wm 1 ■ ■ I ! - --- . - - ,- • • The Welfare Program^ - Everybody's Shipping Boy—^ If the welfare client is female, we draw a horror picture of repeated illegitimate births for the sole purpose of increasing her welfare benefit. She’s a loafer, too. What are the facts? People wind up on welfare not because they are cheats,- loafers or malingerers, but because they are poor. They are not just poor in money, but in everything. They’ve had poor education, poor health care, poor chances at decent employment, and poor prospects for anything better. We are advised that welfare provides such - opulent living its clients would be crazy to give it all up and go to work. We hear repeatedly that welfare clients are cheats and welfare programs are rampant with fraud. WHAT AREJTHE FACTS? But even most of the poor are not on welfare. Some 15 million AmprirnnQ rpppivp cnmp fnrm r»f umlforo knnnfUn There are more than 25 million officially below the poverty level of $4,000 a year for a family of four. Another 30-to-50 million ar&just barely above it., And $4,000 a year, as everyone knows, does not afford extravagence. Of the 15 million receiving welfare, about eight million are children under 16 years of age. Anyone for “work-fare” for children more tjhan half a century after child labor laws were enacted? i Less than one percent - about 150,000 - of welfare recipients are able-bodied employable males. Many of these are in their late middle year. Most are uneducated. All are required by law to sign up for work or work traihTngT^A government study shows more than 80 percent want to work, rather than draw welfare, and among the fathers in this group one in three is enrolled in work training. Welfare mothers are not churning out : illegitimate children. Nearly 70 percent of all ; children in welfare families are legitimate, ac cording to the Social and Rehabilitation Service of HEW. Thirty percent of welfare families with any children have only one child; 25 percent have two; 18 percent have three. The remainder have four or more: Economically, anyway, the myth is nonsense, since the average payment per additional child nationally is only $35 a month, hardly an incentive toward mass production. . More than 48 percent of welfare families are but to go back into prison theme of chanelling the same efforts at home as abroad, the government might do well to accept the challenge of removing a certain hypocrisy from its sudden all-out in terest in prisoner rehabilitation by giving due attention and resources to the millions of domestic POW's rotting in the nation’s many jails, prison camps, reformitories and correctional in stitutions. Many of them are prisoners of another, equally devastating war -- the war of survival. ■ ispects of especially Ms situation le, though forts being irstood that a adily offered tantly being in penal in ho are forever ; of being un f released un Down From 10.9 Percent • l . __ _ / / Black Unemployment Rate Drops To 8.9% WASHINGTON - The unemployment rate for black workers edged down to 8.9 percent in January after \aveAging 10 percent during roar-thtrLabor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. In December, the jobless rate for black workers stood at 9.6 percept. The rate for black workers registered 10.9 percent in January 1972. The nation's overall em ployment situation in January showed little change from the previous month. The jobless rate was 5.0 percent and the December rate was 5.1 per cent. In January, the jobless rate was at its lowest point in 2Vs years and substantially below the rate of 5.9 percent one year ago. The total number of persons employed, which has ad vanced strongly since mid 1971, edged down slightly in January to 82.6 million (after seasonal adinstmani n.., year, total employment has risen by 19 million.) The rSuTTVbeF —of nonagricultural payroll jobs (from the establishment survey) rose by 200,000 in January (seasonally ad justed) to a new high of 74.2 million. The pickup in payroll employment was con centrated largely in the service-producing industries. Total joblessness rose about in line with usual December - January movements, and, after seasonal adjustment, both the number of persons unemployed and the unem ployment rate, at 4.4 million and 5.0 percent, respectively, were essentially unchanged from their December levels. Over the past year, however, total unemployment has declined by nearly 800,000. Jobless rates in January were also little changed or unchanged for most of the major demographic groups: adult men (3.3 percent), adult workers (4.6 percent), married men (2.4 percent), and household heads t2.9 percent). However, the jobless rate for teenagers declined significantly - from 15.7 to 14.3 percent, its lowest ■ point in nearly 3 years. . The jobless situation among most of the major oc cupational groups changed little except for a sharp drop in the unemployment rate for service workers. On an in - dustry basis, the jobless rate for manufacturing workers rose from 4.4 percent in December to 5.0 percent in January but was still sub stantially below its year-ago level of 6.4 percent. The average (mean) duration of joblessness fell to 10.9 weeks in January and was down a little over a full week compared with a year ago.The number of persons unem ployed 15 weeks or more declined for the fifth con secutive month. the Nation's civilian labor force declined more than it (15 natty-does-between December and January and after seasonal adjustment was down by 350,000 to a level of 86.9 million. Total em ployment also edged down in January to a seasonally ad justed level of 82.6 million, primarily due to a drop in agricultural employment. Compared with January a year ago. the labor force has grown by 1.2 million and the number of employed by 1.9 million. Adult men made nn r~—-— over half of the employment advance; adult women ac _rxumlpH fnr another 550,000 of the gain, and teenagers rose by 300,000. The employment situation for Vietnam Era veterans 20 to-29 years old was little changed in January, as both employment and unem ployment, after seasonal adjustment, held at the im proved levels of the last few months of 1972 The veterans' unemployment rate was 5.9 percent, seasonally adjusted, essentially the same as their 5.8 percent rate in December January marked the fifth straight month that there was no material difference beT ween the unemployment rates for veterans and nonveterans The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory personnel fell more than usual between December and January, according to preliminary figures from the payroll survey. After seasonal adjustment, the workweek dropped 0.5 hour to 40.2 hours, and overtime fell 0.2 hour to 3.6 hours. TO BE EQUAL BY VERNON E. JORDAN, JR. Lyndon Baines i Johnson s Legacy Lyndon Baines junuaou is gone,but we must be forever i grateful that he walked among us. He was, beyond any shadow of doubt, the President who held the aspirations of black citizens closest to his heart. It was Lyndon Johnson who stood in the well of Congress and proclaimed “We Shall Overcome,” and he did his very best to overcome the bitter heritage of inequality and discrimination that holds all of us — black and white - chained to conflict and con frontation when our spirits Should soar as eagles in a bright sky. He sought to construct a “Great Society,” but that society fell far short of greatness. It faltered in the mud of a war that was his single greatest failure, and it [altered in a backlash that still nnsrampant. not, in the short space 61 five years, ionstruct a Great Society, he did take this country a long may into a Second Recon itruction. His policies helped shape the decade of the six ies; a period that saw black >eople merge as a moral force n the nation, a period that saw slack people take giant steps oward equality. By one of those queer, eerie strokes of chance I was writing a letter to him on the day he died, A letter thanking I him for his hospitality during my participation in the Civil Rights Symposium at the LBJ I Library in Austin, Texas in December. That was the last time I saw Him, and I am grateful that he had the op portunity to witness the outpouring of affection and admiration at that occasion. People from all spectums of the civil rights movement, his Administration, and the judiciary were there to help unveil the civil rights archives of the LBJ Library and to pay tribute to the ac complishments of the sixties. It is fashionable today to downgrade the achievements of that decade. But we outght to take time out from our comcem for what has been ' left undone and pay tribute to what had been achieved. Packed into that decade, and especially during the Johnson Administration, was a series of federal actions that, taken together, broke the back of legal segregation, shifted some power to minorities, reordered the way people thought about domestic issues, and created a body of law and custom that will be, for the most part, irreversible. The result was to create myriad new opportunities'for black people and to bring to ; minorities a sense of self confidence that will continue far into the future. The country entered the , sixites wedded to racism and { it left it with a whole new attitude towrd equal rights and democratic values. And the Johnson Presidency was primarily responsible for that change. Just to list the bills he foughl for the programs he initiated would take more space than this column has.-What other democratic country undertook in so §hort a period of time such social innovations as were contained in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which eliminated discrimination in public places and in em ployment; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which revolutionized southern politics and assured blacks the vote the Fair Housing Act. which barred discrimination in housing; medical aid for the aged, model cities programs, anti-poverty programs,’ and a host of other actions that helped millions of people. —Jl.j»1^i«BCiC«;TB5rXyndon Johnson died on the very day that a cease-fire agreement for Vietnam was initialed in ^ Par.is. That war was,Jhi9 ,yn(-. doing, and the fineiicial and moral demands in made ef fectively ended r the social reforms he chamBioned. That war was a tragedy, both for the man who wantjed history to remember hirfi for his domestic accomplishments, .and for the nation, which desperately needed social reforms and domestic peace. 1 am confident that, long after the sour taste of the _ Vietnam adventure vanishes, history will record with awe the domestic actions of the Johnson era, and Will reserve a place of greatness for this bold, great nrwn. Blacks Gained 1,044 "Elec m ,« Officials Since 1965 ATLANTA - The current number of 1,144 black elected officials in the South represents more than a ten fold increase since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, according to the latest statistics of the Voter Education Project. Inc (VEP). hewer than too black of ficials held offices in the 11 southern states in 1965. That number has steadily in creased over the past eight years as a result of voter registration, citizenship education, an increasingly large field of black can didates, the continuing development of minority political sophistication, and the participation of whites incoalition efforts. The annual increase in the number of southern black elected officials has been as follows: 1966 - 159; 1967 - no data available; I960 - 248; 1969 -388; 1970 - 565; 1971 -711; 1972 - 873; and 1973 - 1,144. The 1973 figure represents a net gain of 271 officeholders in a one-year period the largest increase in a single year since Recon struction "The rate of increase in the number of black elected of ficials in (he South has been phenomenal," stated VEP President Harry Huge, an attorney with the Washington - based firm of Arnold and Porter. "It reflects the very basic fact that the momentum for change generated by the civil rights movement of the I960's continues to shape the political, social, and economic climate of our region The movement spirit is alive and well in the arena of Southern minority politics ”, A state-by-state breakdown of black elected officials yields the following totals: Ala bam, 144; Arkansas, 140; Florida, 51; Georgia, 104; Louisiana, 127; Mississippi, 145; North Carolian, 108; South Carolina, 98; Ten nessee, 69; Texas, 98; and Virginia, 60. Alabama led the Southern states by increasing its total number of black elected of ficials by 61 ina one-year period. Arkansas had the second largest gain since February 1972 - an increase of 49 officeholders - while Georgia, with an increase of 38, was third. The number of black officeholders increased in every Southern state except Florida, which also had a total of 51 black officials in 1972. Explaining the significance of the recently-compiled data; John Lewis, VEP Director and an advocate of minority voting rights for more than a deMde, stated, “We must see beyond the cold statistics, however impressive they may be, and understand the real meaning of having such a large number of blacks in public office. We must understand that the newly elected meembers of Congress, state legislators, county officials, municipal officeholders, and law en forcement officials are 'in positions of power which can bring about changes in the daily lives of blacks in the South." A breakdown of offices held by blacks includes: U. S. Congress, 2; state senators, 6; state representatives, 55; county officials. 128; mayors, 38, vice mayors, 14; other municipal officials, 441; law enforcement officials, 198 including 9 judges; and 288 education officials includm® * superintendent and 8 sc board presidents, ficials hold two Thus, there are ac offices in the C J by blacks.) “In the past se' Lewis observe| tremendous in minority voter has brought corresponding number of bla ficials. The r of increae has decline mark of increase in . minority* offtd_ continue through the the Seventies. Given ■ a new Glitical sense of direction e South, further progress in this area Is inevitable. ” "On the othe hand,” Lewis pointed out, “the fact that two and one-half million potential black voters in the South remain unregistered indicates that there is a serious flaw in the access system to the political arena. In fact, current voter registration systems in the South are unworksable. As long as they ^remain so, these antiquated and discriminatory-systems will hamper black progress.” “A history of overt voting rights abuses is only partly responsible for the large number of unregistered black voters and the small per centage of blacks in the 79,251 state and local elected offices in the South,” Lewis con cluded. “The remaining barriers to the ballot are found in the composition of election boards, the inadequacy of centralized registration with limited hours of operation, and the persistence of the dangerous and erroneous attitude that voting Is a Privilege rather than a right ^■longing to all citizens over age of 18.” is provider ,,, _, enue Service and is puPfi^neo >2 ayers. The column answers questions y asked by taxpayers. that this year’s tax return asks fated to Federal ring? A'V Yes. Your 1972 Form 1040 and short form 1040A ask two questions related to the sharing of Federal money with state and local govern ments. One question asks the location of your principal place of residence (state, county, locality & township); the second question asks for the number of your depend ents who are filing a return of their own or who did not live at your principal place of resi dence at the end of 1972. YouVmust supply the cor rect imormation in your an- 1 swers to these questions to ensure that your state, county and local community receive I their rightful share of revenue ! sharing funds. • Q) Does every taxpayer have to give his state, county, local- | ity and township in answering the revenue sharing question on place of residence? A) All of this information may not be required. Only cer tain states have townships wnd 1 these are specified in your fax form instructions. If your state is not listed there, you can leave this column of your tax return blank. Secondly, there are a few places, such as Baltimore City, Md. and St. : Louis, Mo., that are not within a county. Once again, these areas are listed in your in structions. Unless you lived outsfdb the U.S. ori Dec. 31, 1972, you must enter the abbreviation for your state in the column provided. In addition, if you lived inside an incorporated city, town, or village, print the name of the municipality in the "locality” column. If you did not live inside the boun daries of such a location, check the box in this column. Q) Can you giTe me some tips on how to guard against dishonest tax preparers? A) The IRS offers the fol lowing advice to taxpayers seeking assistance from com mercial income tax return pre parers: never sign a blank re turn; do not sign a tax return prepared in pencil because it can be ehanged later; do not allow your refund check to be itfailed to thp preparer; avoid < the advisor who "guarantees” , refunds, wants a percentage . of the refund, or supposedly | knows all the angles; and avoid the preparer who ad vises a taxpayer to overstate ( deductions, claim fictitious de- i pendents or omit income. i In addition, ' taxpayers | should insist that the tax pre- t parer sign the return he pre- i aares and entgr his tax iden- a ■ifying number. Finally, be I lure to keep a copy of your a ■eturn. c Q) What are the rules for deducting finance charges on J * ■Anient store revolving A) You may £eauck ...... nance charge” levied by retail stores on your revolving charge accounts if the charges are based on your unpaid bal ances and computed monthly. Also, in the case of bank credit card plans, yility for 197Z but I’m filing a ■etum to recover income tax vithheld from my pay. Can I itill designate II of the tax vithheld towards the Presiden ts! Election Campaign Fund7 A) No. You can only make he |1 check-off if you had an ncome tax liability. This does lot mean that because you are :etting a refund, you can’t use he |1 check-off, but it does nean that you must be able to how tax on line 20 of your 'orm 1040 or line 21 of your hort Form 1040A to the heck-off. THE CHARLOTTE POST Published every Thursday by the General Publishing Company Bill Johnson.. . . . Manager-EditAr Willie Mae Porter ULt. ,.Reporter ~ Rose Miller..Secretary James Peeler..1. . . Photographer The deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m. Monday. The Post is not responsible for any photos or news copies submitted for publication. Application to mall at Second-Class Postage Rates is pending at Charlotte. 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