Tuesday, January 14, 1964

Pitt is Affected More Than Most

the Human'^^nan Thina To Do

What effect is the report of the Surgeon Gen-* tion of North Carolina where tobacco production is erals advisory Committee on health and smoking one of the mainstays of the economy. Certainly the going to have on the Ibbacco industry? report is of great significance to Pitt County, which

Time alone will provide the answer to that produces more bright-Ieaf tobacco than any other question and all the others that have come to the county in the country. Some 70 per cent of "the agri-fore since Saturday when the committee, after 14 culture remains the predominent force in the local months of study, branded cigarette smoking as a economy. \

health hazzard and called for remedial action. i It >would be iolly for North Carolina and Pitt

It must be remembered that the advisory com- County to immediately conclude that the report mittee did no scientific research on its own. Its job of the study committee will have no influence on Was to study reports on many research projects the future of the tobacco industry. It would also defling with tobacco and health. The findings of be folly for this state and this county to close their the committee was the conclusion its members drew eyes to the fact that whatever effect the report will from studying the hundreds of such reports. have on the tobacco industry will be felt very keenly

No one at this moment can measure accurately right here at home.

the reaction of the American people to the report No one can foretell what subsequent action will be taken at any level of government or what will be done by private groups with respect to the report or to cigarette smoking.

Few observers have viewed the report as marking the beginning of the end for the tobacco industry. Even though cigarette smoking suffered a slump in 1954 when the American Cancer Society linked smoking with cancer and other diseases, sales soon Particularly' sensitive to the report is this sec- recovered and have moved steadily to higher records year-by-year. Some foresee a similar reaction to the report of the advisory committee. Others assert that the information on which the advisory committee based its findings already have been made public over a period of years and have had their impact on the American people.

Whatever the ultimate verdict by cigarette consumers, Pitt County cannot ignore the fact that it will be affected more directly than most other areas, because it is, afer all, more deeply involved in tobacco production than any other county in the nation.

'Lnterprises -Of State Prisons -

By WILLIAM A. SHIRES

COLD A thick, heavy sleel door fwtngt open. You ep in-side the chamberlce room and the e<rfd suddenly bites like kniie. Your breath comes quickly and hard.

Iti a bitter 26 degrees below zero in the chamber, a constant, controlled temperature and its a warm rel'ei to step back into a big cold storage room where the temperature is an even 32 degrres.

These refrigerated rooms a quick freeze,chsmbsr a :d colo storage are part of the modem facilities of a busy meat processing plant owned and operated by the North Carolina prisons department and its prison enterprises - rapidly becoming a model program for rehabilitation, efficiency and cost-cutting.

The meat processing plajjt at Butner is a good example of prison enterprises.

PLANT - The Butner plant, converted from an old World War II Camp Butner warehouse. now processes all of the meats for the states prison population of approximately 10,000 plus large quantiUes going to other state tax-supported Institutlmis.

It turns out a complete line of meats, bacon, frankfurters, roasts, chops, steak, hamburger, smoked sausage, fresh and smoked hams, whole or sliced, pork, liver, poultry, beef stock, fat back, lard, oleo, cooking fat, sandwich and luncheon meats products worth an estimated $1.5 million a year.

It goes through receiving, inventory, cutting, processing, refrigeration. handling and shipping and by rpfr*atd tnmks out to prison camps, hospitals, scho(ds and othe** institutions across the state at an estimated cost of only two cents per pound for receiving, shipping and handling.

Most of the work is prison labor and the men who leam the skills of meat packing are in demand in m e a t plants over the state when they are released. Many have fobs waiting when they are paroled.

COSTS In addition, operation (rf the meat procewitng plant is (me reason tha^ state prison costs are going down why per prlscmer food costs have dropped to about 61 cents a day.

Without prison enterprises and standard menus, our food costs would skyrocket,'* says prisons director George Randall, The prisons system has adopted standard menus, three meals a day, nutritiously planned by a dietician six months in advance for the entire system.

Purthermore, the food Is good and wholesome. It Is prepared according to stand a r d recipes w'hlch accompany the menus. The meats from Butner, for example, are portion

lacked.

"Our products.* says plant manager John E, Montague, are equal or better than we could get eUewhere and cost less.*

PROCBflS - You don white coat and cap before entering the processing plant. There b rlrid quality control and regular inspection by Agriculture Department officials.

Stainless steel vats and ventilators in use at the plant were made by another prison enterprise, mstal wor*s. The smoke unit, thermostat controlled, is a $20.000 facility using warbed smoke from green hickory sawdust, a byproduct of the states furniture industry.

The men working in the cutting rooms process hog carcasses at the rate of <me per minute. Each man haa a specific Job, but jobs art rotated so that each man learns more skills.

If you release a man with a skill he can sell, his chances of staying out are infinitely better, Rardall savs. They know it its a definite morale factor, Almost every pairle officer has a waiting list <4 Jobs for men wlMi skills learned in prison.

Prison labor for the meat processing plant is transported each day from Camp Polk, near Raleigh. 20 miles away.

COMPETITION - Randall and prison enterprises director Ralph EdWards emphasize repeatedly that prison enterprises products are not in competition with private enterprise. Prison Enterprises products are not sold on tiM open market, but are operated as a re-habliltation effort and for reducing tax expenditures.

In the matter of rfhatdlita-tlon, RandaU aays we claim that every able-bodied man and woman in the prisons system has a full tbne Job now. We still have a problem with the physically handicapped. . .

If we didnt emplov our people, our budget would have to be twice what it la from the taxpayers money.

ENTERPRISES ~ The prison enterprises program turns (n4 products worth $8.5 million a year to the state. Edwards saya. Of this. $1 million is net gain and goes into prisons operating co^ and for improvements.

The prlaon enterprises manufacture auto license tags, highway algns worth $1 million a year, paints, metal products, food processing in meats and canneries, laundries, farms, print shop and wood refinlsh-Ing, foreatry management and reforestation, rlothing and mat-tressea. One product at the Butn*r meat plant Is the so-called monotonous" diet served unruly prisoners Quantities of this product, principally liver mush are Het^" sold to prLson departments in other states.

Proposal Would Go To Undermine System

Proposal l?y North Carolina State alumni to split the board of trusteeg of the greater university into three groupsone each for the three divisions would go a long way toward undoing the major step to strengthen the university system taken by the legislature last year.

It was only after bitter struggles which centered around the name of the university unit at Raleigh, that the legislature finally enacted the measure that laid a new foundation for greatly strengthening the university system. The measure enacted in 1963 was, in our opinion, the most significant step in decades to enable the university system of the state to reach its full potential by developing full university status for each of its divisions.

If now, the trustee group of the University were split into one body for each of the divisions, North Carolina in effect would be moving toward breaking up rather than consolidating the position of its university system. It would be only a matter of time before the consolidated university system would disappear, and in its place would evolve separate universities, each going its own way. Jt would, in our opinion, be a backward step for the state and its greater university system, and one which would jeopardize the future development of each of the divisions of the system.

The step taken by the lejrislature in its forward-looking measure on higher education last year should not be undermined by the adoption of proposals such as that which has now come from the alumni group of North Carolina State.

By ART BUCHWAL

Husbands Are Cowards

We went to see Hello, Dolly. the new smash musical with Carol Channing which has Just wound up its Washington run before going (m to Broadway.

Although we have nothing but praise for the cast, the music, the costumes, and the staging, we cant say as much for the audience, particularly the lady who was seated behind us. She not only did her utmost to ruin the show for us, but she almost broke up our marriage.

The lady turned out to be one of those compulsive talkers who always seem to find out ahead of time what seat weve pur-j chased and then buy theins directly behind us.

This lady loved the show. Every time Miss Channing sang a song, she commented on it to her husband, Isnt she wonderful? Isnt she darling? What a lovely costume. Thats a fine song. And so on. Before the first act was over we were trying to climb the wall, which is very difficult in any theater.

Shes driving me crazy, we said to our wife.

Dont you do anything silly our wife wai'ned us.

I could kill her, we said. Thats not silly.

Behave yourself, she said threateningly.

As soon as the first act curtain feu and we went out into

Other Editors Saying It Won't Go Away

?anama

?oses

An Old Mess'

The Daily Reflector

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By JAMES MARLOW

WASHINGTON (AP)--Presl-dent Johnson inherited a Panamanian mess older than he is. It starts with President Theodore Roosevelt who contemptuously called Latin Americans dagos.

Immediate cause (4 the Canal Zone riots in which more than two dozen Americans and Panamanians have been killed was a dispute over placing the Pankmanian flag beside the American flag in the zone.

Such killings for such a reason may look like Idiocy 100 years from now if by then the world Is more civilized and flag placing is considered a Job for landscape gardeners.

But here the causes run deep and iUl the way back to 1903; Cupidity, stupidity, nationalism and American imperialism. In 1903. Panama, then part of Colombia, revolted and set up its own government.

The idea (4 digging a canal across Panama from the Atlantic to the Pacific was at least )0 years old. After the Spanlsh-Amertcan War there was a demand tor it in this country. Rosevelt tried to r-range it with Colombia.

He didnt like the terms. He called the Colcmiblans apes. In this country, but not by Roosevelt pubUcly, the people in the province of Panama were encouraged to revolt. They did. and g(4 instant American military help.

Later Roosevelt came o u t from behind the bushes: I took Panama He quickly recognized the new republic and just as quickly made a deal with it to build a canal.

The revolt started Nov. 3. 190:i: this government recognized the Republic of Panama on the 6th: and a treaty on the canal was concluded on the 18th.

Although the canal was not finished until 1914. long after Roosevelt was out of office, one of his btographers said his maneuvering left a U. S. legacy of 111 will in Latin America where the good neighbor policies of later presidents have failed to this day to dissipiate It entirely.

The treaty granted the Unit ed Statoe in perpetuity the use, occupation and control of* the zone* of land 10 miles wide from Atlantic to Pacific.

In time perpetuity became a cancer to Panamai: Ians. How come the United States could move In on Latin

American countries like this? Roosevelt explained it in what is called his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

He altered that doctrine, which denied European countries the right to butt In on Latin American affairs, to a new doctrine giving this coun-try the right to butt in. And it did for years.

Latin Americans are still wary, as they have shown. One historian of Latin America, Hubert Herring, called the Panama of those early days a disorderly house run by an oligarchy.

Its still run by an oligarchy, a few powerful white families who have warred among themselves.

In the years since 1903 irritations have built up. The Panamanians wanted more than the $2 mllll(i they get yearly frcwm the canal: they complained agalnet discrimination in t h e pay they g(4 working in the Canal Zone, where 36.000 Americans live, and with Justice because their pay was raised.

They have wanted more say over operatl(jn of the canal. They demanded various concessions. and the United States yielded on many. It has also probably been politically smart for the Panamanian official to badger the United States.

President Roberto Chi a r i. who broke off relations with thks country after the riots began last week, has been called definitely unfriendly to the nit-ed States,

While the Imperialism and nationalism of Theodore Roosevelt showed bitter seeds, the Panamanians, like the re.st of Latin America and people everywhere, have become extremely nationalistic in turn.

Opinions n Briet

It shouldnt, take the sacrifice of a President to Jolt, people out of slovenly ways. But since the pcesident has been slain, let us hope that the decay has been purged from the soul of America and that the new national resolve to do better will be long-lived,Riverton (Wyo.) Ranger.

(Christian Science Monitor)

Many Americans of all races are secure in their homes, their jobs, their schools, their churches. Sometimes they must wish the insistent agitation for civil rights would Just go away.

But the American dream wakes them up. In the terms of this traditional idealism, as long as one American lacks the rights of his fellows, all Americans suffer.

This tradition gleams In the background as turbulent hearings on civU-rights legislation begin before the House Rules Committee. It Is there behind the recent squabbles among civil-rights leaders themselves. It is there even though last years progress In civil rights is analyzed and found not so substantial as many had thought.

In the tenth year after the 1954 Supreme Court declsi(m against segregation in the schools, barely more than 1 percent of Negro public school pupils in the 11 Deep South states are in biraclal classrooms. Prom the North come repeated warnings of racial explosions in crowded cities. In New York a school Integration group Is planning a massive Negro boycott of schools on the opening day of the Worlds Pair, April 22.

The labor secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People charges that the Presidents Committee <m Equal Employment Opportunities has won symbolic breakthroughs on the technical and professlcmal level but very little real change for the Negro Industrial worker.

The counsel to the commission on religion and race of

the National Council of Cfhurch-es in meeting the racial problem, adding: Before the moral force of the churchs voice can be heard, it may have to restructure its anatomy.

Last year at Gettysburg Vice-President Johnson said, To ask for patience from the Negro is to ask him to give more of what he has already given enough. In his state of the Union message President John-8on asked for an end to all racial discrimination.

B(4h the hope and the danger appear In the last report of the bipartisan United States Commission on CTlvil Rights: Por the first time...the C(Hn-mlssion is able to report an atmosphere of genuine hopefulness...The present connict has brought about somt progress, but it has also created the danger that white and Negro Americans may be driven even further apart and left again with a legacy of hate, fear, and mistrust.

The American .pecle seem to have become' increasingly aware of the urgency of the problem. They know it wont go away unsolved. In a magazines survey <4 barometric voting districts in the East. Middle West, and West Igst fall, the highest percentage of respMises, S3 percent, called race the most Important Issue facing the United States.

One way the citizen In his dally life can fortify the hope and minimize the danger is to deal wiUi his fellow man as a man and not a racial cipher. No man deserves the blame or credit for what is dtme by the other members of his race. No man should be tarred, or whitewashed, with the brush of a group from which he cannot resign.

the lobby, we said to our wife, Im going to tell her off. You cant, she said.

Why not?

Youll embarrass me. How wUl I embarrass you if I tell her to shut up? WUl she think any less of you if I ask her to keep quiet? Youll make a spectacle of yourself, she said.

That woman is spoiling the show for everyone around us. If I say something, everyone will be grateful. I could be a hero.

If you say anything, youll spoil the show for me,

And If I dont say anything. Ill ruin it for myself. Why are wives always afraid their husbands ace going to embarrass them? If you saw that woman in a department store at a sale, you wouldnt hesitate to knock her over, to get to the counter, "Why are you defending her in a theater? She probably cant help herself, our wife said angrily.

Neither can I. You would think her husband would tell her to shut up.

Would you tell me to shut up if I talked during the show?

I certainly would, we said. That shows what kind of manners you have.

What has that got to do with the woman behind us?

I wouldnt be surprised if you said something to her that shed slap you in the face. The bell rang and we all returned to our seats.

As soon as Miss Channing came out, the woman started up again.

We turned around and said, Would you please shut up so the rest of us can hear the show?

The woman turned white, but not as white as our wife. George, that man Insulted me, the woman said to her husband.

Now youre in for It, our wife whispered.

The husband turned out to be about six foot one and weighed 200 pounds. After the show we started up the aisle and he followed us. As so<m as we got to the door he spun us around and stuck out his hand. Thanks a lot, mister. I didnt have the nerve to tell her myself.

Quote

School desegregation In the South obviously is proceeding slowly, but It is proceeding and in most Instances quietly, despite the outcries from Mississippi and Alabema. The Baltimore Evening Sun.

Story 3ehinc. A Story

By JOHN CHAMBERLAIN \

Copyright, 1964. King Features Syndicate, Inc. '

B is hardly the buriness of a c(4uinnist to pass along the gist of a magazine article, for the mere recapitulation of a story is a cimfession that (me is too Ifugr to do ones own rcportorial work. But sometimes there Is a story behind a story, or at least a story of the circumstances accompanying Its publicatkm, that caUs for an exception to a normally good rule.

This c(4umn. then, would direct you to a remarkable article in the January Issue ot Fortune Magazine by Charles J. V. Murphy called "The Desperate Drive to Cut Defense Spending. What is particularity Interesting about this arti-\cle is Mr. Murphys reporting hf President Lyndon J o h n-a^s reaction to the Cuban missile crisis of October, 1962. Let me quote:

When he (meaning Johnson, then Vice President) was made privy to the gravity (4 the Soviet action, he spoke up for a decisive resp o n s e. Not only the rockets, but tho Soviet troops as well, had to \ be removed, and by force if )necessary so ran Johnsons ' advice. The American people, he argued, would never accept anything less. But. . .gradually. the middle - course counsel of the men who stayed (m as Johnsons iMlncipal instruments in the struggle with the Soviet power most conspicuously Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Defense Secretary McNamara shaped the deciskm. The practical consequence of the decision was the partial blockade of C^uba, combined with a great show (4 force as for the Invasion of CJuba, and Kennedys own partly stem, partly conciliatory private diploma c y with Premier Khrushchev.

For his part. so Mr. Murphy ciMitinues, Johnson never wavered from his original conviction. The apprehens ions am(mg some of Kennedys closest advisers that R u s s la would counter a U. S. blow against the U, S. seemed to him to be groundless. . .By his lights, the migration of Soviet military power Into the Western Hemisphere co u 1 d not be tolerated. Johnson tocrfc his stand on the historic meaning of the Monroe Doct r i n e, holding that its breaching. If condoned, would underm 1 n e the new Alliance for Progress and damage U. S. prest I g e throughout the world. And he was further troubled by a settlement that would leave Fidel Castro in unscathed command of C^uba. . ,

One of the Kennedy men, Mr. Murphy goes on, in an aside directed at the Johnson position, made a cold remark that sensitive memories have tended to blur since the change at the White House. According to one who wax within earshot, it was to the effect that, in the nitional shaping of policy, Courage is no substitute for intelligence.* This was the kind of gliding, epigrammatic half-insult that Johnson is ill equipped to parry. When he heard of It, he froze.

The truly Important thing about Mr. Murphys dredging up of a bit of 1962 history can (Xily be appreciated in full by someone who has worked for Fortuni Magazine. Your columnist spent the good part of a decade writing articles for Fortune. The technique. Invariably followed In a Fortune assignment, was to shape up a first draft, then submit it both to the principals involved and to the competitors and enemies of the principals for commentary and checking of facts. The magazines Board of Editors reserved the right to reject any complalnte, but it was always willing to argue its own case reasonably and to give ground whenever It seemed Just and responsible to do so. Thus the Fortune writer had to be a combination of reporter and negotiator. He had to prove th truth of his observations to his own editors under circumstances that could, at times, become downright hoxle.

The assumption, then, is that Mr. Murphys story went to the White House for checking. The further assumption Is that (Continued On Page I) ^

iquor Control For Patronage

By ELMER KOESSN'ER

A team of Rockefeller investigators has Just put on the record what most New Yorkers know: that the states control of the liquor business has been rigged for political patronage, and that price-fixing has been used to mulct customers for the benefit of privileged politicos and the liquor Industry.

A year ago grand Jury * found "discrimination and corruption" In licensing package stores and taverns by the Stat' Liquor Commission. Two big-shot* and 15 lesser officials were indicted and Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed a three-man commission to investigate the business.

The commission has made a partial report. While it has not tackled t^e question of legalized price-fixing, the report suggests some of the evils.

HOW SYSTEM OPERATED

New York licenses both taverns and liquor store-'. Fifteen years ago the politicians con- trolling the Liquor Commissltxi froze the number of stores at

4.3000. This made each license valuable, worth up to $50,000.

Then the Commission Issued an order requiring every liquor distiller or distributor to fix the prices of his product. This did not simply permit price-fixing, it required it. Prices could only be changed at the first of every month.

Under this system, the fixed prices rose steadily until today. when they are among the highest In the nation.

Testimony before Rockefellers investigators showed that a fifth of Seagrams V. 0. Canadian whiskey sells in Washtag-'ton under $5 and for $6.65 In New York. Other brands were consistently higher In New York, with Its legal price-fixing, than In other state* where competition prevailed. co<;ts to drinkers

Private estimates, not those of the investigating commission. are that New York State residents pay about $1 a bottle more than they would If there were no legal prtoe fixing.

These dollars, theoretically.

so ta Lh r^atlarjc^ SktrU^iitora

and distillers. How'ever, grand jury and other Investigations Indicate that the dollars often found their w'ay into the hands of lawyers, others close to the State Liquor Commission and to Politicians.

The investigators recommended that the restrictions on package stores be lifted, and that reputable supermarkets. department stores and certain other retail establishments be licensed to sell liquor.

There was a scream, of course, from the owners of the 4,300 price-fixed monopolies. But it was nothing to the scream of the liquor (Ustrlbu-tors- If liquor licenses were 'Widespread, it would be impossible to police the flxed prices and the price of liquor would be set In the market place.

This would cost the liquor Industry millions, hence the screaming. It would cost the politicos millions *- hence <he listening.

The situation shows what Mn hojsnes wheo manufactur

ers and distributors set retail prices. It Is significant In view of the fact that a quality stabilization bill now pending In Congress would permit manufacturers to mix retail price* of all trademarked products as well as liquors.

SHORT & SIGNIFICANT

BUSINESS NEWS ITEMS There were 1,361 industrial mergers last year, compared with 1,260 In 1962. according to a study by the W. T. Grimm consulting company...T)iere Is more white, less color in 1964 appUances, the Appliance Manufacturer magazine re-ports...The new 52-story First National Bank Building In Dallas will have escalators between the 49th and 50th floors. If elevators went that hlh, they would require a penthouse for the machinery, violating a law that limits buildings to 1,049 feet above sea level...Transportation to and from meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous are deductible as medical expenses, the Internal Rs-vesue ServWe has ruled.

M