Friday, December IS* 1963

Annual Christmas Lists

No Moratorium For Speculation

The moratorium being observedby the Democrats and Republicans on inter-party conflicts during the period of mourning for President Kennedy does not extend to the area of speculation on what candidates may emerge within the parties in the wake of the sudden tragedy which shook the nation It is a foregone conclusion that President Johnson will have the Democratic nomination for president next year if he will accept it. The speculation so far as the Democrats are concerned, therefore centers on the vice presidential nominee who will be chosen to run with President Johnson.

One of th first names to pop into such speculation was that of Attorney General Robert Kennedy brotheiLof the slain President. His name on the ticket would assure full support of the Johnson

?ate Said Le::

So 7 Counties

By WnJJAM A. SHIRES COUNTIES State Rep. Roger Kiaer has put his finger on seven counties among the 100 In North Carolina as those in which the "little federal amendment may rise or fall.

Kiser feels that these seven are cniciid counties in the middle of the controversy and that they may be unaware of It. He believes that their situation reflects the root of the is

sue.

How they vote, says Kiser, may well decide the fate of Imnffinfir the State- ' wide election on Jan. 14. And with It, says amendment supporter Kiser, may be decided the fate of local self-government In North Carolina."

The veteran legislator from Scotland County Is well known In the General Assembly as a man who thinks for himself. In effect, he was proposing that the amendment fight be carried to the cnny.

LIST Kiser arose at a meeting of amendment supporters. a piece of paper In his hand, and listed the cruc 1 a 1 seven counties as Alamance, Buncmnbe, Durham, Gast o n. Robeson, Rowand and Onslow.

It was something of a surprise for Kiser to Identify these aeven as holding the key to little federal" success. All seven generally are listed in opposition to the proposed amendment.

They are all populous counties. but not the largest. Lead-^ershlp of the anti-amendment movement has come from these counties, notably Rowan and Robeson. But, according to Kisers reasoning, they arc counties with the most to gain or lose.

CONCERN It seems to me," said Kiser, "that these seven should be terribly concerned." Each of the seven now has two representat Ives In the lower House of the legislature.

But each of the seven is growing less rapidly than the five largest counties of the state Mecklenburg, Forsyth, Guilford. Wake and Cumberl and. Under the present constitution, appOTtUmment of 20 "floating seats in the 120-member is according to pc^li^(m. and Mecklenburg has ftve, Guilford four and Wake. Forsyth and Cumberland three each for a total of 13 of the 20. The seven counties on Kisers list have one each of the remaining seven. Each of the other 100 counties has one representative.

These seven ought to be terribly concerned because its only a matter of time until they are reduced to cmc-representa-tlve status. Kiser said. "Then they win be among ttie little counties.

Chances are that the five biggest will get bigger, and these seven are the only places they can get the addit i o n a 1 House seats. EventuaUy, Kis-ttrr er warned,, this trend would lead to the abolishing of counties" and mean the end of local self-government in this state."

POSITION Position of the little federal supporters is that one body in the legislature should be apportioned according to population and the other on county political units.

The amendment would p r o-vide for a 100-member House, with one seat for each county. It would establish a 70-member Senate with districts based on population.

Sen. Robert Lee Humber of Pitt, a county which was reduced to one-representat 1 v e status in 1960, said the amendment pruposltton is simply to transfer the 20 floating seats distributed according to population from a house which ought to be based on geography and moving them to a House which ought to be based on population.

T h I s," said Humber, i.s fair. It is as it should be. It would put in our constitution the basic principles of representative government. This is government in which all of the interests must be reflected.

TACTICS Advice for little federal strategists came from a former state senator and candidate for lieutenant governor in 1960, C, V. Henkel of Tumersburg.

Were going to have to use shotgun tactics, and were going to have to do it quick, Henkel said. It is Henkels manner to be blunt. He called for a campaign that will cover a wider area of the ent 1 r e state, getting Information and an explanation of the amendment to the people.

"Theres a sea of Ignorance, a sea of apathy up our way, Henkel said.' He urged greater efforts to tell the pro-amendment side of the story. It must be in the short time remaining, or were going to be swamped, he warned.

Among three dozen supporters gathered for the strategy sessicm, Henkel counted people from only three counties in the Piedmont Cabarrus, Stanly and his own county of Iredell,

REPORTS Pro-amendment strategists are conceding that they probably face an uphill fight, based on prev 1 o u s voting experience. Figures compiled from counties expected to oppose the amendment and those friendy to it show the little federal forces normally are outvoted by approximately 20,000 votes.

This was not considered an Insurmountable figure, but the amendment supporters tried to face it realistically. The proamendment steering committee led by Rep. Shelton Wicker of Lee, called for reports on stimulating Interest and a sizeable voter turnout.

Some of the reports were encouraging. Some were not. Rep. Thomas Woodare of Wilson, financed chairman, reported disappointing results in obtaining financial contributions and support for the campaign and said a lack of funds - was restricting the pro-amendm ent campaign. Most of the workers have been paying expenses out of their own pocket.

The Daily Reflector

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candidacy by the proven political organization which has great strength in the populous urban sections of the East. But there is little doubt that the Democratic ticket will have this support with or without a Kennedy on the ticket. It is also recognized that the nomination of the attorney general as vice president would bring to the Democratic party liabilities as w^ell as assets. For this reason* it seent to us little likelihood that he will be chosen for the vice presidential nomination by the Democratic party.

Other names receiving attention for the vice presidential post are those of Gov. Pat Brown of California whose state has a large block of electprial votes, and that of Gov. Ribicoff of Connecutt who served as Secretary of Health, Welfare and Education before he left the Kennedy cabinet to seek the post of chief executive of his home state.

Geography as well as the public concept of the political philosophy of the man will be major factors in the selection of a vice presidential nominee. Aside from those considerations, there will be the feeling on the part of the people that more attention should be given to the vice presidential nominee because of w'hat has happened in the United States in these pa.st few weeks. To some extent, there was this feeling in 1960 w^hen the candidates were chosen by the party conventions.

It is our guess that speculation on the vice pre.s-idential choice by the Democrats will depart from a relatively few names, and that in the months to come the list of prospective candidates wdll grow rapidly. In the final analysis, the choice will be made by President Johnson, and the Democratic convention will follow his suggestion.

Individual Voter Will

Firially Decide Issue

In spite of maneuvering by legislators and other leaders to effect organizations for or again.st the forthcoming little federal amendment, it appears to us that this is a matter that is going tu be left largely to the individual voter.

Whatever organization is effected will at best be spotty around the state. Even in areas where .some organization is achieved, it is not likely to do more than scratch the surface in terms of getting voters to the polls on January 14.

By and laiyge the size of the vote will be determined not bj' any organization?, for or against the amendment, but the interest th individual voter takes in the issue. Opinions for and against the proposal will be voiced and given publicity; but a high powered campaign on either side is not likely to become a reality.

It is more important than ever, therefore, that the individual citizen take it upon himself to weigh in his owm mind the merits of the proposal. It is important that the individual voter does not leave it to the relatively few citizens who will be gotten to the polls through organization to decide the issue for the entire state.

After all, this question is one which will affect the state and all its people . . . not just in the immediate future, but for many years to come.

By JOHN ABNEY

Other Side O Tortilla

IXTAPAN, Mexico Not all corn ceremonies are on television or in the flicker industry these days so let us take a look at the other side of the tortilla.

Aae Considerec

First thing you have to understand is that corn is a very important item to the Indian. He makes part of his living growing and selling it. Then he eats it in a number of forms (the corn pone hasnt migrated down yet but just give em time). And human nature enabled the peasant to figure out formulas for several types of com refreshm e n t s. most of which develop Into a 10-aspirin hangover.

So over in Ayutla, which is a little over an hour from here by flying machine (or 2 hours 12 minutes by plumed serpent), they have a sort of Golden Rule which Is used in the corn industry. It translates roughly to Feed the earth the way you like to be fed.

''n Succession

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By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON (AP) - The important problem of age gets scant notice down through the generations as c(ititutional experts argue a question as old as the Constitution itself.

Who should succeed to the presidency if there is no president or vice president? Should it be a member of Congress? Should it be a member of the presidents Cabinet, start 1 n g with the secretary of state?

You can do arithmetic which will show that over the past 30 years, on the average, the secretary of state was young e r when he began his job than the speaker of the House or the Senates president pro-tempore.

Then you run into an old truism: It's not just a question of age but how good a man is at whatever his age happens to be.

Right ffdw age is getting attention because under present law next in line behind President Johnson for the presidency. if he died, are two aging men: House Speaker John McCormack, D-Mass., and Carl Hayden. D-Ariz., the Senates president pro tempore.

McCormack is almost 72; Hayden is 86.

Neither could be accurately described a.s a ball of fire. There were report.s Wednesday that both might step down to let younger men be in line if anything happened to Johnson.

But when a reporter asked McCormack about it, he stormed out, saying: Is there no limit to decency? He has pre-viou.sly said he favors the pre-.sent arrangement which puts him next hi line for the White House.

And in the Senate, Democratic I,eader Mike Man.sfield of Montana not only defended Hay

den but practically called him a monument.

Of course there are several tribal dieties included in the corn ceremony because there is no sense in offending anyone when it comes to cultivat i n g basic crops.

The Indians offer things like food and com beer (which they eat and drink themselves in a sort of three-dimensional ceremony) to the gods of lightning

and wind. Everybody know this will assure the local farmers of an ample supply of rain, which is considered essential for the crop.

Im not sure just how this worked but apparently these gods sit up on a mountain peak watching the festival through field glasses and they say to each other. Gee, just look at all the nice fodder and com beer those folks are eating in our honor. We should give them a good supply of rain this year, huh?

And as a show of good faith, the lightning god fires a huge bolt clear across the sky while clear across the sky while the wind god takes a deep breath and blows up a tremendous storm. The party is rained out by nobody really cares since they were working for rain anyhow and probably half the celebrants wont realize they are in a deluge until their wives cork up the jugs and lead them home.

When planting time comes around they hold their own type of Thanksgiving Day in reversfe. A farmer is all set to plant his corn so he invites his friends over and picks out a nice turkey whUe the ladies just together a huge meal.

At lunch time, they send the turkey to his reward and bury

it with lots of tortillas and tamales right in the center of the com patch. And of course the growing gods, who apparently live underground so they can control everything with their scientific gadgets and instruments, have a huge meal and would be a pretty shabby crowd not to give a good com crop in return.

. All of this takes care of the ancestral side of the .picture. But the modem Indian also includes Christian prayers in the growing ceremony. After they have taken care of the traditional gods they go to church and take out a little more crop insurance.

Presumably both sides work In unison for the sake of the New Frontier and the farmers get a rousing com crop.

So lying here in the hammock and contemplating the whole procedure, I naturally have to express my approval. Nobody in his right mind would go against science.

But since the farmers have been using this formula to a certain degree of success for years and years, I believe I will stay where I am and buy my com down at the comer store and have my turkey served on a small table within reach of the hammock.

Under law for 94 years, from 1792 untU 1886, this was the line of succession: the Senates president pro tempore and then the House speaker.

Under a change in the law and for 61 years, from 1886 until 1947, this was the succession: the members of the Cabinet, starting with secretary of state.

Other Editors Saying..

There is no sense butting into cultivation procedures when the experts are there ahead of you and doing very well.

Cannot Change Facts Opijgions

(Kinston Free Press)

The law was changed agaiq in 1947 and for the past 16 years this has been the succession: the speaker of the House, the Senates president pro tempore, and then the Cabinet, starting with the secretary of state.

Thfi average age of the Cabinet which Johnson took over from President Kennedy in contrast to McCormacks 71 years and Haydens 86 is 49 years. Secretary of State Dean Rusk is 54.

For the past 30 years the average age at which a secretary of State took office there were eight secretaries in that time was 58.

In that same 30-year period the average age of the House speakers when they bee a m e speaker there have been six was 64.

But the picture gets a little mixed when It Is remembered that some men stay on and on In a job. getting older, but still highly capable.

The Civil Aeronautics Board has decided to review the findings of its examiner, Russell A. Potter, whose report cited the overwhelming logic in the present pattern of airline service in Eastern Caiolina. Potter ruled against a Greenville-Pitt County proposal for a so-called area facility four miles north of Farmville at Toddy, N. C.

The review is well within the right and . duty of the .CAB, Its obligation is to serve all the people, and especially the taxpayers. The full extent of appeal and review is a basic right of every individual and group under the American system.

However, this should be kept in mind. The findings of Examiner Potter are irrefutable and no amount of hearings or reviews will change the basic facts involved,

These facts are as follows; The large geographic area to be .served does not jibe with the single airport idea. The present facilities as Kinston and Goldsboro, and the pro

posed facility between Rocky Mount and Wilson are far superior to what is contemplated at Toddy. The present pattern of service is growing and the customer preference is an unmistakable fact. If the more remote location at Toddy were used, it would not only reduce airline revenues, but would up the subsidy required for such services. There has. been no satisfactory explanation of who would want to pay the extra toll to and from the Toddy site and there has been no concrete evidence that anyone outside of Pitt County would provide financial support to an airport at Toddy.

These facts were all cited by Examiner Potter. His report was detailed and comprehensive. The review of those findings should not take the CAB very long to complete. And we earnestly trust when it is made the CAB will not overlook its basic obligation to follow a course of least expense to the taxpayers, since the present pattern of service has been proven the best for the large area to be .served.

'n Brief

ittie

.riatred : Shown ^

BY JOHN CHAMBERLAIN Copyright, 1963 King Feature!

Syndicate, Inc.

I wouldnt dream of denying tlmt there are hate-mtm-gers in this country, and that this particular breed of cat I pretty loathsome. But, in ascribing the assassination of John P. Kennedy to the "at^ mosphere generated by ex-trernists, I wonder if we have gotten to the bottom of anything.

In the lugubrious aftermath of the dark deed, one of the most disconcerting revelations was the eagerness of our so-called intellectual classes to jump to instant conclusions. Dallas was blamed, the Birch-ers were blamed, the Racists and the rightisis wero ccHidemned and all before anybody knew anything about Lee Oswalds character, or what might have motivated the killer to make a demented grab at what someone has called instant Immortality."

AS It turned wit, Oswald seems to have been an early convert to Marxism, a sympathizer 'With Cubas Castro, and a youtljful psychiatric case. So, if our intellectuals were correct in their major premise, that we are dominated by the atmosphere of hate, we might, lexically have been expected to succumb to a vast wgve ot. -iiysteria directed fa) -against* all Marxist nations and philoe-ophies in general, (b) against Castros <^ba In particular, and (c) against practicing any leniency whatsoever toward children who manifest tendencies toward juvenile delinquen-,

cy.

Mere negative criticism of big government Is insufficient. Those who talk about contstraining and containing it apparently forget that the best answer is provided by a state that recognizes and accepts its responsibilities, then moves forward to meet f:hem. A slogan is* not enough. -The Charlotte Observer. -

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one, that I have no other So great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow men,Abraham Lincoln.

There's one thing of which we have a superabundance these days, and that is news. All the media are loaded with reports and opinions, some ominous, covering almost every conceivable aspect of human affairs the world around. Industrial News Review.

Instead of generalizing the hatred for Oswald into blankel condemnations of any nation, group, or philosophy, however, the American people as a whola did nothing of the sort. Though Oswald had had some rela-' tlons with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, nobody, to* my knowledge, blamed the' members or officers of thia committee for helping to create an atmosphere leading to murder. There were no mass meetings held in New Yorks Madison Square Garden or elsewhere calling for a counter-assassination oi Castro, or a retaliatory bombing of Havana. Hamilton Fish, who in hia days as a Congressman was Chairman of the first Congressional Committee to Investate Communian. did put out a statement urging us to stop playing Russian rwilette, or flirting with World Communism, that seeks to destroy us. But there were no clari(Hi calls to break off relati(ms with the Soviet Union because its philosophy of Marxism-Leninism ^ had unhinged Lee Oswald's.,' mind. There were no attempts to prove that Oswald had been trained as an assassin in Russia, or that he had gwie to Mexico to study the career of the Stalinist who had murdered Leon Trotsky with an Ice pick.

Instead of accusing leftists of collective guilt for the assassination of Kennedy by a Cas-troite Marxist who had tried to defect to the Soviet Union, the American people were sin- gularly forebearing. Unlike the intellectuals, the common man'* refused to jump to Instant conclusions.

Indeed, there was a vast amount of decency In the reaction of people in general. A minister in Plainfield, New Jer-,eey, even went so far as to start a fund for Oswalds Russian - bom widow and her children. Surprisingly, a number of citizens who had no sympathy whatsoever with the ideas of Lee Oswald Contributed to it. They could very well believe that Mrs. Oswald was innocent of complicity in murder.

What are we to make of th# pattern of events since the r assassination? That we have only the aberration of the individual lunatic to fear? One cant quite believe that, for mass hatreds may have caused racist extremists to kill Medgar Evers, the Negro organizer, and to dynamite a church in Birmingham. But we can legitimately draw the conslusion that the Intellectuals who yearned to pin the murder of John F. Kennedy oa the "extreme Right, yet who refrained from transferring the blame to the Extreme Left"'*-(Continued on Page 6)

Any grandmother can tell you what's new in people. And she has pictures to go with her wonderful story. Azusa (Calif.) Herald.

and Goldsboro, and the pro- area to be served. inausiriai wews eview. (contmuea on Page 6)

Bastina Debt For Our Children

BY ELMER ROESSNER

Strength For Today

BY EARL L. DOtXiLASS

AVOID LOPSIDEDNESS

Never trust brains alone. One of the greatest minds ever to appear in human history was that of Francis Bacon. His incisive reasoning laid down the pattern wnich underlies all modern scienlifit; research. Yet Baco. was himself so corrupt politically that when the law cacight up with him his fines amounted to $2(K),t)00.

Richard Wagner who wrote heavenly music was himself a disgusting sensuali.si and betrayer even in an age when moral .standards were low.

Benedict Arnold was one of the cost gifted men in the colonies in the eighteenth century, yet he was camoletely lacking In moral character.

On the other hand, we cannot tiust good intrnlions alone. Many well-intentioned people ofvcn lead themselvefi and

others to into embarrassing, frustrating and sometimes tragic situations. To mean well does not necessarily mean to reason well.

In other words, we cannot take any virtue by itself and make it all sufficient. Some of the most cruel tyrants have poassessed unflinching courage. Occasionally a person of scant reasoning power stumbles upon a great discovery.

The ideal life must be the balanced life. Moral character, rea.son, courage, diligence and energy mu.st all combine to bring about a mans success and make him useful to his

generation.

Most of the worlds useful

work is being done by mediocre people who keep hone.stly at their jobs and try every minute of the day to do the

bc.st they can. Too much of

anything loadii to lopsidedness and frequently to disaatar.

Tax exemption of interest on state and local bonds triply hurts the economy. As ixiinted out here yesterday, it creates a huge loophole through which the wealthy and the big corporations but not the middle incomers can escape taxation. It has two other faults:

1. It encourages states and subdivisions to borrow instead of paying for public improvements as they go.

2. It encourages these, governments to use their credit to subsidize favored corporations.

WHY THESE HURT

Tax exemption of interest on state and local bonds has created an enormous demand for these investments. In 1953, there was only $18.5 billion in outstanding stalib and local bonds. Today there is almost $80 billion outstanding and the lotal piles up every month. In the third quarter of this year, more than $2 billion in state and local bonds were sold.

This yawning market for tax exempts continually tompts .rtatf and local govcrnnientv to issue bonds Instead of lev>*ing

taxes. Do the voters clamor for new schools, new jails, new highways? If taxes are levied to pay for them, voters will scream and, perhaps, vote the rascals out at the next election.

But if bonds are Issued, there will be no trouble selling them, and all that the issue will cost the voters is the interest which will be tax-free to the rich.

BURDEN ON UNBORN

Of course, the bonds will have to be paid off in the end. By that time, most of todays voters will be dead or on Social Security. Their children, now living and yet unborn, will have to pay them off. A visitor from Mars might conclude that we hate our children since we thrust such a terrible burden of debt upon them.

Furthermore, bonds tend to double the cost of improve-merits. If a $1 million school is paid for with $1 million in 34 per cent 30-year bonds, todays voters pay 1 million in interest overj^hat period: they snd their children pay another $1 million to j-edeem the bonds.

Meanwhile, use of these tax-

free bonds permits the financing of industrial facilities in such a way that corporations benefit in another manner. HOW CORPORATIONS BENEFIT

At the recent meeting of the Investment Banker Association, It was pointed out that in October, Lewisport, Ky., sold $50 million In bonds to pay for a rolling mill to be used by Harvey Aluminum Co,

Topeka, Kan., is planning to issue bonds to build a store and parking fswiility for R, H. Ma-cy & Co., Inc.

In both cases, it is assumed that the beneficiary companies will guarantee rent that will pay the interest and amortize the bHids, but this is lUrely to be much less than tne costs If the corporations concerned borrowed the money in the taxed market.

In other cases, corporations benefitting from local tax-free bond issues have bought up the bonds themselves, thus gaining a double advantage. They have taken over facilities cheaply because their costs did no require borrowing In the regular, noncxcmpt money markets and tbcn gained tax-free loferaat an

their capital.

Municipalities In only 11 states have Issued these-exerapt b(Mids. usually on the contention that they are necessary to attract business to under* developed areas.

However, In the final analysis, these municipalities art forcing all taxpayers to share the cost of their largess to tha benefitting corporations.

SHORT & SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS NEWS HEMS A Brooklyn, N. Y., bank is advertising a Christmas and Hanukkah Savings aub.... New York do-gooders are conferring with chains in an effort to keep prices in low-tncoma neighborhoods as low as those in high - Income areas. Throughout the negotiations neither side had dared mentioned the truth that prices have to be high in low-lncome areas because tha poor steal so much..A Chicago supermarket finds added profit in leasing portable TV sets at $2 a day ...Thailand la a good market for womens apparel and beauty aida, reports the U. S. Department of Commerce For more facts, contact tha aearert Ald alai.

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