The Chapel Hill weekly., 1963-05-26

sized up like well-programed in
formation feeding into a compu-
ter.
Haven't got anything on my
mind" he said, leaning back in
a swivel chair and staring at the
alley beyond an old single-pane
window. Il lead a very quiet
life now. | spend most OF my
time at home. don't take much
active part in the practice any
more. I've held a few public Of
fees, but | retired from public
life in 1858. My life was differ
ent then, much more active.
There was politics. which is a
tWenty-four hour job, and the law
practice. which takes a lot OF
your time, and being Lieutenant
Governor took all my time, par
ticularIy then. Governor Ehring-
haus was very i'll, and | had the
Legislature cOnvening as soon as
| was sworn in. Governor Eh-
rinshaus recovered, but for a
while he was a very sick man.
People came to Raleigh to see
the Governor about problems,
but the Governor was at home,
in the mansion. he was sick. |
didn't take over all of Governor
FhrinehauS's duties at all, but the
people had to see somebody, so
they saw me.
we had a LOT of problems back
then. You know. economy has a
lot to do with politics. It's easy
for an administration to be sue
cessful when times are good.
When YOU have d chicken in every
not an administration d0esn
have to worry too much. But
when times are hard, the people
want more. and it's harder to be
successful in politics. We had
il pretty rough. Those were the
DAYS when we we're trying to eX-
tend the school year to nine
months. keep the schools open,
we had the sales tax business.
And we had a lot of problems
from the western part OF the
State. There were hard-Working
Democrats up there, but there
weren't quite enough of 'em.
Back then the Republicans sent
thirty six representatives. OF
course. the Democrats have al
ways been in power, ever since
Russell, but it was a struggle IN
those days. Gradually the Demo
Gratis came back, and now it looks
as if the Republicans are coming
back again.
Politics haven't really changed
r-very much since then. There
were power fights then, and the
Nantahaia thing went on for
years" -.
Mr.. Graham paused for a long
moment, staring through the win
dow He did not look as though
he were trying to think of some
thing to say. He seemed to be
making, up his mind whether to
say what he was thinking
"Of course we're living in a
different era now, and there are
things about it just don't under
stand. to tell you the truth. Our
foreign policy today worries me.
Why?"
An odd little light came into
his eye, as if a powerful engine
had been shifted abruptly from
idle to first gear.
Why? Well now, all this mOn-
ey we're giving to underprivileg-
ed people, as they're called.
Every country has underprviileg-
ed people, but we give away mil
lions of dollars. and what good
does it do us? Look at Tit0's gov
ernment We give him millions
of dollars, but he's no friend of
ours. He's smart enough to play
it so that he has rift with the
Soviet government, and then he
comes over here and gets mil
lions of dollars, but he's nothing
but an absolute satellite of
Khrushchev. And India, they
don't like us. All these countries
aren't friends of ours, and giving
them all this money doesn't gain
us friendships, it gains us enmity.
These people don't appreciate this
money.
Nov we have a national debt
of, what is it, three hundred and
nine billion? | believe that's it.
But we keep on spending money.
There's got to be a breaking point
somewhere. We used to be at
two hundred and eighty billion,
about that, a billion or so doesn't
matter the way they figure it
now, and in a little over ten years
we've raised the debt to three
hundred and nine billion, spend
ing it mostly on the military and
the space program, without any
war. And this is supposed to be
a time of prosperity.
"Now the space program,
there's another question. Maybe
well send a man to the moon
What'sft going to gain us, excep,
that we can lord it over Khrush.