The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 45

ACPEEPEIROMMIIIMOMENINIMEMPIESIM-- 1 1 1 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Sun Scut 23 191 3 3D 7'777771 T177f'' '''''-4 I 1 i i rfol''''' 1 ktkrole10" 60 011 JAMES KNIGHT Publisher Finds Time To efleet lo 0140416141 latibild At rv- 1111 i I If I School Prayer Proponents To Fight For Amendment ot s4-4' F010 I nr ril i -(10iit I lashington By A McKNIGHT Editor The observer 'James Knight one of the hardest-working newspaper executives I have ever known will be taking it easier from now on Last week he passed along to successor Lee Hills his title l'Eti and duties as board chairman and chief executive officer of Knight Newspapers Inc Next Sunday his name and title as publisher will come off the masthead of The Charlotte bser ve where it has ap- GO neared daily since Dec 30 But this does not mean retirement for Jim Knight "I am keeping all of my titles in the several subsidiary corporations (he is president of A McKNIGIIT Knight Publishing Co of Charlotte) but I will be free of the immediate day-to-day responsibilities for Knight Newspapers "I'll be sitting in the bleachers now looking on and making suggestions from time to time and I'll be visiting our newspapers but without portfolio" he said 1:: lr' 4I 4- i i' iiii Go 41 '44 etwi ing for voluntary prayer in the public schools of that jurisdiction nor shall it abridge the right of portions lawfully assembled in any public buildings to participate in voluntary prayer" Schweiker explained at the first hearing that "by voluntary prayer I mean non-compulsory prayer And I believe the burden of proof snould rest wan those who wish to pray They should be the ones to leave the classroom for a prayer 'study hall' for lack of a better term I could not agree more that students should have the option not to participate in prayer But just a we defend the right not to pray so should we defend the right of those students who wish to nray" For all the lip yarvice given school prayer it does have rpposition' and not all of it from atheists and liberals Earlier this summer John Baker said: "A first step is taken away from religious liberty and toward the establishment of a particular retigicn whrn government is authoi ized to regulate or provide for religious exercises prayers or creeds Once government has bean given the power to permit provide or promote religidus or prayers it is a short step to favor one form or creed over anothir "Prayer is not really prayer unless it Is truly voluntary and free from external control The need for governmental assistance for a person tc-- pray is unthinkable Governmental requirements for prayer or devotions are repugnant to religious liberty" Baker is associate directar of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public By CHARLES STAFFORD Special To The Observer WASHINGTON The forces of Good will climb Capitol Hill again Monday to grapple with the Devil and the United States Supreme Court They will appear before the Senate Judiciary Constitutional Amendments Subcommittee to urge the adoption of an amendment that would permit public school children to take part in voluntary prayer Members of the Congres1 got in their licks for the Prayer Amendment July 27 and it's now the turn of public proponents No opponents are scheduled to testify School prayer is an old issue that simply won't die It has been more than 10 years since the Supreme Court handed down Is decisimis prohibiting government the school boards from requiring religious exercises in public schools In 170 years of American history no one had ever before taken a challenge to school prayer to the Supreme Court The first Challenge came from New York State where the State Board of Regents had recommended daily use in the public schools of the following prayer: "Almighty Gad we acknrwledge dependence upon Thee and we beg Thy blessings upon us our parents our teachers and our country" Well said the court bad scene "The First Amendment the freedom of religion amendment must at least mean" wrote justice Hugo Black that it is no busiaess of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American paople ta recite as part of a religious program carried on by the government When the power prestige and financial support of government Is placed behind a particular religious belief the indirect coercive pressure upon religious minorities to conform to the prevailing offijally ipproved religion is phin" Subsequently the Supreme Coui ruled that Maryland and Pennsylvania were violating t'ai First Amendment by requiring public schools to begin the school day with classroom Bible reading or recitation of the Lord's Prayer There was a great 'outcry that the court had outlawed praycr in the public schools which it had not But given the reluctance of children to do anything that sets them apart and certainly to pray in public unless told to do so the court opinions pretty effectively expelled prayer Since then there have bcen repeated efforts to write into the Constitution the right to pray in school but all of them have thus far failed This year's effort is centered in the Senate vvhere the judiciary subcommittee chaired by Sen Birch Bayh D-Ind is considering an amendment proposed by Sen Richard Schweiker R-Pa Bayh is an opponent of the amendment Sehweiker's amendment reads: "Nothing contained in this Constitution shall prohibit the several states and the District constituting the seat of gevernment of the United States from provid State Leaders Are Uncertain About Development Policy James Rnight his nose out of advertising affairs and the advertising department will keep its nose out of news affairs" In my 18 years with Jim Knight he has rapped my knuckles most frequently over items in the news columns that he thought should have been in paid advertisements He's sharp-eyed too He seldom misses one In his political philosophy Jim is a good deal more conservative than I and he has often fired off a testy letter disagreeing with Observer editorials I have a file bulging with them Significantly though Jim has never asked or told me to change editorial policy to conform with his convictions This is in keeping with the Knight practice of giving local editors full autonomy so long as they act responsibly and recognize that newspapers are not personal playthings Long Carolina Association Jim's Charlotte venture his first as a publisher in his own right did not begin his association with North Carolina His family wintered at Hot Springs from 1914 until the spa became an internment camp for World War I German prisoners Later after the 1937 purchase of the Miami Herald Jim and his family spent their summers at Highlands In 1945 he bought the Dan Chatham home at Roaring Gap His romance with The Observer began there He read it daily when he was in Roaring Gap and admired it and had a high respect for its publisher Curtis Johnson who like Knight was active in the affairs of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Mrs Johnson in turn had gotten to know the Miami Herald in the years that she and her husband vacationed at Miami Beach She liked the way the Knights ran the Herald So when she decided to sell The Observer she got in touch with Jim Knight Jim has been a frequent visitor to Charlotte since 1954 is a member of the Charlotte Country Club Carmel Country Club and the Charlotte City Club And he was in full charge of the design and construction of the new Knight Publishing Co building at the corner of Tryon and Stonewall Sts At the dedication of the building Knight said: "We believe we have built large enough to provide our needs for the next quarter century at least" He reminded the sizable crowd gathered in front of the main entrance that the late (Bill) Dowd who was general manager of the Charlotte newspapers had urged that the new plant be built downtown and be a part of the area's development "Today we can look around and get a feeling of pride that we followed his advice Knight said 'Service To Your Community' Another Jim Knight tenet is that "Service to your community is inseparable from your responsibilities as a newspaperman" He follows this philosophy He was United Fund campaign chairman in Miami In 1951 again in 1967 and is national treasurer of the United Way Ile has long been interested in higher education and donated the funds to establish the Center for Continuing Education at the University of He has also played key roles in the American Red Cross the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and the Miami Orange Bowl Committee Knight has also been a pioneer in the current revolution in printing technology "Forty years ago the technical process of producing a newspaper was not only obsolete it was archaic and ruinously expensive" he recalls "It was obvious that the freedoms we enjoy and which depend upon the citizens' being informed accurately of all sides and all opinions of every issue could not be maintained if newspapers were forced out of business It was either change or die" His work brought him to the presidency of the Research Institute of the American Newspaper Publishers Association the chairmanship of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and a directorship of the Associated Press and the American Newspaper Publishers Association Jim Knight is a warm gregarious man with a quick smile and an easy relaxed manner whether he is at work on the golf course or in his fishing boat The Rerun With more time on his hands we expect to see Jim Knight in Charlotte more frequently now especially since two of his and Mary Ann's four daughters Mrs Alpo Crane and Mrs Ed Olson live here It will be good to have him around I first met Jim Knight in early March of 1955 when I was interviewed in Miami for the editorship of The Observer which he had purchased twG months earlier for $7 million from Mrs Curtis Johnson and members of the Sullivan family He gave me one simple instruction: "Put out the best newspaper you can" The Formula's Very Simple Since I could not report to work for nearly four months Jim wanted my appointment kept secret So from my home in Nashville Tenn I surreptitiously subscribed to the other Knight newspapers in Chicago Detroit Akron and Miami and began studying them About April or May I wrote Jim and asked about the Knight formula "It's very simple" he replied "When we buy a newspaper we first spend money to improve the editorial product That will bring us more readers and they will read the newspaper more thoroughly thus producing better results for the advertisers "More revenue from added circulation and advertising will produce a better profit which we can then plow back into improving the editorial product still more" The formula worked in Charlotte The Jan 2 1956 issue of Newsweek reporting on the first year of Jim Knight's stewardship of The Observer noted that circulation had increased by 5200 and advertising lineage by 300000 By 1959 the perky Charlotte News which had outshone The Observer in local coverage in the decade following World War II was in trouble Thomas Robinson publisher of the News asked Knight: "Jim do you think there ought to be an afternoon paper in this town?" "Yes I do" replied Knight "Then you're going to have to publish it" said Robinson On April 5 1959 Robinson sold the News to the Knights "One of the things I have always beard from people in this area is that Charlotte was fortunate in having two good newspapers" Jim Knight's statement said Raleigh Before the nineday North Carolina trade mission to Europe and the Soviet Union fades from memory some final thoughts: While its plainly obvious the administration of Gov Jim Holshouser like its predecessors wants foreign business to locate in the Tar Heel state it was just as obvious following the mission from London to Moscow to Frankfurt that the state right now has no really clear idea what sort of "reverse investment" is desirable By Paul 1 v6e0 come up with a more defined industrial development policy As one banker along on the mission explained "The state may not want a Volkswagen assembly plant but by God if I can drum up that kind of business using my bank of course I don't give a damn what the state has in mind" And too local community and business leaders may force the state's hand in one direction or the other In John ston County recently for example local business leaders politely requested that a truck assembly concern interested in locating in the under-employed area find somewhere else to set up for reasons of "controlled growth" With those kinds of uncertainties yet to be nailed down Ilolshouser returned from this mission and blithely told reporters the trip had been a smashing "success" Berniah Several British and German businessmen expressed definite interest in North Carolina he said and in terms of possible investment the mission was "encouraging" Perhaps so As one German machine-tool maker in Frankfurt explained "Your wages are so low anyone would be a fool not to consider locating in North Carolina" But is that the Carolina really wants? The best examples of the confusion surfaced at a fleeting with British reporters in London the first day of the trip A reporter asked Holshouser if hp were disappointed that Volvo the Swedish car maker had chosen neighboring Virginia for a new $100 million auto assembly plant The governor didn't have an answer nor did his cohorts in the state Commerce and industry division' but the next morning the entire mission team kicked around that and similar questions for a full hour The answer? North Carolina doesn't know if it wants a Volvo plant Or a Volkswagen plant Or a German chemical plant These types of operations are "labor-intensive" meaning simply that they require large work forces Since North Carolina is in many areas economically underprivileged it would seem the state would welcome any business that promised to employ substantial numbers of residents raising their pay and improving their standard of living But there's snore to it than that mission members pointed out North Caro lina's prime attraction rig'ht now is its low wage scale near the bottom of the 50 states and the almost minis cule labor union representation of its work force A Volvo plant seen in that light would not be so attractive There'd he unions to contend with (the powerful United Auto Workers for one) and the possibility that workers now employed in traditional state industries textiles and furniture come to mind would pick up stakes and move to higher paying union secure jobs On the other hand it would do North Carolina no good at all in terms of competition for foreign investment if word got out the state didn't want eerlain kinds of industry So mission members concluded while the state shouldn't seek out business like Volvo it shouldn't turn them down if the opportunity arises That's not what anyone would call a positive development policy South Carolina for example seems to be clearer in its position on such matters witness the Michelin tire plant near Anderson but that's what the state trade mission members agreed would be best for now Events beyond the slate's control however may force North Carolina to Other Columns John Knight did not write his column "An Editor's Notebook" this week The Sunday column from The Observer's Columbia Bureau will be resumed soon Goldwater Blasts -Nixon's 'Gestapo' Aides himself even though he will run for reelection to the Senate next year "As president of Knight Publishing Co owner of The Charlotte Observer and now purchaser of The Charlotte News I pledge you that this will continue to be true "The first step will be to preserve between the news and editorial staffs of the two newspapers the hot competition that is the very essence of aggressive and enterprising news coverage" "You need more than one editorial voice in the community" he said to News Editor Brodie Griffith and me "Exploit your honest differences but contrive none If there is something feigned about your differences the reader will catch it He's smarter than you are" Nuts And Bolts Background Jim Knight's whole background has been in what he calls the "nuts and bolts" areas of newspapering production distribution advertising and bu sin ess management Ile started on his father's newspaper the Akron Beacon Journal in 1930 and became business manager of the then-small Miami Herald after it was acquired by the Knights in 1937 later was general manager and president of the Miami Herald Publishing Co But through his close association with his older brother John Knight Lee Hills and other KNI editorial executives Jim developed a sensitive understanding of the basic newseditorial functions Ile has presided over an operation which publishes more than a dozen newspapers in seven states which are read almost 20 million times each week but the figures don't impress Jim Knight "It is the individual reader who is on my mind" he says "How can we best respond to the needs problems and interest of every man woman and youngster who reads our newspapers?" That is why Jim Knight has always come to work shortly after dawn answered his own telephone before his colleagues arrived and spent the first few hours reading his newspapers with this question in mind: What are they doing for the reader? One of Jim Knight's tenets that there should be complete separation between the news and advertising departments is pointedly illustrated by this anecdote Many years ago the Miami Herald hired a city editor from a smaller afternoon paper which was losing money and hence reluctant to say nay to advertisers seeking free publicity In the news columns When a Miami department store came up with a sales gimmick of dressing its clerks in Puritan costumes and holding an oldfashioned sales day this naive young Herald city editor thought it might be smart to take a photograph at the store's request and run it on the business page which he did The next day he was called into the managing editor's office and handed a note handwritten in a scrawl unintelligible to strangers but one which most of us have learned to recognize as Jim Knight's and to decipher After several minutes the city editor got the message: "Will you please tell that new city editor to keep period of relative calm in the conntry when we weren't at war Kennedy didn't serve long enough I think had he lived he would have been a good president Johnson just fell apart so he'll never rate I think there were times when Roosevelt was great but he wasn't consistently great Wilson I think will go down as a good president not so much for what he did but what he tried to do" al wouldn't rule it out If they felt they had to have me but I don't think they will" he said "I wouldn't have said that two ago but with Agnew's situation I think Mere have to be some areas in the party that they can go back to for organization and I do have that" By HAL TA 114On A SPOCiAi PHOENIX The root cause of Watergate according to Sen Barry Goldwater was "a Gestapo frame of mind" Goldwater's accusation perhaps his harshest yet regarding the Watergate affair was not aimed directly at President Nixon but at some of the men around him Referring specifically to John Ehrlichman and Haldeman Goldwater told "I don't think they have any philosophy If they had either liberal or conservative (leanings) I don't think they would have gotten into this trouble Their philosophy ran more to power You asked what caused Watergate I hink fundamentally a Gestapo frame of mind" before the Ervin committee and say 'Here I am III spend the day with you What do you want to "He could do this in a series of interviews If he says All right you're interested in Watergate now ask the questions' and lets them exhaust the questions and then say Now you gentlemen have missed the fact that this country is in real trouble Let's just take point one the value of the dollar and I'm going to tell you about it And next week we are going to have another conference and you're going to ask me questions about Watergate and I'm going to tell you something else that is wrong with this country that you are miss-Mg' And I think within a short while the questions would get away from Watergate and on to what the country is going to do about the trouble were in" That trouble said Coldwat is the once 20 years ago we dominated the world today we don't" he fact I can think of quickly only one major industry that we still dominate and that's the airframe industry and we are being threatened on that The world is no longer made up of have not' nations Japao will be the world's number one economic power by the year 2000" Goldwater is concerned that Watergate will taint conservatives but he charges that the things that led to Watergate were built up in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations when the government was run by liberals "Look at the big space center in Houston" he said did it go to Texas? Why (lid the Fill go to a Texas company when Boeing was a better company? Those are the things I'm talking about They have been going on since we've had presidents" If John Kennedy had lived to run for reelection said Goldwater and if Goldwater was his opponent their campaign might have been different from most "We would a traveled together and appeared be the people together and not necessarily in debate form but my presentation and his Answer or his presentation and my answer Get away from the Madison Avenue-type technique of doctoring a mans face up and his lytir until he looks like Clark Gable and when in effect he probably looks like le devil and has some brilliant speech writer write something that goes up on the idiot board and he reads it "I think the American people have to be told exactly where people stand The American people are not going to like this ec a use the American People don't like to hear the truth If we could get President Nixon today for example to talking about the problems this country faces I think the American people would be little bit frightened and then they might do something" Goldwater's concern with I etting people know where other people stand has probably had more than a little to do with his assessment of former presidents In rating some recent occupants of the White house he said Harry Truman will probably go down in history as the best president of the century It may be too early to say that Truman was the best" he said "but I think on the basis of decision on the basis of letting the American people know every day where the President stood that Truman's been outstanding "Ws way too early to assess Eisenhower lie served in a What about Richard Nixon? "Well if Nixon can get moving in the domestic fields If he can provide the same kind of leadership in reorganizing our government as he's done in foreign affairs I think he'll go down as a great president But if he merely goes out of office having clone a good job toward world peace he'll be just a so-so president Ile has the makings" As for the titan who vvill hr come president in 1976 Goldwater has some equally pointed observations Ile believes John Connally Ronald Reagan and Nelson Rockefeller are the leading Republican contenders hut isn't shutting out the possibility of yunning As for other candidates Goldwater said there are several "We've got quite a few 'You have Agnew Connally Rockefeller and Reagan You've got fellows like Percy in there We have some big ones Connally Rockefeller and Reagan I'd say are the top powerhouses" Turning to the Democrats Goldwater said "I don't think Ted Kennedy wants it That's my honest opinion I don't know if he could gel it if he wanted it but he is the leading contender I think Seri Jackson lias a good chance Sen 1-lumphrey is probably the best qualified but he's been around the bases too many tittles" 4 The 64-year-old Goldwater said he strongly supports the concept of executive privilege but does not believe the comm versial Nixon tapes should be I ncluded Nixon he said should give up the tapes If so ordered by the Supreme Court Although Goldwater said he has not discussed the matter personally with Nixon he has sent him letters on the subject ''t told the President to go OY: i.