PAGE FOUR

jL

THE DAILY REFLECTOR, GREENVILLE, N. C.

Monday, February 2, 1959

Monday, February 2. 1959

Withholding Tax Has Bright Side

Winters One>Two Combination

A proposed withholding method for collecting state income taxes would prove a distinct advantage to many North Carolinians as well as to the state government itself.

As it is now, most North Carolinians pay their federal income taxes through the withholding method. Then in April many are hard pressed to scrape together enough cash to pay the almost-forgotten state income tax which In North Carolina runs considerably higher than in other states.

Through the withholding method of collecting the state income tax, most people would take home a little less from their pay check each week or each month, but at the end of the year they wouldnt have to dig up the required amount ifor a lump-sum payment.

It is also reasonable to expect that the withholding method of collecting state income taxes would bring the state additional revenue from workers who for one reason or anothtr are not now paying state income taxes. This, it has been estimated, would afford the state an extra million dollars a year, and it is

government, the businesses which collected these taxes would not be reimbursed for the expens^ involved.

It is also probable that the withholding method would be more costly to the state government from an administrative standpoint than the present method used collect personal income taxes in North Carolina. Weighing both sides of the withholding tax proposal for the state, it appears the greater advantage for the state and its people as a whole would lie in adoption of the withholding method. And it might also be that some of the disadvantages which appear on the surface might be overcome in the writing of the legislation which would bring about the change.

The withholding proposal is sure to get consider-ation from the 1959 General Assembly which officially convenes Wednesday. The propo.nal is certainly worthy of careful consideration by the legislators, for in the long run such a collection method might lighten the individual tax burden on the citizens of North Carolina who are now paying their incoe" * taxes on a lump sum basis.

quite likely to bring in a good deal more. The state ^

would receive its. Income tax reverfues at intervals jQ0TTgTp p fl1*TTl

throughout the year rather than getting most of it in

March and April. TT 1*1 1 T*

On the other side of the picture, it should be Ullll*K6*Y A OF

realized that the withholding method of collecting income taxes would also have its disadvantages . . . particularly where bufinesses are concerned. Many l)UsinesseH, large and ^small, would have to revise their methods of record keeping in order to perform thi.s additional service for the stale. Collectively, it would cost the businesses of North Carolina a considerable sum to collect income (axes for the state government. And if North Carolina follows the lead of the federal

Program

Present

?ress

Club Has Some Beoinninas

Now that President Eisenhower and his Agriculture Secretary Benson have shown clearly their pro-po.sed farm program for the next year will be worse than no farm program at all, it is squarely up to members of Congress to take over the reins for agriculture either by holding the line of the present farm program or writing a new and more comprehensive agricultural program.

Though the proposals of Secretary Benson and those of the President have been roundly criticized by some members of the House and Senate, we cannot minimize the fact that many metropolitan areas lean decidedly toward restricting the farm program in the manner suggested by the GOP administration.

By I.VNN NISBET

CLUB - Capitol Square new* men who have been wanting for a long lime to form a preg* club have hart orne progress marte In that direction. The new temporary room built on the east portico of the captol a a working apace for the ncwarncn covering the Leglalature has been designated headquarters. When Thad Eure objected to the slrueture on the ground It would look like the nose on a buffalos face", Oov-ernor Hodge turned the truck by found the "Order of the Buffalo." Now a fancy sign above the big door opening from the corridor Into the portico enclosure proclaims that you are entering the "Buffalo Club."

Th e room has b<>en equipped with tables, chairs, telephone* and other eiwentlals. Space ha been allotted at one end for the wire ervlce teletype, and

there will be room for atorgge of radio and TV equipment.

The old we# room ha.i been

fumed over to the telephone ex-cha MW. which formerly was Jammed Into the corner by the

ataiiway to the third floor, A much larger and more modern PBX ha been Installed and there will be five booth

Capitol newsmen are atill interested in forming a social club, which also would function as the accrediting agency for reporter entitled to apace at the table and for guests list at legislative parties. That poses a problem every sealon. luce there art almost as many reportera as members, if all the casual drop-in writers and and cameramen are counted. There will be about 30 regular full-time writing and camera reportera for newspaperi, and at least radio and TV wrsonnel.

NEW BUILDING - Tempor-ary facilities for newsmen and telephones will be fairly adequate for the current aession. There remains aerlous Inadequacy of working room for clerks. They will be housed In the small tlilrd-floor room In the capiud and In the highway building. Also there Is the usual acrambie for committee me(*tlng rooms, which will be acattered all through the State buildings.

After surveying the situation and holding public hearings, the Commission on Heorgantiatlon of State Government has recommended the Issuance of $7 million in bonds to build a new Stale legislative and office building. The 1950 General Assembly can authorise slightly more tlufn $o million bonds without a vote of th# people.

John Umstead. chairman of the Hospitals Board of Control and

a veteran legislator, has served notice he will not vole to authorize bonds for any other purpose until some two million dollars has been made available for a traln-Inf, school at Morganton. comparable to the units at Butner, Idsboro and Kinston.

L.y. (Stag) Ballentlne, commissioner of agriculture, is not in favor of spending any money now for a new legislative building.'He says the need in other fields, such as schools and hospitals. is much more acute. His Idea is 4o move the Secretary of State and State Treasurer out of 'the Capitol, as the Stale Auditor was moved out last year, and turn over the entire building to the Governor arid the General Assembly. By partitioning the large offices now occupied by the Secretary and Treasurer, as as the former Auditors quarters were divided, at least a dozen private offices would be obtained. If additional office space 1 required, says Ballentlne, it can be provided for less than two million, instead of the proposed seven or more.

FORESTER ~ A high spot of the program at the annual convention of the National Forest Farmer# Association at Tuscaloosa, Ala., will be a luncheon on April 24 honoring Walter J. Darn-toft of Asheville. Damtoft is retiring after long service with Champion Paper U Fiber Company as Chief forester and assistant treasurer. He 1# the first full time Industi-lal forester to retire in the South and the association is paying tribute to his record. There are dozens of industrial and commercial foresters in the South now. but none with a tenure approaching Dam-toft's. J.V. Whitfield of Burgaw 1 a past president of Forest Farmers and associate editor of their magazine.

Col. Fred Claridge, chief of the forestry division in C&D, was recently elected president of the National Forestry Association, and the foresUy school# at Duke Unlveralty ami State College rank among the top such units In the country. The influence of these agencies has developed popular concern over depletion of forest resources and has stimulated interest In plnnlhig and conserving trees.

The State nurseries this year are producing 90 million seedlings for sale to landowners at cost. Eighty-nine of the lOO counties ara cooperating with the State In forest fire control, and there is a compact with Virginia for cooperation along the border. Tree farming Is l>ecomtn a major activity, both for small landowner# ami big paper mills.

Whether representativeg from agricultural areas p ijat POVT T? be able to convince their colleguea from non-agri- I IjIIi

gram for

r..:You Might Never Know

will be

cultural citiea of the need for a sound program for agriculture remain.s to be seen.

It is possible, and indeed probable, that in Congress will mean no farm legislation quence will be forthcoming during the next two year.s. Opposition within the Democratic ranks to a more

NEW YORK fAP) Thi a

comprehen.sive agriculture program, plus the avowed 'dfdn ^

administration opposition, may prove a blo'c sufficient

to off-set any far-reaching proposals by the Democratic fragrant ^ aetting

, , uj i n very year. In

leadership in Congress. 3957 u* forked out 39 miUion dol-

For the moment at least, it appears unlikely that for after shave lotions, or

agriculture will receive during the next two vears anv million more than U.S.

better program than it now has. If any changes are made, they will probably represent a retreat from the presi nt program.

,S.

1

iConomic Beport Review-

But he has plenty of historical precedent. Alexander the Great wore a perfumed battle tunic. Napoleon used up to 54 bottles 01 cologne a month (he must haye nipped on the stuff). And Cardinal Richelieu anticipated the atomizer: He used a perfume bellows to scent hi# apartment.

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By RALPH ROBEY

President Elsenhower's annual economic report, prepared with the help of the Council of Economic Advisers, and required by the Employment Act of 1946, ts a good analysis of what happened over the past year. Including the statistical tables, it runs to 22.5 pages and some of it not easy reading. Numerous legislative proposals are Included, although for the most part they are not given in detailed term.#. More about these will be heard as the suggestions are sent to the Congress In the form of actual bills.

Every Presidents economic report Is a political document, As a result, the report will be rather generous In the claims it makes for the wisdom of the Administration and its policies. In Ihls regard the current analysis is no exception, but Its contention of the part Government played in bringing about the recovery la more modest than many in the past.

Most of the credit for the upswing in busincAs ts given to non-governmental action to the "Inherent iealures of our economy ... to our free compet ve Institutions, To the stability of our institutions of savings, banktng and finance, and the character of our people, notably their Indiuitry and resourcefulness and their capacity to take a confident aUd balanced view of the nation's economic prospects"

"Our objective." In the words of the report, "now must be to establish a firm foiindatlon for extending this economic advance and price liability Into the months and years ahead." To accomplish this, It said

1. "We must zealously safeguard and Improve the UwlUu-tlons of our free and coinpell-tlve economy."

2 We must "wage a releutJe.s# battle agabutt ImpcnlimenUs to the full and most effective ise or our human and technological resource.s"

.1. "We mu.st continue to enlarge and Improve the plant atul equipment that supplant human effort ml niake it increasingly productive"

4 TlU're nmsl be "flrtu confl-druce that the value of the dollar will be rca.souahly .stable m

the years ahead."

In other words, we must maintain competition, improve output per manour, encourage private capital Investment, and protect the value of our. currency That is the recurring -theme the report, but most empha.sis is placed upon preventing Inflation. Over and over there are statements to the effect that we must have growth at a sustainable rate without inflation.

Every segment of our nation must cooperate if we are to have growth with stable prices. Gov-ernment must hold spending within reasonable bounds and below the level of the current fiscal year. Our tax system must be reformed to ellmtnate the present stlffllng affect upon savings and investment. The Federal debt must be managed with superb skill. And Congress must stop coming to the aid of every Industry or line of activity which runs into economic troubles.

The banktng system must limit expansion of credit and the money supply to a non-lnflationary growth rate. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors wiU be intimately Involved in such limitation.

Management must have the courage and foresight to invest in labor saving machinery and other capital improvements, to resist unwarranted wage de-maiKis, and to develop new products which appeal to the public

Labor leaders must forget the idea that there .should be a wage Ineieasf for their members every year, regardless of the profUftbllity of the employers.

Biistne.s.'i men and local public officials miwt s(op Dinning to Washington for financial aid for everythin^.! they think might be to Iheir benefit.

And. the public at large must esetr-Ue care in lus buying, and show Us disapproval of increasing prlce.s

Obvloii.sly this Ls a trying program But it is not a program of lui.sterity. It merely mean.s that consideration for the welfare of others ^ nuunt tv given at least equal weight to .selfish interests. That is not a.sking too much when ono^ bear In mind that the alternative 1. ero.slon of the value of the dollar, recession, unemployment. and R general weakening of the natUui.

U. 8. trains are steadily whittling down their passenger service. But Japan is planning a 340 million dollar rail program featuring a "dream train" which will make the 450 mile run from

Tokyo to Osaka at an average speed of 150 m-p.h.

Todays bon mot: "Some people aren't deaf just hard of listening," says singer Johnny Desmond,

Medical expenses have added to the high cost of living, but Americans sUll spend mwe for tobacco and alcoholic beverages than they do for all forms of medical care. They even pay more for chewing gum than they do for research into mental illness.

New Yorkers must be the moat time-conscious people in the world. They spend more than a million dollars a year dialing the telephone company to get the correct time,

EK) you object to your wife working? On the Island of Aruba in the Caribbean a wife cannot take a Job outside her home unless she first gets her husbands

J Other Editors Saying... Growers Must Cooperate

(Henderson Dispatch)*

So far as growers are concerned. the one big phase of the State Farm Bureau convention in Raleigh this week was the challenge as to the 1959 tobacco crop. This was a dual development, including the advice that they must assume responsibility for both quality and quantity, and announcement that the price had been cut on 1953 tobacco held by the Stabilization Corporation.

It was Joe R, WUllams, head of the Tobacco DlvLsion of U*(e U.S. Department of Agriculture, who emphasized the obligation as to this year's production.

Stabilization spokesmen said the price of 1955 stocks held In storable had bt'cn reduced below cost in an effort to dispose of the surplus. If Is the first time in the thirteen years of the cooperative that any such thing has happened, and con-stllutea a red light danger signal so far as the whole leaf program Is concenred. It means that a loss has developed as to the crop for that year, and causes the lifting of eyebrows as to whether or when similar policy may be adopted for other crop years In an effort to sell surpluses. It raLv ps the question as to whether tobacco will move over into the classification of other commodities on which the government has taken a lass. Other crops may be .sold at a profit to offset UUs particular disadvantage. Or this could be the handwriting on the wall as to the fate of the entire

price support system for tobacco.

Stabilizations move is further waining as to price an quantity for 1959. The 1955 leaf surplus was shunned by manufacturers because of undesirable characteristics. They may be expected to assume the same attitude toward the 1959 yield unjess it is of the standards best suited to the trade, meaning the tastes of consumers.

In the face of these conditions, it is reasonable to assume that growers will cooperate to the utmost of their ability In producing the 1959 crop. It is a vital concern of theirs that they do .so. They will win or lose in proportion to their effort and the ucceiM acWeved.

Williams warned that con-tlnuaUon of the parity program .'U it Is would ruin export trade, and said two alternatives are offered, namely, increased consumption or reduced production. Given favorable weather conditions, there will almost certainly be more tobacco this year than last, because, for one thing, 67.-000 acres consigned to ic Soil Bank in 19.58 is back in tobacco production this year.

That Is the problem. It is one that only the growers can solve by holding down quantity and lifting quality of the new crop. This could be the year of decision as to the fpture of the tobacco program. Its . Uiat important to all concerned, which means the whole flue-cured region.

written permission.

Everyone knows that Alaska Is the largest state, but do you know which is our largest city in terms of area? It is Los Angeles, which sprawls over 454 square miles.

Culture note: The United States now hius more than 400,000 bars.

And how liSny churches?

Farmers now can produce four times as much corn for every hour of work as their grandfathers could 50 years ago. And so can today* comedians.

Quotable notables: "The best way to destroy an enemy," says evangelist Gral Roberts, "is to make a friend of him."

Snow isnt always white. Red, golden, blue and green snow also has been recorded. The colors are caused variously by dust, minute organisms or pollen. Snowflakes sometimes get as large as saucers. A 10-inch snowfall has the moisture equivalent of an inch of rain.

Why would most teen-agers prefer to live in South Carolina or Texas? Because one can get a drivers licenses in those states at 14. Incidentally, a one-eyed man can drive in any state if his remaining orb has proper acuity.

Strength For To(day

By EARL L. DOUGLASS NABIT--GOOD. BAD, OR BOTH?

Habits get hold of us. In fact, the English word "habit** comes from a Latin word i^hich means "to have* or "to hold." Habits are ways of thinking w acting which get hold of us. They establish patterns of thought or action to which we conform automatically.

Now the possibility of habit formation is one of the great mercies of God. Suppose that every time we wanted to make a physical movement or every time a thought passed through our minds we would have to start from scratch no past experience to help us, no previous ways of thinking or acting to guide us. Life would always be In the beginning stage. The more the helpful acts in our lives become habitual, the better for us. The person for whdm the whole of lifes actions and thoughts are habitual (molded after a satisfactory pattern) such a person is happy indeed.

But habit has a negative side. The older we grow the more we become habituated to what we are doing or thinking. The al-

Chance

Anc.

Stocks

By ROGEB BAB80N

BAB80N PARK. Mass.. ~ The readers oi this column really want to know whether stocks will go up further and, if to, how mueh further. The fact it that nobody knowt and any antwer it t mert guess. I, however, am ab> solutefr unbiased in my answer. I have never accepted a eom-miction for the sale of a share of atock or a bond, nor have 1 ver borrowed a penny!

My personal bokllnga are now about one third in cash, one third in ciusrt-term bonds, and one third In a well-diverttBed list of comm<m stocks. Therefore, whatever the market does it okay with me. Forgive the above personal referenee; but 1 want to guarantet readers that this weeks rel^uM Is absolutely unbiased.

Moreover, I am not blamlng brokers for usually being bullish. They have ages, rents, and private wire costs to pay; and they find that 80 per cent of their customers will trade only on the "up side. Therefore, they must be bullish or get put of the business. Magazine writers and radio news commentators know they can get their material accepted most readily by being bullish. Surely the bureaucrats in Washington know they can keep their jobs only by holding their tongues or by being (^jtimista. I do not blame any of these; tey must eat! I merely want my readers to take "with several grains of salt" what they hear and read today about ttia stock market ouo<^.

Now, what do I know?Many years ago I took a course at th* Massachusetts Institute of Technology which discussed "chance." This was later followed by studies in "Relativity" by Dr. Einstein. Briefly Us law of chance means that nothing is fixed, or sure, or certain.

Everything we do must be based upon guesses. The secret of health, happiness, and prosperity Is to make the right guesses and then have the self-control and persistence to follow through on these guesses.

Now let us apply this law of chance to the stock market. Thers is no basis for any banker, broker, or financial writer to tell you that the stock market Is definitely going up or going down. Honest, Intelligent, and experienced Investment advisors wUl tell you that the chances are 60-50, or 50-50, or 40-60, or 30-70 that the market is going up. They Will not talk in terms of chance and not be Imperial.

I recently asked the president of one of Americas ten largest companies why it is so difficult to get him to give an opinion dn his own stock. He replied: "Becalise I know that for every buyer of my stock there must be a seller. These buyers and sellers know little about my company, yet they determine the price of its stock. But this is not all. The stock goes up when the iHiyers are more anxious to buy than the sellers are to sell, and vice versa.

The above means that the pries of an individual stock depends upon the impatience of the public to buy or to sell it. Impatience truly controls the pries of every stock. The total average of this Impatience determines the Dow-Jones Averages and all the other stock Indexes. That is why no IBM or other machine can make a true forecast. Even accountants and statisticians are only morticians, exhuming and and dissecting the past. They can only guess as to the moods of the people, which determine whether stocks are going up or down.

In order that readers may not think I am dodging (m* evading the main question. I will gay that the chances are 60-40 that stocks will go down considerably in 1959, Hence, the chances are Infavor of those with th# patience to wait longer before buying stocks for profit.

+ + -t

cohoUc is s man wbost lift has come to be In the grasp of a habit a disadvantageous and unsocial habit. The llberUne is a person who cannot free himself from the incessant demand which his passions make for appeasement. The person of ungovernable temper is habituated -- un-fortunately so. The criminal is an habitual wrong-doer.

Watch out for the growth o habits the tendency of naturs to get hold of us and conform us to s pattern.

,'vlore Look-Aheads In Business

Ooinions In Brief

"Miiybe it tirlps to billyluK) our cliniste in southern CHlifor-n when a doll dons a bathing suit to turu on the CtulHt-mn tree lights on s rlty boulevard. but It crrtrtlnlv h not jn kopping with the true svnrit of Chihu.. " 8n M a r 1 n e

(CaUn TrlbUJte

"t'f*mrmrt rrmmrtrre; g httfh slioitl puplh putilit Htion. report the iTiu tli'iiN nf Ainnicun younpsler 1 hr 1>o,vn and eiii 'HV ingh srhnol Is ^ snap i>e Thrre me too luanv rlro-tiv* luui.seti, too mucli cnipha-

sir. on extra-curricular activities: clc are geared to abilities of slow learner, students art given jwsluK grades because .'H'hools Hre too crowded to hold them twck. neither parents nor teaihei.H demand enough; youngsfers with high grades are Miiivetlmes consldertni Yirr.v' Mi'st lulerrllng, thcv suggest thr nt^cd' flu Tohger rTas sr-loiv.**. moiT math, sclenc" and foieign tanguagcN and more stringrnt iradlng Mandsni-i and allffcr l ollrgc entrain e require-nu'n Brvctiy (Ma.) Eve-nlug l imes.

By ELMER R0ES8NF.R Here a*e more look aheads In btuslne.v, based on advance Information, tinseled with analyses of developing trends;

Blue and bright. The coming spring will be the sprtngle.st ever. In mens .oportswesp. the frend ' is strongly toward blueslight, navy, iridescent, And m girl's shoe*, color wlU lie brighter than ever before. If the styllns have their way, the girls will be trtpolng down Main Street in pink, Hlue. yellow and orange tootw'ear.

Higher plan* fares. Fatter pay iv>r Jet pilot is not the only factor about to push up pl.ftje fare.: hlkher yasoine 'aves are also working the )ack. President Elsenhower prqiis.c< a x-ceut increa.se per gallon of fly gas; incrpa,cd .state taxes will zoom levies higher All thus will be reflected In hi .her ccvshs for flying from hither to von HITTER TGMrKTITION Balile for customers. Theres

Sion of dlnnerwsre line# than meets the eye. The chain has announced it will carry dinner-ware for a po.saible 173 combi-naUons. compared with 34 pattern# at present. Behind thLx is a determination of the chalns-Sear.s as well a. Ward to ftght for larger shares of local business.

Local merchant* can expect these and other chains to broaden lines In housewares and furniture as well as dinnerware and to offer price cooipeUUon a well.

Cheaper wool. But not for long. Federal law* proviles for a hike in tariff after imports of wool fabrics exceed 14 tkW.OOO pounds this year Consequently, foreign weavers are rushing fabrics in. ntskicut pEtoe concfiaslooa belort the quota ts reached, probably m June Then price. will stiffen. LOVE THAT Ft R!

A fur-constlou drive Fur manufacturer. that i.. the men' who manufacture articles of fuis. sot the ammals- are putung up

11.090.000 for a three year campaign to encourage women to love that fur. The industry saya it wants to make every woman fur conscious which sounds like a projert to gild th* coals sent to Newcastle.

Cheaper cocoa. A short crop last year forced prices up, but ciuTent indication# are that sup-plle.x will be more plentiful this year and prices will decline again. However, the two-ounce nickel candy bar will probably never return Belier aluminum demand New uses for aluminum, developed almost daily, promise a rise in conaumptloii this year HowexTr. unles. new uses ahead call for spectacularly greater amounts, the lacrease, will not strain pro. ducUon facilities and no great price Increase is likely Belter export trade. The convertibility of foreign currenciea 1 conttnuir.a to enhance Amen can exptui market* if foreign currrncica caa be swapped lor

U S- doUars. many manufactup-era are willing to shavs export prices. A tipoff: There luis been X great increase in elrculaUon of foreign trade and exptxrt publications.

OLD PROMOTER ENVIES

lamp-shade funsters

If I had a son, ttoe CKd pomoter .said on his call today, "Id encourage him to go inte the lamp-shade business."

"You expect a boom?" ve asked

"No," he replied, "But people that buslneas seem to have

in

so much fun. Every time I

field, I see pictures token at lamp-shade convenUona. and w ^ everybody with a lamp xhaoe Oft thr and a'glass ft oniething in their hands. Um^shsde people seem to hsve much more fun than, say. the dried prune people "

We suspect the old one aa ialking with his tongue in a lamp ahada.