Wednesday, March 20, 1063

Token Action In Right Direction

-I * :

Greased Pig

President Kennedy's recommendation that federal spending plans be reduced by $125 million this year and next offers hope that the- administration as well as Congress is becoming more economy conscious than has been indicated in recent years.

The reductions of spending by $74 million in the'eurrent year and $51 million in the next fiscal year are small when compared with the total budgets. They can truthfully be termed only token reductions. Even so, they are tiny steps in the right direction which may lead to larger steps in the future.

It is significant that this first stepsmall as it is has been taken by the administration. It should' encourage each department and agency of the federal government to carefully reassess its proposed expenditures for this year and next to determine whether further reductions can be made. It should encourage Congress to examine in even greater detail than usual proposed expenditures in an effort to eliminate unnecessary spending.

With its recent history of deficit operations year alter year, it is evident that the federal government has allowed its costs to rise sharply out of proportion to its revenues. It is also evident in the face of tax I'eductions that are needed to give long-term stimulation to the economythe situation can be corrected only by evaluating rnore carefully every cost, item in the federal budgef;. The proposed spending reductipns cited by President Kennedy are a mere drop in the bucket. But if a sufficient number of $125 million reductions can

Would Double

'ndebtedness

By WILLIAM A. SHIRES

' DEBT - Floating a new $2(M) or $250 million bond l.ssue for highways would approximately double North Carolinas total bonded indebtedness.

At present, the State's bonded debt amounts to a gross figure of $231,041,000.

The net figure on the States bonded debt is $122,940,000 issued almost entirely for capital improvements dating back as far as 1025, port l5ondS Issueil in^-1950 and school construction bonds issued at intervals between 1950 and 1958.

The gross debt and net debt alike will be boosted by $22 million in statutory bonds for Capital improvements included in the proposed 1963-65 budget bill and expected to be approved by the General Assembly without requiring a referendum.

HIGHWAYS The proposed highway bond issue, which is being debated in the legislature and elsewhere, would require approval in a reicrendurn. no'w suggested for August or September.

The debate going on Is on the pros and cons of the wisdom of bond issue financing how much the state can afford, the needs to be met, the- interest cost, whether additional bond issues may be needed later, whether additional gasoline taxes will be needed later and the present status of bonded indebtedness for highways.

Total bonded indebtedness for highways in Norih Carolina at present amounts to $86,124.000.

None of this highway debt Is Included in the net debt statement but is reflected in the overall. * gross bonded indebtedness figure.

BONDS The outstanding highw'ay bonds, by the w'ay. include ^24.000 which were issued as long ago as 1921, back during an inflationary period following World War T, and bearing a substantial per cent rate of interest.

These 1923 highway bonds are not included in the net debt statement because money to retire them is already provided in a siqklng fund funds accumulated expressly for retiring such sinking fund bonds.

The rest of the current highway bond debt amounts to $85,-300.000 incurred in secondAcy road bond Issues the^Scott road bond issue of 1949 and 1951. These bonds bear Interest

rates of 1.52 to 1.58 per cent for the $62,300,000 Issued in 1949 and 1.94 per cent for the $23,000,000 issued in 1951,

The Scott bonds are not included in the net bond debt statement because of a one cent per gallon gasoline tax Imposed in 1949 and earmarked exclusively to pay both principal and interest on these bonds.

In addition, slightly more than $20 million in capital improvements bonds issued between 1923 and 1951. carrying MerejSJt rates of from four to 4^. per cent, also are of the sinking fund variety and are not included in the net debt.

PURPOSE A breakdown of the total bonded debt figure shows $96.307.000 outstanding for capital improvements. The net capital improvements is some $75 million, incurred in bond issues approved by legislatures in 1953, 1955, 1959, and 1961. To this, the 1963 General Assembly is expected to add the $22 million in statutory bonds recommended by Govemor Sanford and the Advisory Budget Commission,

The 1950 port bond issue still has an outstanding balance of $2,620,000 bearing an interest rate of 1.41 per cent.

School construction bonds outstanding from issues floated in 1950. 1953, 1954, 1957, and 1958 total $45,990,000. The largest amount outstanding is $13,500,-000 from 1958 bearing 2.76 per cent Interest, and there is $12,-210,000 outstanding from 1953 bearing 2.04 pei cent Interest.

INTEREST State Treasurer Edwin Gill ha.-- estimated that an Interest rate of approximately three per cent, perhaps slightly less, could be obtained on a $200 million Highway bond issue in the current money market. Gills figure is that about $70 million in interest would be involved over a 20 year period.

The Sties School Construction bonds all bear less than three per cent Interest, as do all of the outstanding highway bonds except the 1921 Sinking Fund debt. The 1959 capital improvements bonds bear a 3.24 to 3.29 per cent. 1960s $19 million bear 2.86 to 3.01 per cent and 1%1s $16.535,000 bear 2.98 per cent.

On the basis of the current bonded Indebtedness. North Carolina will spend $47.023,177 in the next biennium to .service this debt in all categories.

The Daily Reflector

INCORPORATED

Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday Established 1882 DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD, Publisher

Entered at Port Office, Greenville, N C., as second class

mail matter.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Carrier Un Towns) , Week 30c

By Carrier (Motor Routes) Week 35c

BY MAIL, Payable In Advance

Greenville Port Office, Pitt County, Robersonvilla, Vanoeboro, Washington and Chocowlnity

Three Months ............................ $ t.Tft

Six Month* .............................. 7.00

One Year .............................. 11.00

North Carolina iother than listed above)

Three Months .. $ 4.00

Six Months IJBO

One Year ...................... 14.00

e. Plas 2% N. C. Sales Tax'

All Other Outside North Carolina

Three Months ........................... 9 4Ji

Six Months ............................. sao

One Year ........... 18a0

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be made in the federal budget by the administration or "Congress, they will represent significant progress.

The fact that the administration has given attention to means of reducing expenditures rather than increasing them should be most encouraging to every tax payer and every other citizen who is concerned about the well being of the nation and its economy.

Conflicting Proposals As To Utility Laws

The legislature now has before it the conflicting recommendations of the State Utilities Commission and the General Statutes Commission with respeci to North Carolinas law^s for determining a fair return for utility companies.

On the one hand, the General Statutes Commission, after long study, recommended that the state cling to the antiquated fair value system for determining utility rates. Four members of the Utilities Comniission in a letter made public^this week, favor a process known as the end result theory, and the fifth member of the commission earlier asserted the present fair value system should be abandoned by the state.

Members of the Utilities Commission, faced constantly with the matter of determining utility TaTes fair to both the companies and to the public, has the greater weight of merit on the side of its recommendation.s.

North Carolina has clung to the fair value system as a basis for determining utility rates long after most other states have abandoned it in favor of other sy.stems that have proved more equitable. It is high time North Carolina, in the interest of its citizens as well as its utility companies, likewise take similar positive and progressive action.

Members of the "legislature would, in our opinion, be following the wise course in the best interest of its citizens, individuals and corporate, by enacting into law the recommendations of the Utilities Commission rather than those of the General Statutes Commission.

A Fiise

r

11

now ine Fills A Vacuum

By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court is filling a vacuum in American government by protecting people's rights when Congress or state legislatures fail to do so or fail to undo what has become unfair.

It has been criticized for asserting such authority. But in recent years it has not been deterred. The principle is not new. Its now 160 years since the court first claimed such authority.

Three prime examples:

1. In 1954 it outlawed segregation In public schools.

2. One year ago it moved to give city people their fair proportion of representation in state legislatures.

3. Monday, in the logical next step after the 1962 decision, it said each persons vote must count as much as any others in statewide elections.

In 1803 Chief Justice John Marshallby simply saying the Supreme Court had the authority-asserted its right to pass on the constitutionality of acts of Congress and .state legislatures.

Until then such authority of the court was questiMiable. It had never been spelled out. Marshall was criticized but the principle stuck.

Succeeding generations of Supreme Court justices had not always been willing to throw their weight around. Some seemed more influenced by the climate of their time than by strict constitutional considerations.

For example; In 1896 the court gave its famousseparatc but equal iiile. This said it was not unconstitutional for state laws to segregate Negroes In public places provided the treatment they got equalled that given whites.

It became increasingly unequal until Negroes wound up treated as second-class citizens. But Congress, despite growing protests, for more than half a century refused to undo that 1896 ruling by declaring segregation unlawful.

The Supreme Court stepped into this national vacuum in 1954 with the public school decision which in effect said the 1896 decision was wrong. The 1954 decision then had the effect of law.

Once this step was taken, the door was open to other court action against segregation in other areas.

In the last century people living in the country far outnumbered clty-dwellers. . They

therefore justly had more representation in state legislatures. This was based on representation in proportion to numbers.

As the population shifted and more people lived in cities than in the country, state legislature should have changed in complexion wUh city people having the greater number of Tep-resentatives.

The rural representatives, still outnumberiiig those from the cities, balked at a reap-portlonment that would diminish their ranks or influence. When the city peoples appeals for fairness were frustrated, they turned to the Supreme Court.

For years the court refused to intervene. It changed its mind last March. At that time a survey by the National Municipal League showed over-representation of rural areas existed in all but six states.

A year ago the court ruled that if state legislatures didnt reapportion themselves to provide fair representation in accordance with the distribution of population, federal courts could move in to force them to.

This decision started a flood of legal fights. The court has still not laid down any fixed guidelines for reapportioning legislative seats. But some states have already done. the job themselves.

What the court said Monday was one voter, one vote in statewide elections for U. S. senator, govemor. lieutenant governor, and judges with statewide responsibilities.

The case involved Georgia but doubtless will apply to Maryland, the only two states with a county-unlt plan.

In Georgia the eight counties with *the most population were given six units. This ranged down to 121 counties with only two units each. A candidate getting the largest number of votes in a county got all Its units.

The state has a total of 410 units. The man getting a majority of them wins the election. Buta man In a statewide election could get a majority of the votes in* the whole state but still lose the election.

For Instance: a man might carry Atlanta with a majority of 100,000 votes but get only six units. These would be nullified if his opponent got a majority in three far less populated counties because he would have six unit$, too.

This put city politicians at a disadvantage from the start.

By HENKV HOWARD

.r.O

BETHEL high schools highflying basketball team takes off for Durham today to heap more laurels and gold cups on an already - impressive pile.

Those who have followed the talented Indians of Jimmy Foraes this season wouldnt be surprised to see Bethel bring back a few strips of State bacons later this week.

Some on-lookers may wonder at the extraordinary basketball prowess developed from a school as small as Bethel High.

But Its no freak; no accident.

Those who have been around for a while can tell you quickly that basketball success in Bethel Is not a new story.

tDaii in

tnei

perience Monday night that ba.s-ketball history in Bethel is still very much aUve.

Greenvilles delegation wore itself to a frazzle: Bethel looked like a 90-minute basketball game was nothing more tran second-nature stuff.

Bethel walked casually off the floor with an 84-59 decision tucked neatly^away. Greenville crawled and dragged itself into the dressing rooms after asking for a rematch. . .later, much later.

house could have possibly raised more money than charley-horses.

Somebody in the Greenville gang observed on the trip home that most of the conversation was little more than lamentations about sore muscles and rlb-cages.

AND Greenvilles Jaycees can tell you from first - hand ex-

THE WHOLE affair was dreamed up primarily as a money - raising scheme by the Bethel Jaycees.

But the Greenville outfit all 15 of them found It hard to believe that even a packed

Other. Editors Saying... Changing Constitution

(Rocky Mount Telegram)

It is well and good that so many people should be concerned about the continuing erosion of state rights by the federal government. If allowed to run its course unhampered, this" process would ultimately lead to one supergovemment located on the Potomac, and the 50 states would be 50 profinces with little or no autonomy.

But the manner in which some groups would reverse this process is not mcch better. For example, the Council of State Governments, disturbed about the encroachment of federal authority, has proposed three ways the U. S. Constitution should be changed, .so as to put clamps on the federal goveniment and protect state rights.

However, this matter of demanding changes in oWnations Constitution everytime something doesnt suit certain groups can be damaging to the foundation of the country. The three proposals would make it easier for states to amend the Constitution, establish a Court of the UnlMi to review Supreme Court decisions involving states right, and eliminate federal court jurisdiction over state apportionments.

In the first place. It should not be easy to change our Constitution. If that were the case, the original, sound document would have long since disappeared from the earth, leaving us in a welter of confusion, argument, possibly rebellion. The fact that our nation has remained stable as long as it has must be attributed in part to our stable Constitution.

The first proposal of the Council of State Governments would modify Arctive V. the constitutional provision for amending the -document itself. It would give states authority to originate constitutional

amendments. Under such an arrangement the U. S. Constitution would be changed as much as the dally TV schedule is changed.

As things now standand we like it that waythe U. S. Constitution provides that a two-thirds vote of Congress Is needed to initiate an amendment. Also, two-thirds of the states can force Congress to call a convention for propasing amendments. But. in either case, three-fourths of the states must approve any proposal which results from the convention to change the Constitution.

As for the Court of the Union, or supercourt idea, this i.s purely and simply another step toward more centralization, rather than the opposite. Another high court would not solve the problem of court rulings in state ^ cases, but would complicate ' matters further, causing litigation. disputes, dlstnist. The trouble with tre rulings of the Supreme Court is not the institution itself, which Is excellent, but rather the composition of its members.

The third proposed amendment would prhlbit the federal government from reapportioning states. Apportionment, long a sore point in rural-dominated state legislatures, can be ordered by federal courts should a state fall to act. This is a wise rule. If It were not in existence, vested groups in states could block reapportionment for generations. throwing their state governments further and further behind the times, unable to meet the stress and need of modem society with its quickly shifting populations.

These three proposed changes are favored by well-meaning people, albeit people who are also misdirecting their energies into channels that could do more harm to our governmental structure than good.

IT TAKES no soothsayer to predict that at least 15 Greenville Jaycees have hobbled through a sore-boned Tuesday and have tried weakly again today.

And most of them have unre-luctantly admitted that President Kennedys 50-mile hike kick has some validity.

It proves this*, they way:

Either work some sort of leg-ular exercise Into the old daily routine; or forget it entirely.

' ONE LAST remark on this subject:

Lest the foregoing be Interpreted to mean that there were no sorebones in Bethel after Greenville.s Monday - night fiasco, theres one last reporting chore.

Luther Long, who double.s as a State Highway Patrolman when he's not playing basketball for the Bethel Jaycees. didnt know it but somebody watched him during his performance In Superior Court Tuesday morning.

He starred for Bethel at center Monday night. He was star witness In a court case Tuesday. And he performed admirably In both roles.

But when he hobbled into the witness stand Tue.'iday morning, he certainly looked more middle-aged than a spry 26.

rorum

TO THE EDITOR:

I am di.sgusted at all the hullabaloo that has been ral.sed over one girls letter. (I refer to the editorial of March 6. Her opinion seems Insignificant, in the fact that she ^ only 1 of 926, From the stir, one would think that this was the view held by the remaining 925 students.

Obviously, the girl lacks the imagination and creativity to find amusement for herself. This is tragic, but it is not indicative of the students at Rose High.

As such a student. I agree emphatically with the solution offered by P. A. Taylor Jr.. In his March 11 reply to the editorial, In my life, there is no problem of nothing to do; Instead, I am plagued by too much to do.

If such persons as this girl would only turn to their imagination or seek amusement at home, the problem would be eliminated.

Evidently, cars arent the only "parked objects; It seems as if a few minds are.

Miss Pat Worsley

To The Future

^ By JOHN XRAMBERLAIN Copyright, 1963. King Features Syndicate._toc.______

The worst thing about the Administratlwia recent misadventures in foreign policy may be certain secondary cffecis that could become apparent a year or two from now.

The denial of the Skybolt missile to England was nothing fatal in itself. But it led to the downgrading of Prime Minister Harold Macmillans popularity with British voters, and this could have far-reaching efiects. Unfortunately, the blow to Macmillans prestige virtually coincided with the death of the e_x-tremely temperate Labour Party Leader. Hugh Gaitskill. who was slated to become Prime Minister in case of a Conservative defeat. The Labour Party, seeking a vital new spokesman, chose Harold Wilsonand if it turns out that U. S. foreign military policy has been the unwitting agent of making Macmillan so unpopular that *ho must yield the control of Britain to Mr. Wilson, it could be bad news Indeed for the entire free world.

Unlike Mr. Gaitskill. who considered that nationalization of the British economy had gone far enough, Mr. Wilson would apparently revive the primitive class war attitudes that were the hallmark of Labours policy In the daj^ of Aneurin Bevan. Mr. Wilson has been something of a soft on Russia man, something of a unilateral ban-the-bomb man. at least to the extent of currying the support 01 the neutralist faction In the Labour Party. But it Is Mr. Wilsons economic philosophy that prwniees to be really harmful to the .cause of a strcmg and productive Western Alliance. He has been quoted, by the influential and customarily accuwite London Economist, as believing in a State-controlled economy that would set up a system of State-guaranteed orders. Taking a leaf out of the disastrous American agricultural support policy, Mr. Wilson would have the British government ensure full employment by bu>ing~lip any and all Important Industrial surpluses that fall to sell. Any superfluous amount of steel, for example, would be taken off the market by the government and put Into a stock pile, to be shipped at dumping rates to underdeveloped countries.

A similar plan was once offered In Washlngtim by the New Deal economist Mordecai Ezekiel, if my memory of the nostrums of the Thirties Is correct. No more certain way of saddling aai economy with a permanent market-destroying glut could be conceived. If this offers a key to the true temper of Harold Wilsons thinking, the defeat of the British Conservative Party in the next election could set the world back some thirty years.

The direct effect of the Ad-mlnl.stratlon8 policies on de Gaulle, who killed British entry into the European Commoii Market because of Macmillan's alleged "subservience to President Kennedy, has provoked sufficient cwnment. But a po.s-.sible secondary effect of the impact of our policy on de Gaulle has been largely overlooked." It so happens that one of the best friends of a universalized western free market system la the West German Minister of Economics, Ludwig Erhard. Though he lacks the support of der alte Adenauer, who is fast approaching the end of his illu.s-trlous career as head of the West German government. Erhard has a chance of becoming the next German Chancellor. However, If the expansion of the Common Market, to which Erhard has committed his prestige and his fortunes, has indeed been killed by de Gaulles reaction to British "subservience to Washington, then Erhards future career is in doubt. The West German alternative to Erhard may be someone who would be entirely cwnplals-ant In accepting a narrowly constituted Gaulllst Europe.

All of this is looking on tha gloomy side of things. Admittedly, the world moves slwftly, and hope Just as swiftly revives. Macmillan may recover his popularity in Britain in time to fend off the Labour bid for power In the next election. Moreover, no less a friend of western freedom than Clarence Streit, the spokesman for a con-stltuti(Hial federation of all the free states abutting on the Atlantic Ocean, thinks that de Gaulle, in blocking the Admin-Continued on page 5)

Feaislation On Tradina Stamos

Strength For Today

By EARL L. DOUGLASS .SOLEMNBLT NOT FRIGHTFLT.

The Day of Reckoning!

It comes eventually. We wi.sh It did not come. Every month as we father the bills about us from grocery stores, department stores, filling stations and what we arc conscious of the day of reckoning. Pay or be put on a black list with merchants.

There la a day of reckoning for all of us physically. Eventually We must face the fact that life Is coming to a close and that what has boon ha.s been.

U'lilly there .Is, of course, a day of reckoning. In fact, there are days and da.vs and day.s of reckoning. But many people either do not realize or do not want to face the fact that at the cud ol life, after we have

left this existence, there will also be a day of reckoning.

Do you fear this? You should not. Perhaps your marks will be higher than you think. Where you think you have failed you may have succeeded nobly. Where you think you have been strong, the future may indicate that you were not so strong as you thought.

It should be .said to every believing Christian and cherished in his heart that this day of reckoning is In the hands of a God of love. The only peple who need to fear this day of reckoning are the people who scoff at it. who are wilfully evil, who call good evil and evil good. We are all .sinners. We have all made our mistakes.

The day of reckoning is solemn, but it should not be frightful.

By ELMER ROESSNER

With 47 of the 50 states legislatures meeting this year, trading stamp legislation is again an issue.

Bills for tighter controls of trading stamp companies have been introduced in Arkansas, California, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma and Oregon. Wisconsin has given preliminary approval of a bill to peTmit redemption of stamps in merchandise; cash redemption only Is now permitted. New Jerseystudying the stamp question and the Montana Spome Court has found antistamp laws unconstitutional.

All this ruckus could be solved by a simple remedy;

Make It compulsory to give trading stamps. ,

It is as simple as that: Pass state lawS, or a federal law, requiring every .seller to give trading .stamps with every cash purchase.

Issuance of trading stamps

f

could be extended by law to cover purchases of autos, furniture, houses, funerals, alimony payments, beveragesIn fact, everything a family might spend money for.

WOULD BOOST RETAIL ' SALES

Since merchants must add about 2 per cent to their prices to meet the cost of trading stamps, sales totals would swell by that amount.

In January, total sales were $18,069' billion. If every merchant had been required to give trading stamps, and if everyone had boosted prices to cover the costs, sales would have been close to $18,430 billion.

But thats not all. Housewives get wbout 1 per cent of their .spending back in premiums, or about $180 million in January, rills would require extra production, hence extra employment, to produce that amount of toasters, barbecue sets and whatever else shoppers get for their books o Uradlug stamps.

If conpulsory stamps would not get the country on the highway to prosperity again, then it might become necessary to pass new laws, such as (Hie requiring double stamps on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Or triple stamps on Thursday.

And along about this time of year, the Treasury might offer stamps for prompt payment of income taxes.

All of the foregoing is presented with lollipop in cheek.

ANTKSTAMP LEGISLATOR UNPOPULAR WITH WIVES Murray Abramson of Baltimore, delegate to the Maryland legislature, has introduced a bill restricting the use of trading .stamp.s nndmaklng companies account for stamps not redeemed. He aid that somebody must pay for the etaznpa but. "Everywhere I go housa-wivcs want to know wliy I have done such a dreadlul thing, be aid.

SHORT Sc SIGNIFICANT BITS OF BUSINESS NEWS New construction Is cstimat cd to rise from $6.3 billion thi.s year to $107 billion by $975, by the C.I.T. Con>. That will create lota of jobs. . .A Pennsylvania dealer attracted attention, but only a moderate amount of business, by offering to sell traded-In TV set.s back to the traders-ln for 99 cents each. . .New $79.000 machine will record 30,000 type- ' written lines a minute. . . Chemical Week estimates that every time an eiectroniCdata processing machine Is Installed.

25 ppr.cent of the jobs affected aie ptrmanintly ellmlnate.

. . .Steel production during the first two months of this year was 16.6 million tons, compared With 20.1 million tons in the flr*<t two months of 1962.. .The ^mall Bu4lnt8s Admlnlstimtlon^li trying to find a manufacturer for a disposable ringlet curler ea^ peclaUy tor Joof hair.