18
—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 2, 1975
StjfED ESHLEMAH’S
mSHIHGTON REPORT
The energy questions
facing Congress and the
Nation are so complicated
that any action pertaining to
them becomes confusing.
Recently I cast two votes
regarding oil policy that I
am going to try to explain in
this column because each
vote, in its own way,
represented a fundamental
Look neighbor...
THAT’S BIG VOLUME
YOU CAN COUNT ON US
AGRI-EQUIP. I. G.'s AG. SALES
RD#2 Farmersville Ephrata PA Rt 113 Box 200 Silverdale PA
717 354-4271 215-257 5135
ROY 0. CHRISTMAN LANDIS BROTHERS INC.
RDI (Shartlesville) Hamburg PA 19526 1305 Manheim Pike
215 562-7218 or 215 488 1904 Lancaster PA 717 393 3906
DEPENDABLE MOTOR CO. HENRY S. LAPP
cast Mam Street Honey Brook PA RDI Cams Gap PA 17527
215 273 3131 717 442 8134
ERB & HENRY EQUIP., INC. CARL L. SHIRK
22 26 Henry Avenue New Perlmvtlle PA 5 Ccleorook Road Leoanon PA
215 367 2169 717 274 1436
GRUMELLi FARM SERVICE M. E. SNAVELY
Robert Fulton H.gnway Quarr/vili' PA 455 South Ceoar Street Litit? PA
717 786 7318 717 626 8144
WEAVER STAR SILO INC. M. S. YEARSLEY & SON
RDI Myerstowr , ,14 [ Market St
717 866 5709 West Chester PA 19380 215 696 2990
problem in dealing with our
energy crisis
In the first vote cast, I
opposed President Ford’s
plan to decontrol the price of
oil. Though it has been my
position that economics
rather than rationing should
be used to regulate
petroleum consumption, the.
government should not get
out of the picture altogether.
That point was driven
home by the oil companies
themselves with their ar
bitrary decision to raise
gasoline prices just before
the July 4th holiday. So long
as they show little or no
concern for the public in
terest in matters of
economic judgment, those of
us with a sworn obligation to
represent the public interest
must continue to exercise
some control over petroleum
pricing policies. Therefore, I
voted to continue the con
trols on oil costs, although
that does not mean there
cannot or should not be
adjustments to the price
structure in the future
The second vote was
concerned with the
Presidnet’s veto of a
congressional proposal to
roll back oil prices In this
instance I voted to support
the Presidnet’s view that a
roll back would be com
pletely irresponsible. This
view also represented the
feeling of many others in
cluding newspapers of
widely divergent views such
as the Wall Street Journal
and the Washington Post.
Assistant secretary
of agriculture named
Richard E Bell has been
appointed assistant
secretary of agriculture for
international affairs and
commodity programs, ac
cording to Paul H. Keeney
Chairman of Berks County
Agricultural Stabilization
and Conservation Com
mittee.
Secretary of Agriculture
Earl L. Butz administered
the oath of office to the
career official who joined the
Department of Agriculture
16 years ago and who has
seved as deputy assistant
secretary of agriculture for
internatinal affairs and
commodity programs since
June 1973.
Bell, 41, succeeds Clayton
Yeutter of Lincoln, Neb,
who resigned to become the
President’s deputy special
trade representative.
Born January 7, 1934 in
Clinton, 111., Bell grew up on
a corn-soybean-livestock
farm in central Illinois. He
joined the Department’s
Foreign Agricultural Service
(FAS) in 1959 after obtaining
his B.S. (cum laude) and
M S degrees in agricultural
economics from the
University of Illinios at
Urbana.
Bell worked as an
The Post called the roll back
plan “a disastrously bad
idea”.
Why’ Chiefly because the
end result would be no new
production of American oil.
A study done by one of the
country’s leading liberals,
and one who certainly is not
likely to be supporting the oil
company position, revealed
that a price of $12.73 a barrel
is needed to procude new oil
at a reasonable profit. Yet,
the roll back price would
have been five dollars below
that floor. No one would
gamble on oil production at a
loss of five dollars on every
barrel.
With no new domestic oil
we would be foced to turn to
the Arabs for our petroleum
needs. We would announce to
them that we have quit
exploring for oil in the U.S.,
and by the end of 1976, we
would be dependent on them
for more than half our
petroleum demand.
Then what would happen
to the price? The oil
producing nations have
already announced they will
be substantially increasing
the world oil price this fall. If
we became largely depen
dent on them for the fuel we
must have, the price would
continue to go up and up and
we would have no control
over the situation and no
choice but to pay the going
price.
Sure, there’s plenty of oil
around now if we continue to
import more and more if it
But do we really want to
subject ourselves to price
blackmail, or even worse the
blackmail or threatening a
cut-off of supplies? No
responsible legislation can
propose that kind of alter
native
It’s a tough issue Price
increases in oil will not be
popular but are inevitable no
matter what road we take
I’m going to continue my
efforts of trying to make sure
that it’s oil production and
not oil profits that we’ll be
buying Because for all of the
confusion and complications
the chief issue is reallj
i ather simple - we must have
energy independence
economic analyst on Soviet
agriculture in FAS here until
late 1961 when he was ap
pointed assistant
agricultural attache at the
American embassy on Ot
tawa, Canada. He sub
sequently served as
assistant agricultural at
tache at the American
embassy in Brussels,
Belgium and as agricultural
attache at the American
embassy in Dublin, Ireland.
He returned here in 1968 to
become chief of grain
marketing operations for
FAS. In 1970, he was ap
pointed director of the Grain
and Feed Division of FAS
and served in this position
until his appointment as
deputy assistant secretary.
GLICK'S
Distributor for
ROOFING £ SPOUTING
BAKED ENAMEL TIN ROOFS
Colors: Turquoise, Tan, Red, White
ALSO BAKED ALUMINUM
Colors: Green, White, Tan, Red.
FULL SERVICE DEALER
SALES & INSTALLATION
SAMUEL B. CLICK
R.D.I, Kinzer, PA Ph.(717)442-4921
Please call before 7 A.M.
or after 6 P.M.
Call Your
HUSKEE-BILT MAN!
Huskee Gives You
•Full 6x6" Poles
• Amencan made steel
Spacious Doors
Factory Assembled Ti
Top grade lumber thr
Eave heights to 19'
Also Ask About Our..
CONIROIiHI BWIRONMHT BUKJNNG
A Canter controiad anvironinant bidding maana haaviar haalthiar
animals, reduced labor and faad coals and almost no manure handling
or odor. Thay pay tarlhamaalvas in no time'
Earlier this year, he
received the Distinguished
Service Award, the
Department’s highest honor,
for this leadership in in
ternational trade. In 1973, he
received the Department’s
Superior Service award for
his work in promoting wheat
exports.
In his new post, Bell will
direct the operations of the
Agricultural Stabilization
and Conservation Service,
the Federal Crop Insurance
Corporation and the Foreign
Agricultural Service.
He will also serve as a
member of the board of
directors of the Commodity
Credit Corporation and the
Federal Crop Insurance
Corporation.