* Never Font That These Editorials Are The OfMon Of One Man
__And tie May Be Wrong
Pivotal Year
Now that 1970 belongs almost to his
tory it isttaeterisok back «t some of
the monumental accomplishments of
this brief 12 month’s turns of the public
screw that wfll leave a lasting mark in
the record' books.
One should not overlook such signal
contributions to the uplift of our genera
tion as the sudden decision of the Kins
ton City Council to begin strict and stem
enforcement of, its ancient dog-muzzle
ordinance, end for that society owes an
Tindying debt to those intrepid coundl
men who saw their duty and done it.
On a larger plane one should not
overlook a more sweeping and! if possi
ble more monumental contribution by
•the Great State of North Carolina which
•has now added its two-ceabs’ worth to
the ecology bit by banning Henceforth
and presumably forever more the burn
teg of leaves at all times and in all
places.
One can but wonder how we managed
to suffer through before these two land
mark decisions were readied. It is the
knowledge that there are people in
2iigh places who care that makes the
republic worth fighting about
Not to be left completely out of the
act as the year dawdled to an end the
United States Government made its con
tribution, as they say "in kind.”
mourning, President Nixon fulminated
and fumed and a few random Coast
Guard and State Department heads were
brought up to the White House on a
yellow tray,
t
Politically, 1970 was a year of mixed
emotions. Californians elected the na
tion’s most conservative governor and
the nation’s most liberal senator and
New York reversed this strong western
political wind by keeping one of the
most liberal governors for another hitch
while electing a true blue conservative
to the senate.
Pew alive today win again see such
a year as 1970. And for that, perhaps,
we can an give thanks.
The Wolf Cry
A thousand years ago in primary school
there was that story about the shepherd
who cried, “Wolf’ too often, and if
such distance has not separated us com
pletely from the stray's end, the shep
herd wound up as a late afternoon saack
for Ye Okie Wolfe.
arsenal of terror remains
misuse of mere mortals.
Our country is far more exercised over
the relative^ small group of men who
have been killed in Viet Nam.
In Canada the kidnapping of two
men mid the murder of one has done
far more to bring tenror into focus than
all the bombing and plotting and harass
ment that has going on' for many years.
Torture of prisoners always has been
and always will be one absolutely cer
tain way to arouse the nation. In ev
ery war a very large part of the propa
ganda that is carried on by opposing
sides has to do with the way the enemy
is treating or mistreating prisoners of
There is no kindly way to keep a man
prisoner. The very act of shutting him
irp, no matter how weH he is treated, if
he is normal he cannot avoid feeling
that he is mistreated.
tender age of two, which would only
be a stopgap practice at it’s very best,
and the other is to raise teachers , pay
so hig^> that no young people will foe at
tracted to.make toe supreme sacrifice of
serving in this affluentvineyard.
As the boys in toe Pentagon backrooms
say: This is “counterproductive” and
down at toe poolroom toe hoys comment
on such a deal: “You’ll go out back
wards on this one!”
So far as we know there has-been no
suggestion that education take advant
age of tom teacher windfall and weed
Hit —no of toe drones,
nuts who have fouled up the nest of
For any American to be shut up and
fed the diet of any other people is
automatic cruelty. Americans generally
have so much more and come to take it
for granted that it is beyond their pow
er of imagination to believe that people
do live mid thrive on less than the
scraps we throw from our table.
Of course, n audition_
in diet between all nations there is
so the vast difference in their regard
for human life. The North Vietnamese
fight on in spite of toe fact that our
armed forces claim to have killed about
60 per cent of toe adults in that tiny
country in the long, long bloodletting
that grinds on so monotonously, indicat
ing that they have things they care far
more for than they do for toe ”
so many of their people.
It is sad, and it is frightening, —
haps there is also some ray of hope in
the knowledge that even in modern war
man is the most important factor in
the thinking of our people and it will
be a sad' day when this is not true.
There are more people asking lor
more money than there are people be
fore the board demanding economy. I
suppose this is the natural order ofj
things, but I cannot avoid wondering
when the end of this spending line comes.
The world is now as it was in the be
ginning and as it likely will be at the
end— filled with far more urgent prob
lems than there are willing and able
hands to1 solve.
Of course in order to find those witt
ing hands to solve those multitudinous
problems money has to be found. That
is the eternal headache of those who
make decisions that involve the taking:
of tax money away from reluctant tax
payers and spending it on this wide and
varied assortment of standing problems.
Surely we cannot turn our bade on
this or other pressing problems, but the
notrsosimple issue is: how much and
how far?
I have used the mental health clinic
as an example, but it surely is not alone
in its appetite for money and the amount
it consumes and even the amount it asks
is fractional when one compares it to
the mountains of education and welfare.
ha each and every instance h
« taking of one man’s money
cts the single issue remains c
One such eternal problem is mental
health. Monday the representative of
the local mental health clinic wanted
more money, more manpower and more .
office space and he unveiled a preview
of what he would be asking a little lat
er in the budget year' for next year,
which involves about three more serv
ices, more people, more money and
spacet
of the everyday occurences
mat overwhelm us nobody in his right
mind could resist the notion that a lot
of people axe out of their mind, which
instantly qualifies them for the need of
such services as mental health clinics
purport to provide.
But 1 assure you that there has not
yet been enough money printed to hire
enough people to solve this problem.
So the issue is bow much? How far can
we $ip into the pockets of the taxpayers
knowing that It is like trying to bad
out the ocean with a sieve?