Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1957
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS
I DAVID T. ESPY, Editor and Publisher
Subscription Rate— $2.00 Per Year
Published Every Thursday by the News Publishing Co.
Entered at the Post Office at Summerville, Georgia, as Second Class Mail Matter.
The News Publishing Co. will not be responsible for errors in advertisement beyond cost
of ad.
LIMIT THE SUPREME COURT?
The hue and cry in this country is grow
ing to limit the powers of the United States
Supreme Court. The arguments in favor of
such a limitation do not depend on any one
issue.
For example, a perfect case can be made
against the unlimited power of the Supreme
Court if one will study the destruction of
a Pennsylvania anti - sedition law by the
court. Another perfect case against unlimit
ed power of the court can be seen in the
nullifying of a New York State law concern
ed with the hiring of Communists by New
York State.
Still another perfect argument against
the unlimited power of the court can be
made when one considers the possibilities of
unlimited contempt powers as exercised re
cently Federal Judge Robert Taylor, in the
Clinton, Tenn., segregation case.
The Federal judge in this instance took
away the freedom of speech of an entire
community, and if one considers seriously
the implications of such procedure, regard-
CAMPAIGN SPENDING
We agree wholeheartedly with Leonard
W. Hall, chairman of the Republican Na
tional Committee, who recently told a
House committee that the limit on cam
paign funds to be spent in a national cam
paign should be raised.
As the reader may know, there is a
$3,000,000-limit on funds to be received by
a national campaign group for use in a
Presidential campaign. This limitation was
set up about fifteen years ago, when the
dollars was worth perhaps two of today’s
dollars, and before television had come into
its own.
Political advertising on television is so
expensive that each of the two major parties
is estimated to have spent two million of
their three million dollar campaign fund
for television advertising in the 1956 Pre-
WAGE HIKES AND INFLATION
One of the nation’s foremost economists
recently spoke out in opposition to the Gov
ernment’s tight money policies. We will not
attempt to go into his argument in full in
this editorial, although we would like to
point out one of the main contentions
therein.
The economist, Murray Shields, of Mac-
Kay - Shields Associates of New York, out
lined his position in a speech to a confer
ence of the American and Foreign Power
Company System. Shields contends that re
peated wage increases cannot be granted to
workers by producing corporations without
causing inflation unless improved tech
niques of production are found to lower
unit costs. The American standard of liv
ing, according to Shilelds, has risen to an
all-time high because of our mass produc
tion techniques and efficient methods.
When industry can keep pace with higher
labor costs by acquiring newer machinery
and introducing better production methods
TAX WINDFALL HIT
Senator Harry F. Byrd. Virginia Demo
crat, has called lor outright repeal of a sec
tion of the Internal Revenue Law which
allows businesses to charge off against tax
able Income over five years a large part of
the cost of certain investments which are
•'allegedly essential ' to national defense.
This section of the Internal Revenue law
was first used during World War 11. con
tlued during the Korean War and then ex
tended in 1054 for the cold war mobiliza
tion. It allows certain firms — approved by
the Office of Defense Mobilization — to
utilize emergency tax provisions for fust
amortization. Bryd charges that this Ims
created a trm|s>mry loss In revenue of a|>-
proximately five billion dollars.
Whereas businesses have normally depre
ciated their facilities in a period of from
twenty to twenty-five years, when they arc
allowed to depreciate them in a shorter
period, the effect is to reduce their taxes.
Byrd says lids loss us revenue Lu the gov-
less of the emotional or other aspects in
volved, he will realize that the danger in
allowing any one person to take away the
civil rights of so many Americans is far
greater than any danger which the judge
was attempting to correct.
Senator Harry F. Byrd, Virginia Demo
crat, recently charged that the Supreme
Court was following a “preemption doc
trine,” which means that the court is at
tempting to construe the “intent” of Con
gress on its own, even though Congress was
not actually, or clearly, making its intents
known in many of these fields.
The issue is not a sectional one, and
statesmen from every section of the country
should join in the effort to curb the power
and the ever-growing and dangerous au
thority of the judiciary. A curb now, achiev
ed wisely and constitutionally gives Con
gress (the Constitution gives Congress the
right to outline the jurisdiction of the judi
ciary) will prevent a more severe, and per
haps dangerous, reform at a later date.
sidcntial campaign.
The net result was that many other
committees were brought into operation, on
a national scale, each winding up with three
million dollars to spend. A Senate subcom
mittee has found more than one thousand
such committees, and may not have them
all.
While some of these committees ob
viously did not spend three million dollars,
it is believed a surprising number of them
spent very large sums. Obviously, the in
tentions of the old campaign limit law are
being violated and a realistic limitation,
which would preclude duplicating groups,
would serve the public’s interest by making
audits possible and providing something in
the way of a check to campaign spending.
it can offset, or partially offset, higher labor
costs with more efficient production meth
ods in other fields.
Tight money, however, puts a crimp on
business expansion and modernization, and
tends to slow down the process of industry’s
effort to keep pace with higher and higher
wage demands. In addition, tight money re
duces the buying power of the consumer
and lowers the demand for manufactured
goods.
Therefore, Shields argues that further
restrictions on borrowing or futher hikes in
interest rates will bring on inflation
through higher and higher prices rather
than check it.
We arc in general agreement with Shields'
theory and also feel that tight money and
high interest rates do more to hurt the lit
tle man, who must borrow to buy every
thing he owns, than anything other than
taxes, which are still relatively high.
ernment is a "hidden cost for which no ap
propriation is required by Congress, and its
effect makes more difficult the balance of
the Federal budget, or reduce the Federal
lax burden on taxpayers not receiving the
benefits of the provision."
The Virginia Senator also voiced some
concern over the danger created by this
emergency provision to small businesses.
Since 1953. when Korean hostilities ended,
more than 6.000 certificates for defense lax
benefits have been granted, according to
Scnatdr Byrd, and these certificates cover
ed investments of billions of dollars, which
represented lax write-offs of seven billion
dollars. Byrd says these figures greatly ex
iced the amounts during the World War II
period.
Once again, the Virginia Senator has
come up with good economic advice and
sense, ami we hope Congress iollows his
recommendation in the first session of the
Eighty-Fifth Congress.
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS
A CRUCIAL MOMENT IN HISTORY
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U.S. Troops In Korean War
A group of investigating Sen- '
| ators recently critized military
.services for failing to prepare
American troops for the hazards |
I of capture and interrogation in
the Korean War.
The report of the Senate In- i
I vesiigations subcommittee made '
it obvious that too many Ameri- i
cans "collaborated" with the |
I enemy in Korea and China. Yet,
the report revealed the truth—
which has not been generally
I known—that most of the pris
oners were not brainwashed, if
! those who use the term consider
I it to mean the use of mysterious
or irresistible psychological tech
. niques and drugs.
Rather, the report expressed
I the belief that the Communists'
| technique was to progressively
weaken the individuals and
morany and find out their weak
points and finally break down
| their resistance.
At some of the hearings car
ried on by the subcommittee,
I testimony was taken which
I slated that seventy per cent of
Army prisoners committed at
I least one act of collaboration
with the Communists under
' varying degrees of pressure and
torture during the Korean War
A total of lif teen per cent of
j them were classified as active
I collaborators with their Chinese
captor*.
These are rather surprising
and discouraging percentages.
The indictment—if one is to be
made—should not be primarily
of the military services. True, the
military services did not prepare
our soldiers for such treatment,
but the military services did not
have much indication that the
United States might be called
upon to fight a war in Korea.
The indictment must be made
against the American people It
is true that few of us know and
understand our history, tradi
tions, and the principles upon
which this country's government
was based. In the case of many
Americans, their knowledge ot
our history, our culture and our
American form of government is
scandalously thin.
The solution of this problem
seems, to be in teaching and
training Americans to under
stand and appreciate their coun
try to a greater degree. This
could be done in the schools, in
the churches and in homes. We
must understand the advantages
of our way of life and the dis
advantage* of the Communist
way of life, in detail, if we arc
to be equipped to take on
cunning interrogators, who often
have a very good basic political
education.
The tact that so many Ameri-;
cans gave in under pressure, or
colhiboraled with the enemy, is
a sign that we have taken our
Americanism somewhat lightly
mid every citizen should do what
he can to correct this defect in
our miUomtl character.
The U. S. Road Program
Bertram D. Tallamy. the man
charged with the responsibility
of suisrvising the huge Federal
road program, says he is not dis
couraged by report* that delays
and rad-tape are hamstringing
the ambitious Federal highway
project voted by Congress last
year
W’c tire happy to hear that
Taltamy Is ready to go ahead and
curry out the congressional In
tent us fast us jiossibic Recent
reports have indicated that
building costs have risen four
per cent since the 41.n0d-mile
Ly-km ol lutexaUte roaiL was
projected by Congress last year.
It is true also that contracts
covering only 166 projects in I
thirty states and involving a |
cost of only about $600,006,000,
i have been let. It may also be true
that there is excessive red-tape
i involved in many phases of this
program.
Reports of delay, unnecessary
red-tape and rising costs have ;
resulted in Congressional com- I
mittee hearings this month, de
signed to see if the program can
be speeded up. It is in the in
terest of saving lives, of provid
ing Americans with a safer, more
enjoyable highway system, and
greater access to the various
' parts of their country, that the
road program be speedily com
। pleted. Congress, the State high
; way departments in the various
states, and Federal officials
j should join hands to expedite
the program as much as possible
iin the interest of the American
people.
Facts About Filibusters
The filibuster has been very
much in the news in recent
; weeks and a number of senators,
some Republicans and some
Democrats, have been advo
! eating that the cloture rule in
the Senate be changed, so that
! two-thirds of the senators voting
could bring about limitation of
debate.
The cloture rule in the Senate
is Rule 22. As it has worked for
many years, it requires two
thirds of the Senate member
ship to invoke a closing of free
discussion on any issue. This
means that sixty-four senators.
Os the total membership of
ninety-six, must vote to end de- ,
bate on any measure—to break
the back of a filibuster. This is;
not an unreasonable rule and
is a cloture rule which can be
invoked, if those behind closing
,of debate are actually deter
mined to close off debate, pro- j
vided they number sixty-four
senators.
The danger in reducing the
number of senators required to
shut off debate is a very serious
one which could destroy many
freedoms in the upper legislative
body If a two-thirds majority of
those voting could shut off de
bate, it would be rather easy for
advocates of an issue to see It— '
at a certain time—that they had
a two-thirds majority, even it
that majority were only a com
paratively small group of sen
ators.
It would, actually, pave the
way for the ramrod ta<tu>
which arc used In the House and
which may be necessary in that
both because it ha u< h a larg<
membership- 435 Hower. i tin
Semite's membership is less than
one hundred and there is no
necessity for the steamroller lac- |
tics which tile House leadership
must use to insure passage of
certain legislation.
Actually, though most people
do not know it. Southerners gave
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Menlo, (la
Jun 14, 1957
When Dr Dan H Lawrence came to Menlo eight and one half
years ago we had a number ol people that were almost invalids
that now have gtssl health
Dr Lawrence has had a number of patients brought to him
who could not walk but hud to lx* curried into his office or clinic
but cun now drive their car or operate their farm machinery
Dr 'Lawrence hud people to come to him from Birmingham,
Ala and from beyond Rome and Chuttanooga. Tenn
Dr Lawrence will lx- greatly mimed by this community.
We would not attempt to .tlUii.e the Court regarding the
sentence passed on Dr Lawrence lust week at Home, however It is
very regrctublc that officers had to trap him before they could get
a vcrdlul. Ulkvu- ul Menlo. by J. P. Agnew
up their foolproof filibuster
weapon in 1949 when they agreed
to an amendment of the Senate’s
rules which ended their right to
unlimited debate (not even sub
ject to the cloture rule—Rule 22 >
on the motion to bring up a bill.
As the rules operated up to the
year 1949, there was no way to
invoke cloture on the motion to
bring up a bill in the Senate.
। Therefore, a small group of
senators could wilfully delay ac
tion and prevent the two-thirds
' constitutional majority from ex
ercising its will. Now, however,
that has been changed and the
। two-thirds rule, as applied to
j cloture, is a safety device.
i The very few evils in this sys
i tern are far outweighed by the
many safety features included in
this requirement. It is not true
that filibusters cannot be
broken, since when sixty-four
senators decide that debate
should be cut off, there is no
; way whatever for twenty-two
! members to stop them.
Back The President
President Eisenhower, at last,
seems to be disturbed over the
situation in the Middle East and
is moving actively to organize an
aggressive foreign policy for this
area.
While this action comes a little
late and while the United States
is certainly partly responsible for
the threatening debacle in that
area, it is nevertheless a move
in the right direction.
However, it is disturbing to see
some Democrats, and others, who
oppose some of the details of the
President's plan, attacking his
program What is needed at this
time is unanimity of purpose and
resolve concerning our policy in
the Middle East
Those who criticize the lack of
policy in Washington claim that
our aggressive policy will alienate
the Arabs in the Middle East be
cause it is too militaristic Other
attacks on the President s policy
from various sources are based
on the assumption that there is
no actual Soviet military threat
in the area
We look ujxm such statements
with suspicion While everyone
has a right to his opinion, it
seems pretty clear that Soviet
undercover designs on Middle
Eastern countries have reached
serious proportions. And some of
the same sources which criticized
our policy before the President
made his recent positive an
iiouncemcnt arc now criticizing
the President s recommendations
as militaristic
Mr Eisenhower's plan may not
be perfect. However, it is a
strung policy, designed to keep
Communism out of the Middle
East We think every American
citizen should sujijiurt it in the
hope ul saving this strategic area
of the world from a fate similar
to that of the Eastern European
satellite countries This is a time
when Ametleans should adopt a
bipartisan attitude in support of
our Middle East program
HERMAN TALMADGE
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Reports From
WASHINGTON |
^T<PEu
W HILE THERE NEVER will be I
•a substitute for the personal visit'
and face-to-face talk, it is my hope
that this column can be the next
best thing during the six to eight
months each year when I will be
here in Washington representing
the people of Georgia.
Through this
medium, it shall ;
be my purpose
to report to
Georgians onl
events and de- '
velopments as I
see them from '
the United!
States Senate
J
b 4*3
and to keep them abreast of
my activities and thinking. I am
counting on Georgians, in turn, to
keep me advised of their wishes
and thinking through their letters,
telegrams and phone calls.
* * *
MY FIRST WEEK in the Senate
has been one of frantic activity to
get my office established and pre
pared to serve the people of
Georgia and to get my family
settled and my boys enrolled in
school. This was complicated by
a siege of virus which put Bobby,
Lowell Conner and me in bed.
Fortunately, my case was a light
one and, after medical treatment,
I was able to attend the Caucus
of Southern Senators on January
2 and appear at the opening ses
sion of Congress to take my oath
-it office on January «
* * •
MY STAFF AND I arc now at
dr _ ★
LANHAM'S
WEEKLY
LETTER
YOUR CONGRESSMAN REPORTS
CONFUSION
WORSE CONFOUNDED
On January sth. as though
there were some emergency that
must be met immediately, the
President, in a wholly unpre
cedented Saturday session, ad
dressed a joint session of the
Congress asking a blank check
for the use of American troops
in the Middle East and for a
huge sum of money to be ex
pended as he sees fit in that
area. Only a few weeks ago
during the Presidential cam
paign. he was saying the news
from the Middle East was good
and that the United States would
rely upon the United Nations for
the settlement of the problems
in that troubled area of the
world.
He asked for the use of troops
if he deemed it necessary to de
fend nations who asked our help
against communist military ag
pCMion. Both he and Mr Dulles
have made it clear that troops
would not be used to stop in
filtration and the penetration of
the countries of the Mid-East by
Russia's communists. As a
matter of fact, nobody now
thinks there is any threat of ac
tual military invasion of any of
the countries of the Near East
though there is constantly the
danger of infiltration and sub
version by Russian agents.
Serious objections have been
raised to giving the President
blanket authority to use Ameri
can boys to defend countries of
the Middle East The duty of de
claring war if it becomes neces
sary. is placed upon the Congress
by the Constitution. To give the
President the right to use his
own judgment about when he
should use our armed forces
seems to me to be equivalent to
a delegation of the right to de
clare war. 1 certainly will object
to his proposal if it has that
effect.
A RETURN TH TRI MAN
IMH TRINE OF CONTAINMENT
As the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
MONITOR says in its issue for
January 9th. 1957. "It cannot be
said today that the US has a
consistent, coherent, articulated
b<»dy of foreign policy. IC docs
not assume cither that there can
be peace or war or might be tol
erable co-cxistcncc, There is no
present instrument of policy but
vacillation among NATO, the UN.
'moral force' and unilateral
United States’ weapons ... At
worst It Is confusion Tin 1 pres
ent condition Is recognized at
tin white Room m ireing iinsai
iafnetory. other countries in the
world tend to use stronger ad
jectives in describing it”.
After all. the President's latest
doctrine amounts to a reaf
firmation of Ute Truman doc
trine »( tin containment of coin
munlst Russia, a policy severely
criticized when the present ad
ministration took office First
Mr Dulles proclaimed a "bold
new poUcy " the unlea-lung of
work in Room 347 of the Senate
Office Building and communications
to us can be directed there. For
the first few weeks we will have
the problem of learning the proper
procedures for handling requests,
but, if everyone will be patient, I
am confident that we soon will be
oriented to the point that we can
handle any matter with dispatch.
My family and I are getting
things in order in our home in
Fairfax County, Virginia, just out
side the town of Falls Church. We
want all Georgians to come to see
us when they are in Washington or
vicinity.
* * •
MY FAITH IN the integrity of
the Senate as a body where con
stitutional principles are the first
consideration was reinforced when
it voted January 4 by the com
manding margin of 55 to 38 to re
tain its historic right of unlimited
debate.
Free debate in the Senate is
second only to the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights as a means of
protection for the rights and free
doms of the American people. It
is an inherent part of our constitu
tional system of checks and bal
ances and serves to keep our re
publican form of government vital
through restricting the abuses of
unbridled majority rule and pro
tecting the rights of the minorities
of this nation.
Chiang " which everybody knows
i now was a farce since Chiang
was and is impotent to return to
I the mainland of China. Next was
' the doctrine of rolling back the
iron curtain as far as Russias
satellites were concerned. With
out resorting to war. this policy
was sterile. Next was the threat
of "massive retaliation" and on
this the communists called our
bluff at Dien Bien Phu. The last
was the "brink" doctrine which
was farcical and made the
United States the laughing stock
of the world. Now comes the full
turn of the wheel and we are
back where we started with the
Truman doctrine of containment.
The resolution for which the
President asked "stems from do
mestic politics rather than for
eign policy". As the Washington
Letter to the readers of the
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONI
TOR says. "As domestic politics,
it has its points It sounds like
doing something.” But actually
it is an idle gesture. It will not
solve the problems of the Middle
East which are, first of all, the
antagonism between Israel and
the Arab countries of that area
and. secondly, the settlement of
the problem of the seizure of the
Suez by Nasser, the dictator of
Egypt. For neither of these prob
lems does the administration
seem to have any program or
policy.
NO MID I OR SURRENDER OF
C (INGRESSION AUTHORITY
AND POWERS
The Congress is in session and
will be for the next five or six
months. Should actual invasion
of any of the countries of the
Middle East seem imminent and
it should seem wise to the Con
gress, war could be declared
within a few hours. As for the
economic aid. there is no par
ticular hurry and. us fur as I
am concerned. 1 want to know
how and where the money is
going to be spent and be con
vinced that it will be used better
thun such funds have been used
during the past three or four
years before authorizing such ex
penditures.
STATE OF HIE
UNION MESSAGE
The President's State of the
Union message, delivered in per
son on January loth, was so full
of generalities, so wholly took
over the Democratic "New and
Fair Deal” social welfare pro
grams that Is scarcely seemed
like a Republican Presidon tn I
message It was rather coolly re
ceived by the Democrat*, espe
cially Hie Southerners. lieeausc
ol its emphasis on the enact
ment of oppressive and dic
tatorial civil rights legislation.
VIM Hilts
Among those who have visited
us recently were John T Mitmr
and Virgil T Smith of Dalton as
well as Co Ralph T Holland, a
former resident of Cedartown,
who Is stationed in Washington
at tins lime.
5