Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / Feb. 1, 1962, edition 1 / Page 2
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EDITORIALS Never Forget That These Editorials Are The Opiniqn Of One Man -And He May Be Wrong Priority Problem None blit the most brazen meddler in pub lic affairs would dare to list the absolute priority for problems that confront our na tion, but none but the most blind can ignore that somewhere high on any priority listing would be the problem of the marginal work er. Humming industries, mountainous savings deposits and the trillion dollar traffic prob lem all point unswervingly toward the great est prosperity for the most people that the world has ever known. But festering openly on the face of all this surplus plenty is that growing surplus of marginal labor that lacks the physical or mental agility demanded by our automated 'society. W!hile this is a national problem, it is much more a local, and a personal problem that needs to be approached from both ends of the line. The federal government needs to soften the minimum wage laws, to permit such types to work at less than the wage prescribed for a mentally and physically fit person. The welfare program should be immediate ly altered to permit able-bodied persons to engage in public work programs, based upon the need for such work, both by the com munity and the individual. Leaving an able bodied man to sit at borne and live on a dole is debasing to him, ito his family (if any) and aggravatingly so to the taxpayer. ' Private and public employers at the local level should seek ways to use these .people wherever and whenever they. can. This) is that spot where the minimum wage laws heed relaxing. A print shop, for instance, might be able to pay something for a clean up worker, but not $1.15 per hour as federal law demands. Seeking industries of a type that would enploy this basically unwanted type of la borer is a fruitless task. There are no such industries today. Modern Columbuses No doubt the few Spaniards who knew of ■ the plans of Christopher Columbus, and his repeated pleas to the Spanish court for help held mui-h of the same contempt or puzzle ment for the venture that many of us today hold for those modern Columbuses called as tronautj. The analogy is not absolute between Co lumbus and Glenn, Gagarin, Sheppard and Company. Columbus was not venturing alone, yet he had full control of his company’s direction,' barring mutiny. The astropaut at this juncture in, space travel is alone, yet he has absolutely no control ovey where he is going. But as far as thission is concerned the 15th century ex plorer and these 30th century astronauts is the same: Pushing further the knowledge of man. Some may agree that this may not nec essarily be on the asset side of the ledger, >. but history is a painful record of the price m0j: that man has paid for knowledge. Americans, who arc the world’s most gifted sentimen talists will enjoy an ecstasic agony when our first astronaut is killed, and this is just as certain to happen in rockets as it was in airplanes. The only difference — and it’s a ■tremendous one —•, is the pubicity that has been attached to our human guinea pigs on space travel. The pressure on these men and their fam ilies is terrific. The Russians with their or iental devotion to secrecy itave .only the family and close friends of their sacrifices to be concerned with. They 'only announce their successes, while wp blander along in the raw glare df live television coverage. Prepare yourself now in advance for that sad day that is certain to come when one or more of our brave explorers fails to return. If Astronaut John Glenn does not develop a king-sized' set of ulcers none of the rest , of us has much right to pain* broufeht on by the tiny frustrations that annoy our less glamorous and dangerous journey through this veil of tears. the millions of tax' dodgers in our free ‘so ciety. L His system is simplicity itself, pive every body a number. Most of os already have i . — ouf social security number. Then every , ‘body who psiys us either salary, rents, divi dends, interest, tobacco checks, corn or hof checks is required to turn that informatioi in with our numfcey. Then that number plus so many dollar: is fed into an electronic 'computer and a/ number and our card pops out wtih the whoh income story Stamped- harshly there fof the gifolet-eyed fax, agent to gaze upon. The stockholder who has been “forgetting’ ito' report little dividends here and there; the feHoty who lets out a little at six pe: cent interest per week; the fanner who sell: a load of chickens or hogs or corn or hay 01 timber or eggs and “forgets” to report then — all of these arid many more will bt sitting across a desk in, short order trying to explain their absent-mindedness to thf man from the infernal revenue department }{ there, is any further explanation needet to Cover the dangers of such a man as Cap lin, we-can’t ■jhink of them v You get the ' point ? We did. Military Censorship? For quite a spell now a debate has beet Sputtering, on the subject of military censor ship. Assorted brass from Several of the armed forces, have complained because souk third echelon type has blue—pencilled a mo mentous speech ghost written for one 01 these patriots. This writer was in the armed forces foi nearly four years and every letter written from overseas was “censored” by juvenile pilots, who knew no more about censorshi; than most of these generals and admiral' know about foreign policy. -Sauce for the sergeant'should be sauce fee; the general. Generals and admirals demand instant ob edience to their orders, and under our sys tem of government' they owe the same in tant obedience to their superior, the presi some robot pushes ; All of us with the slightest familiarity will ithe military know beyond doubt that th< most basic necessity of an armed force i: discipline, and discipline cannot exist at oni level if it is ignored at another. If a general thumbs his nose.at the presi dent, privates should not be shot for thumb ing their noses at generals. Perhaps it is academic to remind that th< most serious danger that confronts any fret system is’when military muscle is substitutec for free elections. All around the world today we see nations that exist only on the forc< of arms. Admitting that this likelihood is a remoti one in our own nation, it is still a possibility if not a probability. In this sense the military brass for its owi good should obey orders. JONES JOURNAL JACK RIDER, Publisher Published Every Thursday by The Lenoi County' News Company, Inc., 403 Wes Vernon Ave., Kinstod^ N.'C., Phone JA 3 2375. Entered as Second Class Matter Ma; 5, 1949, at the Post Office at Trenton, Nortl Carolina, under the Act of March 3, 1875 By Mail in First Zone—$3.00 Per Yeai Subscription Rates ' Payable in Advance Second Class Postage Paid at Trenton, N. C American ingenuity should be able to de vise a' plan under which a chronic illnes would not mean pauperization for the un fortunate sufferer and his family. Thej doc tors have left the solution of this problen to the politician, and now they are frightenei and maddened that the politicians propose t< answer it in political fashion. The burden o solving spcio'-medical problems could hav been‘better left to the medical profession j)ut in their failure, except in isolated in stances, they have created a vacuum inti which the politician was sucked. Last week those interested in education or , politics,— and the two groups are not tje essarily the same — had a rather ipeaty bone to chew on in the Kinston section. The bone was first mentioned in May of last ” year when the city school board ap proved a reconurfendation from Superintend ent Jean Booth that special emphasis on Americanism, versus all other “isms" be in cluded in the social science department in the 1961-62 school year. Last Tuesday Grainger High SchoL Prin cipal Frapk Mock issued a story 'to the Kinston Free Press, listing five speakers who had been scheduled to make a series' of speeches tp the student body of Grainger High School, with each speaker appearing before roughly one-fifth of the ^tudent body! The list of speakers included Robert 'Scott Langley, a local attorney; James Peele, Sim mons Patricks and Paul Whitaker, local iloc tors, and Ted Latour, a DuPont executive. As soon as the' speaker list was made public there was an immediate pressure on the school) board to cancel the series.' The protests were based upon the assertion that the speaking list was heavily stacked on the ultra-conservative side. Knowing each of the men for many years, I certainly agree that four of the.five are standing on the foul line in right field, and that Dr. Whitaker 'is the only one of the • i.e who has a record of open mindedness in the field of educath n and politics. After Langley and Patrick had made their speeches the- school board voted to cancel' the remaining Jhree of the speeches. Al through 1 was not in favor of the series be ginning, I felt it a mistake to stop them once they had begun. l-.ach of these men is a good citizen, and each has every right to air his views on any subject, but I’m rather inclined to deny them such a captive audience as students. 1 favor experts being called in to speak to students,, on specific subjects, but I’m satisfied that a teacher of such an inexact science as social science is better equipped to lecture high school students than doctors, lawyers and Dacron chiefs. The conununity should have forums for debate in which all sides of' important issues could be heard, but a high school classroom does not strike me as the proper forum. Our children should be given an opportunity to study the things that have made our country great, and olften bad things about a people contribute as much to their greatness as the good things. I think our students should be taught that Americans are capable of making colossal mistakes, but also capable of rising to unimaginable heights of personal and national sacrifice. As jre most: other great nations of people. Only a small percentage of adults is inter L ested in public affairs, so it is not. unflatter ^ mg that even a smaller percentage of stu , dents cares which way the political doughnut ■ is perforated. it American* fi£hiti of army chow but wanted to get b The editorial page of the daily newspaper has to stand in line for the sports page, comic page, front page, obituary page and society page before it grabs "its relatively ■ low percentage of readers. Some papers are able to juggle this reading sequence slightly but the average remains fairly constant. Which may not! be a very consoling remin der to our friends who are given to spew ing seriously, on alatming subject* of great national peril. »"» I ' "I ■> -1 v
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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Feb. 1, 1962, edition 1
2
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