Wednesday, Novembef IS, 1967

Assembly Will Have To Reconsider

Voter approval of a one percent sales tax in is not unlikely that a move may be Mecklenburg County is certain to cause the 1969 an additional one-cent sales tax ,

General Assembly to reconsider the proposal that the proceeds of the

every county be given authorization to levy such a for the local government units in the county wn

tax.

It is no secret that voter approval of the proposal by a substantial margin in Mecklenburg County came as a surprise to many in North Carolina. The anticipation that few if any counties would approval the measure was one primary reason for the initial proposal being turned down by the 1967 legislature. That would have permitted any county, following a favorable vote of its people, to add a one cent sales tax to the three cents already levied by the state.

When the measure bogged down in the legislature, Mecklenburg representatives amended the measure so

it is collected, >

One thing is certain. Through the vote in Mecklenburg County, local governments in North Carolina have succeeded in opening the door to a new and important source of revenue. With the door ajar, county and municipal governments may be e>>

pected to push open wider.

A pledge by the Charlotte City Council that it would reduce property taxes if the sales tax measure were passed is seen as a factor in the outcome of referendum. Anticipation that the governing

- ____

iKienourg representatives amcuucu board of Mecklenburg other

that only that county, largest in popula- thing doubtlessly

tion of any in the state, could qualify to levy the special sales tax.

The fact that Mecklenburg voters have approved the measure increases the pressure to allow other counties the same opportunity to tap this new source of tax revenue.

Between now and the time the 1969 General Assembly convenes there will be a number of proposals concerning a special sales tax for local governments. Certainly the measure which was initially proposed in the 1967 legislature will be revived. It

city and county governments indicate similar attitudes in the months before the 1969 General As-semly, a four cent sales tax on a fairly broad basis in North Carolina will move steadily toward reality.

Generals And Privates Shore Risks Of Death

Gossip'

War takes it toll of generals as well as privates and the fighting in Vietnam is no exception. It is

true in

About Gardner

By WILLIAM A. SfflRES Reflector Raleigh Bureau

RALEIGH The man most talked about ia political cir cles and discussion in Eastern North Carolina these days is, strangely, a RepublicanRep. James C. (Jim) Gardner,

It is strange because in the )ast the counties east of Ra-eigh have been considered and have proved to be the heartland of Democratic party strength in the state. But it is apparent from a recent trip through the region that the man now in the political spotlight in the East is neither Lt. Gov. Bob Scott. Gov. Dan Moore, former Gov. Terry Sanford nor President Johnson. It is Gardner.

The most frequently asked question is what is Jim Gardner going to do? Is he going to run for governor?

WrXlAM

SHIRES

Only Gardner himself can answer that, but it is clear he has captured the imagination of Eastern Republicans and dissatisfied Democrats and they think he should seek the governorship.

Wilkiugou Predicts John A. Wilkinson of Washington, N. C., is an influential can

a deep-dyed Gardner man.

It is- Wilkinsons conviction that Gardner would run far stronger than any other Republican who has been mentioned as a possibility for the governors nomination. Without disparaging any other candidate, Wilkinson says his conclusion is based on opinions of many other persons, including those of a

number of very high-ranking Democrats, knowledgeable about the political affairs of this state.

East Is Important Wilkinson cites the importance of the East in what appears to be shaping into an unprecedented Republican versus Democrat struggle in this state in 1968.

There has not been a governor from the heartland of Eastern North Carolina since Ehringhaus in 1932, Wilkinson says. The people of this section are well aware of this fact and the fight over East Carolina University status and the neglect of highways in this area has sharpened the awareness of local politicians and people.

If a Republican is to be elected governor, he niust drastically reduce the Democratic majority in the area east of highway 301. Gardner can do it. In fact, Wilkinson predicts that Gardner can carry no less than 10 counties in the area against any Democratic candidate and perhaps more.

Recent Polls Taken

Reports of recent polls, while not confirmed, indicate Wilkinson probably Is right in predicting that Gardner would run well in the East.

This indication is expected to have consideraole influence and bearing on Gardners decision whether to seek the governorship, forcing a GOP primary with already announced John L. (Jack) Stickley, or attempt re-election to Congress. Gardner says he doesnt plan to de-

and

thought of in terms of officers far removed from

the fighting.

Major Gen. Bruno A. Hochmuth, commander of the 3rd Marine Division, was the second American general to lose his life in the Vietnam War. Four months ago Maj. Gen. Williain J. Crumm of the Air Force died in a mid-air collision over the South China Sea enroute to a communist target. In the case of Gen. Hochmuth, death came during a helicopter flight north of Hue.

Whether they wear stripes on their sleeves or silver and gold on their shoulders, the American soldiers in Vietnam are all fighting men, never removed from the danger of sudden death, and daily risking their lives to preserve freedom in that dis-

eader

j Invites Revolt

I,

By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK WASHINGTON At a rare Democratic party caucus in the House on Oct. 18, a Noi tii-em liberal sidled up to Speaker John McCormack and complained about McCormacks lassitude, asking:

Why should I have lo sit here and listen to Sam Gibbons explain the Democratic party position when I should be Ustening to the Spea.^ei I helped eiect?^

But Speaker McCormack, approaching his 76th birthday, said nothing. Instead, he iet the caucus, a form of .piiny democracy he seldom uses, run its course.

What provoked the outburst from the Northern liberal was not personal hostility toward R^resentative Gibbons, a pragmatic moderate trom

tant outpost of democracy.

Public Opinion

*Gad, Man! You Look Like a #%*&$! Hippie! Better Take Some Off the Top

ART BUCHWALD

Not

So

Briaht So Much For The Poor

D,

By JAMES MARLOW WASHINGTON (AP) In public opinion President Johnson, according to the polls, is near the bottom of the barrel. 'There is no place for him to go now but up.

To go up hell have to start fighting, for a change. Much ot his time in the White House has been like living in a monastery, he has done so little talking to the people about national problems.

But as a politician, and with the 1968 elections coming up, it can be taken for granted he will try to fight to restore himself in the public mind. How he fights will be one of the most fascinating sights between now and the elections.

It has become a cliche to say his popularity, including both pubric liking and con

fidence, would leap up if the Vietnam war suddenly ended. But that would be depending on a miracle, if he faited for that.

He will probably have to plug along without that kind of help.

WASHINGTON - Some of my best friends are poor

The other day I ran into Slattery, who was nursing a beer in the corner saloon.

Hows it going, Slattery? I asked him.

Pretty bad, Slattery said sadly. This hasnt been a

Yet public opinion about f ^ y^ra

the President as expressed ^ ^ YN,T

in polls has been neither good ^or poor people.

his candidacy for governor was definite this talk has tapered off somewhat since Stickleys formal announcement.

Wilkinson believes that those urging Gardner to run for governor are ttioroughly sold on the Idea of making all-out effort to elect a

and outspoken Republi- cide until late January and Or ^

figure in the East, and despite earlier reports that QirGIiQlii

s

- For Today

very perceptive nor brilliant. One example is what happened after his two meetings in June with Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kusygin in Glassboro, N. J.

The Louis Harris poll, published within two weeks after those meetings, showed Johnsons popularity had shot up to 54 per cent, an 11 per cent jump over a couple of months before.

It must have been the glamor, or hope, that made the difference, not the facts, for so far as the public knew the two meetings accomplished absolutely nothing.

Time passed, the memory of Glassboro dimmed, the Vietnam war dragged on, as (Continued On Page 8)

Oh, we had a couple of good years there when everyone was worried about poor people, and everyone talked about winning the war on poverty and helping people pull themselves up by their bootstraps. But I knew it wouldnt last.

Why not?

You just cant sustain interest in pie over the long run. I read somewhere that the attention span to poor peoples problems in Congress was exactly 84 seconds.

seem to poor peo-

Of course, I dont blame them, Tliey have a lot more things to think about, such as elections and crime in the streets and how much cotton is coming in from Hong Kong. Besides, poor people cant contribute too much to a candidates campaign, so why should he giye them too much time?

I think youre exaggerating, Slattery. Why, every congressman Ive s|wken to says hes interested in poor people.

Yeh, that's why when they gave a raise to all federal employes, they specifically excluded people who worked for the poverty program.

Im sure there was nothing persgnal in that, Slattery. Congress probably felt that people who worked for the poverty program could get along on less money because they knew how poor people

Other Editors Saying

an

Republican

time.

governor this

The Daily Reflector

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i > P'

This Date--40 Years

at present to be justified A

r anxiety. Nation is ar- i W'U.'U. y

By EARL L. DOUGLASS

PRESENT-DAY CHAOS

No one can deny today that the unsettled condition of world affairs is appalling. While we have often thrown up our hands and asked what the worlds coming to, we seem in our

rayed against nation. Crime is on the increase. War is characterizing the most civilized era humanity has known in its history.

One of the great factors behind the present international unsettlement is a gro^of power - seeking men. fre

quently appear in history. Napoleon, the Kaiser and his family. Hitler and his gang these were power - seeking individuals who were determined to rule or ruin. Usually they have ended up by ruining a great section of the life of their world. More people have been killed by war in the last fifty years than in t h e whole previous history of the world.

Another cause of world dis-settlement is the fact that some nations have bee o m e rich while others remain poor. Some races have continued in dire poverty while others have grown affluent. This arouses jealousy on the part of the have - nots. It will take historians a hundred year.s to igure out in each particular instance of world - wide explosion who was wrong and who was right, what was wrong and what was right.

Another cause of forld dismemberment is the fact that the spiritual life of mankind appears to be seriously damaged. War, prosperity, individual demands of freedom, geneal hatefulness and jealousy these are the type of thinking that ruin the moral and spiritual life of the orld.

Instant Insects

By FOY H. DUNCAN Nov. 15, 19?7 Rotary Club In Joint Meet

Last night will be a memorable one for members of the Greenville and Ayden Rotary Clubs and residents of the Pierce school section about three miles from Ayden, it being the occasion of a joint meeting of the two Rotary clubs and a number of residents of the Pierce section at the Pierce Community building. Following the consolidation of the Pierce school some time ago with the Alden school Pierce house and have converted it into a community building for the surrounding district. . . .

(Christian Science Monitor)

The Royal Society in Britain has been delving into the extreme and weird conditions in which animal life will persistently, stubbornly exist on earth. When it is noted how the life spark survives in the most hostile environments, its not difficult to assume that some forms of life may thrive on strange and forbidding planets within and beyond the solar system.

For instance, British savants have found bacteria surviving though exposed to withering radiation in ponds where the run-down fuel elements of nuclear reactors are cooled.

Then there are what have

been termed the instant insects; you just add water. These are midg larvae, a quarter of an inch long, which inhabit shallow rock pools in Africa. The pools dry up, the larvae dry out, and sun beats down and they virtually roast. But when it rains they revive and wrigle. A Bristol zoology professor immersed some in near-absolute-zero liquid helium, kept others dried out for from four to ten years. When water was added they too revived, became midges.

Which suggests that it would not be so fantastic to discover primitive forms of life in the cloud areas of torrid Venus, or on some distant sphere where the only breatoable atmosphere is ammonia gas!

lived. Dont forget. Congress had to cut somewhere and what better place than in poverty You wouldnt want them to cut the oil depletion allowances, would you?

Of course not, Slattery said. Im not a fanatic about these things. But I cant help thinking that if the poor people had a rich lobby they would have got all the poverty money they wanted.

Im surprised at you, Slattery, for thinking such evil thoughts. Congress never bows to vested interests. I cant recall a single case where a congressman has been influenced by a strong lobby. What kind of representatives do you think we have?

I guess youre right, Slattery admitted. Perhaps they have made life difficult for us because they just dont like us.

Now that makes more sense. Nobody likes poor people, Slattery. They, give people guilt feelings, and frankly, poverty gives the country a bad name. Congress probably feels that by strangling the poverty program this year, they wont have to face up to the problem next year. This would certainly simplify everybodys life.

Except mine.

You never look at the big picture. Do you, Slattery? Poor people never do, he said, still nursing the same beer. I guess thats our hang-up.

I have an idea, Slattery, though it may seem like a wild one. Why dont poor people start making missiles for defense?"

What the heck for?

Well, once you start making missiles, you could change your name to the Office of Economic Defense, and Congress would give you twice as much money as you need.

lure to dominate and lead the fractured ranks of House Democrats. Criticism o: McCormack, in fact, is al iLi highest point ever'today, a fact dramatized when Missouris Representative Richard Bolling called on McCormack to step down it the end of this Congress, after the 1968 election.

Few Democratic Congr'iss* men are as outspoken as Bolling. But many who publicly condemn Bollings sedhoii privately agree with aim. Although dethroning a reigning Speaker is unheard of in ihis century, there now stands^ at least an even chance that McCormack will be voted out as his partys leader if the Democrats lose control of t h House in 1968.

Moreover, if McCormack i purged, his critics first choice as successor will be Representative Carl Albert of Okla* homa, now second ranking Democrat as majority leader not Wilbur Mills of Arkansas, chairman of the W a y i and Means Committee.

Early this year, House liberals were quietly moving toward Mills, despite his anti-civil rights voting record and general conservatism. It was not that they loved Mills but that they yearned for a strong hand from the shrewd, powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. But in recent months, Mills has shifted rightward with his tough stand on welfare paymentj and his leadership of tbs Con-

gressional economy drive,

thereby alienating the liber als. - '

Now their first choice is the non-controversial Albert, w'ho has made a steady recovery from his 1966 heart attack. Bolling, chief gadfly on the liberal side, lost out to Albert in the contest for majority leader in early 1%2, but he is now plugging Albert as Mc-Ctormacks successor.

The growing opposition to McCormack, mostly covert inside the Houst clo.nkroom, is based on operational, not ideological, sins. The Speaker is out of touch with the ranl;-and-file, working only with aging committee chair men, whereas the Republican leadership has instituted many reforms, such as regular consur tation with the rank - and-file. McCormack is doing things in the same old way.

Indeed, McCormack is operating today just as he did during the heyday of the huge Democratic majority in 1965-1966. In that happier time, when President Johnson got almost everything he wanted, McCormacks job was as simple as scheduling one bill ter another. Now, with 47 fewer members, the Democrats (Continued On Page 8)

Pressure is For Fligner

?rices

By ELMER ROESSNER

American farmers are urged to hold down the produc-

Middle East. Instead, it is intended to keep the price c pork up.

Master Dail Laugliinghouse Celebrates Birthday Master Dail Laughiaghouse Jr. celebrated his third birthday yesterday afternoon at the home of his pareqts on East Ninth Street. . .* .The favors were pink snapping mottoes with cap and unes. .

said that in the 12 years since the passage of Public Law ed to noia aown uic piuuuu- 480, the U. S. has provided -r

tion of hoes next year but too $16 billion in farm products The Agriculture Departnient

increase the production of to 116 foreign countries, which is trying to push up prices

together contain half worlds population.

Book Shower At Evans Street School The P. T. A. of Evaqs Street school will observe book week by giving the school a Book Shower, Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 16 at 3:30 at the school building. . . .Any library book, either old or new that is suitable for the first five grades will be acceptable....

food. , , . A

Earlier this month, John A. Schnittker, Under Secretary of Agriculture, cautioned hog farmers not to increase production next year. The occasion was a meeting of hog raisers from all over the country with Agriculture officials in Washington.

Four days later, President Johnson urged farmers to increase food production in the coming year so that the United States may help feed food-short countries of the world.

In a report to Congress, the President said that in the past tlie U. S. had helped feed underdeveloped nations out of surpluses. These surpluses are now gone, he said. He

the

ELMER

ROESSNER

Higher Prices Ahead

The advice not to increase hog production is not, of course, intended to torpedo the Presidents plea for more food for hungry people abroad; in fact, pork is looked upon with disfavor in India and many parts of the

received by farmers.

Although it may not be apparent to housewives, food prices have declined about 1 per cent this year, according to Agriculture statistics. However, they also show a 2 per cent rise in the July-Septem-ber quarter and seem to have risen in October.

Since 1957, food prices have gone up on an average of almost 2 per cent a year. But most of the farmers increased revenue has gone for higher prices for farm labor, machinery, fertilizer and other supplies.

More To Come Now Agriculture estimates that food prices in 1968 will rise between 2 and 3 per cent.

Again, it fears, most of the increased income will be paid out for higher production costs.

It added, The spread between retail cost and the farm value of the market basket foods will average 2 to 3 per cent wider in 1968 than in 1967. The market basket contains the average quar^ titles of domestic farm-originated food products purchased annually per household in 1960 and 1961 by wage - earner and clerical - worker families and single workers living alone, says Ag.

However, the iood price rise may be much greater than the department gutfses. If there are no surpluses left and fai^ mers must produce for immediate export as well as for the domestic market, there will be strong pressurei for higher prices.