Monday, January 17, 1^66 \ V \

No Lasting Damage Due- Mistake

Thicker Than Water

Last week's $200,000 reduction and restoration of federal funds for basic adult education in North Carolina probably was one of the quickest about-faces in the administration of a federal program.

So far there has been no reasonable explanation of the, announcement that the funds earmarked for the state were being reduced by $200,000. Neither has there been any reasonable explanation for the restoration of the funds except that the initial announcement was a mistake*.

Fortunately there was no damage to the basic adult education program being carried on in North Carolina. Although there were reports that some programs were to be curtailed, the situation was corrected before any curtailment of the program took place.

There is, of course, the lingering question of why the announcement of the reduction in funds for this state was made in the first place. It be-

High Drama Up To Final Scene

By WILLIAM A. SHIRES INCREASE Everyone was certain that the last act of the now concluded five-day drama on one man-one ote** le^slative redistrlcting would be played to the hht And DO one had cause to be disappointed.

The plot simply was this: Should the lawmakers, after complying with orders of a federal court to reapportion on a strict population basis, also submit a constituti(Xial amendment to the people which would Increase membership in the House of Representatives from 120 to 150 seats?

Traditionally in the past, tacfa of North Carolinas 100 counties has been entitled to at least one seat In the House. But this tra<fition, under the **om man-ooe vote ruling, had been swept away.

BLOW Under House re-apportioiiment setting up entil new districts, most if not an of the states smaller, less pc^ous counties must now fdve up their single seats and share representatives with nei^tixuing counties.

It means there will be far fewer representatives from the

small, rural counties coming to Rjdei^ in the General As-aemUy of 1967.

The idea of the amendment proposal, of course, was that increasing membership of the HouM to ISO seats three years from now would soften Os blow. It was a straw to bt jpwspe by smaU coun-

immbi To begin with, the increased membership plot was pretty thin.

Not ven its introducers hdd much hhope for its win-n^ approwaL Its principal tpopsor. Rep. George Wood td Camdsn, rose rather reluctantly whn House Speaker H. P. Taylor Jr. caned up the bllL

But then Rie |dot-and the ospeose-began to thicken.

Since the adjournment of the special session was only a few hours away ixit the idea of (loing something ^ for the small counties hurt by court-ordered reapportion-m e n t began catching on speaker after speaker urged the House to accept Woods bill.

And, finally, by the closest of margins and with the help of an agonizing slow gavel in the hand of ^aker Taylor, Wood managed to round up exactly enough votes, 72, for the necessary two-thirds margin.

When the roll call was taken, it was three or four short. But Taylor held up announcing the tally for 11 minutes to give Wood time to round up the few additional votes he needed.

FAILED ~ The House had said yes, and the Wood bill went to the Senate which after another hour and a half of speechmaking and impassioned (urati^ said no.

The proposititm failed in the upper chamber on a 23-24 roll call vote. Thirty votes would have been necessary.

One of the argiraents that helped bury the bill was that of Sen. Dennis Cook of Caldwell who warned against such far-readng actions being taken in the dosing hours of a legislative session.

It just too late, gentlemen,* Dr. Cook said Without reforing to the recently - ended Speaker ban controvert by name, Dr. Cook reminded the Senate of the troubles and travail which resulted from enactment of . the Speaker Ban law*" in the dosing hours of the 1963 session.

RECALL More dearly than the Speaker Ban action, however, tiie dosing debate stirred recollectioos of tbe Little Federal amendment passed It ^ 1^ Goieral Assembly in Its sq>ecial session on Senate redistricting.

Under tbe proposal whidi was killed in a statewide referendum In early 1964, the state constitution would have been changed to permit one bouse of tbe le^ature to be aitorti^}*^ ^ factors otb-tac than population. Had it passed, it would have later been nullified by the U. S. Supreme Courts one man-one vote dedsfoo.

hooves officials in the federal department responsible for the program, and state officials here in the federal department responsible for the program, and state officials here in North Carolina to get to the bottom of the thing and find out what really happend and why. Otherwise North Carolina may again find its basic adult education program in sudden difficulty that my not have as happy an ending as was the case this time.

Secrecy Does Little To Bolster Confidence

The series of no publicity meetings Highway Patrol officials are having with their troopers around the state are and should be a matter of concern to citizens.

Perhaps it is, as new Col. Speed has asserted, simply to give the new officers a chance to get acquainted with their patrolmen and the patrolmen a chance to see the new top echelon from Raleigh, But if this is all there is to it, why were the patrolmens wives invited to join in the meetings?

If the meetings were only nice little get-acquainted parties, why were the top Patrol officials so determined that they should receive no publicity . . . that the public should not be allowed to know what transpired at the meetings?

And, if nothing was to go on at the meetings, w'hy the belated announcement that an official news release on the series of meetings would be released to the public after the last meeting had been held?

Commissioner Godwin and Col. Speed may feel that their series of secret get-acquainted parties are bolstering morale in the Highway Patrol; but obviously they are doing nothing to bolster public confidence in the new leadership that is in command of this important state agency.

By ART BUCHWALD

urope Lures

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The Arranged Q uestions

The Doily Reflector

INCORPORATED

DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD, Chairman of The Board

Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday EstabllshMl 1882 JOHN S. WHICHARD-DAVID J. WHICHARD Publishers Entered at Poet Office, Greenville, N. O. as second class mail matter.

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By WINFRED L. GODWIN

In Friedburg, Germany, a series of recent auto wrecks was attributed to the sight of a pair of Bebops (saddle shoes) worn by a University of Tennessee studoit who was strolling down the street to the Cathedral where he was taking a course on Gothic art.

He was one of a growing number of students from Southern colleges and universities who are supplementing their U.S. e<iucation with European study, travel, and work and, in the process, spreading not only a penchant for saddle shoes, but an understanding of the South that belies some headlines in European newspapers.

The Eun^an experience for Southern students may range from a summer job in a London pub to a year of study on tte Junior Year Abroad Program to graduate courses at Oxford, Cambrige, tbe S(Nrbome. or the niverities of Madrid, Paris of Zurich.

What are the principal benefits of such study? Abundant cultural events at low cost, the opportunity to know and to uncierstand students from other countries, a new awareness of world affairs and a new perspective on the U.S., according to students in the region who have studied abroad.

American students enjoy a variety of things about the European system. The University of Paris is a students paradise, with no papers to write, no homework, and no tests, says a Tulane student.

Accomplishment at a British university comes from ones own initiative, says a Newcomb student who last year studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She strongly favors the combination of large, impersonal lectures and small tutorial sections which allow personal contact with professors. I never learned so much in my life, she says.

Students were most critical of the inadequate library facilities, overcrowded classrooms, student housing difficulties, the lack of extra-cur

ricular activitei and the narrow sp^ializatioo of European universities. One University of Houstcm student, taking courses at tbe University of Madrid, complained that, in Spain a spc^c field is studr ied, beginning in the freshman year, with no other courses, which narrows a liberal ails education even after years of study.

European curiosity about the U.S. is insatiable. The questions students were called upon most often to answer concerned the U.S. presidency, the Viet Nam action, racial flare-ups and, inevitably, do Americans ever eat anytiiing that doesnt come out of a can? and do Amalean women emasculate their men?

Tbe opportunity to explain America io students of other lands was as valuable to these young people as what they learned abcNit other nations. "You come away with a new perspective on American life, remarked oa University of Tennnessee student. You see for yourself the historical background for Am historical background for America itself and fo rthe first time you see our nation in relation to the rest of the world.

Students found themselves far more welcome than some tourists. Betweoi courses, many of them traveled all over Western Europe on Eurail passes, staying in hotels or with local families just getting by but learning the true European way of life, as one University of Tennessee student put it

There is simply no substitute for this khid of education, said a student who has returned to the University of HoiKston this fall aftor a year of study at Zurich.

Through the Junior Year Abroad program, a growing number of exchange programs, fellowships and scholarships, European study is being made available to an increasing number of Southern college students. And many are finding in the experience not only a new understanding of old world culture but a fresh appreciation of their homeland.

Bill Moyers, the able White House Press Secretary, revealed in a candid television Interview this week that he had on occasion planted questions with reporters in advance of a Presidential press conference. He did it, he explained, because you never can tell whats going to happen in one of these press conferences and I wanted to be certain that tbe questions that the President did have on his mind, and for which he was prepared to deal in a substantive way, did get asked. For years Presidential press secretaries have been planting questions with reporters to make life easier for their bosses, and there is nothing really wrong with it except that, as the problems President Johnson faces become more complex, more questions are going to have to be planted, and eventually

there will be no time left for questi(His that the reporters have thought up themselves.

I can see in a few months from now Mr. Moyers saying to the President, Your press conference is all set, sir. Jack will ask you the spontaneous question on Viet Nam, Hiil will ask you the spontaneous <|uestion on balance of payments, Bob will ask you about civil rights, and Nancy will ask you how your health is. Isnt anybody going to ask me about Lady Birds beautification program?

j;Well ask Joe to question you about it.

By the way, what happened at the last press conference? Somebody posed a question, and I didnt even know he was going to ask it. That was a slip-up, sir. You were trying to recognize Marianne, because I had asked her to ask you about the

Other E(ditors Saying

Hurts All Concerned

low rate of unemployment in the United States, and the reporter sitting behind her thought you had recognized him. Before I could stop him he got the question out What Ive done this time is plant questions around the people who have been asked to ask questions, so in case someone else asks a question by mistake, youll still be prepared for it

Thats good thinking, Bill.

Now, what were doing at this press conference to facilitate matters, Mr. President, is were putting tiie auwers ,to the spontaneous (pustions on the teleprompter. Therefore, you have to call on t h e people in order.

That makes sense. Id hate to be asked about Viet Nam

ART

BUCHWALD

Silent

;?ublic

Waits

By JOHN CHAMBERLAIN Copyright, 1966, King Features Syndicate, Inc.

If anything is plain, it is that the big majority in the United States would like to make up its mind on the Viet Nam situation without marchings and teach-ins and all the other hoopla that we . have been witnessing over the past year. This, it must be said, goes for demonstrations by both the Left and tiie Right. The attempt of the Left to carry the country by storm toward a peace^t-any price d cisin has failed to generate mass support. But the counter-movement sparked by such groups as Young Americans for Freedom has not toought out any huge crowds. A YAF gathering of 1,500, give or take a few score, turned out to listen to Senator Karl Mundt the other week in Washington, and Tom Dodd Jr., the son of Senator Dodd, read a few words for his father. But tbe Young Democrats and the Young Repifolicans were conspicuous by their absence from a meeting that mi^t have conconed most of them.

Where does all this leave the country? What It proves to me is that most people prefer to let courts, legislatures, the President, and the written word as reported in the press and over radio and TV, do their speaking for them. For, at the same time diat YAF was finding it practically impossible to bring a big group iqfo Washington, some 50,000 students in more than 300 colleges were slgn-

(Tbe Raleigh Times)

Dr. John East, the East Carolina College political science professor wiw is the Republican candidate for Congress in the First District, has performed a signal bit of disservice for East Carolina Ollege in particular and for higher education in general. He did it by claiming people should vote for him on grounds that the Republican Party favors making a university out of ECC and that the Democratic Party is drag-gin its feet on this matter.

It would seem to be true that the Republican Party has endorsed tbe matter of ECC being given the label of university. And, it is true that the Democratic Party hasnt said anything about this matter either way, for that the people should be grateful.

The cause of higher education has no place in partisan politics. Both political parties, and all candiciates in the primaries of both parties, should have as their sole object regarding higher education that of supporting it to the hilt in

all respects. East Carolina, whether it be a very fine college or a university, is neither the protege of the R^ub* lican Party of the Democratic Party. It must rightfully be the protege of every citizen of North Carolina who is interested in higher education.

Dr. East also attempts to make the ECC university proposal a fight between ECC and Chapel Hill. In this, he also is making a political football out of higher education. Whether EOC is given university labeling is none of the business of tte University of Chapel HiU. It is the business of idl tiie peoi^e of the State of North Carolina. The only issue to be resolved is whether tbe best interests of higher education will be served by legislating ECC into a university or by keeping the University system as the only state-recognized university in North Carolina.

Dr. East has hurt everybody and evejything concerned by his thoughtless dragging of ECC and the rest of higher education in this State into politics.

and give an answer that had to do with Lucis engagement I did have another problem last time and that was the TV lights were so bright I couldnt see the people who were supposed to ask me the questions I had the answers to.

Weve reserved the first four rows for reporters with the planted questions. What I would suggest is that you lo(^ all around the room, but (Mily recognize someone in the first four rows.

You seem to have covered all the bases. Bill. Have you planted any questions I can get a laugh out of?

I gave one to Sarah McClendon on your beagles, but I told her to ask it only if we Had time.

Where should I insert this sentence about my belief in a free press and the publics right to know what their President has on his mind? Between the spontaneous question on steel prices and the spontaneous question on Arthur Goldbergs visit to the Pope.

Ing a pledge to support President Jotosons promise to stand firm in Viet Nam until peace can be had witti honor. Tbe willingness to stand up and be counted is there, but the average person (ioesnt want to be ciramatic about It.

What all this should prove to toe world Is that Americans are willing to do what it takes to maintain toeir countrys position as the big bulwark against Communism, but they want to approach the necessity of physical action to that end with a stoical mien.

The stoic spirit is actually reflected on the Left as well as on the Right. At the recent gatoering of tiie New Left groups In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, toe modarates rejected the counsels the Far-Out Vietnam Day Committee of Berkely, (Mfomia, who preach instant withdrawal from Vietnam. The S8-to-25 vote against calling for immediate troop departure separated the pragmatists of the movement from toe Maoists, the Trotskyites, and those who listen to the orthodox Communists. This doesnt mean that the Far-Out Left has been rendered toothless. But It does indicate that Lymkm Johnson, by his peace offensive, had, at least for tbe moment, split the movement that was calling for his scalp just a few short weeks ago.

As this column is being written, the pause in toe war continues. The same split among the liberals toat was observable at the Milwaukee New Left meeting is disturbing the campaign in (Continued On Page 5)

Strength For Today

dow To Save On Those Payrolls

By EARL L. DOUGLASS

PROGRAM OF IMPROVEMENT

All through our lives we have to be sustainedthat is, held up by a strength not our own. The baby lies helpless and would die were it not for the strong and loving arms of its mother. The family must be sustained. Friendship is a project whereby people enao-tionally and affectionately sustain one another.

We recognize all such forms of sustenance. But very often we do not realize that this need for sustaining power is a need that exists as long as we live. All sorts of uni(|ue plans are being advanced whereby people may be sustained in illness and old age. Imperfect, but headed in the right direction.

There are some other forms of sustenance, however. Men

tal sustenance, which means the keeping of an active mind to the last hour of ones life. One hour a day spent in carefully selected reading would give one a wealth of knowledge toat would constitute a blessing throughout life. Retired people are often unhappy, yet if they only realized it, they now have an opportunity to learn, achieve, and do things they always hoped to do.

Religion is Gods offer of sustenance. We all have problems. Burdens threaten at times to crush us to the ground. But the message of religion is that there is a spiritual power sustaining men and women if they will avail themselves of it

Prayer, Bible reading, loving servicethe road begins here and winds through valleys and over towering mountains.

By ELMER ROESSNER

Prentice-Hall, in its Executive Tax Report, has come up with a devilish clever way by which an employer can cut payrolls and employees can save on taxes without any loss of income.

It will work only when employees are eligible for social security and where their pay is modest And the government foots

the bin.

HOW IT WORKS The P-H newsletter gave this example:

Edwards is married, semiretired at age 66, and is entitled to monthly social security benefits of $120. His wife is 65. He has a regular job as a night watchman for your company at $4,260 per year. Under his salary setup, hes losing all of bis social security benefits, $1,440. And his wife is losing all of toe $720

shes entitled to if she is dependent on his earnings for her benefits.

Now suppose you cut his pay to $2,700 per year. This makes him eligible to collect $840 in social security each yearand his wife gets $720. Result: A total income for the year of $4,^.

Dollars and cents payoff:

MEB

BOBBINEB

You put a $1,500 dent in your payroll costs. And Edwards, doesnt lose a penny. But theres more to it: He doesnt pay one cent of income tax on the $1,560 in social security.

But theres more.

AND IT DOESNT STOP THERE Of the $4,260 salary, Edwards and his wife would have to pay $181 in bxxime taxes. But they pay no tax on the $2,700. And none on the $1,560 in social security. So Mr. Edwards winds up^ with a total of $181 more in cash by taking a salary cut ^ Furthermore, as P r e ntice-Hall points out the new social security rate is 4.2 per cent 00 the first $6,600 earnings of each employee. The employee pays toe same amount By cutting his salaryand letting Uncle Sam make it upyoure each saving an additional $65.52 in social security taxes, P-H x-plains. So youve cut your payroll by $1,625.52.* And Edwards is $2^.52 to the good. This, P-H points out, is ^ual to more than $32,500 in sales to a company-working on a 5 per cent prfit

margin.

This formula can help a company solve its shortage of skilled and seasoned workers by encouraging retired persons to return to work at pay that will not endanger their social security payments. It can also be used to bring back retired executives and specialists for one or two days a week as consultants. A retired executive who wants $82 for a days work a week is actually better off if be takes only $52.

All of this is possible be-; cause under the new social security and medicare ^iaw, an eligible worker loses $1. of benefits for every $2 he; earns between $1,500 and I $2,700. For every dollar over* , that, he loses $1 in benefits up to what he and his dependents* are eligible for. Z

This formula for letting Un-* cle Sam pay part of labor;; costs may go down in history as toe Prentice-Hall caper.