4Hie Dally Reflector. Greenville. N. C.Monday, April 13; 1970

A Wider View Of 'Mediocrity'

It it a sad time for America when its president has to stand before the nation and die world to anDOODce that it is impossible to appoint a man to the United States Supreme Court because he comes from a certain section of the nation.

Yet that is just what President Nixon had to do last week after two moderate judges from the South had been turned down by a prejudiced majority of the U. S. Senate.

have reluctantly concluded that it is not pffffihi to get confirmation for a judge on the Supreme Court of any man who believes in the strict coQstructian of the Constitution as I do, if he happens to come from the South.

Hie president went on to announce that he would submit a new nominee from some other part of the country. He said he had asked Atty. Gen. John N. Mitchell to submit names to me from outside the South of judges from state courts, appeals courts as well as the federal courts, who are qualified to be on the Supreme Court and who share

Story Refuted

my view... with regard to strict construction of the

Constitution.

I understand the bitter feeling of millions of Americans who live in the South about the act of regional discrimination that took place in the Senate . . . They have my assurance that the day will come when men like Judges Carswell and Haynsworth can and will sit on the high court.

We cannot disagree with the presidents decision to turn to another area of toe nation for a Supreme Court nominee. For it is obvious that narrow-mindedness reigns in the United States Senate. Perhaps these prejudiced senators reflect toe feelings of their constituents. We hope not. We cannot believe that millions of fair minded Americans feel toe way that these so called leaders

of the nation do.

There was much said about mediocrity as toe

Senate debated these two southern nominees. We couldnt honestly say whether either man is mediocre, for toe words were never backed up with facts. We think, however, that all of us can look further that these two nominees for mediocrity. We have a feeling that all the mediocrity that the nation can stand will be found in the United States Senate.

On One Count Answers May Be Found

(Todays guest column was wrincfi for the Association of Afternoon Dailies by Bill Lindau.' a reporter for the Asheboro Coinier - Tribune.)

By BILL LINDAL Theres nothing like a story with pictures in a national circulation magazine to give a boost to the tourist business Such a featiare with color pictures about the Sandhills horse and golf coiaitry of Moore County appeared in the April of Holiday, a national circulation

magazine generally devoted to places that appeal to well -heeled travelers.

The story, by Steve Birmingham. author of books about Americas upper economic echelons and places where they relax, did. however, upset some of the horse - country people of Southern Pines.

Since I live in Southern Pines and knew about the story in advance. I was looking forward to its publication.

Generally, the storys defects are minor except for one poiht.

The writer quotes an anonymous citizen of Southern Pines as saying in effect theres an unwritten agreement that blacks are not to be seen after dark on the streets on Southern Pines.

Speaking from the experience of Uving there since August. 1966 I can say lugnasfa to this charge.

And the annonymous sources statement can ' be refuted by facts picked off at random:

Since 1965. at least one Negro has been a member of the Southern Pines Town Cbundl.

And probably just as long, the Southern Pines Pobce Department has had at ' least one Negro, uniformed, sworn police officer. And the ,.j last time I looked there were at least two. (This is for a town of 6.000 population with a ten-man police force.)

Not only has Southern Pines had a Negro councilman after every election for the past 15 years, but one served two two-year terms as mayor pro tern of the town that is. until he resigned last year to accept appointment to the State Board of Conservation and Development.

The man is Felton Capel, a 40-year-old Howard University graduate who worked his way up in his home town in business from door - to - door salesman of

pots and pans to Southeastern district sales manager of the company, which is racially mixed.

When Capel resigned to join CADs board, he* was retraced on the Southern Pines council by another .Negro.

At this point I might mention that this black presence on the council can hardly be called tokenism. Capel, his predecessor and his successor all were installed by popular vote in regular municipal elections.

Furthermore, each Negro councilman works every council meeting under the continuous scrutiny of at least one of his fellow citizens of the West Southern Pines community. On occasional points involving the black community, consequently, he must be able to explain his conduct to dispel any suggestion that he played Uncle Tom.

Rarely, however, has a Negro councilman been called on to buck the councils white majority on a point involving the towns black community. West Southern Pines.

One time Capel did. He opposed approval one spring of a budget allocation for resort promotion and advertising. an operation which was turned over to the Sandhills Area Chamber of Conunerce.

The basis of Capel's objection was that no golf course in the Southern Pines area at the time was open to Negroes for playing golf, iat is; and. in view of this defacto segregation, the tourist attractions should not be promoted at the expense of the towns taxpayers, who include blacks.

A recent check, however, revealed that all but two of the Southern Pines area courses are open to any g(rifer who can pay the greens fees.)

All this is simply to describe the Southern Pines atmosphere which makes the quote in the Holiday article worthy of the epithet Hogwash.

But the surface mechanics alone do the same thing: How could a Negro councilman or Negro policeman function at ail if such an unwritten agreement were in force?

The town council meets at raght

And the policemen re not privileged to work exclusively on the day shift.

The Doily Reflector

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In Inquest Transcript

All the nation will be awaiting the release of the secret transcript of the Mary Jo Kopechne inquest tomorrow.

The transcript has been kept secret until it was certain that there would be no further legal action in toe case.'A Massachusetts Grand Jury ended toe matter recently and now the transcript has been cleared for release.

There were a great number of unanswered questions after that night when Sen. Kennedys auto went off a bridge and Mary Jo drowned. The senators public statement served to answer few of them.

Perhaps the inquest will answer some of toe questions and since Sen. Kennedy is a national political figure toe public deserves some answers.

Mitchell Sees

Glos Fading

By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON Considering the extreme embarrassment he has caused President Nixon, Republican Senators, and the South, John Mitchell, the Presidents political chief, might have more trouble getting confirmed by the Senate for Attorney General today than his two personal choices. Judge Clement Haynsworth and Judge G. Harrold Car-swell, had in their losing battles for the Supreme Court.

The nation may blame President Nixon for this, Sen. Marlow Cook, the Kentucky Republican who voted against Carswell, told us, but the fault lies not there. It lies in the Department of Justice.

What Cook said publicly was being said privately with hostile embellishments wherever two Republican Senators gathered to discuss the second humiliation to Mr. Nixon in his efforts to fill that empty ninth chair.

Though little hard evidence ' is available yet to indicate that, in fact, Mitchells days of glory are really ending, the handwriting is becoming visible on the wall. Its source is the surprising number of blunders and poor staff work that have been coming from the Justice Department, the political storm center of the Nixon administration and chief promoter of Mr. Nixons Southern strategy.

Two stories illustrate the point. One Republican Senator, who remained uncomfortably on the fence for weeks during the Carswell debate, specifically asked Sen. Roman Hruska of Nebraska and Sen. Edward

Strength For Today

<ii y

Learned

It All By Mail

Gurney of Florida, Carswells two key Republican backers, if they could arrange a personal meeting between him and Carswell.

Both said yes, of course, and passed the Senators request routinely to the Justice Department, assuming it would be quickly granted. After Wednesdays vote, the Senator (^sually asked Hruska and Gurney why the Justice Department, had not arranged the meeting. They were incredulous and had no explanation at all.

But that performance at Justice was standard all through the Carswell affair.

For example, another uncommitted Republican, Sen. Charles Mathias of Maryland, asked the Justice Department for two things: a chance to read some of Carswells written judicial opinions and a chance to chat with him privately and off the record.

The opinions were duly sent him by Justice, but there was no answer at all to the second request. Ten days before the vote, the Senator repeated his request, this time in writing. . It was not even acknowledged.

Senators dont like to get a run - around from Cabinet officers of their own party.

But the complaints now rising against Mitchell go well beyond this. Two last -minute political gimmicks employed by Justice in the Carswell fight hurt badly. First was the Presidents letter to Sen. William Saxbe of Ohio, claiming close to Presidential immunity from Senate probing into the qualifications of the Florida judge. Some Republicans (Continued On Page 5)

CHAMPIONS He is a Champion. The press photographers are on hand to take his picture. The kids gather about him and give him a great ovation. Ladies smile graciously upon him. Men of ^ standing put their arms about his shoulders and tell him he has a great future ahead of him.

Then all at once he fades out of the picture. When his am is mentioned people look blank and say, Now just wh'o was that guy? I remember hearing things about him in the past but to save my life I cant recall now what he did. Champions come and champions go. A little group of world champions in different fields live on and become members of the Hall of Fame, but they are few

think of the twelve greatest persons that ever lived and you will be scratching your head and looking off wistfully into the distance shortly after you have named the sixth great person.

indeed in number. Try to

By HAL BOYLE NEW YORK (AP) Things a columnist might never know if he didnt open his mail;

Some 600 million people throhout the world suffer from chronic headaches, often of mysterious origin. A new medical theory holds that a majority of such cases may result from overlooked neck injuries and often can be cured by putting the patient in traction.

Do you bite your fingernails? That may cause them to grow

BOYLE

K)h, Dear! I Think its Mrs. John MitcheU

By ART BUCHWALD

Hints For A Taxpayer

WASHINGTON - One of the paradoxes of the American tax system is that its easier for a man to deduct a strange lady from a business trip than it is to deduct his own wife. The IRS authorities will believe that a strange lady could easily be of value to a businessman in the capacity of a secretary or what have you, but theyre very skeptical that a wife could serve any useful function.

Not long ago, the Research Institute of America put out a helpful guide for husbands wanting to deduct their wives from business trips they took together.

Here are some of the suggestions made. The

examples are mine.

1During a trip, keep a record of all the services your wife performed that could be described as necessary rather than merely helpful. One test: if your wife stayed home, would you have needed to bring someone else along?

Example: Mrs. Plumbells justification; My husband. George Plumbell, would never have made it without bringing me along. If I hadnt been in the room to receive the long distance call from California, I wouldnt have been able to get George off the golf course, and he might have lost the Worthington Crushed Papaya account. Georges friends and associates told me many

times during the convention that if I hadnt come along he would have certainly brought somebody else with him.

2If possible, show what business resulted from your wife having accompanied you. for nothing succeeds like success.

Example: If it hadnt been for my wife, Myra, I

up to 20 per cent faster than normal, thus giving you still more to chew on.

No wonder smart businessmen are courting brides and teen-agers. The average bride spends three times as much for her initial purchases of home furnishings as a typical U.S. family does in a year. As for teen-agers. 17 per cent now own their own telev ision sets. 75 per cent own radios, and 18 per cent own a tape recorder. Teen-agers also account for 25 per cent of - the $4 million a year cosmetics industry.

Speaking of brides ^in, few of them wiD start married life in a romantic cottage small by a waterfall Some will move in with Mom and Dad. and 80 per cent will rent a housekeeping apartment.

(juoUble notaUes: A woman will almost never tell you the truth, while most men defendants will. Women have a furtive. concealing natwe. and to some extent theyre pathological liars wrho can conceive of si-tuations that never existed. Veteran defense lawyer james D. C. Murray.

BUCHWALD

Other Editors Say Seat Belt Ads

(New Bern Sun-Joumal)

According to some critics of the American scene, the peoples choices in everything from the deodorants they use to the men they elect to national office are determined by the image makers, the fashion manipulators, the television program packagers, the Madison Avenue hucksters.

While there is no denying the influence of advertising, for both good and ill, like most critiques of American manners and mores the charge is overstated. We are far from being putty in the hands of those who control or have access to the information media.

As evidence of this is what Marketing Communications magazine calls advertisings biggest flop the total failure of a $51-million campaign to convince people to use seat belts when they drive.

Before the campaign began

early in 1968, some 63 per cent of car owners had seat belts installed and a study showed that 35 per cent of them claimed to be using them all or most of the time.

By last July 18 months and countless television spots, billboards, bus posters, newspaper ads later-65 per cent of car owners had seat belts but only 35 per cent were using them all or most of the time.

During this same period, those who used their belts hardly ever or not at all increased from 39 per cent to 43 per cent. The percentage is even worse with regard to shoulder belts, which have been required on all cars built since Jan. 1,1968. Less than 5 per cent of those who have them wear them.

No one is going to tell Americans what to do. As for the 56,000 of us who died on the highways last year they are beyond telling'anything.

would never have been able to unload those faulty mussel valves on the Bureau of Off Limits _ Drilling. The purchasing agent was so busy pinching my wrife under the table that he signed the order without reading the specifications. Myra was black and blue for a week.

3Keep any letters from customers received before or after a business trip showing that your wifes presence was desired or appreciated.

Example: Dear Archie: It was great seeing Priscilla at the knife sharpeners convention last week. She was really a sight for sore eyes and when ie danced on the taUe, topless, at 3 oclock in the morning, she made the convention. All the wives are still talking about it.

I also want to tell you how much we enjoyed the snake dance she led through the Hilton Hotel in the early hours of the morning.

Here is your share of the damage. We prorated it between Priscilla. Marge Bernheim and Hilda Marton who seemed to have the best time of all the women. 1 hope youll bring Priscilla next year. People are already inquiring if shell be there.

< Continued On Page 5)

The weather affects us all. Heres what happens, for example. as the barometer falls dur* ing a period of low air pressure: Most people are more forgetful, worker efficiency droops, lost-and-found departments are busier. banks clerks make more errors. and abseentism climbs.

Despite the billions America spends on health, it is far firom being the healthiest nation on earth. Thirteen countries have a lower infant mortality rate, and in 17 countries men live longer. Fewest newborn babies die in Sweden, and it is there also that life expectancy at birth is highest71.6 years.

To our shame, however, the United States does lead in a dismal fieldenvironmental destruction. Nearly SO per cert of the world's industrial pollution is caused by our factories, refineries and motor cars.

Overcoming handicaps: Blind Ray criarles, the popular Negro entertainer, can do more than sing and play the piano. According to a profile in the New Yorker magazine, he can type 70 words a minute, is a good cook, and can play winning chess.

Safety sUtistkr: A recent

study revealed that teen-age drivers who had drunk two bottles of beer or less were almost three times as likely to be involved in car accidents as those who stuck to soft drinks.

It was Meister Eckhart who observed; The very best and utmost of attainment in life is to remain still and let C>od act and speak in thee.

Information Bonanza In Census

By ELMER ROESSNER Americas first national mail-in census has been taken. The bits and pieces of information are now being fed into the computers. A month from now we should

Few people ever get to be Champions, and not one person in a million stays a Champion through the 'ages. Vye are foolish if we long to be Champions. We destroy our own happiness if we grieve over the fact that we have nevr been a Champion. Can you remember who was a champion in any field ten years ago? Forget it. Remember, the words of Robert Louis Stevenson: The world is so full (rf a number of things, I think we should all be as happy as kings.

By Earl L. Douglass

ELMER

ROESSNER

get the first faint image of Portrait America: 1970.

The image will be familiar and hold few surprises. The Census Bureau operates all year and every year, not just once a decade. After each big count the Bureau keeps busy making running estimates of trends and updating figures.

The total U. S. population will be about 205 million. Minority groups, especially.

the Negro, will be somewhat larger than the 1960 census indicated. Last time many non-whites ducked the count. Efforts to get out the vote this go-around should result in more accurate, higher figures.

More people will be in the upper and medium income brackets and fewer in the lower brackets. Inflation alone would give this result. But, in addition, the per capita gross national product is up over 1960 and public and private efforts to assist minority, groups are having some effect.

On* The Move

The census will reveaj the nature and extent of some obvious trends. The long-' term trek from rural areas to the cities and from urban areas to the suburbs con-' timies. Ajirils samplings will give a clearer picture of who is moving and to what par-.ticular neighborhood;

whether they are rich, poor or in-between. This will be invaluable information to manufacturers, distributors and retailers^

The questionnaires will also reveal what kind of housing Americans live in and, by implication, what its needs are and will be. Also, how many cars, if any, are parked outside the house, the plumbing facilities: qnd various other equipment. Utilities use and costs are also covered.

The baby products and services market will be neatly laid out as well as the scope of suchsocial problems as the aged, indigent, widowed and divorced. Youngest ^Creup

All of the various age groups, accept the under 16-years segment, have already been put through the' calculating machines. An important phase of this census will be analyzing.

categorizing and labeling the post 1959-generation.

It is known broadly how many workers are in the labor force and whether theyre working or not. But all kinds blue collar, white collar. professional, managerial, and the like will be pin - pointed as to location, availability, salary level and age. The tally can even indicate how many are moonlighting.

Census figures and various analyses of them wiU be availaUe from the government and various private firms that specialize in handling, organizing and interpreting data. All of this can be obtained by business for a price and a Very reasonable one. at that.

Perhaps one black day someone will figure out bow to charge what the traffic-wili bear for censw information. It could eliminate the taxpayers* cost cirtirriy.

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