Tuesday, April 23, 1963

Local Bills Take Up So Much Time

The Silver Lining

A look at the number of local bills presented so far during the current legislative session raises a serious question about the degree of home rule'* there is for local governments in North Carolina. The situation likewise raises these questions:

?oint System Misunderstooc.

By WILLIAM A. SHIRES

POINTS State oflidaJs believe that most complaints about the point system affecting North Carolina motorists undoubtedly arise from public effusion and misunderstanding.

The answer perhaps may hinge at least partly on a %ord pdnts.

Trouble arises because there are two separate and distinct point systems which ought not to be confused, but which often are.

Both are designed for a specific, well meaning purpose one to curb habitual traffic violators and one which seeks to make available lower, Incentive Insurance rates for safe, careful drivers.

Officials believe that both point systems have been effective and are needed, although one has been subject to scandalous abuses and both have been targets of violent criticism and complaint.

SYSTEMS One of the point systems is that which affects driver's licenses, administered by the Department of Motor Vehicles and its Driver License division.

Under this system if a motorist is assigned a cumulative total of 12 points during a three year period, his drivers license may be suspended by the DMV . This first suspension is for a period up to 60 days.

These DMV points are removed when they become three years old, but a habitual offender often accumulates additional points. Eight more results in drivers license suspension for six months.

For the third accumulation of as many as eight points, the driver s license may be suspended for one year.

This system i.s a hiphway safety measure under the law. seeking to control drivers by license revocation, or threat of revocation.

This DMV point system is that wduch Gov. Teny Sanford has suggested might be a yard-stick on which to base the beginning of a brand new approach to punishment of traffic offenders, the removing of traffic offenses from courts.

INSURANCE - The second point system is the automobile liability point system which has notliing to do with driver licen.s-Ing, nor suspension of a driver's license.

Its effect Is on the pocket-book the cast of a motorists auto liability insurance and Is called the Safe Driver Reward Plan.

This is a point sy.stem administered by the insurance companies themselves under policies, regulation and a point assignment table written by the Department of Insurance. The present insurance point system was promulgated and put into effect under statutory authority by the late Charles P. Gold when Gold was State Insurance commissioner.

It is the plan which present Insurance Commissioner Edwin S. Lanier believes, in the light of abuses, criticism and complaints, may need revision and tightening. A public hearing has been scheduled April 29 to air the various views and complaints about the present system. and Lanier has the authority under the law to make changes.

He has said, however, he feels that a Safe Driver Reward plan is an essential companion for the states compulsory auto liability insurance law and that one is unsatisfactory without the other.

CONFUSION Confusion arises because the point systems are scaled and administered differently.

The DMV point system, for example, assigns points only on convictions for traffic violati(xis. But under the insurance system points may be assigned ( the basis of accident reports, or upon payment of claims for accidents in which no violation occurred nor charges filed.

DMV officials report dozens (rf complaints daily from motorists who confuse points assigned by insurance companies with points on their driving records.

One way to reduce the amount of confusion, suggested by some officials, might be a change in terminology to call one of the systems marks or demerits rather than points.

DMV DMV officials and key legislators agree that the present DMV point system is workable and has few loopholes. One of the few suggestions offered Is that the system might be extended to cover out-of-state traffic violations. Officials feel this would increase the number of license revocations and furnish a more accurate record of driving habits.

The purpose of the DMV point system is to Identify and control drivers with poor driv-ing records. That it is workable is illustrated by a recent report on more than 100 drivers whose licenses were restored on probation in March, 1962. Facing longer periods of suspension for further violations, only two of the more than 100 in the group became repeaters.

But the annual report of the DMVs Driver License division also illustrates this and the magnitude of the problem. There were court reports on 310.061 traffic violations in . the state during 1962.

The licensing point system is based on evidence that a relatively small percentage of drivers are responsible for a large percentage of traffic violations and accidents that the point system seeks out and Identifies, then serves to curb and restrict these problem drivers.

The 1962 annual report, reflecting this point system check since the law became effective in June. 1959, shows that during the year there were 1,520 drivers licenses suspended on the 12 point, first suspension count. There vrere 341 suspended for longer periods under the eightrPoint repeated offense cafc-egory.

WORKS The DMV point system works this way. Points are assigned for 20 tjTes of traffic violations, a sampling of w'hich includes:

Passing stopped school bus 5 points: Follow'ing too close 4; Reckless driving 4; Hit and Run-Property Damage only 4; Illegal passing 4; speeding in excess of 55 miles per hour 3; running through stop sign 3; No operators license 3; failure to stop for siren 3; driving through safety zone 3; no liability insurance 3; speeding In city limits* 2; improper turn 2,

When a driver has accumulated four points he is sent a warning letter by DMV If the record reaches seven points he Is sent a letter inviting him to a conference with a DMV safety official in his county. Three points may be removed by attending a driver improvement clinic.

Officials report nearly 90 per cent response to the invitations to conference last year, in contrast to almost complete ignoring of such letters during the first year of the DMV point system.

Is the legislature spending too much time on local bills that distract it from more important state-wide legislation?

Is anything really constructive accomplished by so-called legislative consideration of local bills that are dropped into the hoppers in Raleigh?

Can local governing boards really do an efficient job at their assigned task when they are required to waitsometimes for almost two years for legislative approval of matters over whih they should have jurisdiction?

We would answer the first question Yes.

The next two questions we would answer No.

So far this session more than 38 per cent of the 832 bills offered in the legislature deal with local matters of individual municipalities or counties. Few of the matters are of such importance that they could not be more adequately handled by the elected local governing boards than by the legislature.

The term legislative consideration as applied to local bills is a great misnomer. Through what is called legislative courtesy, legislators from the particular county from which the local bill com^,^ usually have the final say as to whether the bill passes or is defeated. It is seldom indeed that a member gi"ves any consideration to local bills other than those he introduces himself. Yet it takes time of all legislators to run the local bills through proper channelseven though it is a formality to have them written into law.

The end result is that the local bill tradition takes up considerable time in the legislature and it serves as a great obstacle to efficient and effective operation by local boards in many instances.

It would be a boon to local governments throughout the state and to the General Assembly to do away with the hundreds of local bills that are now sent to Raleigh every two years. Within tho framework of the general statutes of the state, local governing boards should be authorized to handle their local affairs without looking to the legislature.

!VIyths

Slow

Nau^t SyiKlkt,

By ALVIN TAYLOR

ust As Vague Touching All The Boses As Mr. Kennedy

The Daily Reflector

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By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON (AP) Richard M. Nixon is now Just sus vague as President Kennedy on how to get communism out of Cuba. The history of these two men on this subject is a history of unhappy contradictions.

The former vice president in the 1960 campaign publicly opposed intervention in Cuba, But later he said he had been for it all the time and siid he opposed it only to cover up preparations then going on for an invasion.

And even while he was secretly backing the invasion he said publicly if such a thing happened it would give Premier Khrushchev an excuse for moving Into Cuba and thus put the United States in an awkward position.

He was a good prophet. There was a U. S. - backed invasion. Khrushchev subsequently moved in. His troops there have put the United States in an awkward position. Thats why, apparently, Kennedy and Nix(Hi are vague on what to do next.

Nixon also said during the campaign, while he wanted to intervene but was sasdng the opposite, that it was Kennedy who wanted to intervene. Kennedy denied he had any such thought although he talked of assisting the rebels.

Yet, it was Kennedy who later, as president, backed the invasion which failed. And it was Nixon who supported him in this disaster.

Kennedy, during the campaign, insisted this government should not handicap anti-Castro rebels in this country. But as president he now bars them from using American soil for hit-and-run raids on Cuba.

Both Nixon and Kennedy in the campaign Insisted this country should not intervene against Fidel Castro in Cuba in violation of the U. N. charter and Inter-American treaties which prohibit intervention.

Marlow cont

But Kennedy said later the doctrine of non - interference couldnt stand in the way of the United States in protecting its own security. Now Nixon, not mentioning treaties, calls for action without saying how or what kind.

Nixon told the American Society of New'spaper Editors Saturday.

We must no longer postpone making a command decision to do whatever is necessary. The administration claims there are risks. I am convinced that the risks of inaction are far greater than the risks of action.

Heres the record:

On Oct. 22, 1960, Nixon, charging Kennedy had called for an American - backed anti - Castro revolution, called this shockingly reckless because it would mean intervening in another countrys internal affairs.

NLxon said: Do you know what this would mean? We would violate right off the bat five treaties with American states and the U. N. charter. This country, N1x(hi said, must keep Its treaties and act legally.

Then he added this: Intervention would be a direct invitation to the Soviet Union to intervene militarily on the side of Castro. This gives them the excuse they have been waiting for. because now they can say very easily: What is sauce for the goose Is sauce for the gander. We cant play it both ways.

They could say we cant object to the Soviet Union moving Into Cuba under the Monroe Doctrine we could at the present time 1960 - if the United States is attempting to intervene and move into the internal affairs of Cuba.

Kennedy denied this the next day. He said: I have never advocated and I do not now advocate Intervention in Cuba In violation of our treaty obligations.

But he had suggested this country assist the rebels and that they should not be constantly handicapped by American government authorities.

Nevertheless, the invasion occurred in April 1961, and Kennedy took full responsibility for it. As it was collapsing he told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that year on April 20:

This country would not hesitate to meet its -primary obligations. which are the security of our nation if it should ever appear that the inter-American doctrine of non - interference merely conceals or ex cuses a policy of nonaction.

The next day, Nixon publicly backed Kennedy for supporting the Invasion which flopped. But It wasnt until he wrote his book. Six Crises. published In March 1962, that Nixon undertook to say how he secretly felt in the campaign of 1961 when he was opposing intervention.

He said he was for an invasion all the time but said the oppasite only to concea the fact that Eisenhower administration was then training Cuban rebels for an invasion of their homeland.

And. Nixon said in his book, (Continued on page 5)

Yes. yes. Ive noticed th humps, too.

A girl-watching friend maintains theyre an asset.

Seems it gives him a legitimate excuse to slow dow-n on the drives as the girls trip by.

He had one complaint, however. Theres not a single hump on the long drive behind the girls dorms.

My friend asked me t point

out this deficiency. It is done.

Then there was the girl who entered a drug store one evening last week and asked for a whistle.

The clerk said he didnt have one.

Further conversation revealed that she was a first grade student teacher.

Tired of shouting her lungs out at recess, she decided on

a whistle with the critic teachers approval.

VVell, I dont know about a whistle for retrieving first graders at recess. Personally I would tie strings to them individually.

Other Editors Saying.. Laos--A Warning

(Christian Scieace Monitor)

The situation in Laos is fast getting out of hand and the time Is clearly overdue for big-power intervention.

The Russians and the Communist Chinese, both, ought to recognize that the United States has shown an extraordinary restraint in recent weeks. This cannot go on if the Pathet Lao continue to abuse their positicHi.

What Is that abuse?

The Pathet Lao have been pushing the neutralist forces steadily back, by military action, while the counterpart force on the Western sidethe armies of General Phoumi Nosa-vanhave been held in check by the United States.

The issue here is very large Indeed.

For years the Russian and the Chinese Conununists have accused the United States of backing ultra-conservative forces in Asia and using these against the people, and of failing to support popular governments. Often the charge has been accurate in the period of post-war emergency when the dykes of the East-West line were being hastily thrown Up,

But those days are gone and that policy has been and is being progressively changed. The United States is switching away from narrow, self-serving, authoritarian regimes and toward Independent, broadly popular governments. The switch has been particularly dramatic in Laos itself where the United States joined with the Soviet Union and Communist CWna in establishing the neutralist government of Prince Souvanna Phouma.

Now the local Communist forces the Pathet Lao braced with Vietmhih forces fr(Hn north Vietnamare using mora violence against the moderate-sized neutralist forces. If this c(m-tinues the neutralist position which the Communist big powers agreed to support 'will be destroyed.

Yet up to now the United States has refrained from making a military move, either with the local forces friendly to it. or with its own forces.

The issue, then, is starkly clear.

Once the United States pulls back as the Ccnnmunists have asked it to do, once it agrees to let a popular, middle-ground government stand on its own, the Communists move in to destroy it.

Is that what the men of Moscow and Peking want? Is this the probing they wish the world to understand and prepare for?

If so. the Marines will have to go back to the Lao border at (Hice and stand ready. Because what happens in Laos will be repreated elsewhere if piecemeal aggression is the Communists genuine intention. To paraphrase the leader of the Minutemen at Lexington Green, if they mean to have a showdown let it begin here.

But do they want a major showdown? We seriously doubt it. Much more likely this is part of the Communist plan of pushing as far forward as they can without provc^cing large-scale resistance.

It would be a pity to have the armies of General Phoumi brought in again. This would be a big political victory for the Pathet Lao who are primarily trying to put the United States in the wrong. They know the effect throughout Asia of the stand the United States took for popular government in Laos and they are plainly trying to force Washingt(Mi to reverse it. Thus they show their own colors as the enemies of popular government.

This is a moment for the most sober reflection on all sides. Either Moscow and Peking honor their pledge and require compliance from their forces InsWe Laos .or another big East West confrontation will surely come.

James s. Picklen Memorial Stadium has been enclosed with Industrial fence, topped by three strands of barbed wire. The various gates have been chained and locked.

So now no one should be able to enter the stadium while workmen put on the finishing touches and the grassed field is carefully tended.

Did I say no one? Never underestimate little boys.

More than <^nce since the fence was completed and gates lock, the youngsters have been seen within the confines. They slide under oiNiver the fence, or snake between or over the gates to have the place all to themselves.

Of course, adults could do It too, but what w'ould people think of an adult crawling over a fence?

W. W. Stieight, in intrcxiuc-ing the governor last night, told of running into Roy 'Wilder of the Department of Conservation and Development In London when both were there during World War II.

Speight described Wilder as a true conservationist.

He had a bottle of chit-'lins, the attorney recalled.

The two joined a United Press reporter in his quarters and prepared the chiilins in true North Carolina style with all that connotes.

A.s the aroma wafted dowm on the unsuspecting populous of London it is said someone remarked, "My God. Hitler has sprung his secret weapon!

Thats the way Speight told it. Wilder had no comment.

Quote

When State.*! big stadium is completed North Carolina will have three such shrines to football within a few miles of each other, Carolina and privately supported Duke have long had stadia. For a state which ranks 42d among the 50 states in per capital income, these stadia represent a lot of money. But anyway, we can go to a football game and forget how poor we are.Goldsboro News-Argus.

l o JJie

By JOHN CHAMBERLAIN

Copyright, 1963, King Features Syndicate, Inc.

The Left Wing extremists may lose battles, but they never give up their hold on erroneous Ideas.

Thus, when the steel companies were selectively raising prices last week (m flat-rolled products that are in high demand, the Kennedy - doesnt-fight hard - enough wing (rf the Left Wing cOTiplalned that the Department of Justice should have carried through (xi its tacit 1962 threat to go after the steel monopoly. This, said the *Kennedy-doesnt-flght - hard -enough clique, would have resulted In a salutary exposure that would have laid the ground-w'ork for public control of steel prices.

Well, the charge that steel w a mcMiopoly that must always follow the lead of the United Staces Steel Corporation Is always good for a few shivers. Nevertheless, it flies in the face of some 50 years of Industrie history, raticmally considered. The truth is that the United States Steel Corporation can establish no effective price umbrella save in periods of intense demand for steel pro-ductsand in such periods any company which would refuse to ^ follow Big Steel in taking aU it can get for its wares would mark Itself off as either a stupid competitor or a downright traitor to its stockholders* interests.

The truly intere.sting thing about the running story of the recent steel raLses was a casual mentl(Mi j>f a single statistic covering United States Steels share of the total market. The figure was 26 per cent. The great monopolist then, pets only about a quarter of the bu.'dness in 1963. which is a horrendous drop from It.s market share back In 1903 and 1904, when It had 66 percent of tile total.

To put this drcHP In proper perspective. Just think of what would happen to the Image of the automobile business ii General Motors were to slide from a 56 per cent penetration of the car market to a mere 25 per cent. Would the Left Wing be talking about an automobile monopoly in such a hvTothetlcal case? Sice It Is apparently Incurable In Its addiction to fantasy, It probably Would. But the talk would make no

What the Left Wing refuses to recognize is that the steel business deals in almost as great a variety of products in the wholesale business as Wool-worth's does In retail, which means that if a company cant make a success in one market It has only to concentrate on another. The possibilities of variety in a single company's product mix are a,s wide as ingenuity and an ability to raise capital can make them. The question of monopoly can hardly arise in any significant sense becau.se steel products break down into a hiuidred little packages, all of which are subject to imitation and competition if the game seems to be worth the candle.

One company w'ill focus on extra heavy armor plate, for example. Another will go in for high-grade electric or silicon steel. Another will concentrate on the cheaper electric steels. Still another company will make its reputation as a supplier of extra tough metal for machine tool manufacturers. Other companies will set up mills close to the automobile factories of Michigan. An Ea.st Coast company will cater to ship building companies.

There is, of course, a certain basic uniformity to carbon steel no matter who makes it. But the point is that little companies can begin with specialty steels or special carbon steel shapes and sizes of one sort or another, and expand fnxn that basis as profits provide new Investment capital.

The proliferation of the steel business began very shortly after J.P. Morgan thought he had created an all-powerful steel trust at the tuni of the Twentieth Century. He had merged the Carnegie properties with his own Illinois steel interests, and had bought the Me-sabi iron ore range from John D. Rockefeller. This combination gave United States Steel two-thirds of the steel market.

(Continued on page 6)

?ublic Forum

Seek Home Mortgage Guarantee

TO THE EDITOR

Election time in our city is approaching and with it comes the customary promises of the aspimits to office. This of course is as it should be in that the candidates are not always known personally to so many of the voters.

For the past two years all of us have acquired at least a small amount of knowledge pertaining to the proposed Redevelopment Program, the Post Office Struggle, our new Sewage Disposal Plant, and various improvements already made and to be made in new developments, streets, etc. Possibly r have missed some vital issue in The Daily Reflector, however, I cannot remember reading (rf any vast improvements anticipated in the construction. remodeling, (w enlargement of any ot the city schools. Does anyone have a firm and determined stand In regard to this vital Issue? Our new Junius H. Rose High School Is already bursting at the seams and likewise the recent

ly enlarged EUmhurst ^flemen-tary School.

I feel sure all of us must have heard a few rumors of the old High School building now being used as a Junior High School, along with its crowded c(ditions. Im sure the boiler room classes are deserving of a little better place to learn and the falling ceiling episode in the gymnasium could very easily have been one of great disaster. I feel sure that ccmditlons at most of the remaining city schools would justify a close scrutiny as to adequate classrooms and overcrowding. Surely, if a comprehensive study of the needs were made and the matter properly presented to the voters, they would vote a bond issue, raise taxes, or do whatever is neces-saJT for our city schools to maintain In the future, the high standards of the past.

So please, some of you politicians that wish to be elected, lets hear what you plan to do in regard to the educational facilities of our children.

Troy B. Dodson

By ELMER ROESSNER Banks and savings and loan assoeiatims are urging C<m-gress to guarantee home mortgages. The lenders urge this as a way to provide more housing for those war babies that are now wiproaching the marriage age. But it Is also true that the number of foreclosures are rising. Government fuarantees would tend t otrans-fer losses on defaulted mortgages from lenders to the government.

The American Bankers Asso-ciati(Ni is supporting a bill that would set up a private cor-poratl(xi to guarantee home mortgages. It would also provide for buying mortgages that lenders did not want to carry.

A group of savings and loan associations are urging a bill that would require the Federal Home Loto Bank Board guarantee home mortgages.

A mortgage that is guaranteed by the Federal government. or which can be sold readily, is as good as cash. QnCK PROFITS Many m<Htgages granted today carry overcharges. The lender may take a mortgage

that calls for 7 or 8 per cent but he may also ask for various fees that bring the cost up to 9 or 10 per cent. If he has a place to sell it, he may make a quick profit.

The Federal National MorU gage Association, called Fanny Mae, already provides a pailc-ing place for mortgages if they au'e guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration or the Veterans Administration.

The quality of new mortgages. despite what banks and savings and loan associations say, Is not as solid as they have been. One reascMi is terms are getting longer. A 20-year mortgage was l(Mig term not many years ago; today mortgages for. 30 and 35 years are not uncommon. While these longer terms reduce the monthly payments, they Increase the total cost. A 20-year mortgage may double the total cost; a 35-year mortgage might triple it. FORECLOSURES INCREASE Defaults and foreclosures started rising sharply In 1900. Nearly all foreclosures since, 1958 are i properties built and financed since the Housing Act of im

Robert O. Harvey, professor of finance at the University of Illinois, pointed out in the Illinois Business Review that the act made $1 billion available for little or no down payment loans available to buyers of newly c(xistructed houses,

Easy terms and possibly reduced FHA and VA standards attracted many marginal borrowers and did stimulate the production of bousing, particularly in 1959 and 1960 when stimulation was not necessary, he wrote.

The implication Is that the last massive attempt to stimulate housing by extreme liberalization of mortgage terms attracted buj^rs who have been able to prove quickly and convincingly that they entered the housing market prematurely and Ul-advisedly.

The Implications are clear: If Congress makes mortgages easier to get by providing a dumping ground for the grant-ers, more famillee who cannot keep up the payments will be invited into the market.

The number of foreclosures in mid-1956 were at an annual rate of a little more than 8.-

(XX). They started to climb la 1960 and by the end of the last fiscal year were at a rate of 22,000.

Each one of those foreclosures are climaxes to tragedy; they are gravestones on the dead dreams of having a little home of our own.

HOUSING PROBLEM SOLVED FOR THE BLUEBIRDS Humble 0 is distributing 1,250,000 bluebird houses though dealers. Bluebirds usually nest in hollow trees, fence posts and old woodpecker holes, but the population rush to the suburbs is eliminating these nesting spots. Humble thinks its free housing will save the bluebird from extinction.

NEW GUIDE LISTS FARMS I ACCOMMODATING VACATIONERS A 1963 edition of the Farm Vacatiwi Directory has been published by Farm Vacations. 36 E. 57th St., New York 22. at 65 cents including postage. It lists 200 farms whose owners take In paying guests, along with faclUtiea and other perU^ nent information.