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THURSDAY. JUNE 8,1972
i Ininion and (ommrntury
by Paul Dick ion
The year of the politician
Last year was the year of the dog in China, or maybe it was the year of
the rat. No maybe about it, this year is the year of the politician in the
good old USA. The political animal is busy from the precinct to the
Presidency, or from the outhouse to the White House, to coin phrases the
way candidates pay people to do.
They are with us morning, noon and night, in our magazines,
newspapers, radios. Just cut on the tube at any hour and there one is.
talking just to you.
There are many interpretations of what the President is doing, with the
cartoonists having a fine time showing him as a traveling circus act with
the line, "And now, ladies and gentleman, by helicopter direct to the
Capitol steps and straight from a week at the Kremlin, here in person is . .
"himself, of course. And his actions are labeled strictly according to the
personal motives and desires of the labclers. His performance is the
"greatest act of statesmanship of the century" by a senator who intends
to haVe him firmly by the coattails for a ride back to Washington come
November, or it is "blatant politics," or "using the country's foreign
policy for political gain" by another who hopes to dislodge this same
senator in the fall.
There are those who think that Richard Nixon has been qualified by
experience in the political arena at many levels, and strengthened by
adversity and the bitterness of many defeats to degrees not seen in a
president since Abraham Lincoln, and many who think these things also
think he is trying to be and being a great United States President. Because
Nixon doesn't come across with the warmth of an Eisenhower or the
magnetism of a Kennedy, the average person seems to find it harder to
give him credit for motives which must be at least as lofty as any ever
possessed by either of these others.
But in this year of the politician many things are strange, and the one
sure thing is to judge nothing by its name, unless you want to win a few
Joy judging that somethfng'iS the Opposite of what it is called.
Take Democrat John Connally for example, former Democratic
governor of the great and sovereign state of Texas. What is he, really? He
is still a registered Democrat, and undoubtedly is still able to point with
pride to a record of always having voted the straight Democratic ticket.
Still, Democrat Connally would have to admit he has been seen in some
strange places lately for a good Democrat, as secretary of the treasury in a
Republican administration, for one, and getting strong publicity for being
on the Republican ticket for another.
"Party loyalty" is a phrase wont to turn up in these years of the
politicians, and it is an expression that bears a little looking into. For one
thing it is never used by anyone who doesn't have something to gain for
himself or a friend. Now this is sometimes hard to see very clearly, and
particularly so here in the old "solid South" we used to hear about,
because there are more Democrats here and in the nation as a whole than
there are Republicans, so the Republicans get there by people not having
"party loyalty," and when the Democrats manage to stall them off, it's
because they can convince enough people in November that they ought to
have "party loyalty."
Of course, the poor voter has a hard time defining, or getting anyone
define, just what the Democrat Party, for example, stands for, what wi
I " U/5 r-no M , .flrtt/.v rtv iiiv/I 1_J ? ? L w 11., ?. _ I- _. . 3 . " !a . v.
George McGovem and Hubert Humphrey giving it pretty go
explanations but not quite the same as, say. Democrat George Wallace,
Democrat Connally, for that matter.
Now as more North Carolina Democrats favored George Wallace than
anyone else for the U. S. presidency on May 6, and as it appears more and
more that Senator McGovem, who explains the Democratic Party a little
differenty, is more likely to be the Democratic nominee. Democratic
Nominee for Governor Skipper Bowles and Democratic Nominee for U. S.
Senate Nick Galifianakis are going to have to be somewhat adroit in their
talk of party loyalty this fall.
Party loyalty is going to have to be asked for on the state level, or else
either Bowles or Galitianakis or both could be toppled handily by
Republicans Jim Holshouser or Jesse Helms. On the other hand, though, if
McGovem happens to be the national Democratic nominee, it may not
work too well for the state nominees to try to get the Wallace folks to
have enough "party loyalty" to vote for him.
So while the Year of the Politician may be somewhat harder to define,
and while it definitely lias many more crooks, angles and switches than
the year of the rat, it may be much more interesting if we can just stick it
out to the bitter end.
Browsing in the files
of Tho Nows-Journal
25 years ago
Thursday, June S. 1947
Incoming Mayor W.L. Poo,? and
oommiauoner Millon Campbell, John K.
McNeill. Clarence Lylch, Alfred Cole and
A.V. Sanden took I heir oatha of ofTice
and became the administrators of Hie
toym of Raeford last Monday night.
? ? ?
MaJ. (Jan. S. LeKoy Irwin,
commanding general. Fori Bragg,
ofRcMly announced today that due to
economy measures in line with peacetin*
operations several hundred civiliai
employees at Fort Bragg would b<
dismissed June 30, 1947.
Tire Raeford baseball club of the Peacl
Belt league won two more games in th<
last week to bring their score of victories
up to five with only one game lost.
From Poole's Medley:
Back in those days taxes and tin
preachers were the only two causes lira
untied the little money bags.
a i
/)
Passing Thoughts
By Elaine Symanski
A If eed Is A Weed
If weeds could only be flowers. Or
even if flowers could be weeds- it
wouldn't really matter, since either way
would be an imporvement over the
present condition of my garden.
I use the term "garden" rather loosely,
for what I really have is a small plot of
sandy soil on either side of my concrete
patio, which is closed off by a tall
wooden fence. When I think of the acres
and acres of land some homowners have
to contend with, I feel fortunate, indeed,
of my station in life as an apartmenl
dweller.
So you would think with so little land
to worry about, it would be in top ?
notch condition, just like one of those
darling little yards featured in the
gardening magazines around this time of
year, right? Wrong. It seems that
completely untended lands in the woods
come off in better shape than my
carefully cared for plot of soil.
It's not that I haven't tried- I guess I
just don't have a "green thumb." All of
Puppy Creek
Philosopher
Dear editar.
If a man hasn't got something to
protest about these days he's so far out of
style he's probably still carrying a pocket
watch, wearing high - tup shoes and
carrying cold patches to Ox flats with, so
it was only natural that an 11 - year - old
girl should show up before a Senate
committee in Washington protesting
Saturday morning commercials on kids'
T.V. shows.
According to her. the commercials are
so bad. or so good, however you want to
put it, that kids immediately rush out and
demand that their parents buy the stuff,
and parents, naturally not wanting to lose
the everlasting love and affection of their
children, comply.
Tlien when the kids, after a few years
of eating all that cereal and having
attained the mature age of 10 or II,
discover they don't feel any better or
turn out more popular or prettier or
stronger than kids who've been eating
oatmeal all along, they begin to doubt the
commercials, then begin doubting the
adults who sponsor them.
"They find out that not all adults tell
the truth," the young girl told the
Senators. "They start disbelieving some
things they say. and I feel this is
dangerous."
Come on, honey, you're on the nght
track, not the wrong track.
Dangerous? Quite the contrary, it's
safe and wise. Of all the things a child
needs to learn, and what better place is
there to have it dawn on you than before
a bunch of Senators, one of the most
important is that you'd better not believe
everything everybody says.
YouH find that while most grown - ups
today weren't taken in by T.V.
commercials when they were youngsters,
it was mostly because there weren t any
T.V. commercials then to be taken in by,
but you'd be surprised how many of
them ordered secret devices to throw
their voice or rings with a secret
compartment, as advertised on cereal
boxes and comic books.
In preparing yourself to vote
intelligently in a domocracv. kids, the
first step is to watch those T.V.
commercials pretty closely, whether
they're for posttoasties or politicians.
Yours faithfully.
J. A.
my weeding, hoeing, fertilizing and
cultivating don't do a darned bit of good
for the flower seeds I carefully planted,
just as the directions on the package told
me to. But you should see the weeds
they're the healthiest ones in town, I'm
sure.
I've often wondered what makes a
flower a flower and a weed a weed. Some
of my tallest and healthiest weeds have
sprouted blooms, but they arc still
unmistakably and undeniably, weeds. The
fact that they thrive so well on neglect
and even punishment must surely be the
deciding factor. They're totally unshaken
by cruel treatment such as cutting and
pulling-- it only seems to make their
return even more glorious.
Somewhere I read that if you talk to
your flowers and plants in kind, gentle
tones it will encourage them to grow.
Using reverse psychology, 1 have uttered
some choice words at my weeds that I
couldn't print here, in the hopes that I
would hurt their feelings and they would
cease to inltabit my garden. But even that
effort was to no avail, so now I am not on
speaking terms with them at all.
I've even toyed with the possibility of
letting the weeds run rampant and telling
everyone I'm conducting experiments on
them so 1 don't want to get rid of them.
But if I tried that, true to their nasty
nature, the weeds would probably die on
So I guess I'm stuck with them. Some
day, if I'm fortunate, all of the flower
seedlings will burst forth with
unprecedented force and run the weeds
right out of town.
Or if I get tired of waiting for that
unlikely day to arrive, I just may chuck
the whole idea of growing anything and
plant some plastic flowers in a huge green
styrofoam block. At least that way I'd be
sure of one thing-- there are no plastic
weeds that could invade- not yet, at
least.
CLl 1*1?' BLUE ? ? ?
People & Issues
POLLS CAN BE TREACHEROUS -
Opinion polls for candidates can be
treacherous for the leaders as appears to
have been the case in three state - wide
races in North Carolina this year.
Polls are reported to have showed Pat
Taylor, Everett Jordan and Jim Gardner
leading in their races. With this in mind,
each to an extent conducted their
campaign somewhat similar to the Tom
Dewey campaign for president in 1948
when the polls showed him leading Harry
Truman. Dewey didn't want to "rock the
boat" and conducted a very calm and
placid campaign. He though! he had the
election won but when he awakened on
Wedneaday morning he learned to his
sorrow that Truman and not Dewey had
been elected president!
Pat Taylor started his campaign for
governor with the polls showing him with
a big lead. Evidnetly he and his managers
didn't want to "rock the boat" of what
appeared to be a smoothly running
campaign, but on May 6 to his great
surprise and astonishment he found that
in his placid campaign that Skipper
Bowles had moved bv him into the lead.
The same thing can be said about
Everett Jordan. He realized that
Congressman Galifianakis was a vigorous
campaigner but the polls showed him
with a substantial lead. He did not want
to "rock the boat," and to his surprise on
May 6 found Nick sailing ahead.
It was the same with Jim Gardner. He
and his advisors felt that he was way out
among the Republicans. His big victory
over Jack Stickley in 1968 lead him to
believe that he need do but very little
campaigning to win the nomination. To
his great surprise on May 6 he led
Holshouser by a very small margin.
Holshousher was on the move and
Gardner couldn't stop him.
Chances are that with different
approaches to the respective campaigns of
Taylor, Jordan and Gardner that each
might have won. However, on May 6
when they realized that they were trailing
instead of leading, it appears to have been
impossible to chart new and acceptable
campaigns capable of overtaking tides
which were rolling high and fast.
DEMOCRATS - The outlook for the
Democratic nominee for president now U
that he will hardly receive a great deal of;
warmth by the major nominees of the
party in North Carolina this summer and
fall.
Four years ago Bob Scott had little to
do or say about Hubert Humphrey, the
1968 Democratic nominee, ana right now
it appears that the nominee for governor
may find it expedient to be just as cool
towards the Democratic presidential
nominee as Scott was four years ago. Self
preservation is the first rule in politics as
well as in nature.
PATTON - A night last week Gala and
I attended the showing of "Patton"
starring George C. Scott at a Southern
Pines theatre.
General Patton of World War 11 fame
was evidently a pretty courageous general
but as a man and a gentleman as
portrayed by Scott he cannot be placed
in the category of soldiers like George
Washington, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson.
Washington, Lee and Jackson were
outstanding generals and leaders, not only
because of their courage and ability as
warriors but because their soldiers loved
and had great respect and admiration for
them. Patton won battles because of his
cold - blooded courage and also the rear
and often ? times dislike of his soldiers.
They were afraid of him. In the picture
he was portrayed as an arrogant and vain
man who wanted to go down in history as
the great general of World War II. He was
quite jealous of General Montgomery and
was ready to fight the Russians even
before World War II was over.
For slapping a soldier in a hospital
ward and using vile and profane language
he was severely reprimanded by-order of
General Eisenhower and ordered to
apologize to his troops, and relieved of
his command for awhile.
War is not a play game and to win you
have to use facilities and leaders available.
Without a General Washington, a General
Lee or a General Stonewall Jackson,
when survival becomes the key word no
doubt but that sometimes a nation must
turn to vile, profane, yes and courageous
men like General Patton.
Just One Thing After Another
By Ca
We have said this before - the study of
words is a most interesting one and has
caught my fancy all my life.
For example, what's the difference
between admittance and admission,
referring to entrance?
"No admittance" means "entrance
forbidden." Admission refers to entrance
into a society or into certain privileges.
What's the diffemece between "on
behalf' and "in behalf?
"On behalf means in the name of. "In
behalf means in the interest of.
"On behalf of the school, we thank
you for your presence here tonight."
"I make this appeal in behalf of the
prisoner."
All of us use many words that are
entirely unnecessary. Here are a few
typical examples - the words in italics are
the ones that should be omitted:
Well try to cooperate TOGETHER in
this matter.
I have no one ELSE but you to help
me solve this problem.
I'm glad that's over WITH so we can
turn our attention to other things.
Do you plan ON going to church today
or are you going to stay in bed?
"A penny saved is a penny earned" is a
well - known OLD adage.
Add UP this column of figures and see
if MY answer is correct.
FROM whence came ye?
Those hats are BOTH alike.
Whenever I go to the old homeplace, I
ALWAYS think of Mother.
What's the difference between depot
Soerch
ana station? A depot is a place where
goods or stores of any kind are kept; a
station is the place where people get on
or off a train.
Clipper, gerrymander, creek and
schooner are among the words that are
purely American.
"I know a man of the name of Brown"
sounds rather awkward but it's correct.
"By the name" suggests an assumed
name.
Which is correct, ."Welsh rabbit" or
"Welsh rarebit"?
Most people are under the impression
that "rarebit" is the correct form, but
that isn't so. Here's how the thing
originated:
A friend called on a Welshman and the
two of them decided to go rabbit
hunting. They told the lady of the house
not to bother about preparing dinner;
that they'd bring home enough rabbits
for a good meal.
They hunted for hours, but they didn't
find a single rabbit, so finally they
returned home in disgust -- empty -
handed and hungry. The woman told
them not to worry, that she'd fix
something to eat.
All she could find in the house was
some cheese. She melted some of this and
mixed it with other items of food,
preparing a dish which the two men
found very appetizing. The dish became
popular and was known thereafter as
Welsh rabbit, and it has kept that name
SENATOR SAM ERVIN sa
WASHINGTON - Tax reform in this
Presidential election year has become a
major compaign issue. The Nixon
Administration has for some time been
making suggestions that there ought to be
some shift in the tax burden.
Last December, the President promised
to try to "ease the crushing burden of
property taxes" when he addressed an
attentive audience of delegates to the
White House Conference on Aging.
Several days ago. a tax memorandum
became news. It was disclosed that Edwin
S. Cohen, Assistant Treasury Secretary
for Tax Policy, had suggested lo the
White House that Federal tax laws
undergo a major overhaul to eliminate
most personal deductions including those
for mortgage interest payments on homes
and those for medical expenses to permit
lower overall tax rates.
In the wake of these "tax reforms"
comes the Mills proposal advocated by
House Ways and Means Committee
Chairman Wilbur D. Mills and Senate
Majority Leader Mike Mansfield.
Congressman Mills, who has been
campaigning for the Democratic
Presidential nomination, has introduced a
bill, referred to his tax - writing
committee in the House, which would
abolish virtually all tax deductions and
credits in three stages by January I,
1976. What is odd about the timing of
the measure is that Chairman Mills.
usually a cautious man, wants his bill
enacted before Congress recesses for the
Democratic National Convention. The
House Ways and Means Chairman is also
quoted as saying that while he favors
certain tax preferences, Congress ought to
go ahead and terminate such preferences
under his bill and then review them
before the effective date of their
abolition to see whether they should be
continued.
I certainly have no quarrel with the
idea that Congress ought to constantly
examine our tax structure to remove any
inequities which unfairly burden any
segment of our society. But it seems to
me that three weeks is hardly time
enough to give proper consideration to
any tax review of this magnitude, and
particularly when the urgency of its
passage seems to hinge on action before a
political convention.
The middle class is bearing the major
burden of taxes today. It should be
recognized before we get very far along in
the consideration of the Mills ? Mansfield
bill that it would at the outset terminate
a lot of personal deductions that affect
the long - range plans of millions of hard -
working, tax - paying Americans. It is one
thing to talk about abolishing tax
"loopholes," and quite another matter to
get down to the specifics of a bill to
terminate peraunal income tax deductions
for charitable contributions, dependent
care, medical expenses, personal and
property taxes, interest on home
mortgage payments, moving expenses,
casualty losses, and many other expenses
that are embedded in daily living costs.
AD of the foregoing personal deductions
would be wiped out should the Mills bill
be enacted by the Congress and signed by
the President. It would then be up to the
taxpayers to lobby for the reinstatement
of any of these tax deductions. This
could throw the whole reform process
out of kilter again.
In a day when the government is
spending far more than it takes in, it is
mote than likely than "tax reform" will
end up as a "tax increase" for millions of
our people. This prospect is not
calculated to win votes and it is down ?
played in political oratory. What is of
concern or ought to be to the people is
that for years the government has seldom
balanced its budgets and the leadership of
the country has ignored the fact that
most taxpayers are unwilling to pay for a
lot of the Federal programs that we now
have or many of the new ones which are
in prospect.
When Americans start examining what
it proposed at "tax reform," they may
get tome new ideas about a measure
which would take away their right to
determine how at least a portion of their
See SKN SAM. Page 9