Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / July 18, 1968, edition 1 / Page 2
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dftc cwa - journal NATIONAL NIVWAMI PRESS ASSOCIATION Published Every Thursday at Raeford, N. C. " 119 W. El wood Avenue Subscription Rates In Advance Per Year - $4.00 6 Months - $2.25 3 Months - $1.25 PAUL DICKSON Publisher SAM C. MORRIS General Manager JIM TAYLOR Editor MRS. LUCY GRAY PEEBLES Reporter MRS. PAUL DICKSON Society Editor Stcond-CUM PotUf Paid it Ka.ford. N. C. Your Award-Wlrmlng Community Newspaper "Jcil Standards Always Been Better n Jaih." THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1968 Wallace Gaining Politics Perking Up There seems to have been a chill on American politics since the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy some two months ago, but things are likely to get warmer during the next six weeks. The first indication of stepped-up campaigning occurred last week when Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New York became quite outspoken and energetic in his bid for the Republican nomination for president. Despite predictions for several months that Richard Nixon had the nomination sewed up, Rockefeller keeps chipping away at the stone wall and may spring one of the notable upsets of recent presidential politics by wresting the nomination away from Nixon, despite haughty opposition from the GOP old guard. Rockefeller is relying heavily on pre-convention polls, which indicate he would run a considerably better race against Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, the likely Democratic nominee. Time and again, polls have indicated Humphrey would win against either Nixon or Rockefeller, although the gap is much closer when the theoretical" GOP candidate " is Rockefeller. Surprising, too, is the growing strength of Alabama's George Wallace, whose campaign to get on the ballot as a third party candidate has taken him to virtually every section of the United States. Always strong in the South, Wallace has gained favor, according to the polls, among conservative Democrats, primarily, in all sections of the country and now commands 16 per cent of the national vote (as projected by the polls). There are good indications that Wallace may carry four Southern States - Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina - and he is given an even chance of winning in Virginia. Ironically, his power in the traditionally Democratic South is more helpful to the Democrats than to the Republicans, because a majority of his supporters are Democrats who find it hard to vote for the party's nominees, considered to be liberal in recent elections and almost certain to be liberal this year. Wallace is given no chance of winning, but a strong showing could throw the election into the U.S. House of Representatives, where the issue would be decided if none of the three candidates had a plurality (of the electoral vote). It seems unlikely that Wallace would be favored by members of the House, but his growing strength as the most conservative candidate and the only one preaching the states rights doctrine is clear indication that the two major parties have ceased to provide conservative leadership. After Goldwater's defeat four years ago, they cannot be blamed for deemphasizing the conservative tack. Goldwater, an ultra-conservative in many respects, also ran well in the South, but was soundly trounced by President Johnson in the nationwide race. Wallace suffers somewhat from the "racist" tag others have put upon his candidacy (although he is not, by pure definition, a racist). If he continues to gain power - indeed, if he runs as well as Strom Thurmond did 20 years ago as the states rights candidate in the three -way 1948 presidential election, he very well may have established a base for a third party movement which could figure prominently in succeeding elections. Right now, it still looks like Humphrey and Nixon will be the nominees, but the delegate votes won't be counted until August. Anything can happen between now and then. Federal Funds Approved As expected, the federal government last week approved a SI. 3 million grant to be used in Hoke, Robeson, Columbus and Bladen counties to begin projects aimed at keeping people from emigrating from the farm to the urban areas in the state and elsewhere. A four-county organization, Advancement, Inc., has been formed to plan and administer the program -which has wide latitude in spending the money. It can be used to provide job training, row-rent housing, industrial site development, and in a dozen other ways beneficial to the low-income families which no longer can earn a living doing day work or as tenants on North Carolina farms. Hoke County once had a serious problem in that respect, and the problem still is considerable, but indications are that quite a number of local families have managed to get away from the tenant shacks in which they were more or less imprisoned. The fault was not theirs, nor was it their landlords'. The simple facts of the situation were that with mechanization of farming operations, plus a dwindling of allotments, brought less and less work for field hands to do. As farmers used more and more machinery to plant, cultivate and harvest their crops, fewer tenants and day laborers were needed. Farms which once worked dozens of "hands' now operate with two men and a considerable investment in machinery. The former field hands, lacking education and training for other jobs, were more or less cut off from income, although farmers generously allowed them to remain in their houses. More often than not, when one of the former tenant houses is vacated, it is pushed over, or burned down, and the lot plowed up and added to the nearest field. Of course, the migration of these low-income families to already crowded slums in the nation's cities only created additional problems there. They arrived without funds, belongings, and no hope of getting jobs, and as soon as they were qualified for public assistance, they went on the welfare rolls. It is estimated that 44,582 such persons emigrated from the four counties from 1 960 through 1 967. That represented 18.6 per cent of the total population and included an estimated 2.640 from Hoke County. Just how many such, families remain in the county is anybody's guess, although family profiles of 600 low income families conducted by the anti-poverty organization in Hoke County suggests they still cast an economic blight on the county. If the federal funds can be used to promote the general welfare of these people, it will be a great benefit to them and to the entire population of the county. Right now, one of our most serious problems is the gap between the standard of living of the average wage earner and the lower one-third of the population. The sooner this gap can be lessened, the better it will be for the entire county. The federal money will be welcomed - provided it isn't used to provide window dressing and very little actual aid to the stricken families. CLIFF BLUE...' :By jim Tayiors Hoke Soldier Seen On Tube (7 ys J Last week, I viewed CBS special, "The Black Soldier," on one of the North Carolina TV stations. 1 wis stunned at the very beginning of the program when I recognized a Hoke County soldier on the screen. I probably would not have recognized him hid I not talked with him several days earlier when he returned to Rieford after i tour of duty in Vietmm. Diriu Hollingsworth used to work it The News-Journal on Wednesdays while a student at Unchurch High School. After his graduation from Upchurch, he enlisted in the Army and I hidn't seen him for months until two weeks igo. Diriis cime by The News-Journal while home on leave, mostly to check up on his buddies in the back shop, where he used to help get the papers printed and distributed each week. I encountered him there and we chitted ibout the wir in Vietnam. Like virtually every American serviceman I've encountered after service in Vietnam, Hollingsworth appeared devoted to our cause in that country. "I've seen guys who had been hit and hospitalized who couldn't wait to get the bandages off and get back in action," he said. Hollingsworth, a communications specialist, said he'd rather be in the field in Vietnam than in or near Saigon. "In the field, you ire always on the alert and keep a guard posted. In Saigon, you never know who the enemy is. The little old lady on the bicycle may toss a hand grenade into a bunch of soldiers," he said. Although he has been in service only 17 months, Hollingsworth has received five promotions, now ranking as a specialist E-S. That's equivalent to the old rink of staff sergeant, seldom attained in so short a time. Although I hid only recently talked to him, I might not have noticed Hollingsworth on TV if it had not been for his slight impediment of speech. On the tube, he was talking into a field telephone ind the lisp stood out. That, plus a closeup of his face, unmistakably identified him. Haven't seen Hollingsworth again since the TV special. He was to spend his leave with his parents here, then report for duty at Fort Benning, Gs. Actually, he was hoping to be assigned to Fort Bragg. He was scheduled to go to Washington, D.C., before reporting to Benning and hoped the Bragg assignment could be swung at the Pentagon. His first enlistment soon will be up, but Hollingsworth said he probably won't be returning to Raeford soon. He's pretty much sold on military life and may make it his career. With such a fast start, he'll probably do well it it. Here's a note to baseball scouts, professional and otherwise. The Hawk Eye Hawks, Hoke County's entry in the Tri-County semipro league, have a 14-year-old pitcher who could turn out to be a top prospect, if he doesn't go the way of many teenage whizz kids. At the moment, however, Marvin Woods looks to me like a genuine prospect for a big league career. Already a hefty 170 pounds on a 5-1 1 frame, young Woods is a pitcher who plays centerfield when not on the mound. And he more than holds his own with grownups in the league. Burnice Blanks, manager of the Hawk Eye team, says Woods already pitches on a par with other semipro hurlers in the league. His record for Hawk Eye is two wins and two losses - but that isn't really indicative of his talent, since the team (you gest in the league) got off to a slow start with four losses before registering its first win. Since then, the Hawks have won five of six games. Friday, I witnessed i practice session, with Woods Continued on Cliuifled Page Puppy Creek Philosopher Dear editar: I was sitting under a shade tree out here on this Puppy Creek grass farm yesterday, it's my favorite because it's lined up with two others so that when the sun moves, one tree picks up the shadow, then the next, and I can sit in one place four or five hours without losing my shade, and if you don't think this is important, have you ever gone to sleep Hi the shade and woke up in the sun. I wasn't sleeping today, 1 was wide awake and for more than in hour had been watching a newspaper in the pasture about i hundred yirds off moving about gently in the breeze. The wind seemed to be toying with it, rolling it around like a kitten with a ball of yarn. ' I kept hoping it'd blow over to where I was. after all, one of man's first obligations in this fast-moving world is to stay informed, democracy can't function when the people are in the dark, politicians prove this all the time, but when the second hour passed and that paper was still a hundred yards away I took things into my own hands and got up and walked over and picked it up and brought it back. I get tired of people who can't do things for people in this country today, and around the world too. They not only want something for nothing, they want it delivered. After all. it didn't really hurt me to get up and go after that paper. It seems to me that if hundreds of people scattered throughout the world are going to the trouble of gathering the news and others are going to the trouble of making the paper to print it on and others to the trouble of editing ind printing it in readable form, it's not asking too much of me to get up once in a while ind walk over and pick up a copy. This country wasn't built on people who waited forever for a newspaper to drop into their Up. Feeling pretty good ibout this show of initiative, I sat back down under my line of shade trees and later on in the day, after I've rested up, I intend to open it up and read it thoroughly. Yours faithfully, J A People & Issues d TAR HEEL POLL Our friend, Henry Belk. editor of the Goldsboro News-Argus, suggests that a group of interested North Carolina publishers organize a state public opinion poll with a staff to operate it according to standards found most reliable. We hasten to second Editor Belk's suggestion, and also his suggestion that the N. C. Association of Afternoon Dailies might well be the machine to put such an opinion poll on the road. Someone or some group is ipt to start i stitewide poll pretty soon. In view of the popularity and influence of polls particularly on the candidates ind public officials we hope that a reliable one comes into being soon. WALLACE - The constant rise of support for George C. Wallace as reported by the opinion polls will soon start the Democratic ind Republican candidates to taking aim at him, where up to now they have been in the main ignoring him. With the support which he has generated, it will be impossible to ignore him much longer. The Gallup Poll shows Wallace with 16 per cent, Nixon 35 per cent and Humphrey 40 per cent. When Wallace is pitted against Humphrey and Rockefeller, he takes 21 per cent of the vote with Humphrey and Rockefeller 36 per cent each and with 7 per cent undecided. In a recent poll in North Carolina conducted by one of the polling firms, Nixon received 29 per cent, Wallace 28 per cent, Humphrey 26 per cent with 17 per cent undecided. SUPREME COURT - We are by no means plugging for the confirmation of Abe Fortas as chief justice or Homer Thornberry as associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, but we must say that we feel that President Johnson is well within his rights in submitting the nominations. And President Johnson is not i "lime duck" president. A "lime duck" president is i president who has been defeated for reelection. We feel that he wisely chose not to run rather than tike a pretty big chance of being defeited. ELECTORAL COLLEGE -Down through the years dozens of bills have been introduced in Congress in an attempt to change the electoral college method of electing our presidents. In only a few instances in history have the electoral college thwarted the popular will of the people. In 1876 Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat, received 4,285.992 popular votes against 4.033,768 for Rutherford B. Hayes. Republican. The Republicans, then in control of Congress, excluded 23 Southern electoral votes, named a commission of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, which on a straight party vote gave the election to Hayes. In 1824, while . Andrew Jackson led in the electoral votes, with four candidates in the race, neither received a majority of the electoral votes. The election was thrown into Congress, where Henry Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams, who was elected. The people resented what they felt was i Clay -Adams deal, since Adams named Clay secretary of state, and four years later Jackson won over Adams in the electoral college, 178 to 83. Several presidents have been elected with a plurality, but without a majority of the popular vote. In 1880 James A. Garfield had a slight plurality with 4,449.053 votes to 4,442,035 for Winficld S. Hancock, the Democrat, with James B. Weaver the Greenback candidate receiving 308,578 votes. Grover Cleveland was elected president twice, but in neither instance did he receive i majority of the votes. But when he was defeated for president in 1888, he received more popular votes than did Benjamin Harrison, who was elected. Harrison received 5,440,216 popular votes and 233 electoral votes. Cleveland received 5.538,233 ' popular votes and 182 electoral votes. In 1948, Harry Truman received slightly less than a majority of the popular votes, but in the electoral college he revived 303 to 189 for Tom Dewey and 39 for Strom Thurmond. When the founding fathers included the electoral college in the U. S. Constitution, it was their feeling that the average citizen lacked sufficient information to vote for a president and that it would.be best for the nation to provide for the election of in electoral college of intelligent and informed citizens from each state to select the president. S SFNATflD A S5 SAM ERVIfJ 1 SAYS WASHINGTON - The nomination of Justice Abe Fortas to be chief justice of the United States raises a legal question at the outset of Senite hearings upon his confirmation. That question is this: Cm the Senite consent to fill a "vacancy" that does not exixt? The issue arises not out of judicial "nitpicking," but out of the correspondence between the incumbent chief justice and the president. Chief Justice Warren, in idvising the president by letter of his proposed "retirement," is quoted is saying: "I hereby advise you of my intention to retire is chief justice of the United Stites it your pleasure." The words "it your pleasure" place the retirement decision upon the president. Actually, the chief justice must decide unconditionally whether he shall retire. Moreover, Chief Justice Warren's letter to the president fixes no specific retirement date. Indeed, in i subsequent press conference, we ire told thit the chief justice left in doubt whether he would retire if the Senite failed to confirm Justice Fortas as his successor. The law is clear that there can be no conditional retirement by a justice no matter what reasons there may be for wanting it otherwise. The president's letter of response to the chief justice further indicates that no "vacancy" resulted from the tccalled Warren "retirement" communication. The president h quoted at replying: "In deference to your wishes, I will seek a replacement to fill the vacancy "i in the office of chief justice that will be occasioned when you depirt. With your igreement, I will accept your decision to retire effective at such time is a successor is qualified." Here again, the president imposed legally unacceptable qualification upon the naming of a successor to the office of chief justice. Letter To Editor To The Editor: Having arrived in your wonderful town and community a month ago, I . should like to express our delight for the privilege of living here. Such expressions of kindness by ill whom we have met will long be remembered. As you know, we ire fortunate to be the first occupants of the lovely parsonage on Bethel Road. No words can express adequately our thanks to the many who had i part in its construction -not only the members of the Hoke Methodist Charge who worked so diligently, but also the congregation of Raeford's First Methodist Church. So, to each and every one we sincerely express our thinks. 1 Permit me to say we greatly enjoy The News-Journal. The wide news coverage of this arei, along with your most excellent editorials make this newspaper to which we eagerly look forward. We extend our very best wishes. O.V. Elkins Hoke Methodist Charge
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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July 18, 1968, edition 1
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