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The Augusta News-Review - May 19. 1977
Walking With Dignity
By AL IRBY
The Black Scientist
That Saved The South
There are some that say this is the year of the "cat but it also
truthfully can be said that it is the prime year of the “peanut.
The common little goober saved the Old South when a quiet little
Black scientist diversified the miniature ground pea, and gave the
Southland a new lease on life after the ruinous invasion of the
formidable “801 l Waavil.” Dr. George Washington Carver, the
scientific wizard of famed Tuskegee Institute would have been
proud of his handiwork. The ground-pea or goober, or whatever
you want to call it. is the toast of the posh New York cocktail
circles.
At a recent cocktail party, the hip hostess, who is on every
social registry between Beacon Hill and the English country-side,
serves her guests a big bowl of roasted peanuts as counterpoint to
the dry Bigsons and Tequila Sun Rises. Dr. Carver, the man who
immortalized the humble peanut long before Plains, Georgia and
the Carter family became known was honored recently by
inclusion into the Hall of Fame at Columbia University. Thus it is
appropriate to honor not only Dr. Carver, but also the peanut. It
is, first of all, not a nut but a legume, a vegetable related to the
pea and the bean. This little cousin of the beany does not grow
on trees, contrary to those placards at the Democratic National
Convention last year that urged the nation to “Make the common
peanut our national twig or bean.”
This little legume is most certainly not an outlaw, but it does
grows underground; but not on the roots of the eneigetic, yearly,
foot-and a-half high plant. Instead, once the plant has matured
and bloomed, stem-tissue decends into the earth and these stems
bear peanuts underground. The plants to this, growers say,
because they know if they bear their fruit above ground,
something will eat it before it matures. The peanut plant is a
responsible plant. According to those who study such matters,
the peanut as a food is about 2,000 years old (China pressed oil
from them), venerable compared to say, carrots, which was bred
into existence from the roots of Queen Anne’s Lace about 150
years ago in England.
But it was the inimitable Dr. George Washington Carver who
brought the little goober, or as it is said in most African
countries, “groundnut” - to its greatest height in industrail
prominence. Acting on the belief that the South could not
continue its almost total reliance on a few crops such as cotton
and rice; Carver discovered over 300 uses for the peanut and
Benjamin
IL -
Books
1 * 1
COMMISM<<SII<
SBA Will Be Able To
Assist Low Income Group
For years the Small Business Administration has been tied to a
policy not a law that bars it from making direct loans to persons
seeking to buy radio or television or newspaper properties
The rationale, Arthur P. Dyr, director of SBA's Office of
301(d) Operations Investment Division is: “to avoid government
interference or the appearance of government interference with
the constitutionally protected freedom of speech and the press .
Fine. But in the meantime, the SBA as a matter of law,
guarantees up to 90 percent of a loan of venture capital or equity
investments of its approved Small Business Investment Corp.
(SB1C) and its Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment
Corp. (MESBICS). The latter has, for all intents and purposes,
been replaced by SBICS, since the “Minority Enterprises”
connotation suggests it was a program only for minorities when in
fact the program was intended to be much broader and assist “all
socially and/or disadvantaged small businesses.”
Well, anyway, to pick your way through the labrynthian
language of the bureaucratic lending agency is to enter a
Wonderland of a Modem day Alice.
Suffice it to say the SBA does not want to become entangled
with the First Admendment, etc., so it does through a surrogate,
the SBICS and the MESBICS, what it says it cannot do itself. And
all of it is rationalized away on the grounds the SBICS and
MESBICS are private lending agencies “over which we have no
control whatsoever.”
However SBA insists that all such loans be made to firms where
there is no “self deal (that is, an officer of the lending firm is not
one of the group seeking the loan) and that it meets standards of
small business operations, practices,” etc.
The SBA is not an evil agency. Its intentions are indeed good
and is, in its way, doing the Lord’s work. It’s just that minorities
- blacks, die Spanish-speaking, Indians, Oriental and other
Americans - don’t understand why they have to go all the way
around Robinhood's bam to come in the front door.
Why can’t SBA make direct loans to minorities instead of
“laundering” its loan leveregding through the private conduits of
SBICS and MESBICS? Indeed, is an SMA once-removed more
saindy in this endeavor?
What is so troubling to minorities who have a devil of a time
securing loans in the private lending market (and SBICS and
MESBICS are private lenders) is that the private units approved
by SBA to lend money demand as nearly much collateral security
as banks and other lending institutions.
Ragan A. Henry, of Broadcast Enterprises, Phila., Pa., tells of a
bank that demanded that his group raise 5500.000 of the
proposed S 2 million broadcast property price tag before it would
consider lending the group and money! “But when I got back
with the S 500.000” Henry told an incredulous conference, “the
same bank said since 1 now had 5500.000 it didn’t see where I
needed any loan.”
This Catch-22 type of situation is something that is more often
the rule than the exception as far as minorities are concerned. If
SBA would make direct loans - that is, if SBA would guarantee
90 percent of a loan (its limits are 5500.000 presently),
minorities would certainly have a smoother time of it at point of
entry.
FCC chairman Richard E. Wiley and I will be talking withSßA
officials (by the time you read this we may have reached some
solution) about this situation.
Another troubling point for minorities is and has been that
brokers (those go between salesmen) never apprise them of
impending broadcast property sales. Thus, says Paul Tayes, vice
president of Sheridan Broadcasting, Pittsburgh, “when we know
anything about it, the stations are sold. The ‘old boy network’ is
at work.”
Well, I intend to offer a NOTICE of Proposed Rulemaking that
a licensee must publicly advertise his property for sale for 45 days
before he can sell. Today we have no such rule and thus when the
sale is announced (it must be given a public notice of 30 days)
only petitioner with grievances against the licensee can raise an
objection. No potential buyer has a right to bid. The sale has been
consummated.
We will be writing on this subject from time to time in weeks
to come - discussing those problem areas - brokers, advertising
agencies, ratings groups and FCC rules that may or may not be of
help to minorities seeking entry to the exciting field of
broadcasting.
Page 4
promoted it with almost religious devotion. Now, peanuts are the
nation’s fifth-largest commodity and demand for it and its
byproducts is increasing two-and- one-half times faster than the
Gross National Product eGeoigia produces about half the
nation’s output, about equal to the amount used for peanut
butter. Os the remaining 21 per cent or so is salted, 17 per cent
put into candy, 10 per cent roasted, and the rest used for oil,
meal, export, seed or feed. For instance a true Viiginia ham
should come only from a pig nurtured on peanuts.
Very small amounts go into things like peanut butter,
milk-shakes and the stuff they sell to tourists in Plains, Georgia
where, as one tourist passing through South Georgia observed, the
local residents seem to have found more uses for peanuts than Dr.
Carver, including peanuts in lucite, peanut earring, gilded peanuts,
window-box peanuts and inevitably pet peanuts. There are a
number of peanut jokes, best when paired with elephants, and the
major reason is that the peanut, like the prune, is funny. If you
doubt this, stand in front of a mirror and very slowly say
“goober”. But peanuts are mainly for eating and Dr. Carver
himself once whip-up a entire lunch for some Alabama
businessmen who apparently relished nine courses created from
peanuts-peanut soup, ersatz chicken, vegetable, bread, salad,
ice-cream, candy, cookies and coffee. During World War 11, some
American drank coffee made from peanuts.
Now that the South is trying to shake its legacy of regency
pride and belief in sectional superiority, it is perhaps unseemly to
note that only a true Southern boy really knows how to savor a
bag of peanuts. All of us, native Southerners know how to empty
a bag of salted peanuts into a “Coke" and eat and drink all at the
same time. Thats truly junk food southern style, that is tasty and
nutritious.
FRANK YERBY
FOR WHAT IS A MAN PROFITED, IF HE SHALL GAIN
THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE HIS OWN SOUL? ST.
MATT. 16:26. The great literary man has come and gone, and he
left a bitter taste in many people’s mouths with his far out talk. A
man of his stature should not heed idle talk to boost his egoism.
If living abroad has made him forget his Christian training, before
he is asked to address a Christian Institution he should be told,
that even if he does “hate God” -- God still loves him.
TO BE EQUAL
By Vernon E. Jordon Jr.
A New V
Welfare
System?
President Carter fired the first shot of what will undoubtedly
be a national debate on welfare policy when he unveiled the
principles that would guide his Administration's welfare reform
proposals recently.
The twelve principles he enunciated are so general that they
almost defy comment. Each one could mean whatever an
observer wishes them to. So it won ’t be until later this summer,
when the promised legislation is drafted, that we’ll know just
what the Administration’s welfare program will actually be.
But the President is on the right track when he says we should
scrap the present system in its entirety and come up with
something totally new.
One cause for concern is the President’s indication that such a
new system won’t be in place until 1981. That's a long time,
especially when the present welfare system is not meeting the
basic needs of the poor.
On the other hand, better late than to rush through an
inadequate system that really amounts to fiscal relief for states
and would delay real welfare reform for at least another decade.
There’s also a disturbing implication in the President’s
statement that the ultimate program may feature a two-tier
approach -- one system that deals with those able to work, and
another, an income maintenance system, that deals with those
who cannot work. This could wind up contradicting the stated
goal of simplifying the system and making ti more efficient, since
such categorization of those in need will wind up creating yet
another bureaucracy to implement complicated regulations.
Work requirements should not be tied to welfare reform. HEW
Secretary Califano recently revealed that of the 26 million poor
people, only two percent are non-aged, non- disabled males who
do not work. And most of those are over 62 years old, ill or
looking for work. Jobs should be made available to everyone
able to work through a separate full employment program. Tying
the job issue to welfare reform, especially through a strong work
requirement, will only perpetuate stereotypes and myths, and
shift the focus of reform to setting up complex, costly work and
training programs for a client population unable to utilize them.
As the Administration frames its ultimate proposals, I’m
hoping they'll come up with a universal, refundable income tax
credit to replace the welfare system. That’s the best means of
resolving the dilemma of shaping an equitable income
maintenance system.
By providing grants for all families, taxing the grants away
from those who don’t need them, while leaving reduced amounts
in the hands of those who need some help, such a system would
accomplish all of the President’s goals.
It would be simple, not require a vast bureaucracy, provide
decent minimum incomes for even' family, do away with
complicated means tests and work requirements, provide
incentives for the working poor, and federalize welfare.
The seeds of such a program can be found in one of the
President’s goals: the earned income tax credits for the working
poor. Extending the concept of using the tax sy stem and tax
credits to be the transfer mechanism for a national income
maintenance program would be wise.
As the national debate gets under way. we’re going to hear a
lot of perverse, often racist, nonsense about welfare and the poor.
It would be tragic if the lies and misconceptions that poisoned
previous debates on welfare should surface again.
It’s important to remember that people are poor because they
have been denied the education, skills or power to compete
equally in our economy. Most poor people work. Most poor
people are not on welfare. Most people on welfare want to work
but cannot because of family responsibilities or poor health. Most
people on welfare are white. Most people on welfare move off the
rolls, to be repheed by others whose luck turns bad. Most people
on welfare receive - even with food stamps - far less than poverty
level payments.
How a nation treats its poor is a good indication of its moral
fiber. So far, we haven’t done well in this regard. Now there’s
another chance.
The Black Community Can And Must Do The Job
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HUMPHRY
“The Welfare Mess” Reform Or Rhetoric
President Jimmy Carter’s campaign promise to institute welfare
reform within the first year of his administration was applauded
by friend and foe. Mr. Carter was perceptive enough to know that
there was hardly anyone who had dealt with the present welfare
system that would oppose its being revised.
Politicians of all political persuasions. Democrats, Republicans,
Liberals and Conservatives agree that “The Welfare Mess’ is an
emotional Issue upon which most Americans have been strong
feelings that denouncing it is not only fashionable but profitable
on election day One thing President Carter and his core of
competent managers have learned is that it is much easier to find
fault with the present welfare system, than it is to devise a new
one. Part of the problem stems from the fact that welfare reform
means different things to different people.
Richard Broker, welfare specialist at the Institute of Politics at
Harvard, wrote recently that “welfare reform has come to mean
anything from a new program to raise every American above the
poroverty line to a national crackdown aimed at reducing the
number of people on welfare.”
The present welfare system’s rules and regulations create
conditions and encourage behavior that run counter to our
folkway and mores, along with missing the intent of the initial
legislation.
For example, it absolutely makes no sense to encourage and
enforce a policy that makes it financially beneficial for husband
and wife to separate in order to obtain welfare assistance. The
stupidity of withholding federal service and financial assistance
from the poor until they agree to break up their families by
removing one parent or responsible adult from the home cannot
NEMATODES
Little Size, Big Damage
Soil-borne bugs and dis
eases, like all right-thinking
human beings, know that
South Georgia is the best
place in the world to live and
raise a family.
This creates some problems
for home gardeners below the
fall line—especially when that
varmint known as a nematode
is concerned.
Nematodes are tiny round
worms which seem to get a
perverse satisfaction out of
chomping into your vege
tables’ roots.
The creatures are in soil all
over the state, but prefer the
sandy loam of Coastal and
South Georgia.
Without discouragement,
nematodes can transform
your tomatoes into the vege
table equivalent of Franken
stein’s Monster, instead of the
delicious delights the seed
catalogue fold-outs led you to
AMERICAN
HOUSE &
F 4 GARDEN
■ ■ CENTER. INC.
NOW OPEN
GREEN THUMB WEST
110 DAVIS RD. AT WASHINGTON RD.
Behind Georgia State Bank 863-0212
Two Locations to serve you better
WATCH FOR GRAND OPENING!
$ Gte&t Thumb
GARDEN CENTER
Open 8.30-5.30 Mon. thru Sot. Behind Daniel Village
2841 CENTRAL AVE. 736*1411
Danny Gay, Cooperative
Extension Service specialist,
says you can assume nema
tode problems in South Geor
gia before you start planting,
so go at ’em.
There are two ways to do
this—the organic way, or
(quite honestly) the effective
and easy way—with chem
icals.
Opening the garden plot
several months early and then
turning the earth frequently,
will allow the sun to kill
nematodes and diseases to
some extent before you
plant. But it’s a lot of work.
Chemicals (nematicides),
on the other hand, are fairly
cheap and effective, if used
correctly.
Your county Extension
office can offer advice and
publications on- both meth
ods.
■ 2290 White Rd.
■ Kissingbower Rd. at
M the Railroad Crossing
H Open 9-6
M Sunday 1-6 PHONE
K 404 736-4427
be rationally defended. Add to this, the fact that only 65 percent
of those eligible for food stamps are now participating in the
program designed to keep them from going hungry because they
cannot afford the minimum cost of purchasing food discount
coupons.
President Carter's stated goals for welfare reform include:
1. No higher initial cost for the present system.
2. Access to jobs for at least one member of every family with
children where there is a person able to work.
3. Incentive for those on welfare to take jobs in the private
sector.
4. Public training and employment for those able to work, who
cannot find private jobs.
5. A higher income for families who work, than for those who
do not.
6. Incentives for families to stay together.
7. Continuation of tax credit to the working poor.
8. A single cash payment to replace existing welfare programs.
9. Easier and simpler administration. 10. Elimination of fraud.
11. Reduction of the financial burden on states and localities as
rapidly as federal resources permit. 12. Local administration of
public job programs.
We welcome this constructive attempt to overhaul an
unmanagable theoligical and inefficient welfare system. Only if
such radical surgery is employed will we be able to assure that
those in need of service and assistance will have an outside chance
of improving the quality of their lives.
President Carter’s efforts towards this end should be
applauded.
After the South Georgia
gardener has a handle on his
critter problems, there are
other peculiarities of the re
gion to take into consider
ation.
'As mentioned, the soil is
generally sandy loam, and
water filters through it quick
ly-
Instead of a heavy watering
once a week, your garden
would appreciate a light
dampening two or three times
a week, about one-half inch
of water per application, or
enough to keep the top four
or five inches of soil moist.
Do not, however, water
just before nightfall, as some
people are wont to do. If
foliage stays wet for 12 hours
or so, diseases consider the
invitation open.
Nor is it true, as some
think, that sandy soil can
withstand compaction better
than other, heavier types of
soil.
cNurseries, {Jnc.
office AND SALES; Everything you need
1787 GORDON HIGHWAY
PHONE 738-6488 - AUGUSTA. GA. fOT Q garden
THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW
Mallory K. Millender .Editor-Publisher
Frank Bowman General & Advertising Manager
Al Irby ■ ■ ■ News Editor
Mary Gordon Circulation
Mailing Address:
Box 953, Augusta, Ga. Phone 722-4555
Second Class Postage Paid Augusta, Ga. 30903
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•;J Payable in Advance
One year in Richmond County s7.oo tax incl.
6 Months s3.so tax incl.
One year out of Countysß.oo tax incl.
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
Classified & Display Advertising Deadline
* 12 Noon on Tuesday
News Deadline Monday 5:30 (printed free) As
ZX iwlll
AMALGAMATED .JI J P
PUBLISHERS, INC. w|l]ynp
BNtW • CHICAGO
Letter to
the Editor
,Dear Sir:
The purpose of this letter is
to inform you of Georgia
Power Company’s
non-discriminatory hiring
policy. The Company’s policy
is to hire, promote, transfer,
and otherwise treat all
applicants and employees
without regard to their race,
color, religion, sex, or national
origin.
If you would like more
information on the Company’s
equal opportunity policy and
affirmative action plan, please
contact Mr. Robert A. Bell,
270 Peachtree Street, N.E.,
Atlanta, GA 30303, Telephone
number 404-522-6060,
extension 3243.
Sincerely,
Duaine E. Hathaway
Employee Relations Coordinator