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Friday, October ) 7, 1969 i

Gas Main Inspection Is Important

Despite the expense, it is comforting to know'

Contracts calling fori the work this year were the mams is money well spent awarded by the commission this week. It Wll cost^

12,050 to check th^gas mains by a new aM more efficient method/This year, also, a /juarter of the BystenV^yeerVt^elineB will be checked. In four yei^ alL^simce lines, leading from the street to the latpmers meter, will have been checked for leaks.

The commission ha been carrying out an annual program of having its gas mains inspected for leaks for several years. This year new probed-ures will mean that the checks are more thorough

than'ever before. ^ ,

Gas is a safe fuel so long as it is contained in the mains and pipes which transport it and it is

used properly in the customerV appliances. How-

tver a major leak in a. gas main could prove dis-

ONE BRIGHT SPOT!

N.C

teports Cloudy

1^ WILLIAM A. SHIRES itejRectw Ralei^ jBoreaa - RALEIGH - A number of broad economic indicators and reports both state, regional and national began arriving cady this m<Hith presenting t hazy picture at best.

One report by consumer finance groups said signs of an economic downturn |are beginning to emerge. Nationally, cctfding to this report, the sales outook has been dropping from a three year pack reaciied last winter gnd early Spring.

In Nffl*th Carolina, however, Wachovia Bank and Trust Co. published its business index showing that attempts to slow fte nations economy appear to be having minimal effect^ bi the state.

wnuAw

SHIRES

Tile Wachovia index registered the ninth consecutive moDi of increase. The measurement figures for August were up by 7.9 per cent over file same month a year ago.

Rises ^ The Bureau of Labor Statistics meanwhile calculates an average increase in consumer prices of 10 percent from 1967 to 1969.

Ranges varied for 23 major mefropolitan areas Jrom nine to more than 12 per cent The

SUPPORT YOUR PITT COUNTY UNITED FUND

food price index reported by BLS Wfs up approximately ninie p* Cit over 1967.

Other indications art reported in a survey of cwm- * mer buying expectations. New automobiles remain fairly strong but there was a sharp decline in the index (rf expected iKHise purchases. And the survey reported implications that consumers expect their total outlays on such items as furniture, televisian sets and appliances to increase but expect to get fewer items for their money.

News - At Gov. Bob Scotts news conference toe otocr day there were no less toan nine television cameras trained on toe chief executive.

In addition to the cameramen there were approximately 20 newsman representing various media and another 10 cameramen shooting stills or movie film. Of course the place was buzzing.

Formal news conferences are held in a spacious auti-torium in toe Administratiwi building. It is carpeted, hung with drains for best acoustical effects and is well-lighted.

Planes There is some guessing about whether state officials will attempt to name the new airplanes being added to and replacing some oltter aireraft in state service.

Delivery is to be made wi two this month. One is a 18 passenger Grumman Gulf-stream prop-jet which is to replace the Carolina Cardinal, a DC-3 once owned by entertainer Arthur Godfrey. The Cardinal was obtained several years ago and replaced a smaller executive type plane which was called The Kitty Hawk.

In addition, toe Department of Conservation is also buying a small twin-engine exe^ cutive airplane for 183,500 from a Kansas Ci^ firm. The plane normally wto seat five passengers.

#The Highway Commission is buying a new aerial photo plane for $226,900.

The Carolina Cardinal is being sold to a News Bern air service fm* $20,001.

Road Construction Is One Way To Convince

One way the North Carolina government can show the people that the increased gas tax was needed is to get long awaited highway projects

underway. . -j s

The tax increases have come in for consider- ^ able criticism from Republicans and other sources recently, and the party which increases taxes is always vulnerable to such criticism.

None of us enjoy paying the additional two cents per gallon tax which was placed on gasoline by the last Legislature. On the other hand there is hardly a motorist in the state who does not realize that road construction is going to have to be stepped up if we are to solve some of our traffic prblems.

There should be.no delay in putting to use the additional money brou^M in by the gas iax increase. If the administration Wants to convince the public that the tax was needed, the bst way to do it is to get road construction moving.

,,ssue

Number

ART BUCHWALD

At Crossroads Selwyn;

P

The Daily Reflector

INCORPORATED

Ettabllihed 1882

Published Mondayl^irough Friday Afternooni end Sunday Morning

DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD. Chamian of the Board

JOHN S. WHICHARD-DAVID J. WHICHARD

/ Publithert

Bateiad at Peat orflee, GiecaHIk, N. C.

By JOHN CUNNIFF NEW YORK (AP) - Quite obviously, these are times when Aiperica and its students and parents and clergy and businssmen and politicians are wrestling with conflict and conscience, with problems, paradoxes, enigmas and anachronisms.

Unable to remain neutral and balanced uncertainly upon a dilemma, groups everywhere are facing the totter an unpleasant facts, choosing a course, and plunging ahead.

The Pope and the bishops, CtHigress and toe judiciary, toe Mets and Orioles,-the consumer and business, toe hawks and toe doves^ the freeloaders and the workers, toe tax dodgers and reformers, toe realists and romantics all in conflict.

In the realm of business and toe economy, therefore, there is no monopoly on prob-biems, nor are toe decisions any m('e difficult to make. But this should not obscure toe fact that they are there, bigger than ever before.

Some executives are being forced to make toe most momentous decisions of toeir careers, for after nearly a decade when the only course was to move ahead, ecMiomy now is at a crossroads.

Should automakers, for example, place their faith in a (Kmtimied boom by revving up their production lines? Or should toey play it safe, re-trendi, avoid capital commitmentsand possibly risk tremendous losses in sales?

The biggest economic de-csion today must be mfide by President Nixon and his advisers. They must decide when toe critical time arrives in their slowdown program the point beyond which recession lies ahead.

This puts toe President in a position similar to that of toe rear wheelman on the hook-and-ladder. A little pres-

WASHINGTON - When President Nixon took his oath of office, he asked everybody in toe United State to lower their voices. Now he wants every<xie to tout up.

Secretary Rogers on Meet the Press said that President Nixon cannot negotiate a peace in Paris because of toe critics In the United Statos.

There is probably a lot^lK be said for this argument It is not generally known, but the man most res^nsible for holding up peace in Vietnam is Selwyn McIntosh. Selwyn Mclnto^ a shoe salesman from Brookley, has been a critic of the Vietnam war since 1963. His outspoken statements concerning our involvement in that part of the world have given aid and comfort to Hanm, and it is now an undisputed fact that if McIntosh had kept his big mouth shut, we would have won toe war six years ago.

Back in 1963, the North Viet-

Get

factors are involved.

The American economy simply is not an input - output machine. The ingredients put into the economy at the front do not always produce the same sausage at toe other end. Not Ttoen human beings influence every step in the process.

The Presidents problem is compmmded by tte human dimension. A slowdown means jto losses, no matter that toe earlier propaganda led people to believe differently. And job losses mean personal misery and social unrest.

The most miserable aspect of any increase in joblessness is that those least able to afford a layoff are toe very ones that receive toe b a d news.

One way to avoid toe unpleasantness is to - compromise, to lift toe slowdown program just a bitenough to induce sluggishness but not enough to create a sudden rise in unemployment.

Should this be done, however, toe original problem of inflation would remain, sapping energy from- incomes

Should Stand Firm

namese were on toe ropes. Captured enemy documents showed toey were ready to sue for peace, and toe United States was discussing methods of making Hand pay for its aggression.

But at that nioment McIntosh showed up with a picket sign at toe Wlfite House which t of Vietnam. he was photographed and the picture was transmitted to Hanoi.

' Hanoi said; Why should we make peace on unfavorable terms when McIntosh is urging* toe Americans to g e t out?

In 1964 President JohnMn decided to bomb North Vietnam to bring Hanoi to its senses. The bombing, , as everyone knows, was extrem^ ly successful, and once again North Vietnam was ready to throw in toe towel.

But McLitosh wrote a letter to his local newspaper urging the United States to stop the

bombing. Whe the letter was printed, a neutral diplomat sent it to Ho Chi Minh, and Ho decided that despite the bombing he would stick to his guns, as Mr. Jdinstm did not have toe support he claimed.

President Johnson was angered by McIntosh throwing toe wrendi into his peace plans, and he told intimates that McIntoshs criticism was treasonable and a disgrace. To show that he wasnt going to be intimidated by McIntosh, the Presidfent ordered more troops into Vietnam.

ART

BUCHWALD

Other Editors Say

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UMIMS PREBB INTERNATIONAI.

avaltahia

ly as a more approach.

This, toen, is the difficult decision that toe Nixon people are facing:

To continue toe slowdown policies at toe expense of jobs and houses and in toe face of a growing threat of recession. Or to relax toe restraints on the economy and face toe possibility of an erosive inflation for years to come.

Without a doubt Richard Nixcm is conceding nothing to the other individuals iind groups who must decide un-equhrocably in these confused times, for he is in that rear i seat (HI the hook - and - lad-' der. A big turn is c(Mning up at toe crossroads and he isnt sure that the wheel is working well.

sure on the wheel results in a ,

great big turn; and the turn I J1 lOjp doesnt come Iminediately VJ.W

doesnt come immediately its delayed.

Bu the Presidents situation is even worse. The wheelman really knows what to expect But nobody has ever measured exactly what to expect from economic decisicMis. They cant, for too many human

The. best advice I can give tfl) any young man can be sunned up in exactly eight words, and they are be honest with yourself and tell the truth. James A. Farley.

(Kinston Free Press)

President Nixon has said the current war m(ffatorium wUl not sway his policies in Vietnam, where he feels some progress is being made and in which toe Nation needs to stand united to achieve maximum cooperation from Allies in an early end to the conflict

Meanwhile the socalled mo-rat(xkmriras iH)read to toe Nations universities and colleges as well as into most (rf the large cities. It is nationwide in scope and there are many divergent opinions relative to the importance and significance of such a widespread plea (n: a moratonum on war.

The President has to look at the whole picture. He is well aware that his election and the naiion>wide desire to be done with a land war cn-mitment In Vietnam is uppermost in the minds of most

Americans today. As he says no new information can come out of toe Wednesday moratorium f(H*t. He asks (or unity and supp<*t in a desire to keep toe Reds from minread-ing toe protests and criticisms hwled daily at toe Nixon administration.

Most intelligent Americans will agree that protest for the sake of protest is limited in its possibte actoievements. 1! toe pe(^le who want to have toeir say (Hi war and how to end it would allow a reason able period for implementation of policies now being pushed by the President, we. believe toe objective of peace would be advanced faster than by their current activities.

The President does will to stand firm on policy, because he represents all Americans who want an honorable and speedy end to the warnot just toose who are most vocal about it in this weeks so-called moratorium.

The body counts mounted, and military intelligence indicated that the North Vietnamese couldnt hold out tor very much longer. The President told Dean Rusk to get ready to accept Hanois surrender.

But McIntosh was getting his intelligence from the newspapers, and these accounts differed wildly from those of toe military. So at a large cocktail pariy he announced that toe military was 1 y i n g abcHit toeir successes.

A Viet Cong agent happened, to be working at the party as a waiter, and he reported what McIntosh had said. He immediately canceled any plans he had to meet with Dean Rusk, and another chance for peace was lost.

A year later elections were held in South Vietnam. The winners were Thieu and Ky, and toe losers were jailed. This put Hanoi into a depression until McIntosh told' a friend on the phone that toe elections were rigged in favor of toe Thieu govfiraiheht M^ Intoshs phone happened to be tapped by the FBI, ind somehow llanoi got a transcript of the tape. When they read what Mclnto^\had raid. Hanoi held a meeting^ nd (CoDtfamed Oa p^a I)

By JOY BTHXET

NEW YORK (AP) - There are sevoi baric iwoblema that lead to marital conflict, a New , Jersey marriaga counselor reports: chUdren^ sex, alcohol, lih laws, reUgton, bouiekeeiHng and : finances. ^ ^

Although she seems to have covered the subject pretty weU. she has failed to touch on the basic problem to our household: * who is going to run the wastebasket concession. .

Its easier to sneak narcotics through customs than to sneak anything out of our house into the garbage CM. .

My husband hai a distinct reverwice for age. Im not talking merely of his fondness for ni butof his refusal to throw out anytldng that has_been in his possession even briefly.

If i discard something when it is fairly new only a small repri^ mMd ensues. But if anything has been around ^

week it takes on all file value of a rare anti(iue and my mlade--meanor becomes a fdony. vYoure not throwing out our dear little babyf teething ring, my hoarding husband itys in horror. Wftr. weve bed fiiet for years!

Indeed we have. Slnce r dear little baby Is now in college and chewing on her fingernaili rather than a smafi plastic circle, I doubt if fteres much of a future tor that particular item. But its small, so I retrieve it

from toe trash with only a minimum of argument.

However the 20-y^r-old television set is big enough to fight foror against. It has a seven-inch screai but is bulkier than modern ones with screens more than twice that size. For 15 yars its been stoffed into the garage,' along with trunks of books, electric train sets from my husbands boyhood, cans of drie^up paint and rusty nails.

But this was one of the first TVs made, the family collector insists. Its a museum piece.

So is the watch with no hands, no crystal and no stem his par-its gave him when he gradiuat-ed from junior high. So is tot red metal dump truck with most of the print scratched off ha had as a child. So is the broad-brimmed hat from his Boy Scout days. But to date the Smithsonian Institution hasnt ' expressed much interest He calls it sentiment I call it clutter.

One day, when he was safely at work, I decided to make a dent in the old newspapwrs np tied on closet shelves riong with old scrapbooks and letters he wrote his paroits from camp.

I had just gotten down some 50 pounds worth chronicling such events as the start of World War II when in he walked, home early for toe first' time in months. What he demanded ac(nisingly, do you" have those out for?

I thought fast Pve developed a sudden interest in ancient history, I srid. I waa going to look throu^ these and see if toey really told It Mke it was.

Hes keeping an even sharper eye (Hi tti wastebasket toesa days. The only way Til be able to get rid of those papers is to chew them up and iwaUow them.

Quotes

Seeing much, tuffering ,: much and studying much, ara *' the three pillars of learning. Benjamin Disraeli.

*^Deaththe last sleep? No, it is the last final awaken-ing.-Sir Walter Scott

An End To Inspired Invention?

Strength For Today

An IhfaUible Formula What is the secret of all intellectual and moral growth That can be answered in one sentence. The secret of all inteliectual and moral growth abides in the' capacity for self-criticism. If a per-son lacks that he Ucks the initial means by which toe learning process begins.^ ^ Many j^ople believe that the way to gain wisdom is by becoming highly skeptical toward everything universally a(scepted as true. There is a certain virtue in this, but what we need most to become skepticar about Is our-/selves, our own wisdom, our /Valiantly defended conclusions. In the field of morals, we" never get anywhere until we stop critfelng others and begin criticizing oirslves.

. - I .

The Phariees^who opposed ^Jesus were men who had lost the capacity for self-criticism. The crowd in Athens that did Socrates to death were men who could criticize everything but themselves and their own opinions' The authorities of toe seventeenth century who forced Galileo to his knees in recantation were men who either had lost, or had never possessed, toe power of self-crticdsm.

Watch out for such people today. They are to be found in high business positions, in legislative halls, on college faculties, in pulpits, on newspapers, and on the golf links. We can rely on this formula i all intellectual and moral growth depends upn one's capacity tor self-criticism, y " By Earl L. Douglass

By ELMER ROESSNER 'There are many reasons why tel^hone service had deteriorated in large cities across toe country. Phone companies did not expect the growth of business. Trained men are scarce.- Deliveries of equipment are slow. Addicts smash phone-boxes to get money to buy dope. Girls nrt hard to recruit.

Yet one of toe major reasons is nevm* mentioned.

It is that phone companies are shifting from easy - to - remember letter and number combinations to all-digit numbers. People cant remember seven digits easily. A number of tests nave shown that the average person can remembr five digits, fewer can remember six, and still fewer can remember seven.*

How To Retoember Nmbers

Many years ago, when I wa^ . a young reporter^ in New York, I wrote a bit tor a pa-pgr on remembering telephone numbers, and offering

toe Roessner system. It consisted of forming little rhymes inclu(Ung the number^- The police number was SPRing 8100 and my verse was:

SPRing away from wickedness,

3 times shun the evil way;

Try to win some blessedness, ,

100 laws you must obey!

The police number today is 440-1234. Try that on jingler!

Phone companies say it is necessary to use all digits because, with toe increased number of telephones, it is essen

tial to use the one and the zero holes or button for first and second digits. By utilizing one and zero holes or buttons, prone numbers can be increased by millions.

But it was not necessary to abolish the use of letters to achieve this. All that was needed was to divide the 26 I lettdrs of the alphabet among the 10 holes or buttons, such as AB with 1, CDE with 2; FG with 8. HU wltr 4, KL with 5, MNO with 6,PQRwito 7, ST with 8, UVW with 9 and

' . XYZ.with zero.

lOKSBNEIi cootoiioD Seta In , --Phone companies have argu-that this would involve the / huge cost of changing all list-'t , Ings. So it would. But, toe

change to all digits is exact* ly as expepslve.

Why the phone companies y 0 ux , have gone iiiiead with thltnonsense has -never been explained. Perhaps some eager vice president said, Look, if we use numbers people can't remember correctly, weii pick

up a lot of nickels and diflMi from wrong-number calls."-^

So they may. But it ll breaking down the phone lya-tem. Pe^ who forget numbers call information, increasing the traffic and jamming the lines. Or tbdy call a wrong number and cril agato, forfeiting a dima but stiU jaifr ming toe lines. Or they cell again to ask for a refund and this loads lines and costs ttia company a refund plus a B cent stamp. Reftmd opentori are so busy that some Cllleri wait 10 minutes for an loswer. And some quick Umpini callers smash the phBef.

Pay r ftotioa {toofrif hiv become one . inosd ki dita, Herman B. 61air, chairnian of the Nw Yerlr Ck)uncil for Ovie Affairs, com plained to tha New York Publk Service Commlsrion. Hi said that brokta pbooti wltbottt oubof-order rigni raidlt to the unjust ei^chment of the telephone company to tha nil* lions ri dollars.