Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1 PAGE 2—The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. C., Thursday, Sept. 17, 1970 1101 Boyce Street, Newberry, South Carolina 29108 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY 0. F. Armfield, Jr., Owner Second-Class Postage Paid at Newberry, South Carolina "Whatsoever Things' By DONALD E. WILDMON (Tour the Holy Land with Mr. Wildmon. Nov. 24 - Dec. 3. $599. For more info, write him at Box 1368. Tupelo. Miss. 38801) A VISIT TO THE DENTIST SUBSCRIPTION RATES: S3.00 per year in advance; six months, $2.00. COMMENT on Men & Thing b\ J. K. HKKKMN * I do not know how to get there. Why don't you take the train 9 Suppose you tell me which train. There used to be trains going everywhere, but no more. You have heard of Denmark, S.C. The Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard trains running north and south but I am told no more. There was a very impor tant junction from Charleston to Augusta by way of Branchville; but no more. Many people were accustomed to go from Columbia to Augusta straight; but no more. There was a popular At lantic Coast Line train from Charleston to Sumter, but no more. It begins to look as though I must buy a motorcycle, or walk. I used to be a fine walker but 1 have grown too old to walk miles. So now! 1 hear every week about some passenger train being taken off. so where do we go from here, that is the question! We must accustom ourselves to something new frequently. My horse can't fill in the gap, so our best chance is to get out the family car and start down the road, whether it be ten miles or five hundred miles. But be cautious for there are hundreds of dead cars in the road every day, so watch your step. What do you think of the new school arrangements 9 I am an old school man, having taught in four or more counties and I think this new school arrange ment will prove a grand “fizzle” We Americans have always been distinguished for our common sense, but when I think of half a dozen children of the same family going all over a county to attend different schools, I think our common sense has gone to the ‘bow-wows”. I cannot conceive of greater confusion than we shall have. I have talked about a number of towns but I am as proud of Sumter as arc the people of Sumter; it is a very stirring fine town but its chief distinction is its splendid people. No town in the state has a finer spirit among its people, nor a more loyal spirit; unless you have been all around Sumter you may not know of its rapid growth as a city. The city has far surpassed the county, the county which lags far behind the city, though it is a delightful place in which to live and enjoys many historical associations. I did not tell you that Sumter is much indebted to its neighbor Manning; Manning carries the name of a very fine Sumter family. Manning. Neither Charleston nor Colum bia has the distinction of bearing the name of a great family; so far as that is concerned. Green ville, Spartanburg, Greenwood and Beaufort do not have that distinction. Don’t Be In The Dark When You Choose An Insurance Agent Make certain he handles all lines, not just a few of the popular risks. Be sure he is fiercely independent, and rep resents many companies, not just one. Be sure he has a background for fair deal ing and prompt settleme..ts, is available on a 24 hour basis. Add everything up and you'll find it spells, "local, independent in surance agent". That's us! “YOUR PRIVATE BANKERS” 1418 Main Street Phone 276-1422 I did something recently which I didn’t want to do, but should have done some time ago. All of us have a nature to put off something which we should do, delay it, wait until the very last moment to get it done. For me it was a visit to the dentist to have a tooth filled. I should have gone some time ago. Fact about the business is that my tooth had had a cavity for several years and it was continually getting worse. And, over a period of years, I had consistently put off doing some thing I should have done long ago. But finally I gathered enough nerve, and time, to get the dentist to check it out. I went to the dentist expecting full well that the tooth would be pulled, that I had waited too long to have any hopes— and certainly any right— to expect the dentist to save my tooth. But the dentist checked it out, found the roots in good condition and the nerves alive, and proceeded to fill that tooth and save it! 1 must confess that it was some what painful to have the tooth re newed. The nerves were very much alive, and several times I felt the grind of the drill on the nerve. Several times I tensed my muscles while the dentist was removing the decay. After that visit, it suddenly dawned on me that I had experienced a great theological truth. And one of the fin est sermons ever preached to me had been preached by the dentist. But he never knew it. Shall I share that theo logical truth with you? I put off doing what I should have done long ago. This is human nature. How many of us should have made a visit to our Maker’s presence long ago, only to put it off. When I finally did go, it was out of a sense of desperation. And isn’t this, too, human nature. We put off any dealings with our Father till our life is about spent and we feel the situation is desperate. Too Far Gone And when I did go I felt the tooth was too far gone. I had no hopes of saving it. Again, many who come to the Father consider their lives too rotten, too far gone to cleanse and save. It was a painful thing to have my tooth made like new. It nurt gett ing all the old decayed portion remov ed. This, too, is the way it is with life. It hurts to admit all our sins, too see ourselves as we really are. It hurts to confess our mistakes, to say we were wrong. The pain of the drill was neces sary. So is the pain of confession. Perhaps the most important part is that I came away with a new tooth. And after the pain and hurt is over, our Father gives us a new lease on life. We can come away with the decay of sin gone, and a clean life in front of us. I guess many of us are with the Father like I was with the dentist - - we have put it off too long already. If you are reading this, and there is still life in your roots, there is still hope. Better not wait any longer to make that visit. Of course, if you are reading this and feel no pain for wrongdoing, it could be that the roots of the soul are already dead. —FIVE STAR SENATOR STROM THURMOND REPORTS TO THE PEOPLE •JAw.'X*:-x-'-x-:v’\*:*x*:*Xv:*.*.v:v.v.v. , .v.v.v. , .v.*.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.\v.*.v lUXJkiUU A RADICAL AMENDMENT The Senate has begun its de bate on the proposed Constitu tional Amendment to change our system of electing the President. The proposal under debate has abandoned all prospect of re forming the present system based on the Electoral College, and is an attempt at radical transformation of our political machinery. It would abolish the Constitutional procedure of vot ing for the President State-by- State, and substitute a mass, di rect popular election in which State-wide distinctions would disappear. Although the direct election proposal has a certain appeal at first glance, its pitfalls today are even greater than when our Founding Fathers considered it and rejected it at the Constitu tional Convention in Philadel phia. Indeed, the most creative and successful features of the Constitution have been those in which the Founding Fathers abandoned the concept of simple numerical pluralities and de vised balanced procedures re quiring sensible compromise and political moderation. FEDERAL THEORY The key compromise at Phila delphia was the creation of the Federal system itself. It was not simply a compromise between large and small States. It was a compromise on the nature of the Union. The Senate, with equal representation for each State, was intended to represent the States; the House, with repre sentation proportioned to popu lation, was intended to represent the people as citizens of the Union. The same theory of Federal ism was incorporated into the system of electing the President Each State has a base of two electors in the Electoral College, just as it has two Senators; in addition, each State is allotted one or more electors in propor tion to its population growth, in a manner similar to representa tion in the House. If the Elec toral College is abolished, the very basis of our Federal system will be called into question, and the delicate balance of powers between Congress and the Presi dency will be upset. But our present political sys tem goes beyond the bare outline given in the Constitution. The complex, organic development of parties, primaries, and State and National Conventions, has given us important elements in our political machinery which are not mentioned in the Con stitution, but depend upon the present structure. We speak of two major parties; but in real ity, both Republicans and Demo crats each consist of a loose coalition of 50 State parties united by the drive to elect the President. REVOLUTION IN POLITICS The direct election plan would bring about a revolution in this entire State-based system. The nine most populous States would control over 50 percent of the vote. There would be no need for Presidential candidates to seek a wide geographical and philo sophical support. On the other hand, candidates with a strong regional base would have no way to make an impact upon the po litical life of the nation. Every institution related to the PresL dency, all the way down to the court-house level would be pro foundly altered. It is doubtful that America’s historic contri bution to government, the con cept of the two-party system, could long survive. Most Constitutional amend ments are proposed because of some existing problem. But, for the first time, the direct election proposal seeks to amend the Constitution on a vague fear that something may go wrong at a future date. The Electoral Col lege has never failed us yet. Ex cept in three instances where fraud made the popular vote tally uncertain, it has always produced a winner who has the largest popular vote; but it has the added virtue of producing a wider geographical spread. As for the supposed danger of elec tors ignoring the popular will, only six or seven have ever vio lated their mandates out of more than 16,000 electoral votes cast, since the Electoral College was constructed. The direct election plan, with its built-in machinery for a run off and its lack of provisions for recounts or preventing vote fraud, would induce far more uncertainty than it would clear up. This radical and unneces sary departure from the Ameri can form of government would tear the heart out of our politi cal processes. LUZON — Technical Sergeant Henry E. Merchant, son of Ce cil E. Merchant, 325 Crosson St., has received the U. S. Air Force Commendation Medal at Clark AB, Philippines. Sergeant Merchant distinguish ed himself by meritorious ser vice as a metalworking techni cian at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. He is now at Clark with the 463rd Field Maintenance Squa dron, a unit of the Pacific Air Forces. PACAF is headquar ters for air operations in South east A.sia, the Far East and the Pacific area. The sergeant attended New berry High School and complet ed requirements for his diploma after entering the Air Force. His wife, Mary, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mark N. Boo zer, Rt. 2, Prosperity.