Page 2, THE GAZETTE-TIMES, Heppner, OR, Thursday, Mar. 4, 1976
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Horse sense
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1
By
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Bribery, MY dictionary tayt is "money or favor
bestowed on or promised to a person in a position of trust to
pervert his judgment or corrupt his conduct." The second
preference: "Something that serves to induce or influence."
Bribery is much in the news these days, what with certain
American business corporations revealed as paying private
citizens and public officials at home and abroad in order to
win contracts for their companies. Bribery is far from new.
Ever since people began exchanging goods, bribery had been
an essential, legitimate and well-used tool to get and keep
customers. This is exactly why this newspaper and most all
other businesses, large and small, send fruit cakes, fancy
calendars or Jack Daniels to good or prospective customers
at the jolly Christmas season. Whether Lockheed pays an
Arab official $2 million to influence his government to buy
American planes or whether I take a prospective advertiser
to dinner, the principle is the same. Both of us are trying to
"pervert his judgment or corrupt his conduct" in favor of
buying our respective products. Of, if you prefer Webster's
second definition, "to induce or influence" them to buy our
respective products."
Congress is stimulating moral indignation because of
"payments" to certain persons to secure needed contracts
for ailing American business interests. Their position is
slightly hypocritical. These same gentlemen, so morally
outraged, are those who promised "money or favor" to the
American voter in return for sending them to Congress. The
situation may be different, the principle is not. One reason
Congress is preparing to enact a stiff law punishing
American business for paying bribes to sell products and
thus stay solvent, is that they believe the American voter, m
this election year when so many of them are up for
re-election, will look favorably upon them in the voting booth.
This very act constitutes a bribe, and falls within both
preferences 1 and 2 of Webster's definition of a bribe.
In the case of American oil and manufacturing
companies under heavy fire for bribing in order to get orders
or concessions, nobody seems to consider that making a
payoff or supplying a person with money in exchange for
influence may be necessary if a business is to survive. Had
they not done so in recent Lockheed payoffs to The
Netherlands, Japan and other countries, American planes
would not have been sold to those countries. The orders would
have gone to France, Britain or other countries who did meet
the payoff demand. Then our aircraft factories, along with
many subsidiary and supplier units would be bankrupt. Many
thousands of workers would be unemployed, and the taxes
paid by the companies and their workers would be saddled
upon the rest of us. The prospect of our becoming moralistic
in this regard is to ignore reality in the business and political
world, and an invitation to disaster. Payoffs, rebates,
commissions, bonuses, incentives of all kinds are
synonymous with bribery. But have you ever heard of the
baker who offers his "baker's dozen" of 13 cupcakes for the
price of 12 being hailed before the bar of public opinion for
offering a bribe?
There are type, and degree, of bribery. What kind of an
example would a father be setting if he gave his child a
quarter to eat his spinach? If the church promises yea, even
guarantees-a finer future life in exchange for keeping
, virtuous in this one, would you say the church is attempting
to "induce or influence" one's conduct?
Who suffers when Lockheed pay. millions in bribes as an
inducement to buy planes? Certainly no American does,
unless he is morally troubled with the ethics of the market
place Otherwise, he is enriched. Do the buyers suffer? No. If
they had not received the bribe from Lockheed it would have
come from a competing manufacturer in another country.
The bribe is a cost of doing business, as are wages, taxes,
advertising and paper clips. It is not unusual for
supermarkets to lose a nickel on a pound of coffee in order to
"induce" customers to buy in their stores. Have you ever
heard a customer complain he was "bribed" into patronizing
such a store? Does the man who goes to a lending agency to
get a mortgage loan to buy a home feel that he has paid a
bribe because the agency nips him for one or two points, in
addition to the regular interest rate on the loan?
All right, yon .ay. then businet. is immoral and should
be abolished. Many of our bright-eyed youth sprung from
college in recent years have been taught that American
business is a nasty business and something to be avoided. I
agree that business ethics can be improved, and are
constantly being improved. But business must not be
prohibited from "meeting the competition." President
Woodrow Wilson was a Just and Christian man, but he took
the trouble to say of it : "Business underlies everything in our
national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that
in the Lord's Prayer the first petition is for daily bread. No
one can worship Cod or love his neighbor on an empty
stomach."
Shall we face the nnplea.aot truth about the current
bribery flap? The act of bribery itself is not at the root of the
furore. The fact is. too many Americans have been taught to
hate Big Business. Corporations, they have also been taught,
are symbols of Big Business. Thus, in the opinion of our New
Breed of business haters and terrorists, they have to go-one
way or another. This is why Safety Stores are frequently
bombed by New Breed terriorists. It is why the Bank of
America gets the same treatment, as does PGE. They don't
know, and refuse to learn, that Safeway competition has kept
food prices from going even higher than they already art. Or
that the Bank of America has furnished more low-interest
loans to college students than any other banking source in the
world. Or that PG&E furnished a cheaper, more efficient and
readily available energy source than does any foreign
system. So much for their logic. Mark Twain must have had
them In mind when he said. "If you pick up starving dog
and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the
principal difference between dog and a man."
THE GAZETTE-TIMES
MORROW COt NTT NEWSPAPER
Box 337. Heppner. OR.t7S3l
Subscription rate: M per year in
Oregon. 17 eke here.
rme.IV. Joiner. PublUber
RobrrlA.Maiwell. Editor
PublUbed every Tkurtday and entered a. a
rcodlM waiter at lb ' HtP"".
Oregon, under U act of March 1. IJ9. eee4t.s
oU paid at llepuner. Oregon.
'
F. F. A.
"Now That I Have Your Attention, Allow Me To
Introduce Myself. I'm Jimmy Carter.
TharsC-A-R-T-E-R.
Life's Highest Priority
(Continued from Page 1)
decision. His ability to make that decision will be of great
value to the student. There are many people who are unable
to make decisions, whether right or wrong, so the decision
maker will progress in the future regardless of the field he
chooses in later life."
20 years ago when Watson was in FFA he remarked his ag
teachers tried to impress upon him the idea of doing things
correctly. While it was no disgrace to do something wrong, if
it was later corrected, it was far better to take the time to do
it correctly the first time.
Various techniques, accounting, budgeting and setting
alternate goals are important. If you are thinking of going
into the farming business with your dad after college, think
what you would do if your father suddenly died. Think of an
alternative object in life.
Watson also stated that he was pleased to see girls taking
an active part in FFA. for fellowship and working together in
any organization is one ot the best things that can happen to a
young person.
Gleanings
R.A. Maxwell
Farmers take note . . . check
twice any offers over the
phone or otherwise, to sell you
name brand pesticides and
herbicides at discount prices
or at no charge for shipping.
They may not be what they
are purported to be.
The best thing to do is stick
to your known dealers. Read
labels carefully before accep
ting delivery.
It seems that most, a
majority, of the people in
Washington and Oregon would
rather have a strong economy
over environmental protec
tion. When a choice has to be
made. 61 per cent chose a
strong economy.
Those in the 18 29 age group
were evenly split but as the
age of the group, increased so
did the percentage who chose
the economy. 18 29 age group
49 per cent for; 30-44 chose
economy by 59 per cent 1 45 59
, were 63 per cent and 60 plus
chose strong economy by 74
per cent.
Perhaps the memory of the
hungry days had something to
do with the percentages.
t Well. well, it seems that the
Federal government has to
coordinate land use planning
for Bureau of Land Manage
ment lands with state and
local plans.
About 15 7 million acres in
Oregon are managed by the
BLM. Sen. Pack wood said.
"That Is roughly a per cent of
the state that is managed by
BLM and 1 don't want Oregon
or any other state to take It for
granted the . Secretary of
Interior Is going to consult
their needs before preparing
land us plans. I want the
American public to havt
guarantee they will havt
voice in federal land use
planning." he said.
Will big brother consult or
will he dictate as is nearly
always the case with govern
ment bureaus. I guess only
time will tell.
I don't know if I have all the
facts about LCDC, Land Con
servation and Development
Commission, in fact I don't
really know if anyone has all
the facts.
We hear a lot of complaints
when what we really need is
some clear thinking It ap
pears to me that the state
legislature has appropriated
(4 4 million dollars to assist
counties and cities to carry out
the required comprehensive
planning.
Others have already receiv
ed these grants, why can't we
do the same?
Surely some sort of planning
is necessary.
Pay attention for 30 seconds
. . . this may be important to
you.
The Federal Government
assesses an "estate" tax when
property etc. changes owner
ship at time of death.
The State of Oregon "asses
ses an Inheritance" tax when
property etc. changes owner
ship at time of death.
The Federal one is the "big
daddy" that can cause you to
have to dispose of everything.
Under the state law it is
possible for a surviving spouse
and each minor child to
assume ownership of an
Inheritance up to taoo.ono each
while paying little or no tax to
the state.
Want the federal law charg
ed. You better convince Dig
Daddy.
By Gordon E. Blackburn. Pastor
(Text: Matthew 1:33)
All normal persons are in search of some unreached goal.
They may be now where once they dreamed of being. But if
that be true, they have discovered that the goal has moved on
and up and all life's horizon has widened.
For the most part, one gets what he seeks. No trust is to be
placed in lucky stars, crystal balls, horoscopes. Ouija
boards, palm readers, fortune-tellers, wizards, magicians or
spirit mediums. More to be considered is the saying ascribed
to Emerson: "Hitch your wagon to a star; keep your seat and
there you are." But men of achievement know there are
times when one must get off his seat, get down on hands and
knees, and scratch gravel. To arrive at your goal you must,
to change the figure get on your beam and stay on it till you
have zeroed in on vour destination.
That which one seeks conditions his character. How tragic
for a man with high, fine capabilities for Godlikeness to
descend to a level lower than an animal If one sets his
affections on material gain, he becomes hard, harsh and like
a machine. Even seeking knowledge on the horizontal plane
dwarfs the mind and leaves a person lopsided, out of balance
and eccentric.
Jesus gives to us the secret of the ideal life in our text:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God. and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you." Put God in first
place; then enjoy the best life can afford. Prosperity is no sin
if it is accompanied by the persuasion that all one has is a
trust from God to be administered for the good of men and
the glory of God.
Jesus gives us understanding of life's highest priority in
our text. It seems to be clear that when the Master said,
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God," He was saying that we
should seek entrance to the Kingdom through the door of the
new birth.
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night saying. 'Rabbi,
we know that thou art a teacher comt from God; for no man
can do these miracles that thou doest. except God be with
him." Jesus replied. "Except a man be born again he cannot
see the kingdom of God" (John 3:2-3). Fallen, sinful man is
without spiritual life and understanding until he Is born
again. He does become a new creature in Christ Jesus. "Old
things are passed away; behold all things are become new"
12 Cor. 5:17).
Cod created man with the built-in capacity for
self-determination. He may elect to be a sinner condemned to
die, or to be a child of God to receive the gin of eternal life
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He may will to remove
himself from the Kingdom. Faith and obedience brought him
in; unbelief and disobedience may take him out.
Man has a part in his own salvation, yet he cannot save
himself. He must have' Higher help. He must know the
miracle of God's grace in making him a new man In Christ. A
man cannot change the color of his skin by willing It. nor can
a leopard change his spots. A man cannot lift himself out of
the deep, miry clay by his own bootstraps. He must know the
supernatural power of God to lift him up and set his feet upon
a rock, and establish his goings, and put a new song in his
mouth, even praise to our God. It takes the power of God. The
greatest of all miracles is a transformed life, a sinful man
becoming a Christlike person alive unlo God.
Jesus said In that same discussion with Nicodemus, "The
wind bloweth where it listcth, and thou nearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it comelh, and whither It
goeth" tJohn S:8). The ways of the wind have puzzled the
meterologists for a long time, and still do. But those who
follow the course of the tornado or the hurricane can easily
see the effect. God s mysteries of grace cannot alwayi be
understood, but the transforming power can be seen and
known.
In the Great Commission which our risen Lord gave to His
followers, thers Is a pUc fr en h and all to fill. In building I
great cathedral there are many skills that must be employed.
There are the architects, the builders to read the blueprints,
the skilled workmen of many trades, the artisans, and the
unskilled laborers. In like manner, the church must find
tasks for all to do. This calls for consecration on the part of
each person and it demands leaders to assign all to their
tasks. Only as the involvement Include all can God l
kingdom prosper according to His blessed will.
Total commitment lo God and His will meant a single ey
and a single mind. There Is no divided loyalty. Jesua said,
"No man can serve two masters; for either he win hate the
one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the on, and
despise the other. Y cannot serv God and Mammon." When
God Is first, there it no pull toward oppo.lt pole of Interest.
The heart responds only to God and that which God approves.
On who recognize God's claim to first plac In hit lif
finds In His will perfect rest. "Se y first Ui Kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all the things shall b
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
Zeke Grubb announced at the start of the meeting at the
couX store Saturday night that the J-JgJlS
said it flat out. living is hazerdous to our health Zeke told the
fellers he had read the newspaper Insta Iments o t study of
the health of Americans, and the word is ttj r J r In pritty
good shape but the way we're living Is killing ut.
tteYtudy showed that Just about everthing we do I. bad fer
us ke reported. Our food is to rich and we eat to much of It
We drink to much and we don't exercise enuff , and wMe
we're setting down gltting fat we worry to much Our bodiet
TreS and our nerve, are ragged, Zek went on d
harder we work to git ahead to we can set and I it f. th
higher our blood pressure goes. The only thing that t hurting
us worst than failure, Zeke declared, is uccess.
There was considerable discussion on Zeke a report.
General speaking, the fellert was disagreed that resting and
eating is driving Americans to a early grave It wat Bug
Hookum that said it teemed to him that thi , fo Ik. . you aUut
hear crying that money don't buy happiness don t have none,
so they ain't In a position to know. And fer shore, Bug
allowed, you can't buy nothing with poverty . It makes a heap
of sense went on Bug, toruther set in the shade than work in
the sun, and while hard work may not kill you he never had
heard of anybody resting to death either.
Clem Webster said it was good of the Guvernment to do all
these studies on us. but he tald what they fail to take In
account is that most of the worry we got comet from
Guvernment. There't to many agenclea to deal with now
dem said, until a feller could git a nervous breakdown Jest
trying to add a bedroom and a bath to his own house on his
own land. Clem said he was all fer a good night, sleep and all
the other healthy habits, but the reasons behind the human
condition are as different as people. .
Fer instant, Clem went on, one man s idee of gooa,
relaxing time is golf, but another man might git to mad
playing the game that he's hazerdous to hit health and
everbody't around him. In most cases, you do better letting
nature take the lead, because science and Guvernment
studies move to fast fer the human race, wat Clem t words.
And Clem said he has noticed that most of what science and
Guvernment come up with wind up on the list of things that is
hazerdous to our health.
Josh Clodhopper sided with Clem. He said he recollected
when DDT was going to be the end of the fly, but now the
enemies is more hazerdous than the Insects. And we need
DDT more than ever, Josh allowed, cause two good whamt
with a flyswatter agin walls In houses being built now might
be hazerdous to everbody In em.
Personal. Mister Editor, I agree with the old feller that
said if he'd known he was going to live this long he'd of took
better care of hisself.
Yours truly,
MAYOR ROY.
The mail pouch
EDITOR:
I have news for Morrow County! A dog pound is rot the
answer to Morrow County's dog problems. Each year cities
all over the country build bigger and more expensive shelters
and dog pounds to handle the surplus of unwanted animals.
The result Is Just more helpless anlmala butchered in the
places Only 10 per cent of the animals picked up are
fortunate enough to get home.. Just recently a Seattle paper
printed a full page story of the cruel waste of life of the
unwanted animals. It was shocking to read that a ton of
animal bodies being hauled each day to a rendering plant to
make chicken food.
The dogs have committed no crime other than having been
born; but to be doomed to a life on the end of a chain, and
neglected by irresponsible owners is another angle of crime.
A leash law to many people in other citiea means Just one
thing, a dog chained with no shelter from summer heat or
winter cold and food and water if some of the careless
owners think about it.
Spaying and neutering would soon be a permanent end to
the problem and would be cheaper-much cheaper In the
long run ; than the upkeep of an adequate legal dog pound and
a perpetual dog catcher.
As the article in Feb. 28 East Oregonian stated. "Cost of
Enforcing the new program, if the issue is approved, was not
mentioned at the meeting." Since Morrow county advertizes
on the front pages of the Gazetl and the East Oregonian that
it has little money to enforce the laws and the advic it to
over Icok certain arreits, pray tell where will the money
come from to enforce more laws?" Better control people
criminals and put the blame where it belongs, on
irresponsible owners and not the helpless animala.
The current joke lately among the young people is "If you
want to commit a crime of some tort com to Morrow
County; they boast that they have no jail and a shortage of
funds lo enforce the laws that they now have." Human
education in our school, should be promoted by all. It would
in the future reduce violence and crime; and teach people the
responsibility of caring for their animals by not allowing
them to breed unchecked and cause these unwanted over
populations of nuisance animals.
Good news for Heppner, I'll toon be moving to the country
with my kennel of adopted orphans.
LOIS WINCHESTER
Letters for' publication
should be addressed to the
Editor, The Gzette-Tlmes,
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, OR.
97836. All letters are subject
to abridgement and must be
signed and carry an address.
Short letters, typed double
spaced are preferred, but all
letters will be considered. We
do not publish third person
letters or anonymous ones. In
exceptional cases the name
of the writer may be with,
held.
added unlo you." What things? Th anwr Is given: food,
drink, and raiment. "Behold th fowls of th air ; for they sow
not, neither do they rap, nor gather Into bam.; yet your
heavenly Father feedeth them. Art Jf not much better than
they?"
Th question la pertinent bow. I. God first in your life? Do
you honor Him la mry occupation of your Um? Do youkp
th first commandment: "Thou thalt ha M other god
beforit m." Exod. 20 1?