The North Adams Transcript from North Adams, Massachusetts • Page 6

ttwctipt Founded 1843 PublithedBy The Trantcript PubliMng A Haitachutetti Trutt o-PublijWj, Jamei A. Hardman, Jr. and Hardmii Editor, Hardman, Jr. Business Manager, Hardman Managing Editor, Ltwis C. Cuylw Page Six Monday, April 17, 1967 Editorial Massachusetts Lagging In Billboard Regulation UNDER THE LAW, Massachusetts stands to lose 10 per cent of the federal road funds it is entitled to and this runs into millions of dollars if it fails to adopt billboard controls acceptable to the federal government before next Jan.

1. But the state Beems to be as far as ever from putting adequate outdoor advertising regulations into effect. This is a testimony to the effectiveness of the powerful lobby maintained by the billboard industry. That the operations of this lobby are not confined to Massachusetts is indicated by the fact that not one of the 50 states has yet taken effective action to save that 10 per cent loss in highway funds which the federal law stipulates. In fact, the lobby operates just as effectively in Washington as it does in the state capitals.

When the federal billboard control law was enacted, outdoor advertising spokesmen were able, over the sharp protests of the Administration, to include a clause which calls for the state and Uncle Sam to. reimburse billboard companies for any signs they are compelled, under state regulations, to remove. In other words, after cashing in on the opportunity i afforded to stick up new roadside-defacing signs along the miles of new highways at no cost to themselves, the billboard interests now want to be paid when the I public rightfully demands that those same signs be re- 'moved. As the New York Times succinctly puts it, the bill- board industry is holding up the American people for ransom. Billions of dollars in tax money have been poured into 'new roads in recent years.

The people who paid for these roads are entitled to enjoy the views they have opened up. now, if they want to enjoy these views, they must the outdoor advertising people for the privilege. Not only should Massachusetts quickly act to save itself from a 10 per cent federal'highway fund cut by enacting billboard regulations that will meet federal atan- but Congress should repeal the reimbursement legislation and thus end an unconscionable tax give-away. Massachusetts Needs Simpler Tax Returns FILLING OUT A TAX RETURN is never particularly pleasant but in Massachusetts, it comes under the head- ing of cruel and unusual punishment. Whereas Uncle Sam can get all the information he wants on two sides of one sheet of paper plus perhaps an additional schedule of two the sadists who devised ithe Massachusetts form have devised a four-page mon- 'strosity.

To make matters worse, nothing seems to be in a reasonable sequence, and in order to complete Schedule A you have to stop just as you get started and fill out Schedule A-l. To complete Schedule the taxpayer must himself to refer back to Schedule C. Not only is the state tax return much more difficult to fill out than the federal return an accountant estimates that giving the Massachusetts tax commissioners the information they demand takes about three times as long as it does to fill out a federal Form 1040 but the Massachusetts tax collectors seem to proceed on the theory that every taxpayer is not only a mathematical genius but a low sneak who can't be trusted to take an honest deduction without working out abstruse mathematical formulas and providing written proof that he isn't lying. In short, the Massachusetts system is not only inconvenient, time-consuming, brain-straining and a downright imposition it also is an insult to every citizen of the state who has to fill out a return. Even though it would mean adoption of a graduated tax system, we are heartily in favor, now that April 15 has gone, of the Commonwealth adopting a simple form under which the harassed taxpayer will figure out his federal tax and then merely pay a percentage of that tax to.the state.

If such a change isn't practical, our Massachusetts tax officials could at least shorten up the form and make it easier to figure the tax. It's bad enough to have to pay it, without developing an annual case of brain-fag trying to figure out how much you owe your state. Modern Etiquette By ROBERTA LEE Q. About a month ago I wrote a letter of condolence to a friend who had lost her mother, and I still have not received any kind of reply from her. What do you think about this? A.

While it is usually proper to acknowledge such letters, still in consideration of your friend's feelings at such a time, her lapse should be overlooked and wilhoul any fcelir.gs of hurl, too. Q. 1 have just received an invitation to a cocktail parly, written on an informal card, and there is no "r.s.v.p." on the card. Should I reply anyway? A. Under these conditions, it is not necessary to reply.

Q. What is the proper lime of day to a call of condolence? A. Any lime of day is "proper" for this type of call. Q. How can a divorced woman who is using her maiden name prefixed by "Miss" word the invitations to her daughter's wedding? A.

For just such social reasons, she should not be using "Miss" in front of her name. However, in' this case, she can put "Mrs." in front of her maiden name, then give her daughter's full name in (he invitations. Inside Report Two Senators Out To Save East-West Free Trade Bill By ROWLAND EVANS ind ROBERT NOVAK WASHINGTON With private backtab from the White two senators have grabbed the initiative on dent Johnson's East-West trade bill in effort l- it from growing congressional hostility. Senator Warren Magnuson of Washington, Democratic -chiiir- man of the Senate Commerce Committee, committee publican Senator Thruslon Morton of Kentucky are no tweedle- dum and tweedle-dee. Magnusoii's free-trade conviction grows out of his state's shipbuilding industry.

Morton, a powerful politician in the Republican parly and former National Chairman, is a former Assistant Secretary of Sbte Hio has always been an internationalist. Using the Senate Commerce Committee as their forum, the Morton-Maggie duo has one major goal to put the bitter debate over East-West trade in terms of commercial self-interest and take it out of the political debate over the war in Vietnam. THE ROOT OF hostility to President Johnson's East-West trade bill (extending preferential tariffs to four Eastern European countries and the Rwiet. U' -'i) is Vietnam. With Moscow sending war supplies to Hanoi, say opponents, this is not the time to expand trade with the Communist bloc.

Considering the political realities, and the imminence of another presidential election, Magnuson and Morton may not succeed in changing the climate on Capitol Hill. But their decision to hold extensive hearings before the Commerce Committee is nevertheless a choice example of congressional initiative at time of growing concern liver the all-pervasive executive branch. Furthermore, the hearings to start next month will give Morton another chance to make his case for the Bepublican party to break out of old foreign policy molds. It was Morton, acting at the start quite alone, who changed the mood in his party In the Senate on the consular treaty with the Soviet Union. THE MAGNUSON-MORTON plan is to build up support for East-West trade not through political experts in the State De partment but through Acting Secretary of Commerce Alexander Trowbridge, through presidential foreign a experts, and through American businessmen.

In 1955, when he was Assistant Secretary of State for Consres- sional Affairs, Morton reversed the losing tide of battle over extension of the reciprocal trade agreements by convincing President Eisenhower to take the issue out of the State Department and put it under the direction of the Commerce Department. As Acting Commerce Secretary today, TrowbrMge is regarded by Congress as one of the most articulate and sensible voices in the Administration. But the Administration isn't half using his talents. THE HOUSE already started hearings on another aspect of East-West trade, This is a bill to extend the lending operations of the Export-Import Bank for another five years. The key test on this bill is a rider to ban Export-Import Bank financing of $50 million worth of U.S.

machine tools for a huge automobile plant to be built in Russia by the Italian Fiat company. If this rider passes Congress, the East-West trade bill will be as good as dead for this year. In fact, the President's top experts in Congress have just about decided not to risk a vote in any event on East-West trade this year if the odds for getting it through are much less than 50-50. The President does not want to risk defeat. The Magnuson-Morton maneuver could have a major bearing on how the Senate acts on this rider to block the financing of machine tools for the Fiat plant.

By building up a pro-trade atmosphere, it could also be the means for bringing the East-West trade bill itself to a successful vote late this year. But the key role now being played by Magnuson and Morion is no easy one. Magn'Kon was picketed two weeks ago after he made a free-trade speech in Tacoma. Morton is already being criticized by conservative members of his own parly for getting too far out in front and attempting to make Republican party policy. Nevertheless, between them they make a formidable pair.

North Adams Skies Sunset today, 6.37 p.m. Sunrise tomorrow, 5.08 a.m. The moon, at First Quarter today, sets tomorrow at 2.15 a.m. The planet, Jupiter, below the moon tonight, now 433 million miles from the Earth. Jupiter is brighter than Mars although it is now nearly nine times as far away from vis as the latter planet.

Washington Insight Rule by Congress Party Elite Is Hearing Its End in India And By the Way Everybody Needs a Scow! By MAYNARD LEAHEY NEW DELHI The full impact of Iridia's recent general election is only now beginning to come home. And for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her ruling Congress Party the outlook is even blacker now than it was on the morrow of the poll two months ago. To understand why, it is necessary to make a political distinction that goes beyond the usual division of right versus left or even of central government versus the provinces. It is necessary to distinguish between this country's modern or elite culture and its traditional, or mass culture. The elite culture is typified by the high-caste English-educated Indians of easy circumstance so much detested in the United States because they are so opinionated on all issues.

The mass culttire is represented by the village peasant mindful only of the most parochial matters of economic and social advantage. Congress Party, being stuffed with products of the elite culture, has always had a problem in maintaining a mass following. And for several reasons the problem has sharpened in recent years, FOR ONE THING the passage of the national leadership from' Nehru through Shaslri on to Nehru's daughter, Mrs. Gandhi, meant a decline in the popular appeal of the chief party figure. Secondly, the Congress Party was increasingly challenged by a splinter parties which pitched their programs directly to the-different interests in the mass culture.

By JOSEPH KRAFT Thus 'he Swatantra a stressed the free enterprise outlook so dear to small peasant landholders; the Communists echoed the grievances of the landless workers; and Jan Sangh Party emphasized the Hindu creed and tongue dominant in the villages of northern India; and the Dravidian Party stressed the Tamil language dominant around Madras. In these conditions, the Congress Party came more and more to depend upon a group of local party bosses for communications between its elite membership and the masses. These Indian party bosses were very much like their 19th Century American counterparts crude, grasping fellows with a remarkable capacity to turn out votes for their party. BUT IN THE ELECTION this year the big losers were precisely the Congress Party bosses. Kamaraj, the big daddy of Indian politics, went down in Madras; Patil lost in Bombay; and Atulya Ghosh collapsed in Calcutta.

It was as if the equivalent of Mayor Richard Daley had been simultaneously extinguished in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. The result was not merely that Congress had its majority in the central parliament severely reduced while also losing control over seven of the 1G Indian states. Worse still, the chief line of communication between the elite of the parly and the underlying population was broken. With the Congress leadership thus cut off, second-string politicos in the party have been increasingly tempted to strike out for themselves. The other day a big bloc of congressmen in India's largest state, Utlar Pra- desh, crossed the aisle to team with the opposition in forming a new government.

The same thing took place earlier in the state of Haryana. THESE EXAMPLES have warned everybody that the desertion of only about 30 congressmen al the center could put Mrs. Gandhi in the minority. In that atmosphere of unease even formalities such as the naming of a parliamentary speaker or a figure-head president turn out to be difficult operations. And doing something about the food dislri- bution problem is virtually impossible.

Against decisive weakening of the Indian political center there is one potential offset. There has been set in motion the end of a system which gave power to an elite wholly divorced from the rest of the country. At long last the suffering masses of this' country have found an entree to political life. Tile Congress Party will either have to strike new roots or disintegrate. For the country as a whole is in midpassagc between a Brahmin past that could not endure and a future dominated by plain men.

The?" may turn out to be far more npelent than imagined by who lorded it over them for "any centuries. But for that they will need time to concentrate on their own problems undisturbed by threats or intrusions from the'r neighbors in China and Pakistan. Letters To The Transcript U.S. Merits Credit For Good It's Done Editor of The Transcript: Apparently the students at Buxton School who answered my letter paid more attention to Mr. Thomas' lecture than to thoroughly reading my letter.

I think the record should be set straight and if they will just bear with me for a few lines more I will try to make it a bit more simple for them. I am well aware of what Socialism is and also well aware of what Communism is. If we had Socialism in Russia instead of Communism then perhaps we could rationalize Mr. Thomas' Socialist Utopia for America a little more. However the plain fact is we are dealing with Communism and therein lies the difference.

I don't believe in being naive. However here again let me stress that this is my opinion and they are certainly entitled to theirs and also have every right to it as befits anyone living in a free country. For another thing I did not call Mr. Thomas a Communist. What I said was that his lecture certainly was aiding their cause, which also in my opinion it was because he, after so thoroughly criticizing the United States, failed to present the other side of the story.

I am not against criticism. No one or no country is perfect. However you talk of injustice, is not this an injustice to your country to attack it and then not give it credit for the many right things it has done? Criticize all you will but also love your country and be proud it and know that it has given more of itself to the world than any other country in the world! And does it not deserve some credit for this? May I quote from "I Love America" by James Morris as written in the Saturday Evening Post. His whole article would do a lot of doubting Americans good. But the finishing sentences in particular are expecially meaningful.

I quote, "Be brave, 0 America! The peoples mock you and abuse you, but mosijy out of pique. They envy you. in their deepest' emotions, the grand responsibilities and opportunities of power, the marvelous prizes and the terrible duties. They see you astride the world like a self-doubling colossus and they think they could do better. by God, just let them try." Enough said.

MARY LaPIERRE, Clarksburg A Religious Issue Editor of The Transcript: Regarding the letter signed by 19 Adams residents in Thursday's Transcript. Is it on record that the states listed are legally providing tax support to parochial and private schools? It is on record lhal a number of states were illegally requiring religious practices in public schools for quite a number of years and that was stopped. If I were sure my Constitutional rights were being Irampled underfoot, and could not afford lo hire a lawyer, I would contact The American Civil Liberties Union for help. Can you keep a "religious note" out of the issue when Church schools are 99 per cent of the issue? FREDERIC R. BENNETT, Luce Williamstown Not in Children's Best Interests Editor of The Transcript: Mr.

Joseph's comments in Friday's paper were enlightening, to say the least. I never, for instance, thought for a moment that the jobs of teachers depended entirely on the complaints of parents, especially when, as he says, these complaints were all ''investigated and explained." I'm sure that every superintendent of every school district is bothered somewhat by this problem. Some people are chronic complainers, anyway. Why, therefore, would Mr. Joseph deprive our children of what he calls "hardworking" arid "uncomplaining" teachers? Teachers whom he has given a "superior" rating in classroom performance.

Doesn't he think, if we are lo leave education in the hands of the educators, that it was his duly to keep these teachers here for the benefit our children if the reasons he gave were the only ones for their dismissal? I submit, that there has to be more to this than the reasons he gave, by parents," or he is very lax in his job, indeed. Further, how much thought have these three "dedicated" men involved given to the children here in the Town of Florida by making an issue in the newspapers of their problems. Couldn't they have achieved all they hope to achieve by going to the MTA without posting their views hi the newspapers? I heartily disapprove of this method of airing our local problems, but since this is the method chosen, I feel that the Transcript is the place for my views. I have had children in the Florida schools for nine years now, all of whom have done very well scholastically, and you'll excuse me if I say thai it doesn't seem that now Mr, Joseph has my, or any other Florida school children's interest in mind. BARBARA NEWMAN, Tilda Hill Florida Cheshire-Adams Board Lauded Editor oE The Transcript: I have been following with interest the progress being made by the Adams-Cheshire Regional School Planning Committee.

I think we are lucky to have this group of knowledgeable and dedicated men working in behalf of the people of Adams and Cheshire. Although the cost eslimales recently released by the committee are higher lhan was previously indicated we must realize that the constant escalation of prices due to higher labor and material cost contribute to the increase and will continue to do so as time goes on. I also feel that the committee The TranscrJpl welcomes Idlers from Its readers. (Is columns are always open (o the free expression of opinion on any matter of public interest or concern. It Is suggested (hat short letters are the most effective, and communications, particularly lengthy ones, are subject to condensation.

Statements which are considered libelous cannot be printed. All tellers should bi signed for publication. has made a smart decision in selecting electricity as the method of heating the school. Although many people feel that electric heat is exotic and expensive it is the heat of the future and I guess that people said the same thing when we switched from wood to coal and from coal to oil. From what I have learned in talking to people who have switched from oil to electric heal, cost is almost a stand-off when you consider that the domestic use of power for olher than heat is paid for at the same low kilowatt hour rate as that charged for the heat, I am also told that walls stay cleaner, curtains require less frequent washing and heat is much more easy to regulate.

My thanks lo the committee for what they have done and I hope that they have the support of the citizens of each town when time for final acceptance arrives. W. C. HANKE, 1 Linden Adams English Lessons By W. L.

GORDON Words often misused: Do not say, "He is an authority about the English language." Say, "He is an authority ON the English language." Often mispronounced: Gill (a measure); pronounce as "jill." Gill (respiratory organ of a fish); pronounce as spelled. Often misspelled: Nauseous; "eous." Noxious; "ious." Word study: "Use a word three times and it is yours." Let us increase our vocabulary by maslering one word each day. Today's word: Reclitude; uprightness in principles and, conduct. "Never again did she stray from the path of rectitude." Only Yesterday $15 Weekly Pay Coal Teamsters, 50 Years Ago After a refusal of Iheir demand for wages at the rate of $15 and $13.50 per wee respectively, North Adams' coal leamsters and Iheir helpers, quit in all but two places. Tiie men also demanded that last deliveries on Saturday be al 4 p.m.

rather than 7 or 8 o'clock at night. Russell Costine, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cosline of North Adams, went to Boston where he joined the aviation corps of the U.S. Army.

ie, Two horses were badly burned and considerable damage done during a fire in a South Streel building owned by Morris Manes. The Iwo-story wooden structure was used as a stable and a place in which to store junk, 23 Years Ago The Rev. Archibald R. Lajoie, for six years curate at Notre Dame Church, North Adams, was transferred to St. Mary's Church in Spencer.

He was succeeded here by the Rev. Aime DeBlois of Millhury, a former resident of Adams. Plans were underway for annual reunion of men who served overseas with Company of Adams in 1917. Event was scheduled lo take place at Gloucester. Weather such as that which has been perpetrated around here for the past several days is helpful in one respect, It provides a chance lo practice the scowl and the glower.

There is' a slight difference in the two, in case anyone wants to be technical. The scowl is the look you give when you want to warn somebody not to do something. The glower is the look you give when they have done it anyway. Many years ago someone advanced the theory thai if you laughed, the world laughed with you, but then when you wept, you wept alone, That idea caught on, particularly with parents of that era, and they impressed on their children the importance of not scowling. THIS WAS a great wrong, It slowed down the natural evolution of the scowl, which was just coming lo perfection, as anyone can tell from examining plwtc- graplis in the family album taken in the late 1890's and early part of this century.

Those ancestors really knew how to scowl. The faces on the post office photographs of wanted criminals look like cheerful cherubs compared to your grandfather when lie had his picture taken just before the Spanish-American War. How times changed can be seen by turning a few pages and observing where the laugh-and-the world-laughs-wilh-you business began. Picture after picture shows the subjects with grins on their faces. There isn't a scowl in the lot.

Yet it stands to reason they all couldn't hav been that happy. There must have been at least one of them who had a headache or a -sore toe or an overdrawn bank account or who wished he were somewhere else. But, no, they're all grinning. IT HAS been that way for a long time. The fellow with a good, natural scowl is looked upon with disfavor.

He is called a spoil sport, a gloomy Gus, a wel blanket, a sonrpuss, and so on. He is asked, from time to time, if he's afraid he'll hurt his face if he smiles, or why he doesn't sit down and open peace talks. Meanwhile, they go on with their silly grins, laughing when there isn't anything funny, and smiling at people for whom they have no affection whatever. All because their parents way back yonder forbade them to scowl, so they never learned how. This is too bad, because in this complex, harried civilization there are countless times when a thoroughgoing, Grade 1 scowl can serve a person well.

It can be the first line of defense against the multiplicity ot irritations that go to make up an ordinary day. WHEN, for example, the beautiful blonde with the soft drawl and the beckoning eyes rings the doorbell and says she is sure you wouldn't want to hurt her feelings by not subscribing to all 47 magazines she is selling, you're might lucky if you have a good scowl at your disposal. It's a lot more helpful lhan that foolish grin. When you've banged inlo someone's car and dented the owner's fender, if you possess a firsl-rale scowl you can convince him that somehow he's lo blame. Give him thai friendly grin, and you're lost.

And there are many more, among them the occasions when the young of the family appear before you lo ask for $10 to go lo the movies. You can save a lot of money with a scowl. Of course, a smile is all right in its place. The point is that it's always good to be able to turn on a scowl when you need it. This weather is a good time to practice.

The World Today Martin Luther King Tries To Have Things Both Ways By JAMES MARLOW Aisociafed WASHINGTON (AP) Dr. Martin Luther King, the Negro civil rights leader, is trying to have it both ways. He says he doesn't mean one thing. He says he means another. The two wind up meaning the same.

King, a hero of the civil rights 'movement and in the newspapers continually for years, had been in a bit of eclipse in recent months as tire crusade for civil rights slowed down. It not only slowed down but began to fly apart last year after Etokely Carmichael, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, began preaching "black power." Even ardent civil rights liberals didn't like the connotations of that slogan. And the National Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People denounced the concept. But King wouldn't join the denunciation. Then with one big speech earlier this month King got himself back into the limelight but in a way that antagonized more people sympathetic lo civil rights.

He linked the civil rights protests with the anti-Vietnam war protests. Some Negro leaders publicly disagreed with these latest tactics of King. Since lie needs all the white and Negro support he can get to start the civil rights movement rolling again, it's hard to see how he did it anything but injury. Demand Denied, Helpers Quit Leroy McClinlock of this city was serving as a member of the committee in charge of arrangements. Spring house parties were underway at Williams College in Williamstown.

Among guests attending were 350 girls with some coming from as far away as Alaska and Palm Beach in Florida. 10 Years Ago Two area men were treated at North Adams Hospital after the car in which they were riding went off Mohawk Trail and hit a stone bridge. Police identified them as Leon Pratt, 38, of 75 Johnson and Merrill Burdick, 33, of Hoosac Tunnel. Harry B. Smith, president of the Northern Berkshire Development Corp, addressed North Adams Rotary Club members.

He slressed the importance of an industrial park type of development as a means for allracling new industry to the area. Percival E. Sherman, 32, 52 Alger began his duties as a member of the Adams Police Department. He succeeded Raymond W. Guetller who resigned to become a guard in a General Electric Co.

plant at Hancock. Nswi Analyst King had been talking against the war in bits and pieces for a while and then on April 4 made a 40-page speech denouncing the American role in it. He called the United States the "greatest purveyor of violence in he world." But he never once in the 40 pages mentioned the violence or viciousness of the Viet Cong against Iheir own people in Soulh Vielnam, In a later speech one newspaper said it was a clear effort to counter criticism for his omission in the April 4 talk--he did mention the olher side but very guardedly. He said, "I am not absolving Hanoi the Viet Cong of their responsibilities." This whole performance by King was one- sided. King, assuring his listeners he was speaking as a matter of conscience, claimed U.S.

bombing may have killed one million Vietnamese, "mostly children," although he never said where lie got his figures. After this speech che Jewish War Veterans of America accused King of "pandering" to Ho Chi i Whitney Young head of Hie National Urban League, took issue with King, saying he thought the civil rights and the antiwar movements should be kept separate; and Ralnh Bundle, a Negro and undersecretary the United Nations for political affairs, said the same thing. The criticism was climaxed when the CD-member board of the NAACP unanimously declared "the civil rights bailies will have lo be fought and won on their own merits, irrespective of the state of war or pes ce in the world." King said he was saddened that the NAACP would join in the perpetuation ot a "myth." The myth, he said, is lhal lie advocates the fusion the civil rights and peace drives, "I hold no such view," lie said. But Sunday on the CBS television show "Face the Nation" he explained what lie had in mind: a "coalition" of the civil rights ami antiwar movements. He said "a coalition on particular issues (iocs not mean a merger." But the American College Dictionary says a coalition means a "union" or "fusion." And, just in case there might he uncertainty, it says a "fusion" means a "coalition." Last Saturday in New York -where Carmicbnel followed him to ridicule President Johnson as a "buffoon" King addressed a massive antiwar denionstra- lion.

Tliis lime he said lie had nol a "mechanical fusion" of the civil rights and peace movements. He didn't need any mechanical devices, He didn't even have to gel upset about the word "fusion" since the one he prefers, "coaliticn," means "fusion.".