FAQE FOUnTHE DAILY REFLECTOR, GREENVILLE, N. C

Thurtday, Auuit R, 1969

Heels Also Help Uncles Bills

3riahter

Thursday, August 6, 1959

Pitt Bond Strategy Proves Profitable

Strategy of Pitt County official* in planning longer period of time. To be sure, more tax money hort-term bonds for financing the county's portion will be required each year for the next 10 years to of the coit of the new hospital has paid off for the retire the bonds and pay interest on the money; but taxpayers of the county. the total cost over the entire period will be less than

^ The bond issue of $675,000 sold Tuesday brought would have been the case with 15-year or 20-year an interest of 8.1645 per cent which is considerably bonds.

less than longer term local government bonds are For an undertaking such as the addition and im-

generaUy requiring in the state at the present time, provements to the hospital, a pay-as-you-go basis is By way of illustration, bonds for the Town of Cary impractical if not impossible. But with the short-term also offered Tuesday by the N. C. Local Government bond issue, county officials put the financing of the Commission brought an interest rate of 4.4718 percent.' hospital addition on as nearly as pay-as-you-go basis In planning the bond issue to finance the current as was feasible. The result will be most beneficial to hospital project, Pitt officials determined to make the Pitt taxpayers, maximum lenh of the bonds 10 years rather than the ordinary length of 20 to 80 years which normally ap- ^ plies to local government bond Issues. By making the X QLx bond issue for a shorter period, local officials set the stage for attracting more bidders for the Pitt bonds and thereby availing itself to the possibility of lower JT Wv/L

interest rates on the money it was borrowing. .u ^ i

With an average maturity of 6.44 years, these i or North Carolinians who are prone to think

bonds will be retired more rapidly by Pitt County than the hand-me-down federal dollars that come back to normally is the case. But during the process, Pitt Coun- state and local governments is free monoy, there ty will pay considerably less total interest on the bond should be an eye-opener in final figures of federal

money than it would have if the bonds were for a taxes paid by Tar Heels during the past fiscal year.

Federal tax collections in North Carolina for the

D, fiscal year which ended June 30 amounted to slightly

1 less than two billion dollars. The collections for the

X LXJ- ^ were up $126 million from the previous all-time

record of $1.8 billion which North Carolina contributed to federal coffers in the 1957-58 fiscal year.

Many citizens who urge federal aid to state and local governments for this, that and the other are inclined to the mistaken idea that since such money is federal money, it doesn't cost taxpayers anything. At least it doesnt cost our taxpayers anything. We are sharing in the loot that Uncle Sam takes from taxpayers in other states.

Certainly nothing could be farther from the truth. North Carolina, by paying about two billion dollars to Uncle Sam last year is doing its full share in shouldering the total federal tax load. As a matter of fact it might well be that were paying some other states' part of the dollars which Uncle Sam appears so anxious to give away. One thing is sure. If the federal government would curtail sharply its give-away programs to local and state governments, North Carolina would find its fair share of the federal tax load much smaller than it is now. And North Carolina probably would also find that the differeiice in its total federal tax bill would be far more than it is now getting back from Uncle Sam in the form of grants and matching funds.

It costs money for Uncle Sam to collect our dollars from us, run them through the complicated machinery of government red tape and send them back to us as federal aid. Not only are we getting our own dollar back, but we're getting them back minus a rather large service charge which the federal government makes for handling money.

The farther a tax dollar travels away from home, the less of it remains when it does finally gets back home.

Those who think North Carolina or any other state is getting something for nothing when it receives federal dollars should keep in mind the two billion dollar tax bill Tar Heels got from Uncle Sam last year.

Visits No Help !-or Dick Nixon

Must Be Getting Near Quitting Time

;?{evenue .ooking

By LYNN NISBET

LOOKING UP Report of Revenue collections for the State during the month of July tends to justify the optimism exhibited by the recent General Assembly in making appropria* tions above the estimated re. venue. Receipts for the month were expected to be considerably above July of last year, but they went beyond expectations. In his cover letter transmitting the re* port to the Governors office, Revenue Commission Jim Currie notes that July receipts in general fund brackets amount to 6.14 per cent of the estimate for the year, while past experience shows that 6.03 per cent of the total years oellectlon come in July.

On its face, that isnt much. Indicating only about 1-5 per cent for the year above estimates.

Butthe significant point is that July is the first of the 24 months covered by the legislative estlmatei, first oi 12 months for the flsci4 year, and the impact of improved economy was not predicted until later.

While the July collections are gratiiying to the budget bslsncers. they also have implications that legislators were too timid in appropriating money for education and other services. That idea is further supported by responses to a questionnaire recently sent to a number of his constituents by Rep. Charles Raper Jonas of the iOth congressional district. Jonas is the only Republican from this state in the Congress, and he supposedly represents a conservative constituency, for most part opposed to high taxes. Editorials in the Charlotte News and the Hickory Daily Record, leading newspapers in his district, expressed surprise that Jonas was surprised that majority of the people who responded to his questionnaire were willing to more taxes, as much as might be needed, for adequate national defense and essential government services.

DISTINCTION Jonw survey dealt only with Federal taxes. The Federal government is operating on a defici^financing basis, spending more every year than it collects in taxes. The State of North Carolina has on occasion been threatened with a defcit, but It has been a long time since it had commitments for more than it bad cash to pay.

Final report on status of the total general fund State account at end of the last biennium on June 30, will not be published for several days. Grapevine information is the amount collected during the past two years over and above the amount spent (variously called surplus, credit balance, or what have you) will be substantially in excess of the 113 million which the Legislature counted on to balance the budget.

QUESTION If Federal taxpayers in the conservative 10th district express willingness to pay more taxes for essential services, why should North Carolina legislators be so reluctant to

appropriate out of its riches for necessary purposes?

Your reporter has asked that question of a number of people within the past ten days- Nearly every answer has been different, but all fit into a common pattern. The basic factor is an acceptable definition of ther terms esaential and necessary as applied to public spending.

There is no common ground. There are those who think the State ought to spend a lot more on public schools; others think it is faffing down on welfare services. Some folks think the Federal government Is woefully derelict in military defense; others think aid to foreign coun-trtes is more importantwith wide divergence as to special facets of such aid. There has been general agreement on one point: The Federal govern

ment operates in billions, the State in millions, in both dollars and percentages, belief prevails hereabouts that the Federal government is wasting a lot of money, the State of North Carolina is getting value for most of its dollars.

POLLS Edwin GUI. State Treasurer, who has been mentioned many times as a very likely candidate for Governor, but who fared rather poorly in a recent newspaper poll as to what candidate is presently leading the field, comes up with a suggestion. If you want a poll that really will mean something, he says, ask the folks who they would like to have run for Governor, instead of which one among the self-anointed candidates is presently ahead.

HOMESICK Jonathan Daniels, editor of the News and Observer and nationally renowned author, returned home a few days ago from an extended visit to Europe and other places on the global map.

Sure, we enjoyed it. he said, but as time approached for coming home I couldnt think of much ( except when that boat would leave to bring me back to the United States and to Raleigh.

He added that even in the few weeks he was away the old home state and home town had made so much progress, he had to get reacquainted and re-adjusted before assuming the duties of his editorial desk in Um newspaper office.

No. 2 While potential or prospective candidates for Lieutenant Governor are sprouting like spring flowers will over the map from Elizabeth City to WaynesviUe, with varied specific or implied alignments with this or that faction or candidate for Lenoir county, a lone wolf iconoclast throughout his legislative experience. Is waging a vigorous campaign for the second place in State government. Reports of scouts assigned to appraise sentiment are to the effect that Tom White is the man who must be beat if anybody else gets the No. 2 spot on the state ticket after the primary next spring.

MeNaught SynSkatt, Ir*

By xMARTHA PIERCE

Humor Slips Into Letters

Even in the most unfortunate circumstances of the people helped by the Welfare departments. humor has a way of creeping in. A collection of humorous items received by Welfare Departments over the state were passed on to us from the local Health Department. Some of excerpts from letters are quoted below.

I am forwarding my marriage certificate and six children.

I had seven, but one died, which baptized on a half sheet of paper,

Sirs! I am glad to say that my husband who was reported mis sing is now dead.

I am forwarding my marriage certificate and three of my children, one of which was a mistake.

In answer to your letter, I have given birth to a boy, weighing ten pounds. I hope this is satisfactory.

You have changed by little boy into a little girl. Will this make any difference?

In accordance with your instruction, I have given birth to twins In the enclosed envelope.

A young man in a sharply creased, navy blue suit walks with confidence through the plate glass door of the Reflector building. You can tell immediately that this is a man with a mission. He makes for the front office. whispers his mission into autihoritative ears and begins his interrogation of the office.

First he fires a question that

Other Editors Saying We Are .So Timid?

The Dsdly Reflector

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By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON (AP) There is scant political mileage for Vice President Richard M- Nixon in the Eisenhower-Khrushohev exchange of visits unless hit part in bringing them about was bigger than^ President Eisenhower ha^ revealed so far.

He had nothing to do with them, judging from what Elsenhower says.

Some political commentators see in Nixons Sovlet-Polish visits particularly lince he handled himself so well both placesa big boon to his ambitions for the Republican presidential nomination in I960.

Theres another view: that public recollection of Nixons overseas Journeys will be dim and lost in later events by the time of the 1160 conventions unless he accomplished something sensationally memorable in the Soviet Union.

So far as is known, he didnt.

The only sensational event while he was overseas was the news thst Eisenhower and Khrushchev would visit each other. It ,would have added immensely to Nixon's prestige if his followers could clsim he had a key role in arranging it.

There had been wide speculation before and during Nixon's Soviet tripthat he might try to crown his Moscow visit by bringing about a meeting of the two leaders.

But Eisenhower himself undercut such an ideaalthough saying Nixon had acted splendidly"by publicly stating his role, and minimizing Nixons, in arranging for the visits.

The President, at the very start of his Monday news conference announcement about the exchange of visits, said he was the one who had initiated the correspondence and f agreements on

them. He said he had started the ball rolling early in July.

But he disclosed he hadnt mentioned this to Nixon until ths day, or day before, the vice president set out for Moscow. That was July 22.

Nixon, at his own news conference ini Moscow Sunday, said on balance, I believe that at some time Mr. Khrushchev should be invited. . .to the United States.

The next dayduring the Presidents announcement Khrushchev would come Elsenhower was asked by ? reporter If the vice president had acted with or without his permission in suggesting, in Mowcow the Premier should come here.

Eisenhower seemed to brush aside the Nixon suggestion as of no Importance. The President referred ot it as an offhantJ remark.

He said the only ban he put on Nixon before he left was not to bring up in Moscow the subject of a Khrushchev visit unless the Russiands mentioned it. Apparently, they did.

The President gave no explanation for waiting until Just before Nixon left for Moscow to tell him the extremely important fact that Elsenhower was trying to arrange a meeting with Khrushchev.

He did explain why he finally told Nixon: So that you wl not be astonished or surprised and feel let down by your government if the Russians started talking about the negotiations for Khrushchevs visit.

Ti^ could be interpreted as% mealng the President attached so little importance to anything Nixon might do that the only reason he mentioned it to him was to save him from the embarrassment of being ignorant of the whole business if the Russians mentioned it.

(Goldsbor News-Argus)

This column has a definite reaction to the poll of the editors on Governor Hodges for Democratic candidate for vice president. Maybe you remember that three out of four editors who voted said North Carolina should offer Hodges for veep.

But too many of them backed away timidly from the idea in their remarks on the subject.

Their reaction was the typical Southerners reaction when the little matter of nominating candidates is brought up. We are defeated in advance. We know we are so deeply bound into the Democratic party that the rest of .the country can kiss us off. give us the go-by, or thumb their noses at us and we grin and bear it. The only times when we really stand up and fight are when we get riled about, say civil rights, and then we act like spoiled children and make like we arc walking out or starting something more to our liking.

This timidity, this frustration completely de-energizes us. We are so frigfhtened at meeting the big bad wolf from the big cities or the more liberal segments of the party that we can hardly raise our voices.

Note the Tar Heel editors reaction to the presidential poll. They put Kennedy ahead, and had Texas Lyndon Johnson way down the list. Actually, the comment led one to believe the editors were picking them here

by what they had heard. Several commented that they really preferred Johnson but couldnt even think it anyway possible that a Southerner, albeit one on the fringes of the West, had a chance.

Bill Sharpe engineered the effort to call attention to the late Governor Broughton as a vice presidential candidate. Now Bill is a bit reluctant to admit he pushed the idea. But this writer cant buy his attitude,

Sharpes reaction is reflected in what Tar Heel editors actually feel about Hodges for vice president, But why should we be ashamed, timid, reluctant, fearful to get behind a man in whom we believe? Hodges is no neophyte. He has had long experience in high places for the government with assignments in Europe during World War II. He has grown steadily in the nation as North Carolinas governor. He has shown in his recent tour with the eight governors to Russia that he is equal to any situation.

Actually why should we stand back even if the odds against us are long indeed? Only one man can be nominated for president by the Democrats. Only one for .vice president. None of the men who are rejected wl be any the worse off because of this. North Carolina has a man of national calibre. We cant lose by offering him even if he is passed over. Faint heart never won fair lady.

seems innocent enough. How many of you people have worked her for five or more years?

What could his motive be? Old age insurance? First insurance. . . .sounds like Insurance of some kind.

Your wondering about this stranger becomes more intense when he walks over to one of the longer-time employees, introduces himself, and flashes a leather pass folder. The two dont talk over five minutes, but they keep their voices low.

In another part of the building a short time latter the blue-clad stranger huddles in a hall with two employees of the news room. Their conference lasts for about ten minutes. Then the stranger calls you over, introduces himself, flashes his government identification card and begins questioning you.

His questions are; How long have you known him? What is he like? How long have you known of his family? Is there anything about him, such as any trouble, that I should know about?

You dont know exactly why this man is asking all these questions. but you fefl somewhat relieved that it wasnt you he was investigating. At least he had not come because of your delinquent taxes* Wlist. were you worrying About Anyway* You don't even pay taxes.'

The mystery disappears when

ho tells you that he la investigating the former Reflector em-^ p.cyee because he is now in line for a government Job.

Digging

A Daily

Grave

By HAL BO VLB

NEW YORK (AP)^How wouU /ou like to be a columnist?

If not, youre a rare person. Everyone used to have a secret ambition to write a play or a song. Today the secret goal of almost everyone housewife, truckdriver, financierseems to be to have a oolumn of his own, and make a better world.

The letter columnists get most often starts somewhat as follows: I've been reading your column off and on for years and feel I could write one just as good, and probably better. How do 1 go about getting started?

I usually replay. It is first absolutely essential that you study Latin and Greek for 10 years, then learn to speak and write at least two other modern languages besides English,

This isnt exactly true, of course. But doesn't help to weed out a lot of possible future comr petitors.

AU you actually need to become a columnist is two holesone in your bead, the other in the head of the publisher who gives you your chance.

The rest is easyas easy as chinning yourself with your eyeballs.

The public has the idea that It is simple to write a column every day. But Don Marquis, who did this chore for years until he repented and became a playwright, described it as digging a daily grave.

The ailments of any trade or craft reflected its stress. The occupational ailments of column writing are ulcers, egomania, hydrophobia, mental hernia and snow blindness caused from long hours of staring at the same blank piece of paper in your typewriter.

The most frustrating thing about the business is changing a typewriter ribbon. Almost any columnist worth his salt is expert on such problems as when or where we should drop the hydrogen bomb or what makes Nikita Khrushchev tick. Bet no columnist I know can change his own typewriter ribbon.

Most of the seeming millions of people who yearn to be columnists have the idea they would live in a penthouse, and have a chauffeur-drlyen car. They dream of hobnobbing with Aterilyn Monroe and giving ad-viCTi^ Bernard Baruch.

Well, most columnists actually see a penthouse only when they are invited to the home of a rich press agent. And as for Bernie Baruch, if hes even called me for advice my phone must have been busy.

Does columning need any special equipment? No. Nothing be-yong a two-pants suit. This is necessary because you have to spend long hours sitting in a swivel chair looking at the ceiling as you wait for an idea. That is hard on pants.

Dont let any columnist ever tell you he thinks up his own ideas. He doesnt. He Just sits there until one falls off the cillng.

What are the columnists rewards? They are the people he meets. Nobody but a doctor meets more interesting people in more interesting situations. They are also sometimes exasperating.

The most exasperating are those who say to columnists: Sure I know you write a column. But what else do you do In all your spare time?

Strength For Today

By EARL L. DOUGLASS ODD CHARACTERS

Odd people are usually annoying. We find It so when we encounter them socially or in family relationships. Humanity has as a whole always been annoyed by oddities and has frequently given them rough treatment.

And yet, these oddities very often give us our moat precious truths. The Wright brothers were regarded by many sug two idiots trying to do something which, if they used their heads, they would see was impossible. I, personally, recall now fifty years ago Albert Einstein with his theory of relativity was largely looked upon as a crackpot. Fifty years before that Pasteur had set off a roar of laughter in

medical circles by claiming that disease was caused by particles too small to be seen by the naked eye but known as germs. He was warned that if he tried his anti-rabies serum on a boy who had been bitten by a mad dog and if the boy died, he would be indicted for murder. The very idea of saying that disease came from things called germs and that men could control health by controlling these germsi

There will always be oddities in the human race. Some of them need to be sent to Insane asylums. Others need to be dismissed with a smile. But there are some who are Gods grgeat carriers of profound and eternal truth.

Be careful in your judgments.

ap Trend Supports Old Theory

Opinions In Brief

The daylight saving idea comes from an old Indian who cut off one end of his blanket and sewed it on the other to make H longer. Industrial News Review.

hes made and refreshingly dneet impact on the Russian people. lavestia, Moscows oifloiel nAUfanaper yesterday printed the Nixon Broadcast in full which In .Stalin's day would have been out of the question. Mr. Koslovs long rebuttal of the broadcast is further proof of the effect Mr. Nixon has hadand so is his tumultuous welcome In Poland, His demand for one world, in which each nation chooses Its

own way of life without Interference and where communications are free, is not new. What is new is the number of Soviet citizens who have been given the opportunity to hear it and read it.London News chronicle.

^ It has been * suggested that the Queen should make longer

*4W3d ,-mare Jelaurely sojowrjua through the Commonwealth* 'There are disadvantages to this, particularly at ,the moment when the upbringing and education of the royal children must be considered. In these days, it might perhaps be preferable to make shorter, less hectic but more frequent tripa.^Lmtdon Daily Mali.

By ELMER ROESSNER

Opponents of socialism have long held that if the wealth of the world were evenly divided among aU the people, in a short time the strong and the successful would somehow gain major shares and the weak and incompetent would again be poor.

For KX) years this argument has existed in the vacuum of theory. Now there is a significant bit of evidence to show that it is valid.

During the American occupation of Japan, Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur ordered a breakup of the largest feudal estates. He' ordered that no person be allow-o'j2 laooB ... acres of the arable land of the islands.

called a lot of things but never a socialist. His step was to build a more democratic economy. CONCEPT RATIFIED

Of Japans 142,644 square miles of land, less than 22,000 square miles can bife cultivated. On this area, 91,000,000 people must survive. A small-farm agrlculttire, even Li it meant a lowTncome

I

economy, was useful.

The law, incidentally, did not apply to timber holdings which can not be profitably worked except on a large scale.

The Japanese understood the theory behind the MacArthur order, and the same rule was incorporated into Japanese law.

With the maxiinum size aet at seven acres, tiie average size farm was only two acres. With division of big estates, and division of smaller farms by inheritance. many farms were reduced to a tenth of an acre. These tiny holdings brought the average down.

RICH GET RICHER

Now 'the tretid is the other way Many families, unable to subsist on a fraction of an acre, have-sold their liuuf Jobs in Japans growing industries.

The younger generation, hep and beat, often sells inheritances.

On your reporters tecent trip to Japan, he was told tliat the law was still being strictly enforced, Holdings of more than seven acres by one Individual

are illegal.

One Japanese told me, My uncle was a moderately wealthy landowner before the war. When the new Jaws were laid down, he obeyed them. His lands were broken up into small holdings.

Since then, many of the farmers have found they cannot exist on their small plots. They have aold them and moved to the city. My uncle does not own more than seven acres. But he has many niecea and nephews and other relatives, and each one can be the recorded owner of up to seven acres. He does not control as much land as he once did, but aome day he will. I have since heard that the came process is going every section of Japan. Those with the drive to own landand knowiedfe t<i mak H -ableare slowly but relentlessly gaining control.

Statistics, won't show it yet, but \ the size of the average Japanese holding is increasing. The holdings niay never reach their prewar extent, but they may get big enough to haunt fioclalists for a long time.

This may be useful informa

tion for Fidel Castro.

COMING SMALL U.S. CARS CHEER IMPORTERS NOT AT ALL

If you want to see a man with two faces, call on an importer of small foreign cars.

One face will beamor try to. The small car has been accepted by America; sales are going up; demand is so great that the Big Three American manufacturers are about to bring out small cars.

The other face will scowl. The small American cars wont be quite as small as the foreign models. They wUl not carry import duties. Repairs snd spare parts will be as readily avaU-

American cars.

And note this topper; Most Aroerfcaw are now

agents for one or more small foreign autos. When they have their own small car, will they be as enthusiastic In advertising, promoting and selling small foreign competitors? Your answer, In 26 words or less, won't get you anything more than a plaintive wall in a foreigh ac-cenk