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Never Forget That-These Editorials Are The Opinion Of One Man• s <
......'.. 1 — 1 ■ And He May Be Wrong % ^
Welfare State Here
Those who concern themselves with things
political have heard the phrase Welfare
State again and again, generally as a poli
tical threat at campaign time, but as an
analysis in this issue , of this paper reveals
the welfare state is not a threat, it is a
reality.
In Lenoir County’s tentative budget for
1964-65, $1,113,032JQ7 out of a $2,266,327.07
budget is allocated' for the welfare depart
ment and in Jones County $353,57? out of a
$785,954.07 budget is allocated to the county
welfare department budget.
Occasionally an irritated taxpayer will
wonder why such a huge slice of his money
is devoted to welfare in the midst of the
greatest prosperity this, or any other coun
try has ever known.
Why should nearly half of a prosperous
county’s budgej.ttave to be Spent in taking
care of the needy? Who are these needy?
What causes t^m to be in need?
Some are toefS6ld, for gainful employment,
some too youngfliisome too, infirm, some lack
the mental ability to hold available jobs,
and, of course, there is a small percentage
jn some of these categories who are simply
too lazy and who have (become professional
welfare clients. ' -:y
A generation ago persons in1 the unfort
unate categories listed here were supported
by their families, their neighbors or their
churches but this responsibility has been
shifted from these assorted and uncertain
and unwilling groups to the single county
welfare department.
Naturally this transfer of aid from the
private to the public pocket has cost a great
deal of money and as inflation moves ever
upward the cost of caring for the needy
moves right along with all the other costs
of . living.
In an agrarian society where living costs
were less of an out-of-pocket item than
they are in an urban society the family
acceptance of this responsibility was easier
than today. Few modern families Can Afford
the luxury of extra rooms in their homes
to care for needy in any of these several
categories.
Call it what one may, the Welfare State
is here to stay.
Political Science
All else in the wonderful world of politics
hinges upon that absolute first essential:
Getting elected.
Eternal truths, profound principles, glor
ious programs, absolute dedication, burning
patriotism, and even getting a maiden aunt
a job; all vanish for the noblest statesman
if be fails in that first test of getting elected.
From the desire of a precinct candidate
to hold .the smallest office to the awesome
aspiration of the national candidate plans,
plots and dreams are proven, from that one
specific thread of getting elected.
So the new face of fhe Republican Party,
displayed so pr oudly this week in San
Francisco, has to be accepted in exactly this
light of getting elected.
From its earliest days the Republican
Party used as one major tool in this effort
to get elected the negro issue, first as slav
ery and more recently-in the fantasy land
of civil rights. ,
the Democratic Party has the faith and the
vote of 99 per cent of the negroes.
For a long time the Republicans tried
to recapture this pivotal bloc of voters, and
even today the Scranton wing of the GOP
would continue this effort. But the Scranton
wing of the party is not in control, and
the Goldwater wing is. -
And undoubtedly it is the strategy of the
Goldwater wing of the Republican to not
only win without the negro vote, which it
had to do even with Eisenhower, , but to
perhaps win, because of -the negro vote
hanging so brazenly around the n<kk of
the Democratic Party.
This liability undoubtedly influenced the
recent elections in Florida and North Caro
lina and the Goldwater camp is extending
the same principle to the national level,
to wit: That there are morf white *ban
negro voters in the nation, and- that the
ays in the
mention to these
back room Will
matters of high principle? Theirs
sticky task of picking a winning
tion and once the No. 1 spot has been filled
they are n?t likely to shop about the con
vention for Albert Q. Egghead of spotless
character and impeccable manner. One
state’s electoral vote is often the difference
between four years “in” or four longer years
"out."
And there is also the little matter of deal
ing with the No. 1 candidate,, who may not
want to run with a man who turns a phrase
more neatly, has a better TV profile or a
more elegant platform manner than he.
John F. Kennedy was surely one of the
most intellectual men ever to seek the presi
dency but he and his considerable family
conducted one of the most deliberate earii
paigns in the history of American politics.
And despite the very low opinion a majority
of them shared for Lyndon Baines Johnson
they accepted him as No. 2 mail ’on their
slate because of all those readily available
Johnson was that single man most likely
to bring with him a considerable bloc of
Southern electoral votes.
We can safely expect Johnson to be just
as coldblooded in his choice of a running
mate, and Barry Goldwater is likely to use
just as much deliberation in this depart
ment as either the late president or the
current incumbent.
We need none but the best to seek such
high office, but in politics the mechanics
have to work with the tools that are avail
able.
The Eternal Search
Sometimes, perhaps most <?f the time, a
majority of us fe«:l that too much of man
kind’s" energy is spent on the purely ma
terialistic, hut there always has been —
and still is that percentage who seek beauty
in all things.
Man’s effort to change his environment
has resulted in great masterpieces of arch
itecture and engineering, as well as miser
able blots on the face of nature.
Styles of living, styles of building ma
terials and needs all have a hand in dictat
ing the reasonable limits of general experi
mentation in both the fields of architecture
and engineering.
There was a period during which the
“functional look” caused all aspects of the
decorative arts to fall into exceedingly low
esteem, but there is some reason to hope
that the bleakness of this so-called modern
functionalism has passed and wfe are" again
entering, if timidly, into the realm of the,
decorative, arts, of building.
Unfortunately the artisans who created
the gingercake of Victorian ostentation are
no longer with us but there are daring young
people in the fields of metal, • color,-glass
and plastic who are capable of making even
the beehives of megalopolis appeal to the
eye as well as to the pocketbook.
Perhaps the happiest marriage of man
to his environment has taken place in the
delicate world or landscape architecture,
which blends the living and working spaces
demanded by man into the lovely folds of
that greatest designer: Nature.
Architects are> opinionated if they are
good but society would be a drab drag
without them, and perhaps every commun
ity with a dream of greater beauty should
have a consultant architect to guide, if not
dictate the general direction of. man's eter
nal remaking of his environment.
JONES / JOURNAL
Jack rider, piui>w
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Sl'C.,
they could be that stupid on the spur i«
the moment. They threaten to walk out
of the Convention if each and every demand
is not immediately met, when there’s no
record of ar negro voting Republican since
Franklin Delano Roosevelt stole them away
from the GOP.
So it appears to me, from this consider
able distance that an organized and^suc
cessful effort is being exhibited in Frisco
to 'convince' -the multi-million television
audience that the Republican* Party is the
Party of the white voter. Each and every
situation brought forth in the name of the
negro has not only been slammed down,
but has been slammed down hard.
This, of course, is no accident. The Gold
water forces are out not only to win the
nomination but also to win the November
election and it is their studied opinion,
reached after some little research that there
are more white-thinking voters.
I’m sure that the “gliberals” are shedding^
very genuine tears over this attitude, but if
they were to examine the long-range best
interest of the nation — including the negro,
they might come up with the happy find
ing that a swing now toward less negro
controls of central government is the best
possible thing that could happen.
Under a man with the character and
ability of Goldwater the retrogression will
be imperceptible, but certain from the re
cent minority-block tone of national pol
itics. Such a retrogression is inevitable ul
timately, and in politics as in physics the
more pressure that is built up in a given di
rection the more’ pressure is required- to
counteract it when counteraation finally
takes place. ■ * f
The pendulum of American politics has not
swung nearly to the Reconstruction pays
zenith of a hundred years ago, but it has
swung much further in that direction than
at any time since the counteraction to Re
construction excesses took place more than
80 years ago. y
It is my feeling that the swing Will now
be away from this emotional minority jag
and back toward equitable government for
all people, black or white, which we surely
have not had and do not presently have
at the national level.
I do not think the negro citizen has any
thing to fear now from this retrogression,
because it will not be violent. But it almost
certainly will be violent if it is : not now
permitted. If the absurdities and illegalities
of the recently passed so-called civil rights
bill were to be rigidly enforced — assuming
that they could be — such a reservoir of
bitterness and frustration would be built
up that nothing short of violencS would
absorb it. That is why I sincerely believe
that the obvious swing away from this par
ticular frenzy is not only in the best inter
est''of the nation, but especially in the best
interest of the negro.
The American negro has come a long, long
way in every facet of our society Since
slavery was ended a hundred years ago,
and I suppose one must admit that spas
modic efforts will continue to be made to
legislate even further progress in the ne
gro's name.
But a major portion of out
negro citizens already know'
cannot be legislated, nor enforc
ppint. The negro as an indiv
a race must find his own let
ment by his own ability an<
There surely is no equality
people, or even between grains
well-intended efforts’ to legis
impossibility only divide our
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