Wednesday, N\arcn 77, 1968

Little Things Add Up To Safety

A FAMILIAR VOICE IN WASHINGTON I

During all of last year, Pitt County counted only seven fatalities in traffic accidents on the highways of th county. With less than three months gone by in 1968, the county already has equalled that number of deaths on its highways.

Nothing can be done to alter the circumstances under which those fatal accidents occurred. Traffic accidents can never be predicted, otherw^li they would be prevented. Traffic accidents will happen in spite of the precautions taken to prevent them. Yet the precautions which are taken reduce the chances that an accident will occur.

For the motorists of Pitt County, the number of fatalities which already have been suffered on local highways during the past three months should be more than enough to encourage safer driving during the rest of 1968. There will be more traffic accidents on the countys highways, to be sure. But the number of accidents and the degree of their seriousness will depend to a large degree on the extra safety effort made by Pitt drivers during the rest of this

!3elieves Banks

Can Be Too Bia

By WILLIAM A. SHIRES Reflector Raleigh Borean RALEIGH - All but one of the 11 matters on the agenda at a recent regular meeting of the State Banking Commission dealt with branching by large, state - chartered banks.

wrxiAM

SHIRES

It was a typical banking commission agenda. None of the applications to open new offices in new towns, neighborhoods and suburbs was particularly controversial most were approved routinely.

But the subject of branching proliferating of offices of the large chain banks is and has remained highly controversial. North Carolina law has permitted statewide branching since the 1930s and the controversy has raged since the late 1950s.

It was then, according to a ^keman for the states local, independent bankers, that an unprecedented race for bigness began.

Ferlines Views

Now, as a result, says John A. Forlines Jr. of Granite Falls, approximately 80 percent of the total commercial bank deposits in North Carolina are in the six largest banks.

In North Carolina, if you run a small, independent locally - owned bank, you either compete or you die literally,' says Forlines

Writing in a recent issue of the Independent Banker, Forlines points out that in 1957 North Carolina had 210 commercial banks. To d a y there are 110.

Opposes Bigness

Forlines, president of the Bank of Granite, feels very strongly that concentration (rf deposits in the hands of a few commercial banks is not a good thing for our state.

Some knowledgeable observers say if the trend is allowed to continue, we could have only eight or 10 banks in North Carolina within the next few years. This means, of course, only eight or 10 sources of credit instead of 110 today.

It also means, Foriines says, that loan and credit policies will be set on a statewide system basis without any real regard for the individual needs of the local communities.

Must Complete Forlines believes that banking is more competitive today than ever before. In his bank, which decided long ago that we were not interested in merger propositions 4hat we were going to compete, Forlines says we try harder.

But he adds it is increasingly difficult for small community banks to compete with tiiese financial giants. We desperately need to create a climate which will allow aggressive, local owned community banks to compete on a favorable bas i s with these statewide chain banks if we are going to maintain sound banking, Forlines says.

Handbook Published The State Board of Elections has for the first time published a handbook containing general information on elections and registration in North Carolina.

It is a 20 page, yeilowback-ed booklet which was prepared and edited by the boards executive secretary, Alex K. Brock and is being distributed statewide.

In addition to general information on the election process, it includes up-to-date statistical data and lis t s terms of offices filled by election ranging from justice of the peace to governor and U. S. .senator and qualifications for voting and holding office. It contains a table of registration statistics and a breakdown by party for all but two of the state's 100 counties. No party breakdown was available in Orange and Yadkin countries.

Copies of the booklet are available for 10 cents by writing the State Board of Elections, P. 0. Box 1166, Raleigh.

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year.

Proper use of safety belts, officers have suggested, probably would have prevented more than one of the seven highway deaths recorded in the county so far this year. Fastening a seat belt is such a small thing, and yet it could be the difference between life and death. Arriving at a destination one minute or five minutes'later usually is of little importance, but the difference in miles per hour it represents could mean the difference in life and death in case of accident.

If motorists of the county pay careful attention to the little things while they are behind the wheel, the chances of major accidents on the highways W11 be greatly reduced.

Survey May Detrmne New Industry In East

Hopefully the industry which is considering a location in Greene County will be sufficiently convinced by a labor survey now underway to carry forth the plans.

The Greene County Development Commission is presently conducted a survey through the mailing of 20,000 questionaires to determine if labor is available for a hosiery finishing plant.

The results may determine whether a plant employing 800 persons with an annual payroll of about $4 million will be built at Walstonburg. The plant w'ould represent an investment of about $3 million.

It is our hope that residents in Greene, Pitt and other counties who receive the questionaires will fill them out and return them.

Establishment of the plant would be a great boost for the economies of Greene and Pitt Counties. Full participation by the residents of this area may be the thing that assures the industrys locating at Walstonburg.

Overly

BUCHWALD

A Doublecross

ohnson Keeps Askino Action

By EDMOND LeBRETON

WASHINGTON AP)-Since Congress convened in January, President Johnson has sent messages to Capitol Hill at the rate of almost one every other working day.

All request action. Most call for spending.

The steady barrage of messages is one of the irritants that have made for prickly relations between a President determined to keep his long-range domestic programs alive and a Congress generally willing to go along on Vietnam, but bent on consolidationat most rather than expansion of government undertakings at home.

One of the more vocal critics of the administration, Rep. Thomas B. Curtis, R-Mo., has complained bitterly that well-publicized messages call i n g for new governmental programs or expansion of old

ones belie Johnsons insistence he is offering Congress on austere budget.

He talks about economy, Curtis said, but he k e e p s whetting peoples appetites. Members of the Presidents own party naturally are less inclined to criticize him publicly.

But in private conservaon some of them say much the same thing: That Jo h n s o n must know that Congress, even if it approves new proposals in principle, is not likely to provide funcis for them now in amounts sufficient to m a k e much of a showingand that disillusionment all around is the inevitable result.

Administration officials who appear in closed committee sessions seeking such J o h n-son objectives as the income tax surcharge are accustomed to hearing, If he'd only cut (Continoed On Page 5)

WASHINGTON - Now that Gov. Nelson Rockefeller has put himself out of the Republican presidential race, former Vice President Nixon seems to have the field to himself. I thought this would satisfy everyone until I ran into my friend. Trembling, a loyal member of the Republican Party.

Trembling was furious. I dont know what Nixon expects to gain by continuing now. Hes the only candidate left who hasnt bowed

Maybe, I said, N i x o n feels that with no one else opposing him for the nomination. he ciHild win lor a change.

Yes, but by running f o r the Republican nominiti o n unopposed, all hes doing is dividing the Republica.i Party.

I dont understand, Trembling, I said.

Its quite simple. If Rom-

ney or Rockefeller had run against Nixon in the primaries it would have united t h e Republican Party. Republicans would have worked for their own candidates within the party. But now, with only Nixon running, the party is split right down the middle. I dont think Nixon should be blamed for this. After all, it was up to Romney and Rockefeller to run so the party wouldnt be split. Romney acted in good faith. He bowed out because he thought Rockefeller was going to run against Nixon. That I understand. B u t whv did Rockefeller bow out?

Because he thought if he bowed out, then NLxon would bow out, too, and the unity of the Republican Party w o u Id have been preserved.

Then Nixon doublecrossed Rocky by staying in the race?

i\i ixon

He doublecrossed all of us. One of the reasons many of us in the Republican Party-supported Ni.xon to start with is that we didnt think he had a chance, Trembling said. How did we know he was so opportunistic and rutn less about going after the Republican nomination^

Doesnt .Nixon Know he's splitting the Republican Party by running alone? I a<:k-

ART

BLCUWALD

Other Editors Saying udge Lays It Down

?orty Years Ago

By FOY H. DUNC.VN March 27, 1923 Plush Plant Decides To Locate Here

It was definitely stated today that the branch plant of a Philadelphia manufacturing concern would locate in Greenville. . . .Representatives of the concern will arrive in Greenville next week to arrange for erection of buildings. The plant will be located along Norfolk Southern railroad near the cotton mill. . . .The plant will cost in the neighborhood of $150,-000, and put in operation as soon as necessary building.s can be erected and machinery installed. . . .

K. L. Totter, who talked to the boys about regular practice and how to start on a race. Plans for the coming tract meets were also discussed. . . .

Greenville High School Organize Track Team

Yesterday morning about 25 boys of the high school organized a 1928 track team under the supervision of Mr.

Notice Of Repobltcan County Convention

The Republicans of Pitt County are urgently requested to meet at the Court House in Greenville, N C. on March 31st, 1928 at 2:00 p.m., for the purpose of holding a Republican County Convention. The meeting is called for the purpose of selecting a County Chairman and othe.* members of the County Executive Committee to serve for the next two years . . Every Republican in Pitt County is urged to meet with us on next Saturday, as matters of vital to the party will ^ome before this convention.

M. B. Prescott.

County Chairman

(Greensboro Daily News)

Anson (bounty, where school board members and Negro citizens have been targets of intimidating incidents for a year or so, has needed strong judicial leadership. Judge Woodrow Jones, who only a few months ago donned his robes as a federal judge, was just the man to give itand give it he did. Last week, Judge Jones told Anson County to dispense with a freedom of choice plan that had yielded little but harassment for its few beneficiaries, and to begin eliminating its dual school system.

We would neither minimize the practical difficulties of Ansons problem nor presume to speculate on what is occurring in the mind of Judge Jones. He once, as a signer of the so-called Southern Manifesto of the 1950s, and as a stalwart of the Democratic Partys conservative wing, bore the reputation of an unyielding opponent of desegregation.

I cant let my personal feelings interfere with my legal judgments, the judge commented after signing his court order last week. If his

comment means what it seems to mean, his forceful intercention in Anson County is all the more significant. It is a rebuke to those who doubted just this capacity for objectivity when Senator Ervin nominated him. His nomination in fact lay in an administration pigeonhole for the better part of a year before the President at length sent it to the Senate.

A good many glib things are said and written about the chemistry of the bench. It often brings out the procedural conservatism of certified liberals, as it spotlights the liberality, under the law, of certified conservatives. But the essentai! point is that most federal Judges continue tc surmount personal bias, real or rumored, when it becomes their task to dispense justice. There are a few judges, now and then, who seek to thwart the laws they swear to uphold, but Judge Jones is not one of them Indeed, his case illustrates how very many more judges there are who set aside personal whim and put justice first. That is the great strength of an independent judiciary.

ed.

Of course he knows it. Weve pleaded with hi.m. Weve said, Dick, yo:Tvc got the nomination for th^* nuking. What more do \ou want to prove Get out of the race before it's too late.'

He wouldnt listen

He said, I dont care what its doing to the party. I feel the issues are so important that Ive got to get i.n the race, even if it means running unopposed.

Weil, youTi have to admt he has guts, I said.

He has nolhii^ to lose If he wins the presidential election in November, everv one will consider it an up.set. If he loses, the public will chalk it up to one more election that hes lost.

Do you think theres still a chance that Nixon might bow out of the race

Hes running again.st himself in Oregon, and if he lo?-es there, he may call it quits.

By the same token, Trembling continued, he might be stubborn enough to stick through until the Republican convention in August on t h e off chance that Rockef e 11 er wont be drafted.

From what youve said, then, the Republicans seem much more divided than the Democrats.

They are. The Democrats have President Johnson, McCarthy and Kennedy fighting ((Continued On Page S)

By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON - Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller o N e w York and Senator Thruston B. Morton of Kentucky, two Republicans who had ku 0 w n each other only casually during long careers of public service, achieved new intimacy on Monday evening, March 18, as they dined alone at Rockefellers Washington mansion on Foxhall Road.

Rockefeller said he c o u 1 d not run for President without Mortons fulltime help. Morton replied that if Rockefeller would run he would be there fighting to the finish. The two men embraced, Morion convinced that the decision had been made and, indeed, t'lat he would be Rockefellers national campaign manage".

Thus did it come wholly as a shock to Morton, prepared for a last hurrah for himself and the Republican moderate wing, as he watched Rockefeller via television bow out some 60 hours later. Tears in his eyes, Mwton murmured that a golden opportunity had been lost. When Rockefeller telephoned 10 minutes af t e r that press conference. MortoQ told him: Nelson, youve misjudged your party.

These private exchanges illuminate some dark corner* of the Governors strange coiv duct last week. Rockefellers drop - out was not preceded by discussions with Mort o a or other supporters outside his personal entourage. Nor did Rockefeller appreciate t h e carefully calculated cpprais-al by these supporters that he had a very good chance, indeed. again.st Richard .M. -Nixon if he waged an ad-out campaign.

The reason lies in the lack of fight by Rockefeller and his inner circle. Bafered a.nd wearied by 10 years of rebuffs in national Republican wars, they had no stomach for another struggle.

One political leader from another state invited to Rockefeller's Fifth Avenue apartment for consultations a 1 e w days before the decision not^ iced immediately that many (rf the insiders coiumn i s t Emmett Hughe.s. Republican Nat 1 0 n a 1 Comraitleemaa George Hinman. egghead William Ronan were the same advisors who convinced Rockefeller not to challenge Nixcn in 1960. In eight ye:irn, t.ne names and faces h.id not changed. It was a case of tired blood on Fifth .Avenue.

Given that residual lethargy, .Nixon's clever coup of pressuring Nebraska state officials to put Rockefelle-i name on that states primary election ballot against h i * wishes was peculiarly depressing when it became known en Tuesday. Acknowledging certain defeat in Nebraska. Rockefeller felt the strategy of concentrating on beating N i x on in Oregon was demolished.

His pe.ssimistic inner circle agreed, but Morton did not Instead, he quickly pul together the rudiments a Rockefeller campaign in Nebraska aimed at a morni victory of around 40 percent. After confernng with a key Nebraska politician in his office on Tuesday aftern o o n, Morton informed Roi;kefeHer that he could raise adequate financing for the primary campaign in Nebraska alone.

Beyond Nebraska. Mort o a was organizing an embryonic Rockefeller campaign from party regulars unconvinced of Nixons ability to win in November. For instance, .Robert Corber, the highly regr-(Conttnaed On Page S)

Strength For Today Standard Would Be Touah

By EARL L. DOUGLASS GREATER LOVE

On February 3, 1943, the troop transport Dorchester was torpedoed off the coast of Greenland. The order was given to abandon ship, and the troops started over the side. Four bewildered young soldiers had forgotten their life belts and were left standing on the deck of the sinking transport. Without a moment^ hestitation four chaplains gave their life jackets to the four soldiers and went down with the sinking ship.

The four chaplains were: Rev. George L. Fox, Methodist: Dr. Alexander D. Goode, Rabbi; Father John P. Washington, Catholic; Rev, Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed Church. When they gave their lives they did not stop to ask* Are you a Protestant? Are you a Catholic? Are you a

Jew? They did the duty that was at hand and surrendered in their youth wrhat might indeed have been long lives of happiness and Christian usefulness.

The Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Philadelphia memorializes the wonderful courage of these four gallant young men. Jesus said, Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. We can believe that the heavenly host shouted with joy as the four young chaplains entered heaven and their bodies, never to be recovered, sank to the bottom of the sea.

The bravery of these four men teaches many lessons, but certainly it teaches, does it not, that there is a good God Who made mankind and shapes his destiny. Acts like this have upon them the splendor of heaven.

By ELMER ROESSNER

Maybe Oiarles de Gaulle is right after all.

Le Grande Charles says the world should return to the gold standard.

Fiscal experts of the other Western nations have devised counterplans. They have already concocted a two-price system, whereby gold in transactions between nations ^all be at the rate of $36 an ounce, but that in deals between Individuals, the price will be all that market will bear.

Thats nonsense.

Despite all the safeguards the fiscal authorities of the other Western nations set up, international gold will slip through them into the free market and eventually gold prices will be dominated by the law of supply and demand.

Now the other Western nations are trying to cook up a scheme whereby lOUs will substitute for gold.

More nonsense.

A Psychedelic Plan An International Monetary Fund committee Is meeting in Stockholm this week to work out a plan where by special drawing rights, called paper gold, will substitute for gold in international payments.

In the United States, the powers that be have substituted paper for gold. This plan will simply do the same thing on an international bases.

Wed be living in a world of chits, just as, for a large part, we are living in the United Stales today.

in this sort of manure bed, new currencies would spring up like mushrooms. Each would be of lesser vqlue un

til the existing currencies would be worth only their value as waste paper, and the Western world would have to start all over again, perhaps with a system of barter, in

BJMRR

ROESSNER

which a pair of shoes would be worth .six raisin cake^ and a mink coat be worth eight hogs and a fat rooster.

Idea, Not The Man

Now Charles de Gaulle (we call him Chuck in St. Louis j

has delusions of delusions and sometimes he makes a fruitcake look like a computer.

He has been laced in this column as an enemy of the U. S., a candidate for Dr. Joyce Brothers couch and as an amusing meglomaniac. Nevertheless, his proposal that the Western world return to the gold standard is worth serious consideration.

It would be tough, of course. We Americans would probably have to turn in all our paper money for new issues in which 45 dollars would be worth a quarter of an ounce of gold.

But we could exchange the new dollars for that many grams of gold, which would be a vast improvement over tJie present .system und e r which we can exchange a paper dollar for another paper dollar.