k- —Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 29, 1961
FROM WHERE WE STAND -
The High Cost Of High Living
It’s not the high cost o£ living, but
the cost of high living that hurts..
That’s the way a friend put it sev
eral weeks ago and we have had oc
casion to use it several times since
then. It comes in real handy when
you hear people complaining about
how much the cost of food has gone up.
In- one such discussion last week a
rural non-farm resident was telling the
group just how much it was costing to
feed his family of four. He went into
a long discussion l of how much more
expensive food is now than it was a
few years ago.
We listened to his harangue for
quite a while until he began' to tell l us
about- the new-automobile he had ord
ered and what a shrewd deal he- was
making. But even with all his cunning,
he was paying almost a thousand dol
lars more than a comparable car would
have cost him twenty years ago.
He said, “We will probably be" eat
ing TV dinners' for a year to pay fbr it,
(the new car) 1 but’ I guess it will be
worth it.”*
' You can't argue with a person in
such a mood,. but we couldn’t let the
opportunity pass by. We asked for just
live minutes to tell him a story and he
agreed to listen.
The story begins in 1939 when the
editor raised a flock of 300 broilers for
a Future Fanner project. We sold the
broilers at 12 weeks for 28 cents a
pound and made a pretty nice little
profit. The dealer was happy because
thfe birds were' good quality and he
could sell them at a profit, and some
hdusewife would be happy because she
could have a Sunday dinner at a reas
onable price if she bought the chicken
dressed and stuffed or cut it up in her
o'rtrn kitchen.
Last week at the Lancaster Poultry
Center broilers averaged under 12
ceftits per pound. The growers were
going broke. Buyers were not happj
because they- feed tcc small a price to
begin with to do much moving. The
housewife didn’t appreciate the break
she was getting because the week be
fore, the supermarket gave a whole
chicken away with every five dollars
of groceries she bought and this week
they asked her to pa j as much for pan
refedy meat as live broilers brought
bdck in 1939.
That same Future Farmer was a
pfioud boy when his first egg check
calme from the cooperative in 1940. For
thie first case of eggs he shipped he re
ceived $15.00, a fabulous amount for a
high school farm boy in those days. It
does not take too much h'gher mathe
matics to figure out that those eggs re
turned to the producer a very nice 50
cents per dozen, wholesale. (Feed cost
about $40.00 per ton at that time).
_ Last week in New York, the highest
price paid for Extra Fancy .Heavy
weight White eggs was 43 cents per
dcteep. (Feed last week cost over $90.00
petjton).
We concluded our story by asking,
pound were preferred two to food, and air are most fav-
Housewives Like on ®- „ 0 - A . orable > Hibbard w
Dr E. P. Roy of the Agn-
WAinhofJ Pnnc cultural Experiment Station, ° nce the moisture or oxy-
TTCiyMCU u yy a in co-operation with the Ag- Sen supply is exhausted,
Louisiana Experiment Sta- ricultural Extension Service, roots cannot grow beyond
xion researchers are running is conducting the research. A the area Plants may wither
a sales test in grocery stores final report will be available and die from drought while
Consumers in these stores hi September Vito Tra- abundant water lies only a
have the opportunity to com- monte, pres : dent of Home- J ew inches beyond the root
pare the cost of eggs to the 'own Grocery Chain, Lake tip
cost of meats and other com- Charles, Louisiana, made his
modities Eggs are selling for stores available for the ex-
J4c per pound in a control et periment Aso co-operating
experiment alongside egg 1,1 the test i~ the Sweet Lake
pr : ced by the dozen Those Land & Oil Company, which
priced by the pound average packs eggs for IG chain
out to be the same as eggs
priced by the dozen
Each individual carton o'
eggs is weighed and priced
on a net weight basis La^g'-
gummed ’abels indicate the Plant roots have no sense
price per pound, and net of direction except to grow
•we : ght and the total price downward, according to AH.
Three More Weeks Hibbard, horticulturist at
The experiment will run the University of Missouri
six weeks and is now on'v Even this seme s lost after
half completed It is an~a~- the plants become established
ent from preliminary cacuia- Then roots usual'y grow in
tions that eggs priced by the all directions,
pound are outseTing cartons Most rapid growth and
priced in the usual manner, branching occurs where con
in some instaro ■es eggs by the d-lions o! moisture, plant
“Now you tell us- what else* besides
food you can buy at less than 1940 pric*
es and we will agree what foods are
too high priced.”
Of course many housewives do be
lieve that food is too high priced. They
overlook many items in the basket at
the supermarket which bear no resem
blenee to food. Items such as paper
goods, soaps and other cleaning sup
plies, drugs, tobaccos, and sundry
items are carried home with the groc
eries and all too often considered in
with the price of food.
'But this aside, the' aver age house
wife fails to consider the enormous a
mount of buift-in-maid-service in the
food she carries home each week. Even
the TV dinners our friend was dread
ing so much would cost only a fraction
of the listed prices if the housewife
bought the ingredients and prepared
them in her own kitchen.
-Irt this speeded' up existance in
which we find ourselves,'Mrs,. America
is demanding more and more in the
way of this built-in-maid-service.
And Mrs. America gets whatever
she demands, but somebody has to pay
for it. It is not the high cost of Bving,
but the cost of high living that hurts.
At least that’s how it looks from
where we stand.
When any of us poor, uninformed
private citizens cries out against I ee
spending government and the unbal
anced budget, he is quickly hushed
with the reply that the cause of it all
is our tremendous defense budget De
fense spending, of course, is the white '
goddess on the pedestal and if me
dares question any part of it, the
spenders say something like; ‘ Sir,
would you sell freedom down the nv
er?” Of course, they can say it i i a
more menacing tone.
Even a white goddes can .have a
spot of mud on her skirt here and
there, however, it seems, Comptrc' l er
General Joseph Campbell, head of the
General Accounting Office, sometimes
called the “watchdog on spending.” re
ports that the Defense Department
cost the taxpayers $3O million by 'fil
ing to ask for competitive bids on
spare aircraft parts; that much of the
purchase of some $lO6 million wort’' l of
the parts through negotiated contracts
was unjustified.
Well, now, we’re glad to find that
we do have a watchdog. We hadn’t
realized it and we’re still not convinc
ed that he’s on the job all the time. Or,
if he is, he doesn’t bark very loudly.
There must be a few other little, paltry
items spent for defense that might be
looked into, we imagine. Of course,
$3O million more or less doesn’t mean
much in a modem governmental bud
get, but, a few mil 1 ions here, a few
millions there they do add up!
Livestock Reporter, East St. Louis
Fact or Fancy
Can plant roots seek out
and grow towards soil mois
ture 7
The White Goddess
Lancaster Farming
l-ancas‘er County'* Own Farm
Weekly
P O Box 1524
Lancaster, Penna.
Off'ces:
53 orth Duke St
Lancaster Penna
Plione - Lancaster
Express 4-3047
Jack Owen, Editor
Rob rt Cf Campbell, Ar rtising
D rector &. Business 'Tanager
Es'a 1 lished November 1955
Pa I s'ed every Sat by
Lanca-'er Fanning, Lane ‘ r, Pa
Ei ered as 2nd class i i 'or at
Lancaster, Pa under Act r Mar
S, ■’B"9 additional entry Mount
Jov Pa
Sub eript on Ratos J 2 tear
three years $5 Single cm > Price
5 cents
Mem' ers Pa Newspaper ' b’ish
ei« 's cation. National ’ torial
Association.
Thomas thought it \\oiiij*
Billie Material. John"!'!.s-18: W'iSMfj ‘vorse than ancst
20-.24-29, Acts il3 . < too, that we may die
Devotional Reading: 1 John lel-t- . he said He did not thij
1 -n was riding the load to
lit Bewilderment
At the L.ml Sup por .
the voice of Thomas on 1
“lord, v. e do not i no ‘
- I you' are going, how can ,
'T'HOSE who are convex led to | IIC | J "' a3 <
i c completely bewildered ,
* faith in Christ bung their djd not leavc tl)c tafa
temperaments with them Soma 0 ,, t Jnto
people a.e temperamentally wag - at fl ]qw **
optimistic others are by nature as admils , ie does no £.
pessimists and they W aU • We £
1 two aircrair on much i,ke what a#
§ the sa ™ COU J SC : caU a vote of no-conjf,
J ° ne ■ tra fu«h; Thom* stayed on £
M 2f«? A .tofm Jesus headed ’ He *da
<l, plane. A storm h<s wa su *
'j|?T a | UPa^ i That’s faith ®
both planes make
JsS a 45-degree ttu-tf els S*#wid-H«nd Faith
’|B to the right, or . Thomas is best luiom
:sm, perhaps tlicy turn i efusing to believe that
clear around with mrrection of Jesus was*
The Realist.
Lesson for July 30, 1961,
* 180-degree turn. fact. To be moie exaq
After 1 the- turn they *r« still fused to believe on the,
transport and light plane, not two otius friends Thomas t®
of either, not something else like •‘The thing’-s imoosstblej
helicopters That's - what "con- oeheve it” What he i
version” means, just turning ffect. was. “It may b t
around nut I can. t lake it at
vand t must see tor m
1 believe, it will be only
nmsett pioves the story
elling.”
t?ow the Eleven torTt
xactr mav have beeni
Vhen one of youi fnendj
ie doesn't beheve you,
jelieve the lot of you it
ter'the skin But they d’j
Thomas out, and hs did
rumself out The next td
met. he v. as thcie tuu
Thomas is called the i
is this fair to him’ blwali
oe called a doubler whoi
to die with Jesus? Shoult
oe called a doubtei when
Joubt but ignoiance 'ln
mm 7 Should a man tie
doubter v\ hen he seek'!
oany of iHpae who helievi
men are skejitics wbu dm
•o believe. But those skep
\vant to believe, <n £'
oest within the commuffi
faithful
Iff PrtM/rce 01 Dancer
Thomas, one of the “Twelve,"
was a man set apart from the
other eleven by his dark mind. Not
that he was stupid?- on the con
trary he was- pretty bright. He
had a very logical'mind. But it
was- easier for him to Believe un
pleasant facts than to believe
what would have suited him
belter. Same call him a pessimist.
Perhaps he was; but we may
think of him as a realist. The
optimist has lovely stained glass
windows in his house of life, and
so the world always looks gay
and bright to him. The pessimist
paints over his windows, can
scarcely see at all, and says.
What a dismal world this is! The
realist has clear plate glass
windows and keeps them polished.
When it’s raining outside the
realist says so The optimist.says.
Go on, you’re a pessimist! See
how lovely the world ‘looks from
my window! 1 never see It ram
at all. But the man is not a pes
simist, really - -
Thomas, like others of his sort,
sometimes slips over into pes-
Now Is The Time . . •
BY MAX SMITH
TO PRACTICE FLY CONTROL--!!
and temperature conditions have
favored the increase in fly popular
livestock producers are urged to star
the very best sanitary practices -
times to remove the fly breeding
Follow this with a regular insectrf
program. The use of Diazmon and
as a residual spray (alternate i®
should give good results.
TO SPRAY TOMATOES—AII
MAX Si'* *- ci ens an( j m 3 t urban gardens wil‘
a numbt tomato plants., Diseases such as bus
anthrocu. reduce yields and quality. Mancb is ®
cide recommended at the rate of 2 pounds per 1® j
of water '.one tablespoonful per gallon) every w® 4
days; the pray is especially needed during ramy " 1
TO PLA. AUGUST SEEDING—One of the bf
to make a aimmer seeding of alfalfa is from the
the 20th August; seedings later than this P er ‘“
greater r - ox poor stands or failure. The g
be prepa and worked several weeks in advance
weed-fret ad firm; all lime and fertilizer ieqUlien \
cording t complete soil test) should be apph tj ,
en into ; afil before seed.ng The band-sccder
method c pplication followed by a rolled ° r
Now is ■* a time to start working for a good
next year
FOR PEACH TREE BORER—Fi J
o nes, peaches, plums, and prunes J
,ree borer, even the ornamentals ox J
'X This insect is found in the trunk 1
ground level and injury , cause' a d
ass to appear on the trunk,,df t lie . jj'J
■t.ol is to spray with 6 tablespoons o J
wder in 1 gallon of water around 1 J
’’specially at the of tlie trt?e ’ {. I
L ion in July and repeat in rmd-AU I
material bearing
TO SPRx
apricots
the peac’
are attac
at or ab
jelly-like
nemded c
weltable
the tree
first app.
getting tb
slmism, but (again i
Christian icahsU) eve 1
takes the dailcest vicv,'
lie does not lose his f a J
occasion whtSn Jesus"'
Bethany )ust shei J
Lazarus died it i Vjs
known fact that the Jlt
wanted to have him
.Based on onthnoi i<wi|
me Division of Christian £
v'atlonat Coun< il ol iht ()
Christ In the t S \ M
Community Press servlci'