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Thursday, November 9, 1961

Now Honesty, Nefou

The Vote Did Not Erase The Needs

Results of Tuesdays $61.5 million bond election in North Carolina probably came as a surprise if not a shock to practically all of the people of the state ... those who favored the bond proposals and those who were opposed to them.

In the past, appjoval of bond elections on a statewide basis in North Carolina has been almost automatic, or so it has seemed. And yet on Tuesday the election represented an abrupt departure from the outcome of other state-wide bond elections in recent years. Not only were all ten bond proposals soundly rejected by the voters, but the large number of voters in the bond referendum went to the polls to express their opinion.

It leaves a huge question mark hanging over the needs of state institutions for capital improvements in the years immediately ahead. It likewise poses a question ofnvhat attitude might be found in the 1963 General Assembly toward both capital improvements and toward appropriations for state operations.

One might quickly assert that the people of the state are overwhelmingly against the insurance of any more bonds. Yet there were many instances in which local bonds, voted on in connection with the state-wide referendum, received approval by the voters.

One might assert that the citizens of the state are opposed to any program which holds the possibility of Increasing the tax levy of the state. On the other hand,

Roadside Signs Can Be Positive

By LYNN NISBET

ROADSIDE SIGNS At the very beat not much Information can be given on a roadside sign. If there is too much to read the sign defeats Its main purpose. That is tt# trouble with most of the historic markers erected by the cooperative effort of several State agencies. By the time the motorist can read that Robert E. Lees daughter is burled a quarter mile to the east, or that George Washington slept here, or this is the edge of the Granville Grant, or any number of other more or less important historic facts he has Jammed up traffic .on the highway and contributed more to the potential accident ratio than to the knowledge of history.

Same thing goes for some of the commercial signs advertising eating and sleeping accommodations Pirther along the road. Many times if the motorist would stop to read all the detail Information about rates and so forth he wouldnt live to get to that stopping point.

And then there are other signs with succinct me.ssages easily read while driving, but sometimes unintentionally conveying the wrong impression. Hugh Morton calls attention to one such signboard on US-19 in Maggie Valley, some 30 miles west of Asheville, advertising a popular motel and restaurant in Asheville. It proclaims in big letters "No More Mountains, and suggests level going for the rest of the way.

That might have an Immediate appeal, because chances are the motorist has come out of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, crossed the Great Smoky range at Soco Gap, and negotiated the curves and grades of the highway. Maybe the prospect of a little easy driving is a relief. But that is temporary, and the sign is permanent.

POSITIVE Morton suggests a positive rather than negative approach. Instead of "No More Mountains" he would have the sign read "Enjoy the Mountains." or maybe "More scenic Grandeur Ahead, or something like that. While it is true the highway from Maggie Valley to Asheville is fairly level and straight, there are beautiful scenes of the Balsam and Pls-pah ranges, and from Asheville east and north the Blue Ridge, the Blacks and other ranges afford from State Highways and the Blue Ridge Parkway some f the most magnificent scenery in America.

The positive approach is nearly always more effective. It has

been many times mentioned here but is worth repeating, that when the National Park Service changed its signs for protecting bowers and shrubbery compliance increased almost overnight. The old signs reading "Penalty for Picking Flowers or Shrubs," and "Against the Law to Pick Flowers," were changed to read "Please Leave the ibowers for Others to Enjoy."

The Daily Reflector

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LIAISONEfforts on part of Chairman Bert Bennett and National Committeeman Bill Staton to .strengthen liaison with the national Democratic headquarters in Washington is understandable and desirable. But it is not new'. During a good part of the Truman admini.stratlon Joe Blythe of Charlotte was trea.surcr of the national committee and wielded considerable influence in its affairs.

And through most of the decade of the 40s MLss Mae Oliver of Sanford was in Democratic national headquarters with varying a.ssignments of duty and titles. but always with capacity to get things done for North Carolinians. Delegations of Tar Heels from Governors and Senators down learped that If they wanted something they had to check in with Mae.

GAP During the eight-year Republican regime the Democratic committee continued active, but obviously could not "deliver as much .service. The .service program must be reorganized, and Bennett and Staton are working on it. One of the objectives Is to e.stablish contacts within the national committee comparable to thase maintained by Joe Blythe. Mae Oliver and their associates ten to fifteen years ago. Who the personal contacts will bo is not nearly so important as the fact of establishing workable conditions between the slate and national organlzatloas. The North Carolina folks think that In view of the very cordial relations now exlstinfe between the Sanford and Kennedy administrations, the Tar Heels should have at least as much recognition by national I>cmocraUc headquarters as they had in the Cherry-Scott and Truman regimes.

SPOTTEDThis paragraph Is being written before the returns by precincUs and counties in the bond election have been received. Early reports Indicate a heavy vote In some areas, very light in others, and a general trend more toward accepting the bond package on an all-or-nothing basis than had been predicted.

the legislature just this year gave approval to one of the most ambitious spending programs^together with taxes to finance it^that North Carolina has ever undertaken.

#

North Carolina must now face up to*two facts. There are needs for capital improvements that cannot be filled now that the bond proposals have been rejected by an overwhelming vote of rhe people of the state. Secondly, the needs will not disappear just because the bond proposals have been rejected, but will continue and 'Will be added to by other needs that come with time.

Until the needs are met, North Carolina must carry out ita operations, in colleges, in mental institu-tion.s, in other government departments and operations,, within the scope allowed by present facilities.

Working Together On Common Problems

Formation of a six-county area development group of which Pitt is a part affords another instrument which may be used for the economic enhancement of this immediate section of Eastern North Carolina. ^

Composed of Pitt, Wilson, Martin, Beaufort, Edgecombe, and Nash Counties, the organization brings together in a single group counties which have similar problems. The counties and communities which make them up also have, for the most part, active organizations which are .working for the economic advancement of their respective communities.

Through the area organization, these six counties and their communities will be ajble to combine forces in finding a common solution to ihany of the problems which confront all of these counties. Bach of the counties, for example, depends primarily pm agriculture as the mainstay of its economy. Eaehr^could profitably use additional year-found manufacturing jobs to help compensate for loss of farm jobs in recent years. Each county has a surplus of labor at some seasons of the year that could be gainfully employed if some suitable business or industry were able to offer jobs during this off-season.

The area organization, in our opinion, will not le.s.sen the competitive spirit between the counties or communities in their individual quests for economic advancement; but by working together on common problems the counties will be able to come up with programs that will be of benefit to the area as a whole.

Collectively, these six counties are among the most progressive in the eastern section of the state. By working together on common problems, they have an opportunity to boost the area as a whole and at the same time help themselves individually to better economic conditions.

i

Struck By Ideal And The I

By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON (APi-The dlf-fprence botwepn the Ideal and the real has hit West German Chancellor Adenauer with *brutal force.

, In April, when the R.5-year-old Adenauer last came here to get acquainted with President Kennedy. he was the German strongman.

At their meeting's end he and Kennedy said the problem of a divided Germany can be handled only on the ba.sls of self-determination by the German people.

The two leaders said they were speaking specifically of the problem of a divided Berlin, as well as the country as a whole.

This was an idea which the United States helped Adenauer keep alive for year. But it was unreal, and now more so than then.

Premier Khrushchev held Communist East Germany and Ea.st Berlin. And he wasnt going to yield or lose either or both to the West.

Now Adenauer is no longer the strongman. In West Germanys September elections Adenauers Christian Democratic party lost its absolute majority in Parliament,

The September defeat meant the Christian Democrats had to make a deal w'lth the minority Free D('mocrats to run the show and re-elect Adenauer.

They dickered seven weeks and Tue.sday finally made it when Parliament once again chose Adenauer chancellor. But he barely squeaked through. He paid a price.

He granted the Free Democrats five ministers; Jobs in his IH-member Cabinet. Worse for him: he agreed if elected to resign before his terms end in 1905.

By ALVIN TAYLOR

So Goes Duncans Buok

As business manager and vice president of East Carolina College, F. D. Duncan had more interest in a favorable vote in Tuesday's bond election than most.

He also had another personal Interest. Duncan was in the position of having $I tied up in the outcome.

No, it wasnt an election bet. It seems that the college has an option on 73 acres of land in the area of N. C. 43 and U. S. 264 Intersection.

There was a $1 option to hold the property until Feb. 1. At the time it was assumed there would be plenty of time to exercise the option since $217,000 was set up In the bond issue for the land purchase;,..

Well, Duncan didnt have any official fund from which to draw the dollar, so he dug into his pocket and paid it himself.

Unless some way if found to purchase the property by Feb, 1, of course, the dollar Is forfeited.

So goes Duncans buck.

fleeting moments of silence.

It WAS just at this time that a voice floated down from a third story window: "Hold It down fellows. Im trying to study."

Hundreds of students gathered by Jones Dorm last night after students had demonstrated down town and on other parts of the campus.

They lustily cheered Pres. Leo Jenkins, They chanted. "We shall rise again, In short it was exceedingly noisy. But, as will happen at such times, the crowd ran down momentarily and there was one of those

Tuesday it was announced he will come here again, Nov. 20-21, to confer with Kennedy. This time he comes as a chancellor

near the end of his road.

Now any talk of self-determination for East Germany, or East Berlin, or reunification with West Germany, will be even more unreal than in April.

Since Adenauers last visit Khrushchev not only has made it plain he wont yield an Inch on East Germany or East Berlin but is putting heat on West Berlin.

Any talk this time by Kennedy and Adenauer about self-determination will be strictly dream talk.

The West showed how little stomach it had for a test on East Gemany or East Berlin when it let th^ Communists wall off East Berlin without trying to remove a stone.

But there is a pressing reality the two men will have to discuss: what kind of deal they can make, and how, with Khrushchev on West Berlin.

Adenauer, like Frances President Charles de Gaulle, has been all for delaying negotiations with the Russians. They havent come up with solutions. But there will have to be solutions.

Khrushchev, without any more expense than threat, bluster, bomb-waving and demands, at this moment apparently has the Allies split and confused on how to cope with him on Berlin.

Other Editors Saying A Shortage Of Confidence

(Greenaboro Daily News)

Joseph M, Mitchell, city manager of Newburgh, N. Y., had a good deal to say in a High Point speaking engagement the other day about his citys widely publicized 13-point program for the reform of public welfare activities.

Almost simultaneously John Alexander McMahon, general counsel of the N. C. Association of County Commissioners, issued a commentary on the celebrated 13 points, concluding that it contains "nothing that we can use in North Carolina.

The McMahon analysis notes ihat the workable elements of the plan have been in use in North CaroUna counties for years, and one wonders why Newburgh has waited so long adopt them. McMahons incisive summary of the program, point by point, nevertheless takes the sensible position that even North Carolina can learn from the Newburgh case.

The prime problem lies not in Raleighs faUure to place what safeguards it can around, certain vulnerable aspects of the welfare program those encouraging philandering and wrongful use of funds: the big trouble lies rather in the arbitrary nature of federal welfare regulations.

U. S. Secretary of Health. Education and Welfare Abraham Riblcoff questions these regulations and will give them a new. hard look. A Public Welfare Study Commission, to be appointed shortly by Governor Sanford. will do the same at the state level.

In a word, federal regulations

now require cash payments for such grants as aid-to-depend* entchildren. North Carolina can anti does use food, clothing and rent vouchers for county-financed general assistance, but it cant do that where federal money is Involved.

The federal program, doubtless well-intended, encourages illegitimacy and fraud. li actually stifles individual initiative toward moral and financial self-improvement. Secretary Ribi-coff acknowledges that "second or third generation people are on welfare and says it is "a discredit to our society that we have not provided a system which helps succeeding generations become self-supporting."

The N. C. Association of County Commissioners, along with other groups, has been campaigning for changes in the federal law. Ultimately, something should be done because the Newburgh case Indicates a growing lack of confidence in public welfare activities by the general public. For example, a recent Gallup Poll concluded that "the American public is of a mind to take a new look at current public welfare programs. The public is highly in favor, for example, of giving more control of relief programs to local communities.

McMahon himself concludes that the Newburgh plan contains a "valuable lesson" and that the "widespread attention it has received proves what many people have long believed: That public welat programs no longer enjoy the full support and confidence of the tax-paying public."

ECC students were noisy but everybody agreed they were well behaved as they demonstrated following Tuesday nights disappointing bond issue defeat.

Many of the students had put in some hard work plugging the bonds which would have meant so much to East Carolina College.

There was a special edition of the campus newspaper devoted entirely to the proposed bonds. Student runners, it will be remembered. participated in the Torch of Education marathon.

ECC students drew the wee morning hours for one leg of their run but they did it properly.

All day Tuesday students could be seen in downtown Greenville carrying signs which promoted the bond issue.

Their activities paid off well in Greenville which went overwhelmingly for the bonds. But over the state it was a different story. State-wide the bonds suffered what can only be termed a miserable defeat.

Opinions In Brief

An uninformed public acting democratically could bring anarchy just as surely as an unwise despot. Greenville Delta Democrat Times.

If we are puny enough to be demoralized by threats from without and subversions from within, that could be the ball game. And wed better carry the fight to the enemy, for Khrushchevs Mein Kampf warns us of the grim alternative.The aaturdajy Evening Post.

Women are smarter than baseball players. They quit after theyve made a good catch,Arizona Republic.

In the political marketplace this role of leadership belongs to the political parties. And if mediocre goods are offered to the public, this is where the real blame should be put Wall street Journal.

Rolite

Service

Is Gone

By GEORGE E. SOKOLSKY copyright. 1961, King Features Syndicate, Inc.

I am old enough to remember when Americans were polite. The girl at the other end of the telephone was a polite person. with a soft and gen^ voice; the messenger who delivered the Western Union telegram was a polite boy, who wore a uniform and was pleased to receive a tip. Men, when spoken to by ladies, took their hats off. And

^TWs^fonn of gentility has gone out of American Ufe, although it continues to exist elsewhere. A Western Union messenger no longer wears a uniform and is not likely to bo a fast moving boy but w pro^ ably anyone from an old man to an old woman, who delivers the message at a snails pa<:e. Or the message might be telephoned in. which is not what the sender paid for. In fact, a cable from Italy, received by American'Cables was telephon-ed to me and then came in the mail two days later. If the sender had iised air mail it would not have been much slower and it would have cost less.

Try to complain about poor service to a public utility and you might get a fresh voice at the other end who does not understand that he is paid to perform a service and that it is good public relations to be po-Ute. In fact, the more impudent the response, the more usual is the occasion.

What has done this to our people? ^ ^

When I was a boy, I used to deliver flowers and in those days a dime tip was standard. A sport gave'a quarter. But we acted very genteelly, dime or quarter, and if anjone got fresh, he was shown the door and was never admitted again. Latek, when I went to high school, I got a job as a hat-check boy.

I worked in two fashionable restaurants. We got a dime even from millionaires, but we were not permitted tokeep the money. Our uniforms had no pockets and the concessionaire soon discovered who swiped dimes. As a matter o fact, we often found a way to keep a tip for ourselves, particularly if some fellow wanted to show off as a big spender.

We had to be polite or wo were fired. It was a good after-school job, usually running from about 7 p.m. until midnight for the youngsters. I had to earn my way through high school and college, to get a little extra money. There was no union to protect Impoliteness. There was no class-consciousness. A job was a job and one was thankful to have one. That is how people got well-offby holding a job and saving money.

These days, the incompetent, the fresh, the Impolite cannot be fired because tenure Is protected by unions and money has lost its value and because other peoples taxes pay for unemployment as well as for incompetence and inefficiency. Furthermore unions protect the incompetent and inefficient in tenure so that the public suffers from the combination of labor leaders and politicians. The milk strike In New York City, one of the most horrible disturbances of public peace in our time, Is an cxEunple of the abuse of the publics rights by this combination of labor leaders and politicians. This is a perfect symbol of the public be damned attitude, of babies and the sick being killed-by an unwillingness of politicians to meet an embarrassing situation courageously. And the surprising fact is that the public takes Impudence without proteat.

Just before Election Day, the municipal authorities in New York awoke to the peril to the public, but why did it take so long?

This is an essay which asks the question why the public permits itself to suffer. Why do we accept impudence? We are told that it is characteristic of the times; that times have changed. But it has only changed to the extent that the public accepts impudence and impertinence without striking back. Let me return to the matter of telegrams: they should be delivered and signed for. That is part of the transaction. When they are telephoned, there l.s no record of delivery and accepU (Continued> on Page 7)

-. Don't Forget Measuring Stick

Dad gets one break he doesnt have to wear a wlse-crark-embroldered apron while barbecuing leaves the way he did all summer while burning hamburgers." Asheville Citizen,

Strength For Today

By EARL L. DOUGLASS

NO NEED TO FEAR

There is no sin His love can not forgive;

His mercy endureth for ever!

No soul so stained His love Will not receive:

Husjnercy endureth for ever! Nrf^load of sorrow but His touch can move.

No hedge of thorns that can

withstantKHls Love;

For the tenderness of God Is from age to age the same, And His Mercy endureth for ever! *

Tlius wrote John Oxenham

many years ago. He set forth in plain but miLsical terpis that reality upon which you and 1 must rely fur most of our sat

isfactions. namely, the mercy of God,

God does not accord us mercy because we deserve it but because He is Ood. It is part of His nature. Why do we go through life plaguing ourselvea with fear lest He pounce down upon us and destroy us? Ood love Let us always keep tmt in mind. /

What hideous caricaturas think up to describe the Opd of mercy and love. We so oftep frighten ourselves with thoughU about Him. But why? The whole of the Bible assures us of His kindness and love. He made us for fulfillment, not for disaster. He Is preparing us. for eternal fellowship with Hlnwlf.

"His mercy endureth or-ever]"

By ELMER ROESSNER

The company that points with pride to steadily Increasing profits and sales over the last decade could be fooling Itself, just as the worker whose earnings go up steadily would be fooling himself if he 'thought he was getting ahead when his family was getting bigger, be was working longer hours and Inflation was increasing at an even faster rate.

As a wage earner must consider other factors, so must a company consider current assets. current debt, sates, tangible net worth, net working capital, fixed assets, inventory, funded debt, total debt and their relationship to' each other..

Increasing net profits accompanied by even faster rising net sales indicate a decljQlog profit maiirtit--xcnd"r growing dependency on higher inventory and capital turnover a situation that cant go on indefinitely.

If neU profits, though increasing, arent at least 10 per cent of the tangible net worth of the company, then there prob

ably arent enough earnings for both take-home profits and for funds for future growth. CAPITAL TURNOVER

Another measuring stick is the relation of net sales to tangible net worth, indicating the relative turnover of capital. If Its too fast, the company may be leaning on creditors too much; if too slow, capital isnt being fully utilized. The same is true if the ratio of sales to net working capital is too high because again lenders are being utilized Instead of providing for adequate operating funds.

If sales are increasing la ratio to inventory then there is the danger that even more sales are being lost by insufficient supplies or inadequate variety. And, on the other side of the coin, if the ratio of Inventory to sales is rising then Inventory may be becoming top-heavy, stagnant or obsolete.

Another significant relationship is that of total debt to tangible net worth. If a rise in sales and earnings has been accompanied by an increase in the debt structure, then a sudden

turn in businesswhe|j;^er a drop in sales, strike, fire or what-have-youcould prove difficult or even disastrous.

INDUSTRY

CHARACTERISTICS

What are considered acceptable ratios, of course, vary from Industry to industry. A company attempting to measure itself should do so, to a certain extent, with consideration to the general practices and conditions In its field.

In retailing, for instiance, food stores sales, profits and inventory are generally higher in relation to working capital than for other retailers. Conversely, the ratio of net profits to sales is usually lower for food stores than for clothing, hardware, lumber and other retailers.

These variances also apply to companies in different ends of the same business. Usually manufacturera have a higher ratio of net proAts to sales than either wholesalers or retailers in the sanpe line. The inventories carried by manufacturers also tend to be lower in relation

to working capital than In retailing and wholesaling.

Similar differences exist between manufacturers in differ-ent lines. As an example, the median Inventory-workirig capital ratio (a guide to inventory balance) for brewers Is about half that for manufacturers of mens shirts, underwear and pajamas. And the net sales-to* inventory ratio for meat packers is five times that of airlino parts makers and electrical parts fabricators.

GUIDE OFFERED

A very good guide for companies wishing to assess themselves has been publiahed by Dun ii Bradstreet. It's called "How Does Your Business Compare With Others In Your Line.

The booklet lists how companies in 72 lines of business averaged In 14 Important ratios used to assess business. Ths grouping include 12 retail lines, 24 wholesale lines and 36 manufacturing lines. RaUos for each year from 1956 to 1956 and the five-year average art given.