emerald
platform
Price supports surpluses create waste
Line up the “Great American Cheese
Giveaway" has come to Lane County, though it
makes us wonder what other perishable food
stuffs the government has in huge surplus. What
other dairy goods, besides cheese, are slowly
rotting away by the ton in anonymous government
warehouses because of the mifk price support
program?
The government’s cheese embarrassment
points out a couple of inadequacies of its handling
of surplus farm goods and the milk price support
program.
Milk p>rice sup>ports are intended to maintain a
specific price level for dairy products to smooth
the occasional fluctuations of prices It wasn’t too
long ago that farmers were dumping their surplus
dairy goods rather than flood the market and drive
prices down The milk price supports program has
the government purchasing surplus dairy goods
to maintain a set price standard for the market
Isn t it true the government also purchases
surplus grains and other agricultural products?
The cheese surplus points out the govern
ment's inability to handle one of its own programs
That enormous amount of cheese would've con
tinued to mold away if a news story hadn't broke
nationwide The story revealed an incredible
tonnage of cheese simply being warehoused by
the government. The news story and resulting
media attention embarrassed the government
enough to divest itself of the surplus cheese if
only to save face
Hence, the "Great American Cheese
Giveaway was bom. benefrtting the nation s poor
and low-income families Such an altruistic re
sponse is commendable Yet. it is important not to
lose sight of the fact that the cheese would have
remained mouldering in a warehouse without the
culpability of the government implied in the news
story, and the "good" publicity that resulted from
the announced giveaway
Distribution has been spxjratic and not suc
cessfully organtzed Some cities have received
and distributed their cheese allotment weeks ago
Lane County only received its 67,200 pound allot
ment last week Distribution will — perhaps — be
managed this week
County officials and workers have been
disgruntled by the cheese giveaway. They echo
the sentiments of people nationwide who cri
ticized the government, saying the program was
like Marie Antoinette meting out cake to the
starving French peasants And the program has
not been all that free — considering the costs of
transportation to the cities and the costs of tem
porary storage When expenses are tabulated, the
free cheese will cost Lane County nearly $1,000
Nonetheless, despite the ill-managed dis
tribution and initial reluctance, the cheese
giveaway is an action by the government to be
praised Not only does the giveaway provide a
measure of financial relief for poor and low-in
come families, "the truly needy" — it demon
strates the government's capacity to gather and
return surplusages to the people
Though, aspects of the cheese giveaway
provoke the curiosity as to what other food sur
pluses the government has warehoused and
siloed in other parts of the country? Perhaps
another journalistic inquiry, such as that which
goaded the government to give away the surplus
cheese, will discover other food surpluses rotting
away
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letters
Ad seduced
Regarding a tetter printed in
the EmeraW Jan 22
Thank you. Mary Campbell
for exposing Campus Crusade s
presentation Subliminal Ad
vertising Are You Being
Seduced by those Ads? I also
attended Gene Moniz s sympo
sium and was dismayed to hear
hts opinions presented as facts
I wonder where Mon 4 teamed
that 50 percent of individuals
m mental institutions and per
sons receiving psychiatric
counse ing resulted from the
impact of mass media on their
lives anyway
Furthermore. Campus Cru
sade used a se mg tactic for
the*r presentation that even ad
vertisers don t use anymore
bart and switch Campus Cru
sade bated their prospective
audience by announcing onfy a
presentation on advertising
Those attending however got
switched to an extra presen
tation Christianity in my >rfe
My idea erf Christianity does not
include such deception and dis
honesty
In the future Gene Momz and
Campus Crusade might con
sider changing the title of their
presentation to Opinions
about advertising presented as
facts toHwed by Campus Cru
sade s recruiting campaign At
least then, their advertising
would be more truthful
Marie Dodds
tetecomm unications
Filth is fun
In tetters to the Emerald (Jan
21) and to the Register-Guard
(Jan 23) David M Wood as a
student of the University stands
up tor his right to buy possess
and read pornography He is
outraged at the legal system
and ‘ funous with an otherwise
undefined Christian communi
ty. " because they threaten to
cut off his local supply of pru
•ent materials
Unlike most who defend por
nography and censor those who
seek to restrict it. Wood is at
least forthright he simply wants
unlimited access to smut
through his fnendfy neighbor
hood dealer None of this lofty
American Civil Liberties Union
— American Library Association
nonsense about threats to
intellectual freedom For cer
tain people fifth is fun
Ah. the elevating effects of a
university education
Guido Psdsndri
Needs mention
My how times have changed'
Almost exactly two years ago
on Jan 19 1980 the Emerald
headi ned Class proposal tar
gets hit-and-miss advising
Last week s Emerald didn't even
mention Professor Overley s
motion on advising after alt, it
merely dealt with the single
most frequently stated reason
for students dropping out of the
university lack of (sympathetic)
contact with individual profes
sors
Perhaps in the future the
Emerald could at least mention
all motions on the University
Assembly s monthly agenda
Helmut R. Plant
Associate Professor
New Federalism
Federalize (n) To subject to
the authority of a federal
government put under federal
control
Fascism (n) A philosophy or
system of government that ad
vocates or exercises a dictator
ship of the extreme right.
typically through the merging of
state and business leadership
together with an idealogy of
belligerent nationalism (Amer
ican Heritage Dictionary 1980)
Ronnie Reagans New
Federalism pronounces that
Neo Fascism is both a cruel joke
and an affront to all persons
believing in democracy
We are supposed to believe
that when the great bastion of
the Mormons (Utah) is given the
sole power to allocate monies to
indigent women that said
women will continue to be given
the opportunity to choose for
themselves whether or not to
have an abortion in a safe albeit
expensive hospital7
But wait Ronnie is going
to help the states by turning
over federal excise tax dollars
Sure he is. and I'm a little
speckled frog too
Brodtoy Passongor
Junior, psychology
staff
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