,Wednesday, May 29, 1963 ' cr

Everybody Else Left In The Dark

For ten weeks the Joint Appropriations Com- carefully study, understand and finalize the states xnittee met in executive session to thrash out its budget for the next two years in a few days or a recommendations on state spending for the next wo couple of weeks. It spent two and one-half months years. on the problem. How does the committee expect

During those ten weeks the citizens of the state other legislators to digest its recommendations in ' were left in the dark about what the committee was few'days or a week? Does it expect the rest of the doing to the budget recommendations and why. It legislature to give rubber-stamp approval to the is evident now that many members of the legislature recommendations it has made ? Does it expect the were also left in the dark concerning budget mattes people of the state to sit back with the attitude that because of the executive sessions of the Joint whatever the Joint Appropriations Committee has Appropriations Committee. recommended is perfectly all right with us?

It can be safely said that the legislators as a It is important, we think, that the people of whole know less about the budget proposals they will North Carolina know how and why their tax funds be required to vote on within the next couple of are being spent. It is not tenougrh for th Joint weeks than has been the case in any legislative Appropriations Committee just to make a recom-session in recent years. Heretofore, even with mendation of a final figure without the citizens direct quotes from the Appropriations Committee being given the reasons why certain items were sessions prohibited, other legislators and rank and deleted from the budget and others increased, file citizens have been able to follow closely budget Certainly it is important that all members of developments through news reports. This year, with the legislature who will have to vote on the budget the committee meeting behind closed doors, other know as much as possible about the individual items legislators and citizens could only guess what was which make up the budget.

going on in the Joint Appropriations Committee. The executive sessions of the Joint Appropria-

They have not had the benefit of committee tions Committee in this legislative session have not members* reasoning for changes made in the original served the best interest of the state, its people, or budget recommendations. They have not been able the legislature. ,

to follow step-by-step the changes the committee ' made as it hammered out its own recommendations.

Thb Joint Appropriations Committee did not

Mans Height And Depth

Dedication Has Been Deferrec.

By WILLIAM A. SfflRES

RALEIGH Circling the square;

One of the mysteries of the fast-fading 1963 session of the General Assembly is what happened to elaborate plans for formal dedication of the new $6.2 million legislative building.

The supposedly inside story is that the plans bogged down and became sidetracked in disagreement over how the affair should be staged.

It had been hoped that the dedication would be a glittering occasion, a highlight of the session. and that it would focus public attention on the legislative branch of the system of democratic state government. Sen, Thomas J. White Jr., of Lenoir, chairman of the Legislative Building Commission, felt strongly that the dedication should be held while the General Assembly was in session. White wanted it to be an alllegislative affair.

OCCASION There were others who wanted to invite President Kennedy to be principal speaker at the dedication on or about the date that the president made his trip to Nashville, Tenn., and Muscle Shoals, Ala., in mid-May.

There was difficulty also in setting a suitable date. There were various conflicts. Further, key legislators became tied up in pressing legislative matters. White, for example, was involved for weeks in almost daily sessions of the joint Appropriations subcommittee and is now engaged in guiding the record spending bills through the Senate.

The dedication may still be arranged and held prior to adjournment of the General Assembly but If so it win be on short notice, a brief, simple and unpretentious affair.

Purpose of the dedication will be for the building commission to turn the new State House over to the state of North Carolina for use of the legislative branch. The General Assembly early in the session set up its rule-making body, the Legislative Building governing commission, to oversee the building, allocate space and set policy its use.

QUESTION Because of its unique purpose, exclusively for the legislative functicm, the new State House is a buflding apart in the complex of state buildings in Raleigh.

Other buildings are under jurisdiction of the executive branch even the Justice Building which houses the State Supreme Court. These buildings are ad

ministered by the department of administration through its division of buildings and grounds.

Questions have come up as to use of the Legislative Building during the months ahead when the General Assembly is not in session, and these questions will be answered by the legislative building governing commission.

One contemplated use of the building on a year - around schedule is for housing of the. proposed legislative council, a research branch of the General Assembly. There is concern on the part of some officials and legislators, by the way, that this council may overlap functions of the Institute of Government and the Attorney Generals office.

ITEMS Governors of North Carolina and their families receive a multitude of gifts, most of them of a personal nature items ranging from autographed electric blankets to a pet monkey.

By cwitrast, there are relatively few household gifts which might be ccmstrued as gifts to the Executive Mansion for use of succeeding governors.

Thus, according to officials in the division of Property Control and spokesmen for the executive staff, there is little chance of c(mfusion about who owns what when a North Carolina governor leaves office. Mansion items cover a wide range of household furnishings, pictures, portraits, draperies, linens, sil-vefware, china, appliances and furniture. Many of these were gifts, made in the past specifically for mansion use. All other mansion items were state purchased, and apparently there has never been a questiwi when a governor leaves office because of the policy that it is clearly stated which items are for mansion use.

FIRST Perhaps the first example of a woman being hired for a state position under the new non-discriminatory policy for women occurred in Commissioner Ed Scheidts department of Motor Vehicles.

Mrs. Esther Nelson Mintem, formerly office manager for the N. C. Association of County Commlssicmers, has been hired in the drivers licensing division as an evaluator of accident reports. No woman had held the post previously.

Mrs. Mintem was described by superiors in the department as exceptiwially well qualified. She worked for three years with the Institute of Government before going with the County Commissioners Association some three and a half years ago.

The Dsoly Reflector

INCORPORATED

PubUflhed Every Afternoon Except Sundmy EeUblished 1882 DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD, PubUsher

Entered at Foal omoe, OreenvlUa, M. 0. as second dass mall matter.

^SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Cerrier (In Towns) Week 80c

By Carrier (Motor Routes) Week 35c

BY MAIL, Payable In Advance

Greenville Poet Office, Pitt County, RobersonvUle, Vanceboro, Washington and Ohocowlnlty. ,

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North Carolina (other than listed above)

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' Six Months .............................. TJO

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Plus 8% N. C. Sales Tax AU Othef Outside North Carolina

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BfBMBEB ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to use tor puUl-cat^ all news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited to this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches here* are also reserved.

by ULNKY HOWARD

Did It All Star

Safety Progress Has Not Met Expectation

Sen. Lunsford Crew of Halifax expressed the sentiment of a good many Tar Heels this week when he asserted the legislature has been talking about highway safety and voting against it.**

There has been some progress toward meaningful legislation for better highway safety during the current legislative session. The progress, however, has fallen far short of what was expected of the legislature. Still to be acted upon is the mtter of chemical tests for persons charged with drunken driving. Still unresolved is the question of whether the Highway Patrol will be allowed to continue using planes in its law enforcement work. The mechanical inspection proposal remains in a doubtful state so far as legislative action is concerned.

North Carolina needs the passage of these measure^ by the legislature in order to strengthen the highway safety program of the state. Without them, the legislative record on highway safety will be one of only token effort. The improvement in highway safety in the state in the next two years so far as legislative action is concernedwill amount to very little.

Tar Heel citizens look to the Highway Patrol _____ _

and the Department of Motor Vehicles to implement gins' to draw. They 'wonder if programs that will make highways of the state ^ competent art-

safer for motorists. These citizens are fully aware, wonder

however, that these two agencies of the state govern- of couiS it'would be interment can move forward with better safety programs estlng if there were assurances, only if they are given the authority and means by the legislature. As with other state programs, if the

legislature refuses to provide the basic outline, the the'lessws ther^may

agencies cannot be expected to carry out the pro- be heipfuj hints to ease parents grams. anxiety for the youngsters fu-

In the field of highway safety the legislature TonS^the parents of the has fallen far short of the mark so far this session, children called in by the Coun-There is still time for the legislature to enact a meaningful highway safety program before it adjourns. In the best interest of the people of the state, the legislature should enact a strong highway safety program.

Holes

In 1907?

Quite naturally, parents watch with more than casual Interest with activities of their little people.

They see junior begin his Little League career. And they wonder if hell wind up in the Majors.

They watch him when he be-

ty Commissioners to draw names of jurors. They wonder. perhaps, if junior will de-vel(H) into a jurist.

Well, if it happens, theres a precedent.

The Daily Reflector of Monday, Jan. 14. 1907front page-included this report:

Dink James, a little s(xi of Mr. and Mrs. W.B. James was selected to draw from the hat the names of the grand jUTOTS for this term of court.

After the Jury had been selected and sworn Judge (W.J.) Neal (of Laurinburg) turned to cnerk D.C. Moore and said Mr. Clerk, that boy is an officer of the court, and I desire the order entered that you pay him $1.00 for his services and I will have the county reimburse you for it.

Other Editors Saying... Sackward Progress

Triple Squeeze On Segregation

Member Audit Bureau of Circulatten.

All advertising copy must be received at least <me day before tiOD date.

By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON AP) Racial segregation in the South is being smashed in a triple squeeze by the Supreme Court, the Kennedy administration and Negroes themselves demonstrating against discrimination.

The court Monday dealt a deadly blow to exclusion of Negroes from parks, playgrounds or other public facilities. And It clearly showed it is getting tougher about delays in desegregating public schools.

Only a week ago the court banned any attempt to exclude Negroes from places catering to the public - like restaurants or department stores when the exclusion is imposed by state or city law or official orders.

The court has not yet ruled on whether proprietors of places catering to the public can on their own and without compulsion from laws or officials keep Negroes out.

More and more this year Negro demonstrations are persuading white segregationists in the South to remove their racial bars.

The Kennedy administration has been pushing harder. For example: sending troops into Alabama to be used, if necessary, to prevent riots in Birmingham.

The same troops can be used next month to enforce a court order that two Negroes be admitted to the University of Alabama if the governor, George C. Wallace, tries to carry out his threat to defy the court.

Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy met with owners of Southern movie theaters Monday to tell them to begin solving their desegregation problems by working on them on a town-by-town basis.

Monday the Supreme Court put the finishing touches on Gov. Wallaces appeal to prevent Kennedy from using troops in Alabama. The court unanimously rejected his request.

The court's ban on segregation in public facilities written by Justice Arthur J. Goldberg was as tough as anything the court has said on the racial issue since it banned public school segregation in 1954.

The case happened to involve Memphis parks and playgrounds and swimming pools. But it applies equally to all cities. Memphis has desegregated only some of its facilities.

It wanted to wait until 1971 to desegregate them all. The court said: Do it now Memphis had argued that desegre

gating all the facilities at once might cause racial strife and riots.

The court said that argument isnt good enough. It said the compelling ansewr to this contention is that c<mstitutional rights may not be denied simply because of hostility to their assertion or exercise.

To put it another way, the court was saying: the fact that white people might resent desegregation isnt enough excuse.

The Supreme Court had previously declared: Law and order are not to be preserved by depriving Negro children of their constitutional rights.

And, the court said in effect, a city cant postpone desegre-gaticm of parks and plswsrounds with the argument that Negroes have enough of these facilities to meet their needs.

It is segregation by race that is unconstituticmal, the court said.

It added this about the Negroes, desegregation efforts in Memphis: The rights here asserted are, like all such rights, present rights; they are not merely hopes for some future enjoyment of some formalistic constltutioaal promise.

The basic guarantees of our Constitution are warrants for the here and now and, unless there is an overwhelmingly compelling reason, they are to be promptly fulfilled.

In this last sentence the court was saying that there may be some situaUixis Involving a citys facilities which were so unusual that the court might permit delay in desegregation --but theyd have to be extraordinary.

While the court banned public school segregati<m In 1954 it left unanswered that year the question: How fast? It gave the answer In 1955: With all deliberate speed.

This, because the problems of public schools are vast and varied, made room for some states and cities and districts to go slower than others. But in Mississippi and Alabama there la still not a single elementary public school desegregated.

Thats pretty slow. That the justices are getting Impatient with the slowness could be real into thetr decisi(m In the Memphis case when they referred to the public scho(d problem.

Goldberg said that policy of all delilterate speed doesnt apply to state colleges or universities clear Warning the ((Continued on Page 5)

(Rocky Mount Telegram)

If M<^r Vehicles Conunis-sioner Ed Scheldt is tempted, on occasion, to resign no one could really blame him. His primary cwicem is improved safety on North Carolinas' highways. He has fought consistently over the years for this goal. But during this session of the General Assembly Scheldt has had a trying time.

The latest brainstorm to come up in the Legislature is an effort to allow restricted driving permits for perswis whose licenses are suspended or revoked. Scheldt is strongly opposed to the bill for obvious reasons. Sen. Fred Mills of Anson who proposed the measure urged approval because we have juries who wMit convict people if they know they will lose their drivers licenses.

But Scheldt points out that the facts are exactly the opposite, in referring to Mills suggestion that juries are reluctant to convict for drunken driving. There is a higher degree of conviction obtained in North Carolina for driving under the Influence than for any other crime. Statistics show the rate of convictions for drunken driving is higher than for any other criminal charge tried in the courts.

Some 67 percent of Tar Heel drivers so charged are later convicted. This compares with conviction rates for other crimes ranging down to only 13 per cent for rape. There is no evi

dence of any bin being offered to assure more convictions for burglary, murder and rape.

Mills said his bill would lea' it up to the Department of Motor Vehicles to give restricted driving permits in hardship cases to people who lose their licenses. This would be just for people who need a drivers license In order to hold a job. He termed It a work release driving permit, the same work release we allow the Prison Department.

But if the bill were enacted into law it would be impossible to administer equitably because hearing officers in the Motor Vehicles Department simply could not Investigate all the hardship claims that would surely crop up. The proposal is a step backward that would create confusiMi and in effect de-stroyithe drivers licensing system.

Scheldt has been the target of criticism during this session of the Legislature. This, plus the backward steps taken in the Assemblys approach to highway safety legislation, led Scheldt to offer his resignation. But there were plenty of defenders in the House. We feel as does Wallace Hyde, a former employe (rf Scheldt and now a member of the board of directors of the North Carolina Traffic Safety League, that it is high time the Legislature gets on with highway safety legislation and cuts out the per-SOTialities.

Then addressing Dink, the judge said: My son, take that dollar home and keep it until next Christmas, and then spend it for whatever your dear little heart may wish. Do not give it to your father, as he might spend It. but carry it to your mother and get her to keep it for you until next Christmas.

Dink was very proud of bia dollar.

Now, 56 years later. Dink James presides at the weekly sessions of Pitt County Recorders Court.

And he has enjoyed a long,

uninterrupted tenure. Judge James was first elected in 1932 and has been wposed in re-election only once during the next 30 years.

All this may be nothing more than a coincidence. In fact, there may be no lesson here.

But the other fact remains; parents do attempt to read the crystal ball while they watch junior at play.

That doesnt mean that what they foresee for the son or daughter will actually develw. Neither docs it mean Uiat whether they forecast accurately is really important.

The main thing, and this is nothing but proper, is that parentswhether they say so or notare as concerned today as ever before for juniors future.

Its a part of the basic formula.

Opinions Brief

Those congressmen who ordinarily squeal loudly about the federal deficit and sumptuous government spending are rather quiet when it comes to money doled out for themselves. Greensboro Daily News.

The General Assembly has made five trips about the state this year, and perhaps thats overdoing it a bit. Still, a proposal to prevent them from going anywhere whUe the Legislature Is In scaslon is questionable.The Charlotte News.

Now that weve gotten Co-oper down safely, it comes as a sort of shock to realize that the same old earth problems are still with us.The Raleigh Times.

in iax System

By JOHN CHAMBERLAIN Copyright, 1963, King Features Syndicate, Inc.

The progressive Inctane tax has become a monstrosity. Because it is tacitly recognized as such, our politicians who are alive to the necessity of keeping our productive system going in spite of the" tax codes punitive rates have had the common sense to riddle it with the socalled loopholes. In fact, the exceptions to the progressive rates have become so voluminous that the International Revenue Code of 1954, alcxig with its amendments, covers some 1,200 pages of text. Even tax lawyers get the blind staggers when they try to read it.

The loopholes are necessary bciuise, as the rates rise brac-ket-by-bracket to lev off half the Income of a man who is now earning a rather poor salary reckoned In 1913, or pre-World War I d(dlars, there would be no Incentive to work more than two-thirds of the year if legal tax avoidance were Impossible. The Idea oi legalized tax avoidance distrubs most peoples sense of equitybut the families In the lowest tax brackets would be the most angry of all if they got no tax avoiding exemptions.

Since it is Impossible, politically, to reform the progresr sive tax system. Chairman WUbur Mills of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee has been casting about for a method of moving toward a flat, or proportional. tax which would treat every mans Incwne dollars more or less alike. Naturally, no politician would dare to advocate a ccxnpletely uniform rate of, say. 20 or 23 percent of every mans income. The reason for this Is that indirect taxation, hidden sales taxes,, Gcclse taxes and so on Is retrogressive In Its effect on the poor, who pay out a higher proportion of their income for indirect levies than the rich. All the same, the politicians seem willing for the first time in a generation to take much erf the progression out of the Income tax once a few basic exemptions have been made for people in the lowest brackets.

With tax philosophy In a state of flux, the Ways and Means Committee Is proving actually hospitable to pe<H;rfe who come to it with Ideas. This is something new. A Yankee friend of mine. Mrs. E. S. Hall, of Farmington, Connecticut, has been trying for years to make himself beard in Congress about his particular tax proposal. He now reports that the committee is at least deferential to him this year, which is something astonishing in his experience.

Mr. Hall believes that a flat, or a prtgwrtional. tax at a rate running to around 30 percent of all inc<Hne would balance the budget even under Cold War circumstances. But he doesn't think that such a tax could be sold to a majority of people as coming under the bead of justice. To make a flat levy on Incomes palatable to the poor as well as to the rich, Mr. Hall would Ink a voluntary profit sharing scheme to any flat tax bill which the Ways and Means Committee might be persuaded to support. Briefly. Mr. Hall would provide a good measure of tax exemption to any corporation which would volunteer to Institute a profit sharing plan for its workers since mo^ corporatiras would stand to save more on the remitted corpOTate profits taxes than they would have to pay out In. ixnfits to workmen. Mr. Hall thinks that voluntary acceptance (rf the scheme could be virtually universalized among businessmen.

To provide a basis for the proper sharing of profits, Mr. Hall would have businesses qualify for corporate tax exemption by agreeing to pay dividends on the money invested in payrolls at the same rate that Uiey are paid on the stock. For c(Nnpanle8 that - retain a good part of their earnings, Mr. Hall would insist that workers be credited with their propor-timal. share In the title to same.

By such voluntary devices Mr. Hall would make a flat income tax popular both with the (Continued on Fags 5) ,

Built-In Inflationary Incentive

By ELMER ROESSNER The union agreed to an Increase of 10 cents an hour, 4 cents this year and 6 cents next year.

*' How often have you read that, or a similar sentence in stories about the end of a strike or the prevention of Mie?

Have you read any news story, or heard any radio or television news program, in which a uni(Hi did not get an increase now and a defil.for an increase next year?

If you have, you were tuned to a way-out station.

TWs sort of deal is riveting inflation into the American economy. If It happened over a single two-year period, it would be dlHerent.

But It has been going ( steadily since shortly after the end of World War H and it means more Inflation.

BUILT-Df INFLATION This sort of labor deal has become almost standard in the last few years. Neither union or management, on the knife's-edge (rf a strike, or bloody well into one, wants to go through the

same mess next year. So an agreement is stiiick on a split wage increase: part this year, part the next.

Both sides are happy. A strike has been averted for two whole years. Management gets a respite on the full Increase. The workers get a bit this year and another bit next year.

And both sides have built in a little mcM'e inflation into the economy. Both sides have chipped away at the value of the dollar.

Labor Is not entirely to blame. The union, as usual, asked for a little more than it expected to get and. through the magic of mediation, it gets it, although in stalments. And union members can charge a little more freely, or take on a few more instalment payments, knowing that the .built-in raise In 1964 will take care of the payments, perhaps.

MANAGEMENTS POSITION

Management is not entirely to blame either. It was faced with a demand that it cant avoid short (rf bankruptcy, American labor laws being what they are. So to gain time, it

offers part now, part next year. Perhaps in the next 12 months it may be able to install more automatic machinery and prevent another rise in the payroll by laying off scane men. Or the market may change improving margins. Or sales may shoot up, increasing income.

Nevertheless, the Increase next year Is being inserted Into almost all labor contracts. Some of the future costs, of course, can be offset by further aut(xnation. But the rest of it must be met by increases In prices or by cutting employment.

In most cases, prices will rise. In fact, it is a safe prediction right now to say that the price level will go up in 1964 if for no other reas(i than a great majority (rf labor contracts signed this year will provide for. automatic raises next year.

And with prices going up all over tht lot, labor will again want escalator ccxitracts, with an increase partly in 1964 and partly in 1965. And the next year there will be demands for

part (rf an Increase In 1965 and part In 1966, and so (xi.

, As prices and wages both rise, the value of the dollar will fall until it Is worth no more than the old peepee francs of France a few years ago.

NEW BOOKS OF INTEREST TO BUSINESS EXECUTIVES

Among newly published books that might help a feller make a buck:

The Buafaiess Conscience, by Luther Hodges; 250 pages, Prentice Hall, $4. 'The Secretary of Commerce gives his tough-minded views on morals In bu> iness.

Financial Independenca. Through CiunuMm Stocks, by Robert D. Merritt, 345 pages, Simon St Schuster, $4.^5. A program of investing, by the flnan^ cial editor of United Business Service, an,enlarged and revised edl(m.

How to Ron a Small Buai-ness, a revised edition of a work by JH. Lasser; 475 pages, Mo-Graw-HUl, $7.95. A compendium of solid giddanoa for the small enterpriser. Hiera are nine new Gbapters.