PAGE FOUR
THE CO # ASTLAND TIMES
Published Continuously at Manteo, N. C., Since July 4, 1935
Tbs Weekly Journal of the Walter Raleigh Coaetland of North Carolina,
Foremost Region of Recreation and Sport, Healthful Living and
Historical Interest On The Atlantic Seaboard.
entered As Second Class Matter At The Postoffice At Manteo, N. C.
Subscription Rates: 1 Year $2.50; 6 Months $1.50; 3 Months SI.OO
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY BY TIMES PRINTING CO., INC., AT
505 LODGE STREET, MANTEO, NORTH CAROLINA
VICTOR MEEKINS, Editor
CATHERINE D. MEEKINS Secretary-Treasurer
Vol. XVIII Manteo, N. C.. Friday, October 17 ,1952 No. 16
ENIGMATICAL ECONOMICS.
As everybody knows, the national income is higher than
it ever was. So are wages and prices—the two have a habit
of moving pretty much in unison—and so are taxes. Armies
of people are earning two or three times as much as in the
prewar era.
Yet a great many Americans, despite this statistical
prosperity, are going deeper and deeper into debt. Higher
incomes have been offset and then some by higher outgo.
That is the theme of a Wall Street Journal news article
aptly headed “Debts, Debts, Debts.”
The paper cites case histories of people its reporters
interviewed in various cities. These people represent a wide
range of occupations and incomes. A Chicago steelworker
earning more than $5,000 a year is worried and in debt
the strike intensified his troubles, but he had them before
it was called. A Detroit couple earning $6,800 has cut its
entertainment budget in half and hasn’t saved anything for
over a year. A $20,000 a year executive has no debts outside
of charge accounts and a big mortgage, but thinks he may
have to buy a new fur coat for his wife on the installment
plan. A San Francisco stenographer said she’s always SSO
behind, and that her last vacation put her $250 in the red.
These comments, the Wall Street Journal points out,
square with Federal Reserve Board figures on outstanding
consumer credit. When last August began, the total was
$21,200,000,000 —a record —which marked a $2,000,000,000
jump in one year. They also fit in with a Bureau of Labor
Statistics report, covering the 1950 financial experience of
families in various income brackets in 91 communities. Dur
ing that year the average family in this group had income
after taxes of $4,300 and spent $4,700, for a S4OO deficit.
A superficially confusing aspect to the picture is found
in the fact that savings, as well as debts, are also at record
levels—the Commerce Department finds that they were ris
ing at the annual rate of $16,500,000,000 during the second
quarter of this year. That is accounted for, in part, the
Journal says, because “this definition of savings, of course,
includes a lot of things many people wouldn’t consider sav
ings, such as repayment of debts on consumer goods—so
the bigger such debts, and the more the repayments, the
more the ‘savings.’ ” Also the 50 cent dollars make larger
totals.
Lots of people are getting along nicely and are staying
out of debt. The Journal quotes a number of these good
managers, some in modest income brackets, who have more
possessions than ever and still are making both ends meet.
But they seem to be exceptions to the rule.
Here is one fly in the ointment of this depreciated mon
ey era, and various developments substantiate it. For in
tance, the steel strike made a hole in automobile production.
Yet this scarcity of cars, which some dealers thought would
bring in a* flood of eager searchers for new machines, was
accompanied by a scarcity of buyers. Save for a small hand
ful of makes and models, no one has to wait for the new
car of his choice, despite the drop in factory output.
To sum up, most of us have many more dollars to rat
tle around than we ever had before—but they don’t go very
far. And many of us are substantially worse off, if we make
an honest accounting, than in times when prices,s taxes and
incomes were all much lower.
A western oil company recently ran an advertisement
which had nothing to do with selling its products. It was
called “Having Trouble With Your Family Budget?” and
it dealt with the terrific tax bill families in all income brack
ets must carry.
The text took the form of a chart listing the taxes—
Federal and state income, sales and excise, social insurance,
property and so on—that the average family pays. And
here, in part, are the findings:
If your family has a $3,500 income, you will pay $1,098
in taxes this year. If your income is $4,500, you will pay
$1,494. If our income is $7,500, you will pay $2,801. And if
it is $15,000, you will pay $6,618.
To look at the tax facts another way, more than three
dollars in taxes of all kinds will be collected this year for
every two dollars collected in 1949. And almost $lO in taxes
of all kinds will be collected this year for every six dollars
collected in 1945—which was the peak spending year of
World War n.
All in all, close to a third of the whole national' income
disappears down the insatiable maw of the tax-collecting
agencies of one unit of government or another.
This is the answer to those who still are foolish enough
to say that most of the cost of government can be raised by
soaking the rich, and so it isn’t particularly important to
the rest of us. The rich have been soaked to the point of
confiscation already, and if all the money they earn were
seized by government it would only pay the bills for a few
weeks. It’s the people of small and moderate means who
are taking the beating today—and who have the most to
gain from the elimination of governmental waste, extrav
agance, and graft.
BELLY POLITICS.
(Laurinburg Exchange)
Much of the campaign oratory is aimed at the stomach
and not at the brain. Man is essentially an earth-bound
creature, and concerned largely with his physical needs.
Thus it is not strange that we hear politicians and candi
dates ringing the changes on material prosperity and mak
ing like all that is necessary for man’s happiness is a full
stomach, plenty of spending money, and that elusive some
thing that we call security.
That kind of campaigning is not only good politics,
but it has precedent and thousands of years of history be
hind it. The ancients regarded the bowels as the seat of the
affections, and such terms as “bowels of affection” are
frequent and familiar in literature of the past. In our day
we often hear such phrases as “intestinal fortitude,” and
“I hate his guts.”
So when the politician goes in for “belly politics” he
knows what he is doing, and it is often more effective in
winning votes than lofty arguments addressed to reason
and the intellect. The truth is that we use our brains very
little, and we are gullible and credible enough many times
to swallow what the politcians offer us, without asking
questions or looking at the facts for ourselves. And if we do
assay to reason a little, we are likely to let prejudice and
habit cloud our thoughts, or our emotions rule instead of
our brains.
.
| OTHER EDITORS j
■*
DON’T BLAME YOUR {PARENTS
(Oxford. Ledged)
Today it is the fashion to hold
parents accountable for every
flaw in their offspring from plain
laziness to mental illness. Many
parents, influenced by this vogue,
are blaming themselves for lov
ing their child too little or too
much, for teaching him the facts
of life too early or too late, for
being too strict or too indulgent.
Adult neurotics are attributing
their troubles to parental errors
in their childhoods.
Refusing this popular form of
buck passing, Jacob H. Conn, M.
D., says in the October Reader’s
Digest “Such half-baked jnisinter
pretations of the importance of
the formative years ignore the
fact that most humans are blessed
with an inner strength. Actually
the average child is as tough phy
chologically as he is physically.
Just as the body repels germs, so
has the mind similar immunities
and resistances to the unwise or
unkind doings of parents.”
Dr.' Conn is assistant professor
of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medcina. His
article, as to to Edith M. Stern,
is condensed from Your Life.
Mental illness or neuroticism is
not caused by an event but by the
way a person reacts to it, Dr.
Conn states. “Good oIS-fashioned
character —a compound of inher
ited tendencies and our ability to
tolerate disappointments deter
mine whether we withstand child
hood tragedies or whether they
down us all our lives.”
The cliche, “There are no prob
lem children, only problem par
ents,” is as extreme and falla
cious as was the Puritan idea that
all children are imps of Satan, Dr.
Conn asserts. “A child can be re
sponsible for his own bad up
bringing, for it takes two to make
an emotional bargain. When a
father is too authoritarian the rea
son may well be that the child
craves being bossed.”
Parents can supply inspiring ex
amples of conduct which will in
fluence mental, physical and spir
itual growth. But acceptance or re
jection of parental background is
largely determined by the child’s
individual character. The majority
of normal youngsters manage rea
listically to cope with their par
ents’ antics. “Children whlo do not
have the neurotic need to be de
pendent will not be dominated.
Maybe they react with tantrums.
Maybe they argue. Maybe they are
sullenly silent. But whatever their
technique for maintaining their in
tegrity, ‘Momism’ won’t work and
can’t wreck them.”
PRESENTS A PROBLEM
(Williamston Enterprise)
The increasing number of speed
ers and drunken drivers on North
Carolina highways and streets is
presenting a serious problem. The
major seriousness centers around
human life and limb and property.
Then there is the apparent indiffer
ence on the part of the public.
The number of alleged violators is
mounting so rapidly, that public
sentiment against violations is be
ing absorbed by volume and pros
ecution and the courts has to over
come sentiment, business relations
and friendship.
Over in Pitt County, the county
judge is said to be “bearing down”
on speeders. The more he “bears
down” the stronger the sentiment
will eventually grow against the
officers and the speed law itself.
Martin County once had a fixed
fine so rspeeders, but convictions
were harder and harder to get.
Even those who admitted a speed
law violation complained about the
fine and costs.
It is sad commentary, but the
public holds up its holy horror at
the increasing number of motor
vehicle accidents, and then turns
and gripes about the speed law
and other traffic regulation being
enforced.
It is a serious problem, one in
which the public demands laws
and the nturns and questions the
law at enforcement time.
SOMETHING IN THE SOCK
(Wall Street Journal)
A long time ago Ben Franklin
had a lot to say on the value of
thrift, like a penny saved is a
penny earned .Even McGuffey’s
Reader was chockful of thrift, and
Parson Weems spoke highly of it.
But that, as we say, was a long
time ago, when the penny was
actually a medium of . exchange and
had some purchasing power. These
days, sales taxes are about all
a penny will buy.
Old Ben Franklin spoke before
the Century of the Planners, of
course. He lived in the days when
a man and family were supposed
to get ahead by hard work and
thrift, saving for that rainy day.
The planners tell it differently.
The government is going to take
care of rainy days. The govern
ment is going to take care of all
of us with unemployment insur
ance in case we get fired, and
social security when we get old.
Mr. Brannan would like to feed
us more cheaply and Mr. Ewing
wants to fix it se we won’t have
to pay doctor’s bills. All we’ll
have to pay are more and more
THE COASTLAND TIMES, MANTEO, N. C.
HUMAN
INTEREST
By CARLTON MORRIS,
Editor, Gates County Index
- ,
During my rather hectic life, I
frequently meet people who are
interested in me enough to inquire
into my welfare. Quite often they
cover their collective mouths to
prevent a yawn and ask, “How’s
the newspaper business?”
Often I meet people who are
genuinely interested in newspaper
work, but they also often labor
under the misapprehension that
the life of a country editor is very
dull. I once talked with a reporter
on a city paper whose subscribers
run upward of 100,000 and my
sensitive soul could feel the con
descending attitude, that he had
toward a poor country boy whom
he believed to be hanging on the
fringes of the newspaper world.
Then there are the people who
think of a newspaper only in terms
of accident, rape and sudden death.
This I consider as entirely the
taxes.
Maybe folks believe more in the
planners than in the old adages
these days. A news roundup by
this paper yesterday showed that
people generally are deeper in debt
than they were last year, even
though they earned more money.
It showed something more. It
showed that a lot of them aren’t
a bit worried about it.
The roundup pretty well bore
out the findings of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics recent report on
family indebtedness. This report
showed that the average city fam
ily spent during 1950 about S4OO
more than was earned. To do that
it had to dip into savings or go
into debt
The government sets the ex
ample for the people in spending
and in indebtedness, and the ex
ample it sets is a bad one. The
government spends much more
than it takes in, and it owes a
debt of about $260 billion. Since
the government is supported by
tares from the people, it means
that the people owe that much
mere. ,
A government, like a family, is
on shaky economic ground when
it spends more than it takes in.
It may look like prosperity, but
if there’s nothing in the sock, the
sheriff usually comes right behind
the rainy day. A nation in debt
is only millions of families in debt
and the one thing worse is for
both to be in debt at the same
time. The planners say this in all
wrong, but old Ben Franklin knew
it for the truth.
h u nti no
This company will issue temporary permits allowing indi
viduals to hunt on lands owned by the company in Dare,
County, North Carolina. ■
The permit will be valid only for the hunting season
which opens in North Carolina on October 15, 1952. The
fee for a permit will be sl. To be eligible for a permit a
person must hold a hunting license issued by the State of
North Carolina.
Hunters are to carry their permits with them at all times while hunting on
company lands. Most of the company lands may be identified by signs bearing the
company name and reading: “Hunting Allowed by Permission Only,” which are
being posted in cooperation with the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission.
In return for the privilege of hunting on company lands, a hunter will be ex
pected to
Comply with all applicable game laws.
take every precaution to avoid setting fires negligently.
Extinguish any camp fire he sets; report any forest fires seen and, if practical,
ti help extinguish them.
Generally respect the company's property and avoid damage, especially damage
to growing trees. *
Permits will be available on and after October 13, 1952, at the company office
in the Fearling Building, Manteo, or through the following employees of the com
pany: William Basknight, East Lake; Ira O. Payne, Stumpy Point; James Mann,
Mann’s Harbor.
wrong attitude and from my own
observation, I would say that this
outlook is brought about by many
papers that give such things top
billing aqd front page space, while
{ leaving the important things pf
• life to a minor role. It is true that
'newspapers are more or less gov
erned by what subscribers want,
but a good paper can often edu
cate the public to a better way of
seeing things.
At various press meetings, I
have heard editors discuss nearly
every phase of newspapering, from
advertising to editorials, but sel
dom do they mention the rewards
that come to a lowly country edi
tor and never do they mention
the seamy side of life with which
we are all too often confronted.
Nearly always they talk of adver
tising and publishing and the me
chanical end of the business. To
things for they either make or lose
them these are the important
money. But to the poor old coun
try editor who never hoped to
make any money in the first place,
there has to be some reward or
he would quickly become a poli
tician and make his living honest.
When we. of the shiny pants
gang, have worked day and night
toward the promotion of some pro
ject that we believe will help or
ease the load of our fellowman,
and-we see that project taken up
by the rest of the world as a
worth while cause, then are we
tall in the saddle. *
During my short career as a
newspaper man, I went with the
mother who lost her babies by
fire and grieved with those who
died in highway accidents. I view
ed those who were sick and af
flicted, with the utmost compas
sion and would to God that I could
have relieved their suffering. Yet
I found that when I tell the world
of the, thing I saw, it was im
possible to put into words, all the
heartbreak and pathos that I be
held.
In attempting to do that, much
of the feeling was lost and I would
often read what I wrote and did
not find it good. But when it was
finally written and placed on the>
pages of a newspaper, I was
amazed at the response. One let
ter from the most lowly and hum
ble person is all the pay that an
editor can hope for, that is all he
wants. Yet I have received them
by the hundreds and while all were
not complimentary, I value them
as my most priceless possessions.
They are my reward.
The job of a newspaper is to
build when and wherever it is
possible. It should record the hap
penings of the world from the
cradle to the grave. It should pre
sent the land in which it exists
in its best light not forgetting to
TRUCK FROM BELHAVEN
KILLS SMALL BOY, 7
Wake County Boy, 7, Was Chasing
Dog Back Across the Road
and Ran in Path of Truck
No charges were filed against
Jack Hanford, listed as being of
Belhaven, driver of a fish truck
in whose path a seven year old boy
ran and was killed Tuesday about
nine miles north of Raleigh.
Gary Lee Hux, seven years old,
W
condemn or expose where injus
tices have been perpetrated. It
should deal lavishly in praise
where it is earned and forget
grievances as a little child.
! G&W
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BLENDED WHISKEY, 62M% NEUTRAL SPIRITS DISTILLEDJFROM GRAIN
GOODERHAM & WORTS LIMITED, PEORIA, ILLINOIS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17,1952
had been trying to drive his dog
back home, and ran into the road
in front of the truck, which swerv
ed to one side, but the boy was
struck by the side of the truck.
The boy attended Millbrook
school, and lived at Neuse Cross
roads. He was the son of Mr. and
Mrs. A. L. Hux. The mishap oc
curred on Highway No. 1.
WINSTEADVILLE NEWS
Mr. and Mrs. Talmage Selby and
daughter, Debbie, of Wilmington
and Mr. and Mrs. Pete Winn of
Elizabeth City were week end
guests of Mr. and Mrs. D. Ottis
Selby.