Page 2 Heppner Gazette Times, Thursday, June 7, 1 95 1 EDITORIAL 82: Km qY NEWSPAPEI v PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL EDITORIAL1 AsThcfATiOiN The "Real Cost" of Meat For some reason, there seems to be more talk about the price of meat than almost anything else. A great many people are honestly under the impression that meat prices are simply out of all reason, even after giving due consideration to the general inflation. Well, here are some facts which will help to correct that idea. Meat prices, as everyone knows, are higher now than they were 25 or 50 years ago. So are the prices of practically everything else. But meat prices, believe it or not, have not increased as much as wages since 1901 or 1926. In other words, the "real cost" of meat that is, the amount of working time a man must put in to buy it is ac tually less than it used to be. The concrete statistics are illuminating. In 1901 it took 52 minutes of work to buy a pound of meat. In 1926 it took 37 minutes. It now takes 32 minutes. Putting the matter another way, to buy a week s supply of meat for one person required 2.5 hours of work in 1901, 1.6 hours in 1926, and the present figure is 1.5 hours. All consumers naturally want meat prices to come down. Some argue that government controls should be used to roll the prices back to those of an arbitrary date. Unfortunately, a price which is too low to allow producers a reasonable profit can result in only one thing production cut backs and scarcity. More and more of the avail able supply flows into the black market where the few buy at exorbitant prices and the racketeers get rich, but all the other general run of consum ers do without. Stabilization of meat prices, like all other pri ces, can only be accomplished through adequate production. All the controls in the world can't do away with that truism. The Folks Back Home The House of Representatives has been doing good work in cutting the proposed 1952 budget. Item after item has been closely scruti nized, and some have been pared by as much as 50 percent. The House Appropriations committee has charged that although "this nation has been in an emergency since the end of the war", never theless "all agencies of the government resumed business as usual, disregarding the varied and continued threats to our security." To this is add ed, "All agencies, i seems, are willing to assist in the defense effort provided they can continue to carry on their regular activities." In the long run, the issue of government econ omy versus government extravagance will be de cided by "the folks back home." Some of the worst offenders have been civic, business, agricultural, labor, and other local groups which have turned all possible pressure on their Congressmen in search of tax handouts for all manner of activi ties. These groups are invariably in favor of eco nomy as a general principle, and they frequently issue high-sounding resolutions demanding chea per government. But, it turns out, they want the other fellow never themselves to bear the bur dens of the economizing. The House deserves praise for what it is doing to squeeze some of the water out of the pending budget. It should do a great deal more than it has so far. It can and will do it if the voters show that they support iron-handed economy. In the long run, the people still run our government, and the people's wishes are final. Controls And Small Business No one in a position of high responsibility in Washington seems to know it, but when the gov ernment clamps down all-out controls on man power and materials, small business, not big bus iness, takes the beating. This fact was recently pointed out by the head of a very big business Henry Ford II, president of Ford Motor Company. Mr. Ford realizes that certain controls are needed because of the arma ment program. But, he observed, "In the first two years of World War II, 16 percent of the so-called small businessmen of the country were forced to shut up shop under a system of all-out controls. I am told that there is some suspicion even now that when the fatality count is known, this time, the small business liquidation rate may be even higher than it was in 1942 and 1943. That's not because there's nothing for small business to do, but because many small businesses are less able to withstand the strangling grip of controls." Mr. Ford protested particularly at the uncer tainty and confusion which emanates from Wash ington. He observes, "We can't plan our business on rumors." The big business, of course can stag ger along somehow. But the small business can't. It's time the deepthinkers in Washington came down to earth. "It is obvious everywhere that when central government grows big in responsibility and in power over the people, it grows corrupt, and its administrators go mad. So, too, when personal incentive" and responsibility are removed from a people, that people suffers a moral collapse." Glenside, Pa., Easton Road Guide. To Have Or Not To Have . . . The question is, shall Heppner have a sewer system. That there should be one has long been answered. The matter to be settled is how to get it and how soon to start on it. That is the problem the city council is wrestling with and to date there has been some progress in the direction of a plan for financing the construction of a sewer system. The plan under consideration is along the some line studied by the former council adding a dollar to the family water bill each month and making similar adjustments on business houses. This will not raise a fund for immediate construc tion purposes but rather is a proposed measure for financing the payment of bonds over a period of years. In the meantime, until arrangements can be made to start a sewer system, a fund will be accumulating and by the time there is at least a partial system in use the property owners will be accustomed to the idea of paying for this es sential service. The citizens are the responsible parties in the long run. As such, they should be manifesting a personal interest in the efforts of the council. The city officials have not in the past attempted to put anything over without the backing of a majority of the people, and most certainly the mayor and councilmen have no such intention relative to the sewage disposal problem. Although the pressure from the state sanitary board is be coming more persistent, the officials still want the support of a majority of the people before taking a definite step. They wish to give the people every opportunity to express themselves and it is suggested that a town meeting be called where all may attend and have their say. If. after such an opportunity for expression is provided, the citizens are still lethargic, the council may at its discretion proceed with the financing plan and lay the groundwork for starting a sewer system. To have or not to have a sewer system rests with those who will have to pay for it. IN USE THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA." It would seem that Dr. Bell was prophet as well as inventor. To day there are over 36 million telephones in use in Canada and the United States 36 times as many as Bell predicted and the number continues to grow. Thirty-four years after watch ing Dr. Bell unveil his monu ment, on the evening of May 15 of this year, it wsa again my pri vilege to attend a function held in connection with the telephone. It was a dinner given in New York City, at which a stock cer tificate was delivered to the MILLIONTH stockholder of the American Telephone and Tele graph Company. Just think of it! There are now one million own ers of that great communications system. This MILLIONTH stockholder is Brady Denton of Saginaw, Michigan, who with his wife, Dorothy, recently purchsed seven shares of A.T.&T. stock through their local bank. Denton, 35, is a Buick automobile salesman, is a veteran of World War II, lives in a modest brick and frame house in a pleasant old section of Sagi naw with his wife and three chil dren. They are purchasing this home. Denton's story is typically Am erican. A young couple raising a family, working and saving to provide their own security. He says that he bought the A.T.&T. stock as the beginning of a fund to provide a college education for their three boys. In accepting the citation offi cially naming him and his wife as the MILLIONTH stockholder, Denton said: "Unwittingly, I have played a small but seem ingly important role in the great drama known and respected as the American Way. I am happy to have been so fortunate." The Dentons and the other 999, 999 stockholders of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com pany, together with other mil lions who own a slice in other American businesses, are the an swer to those who would have the Federal Government take over and operate big businesses. These people have invested their savings in private enterprise, confident that business must be privately owned if it is to build America in the future as it has in the past. They know it would be absolutely impossible for Gov ernment to run a business as effi ciently as it is done under private ownership and management. Yes, the socialist planners are going to have a tough time laughing off these millions of Americans who are financial partners in American business. SANTA CLAUS GOVERNMENT By DEWITT EMERY 30 Years Aog Thursday, June 9, 1921 Morrow county ranked third in efficiency in a recent survey con ducted by the state superinten dent of public instruction. Born in this city on June 8, to Mr and Mrs. Loy V. McFerrin, a daughter. Born in this city on June 3 a son to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Moore. Mrs. Rose Richardson, Mrs. J. W. Luntsford, Mrs Cora Crawford, Mrs Tom Boyd and Mrs L. W. Briggs attended a convention in Condon of Neighbors of Wood craft. Mrs. Fannie Rood who was vis iting in Heppner for a week or so returned to her home in Port land Sunday. Many farmers from the Eight Mile section were in town Satur day, and all report the crop out look was never better than at present. A heavy rain fell over that part of the county Friday. Mrs. Kit McCarty and young son from The Dalles arrived on Saturday evening for a visit. The oAmerican Way THE MILLIONTH STOCKHOLDER By GEORGE PECK On October 24, 1927, it was my privilege to witness the unveiling of'the Bell Memorial at Brantford, Canada. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell was there in person to unveil his own monument. As he pulled aside the curtain, the inscription, cut in granite running across the monument, was revealed -it read: To Commemorate the Invention of The Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in Brantford, in 1874. So, it seems, contrary to recent statements appearing in PRAV DA, that the telephone, at least, was not invented in Russia. Dr. Bell in his talk following the un veiling exploded that false claim Two cars of cattle and five of sheep and lambs, were shipped from the lacal yards to Portland Sunday by local stockmen. The bureaucrats and new deal politicians have had a hard time peddling socialism to the Amer ican people. They never dared to call it by its right name, and they had to take it apart and sell the pieces one by one. Even then it took a series of tailor-made "emergencies" to get Americans to buy it piece by piece. When you put all the pieces together you have socialism. And if yeu don't believe it, go down to Washington and count the bu reaucrats, or add up the national debt, or take another look at your tax bill. Or better yet, re-read the Constitution and see how far we have come from the principles expressed in it. Some of us have chosen to fight this socialistic trend with every means at our disposal. There are others who will simply try to live with it. That's what the socialist plotters are counting on. Their most powerful weapon is the in difference of Jhe American peo ple. ' For this group, those who would rather live with socialism than fight it, there appeared a book recently that will make it easier. It's called "How to Get It From the Government." The au thor's name is Stacy Jones. It's a guide to life in a socialist Amer ica, and it's one of the clearest signs of the road we are traveling I've seen in a long time. The pub. lishers have issued it in a paper binding and priced it so that anyone can afford to buy a copy. The book begins: "The Federal Government has something to offer everybody, from the cradle, at which mother may use a booklet on Infant Care, to the grave, which may be in a national cemetery." The rest of the book tells you, in simple language, how to get yours. If you want a pension, an unem ployment dole, a job, a loan, a piece of farm land, the date of your great-grandfathers wed ding, an education, a recipe for strawberry jam, a vacation spot, a customer for your goods or ser vices, or a conducted tour of the capital city, the government can provide it. The booklet tells you exactly how to manage it where to apply, what forms to get, how best to deal with the bureaucrat through whom these various hand-outs are administered. This is the formula for success in the new era "Get it from the government." It may take Amer icans a while to get accustomed to it. It used to be that persons depended on ambition, invent iveness, thrift and hard work. Now all you need is a pad of pa per, pen or pencil, and a manual to guide you through the bureau cracy. The government will take care of you. What is the price for all this? The author says: (Continued on page 8) I'VE INSURED MY GROWING GRAIN. HAVE YOU? We can arrange proper and complete protec tion on your growing grain . . don't delay . . . act now! See Us For Dependable Insurance Protection C.A. RUGGLES P. O. Box 611 : Phone 723 Heppner, Oregon when he said: "The telephone or iginated in Brantford." PRAVDA, please copy! But why have I indulged in this bit of ancient history? It is because of something that elder ly man said to me on the day following the unveiling. This gentleman had been the leading business man of the community in 1876 when Dr. Bell had dem onstrated that the human voice j could be carried over a wire. ' Qhnrthr tVinrna ftni Poll nin f n I him seeking financial aid to con. tinue the experiment. This business man turned him down, giving as his reason for do- j lng so tnat ne could not see how any money could be made out of the telephone, wonderful as it was. To which Dr. Bell replied: "SOME DAY, SIR, THERE WILL BE A MILLION INSTRUMENTS Basebal HEPPNER vs. KINZUA at lone Turf Field 2:30 p. m. Sunday JUNE IO Admission Adults 50c Children 25c W "CAMELLIA 1 29.75 (or one (Vpieca oKfce-sctting including Fed. tax A plaue-sctting Includes knife, fork, teaspoon, alad iork, butter tpreadm and cream oup spon. 11 Gorliara "Camellia" was in spired by the lace of a Spanish mantilla, or shawl. "Camellia" is framed with a lace-like fol iation in which the full blos soms of the Camellia are har moniously spaced. The design provides an interesting balance of light reflecting details against a smooth surface. Wo invite you to see Camellia and the other Gorham patterns in cur complete selection. "P.S. Ask to see the exclusive Gorham Sterling one piece, dent-resistant knife handle. tade mks. Peterson's Jewelers PENDLETON HEPPNER FREIGHT LINE Arrives at Heppner, Lexington and lone EVERY DAY For Pickup or Delivery For pickup, call Red & White. Heppner Padberg Tractor. Lex. Omar Rietmann. lone Connecting Carrier for 1 Consolidated Freightways Transferring & Heavy Hauling Padded Moving Vans Storage Warehouse U.PandN.P. Penland Bros. Transfer Co. 39 SW Dorion Avenue Phone 338 Pendleton, Ore. PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY N. D. BAILEY Cabinet Shop Lawn Mowers Sharpened Sewing Machines Repaired Phone 1485 for appointment or call at shop. . Call Settles Electric for all kinds of Electrical Work New and Repair Shop phone 2253 at Willow & Chase Streets. Kes. Phone 2542 DR. H. S. HUBER DENTIST First National Bank BIdg. Room 116 Phone 2342 JOS. J. NYS ATTORNEY AT LAW Peters BIdg., Willow Street Heppner, Oregon Carpentry and Cement Work By Day or Contract Bruce Bothwell Phone 845 J. O. PETERSON Latest Jewelry & Gift Goods Watches, Clocks. Diamonds Expert Watch & Jewelry Repairing Heppner, Oregon J. 0. TURNER ATTORNEY AT LAW Phone 173 Hotel Heppner Building Heppner, Oregon Turner, Van Marter and Company GENERAL INSURANCE P. W. MAHONEY ATTORNEY AT LAW General Insurance Heppner Hotel Building Willow Street Entrance- Phelps Funeral Home Licensed Funeral Directors Phone 1332 Heppner, Oregon Dr. L. D. Tibbies OSTEOPATHIC Physician & Surgeon First National Bank Building Res. Ph. 1162 Office Ph. 492 Heppner City Cminril Moet First Monday vuunt" Each Month Citizens having matters for discussion, please bring them before the Council. Phone 2572 A.D. McMurdo,M.D. PHYSICIAN & SURGEON Trained Nurse Assistant Office in Masonic Building Heppner, Oregon Morrow County Abstract & Title Co. INC. ABSTRACTS OF TITLE TITLE INSURANCE Office In Peters Building Dr. C. C. Dunham CHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIAN Office No. 4 Center St. House Calls Made Home Phone 2583 Office 2572 RICHARD J. O'SHEA. M. D. Physician and Surgeon 2 Church Street Telephone 1152 C. A. RUGGLES Representing Blaine E. Isom Insurance Agency Phone 723 Heppner, Ore. Alfred Baska Gen'l. Contractor Contact me for estimates on Grain Storage Bins Phone 404 - Condon, Oregon