WASHINGTON, D. C. Though
It Is currently fashionaide
la some circles to make
light at the menace at Russian
communism, communism
nevertheless still threatens
America's survival as a free
nation. Russia's move Into the
Mediterranean and the Middle
East since 1967 should make
that fact unmistakably clear.
It would indeed be dangerous
for us to become so engrossed
In other concerns —
whether domestic or International—that
we overlook the
necessity for strong defense
forces Russia can only be
dealt with from a position of
strength. Regrettably, power is
all she understands
I am satisfied though, if
we keep militarily strong, with
a powerful Army, Navy and Air
Force, that it Is far less likely
we'll ever have to engage in
open battle with the Russians.
We ought to know by now that
weakness on our part simply
Invited trouble.
That's why the recent revelations
about the deterioration of
the U.. S. military power, especially
of Naval and Air
power, are so alarming and
disturbing.
The Chairman of the House
Armed Services Committee
may well have been right
when he recently stated, "The
leaders In the Kremlin are now
evidently unimpressed by both
our military capability and our
national determination to survive."
In other words, Russian leaders
know how many ships and
planes and missiles we have
and have drawn their own conclusions.
And unfortunately,
they may be interpreting the
voices of those who would destroy
the very fabric of our
society as the voice of the
American people. This Impression
must be changed. It
could result In a serious miscalculation
and a dangerous
confrontation on anyone of a
number of fronts.
To be specific about Just
one aspect of the relative military
power of Russia and the
United States, Russia has become
one of the world's, two
leading sea powers — perhaps
the leading power. In
recent years we have seen the
Russians calmly and quietly
move Into international waters
where formerly the American
Navy smiled alone.
Today the Russian* keep aa
armada of ships—often as many
as t5—in the Mediterranean.
This (Ives the ltoMlans a
formidable political and military
presence there, which
probably had a bearing on
recent developments in the
Middle East. They are also
developing similar strength off
the coasts of Africa and India
and Southeast Asia.
Closer to home, Russian nuclear
submarines equipped with
missiles are operating off the
coast of the Unites Statesincluding
the vast North Carolina
coastline.
Communist leaders have thus
made it clear thai they regard
all international waters as a.
Soviet "ocean."
The Russian fleet is quite
large and powerful and, most
Importantly, modern. Its greatest
strength Is in submarines—
350 of them. Out of this number,
80 are nuclear powered.
The newest Russian subs carry
16 missies with a range of 1300
miles
Meanwhile, America has only
147 subs. 88 of which are nuclear
and only 47 of these are
designed to combat the Russian
submarine threat.
Our strength in surface vessels
compares even more unfavorably.
The U. S. Comptroller
General recently reported
that 50% of the major
ships in the Atlantic fleet are
Ijuthern Corn Blight Makes Imperative The Rotation Of Crops
» G. W. KOONCE
Agri. Edea. Agent
Tt» MMrlt; 0I St) i* horn
blight at corn caused by a
new race of the fungus "Helmlutbosporlum
maydls makes It
Imperative that a good sanitation
and rotation program be
put into affect this fall. The
cutting or shr adding of stalks
followed by deep plowing will
help to reduce the amount of
primary Inoculum (fungus
spores) in the spring. The
degree of success in reducing
more than 20 years old. In
fact, the average age of the
ships In the Sixth Fleet is 18.3
years —hardly modern.
Along with the news that a
Russian submarine base in
Cuba may be under construction,
we also know that our
former missile superiority has
evaporated and that Russian
fighter and bomber design and
production has caught up and
perhaps surpassed us.
This is Just a sampling of the
things our taxpayers as well as
our military planners should be
awars of In the years Immediately
ahead. Military expenditures
must be kept within bounds
—wastefulness cannot be tolerated—but
we must always maintain
the means for self-defense.
There must be no more Pearl
Harbors.
the primary Inoculum will depend
on bow well all growers
accept the responsibility of doing
this oo their own farm.
A food method Is to oae a
"bush hoc" to shred, then disk
the stalks Into the soil as soon
as possible after harvest.
Allow the trash to decay tor a
tow weeks, then plow as deep
as possible using a mold board
plow to bury all trash. A Join-,
ter or coulter, or any other
device, to rake the litter Into
the bottom of the furrows ]ust
ahead of the mold board plow
should be used. Plowing should
be done early enough In the
fall to allow sufficient time for
complete decay of crop residue
before next spring. Crop
residue pulled to the soil
surface during spring plowing
or cultivation could be a source
of fungus spore production
which can be blown to other
fields. This problem can be
overcome by planting a small
grain cover crop In the fall
followed by no till planting of
crops In the spring.
Another approach would be to
disk lightly in the spring, plant
on the level and apply herbicides
to control broadleaf
weeds and grasses. If cultivation
is necessary to break
compaction, cultivate very
shallow.
It should be pointed out that
the covering of plant residua
by dMp plovQf is not the
entire answer. Neither is
crop rotation. However, since
corn Is the major crop plant
affected by this disease, any
crop thai is compatible in a
cropping sequence with corn
could be used as a rotation
crop to help reduce inoculum.
The burning of crop residue
Immediately after harvest could
also reduce Inoculum. However,
this method should be
considered as a last resort.
Seed producers are making
every effort to have sufficient
seed available for the 1971
crop, ft would be useless to
list varieties that showed tolerance
to the disease during
the 1970 growing season since
any variety produced with
normal cytoplasm would be tolerant.
Consequently, the Important
point is for growers to
look for seed made up with
normal cytoplasm first, then if
enough of this seed Is not
available the second choice
would be blended seed, keeping
In mind that a percentage
of the blend would be susceptible
to the disease.
A vord of explanation concerning
normal cytoplasm is in
order. The new race of southern
blight Is particularly virulent
on the Texas male sterile
cytoplasm. This cytoplasm has
produced the male sterile pi ant*
used widely In hybrid aeed
production. Characteristics
controlled by cytoplasmic factors
an controlled by only the
female parent. Therefore, the
susceptibility to the new race of
the southern blight Is controlled
by the cytoplasm from the tomale
parent. The male contributes
nothing to the offspring
in cytoplasmic controlled
characters. Since a hybrid
can be made up of either
normal or Texas male sterile
cytoplasm the susceptibility of a
hybrid Is dependent on how It
was produced rather than the
pedlgre*. Because of this
unique characteristic It Is
not wise to rate hybrids
in an ordinary manner for their
tolerance or susceptibility to
the disease. Seed producers
will be labeling their seed for
1971 ^Indicating the type of cytoplasm
usad In the production
of the hybrid. The type of
cytoplasm should be the
characteristic that Is considered
rather than any particular
hybrid designation.
The members of the N. C.
Corn Blight Committee making
the recommendations are T.
Everett Nichols, Jr., J. C.
Wells, A. D. Stuart, A. V. Allen,
William C. Mills, Jr., Guy S.
Parsons, RobertBehlow, J.Ray
Harrlss, and Woody Upchurch.
Most of these liiiiivictuals
are specialists at N. C. State
University, Ralslft, North Carolina.
Marriage Licenses
Learner N. Rogers, colored,
at Henderson, to Mary Noble
Olasco of Henderson. 1:
Ivan Richardson, Indian, of
Route 1, Holllster, to Iris
Jacqueline Francis of Route 2,
War lent on.
William Wayrw Ball, whl.'e.of
Henderson to Dorothy Ann Hunt
Clark of Henderson.
Richard Allen Swlmm, white,
of Chelmsford, Mass., to Kathleen
Louis--; nig of Tyngstoro,
Mass
Michael Lee WhJtaker, white,
of Arlington, Va., to Mary Ann
Baker of Falls Church, Va.
Donald Ray Richardson, Indian,
of Baltimore, Md., to Cornelia
Gray Blagg, white, of
Baltimore, Md.
Glenn Kit Black, white, of
Springfield, Va., to Linda Anne
Shockey of Alexandria, Va.
Filter cigarettes accounted
for 77 percent of all cigarettes
sold in the United States In
1069. King size non-filter cigarettes
accounted for 12 percent
of sales and regular cigarettes
accounted for the remaining
11 percent.