4 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 18, 1965 From Where We Stand,.. Tight Money; A Check-Rein On Runaway Spending? The recent action by the Federal Reserve Board to raise the discount rate of money to banks from 4 !/•> to 5 percent has incurred the royal wrath of the Administration in terms ranging from “premature’’ to “intolerable”. President Johnson shuns the word inflation as though it were the plague itself. He fears that too much talk about inflation will actually bring about the condition from an otherwise sound economy. He’s probably half right that is, talk may lead to belief, and belief might speed up the process But not talking about it isn’t going to make it go away, and the Administration’s downhill, deficit spending rush has created the atmosphere in which infla tion grows best In spite of the Presi dent’s wishful thinking, if a budget deficit of seven Sillion dollars isn’t inflationary, then there is no such word and all the talk is about nothing. But to say there is no inflation in the USA today is somewhat like saying there is no Santa Claus. “No Santa Claus, Virginia? Why the spirit of Santa Claus is all around you! It resides the year around in the hearts and minds of your congressmen and administrators of government cure-all ‘programs’. It flows from the streets of Washington to all corners of the globe Why, you are witnessing the greatest Gold Rush since 1849 1 And everybody wins No inflation, Virginia? Consider a few simple figures ” 1— The consumer price index over the past few years had a yearly aver age increase of 1 2 percent In the past year it increased 1 8 percent, with .2 percent of that increase coming in October alone These are little numbers, and not very frightening, but they really stand for very big and very real num bers While almost all commodities showed increases over the past year, two essentials, shoes and clothing, were among the front-runners. 2 After more than four years of relatively stable wholesale prices, an up ward movement is also apparent in the wholesale price index In the last 12 months it averaged a gain of 2.2 per cent 3—And, again, the fiscal budget originally calculated at $lOO billion, is now figured to run a deficit of at least seven billion dollars and that’s not a little, unfrightening figure' The Federal Reserve Board rates some praise, we think, for having the integrity and courage to “buck the trend” Whether its move will have the desired effect of ‘ keeping the boom lolling without jumping the tracks”, or whether it will, as some government economists suggest, bring the whole train to a screeching halt, remains to be seen We think its effect will benefit the over-all health of the economy Unfortunately, a rise in interest rates hits everyone who borrows money, and with our expanding farm economy, this means farmers too Reportedly, farmers paid a record amount of inter est on loans this year, fully ten per cent ahead of last year’s figure But Lancaster Farming Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly P. 0 Box 266 - Lititz, Pa, 17543 Offices: 22 E Main St. Lititz, Pa 17543 Phone - Lancaster 394-3047 oi Lititz 626-2191 Don Timmons, Editor Robert G Campbell, Adver tising Dnector Established November 4, 1955. Published eveiy Satur day by Lancaster Fanning, Lit itz, Pa. with all the purchases of machinery and equipment the modern farmer must make, any slowing of the trend toward inflationary prices has to be beneficial to him in the long-run. May All The Fire Engines Be Toys We sincerely hope that this Christ mas season the only fire engines at your house will be in the form of toys for the children. Each year at this time* newspaper editors echo the cautionary words of the lighting specialists, home economists, and others regarding, fire prevention at Christmas. And yet each year, the headlines bear grim testimony to people's carelessness with , trees and lights. Each story reflects the same shocked “It-couldn’t-happen-to-me” sort of surprise. Faithfully following a few simple precautions will go a long way toward assuring that it won’t happen to you. Last year we talked about reduc ing fire hazards by buying a fresh tree and keeping it that way. Test for fresh ness by pulling lightly on some of the needles, and by bouncing the tree butt on the ground. A fresh tree should ab sorb this treatment without showering the ground with needles. Once you have selected a fresh tree and taken it home, cut the butt on a slant. Then bore a hole about four inches deep through the stem, and pack this openinig with cotton Place the tree in a bucket of water and store it in a cool place until you are ready to put it up. This proce dure will not only keep your tree fresh er, but will increase its resistance to fire. Many fires at Christmas time are caused by careless lighting. Only elec tric lights are recommended for Christ mas trees, never candles. Make sure the lights and cords you use bear the safe ty seal of the Underwriter Laboratories. There comes a time when Christmas tree lights should be thrown out. Look at yours; chances are you’ve been saying for the past several years “Well, I ought to get one more year out of these old strings.” Maybe you will! Overloading is another hazard. Most home outlets are rated for about 1500 watts This will safely handle six to eight strings of 25 lamps each, so long as no other equipment is drawing power from the same circuit The outlet should never be located under the tree, and the switch for turn ing the lights off an on should be locat ed away from the tree. If the tree is extremely large, split the electric load by plugging the lights into two separate outlets. Another safety suggestion concerns selection of bulbs The metal part of the bulb socket should not stick out far enough to come into contact with tin sel hanging close by In fact, tinsel should be kept away from the bulbs en tirely Now that you taken all of these precautions, take one more. Dis connect the tree lights before you go to bed at night, and before you leave the house for an extended period. Following these precautions is no' guarantee of a safe Christmas, but it will certainly bend the odds in your favor. • Agr. Enrollment' (Continued from Page 1) ly two-thnds of the graduate students have pait-time as sistantships or fellowships Associate degree two-year students now numbei 171 com paied with 148 a yeai ago, Dr Sw ope says These stu dents. studying forestry or agncultuial business, take their fiist yeai in torestry at the Mont Alto Commonwealth Campus, or then first year in agricultural business at the .Commonwealth Campuses in Altoona or Uniontown All two-year students in agucul ture take their second year uoik at the University Paik campus • Farmers Union (Continued trom Page 1) ed Lee Graver, chairman of the membership committee; Bus Shoemaker, Fred Frey, Paul Beckinstrater, and Phil Kauffman to the publicity committee. The two-county association plans to hold its annu'al ban- quet at Oxford on February IS. 1966. ! Whispers of Hope I JLcsson for December 19, 1965 2c*“kground Scuplura* Jeremiah Ij Ilf „ • rcugn 3? 3/ through 39 CovoUorial Reading: Luke 1 68-79* rhNE OF THE most difficult and puzzling books in the Bible, and y et one of the most fascinat* mg, is the book of the prophet .loiemiah As a suggestion to new readers of the Bible, I re* commend not staying in the snags, but push* mg on to what you can 'under* stand, and com* mg back to un* snag the tangles by the help per* haps of your pas* tor, perhaps of one or two good books. For many a good book has been written about this strange man Jeremiah. Yet dont depend on one book alone to help you. And certainly don t expect this column to ex* plain all that needs explaining! M Hope for your future In printed Sunday school quaff* terlxes and other literature for church school classes, at this Sunday’s lesson you will notice they have punted just a short trio of quotations out of the long book of Jeremiah. At first sight, one wonders what possible con* nection these three passages can have. (Look them up for your self Jeremiah 31.15-17; 33:14-16; 31 31-34) After you have sat and read these passages several times, perhaps a little clue will catch your- notice. The verbs, the action-words, are in the fu ture tense, as a grammer would put it. „ But there is something more than bare grammer here. All these verbs in the future tense tell us that Jeremiah is not (so far as these verses go) mainly telling about what has appened, but something yet to ike place. The focus of what he is saying is in the future. It is the note of hope, the note of ex pectation, of assurance, that unites these and many other pas-, sages from the prophets. Other religious idealize the past, and their only hope is some kind of Now Is The Time .. Bv Max Smith. Lancaster County To Soak Evergreen Shrubs One of the best ways to p. event winter injury to evergreens is to soak the loot area well before freezing weathei amves, this is especially true in case of iccently planted shrubs. Since we have not had liberal amounts of ram or snow this fall, owners should be sure that the aiea around the loots is well soaked, evergieens that hold their needles 01 leaves ovei the winter months will be stiengthened by this extra moisture To Exercise Dairy Herd Many barnyaids and exeicise lots do not get sufficiently used bv dauymen The milk mg held will be heallhiej and will respond _ SMITH to being turned ou .'1 least once a day during the winter months With the c c obon of very bad storms or blizzards, the weather will not be too cold foi the cows foi at least 10 to 15 minutes each utv Tne exercise lot should be free of in jury hazards and paved aieas aie preferred. The outside exer cise permits daily men to detect heat periods and any other special herd health conditions Tol Use Speei.il It.iti.ni tor Brood Sows . . Alost swine producers need to ?ne some attention to the possibihtj ol their blood so .is be'omnia ovei weight when 'his oc curs the httei 01 pigs me often small, weal. mil the sow is big and can ie-- at tai rowmg time The -ow should get enough pio'enis vita mins, and mine 'ls bj the use of a conimeic.,l ov. sup plement feed, .in •! o the amount ot teed 10 each sow should be hmite 1 I'.nu out side exercise i a 'b it to keep the oOin ti > u ami healthv re-creation of the past, living th* past over- and over again, like a wheel endlessly turning. For the prophets of God, history was no wheel; it Is more like an arrow, the arrow 6i hope. “There is hope for your future” is a sen tence from Jeremiah which might be a title for all that the prophets said. The righteous branch This hope takes many forms and shows many a facet, like a great jewel with many gleaming surfaces. Almost always the lan guage about the future is obscure to our eais. The strange middle east style of writing twenty-five centuries ago adds to our con fusion Yet nothing quite con ceals which way the prophet is straining his eyes He says “There is hope for your future” without saying when that hope will be fulfilled Piobably he did not know. We have good New Tes tament backing for believing that the piophets did not always know just to what or to whom their pi ophecies icfened But as we poie over the ancient utter ances and riddling symbols in mystic poesy, some features be gin to become clearer One is that the hope of the future cen ters in one Man Sometimes he is a royal hero, another David; sometimes a Servant, sometimes a great Sufferer Jeremiah’s word here is “Righteous Bianch” Branch of What’ Gods people? David’s family tiee* 1 of the tree of life’ At any rate this hoped for Branch will bring righteous ness and justice to a land of wickedness and injustice Obvi ously this refers to some person. The Clmstian church has always been convinced that it means no other than Jesus, the hope of the world. Covenant of the heart For there are three things link ing these prophecies into one: The emphasis on the future, the personalizing of this hope in one man; and now the third: the wide outlook of the prophet who sees not only his beloved Judah : or Israel, but the wide world. Jeremiah looks and longs for a time when laws, even God's laws, shall no longer be confined to books, but written on the hearts of men, when the will of God shall not Ipe a doom falling from without, but a devotion growing within; a time (still so far away 'Y when there shall be no need to explain about God to any one* for all men shall know him. (Based on outlines copyrighted by the EH vision oi Christian Education. National Council ai the Churches oi Christ in the tf. S. A. Released by Community free* Service.) To Use Cqwespomdeuco Courses . . . Many local folks may benefit and learn about many phases of agriculture/ by taking some of the Pena State Correspondence Cours es this winter. These prac tical lessons toy mail are not expensive and will present some of the important points and management practices aa nearly all kinds of farming and landscaping Those in teiested should write to . . “Coi respondence Courses” College of Agriculture, Boa Mo .1000, University Park* Pa K -a i j wj;
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers