Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / Jan. 21, 1971, edition 1 / Page 3
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SYNON It is my observation, the Am erican people are given to “no , ble experiments” impossible of attainment. This penchant is a form of national youth and idealism, one supposes, and though a people should not be faulted for trying, it does seem we would learn, by-n-by, to set our goals at an elevation that holds some hope of realization. It certainly seems, so, but we haven’t yet learned the lesson. We tried prohibition, you will remember — the government was going to make us not drink — and what came of that was a general and near-criminal flout ing of law that lives on to this day. And now we are embarked on the race thing. It, too, is fore ' doomed to failure for the very same reason. The government has resorted to force rather than reason. 4 • • No government can success fully, or for long, pursue a poli cy contrary to nature. The races are inherently different (and therefore unequal) and there is nothing the government nor any body else . can do about that. So, it isn’t the attempt, per se, that should concern us; if that were the end of it there would be no cause for alarm. We could simply sit and await collapse of the effort. But it isn’t the end; failure won’t mark the end of ■ of this “experiment, noble in i purpose.” The evil of the at tempt, as that of prohibition, will live long after its checkered bon es are interred. Therefore, I want it put away, soonest; the quicker the less damage to us all. That is why I write of it — sometimes to -boring length. • • * We hear incessant talk of equal opportunity, particularly Other Editors Say ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Terra Isn't Firma When preachers and politic ians warn us from pulpit and podium that our nation is adrift, their social analysis may be sub ject to question but their science is impeccably precise. The North American continent is drifting westward at the rate of slightly less than one-half inch a year, two government geologists re ported recently. Those alarmed to learn that terra isn’t as firma as they thought may be consoled to know that things are moving at a more rapid pace elsewhere: In dia and Australia are racing north at the headlong speed of four inches a year. If all began 200 million years ago, the scientists say, when the world’s single huge continent was split in two by movements deep within the earth’s crust. ' The splitting and drifting con tinued over the ages, resulting in the present alignment of six major land masses, most of them still looking for a place to set tle down. We leave to the mai matical of figur be in the field of education. The argument being, since “all men ■re created equal,” then equal opportunity must result in the equality of all men. That argument — and it is the argument the whole push is based upon — is specious from beginning to end. This is the fact: The native skill' of some races, in certain areas, exceeds the native skill of other races in the same areas. Time after time, after time, this fact has been conclusively demonstrated. Take, for instance and for a change, certain known differ ences 'between the Chinese and the Jews. The' Chinese, psycho logical testing discloses, have their strongest kill in what is known as “space conceptualiza tion” (the ability to imagine) and their weakest in verbal ability (the ability to write and argue). The Jews are just the reverse: they are best at writing and arg uing; weakest in conceptualiza tion. * * * Now, then. Let us represent the strong points of each of these two races with the figure, 3. And the weakest with the figure, 2. And let us give to each of them “equal enrich ment,” let us double their strength (the purpose of educa tion). Do that and the strong points of each race coane out at 6, and the weak points^ at 4. And the significance of that? This: With “equal opportuni ty” the differences between the two races have increased (from one to two); the races are more different (unequal) after “equal enrichment” than they were be fore “enrichment.” As it happens, the Chinese and the Jews are the intellectual equals of any people on earth (perhaps superior in some re spects). But what of a race whose ab stract intellectual skills — those most critical in a White culture — are univeriaEy below the White norm? You can “enrich” such as these until you are blue in the face and — unless you invidious ly handicap the remaining races — you will never make the substandard the equal of the standard. Never. That is why integration is not working: It can’t work. And it is why the effort has led to nothing but heartbreak anfl blood on the moon. JARMAN FUNERAL HOME . . . Where Your Trust Is Sacred And Your Wishes Cared For . . . Dial JA 3-5143 Kinston, N. C. No Mess — No Waiting — Oiur Ready-Mixed Concrete is on the job when you need it. Also Sand, Gravol and Crush ed Stone- ' 7 Othf Editor* $iy MOUNT OLIVE TRIBUNE' Change of Heart Two years ago Congress pass ed a stringent gun control bill — stringent at least so far as law-abiding gun owners were concerned. As opponents of the 'bill pointed out at the time ef its passage, restricting the fun damental right of gun ownership by private citizens would do lit tle to curb crime. Their proph esies have been borne out. Now congressional sentiment is-increasing for repeal or modi fication of the 1908 Federal Gun Control Act. Typical of the at titude of a growing number of congressmen and senators is that of Senator William Prox mire of Wisconsin. Senator Prox mire, one of those who voted for the 1908 measure observes, “...I would certainly vote for its re peal now. After more than a year and a half of experience with this bill, I have become convinced that it is not a prac tical anti-crime measure. I would most emphatically support re placement of the act with some more practical and workable antij-crime measure, with em phasis on punishing those who misuse firearms more severe!/ especially when they engage in criminal action. . .” There are some 113 pending bills to repeal the 1968 Federal Gun Control Act outright or to modify its provisions. A survey "f congressional members shows that more than a third of the Senate and a quarter of the Senate and a quarter of the House were by late 1970 on record in some way as favoring relaxation of the federal gun law. Correc tion of this piece of legislative folly will take time. In any event, it is an illustration of how easily our liberties can be in fringed upon and how difficult it is to retrace the path toward freedom. Othr Editor* Say MILAN EPOCA (SPAIN) Catastrophic Repercussions The United States is tempted in international politics to give up the heavy commitments tak en on by the Democratic Party and to go back to the isolation ist period. As Herbert Hoover said: “The business of the Am ericans is business. . . ” This trend is dangerous becaue it shows that they are tired in an ever more difficult world. They do not understand the catas trophic repercussions for the rest of the world. Othw Editor* Say WflAL . TV VIEWPOINT ' '' ‘ M Handouts Do Not Stimulate Independence During the several days just prior to shutting down for Christinas, the Congress was de bating almost everything under the sun. Altogether it was scarely more than a great surge of soundl and fury signifying nothing except, perhaps, the in eptness of most of those chosen to operate the country’s political and governmental system. In recent years there has been, of course, a rising tide of criti cism of “the system.” The crit icism, for the most part, has been neither fair nor valid. The system is excellent; the primary fault lies with politicians and legislators and bureaucrats and judges in high places, all of whom have manhandled not merely,the system but the very meaning of freedom itself. As a consequence, the future of the country is depressingly bleak. Every man is a philosopher when he pauses to contemplate the travail of his time. But, too often, the philosophy is a contradiction of reality. It hap pened in the Senate of the Unit ed States on the Monday before Christmas. One of the issues at hand at the moment was a proposal to guarantee every man an annual income, whether or not he is willing to work for it. Senator Percy of Illinois is an across-the-board advocate of all welfare programs. It is good politics in Illinois to promise something for nothing; the trick is to put an acceptable face on it. A man in public office needs to sound compassionate, you see, when he is proposing to give away other people’s money. So Senator Percy told his fel low Senators about the depres sion days of his youth, the days of the WPA. His mother, he said, got a $90 - a - month job as a violinist in the Chicago Sym f phony Orchestra, and was paid by the federal government for working eight hours a day. The Senator spoke of dignity and self-respect, and how much the job meant to his family. A poignant story, and a good point — except that it doesn’t of fer very much support for the Senator’s advocacy of the propo sition that pepople today ought to be paid for not working. Back in the 1930s, a lot of folks >made a lot of well-justi fied jokes about the WPA. Critics of the late President -Franklin Roosevelt often lam pooned him for the WPA con cept. , But this much must be said for Mr. Roosevelt: he re garded and described his vari ous welfare programs as wel fare. Moreover, he intended — or said he intended — that they be temporary in nature. Certain ly the concept seemed dear that able-bodied citizens needing as sistance were fo be given it in the form of a job, even if only menial one. But in any case, there was that requirement that the able - bodied perform some sort of labor in order to quali fy for a government check. The fact that the WPA quickly became an almost comical po litical boondoggle served to em phasize that the greater and broader a government welfare program becomes, the more susceptible to corruption it be comes. The outrageous disclos ures of fraud and thievery grow ing out of the “poverty pro grams” in more recent years supply ample evidence that hu man nature does not change. All of which should not be tak en to mean that human suffer ing and need can be justifiably ignored by the more fortunate. To the contrary, if Americans Continued on page 8 Paint Up Clean Up BLUE LUSTRE CLEANER PAINT REMOVERS ENAMELS VACUUM BAGS MINWAX VARNISHES CASTERS Clot* 1 p.m. Saturdays ,
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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Jan. 21, 1971, edition 1
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