Thursday, January 25, 1968

The Lesson Of Absolute Neutrality

Sen. Sam Ervin may have learned a lesson from the slate s last gubernatorial campaign.

ll was during the 10G4 race for* governor that Sen. Ervin came out solidly behind an old political Iriend, Dan K. Moore. The old friend finally won the election after a primahy bhttle in which neither the forces of I. Reverley Lake nor Richardson Prey-er could gain the upper hand.

Moore took office and that normally would have been the end of it. However, in his years in oflice Gov. Moore took stands which proved highly unpopular in the eastern section of the state and it is in this section that Sen. Ervdn must draw his own support

The senator thivS year is faced with the possibility of opposition in the primary from former governor Terry Sanford. If Sanford decides to make the race it is not likely that he will fail to remind easterners of Sen. Ervins solid support of Dan Moore in 1064. Even if Sen. Eiwin does not have Democratic opposition it is a sure thing that his Republican op-

By WILLIAM A. SHIRES

Reflector Raleigh Bureau

RALEIGH - How fnr the state government goes toward a promi.sed open door jxdiey during the next administration In Rale.igh remains to be iicen a year or more from now.

One thing is clear. The advocates of anti - .secrecy edicts and open door.s should be prepared for resistance and evasiveness and the fact that If doors are to be opened they will be cracked gradually.

No matter how firm the promises of political candidates nor who happens to be elected governor for 1909 - 7.1. the consensus is that .such a policy will be difficult to ini plenient.

It has been promised before In political campaignsmany times, in fact but it has developed that more and more state agencies, boards and runimis.sions have shut t h c ir d(X>rs to newsmen and t h e public under the guise of ox-executive session privilege.

Exeenlive Sessions

The term executive session" simply means priv a t e. with no uninvited persons allowed to attend.

There are strong and sometimes valid reasons and arguments in favor of execut i v e sessions. By and large, however, the press and presumably the general public doubts the validity of any argument for conducting public business behind closed doors.

Tliis is especially true when It concerns state budgetmak-ing and the spending of public funds. Yet this is an area in which closed - door, executive session policies are most prevalent and which has resulted in greatest demand for change.

Resistance Voiced

Resistance will be met Some in state governm c n t believe very strongly and sincerely that state government cannot go on smoothly and efficiently without the privilege of private, closed - door discussion.

They would and frequently do blame the prying eyes of the press and the reporting and interpretation of the newpapers and other media for having influenced or affected the vote on such and.

such an issue. Many in positions of power feel their boards or committees cannot act freely unless the members are assured of privacy.

There are legislative chairmen and veteran state officials who remain unconvinced and are amused by the avowals of open door policies on the part of the five announced candidates for governor.

When asked, they say how far do they thinK they can go? One a.sks, will they require the State Supreme Court to open its conferences to the press, and let newspapermen attend them^

Other Qualificationif Tlicy doubt that the next governor w-hoever it is would a.sk that Council of State meetings be open to the public.

If so. these officials feel it would invite more secrecy than it would prevent.

WrXIAM

SHIRES

It would mean there would not be very much discussion, says one Council of State member. Thats the real value of Council of State meetings now full and frank discussion. If reporters were there, we wouldnt want to discuss tilings in such detail. This source predicts that if Council of State meetings were open to tlie press and public, it would develop that most business would be transacted and agreed upon privately beforehand.

Quotes

True contentment is the power of getting out of any situation all that tliere is in it G. K. Che.sterton.

Pro.''pcrity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.Calvin Coolidge.

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Proper Restraint Over International Affront

Difficulty Over An Onen Door'

Oldtimers Are

D

Fower-rtoiaers

By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON (AP)- It takes chickens a long time to roost in the Senate. But by then theyre not chickens any more. Theyre oldtimers. Three oldtimers are leav i n g this year. But the men who succeed them are no kids.

'I'he typical Senate newcomer plays it quiet a few years before trying to assert iiimself and even then it takes more years before he obtains real power by becoming chairman of one of the Senates standing committees.

That's taken care of by the .seniority system, religiously observed. Translated into simple FlnglLsli it means: Take your time and wait your turn.

It goes like this: A newcomer has to wait in line behind all the party's other senators w ho have been there long e r. He starts out as the low man on the committee.

Then as the years pass and one by one tliose ahead of him disappear because of death, resignation (which happens), retirement or failure to get re-elected, he moves up until finally the chairman di.sappears and he becomes chairman.

Harry S. Truman w'as a Ivpical example of the newcomer. but not of how any senator usually winds up. In his first six Senate years back in the 1930s. Truman was

Strength

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Bv EARI. L. DOUGLASS BETTER KEEP BUSY

Every time we test the air pressure of the spare tiro, we are impressed with tlie debilitating effect of idleness. \o one seems to have an adequate explanation for it, but we all know that the four tires which are in constant use will maintain their air pressure for a long time, while the spare loses it very quickly. Take the spare out and submit it to the rough usage of everyday driving. and it will maintain its pressure as well as the other tires. But put it back on the rack, and again it beco m c s flabby.

Many people dream of the happiness which w'ould be theirs if they could be relieved of all responsibility! Wba* fun it would be if one did not have to work at all. How entrancing to be able to do every day just what one wants to do. go where one wants to g i. to get what one wants to have!

Yet the number of tragedies among people who have these advantages is greater than among the people who have to scratch to make a living. Half the hospital beds in *his couti-try are occupied by people who have literally been driven ci'azy by the fact that tiny had nothing purposeful in life which they were c tmnellod to do.

It's hard to keep happiness at high pressure if we ri ri e through life as a ^na^e Ddn't niig for the spare r.u k.'

practically invisible, he talked so little.

Re-elected in 1940 he g o t himself named chairman of a special committee not one of those standing committees and made a name for himself investigating commitees and made a name for himself investigating. Americ a n defense. From there he went to the vice presidency and presidency.

As an example of what seniority means: In tlie Senate there are 16 standing committees. All the chairmen are Democrats because Demo^ crats are ni a majority in the Senate.

Waiting in their seniori t y /line for the day when the Democrats lose their majority are the Republicans.

Of tlie 16 Democratic chairmen one, Sen. Carl Hayden of Arizona, is 90. Hes been In Congress 56 years. Six others are in their 70s. Six are in their 60s. Two are in their 50s. Only one, Sen. Russell B. Long of Louisiana, is u n d er 50. He's 49.

If the Democrats lose Senate control the top - ranking Republicans on these committees will be the new chairmen. As a group they are even older than the Democratic chairmen. *

Seven are over 70, eight ate in their 60s, and only one, Sen. Thomas H. Kiichel of California, is under 60. Hes 57.

In recent weeks three o 1 d-timers on these committees all in their 70 announced they were retiring from the Senate this year.

They are: 1. Lister Hill. Alabama Democrat. and chairman of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee.

2. Bourke B. Hickenlooper of Iowa, 71, ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee.

S. Frank Carlson of Kansas. ranking Republican on the P(^kt Office and Civil Service Committee.

?ublic

Jrorum

To The Editor.

On behalf of the Fre Departments in Pitt County, 1 would like to express appreciation for the fine editorials and articles that have appeared in The Daily Reflector.

It makes the firemen feel good to know that a voice as strong as The Daily Reflector is in accord with the work that is being done in fire protection for Pitt County.

These favorable articles tend to make the firemen feel that tlieir time and efforts are worthwhile and they in turn do a much better job. The public image of the tire departments is raised by your comments, and for thi$ we are gratefuj.

.Again, let me say T h a n k You for your tavorable comments in The Daily Reflector.

Vqry Sincerely, Mii-hael K. Worthington Jbll Counlv Fire Marsha!

position will consiantly remind the easterners of Ennns close ties to Moore.

At any rate the senator has decided on this gubernatorial go-round that it might be best to remain absolutely neutrab It is just possible he might be wishing h had taken {he sa,me stand four years ago.

We would hope that even by the time this is read, the United tales will have attained the release of the naval vessel Pueblo.

The ship was siezed by the North Koreans Monday. U. S. officials claimed the ship was in international waters while North Koreas claim was that the vessel was on a spying mission.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk described the capture as a matter of utmost gravity. It was said to be the first U. S. naval vessel captured at sea since the Civil War.

If the ship was in international waters as Government sources say, the United States would be justified in taking retaliatory action. Properly, however, our government has exercised restraint by first sending through Russia a request that North Korea return the captured ship.

If this effort does not succeed the United States may negotiate directly through the armistice commission at Panmunjom, Korea.

It is our fervent wish that these actions will effect the release of the ship and its crew. Otherwise w^e may have a'situation which could pose great danger to world peace. No country can long afford to allow .sailing vessels to be seized at sea. This ancient affront has more than once precipitated wars, and the world at this stage, needs less fighting rather than more.

ihieu i Pveform Move?

*Silly Adolescent Poster Fad!

By JAMES KILPATRICK

!Mo Fireworks By LB

It would be pleasant, honest it would, to contrive something nice to say about Mr. Johnsons State of tne Union address. One hates to keep knocking the old piano player when hes doing the best he can. But viewed for-ensically or intrinsically, his speech was a dud. The President had his great chance to wow the American people three networks and 50 million viewersand he muffed it. It wasnt a speech for the ages. It was barely a speech for the evening.

Mr. Johnson is certainly no Pericles on the stump, but in times pastespecially in his State of the Union address three years agohe has at

tempted earnestly to rise above banality. This years offering was as, empty of rhetoric as it was shorn of philosophy. His style of delivery was somewhere between Old Avuncular and New Scoutmaster. A year ago he sought eloquently to exhort the people to courage and to patience in Vietnam. * Nothing of the sort appeared in the speech last H&ek. It was one of the leaslSiemorable addresses of our time.

Ruffles and flourishes are perhaps not of the essence. They would not have been missed if the President had substituted solid content in their place. Alas, he did not. Most of his old ideas were

warmed-over welfare state, and most of his new ideas were piched at the level of tainted tuna. Mr. Johnson is against tainted tuna. So are we all, one supposes, but such lamentable commerce hardly figures in the State ot the Union.

Dorty Years Ago

By FOY H. DUNCAN Jan. 25, 1928 Greenville To Get $150,000 Industry Branch Of Philadelphia Plush Manufacturing Co. To Be Established Here Plans looking to the establishment of a $150,000 Plush Manufacturing Plant in Greenville were discussed by local business men at a dinner given at the local Rotary Club last night by the advertising committee of the local Merchants Association. . .The proposition as submitted by the representatives of the concern here last night provides for the erection of a $150,000 plant here as soon as the required stock of $60,000 is raised. .. .

be extended the opportunity of helping the local corps of the Salvation Army in t h e i r beneficient work for the coming year, The budget for the entire year as approved by the Advisory Board is $3,500.00 which includes everything used in carrying on the religious ond charitable phases of the work from the Sunday school books to the rental of the hall and compensation of the offic

ers. . . .

Budget Drive Begins Here January 30th

Beginning Monday, Jan. 30, the people of Greenville will

Dust Of The Earth

At Bell Arthur Schol

See Dust of the Earth. The teachers of Bell Arthur School will present a most interesting play, The Dust of the Earth, Friday even i n g, Jan. 27th., at 7:30 oclock at Bell Arthur School. A special band from Rocky Mount will furnish music, songs and dancing between the acts. .Admission 15 and 25 cents.

His eight or nine new proposals were not without merit. Even the most inveterate States Righter is about ready to yield to increasing .Federal regulation of the omnivorous automobile; a searching Federal investigation into automobile liability insurance would be a welcome :>tudy. The President did not make clear what he means by a proper gun control law, but an effective law on mail-order handguns ought to be passed. A iwrogram of ocean depth exploration holds promise. Sweeping new laws against drug abuse deserve a high priority on the Hill.

What else was new? A child health program for the indigent has its political appeal, at a time when young workers are being walloped for the oldsters Medicare; but the idea smacks of one more extension of Federal benevolence under the catch-all Welfare Clause. Maybe a special consumer counsel would perform a useful service, but one contemplates the enlarged bureaucracy and groans. Mother Lyndon! Who made him nursemaid to us all?

So much for the something new. The Presidents assertion that the people have had enough of rising crime and lawlessness drew the biggest applause of the night. The specifics of his Safe Streets Act, which he endorsed anew, have aroused a (Continned On Page 5)

By BARRY KRAMER

SAIGON (AP) The new ci-vilian-style government in South Vietnam has been in office nearly three months. President Nguyen Van Thieus friends say he will be moving soon to start the reforms that long have been considered essential to win popular support for the Saigon regime.

His critics, Vietnamese and American alike, are showing signs of impatience. The lack of early progress led one American official to complainanonymously: Bold, dynamic leadership hasnt been there.

While Thieu, a former general, is now president and commander of the armed forces, he still must work with the generals who ruled South Vietnam under a military junta for several years.

Although the generals no doubt realize that things have changed and that a eiup is no changed and that a coup is no continued U.S. support of the government, many feel Thieu is a threat to their power.

He could be if he chose to go ahead with his inauguration-speech plans to eliminate corruption and inefficiency at all levels.

In addition, personal differences between Thieu and Vice President Nguyen Cai Ky, a former air marshal, have hampered executive decision-making.

Both men deny they are feuding, but people close to them say that snubs and imagined snubs cause the two men to avoid each other. Thieu and Ky appear together in public only occasionally.

Rumors persist that Ky^ has been masterminding an anti-American program in the newspapers to discredit Thieu. Ky denies this. He has told associates that Thieu has given him little to do in the government.

The House of Representatives and the Senate, elected in September and October, only recently completed setting up their rules and electing officers. They still have not acted on any legislation, although committees are looking into several problems.

Thieu met with President Johnson in Australia last month. Vietnamese sources say Johnson was disturbed by reports that Ky had formed his owm government, complete with a shadow cabinet, and at times was able to rally the more powerful South Vietnamese generals behind himself and against Tnieu.

Unless Thieu consolidated his power as president, Johnson is supposed to have told him, much-needed reforms could fall by the wayside. Johnson likely had heard reports that Premier Nguyen Van Loc,' tom between obeying directives from Thieu and Ky, had not shown any great effectiveness.

As associates picture it, Thieu couldnt agree more about the need to consolidate his power.

The military still represents the only nationally organized force besides the Communists, and as such Thieu needs its support.

So although he is known to want to get rid of some generals and province chiefs, he is biding his time. Some army officers have been tried for corruption or removed for inefficiency, but their ranks are low and their numbers small.

Thieu has presented bold plans for reforming Vietnamese society. In his inaugural speech he spoke of improving and reinforcing the armed forces, imposing austerity on the relatively affluent cities, and radicating corruption.

Dection Year Is For Farmers

By ELMER ROESSNER As in all election years, farmers will get a lot of sympathetic and paternal consideration from Congress this year. The end result may be a few more pounds of pressure for inflation.

Three major proposals will be considered:

1. A bill to permit farmers to organize to fix prices without violating antitrust laws, giving them approximate 1 y the same rights and privileges of organized labor. It is not known whether Prsident Jonnson will ask for such legislation in his upcoming farm message to Congress, but it is known that the administration has been making 'an extensive study of the proposal. The farm bloc in Congress is expected to push such a proposal, with or without President Johnson's su[>-port.

Future In Doubt Just fKul tlie legislaUoo

would provide and just how much support it would get is very cloudy, and just how it would work out in practice is even more uncertain.

At present proponents are discussing a limited approach, perhaps encouraging the information of bargaining groups only for small, localized crops. However, the plan could be expanded, eventually giving all farmers the right to organize and creating a national policing agency on the order of the National Labor Relations' Board.

If experience in government blessing of labor is a criterion, this couW lead to higher food prices and more inflation. The impact may be even faster than that of labor, since so much of American farming is now done by huge corporations, with massive assets and, extensive orgam-zing talents.

Uncle Sam Would Play Josepb

2. Legislation to remove surplus crops from the market. Since LBJ recommended this in his State of the Union address, it is likely that ho will stress it in his farm messages Under this plan, farm groups or the govern-

BLMKH

ROESSNER

ment would buy up surpli wheat, feed grains and soybeans, thereby supporting pnces and farm income.

Proponents say that releasing these crops in periods of shortage would protect consumers by preventing runaway prices. However, it seems that consumers would pay for tliis protection in high

prices during years of abundance.

3. Government supervision of commodity exchange markets. The House passed a bill for federal control last year and a few days ago the Senate Agriculture Conrunitt e e unanimously approved a similar bill, sending it on its way to the Senate floor.

This is a bill that will please both farmer and consumers. For generations, both groups have blamed speculators for low prices paid fafm-ers and high prices consumers pay. Farmers have been especially irate when crops they have soW at low prices suddenly sioot 115) on the exchanges, sometimes due to world shortages, sharp rises in demahd or the expected failure of related crops. And sometimes the cause has been the fact ttiat speculators are a little smarter, or a little more dishonest, than farmers: