in the Gulf of Mexico and the Carib bean. 1^ Serving on land as well as sea, a Coast Guard base in the Libyan desert helps ships fix their posi tions even on over cast days. Timed radio signals from a “master” station to a “slave” station enable navigators to determine exactly where they are. Recently we celebrated the Glorious Fourth-the 4th of July. Well, what about it? A well known businessman offered to wager that the av erage man and woman and the average high school pupil can’t give a clear statement of the significance of the Fourth of Ju ly- As you know at one time thir teen Colonies were under the control of Great Britain, com monly referred to as England. Do you remember the thir teen Colonies? Well, let’s try to remember: Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Penn sylvania, Rhode Island, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Also Del aware, Connecticut and New Hampshire. What was the trouble? Why did the 13 colonies rebel against England? Primarily the colon ies resented some taxes by Eng land. I may tell you that the taxes collected from us by England during the years—nearly a hundred—did not equal by many billions the amount im posed and collected by our Government in one year. I think 1 should be within the truth if 1 said that the nearly four hundred millions collected by the state of South Carolina ROBERT r’AINt ' JOHNSON. L! K MM KM >■ ( hue Again Inflation i \ he ! l tile this ) ear. 1 with the result dent's request L <'barge on mconn i eo11oni \ s v r it it i! 1 a! K >! m u; MlSpei t \\ > 'll • 111 enacted, 11 i that tin ! a ('< taxes may he We may a 1 s>* -- e e a l! o 1 b e 1 reversal of m o n e t a r v policy. with a r e t u '■ n to tight money and highei into t First quarter i > mi 11 < would indicate that those econonu-t s who have been predicting a re cession this year are wrong. Tile increase m Government spending in the first three months of the \ea.\ the mini null decline in capital spending, and the rise m consumer out lays all give evidence ot this. Retail sales provided the "real evidence" id' a turnaround m consumer spending and re tail sales in March set a record, despite depressed new car sales >\\ t h rati ma\ ha\ < Id 011 CI again 1 I e e e 11 see a r e e m T t res i 1 lie d let 1 ng a 1 i ces: andei est mint ed t w < i important ice i q w slow ed now i: I oi ■ a problem later last vear’s cveie. me n d o u which c lei t on ia s e heel! pie loll have eithel or disregardei facts: The tie mult m demand fm to; m have a dramatic et the stock market am t ha pobt icai sit uat mn. W it h t la election coming up next year, the Administration will do w hatever appears necessary ( in terms of manipulating mono tary and fiscal policies) to make sure that the economy is on an "upt ick" at least by the end of this year. The enormous potential ot de mam! was the principal moving force behind the record rate at which inventories were worked off in the first quarter. In the three month period, inventories dropped to an annual rate ot $.Yd billion from $lt’>.4 billion in the final quarter of 1'JGG, a record breaking swing of nearly $ 1 1 billion. Weather ships in the Atlantic and icebreak ers, nicknamed “big ice picks,” in Antarc tica aid scientific re search. Much more information about our fascinating Coast Guard can be found in Life magazine’s two-part color series, in the July 7th and 1 4th issues. z from South Carolina citizens includes business operations within the State by some citi zens of other States - and in ad dition to the State taxes, we pay County taxes and Town ta- _s; and there are turns and ' Lts that call for more ! ! ! So our ancestors fought sev en years to correct Government abuses and we can tell them to day all they fought over was mere child’s play. But men were men in that day and fought at the drop of a hat. If we read English history we find that men were hanged, or burned or beheaded for such in fractions as seem to us unde serving of punishment. We, to day “stand for a lot”, though we talk so vociferously on the street that it might seem that we had a couple of pistols and a dirk or two in pocket. So now, those sturdy men & women fought from Massachu setts to Georgia and farther, too, against troubles and disci plined British and Hessian troops - and actually forced the English to surrender at York- town, Virginia. The King of Emgland recog nized the independence of each of the thirteen Colonies, now called States to indicate their sovereignty, each State com pletely independent and sover eign. The Declaration of Indepen dence was adopted and pro claimed in Philadelphia July 2, 177ft, but formally July 4th. We, the thirteen Colonies, acting as a cooperative body, afterwards operating as a na tion under a Constitution which clearly recognized the sover eignty of the States - most of which seems to have been by passed by Federal Courts. It amazes me that no Gov ernor from the hirteen original States ever challenges the in vasions by Federal Courts. More than that, the Lonstitu- tion itself, after setting forth certain functions for the Courts expressly provides that the Congress may determine the attributions of the Federal Courts. Nowadays we lamely bow down, or, in arrogant forget fulness beg fur money from the National Treasury, which with one hand, lets us have a few million, while more millions are sent to Asia, Africa, Europe and elsewhere. The 4th of July is but a faint recollection and dream of the days when mer were men and dared to asser and maintain their rights. Tips income may increase benefits If you receive tips in your work, they may now be added to other earnings to increase social security benefits for you and your family. According to Miss Mar tha Pressly, manager of the Greenwood social se curity office, if you receive cash tips amounting to $20 or more in a month from one employer you must give that employer a writ ten report showing the a- mount of tips you received that month. This report must be given to your em ployer by the tenth of the following month. Miss Pressly emphasized that you should keep a daily re cord of tips received to as sist you in making out your report to your employer. Social security payments for you and your family are figures froTn your aver age earnings. Counting your tips along with your regular pay will mean ad ded benefits to you and your family later, Miss Pressly stated. For more information a- bout tips get in touch with the Greenwood social se curity office at 219 Mag nolia Avenue and ask for pamphlet OASI-1965-6. The telephone number is OR 3-1711. County Building permits issued J. C. Caldwell, Rt. 1, seven room brick veneer dwelling, $10,000. Why The Christian Science Monitor recommends you read your local newspaper Your local newspaper is a wide-range newspaper with many features. Its emphasis is on local news. It also reports the major national and inter national news. THE MONITOR COMPLEMENTS YOUR LOCAL PAPER Wo specialize in analyzing and inter pretmg ftie important national and international news. Our intention is to bring the news into sharper focus The Monitor has a world wide staff of correspondents — some of them rank among the world's finest. And the Monitor's incisive, provocative edi torials are followed just as closely by the men on Capitol Hill as they are by the intelligent, concerned adult on Mam Street. 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