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Never Forget That These Editorials Are T'he Opinion Of One Utah 1
. —And He May Be Wrong
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At Year’s End
This will be the last whack at 1963 that
this page has, and we’re reluctant to let it
slip into eternity without having this last
few words.
Our nation and the world were stunned
as the year neared its end with, the tragic,
wasteful, brutal murder of President John
F. Kennedy, and all of us old enough to
comprehend to any, degree the enormity of
this crime will surely remember 1963 for
this reason if for no other.
But 1963 should not be remembered only
as a year of great national tragedy, but
should be remembered as a great and good
year for us lucky Americans.
Inflation to some degree was kept under
control in this year. In spite of all the stress
and strain of botb national and international
affairs 1963 has to-be judged as one of the
most prosperous in the brief history of our
country.
It was not perfect, but there never will be
a perfect year. To our own small comer of
the world 1963 was blessed with good crop
weather and this blessed our major industry;
farming, which in turn blessed us all whose
livelihood comes either directly or indirectly
from the good earth. «
Hurricanes threatened but didn’t tear our
section apart as they have done several times
in recent years.
Despite tensions fostered by outside agita
tors our area has been spared any real dam
age and the relations between our white and
colored citizens are no worse, and possibly
in some respects are better than when 1963
started.
We had a great many problems when
1963 began, and as it ends we still have
plenty that are demanding answers. But life
would be dull, indeed, if there were no prob
lems, if everything were perfect.
To this paper, 1963 was unusually good in
many respects and we end the year by thank
ing each of you who has, helped in any yray
to make 1963 the good year that it was.
Ingenuity Needed
To a rather alarming degree the banking
of North Carolina in general and in East
Carolina in particular is falling into fewer
and fewer hands. This has good as well as
bad points. Cln the bad side, of course, is
the slacking off of competition.
But on the good side is the greater strength
offered by larger b^nlfs. There is, however,
some cause to wonder about the ingenuity
of these big strong banks that now dominate
East Carolina banking.
Well-heeled, they are. Dominant they
surely are, but the leadership that is badly
needed in the realm of farm credit is lack
ing. There are numerous directions in which
these well-heeled banks pould not only make
themselves a jitte more well-heeled, but
conld also make it possible for other people
to make more money;.'
Banks, of course, are bound to play their
cud * rather close to their chest, but profit
direction for the com rich economy of East
Carolina, but few farmers have the capital,
and the gambling instinct to take a flyer in
this direction, although the few who have
in the past have made money, doing so.
But for these huge banks, with their far
flung interests it would not be so risky, nor
such a venture into the unknown to bring
some of the surplus of feeder steers in West
Carolina to the surplus of com in East Caro
... :5fS ' J
During the months of normal feed lot
operation there is also sufficient farm labor
to do the chores that have to be done if this
too long the tobacco program
directed by the big acreage fatm
of from 50 acres allocation on up. It i»
the time when some consideration ought
to be given to the average size tobacco farm
er, and especially to those veteran farmers
in the below average categories. v. v;
Since the vast majority of tobacco farm
ers are small fanners it will be argued that
in order for a cut to be of any real conse
quence it has to hit these small ones as well
as the. big ones.
Perhaps this is true, but if it is at all
practical and possible their should be a)
minimum tobacco quota below' which no
family should be asked to try to survive.
‘••■35."' • •. ... 1 3 ,1 ,i_1" I'-:-,'-!'--:- ' •
Farm Credit
Elsewhere in this issue we reprint an edit
orial by Charles Shuman, president of the
American Farm Bureau Federation, in which
he urges that farm credit and farm planning
both need major improvements to meet the
challenge of this era. We commend it to
our readers.
And we suggest that all owners of farms
study the possibility of setting up their
operation, and their estate in such a fashion
that some long range planning may be
possible.
As Shuman .suggests, the change of owner
ship every generation under our present sys
tem confuses farm management because ifi
prevents long range plans.
The farm should either be 'set up as a
trust, incorporated or devised to one heir
with other remuneration being allocated to
other survivors.
Estate planning is relatively unknown to
farms, either big or little; but it has been
an accepted practice in business for a long
time. Today farming is no longer a “Way of
Life”, but is a high investment, highly tech
nical business that cannot hold its head a
bove water on a hit and miss basis.
The farm owner who has only one son or
one daughter has a simple answer, but this
is the exception rather than the rule. When
the farm- owner with a number of children
dies without estate planning he almost cer
tainly imposes a break up of his farming
operation. All of us in Eastern Carolina have
seen farm after farm broken up because of
this because it is a rare thing for two, three
or more brothers and sisters to be able to
agree on just how a farm should be man
aged.
Some want “out” and this imposes a sud
den and large financial burden on those who
want to stay with the farm. It hampers their
credit at a time when they most likely
to need credit. 1
W!e urge ail our farm owning friends to
ponder this problem and to do something
about it before it is too date, and it may be
later than you think.
Sad as it makes the kids to read about
snow to the south of us, snow to the west
of us and snow to the north of us; it’s nice
for those of us who have to "carry the mail”
to live down east here where the Gulf Stream
protects us from all but the trickiest and
meanest snow storms. If you happen to be a
snowophile, we’ll send you a post card with
pictures of a lot of snow . . . Pretty, but oh,
so messy.
'U.r -11
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po.«u ot view tnat i nave
s. It earned me the
most severe tongue-lashing I have had in
recent years from Librarian Lon Posey.
She asserted, "YouVe absolutely looney.”
and from that mild beginning she went on to
■ explore the subject .of my daffiness in more
detail. "Yon and the Free Press run around
shpoting off your mouth when you don’t
know what you’re talking about! Why don’t
you call me and get the facts?" juy-?'
Mrs. Posey also reminded me, “I don’t run
around telling you 'how to run Rider Print
ing Company 1” At about this poiiit my usual
calm patience ran out and I reminded Mrs.
Posey that Rider Printing Company was not
supported by the taxpayers of Lenoir County
and the City of. Kins ton, as she and her job
were.
—
Now .I'm not repeating this brief banter
of last Friday just to scold Mrs. Posey pub
licly, but to point up a weakness that too
many public' servants suffer. Once they be
come entrenched in a given spot they as
sume that all of government, and a major
part of life itself revolves around their own
private sun. This is good up to a point, be
cause it creates what we call “The Dedicated
Public Servant”. And that Mrs. Posey surely
is. She is an excellent librarian, and has done
a remarkable job to stimulate the growth
of her domain in her tenure.
But Mrs. Posey in spite of her excellence
as a librarian is a damned fool, when it
comes to public relations. For years she bad
gered officials for more money for her library
on the basis of how much money was being
spent on recreation—and at a time when the
recreation department was keeping the grass
cut around “her library”. She finally found,
I trust, that the way to get money for one’s
department was to sell that department’s vir
tues and not to knock another department.
But she has not yet learned, on the basis
of Friday's explosion to me, that it is NOT
the duty of news media to determine the
motives and the plans of any given govern
mental department. That is the duty of the
directors of those departments. It is the
duty of news media to inform the public of
what is publicly done with public property
and public money.
It is my unalterable opinion that the best
interests of library service in Lenoir County
would be set back- 20 years by having the
library tied for 20 years to the old post
office site. It is Mrs. Posey’s perfect right
to haye a different opinion, but she as the
direofpr of the library and as a public ser
vant jjas the responsibility of selling her bill
of goods to the public. The fact that both
the Free Press and' this paper oppose this
move tends to indicate at the very least, that
she .has not sold her bill of goods to us.
And although in this day of reverse selling
she may feel she has made her point by re
minding me how “looney” I am and that the
Free Press and I run around shooting off
our mouths when we don’t know what we’re
talking about; she has hot yet sold me. Be
cause epifhetical attacks don’t phase an ex
truck driver, ex-sergeant and present country
newsman such as myself. • ' »
Months ago if there were apy logic in the
plan to renovate the old post office in its
congested, parkingless area into a library
Mr?. Posey should have done her missionary