—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 6, 1972
10
A former editor of a country newspaper
asks, 'What makes ‘good’ com
munities 7 Writing to a friend, he says,
“Now any observer knows that there are.
towns and counties where folks get along,
where the casual visitor can hear that
so and so is a useful citizen and not a son of
a .where people seem to be
helpful to each other The carpenter tells
any inquirer how to cut a rafter, the
trapper shares his favorite bait, the ones
who can write or talk do so on request Of
course such a community character is not
Improving and broadening the
availability of health care is a never—
ending endeavor of the medical profession.
An example is the American Medical
Association’s Committee on Health Care of
the Poor
Formed m 1969, the AMA‘s Committee
on the Health Care of the Poor seeks to
mobilize and utilize the resources of the
medical profession to achieve available,
accessible, and acceptable health care for
the poor recognizing that performance
must be commensurate with promise
Among the Committee's major functions
are the following, it acts as a group to
which those representing the poor can
directly express their health problems; it
provides national leadership in
Good Advice From New Zealand
III —advised campaigns, aimed at
persuading the entire population to
abstain from eating certain nutritious
foods that for centuries have been part of
the human diet, have posed problems for
the dairy and meat industry. It has been
said that these foods contribute to the risk
of heart disease. Impressive evidence that
normal people should adhere to normal
balanced diets has been widely overlooked
in the furor Typical of this evidence is a
little noticed Report of the Royal Society of
New Zealand which was commissioned by
New Zealand's Minister of Science, "to
make a critical examination of the available
information on factors involved in the
causation of coronary artery disease...."
The Report, which out after two
years of study, said that, “So far as the
general population is concerned, the
present state of knowledge does not justify
advising any major changes in dietary
Off-Base Conservationists
Commonsense conservationists have
long been aware that aesthestics and
practicality must go hand in hand in the
utilization of the nation's forest lands. They
are unsympathetic with those who have
carried the pendulum of conservation to an
extreme. The latter fail to recognize the
merit of multiple use forestry technology,
the needs of an expanding population or
the impossibility of achieving static
preservation of forest lands.
The Western Conservation Journal
reflected the concern of genuine con
servationists when it reprinted an editorial
from the Salem, Oregon Statesman In part,
the editorial said,"Preservation of timber
has become almost a holy crusade In their
zeal to save trees, the new breed of con
servationist has lost track of some fun
damental principles The world needs
wood, more now than ever before. It is a
restorable crop which demands harvesting
at the proper time. Keeping the tim
ber growing land in production should be
a primary instead of secondary g0a1....
A Good Community
Responding to Need
always unanimous; there are always those
women who run the errant girl down with
their tongues and men who run her down
with their legs, but if most are tolerant the
community may survive with the strength
that can make it valuable."
Yes, it takes more than payrolls and town
boosters to make a good community. It
takes a breadth of vision in the ranks of its
citizens a desire to be above petty
talking meanness. As the former editor
implies, it takes considerable striving to be
a good community
establishing goals and priorities for im
proving health care delivery to the poor; it
assists physicians and other health
providers, consumers and government
agencies to develop a better un
derstanding of the specific health
problems of the urban and rural poor; and
it identifies and it disseminates in
formation on methods of funding local
health programs
There are many other areas m which the
AMA's Committee on Health Care for the
Poor seeks to broaden health care in this
one area Its work is typical of the
unremitting efforts of the medical
profession to honor the traditional
obligation of every doctor to respond to the
best of his ability to all whose health
depends on his skill and training.
habits aimed specifically at reducing the
incidence of coronary heart disease. It is
considered that this objective can best be
achieved by adherence to the type of well
balanced diet which would be advised on
general medical grounds for maintenance
of good health....’’ The Report said
specifically that efforts to avoid "... normal
dietary fats are not justified." Commenting
on the Report, one authority noted, "... it is
one thing to give a patient advice which,
although erroneous, may indirectly help in
his recovery. It is quite another matter
when this same advice, or for that matter
even advice which might be correct in a
particular set of circumstances, is ex
tended to the population at large."
It is time the U.S. public took a hard look
at the current wave of attacks on virtually
everything we eat, wear or use before
we find ourselves shirtless, jobless and
hungry
Instead of the harassment which foresters
and lumber interests are being subjected
to today, their efforts to develop new
equipment and techniques to make full use
of timber products, to use cleaner methods
of logging and processing should be
reinforced. Through their legislative ef
forts, conservationists are attempting to
take the decision-making about forestry
practices away from the foresters. The
public is the ultimate arbiter in this con
flict. It must learn to ditmguish between
‘zeal and real’ in assessing the various
arguments concerning forest management
practices ”
Those who find it expedient to ride the
coattails of the crusade for forest and
wilderness “preservation” beyond all
practical considerations can easily find
themselves caught in a backwash of public
resentment as the people learn the dif
ference between sterile preservation and
conservation that seeks a workable
balance of many needs in the utilization of
forest lands
now is
THE TIME . .
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
To Be Careful
With Left-Overs
The planting season is at hand
when many crops will be planted
and left-over seeds will be on
hand; most of these seeds have
been treated with numerous
fungicides or insecticides are not
fit for livestock or poultry
feeding; care should be taken
that they do not find their way
into the feed trough. Spray
materials should also be handled
carefully so that all items are
stored in their original container,
or be well labeled. Unknown
materials should not be used. We
have known of growers who used
fungicides that turned out to be a
weed killer and nearly destroyed
the crop. Keep all items stored
away from children and livestock
and keep them well marked.
Grains purchased for seeding
purposes should be used only for
seeding and not for feeding.
To Beware of Wild Animals
The number of wild animals
infected with rabies appears to be
increasing in many parts of
Pennsylvania; those who spend
time in the outdoors should
beware of the fact that friendly or
aggressive wild animals, such as
foxes or skunks, may be infected
with the disease. Dogs should not
be taken along on outings or hikes
unless they have been vaccinated
against rabies. In the
southeastern part of our state
rabid bats are becoming more
common and should be ex
terminated carefully. Rabid
animals and bats show ab-
WHAT CAN
YOU DO?
Lesson for May 7,1972
tackgraunrf Scripture Luka 22 24-27,
Hebrews 13 1-3; James 1 27, 2
14-17
Devetienal Reading Matthew 25 31-40.
What would you do if someone
gave you a million dollars?
That was the question posed
several years ago by a television
program, The Millionaire. It was
a senes of stories revolving
around the theme of a million
aire who gave
away from time
to tune a million
dollars in order
to see what the
recipients would
do with it. The
program probably
stimulated a lot
of people to think
what they would
do if they were to receive such a
sum
Don't wait to be an angel!
Some people like to think of
how generous they would be if
they were to suddenly inherit a
large sum of money They en
vision themselves as great philan
thropists and benefactors Wil
liam Law once wrote of a “Clem
ens” who was given to such flights
of generous fancy Clemens has
his head full of imaginary piety.
He is often proposing to himself
what he would do if he had a
great estate He would outdo all
charitable men that are gone be
fore him This sounds noble
normally aggressive behavior,
and may fearlessly attack
humans or animals. Never at
tempt to handle or capture
strange behaving wild animals;
they may be rabid; destroy them
carefully.
To Provide Fresh Water
Hot weather is arriving when
all living things consume more
water than during the colder
weather. All livestock and
poultry producers are urged to be
sure their animals have access to
fresh water at all times. Many
livestock may not have a chance
at water at all times and will
suffer by giving poorer gains or
lower production. The practice of
watering two times a day is not
sufficient and will reduce
productivity. Outside watering
devices should be protected from
the sun unless there is running
water available. Along with fresh
water should be free access to
shade, salt and minerals. All of
these smaller items will add to
greater and more efficient
production for the owner.
To Follow Label Directions
All pesticides used on crops and
garden plants will have direc
tions relating to their useage.
These directions are put there to
be followed by the consumer.
When spraying crops it is very
important that the applicator
follow these directions for safe
results. Do not apply more of the
material thinking that a little
more will be better; it may get
you into trouble. Also, it is still
strongly advised that all food and
fiber producers keep accurate
records of all applications of
spray materials. Record blanks
are available at our Extension
Office for both crops and
livestock. Read and follow the
label instructions is good advice
and suggest that everyone
complies.
enough, but then Law goes on to
say Now Clemens has at present
a moderate estate, which he
spends upon himself . He
might live upon one-third of his
fortune and make the rest the
support of the poor, but he does
nothing of all this that is in his
power, but pleases himself with
what he would do if his power
was greater.
A question of comfort
Often when we are confronted
by some need, we beg-off saying,
“I’m sorry, I wish I could help,
but I can’t.” We imply that God
has given us so little that we have
nothing to spare That’s almost a
blasphemy against God who has
given most of us so much. What
we probably mean is: “I can’t
comfortably do it!”
“Hello Joe,” says Charlie,
“How’s my best friend?” Joe
does not reply “Joe,” says a puz
zled Charlie, “aren’t you going to
speak to me after all I’ve done
for you’” Silence. “Two years
ago when you were broke,” says
Charlie, “ and you were in the
hospital, who helped you pay the
bill’” “You did,” says Joe. “And a
year ago when you were out of
work, who bought your grocer
ies’” “You did," says Joe. “And
six months ago when we were on
vacation, who saved your life?”
“You did, Charlie,” says Joe, “but
tell me, Charlie what have you
done for me in' the last three
months’”
The Christian whose usual re
sponse to human need is “I can’t”
is like thankless Joe - no matter
how much God gives him, it
never seems to be enough to
share