Lancaster Farming. Saturday. May 19. 1973
10
Business or Government -
Who Should Run America?
The magazine, "Saturday Review of The
Society." in two separate articles presents
a debate concerning the question of
whether business or government should
take the lead in meeting our social needs.
Mr. Peter F. Drucker, sociologist and
authority on the U.S. business system,
takes the view that the resources,
creativity and productive power of private
business will have to be utilized in meeting
social goals because the job is too big for
government. Mr. Edward K. Hamilton, the
deputy mayor of New York City, though
agreeing with Mr. Drucker on many points,
takes the position that in the case of many
social problems, "Thereis no substitute for
a massive federal investment of money and
manpower."
There seems little question but what
both government and business will be
increasingly involved in many social areas.
Whether the emphasis is on total
dependence on government action or on
utilization of the private sector will have
much to do with such things as levels of
inflation, degrees of economic freedom
and, in general, the political character of
the country. Also, it will have to be
determined if some of the goals which we
have set are attainable. We are, for
example, likely to always have some people
living below levels of economic affluence
which many people consider adequate. And
being realistic about it, the itinerate farm
worker is probably not going to have as
good medical care instantly available to
him as, say, the President of the United
States. He wouldn’t anywhere else in the
world either. In many of our national goals,
a little touch of realism wouldn’t hurt a bit.
Politically, the problem of achieving our
big list of social goals is a tough one. The
public is rebellious on the subject of higher
taxes and inflation, but as Mr. Drucker
points out, most of the people seem to want
more public services and government
responsibility for this or that. Very few
want less. Government can’t achieve
results in all the areas in which it has
assumed responsibility without vastly
increasing the size of bureaucracy, the
level of taxation or inflation. Probably, it
can’t attempt the job without increasing all
three. Mr Drucker’s view overall is that we
are not going to see any shrinkage of
Outrage is a commonly-used word to
describe consumer resentment toward
rising food prices. It should be directed
toward the acts of politicians who are
striving, by every means, to block cuts in
government spending. But most people
seem to want the good things that
government dishes out without
recognizing that they must be paid for.
Present-day prices of food and
everything else merely reflect the
inevitable collision between a nation that
has accepted living on the cuff as a way of
SUMMIT, MISS, SUN- “Federal aid
means federal control."
WESTBY, WISC, TIMES “The three ‘C’s’
of traffic safety are Caution, Courtesy and
Control Lose any of them and you could be
in trouble, especially if you lose contrab
and control of your temper is just as im
portant as control of the vehicle ”
LA SALLE, COLO, LEADER “If the
Misdirected Outrage
Grassroots Opinion
government but that it is inevitable that we
will see government utilizing to an ever
larger degree the talents of nongovern
mental organizations, particularly
business".. .to help carry what is rapidly
proving to be an unbearably heavy load for
the taxpayer."
Mr. Hamilton expresses the opinion that
if we have not solved some of our problems
it is because we haven't spent enough on
them. We have long had a hybrid economy,
part public and part private. He.points out
that we already utilize the contracting
device to enlist the services of private
enterprise, as Mr. Drucker advocates, and
says our failure to achieve all social ends is
not because we turned our backs on the
private sector or that the right “. .
.mechanisms have not yet been devised.”
Mr. Hamilton suggests the failure of
government in many social programs lies
not so much in the inefficiency of govern
ment as it does in the difficulty of the tasks
undertaken, such as changing life-styles,
motivations for self-ijnprovement, en
trenched housing problems, etc. He says
we are only now learning to measure the
effectiveness of social programs and
should get on to the business of devising*..
. incentives to promote the general
welfare" instead of arguing over who
should do the job.
In summing up, one can only observe
that common sense is still a priceless
ingredient when it comes to running the
affairs of a country. The price of perfection
will be prohibitive whether government
seeks to achieve it directly or tries to pay
the bill for hiring others to do the job for it.
Great improvements can be made and are
being made. There is no escaping the fact
that as more of the individual's income and
freedom is taken away for use in
achievieng broad national goals, however
laudable they may be, the more regimented
our society will become. How far we wish to
go in that direction is a matter for the
people of the United States to decide by
the power of majority public opinion. That
opinion will be formed as each of us
determines what social improvements we
really want, how close to perfection we
want to come and how much we want to
pay for it.
life and the immutable natural law that
nothing is free. There is no mystery about
rising prices in today’s inflationary'
economy. What is amazing is that
America’s production and distribution
system, from farm and factory to consumer,
continues to turn out abundance such as
the world has never before seen. Un
precedented, inflation-breeding govern
ment spending and the growing size and
oppressiveness of our centralized
bureaucracy would long ago have sapped
the vitaility of a lesser nation.
value of the dollar doesn’t stop dropping
and the cost of merchandise doesn’t stop
rising we may be forced to carry mer
chandise to buy money.”
MORRIS, MINN., TRIBUNE; “Somebody
was speaking about taxes the other day
and how extremely high they are when the
Old Timer said he could remember when
he was only his brother’s keeper. Now he
says he’s his Uncle’s keeper, too ’’
I- • I
I NOW IS
•s 1
I THE TIME . ..
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
TO BE ACCURATE WITH
CORN HERBICIDES
Many corn fields will be
sprayed tor weed control in the
next few weeks. There are almost
as many different corn weed
killers as there are corn
varieties; each of them has to be
evaluated for its particular job in
the weed control program. Spray
applicators are urged to become
familiar with the different ones to
be certain they are using the
herbicide that will control their
particular weed problem. Also,
be sure that the amount and
timing is correct. The amount of
atrazine per acre should be kept
to a minimum if fall grain is to be
planted in that same ground. The *
1973 Agronomy Guide is a very
good reference publication for all
kinds of weed control.
TO MAKE PLANS TO HARVEST
QUALITY FORAGE
Seldom has there been a time
when it is more important to
harvest the maximum amount of.
top quality hay or grass silage.
Most hay mows are empty and
silage supplies getting low. This
means that whether the hay crop
is to go for hay or silage, it is very
important to get it cut at the right
stage of maturity and to get it
into storage with a minimum of
nutrient losses. The weather
conditions may be a problem for
making top quality hay; the
alternative is to make the crop
into low-moisture silage, making
use of field conditioning and a
“HANG IN THERE!”
Lesson for May 20,1973
kckirtunrf Scripture: Isaiah 40:25-31;
2 Corinthians 4:15; 12:9, 10; Phi*
lippians 4:10*13.
Devotional Reading: Psalms t 4.
“The hero,” Emerson once said,
“is no braver than the ordinary
man, but he is brave five minutes
longer.” Courage is often a mat
ter of “hanging in there” long
enough.
This is also true in terms of re
ligious faith. Per
sistence and re
fusal to give in
are often the ele
ments that win
the battles of
faith. Defeat is
often attributable
to the fact some-
one did not hold
Rev. Althouse on quite long
enough.
So close, yet so far
Near the top of Mount Wash
ington there is a marker on the
trail to show the spot where a
woman climber lay down to die.
On a clear day, her decision
seemed ridiculous: she was no
more than one hundred steps
from the summit and a shelter
cabin. But she had not climbed
the mountain on a clear day and
that fatal day she saw only the
storm and its dark clouds all
about her. Tired, frightened, con
fused, she gave up and lay down
to die within a stone’s throw of
the cabin that would have saved
her life If only she had kept on!
How many tragic stories have
ended under similar circumstan
ces’ People have met disaster or
wilting period to get rid of the
excess moisture. Special at
tention should be given to forage
harvesting ahd every effort made
to get the job done at the right
time and to harvest the
maximum pounds of feed
nutrients per acre.
TO STORE WOOL
CLIP PROPERLY
Wool prices are higher than
last year but not near as good as
predicted several months ago.
However, it is suggested that
local producers shear their sheep
soon and store the wool in a clean,
dry place. This is very important
if the wool is to be sold through
one of the nearby wool grading
places. The one in Berks County
is set for June 13 at the Reading
Fair Grounds, Reading, Pa. The
one at Carlisle in Cumberland
County is usually the week
following Reading. The wool
graders will look for clean dry
fleeces tied with the flesh side out
and tied with paper twine. Good
handling and care may mean
several cents per pound more for
the wool. Additional information
is available from our local Ex
tension Office.
Put Safety First
In Patio Doors
Today’s consumers are not
only quality conscious, but
safety conscious as well. For
instance, when selecting patio
doors, homeowners look for
safety glass that will not shat
ter into dangerous shards if
broken.
Ponderosa pine patio doors
now offer safety glass as a
standard feature.
perished without knowing how
close at hand was their help or
their goal. Unable to see ahead,
they have given up and suffered
defeat unnecessarily. What they
have needed in most cases has
been the power to “hang in there”
just a little longer.
Often the key to victory or sal
vation in cases such as these is
our faith in God’s grace. We can
keep going, keep hanging on, if
we know that God’s help is suf
ficient for all our needs. It is this
trust in God’s power that enables
us to persevere. As Isaias puts it;
He gives power to the faith,
and to him who has no might
he increases strength. Even
youths shall faint and be
weary, and young men shall
fall exhausted; but they who
wait for the Lord shall renew
their strength, they shall
mount up with wings like
eagles, they shall run and not
be weary, they shall walk and
not faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31).
Actually, we do not need to ask
ourselves whether we are equal
to the task, for God himself sup
plies what we need. “My grace is
sufficient for you,” promises the
Lord, and what this means is that
we will receive, if we qccept it,
resources equal to our needs. “I
can do all things in him who
strengthens me,” says Paul. He
can “do all things” because it is
God who strengthens him, who
gives him what he needs.
Knowing this, often we can
“hang in there” longer, long
enough, to see the problem
through, to outlast the danger, to
survive the crisis. The knowledge
that his grace is sufficient for all
our needs, and our trust in that
grace, give us the power to go on
Based on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in th« USA
Released by Community Hre>» Service