Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 61, Number 49, Decatur, Adams County, 27 February 1963 — Page 11

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Nation’s Capital Is City In Trouble

EDITORS NOTE: This Is the last of three dispatches on the racial tensions, rising crime rate school disorders, financial ertoes and lack es setf-gwvernment which have made Washington* D.C., the natida’s capital, a “city in trouble.'* By LOVIS CASSELS United Press International WASHINGTON (UPI) _ Some months ago, the principal of a public high school in Washington uncovered a flourishing racket A tough young man of 17 was stealing the books of smaller boys, placing them in his locker, and making the victims pay 15 cents to ransom them. The principal turned the boy over to city authorities, expecting that he would be expelled and perhaps prosecuted for theft. The next day, the young racketeer was back in class, boasting that he had "beat the rap” with nothing but a reprimand. Lax discipline in District of Columbia public schools is an old story to parents and teachers. It became a public scandal recently when a committee of prominent citizens published the findings of an inquiry into the causes of an ugly riot which broke out last Thanksgiving Day after a high school championship football game. Lack es Control The citizens committee said the stadium riot was the outgrowth of a long-standing “lack of control over hoodlum elements in the school system.” “An atmosphere of ‘permissiveness’ has discouraged the personnel of many schools and caused a citywide lessening of disciplinary standards,” it reported. “Fear rages through many school buddings which have become tramping grounds for outside influences, including thugs, hoodlums and persons of the lowest character.” The report shocked many Washington residents, including President Kennedy. They got an additional shock this month when Dr. Carl F. Hansen, superintendent of schools, candidly acknowledged that the committee’s findings were “borne out in general by comments of teachers” who responded to his own inquiry about disciplinary problems. Blames Minority Hansen said that most of 'the trouble is being caused by a small minority of youngsters—no more than!* or f per eent—who disrupt classes and spread confusion. In the past, the schools have tried to find a place for every child, even the moat incorrigible, on the theory that it was better to keep them under the tutelage of a community agency than to turn them loose on he streets to get involved in crimes. Behind this policy was the realization that many of the troublesome youngsters had no real homes to be sent to, and no responsible parents to guide them. . - -—■ The stadium riot and the investigations which followed it have convinced Hansen that Washington’s public schools can no WHEEL HORSE, OF COURSE '.. v \.*. LAWN AND GARDEN TRACTORS This sporty work horse mows lawn, tills soil, clears snow... speeds and eases all lawn and garden tasks with more power than any other suburban-sized tractor. Over 20 Wheel Horse attaching tools include center-mounted 36' rotary mower, self-powered tiller, »now-dozer blade. rar a hoHmi today i See fat yourself why Wheel Horse gets more done atod gives more fun the year ’round. To arrange your teat ride, call: Startling at $400.95 2 miles north of Decatur Phon* £358

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longer undertake the burden of “playing substitute for family upbringing.” He has served notice on the community that the schools i henceforth will expel chronic troublemakers, so that the vast majority of well-behaved children and their teachers can get on with the task of education. Offers Alternative But Hansen offered the community an alternative. The schools will continue to wrestle with the delinquent youth problem, he said, if they are given the “proper equipment” for the task. He said this wouW include more counselors and social workers, facilities for special classes tor disruptive children, and separate schools for “extremely disturbed” children. Such facilities would cost a lot of money. And the U.S. Congress, which controls the municipal finances of the District of Columbia. has not been noted in the past for its liberality toward the federal city and its school system. Last year it refused to authorize a $75 million borrowing which Hansen said was desperately needed to build new schools and relieve overcrowding. ■ape For Future But a new day may be dawning. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W. ▼a., chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee for the District of Columbia, predicted recently that his committee "is going to be sympathetic” to requests for tnore money for Washington schools. Unlike any other city in the country, Washington cannot decide to expand its own school budget and raise taxes to cover it The U.S. Congress determines what taxes shall be levied on District residents, and the tax money, once collected, goes into the U.S. Treasury where it can be appropriated for District municipal operations only by act of Congress. The federal government, which occupies a large portion of the land area of the District and is its major employer, pays no taxes whatever. Instead Congress votes an annual payment to the District, which is supposed to represent a fair federal share of municipal operating costs. This sum in recent years has been S3O million a year—about 13 per cent of the District’s budget. Urges New Formula Last month, President Kennedy sent a special message to Congress urging that the federal payment henceforth be based on a formula reflecting the actual taxes that the federal government would have to pay if it were just an ordinary business firm located in Washington. The formula would raise the federal payment to $53 million this year. He warned that unless the federal government begins to carry its “proper share’’ of the District’s financial burdens, Washington wiR be powerless to cope with the “critical problems” confronting its schools, welfare services, police department and other public agencies. Sen. Alan Bible, D-Nev., of tile Senate District Committee, has strongly endorsed the President’s proposal. Chairman John L. McMillan, D-S.C., of the House District Committee, has not said if he’s for it or against it. Kennedy also reiterated his long-standing plea that Congress let the District of Columbia’s citizens govern themselves. There is virtually no prospect, however, that Washington residents will obtain self-government in the near future. Southern lawmakers, who exercise dominant influence on congressional committees dealing ‘with District affairs, are adamantly opposed to “home rule” for a city whose population is 54 per cent Negro. Charge Indifference Negro leaders charge that racial statistics also account for the “indifference” which many members of Congress seem to display toward District problems, especially

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the problems of the schools which have an even greater proportion of Negroes (85 per cent) tiwta the general population. Spokesman tor the House District Committee soy this charge is unfair, insofar as it may be directed against their committee. They say the record demonstrates the committee's concern for Washington’s welfare. They point out in that connection that chairman McMillan has pushed through bills providing more than $42 million in federal grants for hospital construction in Washington during the past decade—more than any other U.S. city has received. Without naming names, Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy said in an interview that “there have certainly been instances where it appeared that some members of Congress, with authority over District of Columbia affairs, have not been interested in seeing progress made here because of the large Negro population.” In fact, he added, there may be some, in and out of Congress, who would like to be able to point to Washington as proof that Negroes and 1 whites can’t live and work together peacefully and constructively in a desegregated society. The attorney general said that •as a very short-sighted attitude. Concern es AH “Every American has a stake in making Washington a model city and an example of good racial relationships,” he said. “It’s bad enough for America’s reputation abroad when racial incidents occur in Chicago or New York or Oxford, Miss. But any serious disturbance of a racial nature in the nation's capital would be a most grievous setback to the whole United States.” The young attorney general sat back reflectively for a moment, then leaned forward toward the reporter and said very gravely: “I think you should tell the people of the country that neglect, social unrest, inadequate community facilities and lack of opportunities for young people, especially Negro youth, have created a serious situation in Washington. “It is so bad it is a real time bomb. If it goes off, it will do untold harm. I think everyone, not just the people who live and work in Washington, ought to be very concerned about it. After all, this is their capital.” Many Os TV Shows Fall By Wayside HOLLYWOOD (UPI) — Doomsday is here for more than 40 prime time television shows in the greatest upheaval of network rogramming in video’s brief history. Weekly shows are falling in clusters. Dozens of actors and hundreds of crews will be unemployed as a result. ABC-TV has 22 series shutting down, a few still may be revived but it is doubtful. A network spokesman said that next season will not find a single show in the same time slot it occupied this year. CBS-TV is kissing off 11 series while NBC-TV bids adieu to 14. Curiously, tthe greatest number of victims is among the new shows which made their debuts last faD. ft should also be noted there was no particular trend. Drama, comedy, action, variety—all went by the boards, seemingly without pattern. Among last year’s newcomers biting the dust are: “The New Loretta Young Show,” Jack Webb’s “True,” “The Lloyd Bridges Siow,” “Fair Exchange,” aU from CBS. At NBC—“McKeever and the Colonel,” “Empire,” “Wide Country,” “Andy Williams,” “Sam Benedict.” At ABC — “The Jetsons," “Stoney Burke,” “Going My Way,” “our Man Higgins,” “The Gallant Mten,” "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and perhaps “I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster.” Our advertisers are for your HOME TOWN — DECATUR. Patronise them.

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French Incomes Are Going Up Steadily

By PHIL NEWSOM UPI Foreign News Analyst A large portion of President Charles de Gaulle’s continuing popularity among the French people is his undisputed claim that they never had It so good. French incomes are going up. Economically, the country is developing faster than Germany and more than twice as fast as either the United States or Britain. There is a healthy surplus of exports over imports. France, once the sick man of Europe, now is the strong man. But there also is a proMem which could drastically alter the picture. The problem is creeping inflation, which has seen the cost of living jump 5.3 per centt in the last year and 17 per cent since De Gaulle devalued the French franc in 1959. The result is that individual incomes barely have kept pace with increasing prices and m some cases have fallen considerably below them. The French government is the nation's largest single employer and it is the unions in stateowned industries who now are ready to make their bid. In the state-run coal mines, some 230,000 workers have scheduled a two-day walk out for March 1 and 2. It is possible they will be joined by nearly 500,000 others on the state-run railroads and in the state-run gas and electricity industries. The De Gaulle government has appealed to private employers to limit wage increases to no more than 4 per cent per year. But

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France has a labor shortage and the pressure of demand has in some cases forced wages up to more than twice the government ceiling. Mounting labor unrest and agriculture are in fact De Gaulle’s most pressing problems. De Gaulle’s determination to protect French agriculture was a prominent factor in his veto of British membership in the European Common Market. Agriculture remains industry in France, bus it operates, at an efficiency below that of its neighbors. The government is pushing a program of modernization and is attempting to siphon off a sizable portion of farm workers into industry. Solutions to the problems of labor and agriculture are necessary if the wage-price spiral is not finally to wipe out the economic miracle of France. Senate Has Trouble Getting Organized By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON (UPI) - There has been a lot of talk this year about the system under which Congress operates and whether it needs to be modernized. Some deep thinkers seem to feel that the legislative machinery as presently constituted is too cumbersome to permit Congress to meet its responsibilities in the space age. In support of their position, they

point out that although approximately two months have elapsed since the current session began, hardly anything has happened. I have no intention of getting involved in tills controversy, bat I would like to do my bit to keep at least one aspect of the record straight. Contrary to the way it might appear to the naked eye, Congress actually has been rather busy tills year. It’s just that it hasn’t done anything very noticeable. I have been looking over the legislative calendar and I find that, going into the last week of February, the House of Representatives already had passed a total of two bills. One of them extends the time for filing burial expenses for vet’’tftmsr The other authorizes the armed forces to provide equipment and other support for the annual Boy Scouts jamboree. Neither is exactly earth-shaking, but they certainly should quash any complaints that Congress is prone to dalliance or is composed of slugabeds. Senate Less Productive The Senate, it is true, has not been quite as productive as the House. By that I mean that the senators haven’t passed any bills as yet. This is not a sign of ennui or lackadaisical behavior, however. The Senate has been having some trouble getting organized. I can appreciate its problem because I often have trouble getting organized myself. Even so, the Senate has managed to pass five resolutions. In one resolution, it notified the President that a quorum was present on opening day. In another resolution, it notified the House that a quorum was present. The point I’m trying to make is, the fact that nothing much has happened in Congress doesn’t necessarily mean that Congress has been standing still.

*Wtais.

One Os FDR's Great Frights By Huey Long By LYLE C. WILSON United Press International WASHINGTON (UPI)-Too bad the late Sen. Huey P. (Kingfish) Long isn't around these days to add some belly laughs to the yammer about President Kennedy’s tax bill. That is not to say that Huey merely was a clown, good only for laughs. He was, indeed, a clown. But he also was a political operator of great talent. As, for example, when he took out after Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934-35 and gave the great man one of the political frights of his career. Huey did not disguise his purpose. He merely sought to steal FDR’s army of New Deal voters so that he, Huey, could be elected president in 1936. It would be too much to say that Long got far with this program. But FDR was shook. Long did that with a tax bill in support of the Huey P. Long battle cry: “Share-our-wealth, every-man-a-king.” Hoey’s 7-Polht Plan Share - our - wealth sounded mighty pretty to the have-nots who made up much of FDR’s New Deal voting army. They were the ill-housed, ill-clothed, illfed. To those unhappy folk, Huey made his pitch—a seven-point tax program. Huey explained he didn’t have the details worked out and his point No. 7 seemed to prove that. No. 7 was as follows, in Huey’s own words: “Until we straighten things out —and we can straighten things

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out in two months under our program—we would grant a moratorium on all debts which people owe they cannot pay.”

What got FDR’s ill-fed New Dealers was the beautiful simplicity of it all. The remainder of Huey’s tax plan was like this: —A graduated capital-levy on all fortunes in excess of $1 million. The levy would be 100 per cent on all over the seventh million. —Limitation of inheritances and of annual income to $1 million. —Provision of a home with conveniences such as radio and automobile to every family from the proceeds of the foregoing levies. (Huey was not familiar with television.) —A 30-hour work week and an 11-month work year. —Free college and vocational education for every youth at state and federal expenses. —Adequate pensions to everyone over 60 except persons earning SI,OOO a year or possessing SIO,OOO. Would File Petitions The Kingfish said persons eligible to share in the redistribution of confiscated wealth would file petitions stating their financial needs. They would receive warrants redeemable in currency. This giddy program not only was taken seriously but actually helped acquire for Huey a national following. Mid-way in 1935, FDR struck back with a soak-the-rich tax plan of his own. FDR’s bill didn’t soak anyone very hard. But it was a small beginning. It recognized the political dynamics of the idea that in a democracy or a representative republictake your choice—the voters like the idea of redistribution of wealth. ■ - ■■ - r - * - — ■ Our advertisers are for your HOME TOWN — DECATUR. Patronise them.