4The Daily Reflector, Greenville, N. C.^Wednetday, January 14.1970

Continuous Planning Needed

. The fact that Pitt Memorial Hospital is faced with a shortage of beds even as the county ponders what to do about additional hospital space illustrates the fact that continuing planning is needed by the county.

Daily Reflector staff writer Stuart Savages article Sunday brought out the fact that the hospitals 200 beds are being used at 95 percent capacity.

The county in April, 1968 was told by a consultant that 100 private rooms should be added, along with the enlargement of su^rting services.

Now the county is considering a number of plans for improving hospital facilities. One is the addition of 100 beds at a cost of $7 million. Anothef is to build an entirely new hospital of 300 beds at an estimated cost of $10.7.

Adoption of either one of these plans would mean that considerable time would elapse before the additional facilities could be completed and placed in service.

There have also been proposals byseveral firms to purchase the hospital and opefate it as a private venture, with the purchasing firm to build additional facilities or an entirely new facility. This, too, would take considerable time.

The most recent proposal was for using relatively low cost module units to furnish 100 additional rooms. This would allow additional time for

Romney Skips

planning the future course. However there would still be the need for additional supporting facilities.

The county may as well realize there is going to be considerable growth ^lead for Greenville and Pitt County. There is going to be more need than ever for continuous planning by the county government. This will have to be done so that new hospital facilities will be available when they are ^ needed; and other services offered by the county will be up to date. ,

Jumbo Jets Mean New Air Age Is Af Hand

A new air age is nearing for the world as the jumbo jets come nearer to reality.

A Pa American Airways Boeing 747 touched down at London from New York Monday in a dress rehearsal for regular flight.

It carried 380 persons and made the trip in six hours and 30 minutes.

There were some delays in handling baggage but it is clear that the jumbo jets will soon be in service.

There are many problems still to be solved, not the least of which is airports adequate to handle the air giants, and the safety problem. However, in the future there will be more people carried on transatlantic flights and the traveling time will be shorter. It means a new era of air travel;

Senate Race Still Unaware

By ROWLAND VANS and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON - George W. Romney informed a closed - door meeting of Michigan's Republican high command here last Tuesday that he not only had no intention of running for the Senate this year but that he felt both happy and wanted in the Nixon Cabinet.

That last point was significant because of backstage pressure from Harry Dent, top political aide at the White House, to push Romney into the race against ' popular Democratic Sen. Philip Hart. Michigan Republican politicians who received such calls from Dent erroneously assumed that President Nixon wanted to ease Romney out as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

To clear the air, a meeting was called in Romneys HUD office on Tuesday. Michigan party leaders present Gov. William Milliken, Sen. Robert Griffin, Rep. Gerald Ford, and Assistant Republican National Chairman Elly Petersontold Romney they must have a decision from him soon.

They got one. Romney asserted that he definitely would not run for the Senate. Pledging them to secrecy, Romney said he wanted to inform the President hitnself after Mr. Nixons return here from San Clemente.

Moreover, Romney stressed that Mr. Nixon at no time requested him to run for the Senate but specifically asked hini to stay in the Cabinet. Contrary to published reports that he felt lost in Washington, Romney continued, he is enthusiastic about his job at HUD and feels he is making progress toward solving the housing problem.

The upshot is residual bitterness by Romneys close political associates toward Dent, regarded by them probably wrongly as seeking to undercut Romneys position in Washington. The fact is that both the President and Dent view

Romney as Harts strongest possible challenger but are well aware of the sensitivity of getting a Cabinet member to run for office without seming to offend him.

At a hush-hush meeting in the White House just before Christmas, political aide Harry Dent pointedly advised William Rentschler to get out of the Illinois Republican Senatorial primary against Sen. Ralph Smith.

Dent was specifically talking for his boss. Moreover, Dent came to the meeting armed with telephone and other bills, ostensibly left over from Mr. Nixons 1%8 Presidential campaign in Illinois. Rentschler, a candy manufacturer from suburban Chicago who was the Nixon Illinois campaign manager, had submitted the bills to the old Nixon campaign (rffice for payment.

Close inspection of the bills, Rentschler was told, strongly indicated that they had little connection with the campaign. Some of them dealt with real estate ventures, a mahogany - harvesting enterprise, and candy manufacturing.

Indeed, Rentschlers financial crisis is revealed by his grave trouble in paying costs of his Senate campaign television productions in advance a customary obligation imposed on candidates by production companies.

Shortly before Christmas, a full day of shooting TV commercials for the Rentschler campaign was cancelled outright when the candidate did not produce a cash payment. He is also behind in payments due Harry Treleaven, the TV expert who handled 1968 Ntxoir^ TV productions and has been hired by Rentschler.

Accordingly, polit,ical experts here wont be surprised if Rentschler takes Mr. Nixons advice and dismantles his campaign. Nevertheless, his name will remain on the ballot for the March 17 primary because the^deadline for formal withdrawal has passed.

The Dally Reflector

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By JOHN CUNNIFF AP Business Analyst NEW YORK (AP) -Despite the fact that the law now requires interest rates on consumer loans to be stated as clearly as possible, the suspicion exists that many buyers still are unaware of the implications of the credit age.

Clearly, credit as a way of life is not only firmly established but growing relentlessly, both in total amount and as a percentage of disposable income. Close to $120 billion is outstanding, not including home mortgages.

A proper understanding of credit may not be developing simultaneously, however, and the failing seems to be shared by both borrower and lender.

A survey by the Federal Reserve Board in July 1969 showed considerable confusion among heads of households about the interest rates they paid on automobile loans, department, store credit and even home mortgages.

Since then the Truth-In-Lending Law has gone into effect, requiring that lenders state the dollar amount of finance charges and the interest as a percentage. But can anyone easily understand the charges on installment credit?

Compounding the confusion is the sometimes incredible state of credit bookkeeping. Holders of some credit caids find it almost impt^sible to get errors corrected. And in some stores the situation is as poor.

Consider, for example, the problem involved in a payment .made - but nnt recorded promptly by the creditor. The creditor in eludes the amount on the next bill, along with an interest charge.

One month later the creditor does make note of the payment and deducts it frwn the balance. But does the interest charge also come off? Not always, and not many borrowers are likely to spot the error either.

Some users of credit

suspect that the muclr-touted efficiencies of credit are not so real as advertised. They prefer instead to pay cash, seek a discount and keep their own records.

In Montebello, Calif., the editor of Western Milk & Ice Cream, " a Mr. Henry Adam Morse, complains.

Establishments accept credit cards willingly, waiting 30 days for their money less part of their pr(rfit, but when one offers cash asks for a discount it produces a financial crisis that requires calling the manager

Several years ago Morse printed up some Discount For-Cash cards and sent them to friends. Soon he was gettihg orders from all over the country for cards at three for $1. although they cost him only one cent to print.

So heavy were the orders, he says, that for awhile 1 thought I had discovered perpetual motion. What he had discovered were individuals of similar sympathies.

Another problem of the credit age is the matter of controls on the proliferation of bank credit cards that ~ seem to appear in the mails as regularly as >entsoff coupons. Although almost casually offered, these cards are an A l claim on the lendable funds of th'e dispensing bank.

A customer might apply to a bank for $6(X) in credit to purchase furniture and be turned down because of tight money. If he has the bank s credit card, however, he can buy that furniture without a question being asked.

Qirotes

The grandest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.-Ralph Waldo Einerson.

Don't Ho-Ho-Hor Me ... YOU Cave My Wanlrobe to the Taxpayers! Now, YOU Co Baek and .. /

By ART BUCHWALD

The Leftover Notes

^ WASHINGTON -year I find in my

Every basket

column-notes I never got around to discussing. So I shall use them up and start the new decade with a clean

in-basket.

A suggestion has been made as to how we could finance our space program without increasing the burden on the taxpayer.

Other Editors Say

Preserving The System

(Rocky Mount Telegram)

A new attempt will be made after Congress reconvenes Jan. 19 to throw all restraints off the nations electoral (ocesses by providing for the election of the President by direct, popular vote. All the machinery and restraints so widely set up by our Founding Fathers would be destroyed if the liberals have their way in the Senate where Sen. Birch Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, is sponsoring a constitutional amendment

I Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only Money is not requit ed to buy one moessity of the soul. - Henry David Thoreau.

In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes John Ruskin.

providing for popular vote.

His cohorts in the House have already maneuvered the scheme successfully through that branch of Congress, but thus far the Bayh amendment has been wisely bottled up in the Senate Judiciary Committee where wiser heads have prevailed thus far.

But it may nbt be for long. The Senate liberals are going to attempt to pry the amendment out of the Judiciar> Committee. Those opposing direct, popular vote prefer a rival amendment be chosen by districts corresponding to congressional districts, except that each state would elect two at-large. The principle of the electoral college, espoused by those who framed our Constitution, would thus be preserved.

The people who back Bayhs scheme apparently

are not averse'to taking a step backward. The American political system ia a federal unin, or federative republic. It is a representative system of government. Its design is not one of participatory politics to use the favorite phrase (rf the New Left. The system works well, as the endurance of the Rupublic for almost 200 years makes very clear.

But when the House voted for direct, popular election it voted to discard a key part of the plan devised for the operation of the Rupublic. It would break with the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, and Heaven knows there is very little wisdom being displayed in Washington these days.

Fortunately, the Constitution continues to provide safeguards against intellectual confusion. For thefirect election bill to become the law of the land, two-thirds of the Senate and three-fourths of the states will have to give their assent.

There is no doubt that the idea of direct elections has a superficial appeal to persons who havent examined the machinery of presidntial elections and considered the theory behind it. The chief damage of direct elections, of course, would be to downgrade the role of the states. But this is the ultimate goal of those liberals who prefer a strong, all-powerful central government, isnt it?

Rather than tax American citizens for furthering space exploration, we would ask for voluntary contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. In exchange for making, a donation, the President of the United States would be given the authority to name a part of the universe after the giver For example, if a company or individual gave $1 billion, a galaxy would be named after the company or person.

For $100 millibh, the giver would have a constellation named after him; for $10 million, a solar system; for $100,000 a star; $50,000 would entitle the donor to a planet in his name; $25,000 to a moon, $10,000 to an ocean or continent on another planet, and a $100 contribution would guarantee the givers name on a rock that an astronaut

brought back. , __

The larger contributors, such as th(e who bought a galaxy, would be given a dinner by President Nixon at the White House at which time the President would officially change the name of the galaxy and give the donor an autographed map of the universe It took months of effort, but someone has finally broken the code of the high JU.S. government executive when he is communicating witl someone else. While I may be violating security by revealing it, I still think the pubiic has right to know what their public servants really mean when they use the following words and phrases:

to expediteto con found confusion with commotion.

-co-ordinatora guy

who has a desk between two expediters.

(Continued On Page 5)

Strength For Today

Little People Want Piece

uNixon's

F-111

Pledge

By BOB HORTON AP MiUtary Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Fills persistent technical (Nrob-lems an)arently mil test President Nixons 1968 campaign I^edge to make the plane into one of the foundatimis of dur na-timal sectu-ity.

The then-candidates com-moit was recalled over the weekend when Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird raised the possibility that future Fill production may be canceled.

Fifteo) Fills have crashed, the latest in December, from reasons ranging from construction flaws to pilot error.

The Air Force said Mraiday the December accident that killed two crewmen resulted fixHn faulty steely which caused a wing to break off near the fuselage.

It was Nov. 1,1968, the eve (rf the presidential election, when Nixon publicly endorsed the Fill program while campaigning in Texas where the General Dynamics Company builds the plane.

The new plane was a continuing problem for the Democrats facing accusations that former Secretary of Defense Robert S McNamara overrode the military by awarding the multibil-lion-dollar contract to General Dynamics rather than Boeing of Seattle, Wash.

Mechanical bugs have continued to plague the Fill since Nixons campaign statement, prompting Laird to note Sunday in a televised interview that ibis becoming a Republican problem.

Since I have been Secretary of Defense, I have not had to face up to this issue," Laird said. But I am having to face up to it in 1971 because then is the time for decisiwi as to whether we w'ill go forward with a fourth wing or whether we will cancel the program after the fourth wing or before the fourth wing

The Air Force would like to buy more than 600 Fills but has been given the money in recent years to pay for 491.

This includes funds for 56 of 90 planes required for the fourth wing Laird referred to. Only 238 have actually been built, with 223 in the inventorjf afterjthe 15 crashes. ^

Aides say Laird is likely to depend solely on the Air Forces recommendation on whether to continue future Fill productimi.

The Air Force reported it does not know yet whether the steel defect which caused the Decem-ber accident is an isolated problem or affects the entire fleet. All (^rational Fills have been grounded pending inspection

Senator John McClellan. D-Ark., long a critic d the Fill program, has served notice to Laird he plans to resume his congressional investigation of the plane

McClellan said last week that if the latest problem affects all FllUs then the Pentagon should cancel the program instead of making further heavy expendi tures for repairs.

The Air Forc says that at this point it has no estimate on how much it might cost to remedy the sfe flavv should the defect be found in other Fills.

The Air Force last year had to modify the aircraft after another serious structural problem turned up during fatigue and stress tests of a wing rig on the ground.

That problem involved a crack in the vital internal wing box around which the Fills unique variable-sweep wings pivot. Strengthening of Fill sling boxes cost $80 million.

BE PATIENT

What are the factws which keep the life of a sincere Christian in line with Gods purposes?

The first, (rf course, is sincerity. Without sincerity no one can even get started on the living of a Christian life. He must be sincere in what he believes and in the way he tries to put his belicis into IH-actice.

The second factor which must stabilize the life of every true Christian ^is patience. As we look back bver the years, we are amazed, and probably discouraged, to realize that we have so (rften failed to do what the dictates oT our conscience assured us was right. It requires considerable faith for anyone to go through life realizing that Ho matter how much he wanted always to do the right

thing he has frequently failed.

The third factor of stability is belief. We have to get our feet firmly set on certain solid truths. For the Christian this means that we have to believe Ihat^God sincerely wants to imfJrove our lives and bring us to what the Bible calls "salvation. The saved person is the |)er.-on niade safe, and this safety comes to us and remains with us only if we can be patient with ourselves and patiently await what appears to be the fulfilling of God's plan for, our lives.

A great military leader said some years ago that in warfare there is no substitute for victory. This is particularly true in the patient living day bj^ day of a Christian life. '

God is patient with us if we can be patient withoui-ielves. By EARI I DOUGLASS

By ELMER ROESSNER That the little people want a piece of the action has been dramatically demonstrated by the offer of the First Pennsylvania Banking and Trust Co. of Philadelphia to sell its own 7/i per cent notes in multiples of $100.

ELMER

ROESSNER

Thijs is the first opportunity small sav^s have had to get more than 5/4 per cefit on their money. And thousands of people from all over the country have^ been rushing their money to Philadelphia to get the 7*/i per cent.

The nptes arent deposits; they ore simply the banks promise to repay the amounts

in 30 months, plus 7V^ per cent a year interest. The buyers can get their money back within five days of purchase. After that they must wait 30 months. If the money is needed before that, the notes may be used as security for loans at other banks.

Cracking The $1,000 Barrier Banks, under the Federal Reserves Regulation Q, are prohibited from paying more than 5>4 per cent on savings deposits. Higher interest rates have been reserved for the moderately wealthy and the rich.

Corporate bonds, which pay up to 9 per cent interest, are sold only in multiples of $1,000 or $5,000. Ohio Bell, (rffering bonds rated Aaaa last week, had to pay 8.70 per cent; corporations whose credit is rated lower mtisC pay more. ~ ^

Smaller businesses ;^ust pay :even more, up to 10 or 12

per cent at banks if they rate, more if they go to private sources. In a case in the courts in New Jersey, it was alleged that loan sharks charged a speculator U2 per cent interest a week.

Other banks have offered certificates of deposit, which are term notes, not savings deposits, paying up to 6 per certt. These are offered in large denominations, although a few have been offered in $500 bits.

Not For Little Guys

State and mtinicipal bonds pay around 6 per cent, but their tax-free interest, which can be worth 12 per cent to be a gentleman in the 50 per cent tax bracket, are sold mostly in $5,000 units, with a few in $1,000. There are a few mutual funds investing in tax-exempts, which sell shares in smaller amounts.

Treasury billa another security for the rich, pay.

almost 8 per cent. Treasur savings bonds, for the littl fellows, pay 5 per cent.

Banks pay 8 per cent ani more for Eurodollars, bu these are purchased onl; from banks and branch abroad.

First Pennsylvanias offe; caused tremors throughou the banking industry. Whih some banks said they wen not interested in similai offers because of the higl cost of handling small ac counts, several admitted thej were studying the problem

Some pointed out that th offer could jdrain deposit! from savihgs accounts ir banks and savings and loar associations and might dr> up sources for home loans

Some bankers predicted that th^ Federal Reserve might interdict the sale of 7V per cent notes, or put a lower interest on therm In fact, the Fed may act'J before this column is printed.