; / ' __ 'Y

Monday, November 3, 1969

-r'

No Perfect Way To Raise Revenue

Tomorrow Pitt County voters go to the polls to be raised year after year the local governments ar decide whether or not an additional one percent going to have to find some tax source which has

growth potential to meet local governmpt demand.

A vote against the local sales tax just because it is another tax is a vote against meeting our own needs through our own resources. Voting against it because property tax will be lowered is self defeat-opposition because it will mean some reduction in ing since the additional revenues needed in years -4)ropeity tax. - - - ._hea4 might not materiaUaer-Basentnwnt against

sales tax will be levied in thisrcounty for the benefit of the county and municipal governments.

There are those who have already closed their minds to the tax because they just do not want any "more taxes. There are others who have expressed

Both groups should think awhile about their further property tax increases is just that great.

po.iti<ms. County and municipal governments are In the tightest binds of any governments for funds; and yet county and municipal funds are the ones over which local people exert the greatest control.

While it is true that property tax will be cut back if the sales tax is approved it is also true that

popularand none can be a perfect ivenue.. However, Pitt Countians are

No tax is way to raise revenue, already paying the state sales tax and the additional one percent tax will not be much more painful.

Sales here are going to grow in the years ahead and consequently the revenue the county and munici-

the local sales tax offers the greatest growth poten- palities receive from the sales tax will grow also

tial of the two taxes. And if property tax is noi to

Odd Conflict As To Public

By WILUAM A. SHIRES

ZwilCvtOr limclgB OttTcait

RALEIGH-Circling

square:

The complaint voiced

the

by

signed to assist and advise the htkrancc Department. --But then the 19^ General Assembly created a division of consumer protection under jurisdiction of the Attorney

Insurance Commissioner Ed- of fice,

win S. Lanier against the statute specifies that the

The Daily Reflector believes that' a vote for the one percent sales tax is in our own best interest. We urge all dnalified voters to visit the polls tomorrow to vote in favor of the local sales tax.

Just No Knowing Who They Will Be Harming

We hope that no one's life will ever be endangered Dr that ar fire wiR grow eut of control because of harrassment of rescuemen and firemen on their calls.

It is, however, something that could happen if there are other incidents of rock throwing at rescue and fire fighting^vehicles.

Attorney Generals office is being viewed as a lawyer-client relationship matter, but an unusual one.

It is the first charge of conflict of duties levelled gainst an Attorney General of North Carolina in the mem-o^ of veteran observers and high state officials.

Laniers charge is conflict of duties, not necessarily conflict of interests. The ^act is tiiat both Lanier and the assistant attorney general as-signl to his deoartment and the Attorney Generals office are attempting to represent the public interest in an automobile liabiMtv rate insurance case. In doing so, they collided.

WItLUW

SHIRES

DifferOne of Atty. Gen. Robert Morgans assistants assigned to handle Insurance Department matters advised that full and cixnplete hearings be conducted.

Another, assigned to represent the newly - created division for consumer protection, asked that the rate filing case be dismissed.

Lanier says he is kind of dumfounded. The quandary Is, he says, If I come to a decision tiiat the attorney general finds is contrary to the vpublic Jnterest, then who do I turn to for legal advice?

Background under the state's constituion the AtUr-ney General must offer legal aid, counsel and advice to the states constitutionally elected officials and their departments. Under this provision assistant Atty. Gen. Bernard Harrell has been as-

Justice Department assign counsel in all cases involving the public interest, and Morgan chose deputy attorney general jean Benoy to represent the' public in the recent insurance rate case.

It ap^ared that Harrell and Benoy were clashing on legal points. Both work f o r Morgan and are supposed to represent the official view of the Attorney Generals office.

Lanier says he felt he was eaijfht in the middle of a complicated situation.

Harrell advised continuation of the hearings. Benoy moved for dismissal of tlie case. Lanier asked, what am I .supposed to do?

Precedence Apparently tliere is no precedent on which to base an answer.

But every authority contacted insisted that the constitutional provision takes precedence over a statute if question arises.

This is Laniers contention" and strong p^t. He points to the constitutional provision that the Attorney General must aid and advise the constitutional offices of the executive branch.

They arc our lawyers, he says. Who else can we turn to?

ResolvedThe question will have to be resolved by the Attorney General himself, Robert Morgan. And the question will be who really is the man caught in the middlii?

Is it Lanier? Is it Morgan? Is it Benoy? r

Lanier charged that Benoy appeared more interested in getting the rate increase request dismissed than in getting at the rot of the issue and finding out whether the Industry request was really ju.stified.

It was clear that Lanier is upset by Benoys intervention in the caae, asking do they think I have notfbeen representing the publics interests aU of this time?

Fire Chief Ray Smith has said the vehicles may have to turn back on some calls if the crews and equipment are subjected to undue hazards on their trips.

We can think of nothing more thoughtless than bombarding fire trucks or rescue vehicles on missions of mercy. Tho.se who do such things have no way of knowing who they are harming. Someone may be dying or a house may be burning. Bombarding emergency vehicles can do nothing to help any cause.

"Ah Think Hits Spelled B-U-R-G-E-R

^ Black CaDitd,

Factor Ignored

ART BUCHWALD

Todays Henpecked Doc

The Daily Reflector

INCORPORATID

kstablithed 1882

Fvblishcd Monday through Friday Afternoons and Sunday Morning

DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD. Chairman of the Boerd

JOHN S. WHICHARD-DAVID J. WHICHARD

Publiihert

MM-iit PMt Offlec. GffNtHlle, H. CL a aecaN elaai pal aeMir

SUBSCRIPTION RATES Hem# Delivery By Carrier er Meter Route Monthly $2.25 By Mail, Payable In Advance

Oea Tear ...... ir.M

Sis Maethe ......... U.M

Tbree Maotbs........... t.7S

(Prieta iMleSa aeiat lax tora appleaMa)

IflKBAll OP ASSOCUTEO PRBSS

tia Aetfimi fr$i o la i

caltie aB eews iisfatcbetr'^aMMad le b w aat atherviaa Wedtted li ttia MMf aee elre (ba ibeal eews aebllsbed barato. AB rigtoi al pebBcatlMa al apMlal dbpatcbaa hue

immcD pRBSd international

AdrtfilriBg ratea aa eadltaea avallabla Member AadU Barean al Ctrcalatlae.

By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHLNGTON - The latest shakeup in Presidept Nixons faltering program of black capitalism has saved Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans from potential political embarrassment bu t moved Mr. Nixwis campaign pledges to the Negro ghetto still further from redemption.

Stans breathed a sigh of relief when Thomas F. Roeser, a young Chicago corporation executive with superb Republican ccHinections, allowed him self to be kicked upstairs out of the Commerce Departments Office of Minority Business Enterprise (OMBE). What the administration had feared was Roeser resigning with a blast exposing the absolute failure to develop black capitalism since Jan. 20.

Saved that embarrassment, Stans also is relieved for the time being of pressure for a program. Yet, failure to nurture Candidate Nixons most innovative proposal cannot be laid at the do(m of Maurice Stans, an orthodox Republican financier ill-equipped for creative undertakings. Rather, it is symptomatic of a brutal fact: the utter lack of interest in the black ghetto by the occupant of the White House Oval Office.

Republicans who are interested in the ghetto were distressed early this year when Stans seized control of black capitalism by creating OMBE. They were reassured, temporarily, when Stans selected Roeser, 41, public affairs officer of Quaker Oats in Chicago, as OMBEs head.

Roeser, a Republican partisan and ideologically a con-'servative, was an ardent Nixon supporter long b e f o r a Miajni Beach. At the same time, he had become deeply committed to improving life in the ghetto through civic work in Chicago. Thus, black capitalism was to him a golden opportunity to involve his partv in the ghetto without departing from Republican principles.

Even if he had enjoyed full backing from Stans and the White House, Roeser would have been severely handicap-ed by OMBEs grotesque financing. Without any funds of its own, it depends wholly chi the willingness of other agencies the Office of Ecmiomic Opportunity, the Housing and Urban Affairs Departmen, and the Health, Education, and Welfare Department to transfer funds to OMBE programs.

Moreover, Roeser has had no cheef-leadlng section In the White House. Dr. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, vidio heads the Urban Affairs Council Staff there, is a liberal Democrat with little en husiasm for weddifig the Negro and the business community. Conservative White House aides seem bored by the ghetto. Nw has any single Presidential assistant been given responsibility for black capitalism.

Untidiest (rf all has been Roesers relationship wi ,.h Stans, his boss. When Roeser found $500 million in other departments funds that could be used by OMBE and urged Stans to negotiate with his counterparts for their transfer, the Secretary flatly refussed to venture into such boat-rocMng activities. The substitute was a press release pledging that $301 million will be spent through next June. Where it will come from is anybodys guess.

Even worse was the conflict between Stans and Roeser over long-term strategy. As we reported three weeks ago, Stans blue-pencilled to extinction Roesers plan for a quasi-public corporation to develop ghetio enterprises. Stans hais not developed even a vague substitute in its place. To this hour, no blueprint for black capitalism has gone for the Commerce De-partmen to the White House. Nor has Roeser distinguished his unhappiness with Stan preference for press agent gimmicks over substantive programming.

WASHINGTON - The days when a husband came home to a henpecking wife are a thing of the past. In these perilous times, it isnt a mans wife who gives him hell, but his children.

I didnt realize how common it was until I ran into my friend Nolan in a bar around 6 oclock in the evening. Nolam was belting them down pretty fast and 1 s a i d to him:

Dont you think itss about time you went home?

What for? Nolan said 11 just catch if from the kids.

.Have they been haid on you lately? I asked.

Theyre impossible. The minute I walk into the door they start in on me. Why do they have to wait for dinner while I watch the news? How

come 1 can drink a martini and they cant smoke pot? Why cant they each have a telephone in their own room? 1 tell you, theyre driving me crazy.

Why . dont you tell them to shut up?

I do, but it doesnt do any good. Theyre so deaf from listening to their records that they cant hear anything I say. If theyve had a fight with.their mother and I stick up for her, they all accuse me of taking her side. I cant seem to do anything right.

I have a 17-year-old son, and hes the bomb thrower in the family. He says everything in the system stinks. Hes ashamed of the bourgeois life we lead and the bour geois friends we have and the bourgeois job 1 have. But

By JOHN CUNNIFf AP Basineia Aaaiysl

NEW YORK 4AP) 0 I the problems with ttta Nto ministration's policy of u tary restraints on wag A prices is that it asks busv>Ht and labw not to in bu 1 doesnt define the natura ri m.

How do you know youra t.n-ning if you dont know what u a siii is? asked Waller Hell-r. who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under John F. Kennedy and for a while under Lyndon B. Johnson.

Hellers views on the techniques of economic control were solicited because doubts are growing among some economistsperhaps a minorityregarding the effectiveness of the Nixon program.

In Hellers days in Washington there was little question about the defimtion ^ sin. Both wage and price increases were tied by a formula to increases in productivity, which at that time averaged about 3.2 per cent a year. ~

The guideposts, it was felt, would give uni(His and management a measure of the boundaries within which tiiey could bargain. They worked, leeming-ly between 1963 and 1968, but were broken badly thereafter.

They did, nevertheless, have an impact. Whenever a union or a company violated the guide-posts it risked a crescendo of criticism from Washington, More than once, price increases were rescinded, ^d* In the publics eye, the offender was held up to scorn as a violator of the national interest.

This usually put the White House at center stage and made hes not above borrowing my occupant the leading

bourgeois car to drive h i s character, a role that President girlfriend to a student meet- j^j^on seems reluctant to as-ing to overthrow the bourge- gume but which Heller bcUevea ois establishment. |g g perfectly sensible one.

It must be tough, I said you have to use the White

to Nolan, drink.

buying him a

House as a prism to focus public , he said. I dont think

ART

BUCUWAU^

When my 16 - year old (laughter goes out on a date

?ublic Forum

To The Edittr:

With the referendum for an extra one-cent sales tax coming up Nov. 4 we have lead and received letters in the mail regarjding the advantage it would mean to the property owner, and we would like to share these thoughts with your readers.

It is true it will broaden the tax base. Its true those who own large holdings wd rental property will greatly benefit, but the average one-house-mortage-holding - family-raising man is being led down the garden path if he believes its going to Iffing any tax relief to him! Its going to be socked to him again.

It will cost that family man abcMit $50 a year more in sales tax to reduce his property tax approximately |2S. Everytime be buys shoes for many feet, clothit^ for a growing family, groceries, a pair of curtains, a new bath towel, replaces a worn-out appliance or piece of

furniture, adds storm windows or paints his house (he gets no tax deductions for income-producing rental property), buys a pack of flower seecis for his yard, he pays tax, and pays tax, and pays tax. As inflation continues its devastating effect and we are already paying $10 for what $8 would have purchased two years ago, doesnt that man that we now pay 30 cents tax with todays buying power as compared with 24 cents tax for the same item then?

So lets present it jl?e way it is. 'The county neeils more money, and this is one way of raising it, but five minutes of simple arithmetic with pencil and paper shows it will cut more deeply into the paycheck of the average property owner, and he should be aware of this fact, too, before he decides to vote yes or no.

Yours very truly,

Joan M. Chenier (Mrs. Leo Chenier)

opinion.

the Nixon administration has made nearly enough qf its leadership role. ^

Asked what he woulrdo if he were in office today, Heller replied: I would issue a call to labor and industry to come in and talk together. I would put the problem to them at the same time. 1 would make Ihtm confi*(Mit it.

The Important thhig, Heller said, would be to have both labor and management fact tht issue together rather than aep-, , u u * u * arately, and to do so under the

and I say she has to be m at pressure of finding an acconip

a certam hour, she say Im rioRon in the national inter-

destroying her social life,

and it wiU serve me r i g h t Sending out 2,000 letters Isnt when she winds up on a psy- ggig to do it. he said, Itfer-

ring to Nixons recent mail campaign seeking cooperation of union and managenumt people. Thats opening a mouth without teeth in ii

Heller believes that now U ^ , time for some lifting of the Nix-

13-year-old said that Paul on slowdown policy, which ha McCartney of the Beatles was feels is at the critical point be-dead. I sajd he wasnt dead yond which the economy could that it was all a put-on, and be tipped into recession, that he was alive and well in qn ecoBomy as dynamic in London. She said I didnt as ours, he said, if you aim at know what I was talking no growth you run the risk of a about, because all the kids recession for a quarter or two. knew he was dead. I showed Nevertheless, he said, the odds her a picture in the newspa- are three in five that thera will

be no recession. _

The prospects for what have been called the heavenly seventies are mmre positive.. i After a period of adljustment in the economy. Im optimistic about prospects, he said. Sometime in 1971 well be back on the track and heading for grcwth. But an old and unwelcome acquaintance may tag along.

Well have more inflation in the 1970s than in the ?960s, he said. Its going to get awfully (Continued On Page i)

chiatrists couch.

They really put you through the wringer, dcmt they? I said.

Nolan was practically In tears. You dwit know what its like. The other night my

per of McCartney proving he wasnt dead, and she said the grownups were just hiding tile facts from the kids, because we wanted them to think he was alive. She said if I lied to her about McCartney, I probably lied to her about everything.

Whats the answer, Nolan? I asked, as 1 bought him another ddnk.

If it wasnt for my wife, rd probably call the whole thing off. I love my wife, (Contimed On Page S)

i November Ancd Christmas Soles

?ublic

1-orum

To The Editor:

When a controversial political issue arises, a newspaper is morally obligated to present all sides of the issue, even though its management may choose to support a particular side editorialty. The Daily Reflector, in its reporting of the present sales tax controversy, has not fulfilled this obligation.

Editorially, the Reflector ha not taken a position iii the

ents of the tax in the Greenville area, this is hardly likely: Other newspapers in the state s{^areDtly have encountered no difficulty in securing the views of groups and individuals opposing the tax.

Certainly, there are Mtiw* al pounds for opposing an additional sales tax, as anyona even va|uely aware of the regressive nature of shch a tax surely knows. Why, there-te, has not the Reflector

sales tax debate. Howevw. its-T"presented the view^ el tax op-heyvs reports of the contro- poneqts and thereby fulfilled

versy have been confined almost entirely to a presentation of the views of sales tax supporters. While it is possi-. ble that there are no oppon-

its responsibility as a newspaper In this sales tax controversy?

Sincerely,

M. A. Yarbrough

By ELMER ROESSNER The test of Christmas sales volume will come in November. If sales continue above year-ago levels, as they have all this year, it will be fairly certain that tiie rise will continue during December and, of a recession, a new h i g 1^ mark will be set.

^ However, the record will be let in dollars, not in the physical volume of goods. Sales totals have been running about 2 per cent above last year. Since the price of goods is running S or I .per cent above last year; it is obvious that pffiple are buying fewhr articles and items. When the rise in population is taken into account, it is plain that with the exception of the Richard Burtons and the ^is-totle Onassises people are getting along With less and less. ^

The start of Christmas sell

ing will reverse the downward

trend in evening sales at downtown stores in most urban centers. The decline has been serious. Major reason, of course, is the growth of suburban branches and the consistent expansion of lines in these branches.

Where The Goods Are

Not long ago if a suburban shpppr wanted an extra-large or extra-small size, or an unusually expensive item, a suburban branch had to special-orcler it fitem the main store. Now the reverse is often true. The main store frequently ha$ to.special-order merchandise from a branch.

In the weeks ahead, both downtown and suburban sales will flourish, bells will jingle and Santa Claus 'wlQ stay up iate. But afjter tbe holiday shopping season is oVer, a sharp cutback in late hOurs at downtown stores can be ex-

V

Wall Street bonuses will be slimmer this year. While brokers have had a high-vol-ume year, the cost-per-sale has risen sharply, due to higher labor costs, the scarcity of competent help, high wage rates for temporary employees and, recently the decltoe in volume.

But because they expect the market to flare up at Jiny time,^ brokers are keeping their ataHsiivand instead of

JayoifeFmiity bonus

es.

The Search For A Buck

The Diners Club, gasoline companies and other nonbank credit card issuers have long use3 their cards and maUing Ust to sell other iteifns, either on commission or as entrepreneurs.

Banks Issuing credit eards are moving into that field last, tiie action accelerated by the hope of aakinf Christmas sales. ^Veufl fSj itento clferad as durie. able bargains from new through CBristmai.

Television and radio ita. tions win be squeezing ia Miy extra commerdals tween now and Qiriitmaa. Sales of air tima art eentlnu. ing strong with maw mtaiv ers reinforcing adala eto media in pursuit e( CbiitniM sales and some itattpoi are putting buyers on waltin| lliti