PAGE FOUR
EDITORIAL
not a luxury
When the question of municipal support for the
Back Mountain Memorial Library was so roundly
defeated Nov. 3, most area residents who had voted
against it grunted their approval and assumed that
nothing more would be heard from — or of — the
library again.
Actually, the lop-sided vote was as like a pebble
cast into a quiet pool; the ever-widening rings it
created have already focused attention—
unfavorable attention—on our community. Who
will believe that ours is the progressive community
we say it is when we refused to keep alive our
library?
A WBRE-TV editorial telecast Nov. 4 states our
sentiments quite succinctly:
“A widely held view can be summed up as: ‘You
don’t help those who refuse to help themselves.”
We've heard it advanced most strongly in matters
of welfare and, we suspect, some of the staunchest
advocates of helping only those who help them-
selves are among those who refused in Tuesday’s
Election to support the Back Mountain Memorial
Library.
We grant there were many things unfortunate
in the way the issue was handled. Indeed, we think
it had no business being on the ballot; no one yet
has asked the voters whether they choose to sup-
port public schools or the maintenance of public
roads. The fact remains however, that it was on the
ballot and that an overwhelming majority of those
who voted on the issued voted against supporting
their own public library.
It is easy—too easy—to say that if the residents
of the Back Mountain area refuse to support their .
own public library, no one should support it.
Traditionally, the Library has depended on
“outsiders’’ to help support it through an auction.
In the referendum, Library officials only tried to
put financing on a business-like basis and the
responsibility with the community it serves. While
18-hundred voters refused, 800 others voted to
support their library. Knowledge always is in short
supply and those who thirst for and seek out
knowledge always are a minority, but without them
and the resources to serve them, ours would be a
vastly worse world. Our concern then is for the 800;
that the candle’s flame they represent is not
snuffed out by the 1800.
A library is not a luxury. It is for any com-
munity the repository of knowledge upon which the
community depends for survival and hopes for
growth to a degree greater than most of us realize.
If free men forget, their enemies always have
recognized the value of the word by making it the
first they try to destroy, distort and erase.”
gasoline prices
Consumer gasoline prices are about to go up at
least a cent per gallon, what with the an-
nouncement by Gulf that the sprawling giant of the
international oil cartel is upping its wholesale
price. And the blame for the increase, obviously to
be passed on to the consumer as other giants follow
suit, is going to be blamed on none other than the
President. ;
The way this all came about is that the big boys
of the oil cartel would have us first believe that
there is a shortage of crude stocks, partly because
of the dependence on foreign oil.
Secondly, there is a move on in the House Ways
and Means Committee in Washington, D.C., to slap
a tax on lead used in most gasolines in an effort to
entice the big boys of oil to leave the lead out, thus
helping in the fight against air pollution.
While few members of the House committee
have expressed their personal views on the new
proposed tax, it is a good bet that the proposal will
come out of committee within a matter of weeks,
and be presented on the floor of the House, where
even less opposition is expected. Therefore, the oil
boys are figuring they might as well concede this
one, and go after the consumer for the difference.
THE DALLAS POST, NOV. 19, 1970
| thissa 'n thatta
blue day
gh.
by The Gaffer
Very possibly it is just another case of
Blue Monday, but the news this morning
depresses me. I might say that my spirits are
at a very low ebb and I cannot immediately
pinpoint the reason. Some of the headlines
should have been cheering; for instance, the
General Motors strike appears to be nearing a
settlement; Isarel appears to be about. to
return to the Middle East peace talks;
Montreal is quiet and the yippies in London
who mobbed the David Frost show did
themselves more harm than good, although I
cannot see why English law doesn’t take some
steps to punish them.
I guess it boils down to three headlines—
“McGovern Favors Ban of FBI Agents in
Campus Protests;”” ‘Nixon to Divide
Country, Muskie Asserts” and last, but not
least “Nader Group Critical of Medical
Profession.” :
A careful reading of the McGovern story
bore out my opinion that McGovern really
favors campus violence, although he uses as
his reason an opinion poll of police chiefs and
qualifies his threat of seeking legislation to
forbid the FBI from investigating campus
violence by stating that he would favor it if
the FBI were called for by college presidents.
Naturally college presidents of the permis-
sive type would choose to conceal their own
weaknesses and there would be no calls from
them.
McGovern hasn’t convinced me one iota
that he really favors law and order on
campuses or anywhere else and, as Iseeit, is
taking such steps as he can to weaken it.
As far as Muskie is concerned, his
statement is an absurdity. Nixon certainly
has no idea whatsoever of dividing the
country. Nixon has been trying to unite the
country and preserve it as the citadel of law
and order it has generally been since the Civil
War. Muskie’s notion is to divide the country
so that the big half will want him for president
in 1972, and he has no business faulting Nixon
for the very thing which he is trying to -do
himself.
But on reflection, Muskie has every right
to aspire to the presidency, and maybe he will
get it some day. I wouldn't even mind if I
could convince myself that he has the same
concern for the U.S.A., its laws and its in-
ternational safety as Nixon has.
, McGovern is a born fool, so it must be
that my depression is based on the Nader
_ headline.
Nader, I believe the country could do
without. He has damaged industry after in-
dustry, profession after profession and even
presidency to the village dog catcher.
He has not accomplished much, except
for getting a large sum from General Motors
Corp. (and taken it away from GM stock-
holders) in settlement of a libel suit which he
brought against them and I wonder if he isn’t
trying for another one—really running a sort
of blackmail game. ;
I hasten to add that I am not a GM stock-
holder, although I would like to be a great big
one. I don’t recall just what Nader’s lawsuit
was about, but he had goaded the big cor-
poration into reprisal and it hired some
detective agency to make a bum out of him,
something that should have been easy to do.
The detective agency bungled it up, so a court
of law punished General Motors stockholders
by levying a big fine on the company, thereby
protecting Nader’s flanks from future
harassment. The other corporations are now
scared to death of him.
As I have written before, why doesn’t he
start a company of his own in order to show
how easy it is to run one according to his
expensive and impractical ideas? He could
use his libel balm money for capital.
He has bludgeoned the bankers, ac-
cording to the headline which lowered my
spirits (damned if they aren’t improving right
now) ; is about to go after Du Pont and is now
menacing the doctors.
Well, there may be plenty of things wrong
with the doctors, but mostly the public objects
to their high prices and if Nader can do any-
thing about that, I will eat my words. Doctors -
aren’t perfect because they are people, but
I've known a great many doctors and have
every confidence that their professional skill
and ethies are fully equal to Nader’s. By the
way, what protession does Nader claim other
than that of a professional troublemaker?)
What bugs me is where Nader gets the
money for this attack on our economic and
governmental system. Certainly the obvious
result can be nothing other than a general
increase in prices and taxes and a lowering of
corporate dividends.
What are this man’s real political prin-
ciples?
Why doesn’t he investigate and snipe at
the labor unions? Labor unions have great
power over the economy and have been
operated none too creditably from the
standpoint of internal democracy and ex-
ternal adherence to the country’s laws.
It may be that a key to his financing may
be found thereby.
our system of government from the
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‘mother, what building is that?”
by Eric Mayer
“Listen—a sound . . . ”’ Like the dry rattle
of leaf skeletons against boarded windows,
like the cold tapping of autumn rain on dusty
glass. A sound.
‘“They’re coming back.” A whisper
passes down the dark, booklined passages,
swept along on the parched breath of yellow-
ing pages.
“They’re coming again.”’ From binding
to binding, where titles fade and peel, the
word is passed. Up and down the shelf cliffs it
clambers, alerting the cloth and paper
denizens of the caves. Racing along dank cor-
ridors, the rumor wends its” way through a
dim maze, reaching out into each alcove,
touching each and every book. ‘They’re
coming back, at last.”
Cover to cover, rustling pages, fragile fall
leaf pages, sound the alarm.
“Wake up Aesop, clear your throat. Soon
they’ll arrive, and wake Homer too.” A
murmuring silence, a bustling darkness, calls
the entombed books back to life. Downstairs
and up, the night is suddenly thick with life.
“—and you, Alice, fetch the Mad Hatter
(He probably hasn’t missed them all this
time) and the cheshire cat, and the rabbit—if
you can. Bring them all, even the Queen of
Hearts; and hurry, any minute now they’ll be
here.”
Time, settled like dust on desks and books
and shelves alike, is stirred, rising into the
night in luminous small clouds.
“Hurry—Pass the word. They’ll want
Christopher Robin and Pooh—and Peter
Rabbit. Even Mr. Toad. He can finally rev up
his motor car again, and yes—the Grinch—
“tell him to get ready too. But don’t tarry. I
can’t understand what’s kept them this
long.”
So the alert goes out and the citizens of
the library, watching expectantly in their
paper and ink houses, are ready.
Thick and thin books, large and small,
age-bleached books and bright new ones, all
wait. Novice volumes, still on their first card
of sign-outs, heed the advice of scarred
veterans. ‘‘Oh, they can get rough. I’ve been
dropped in a few mud puddles on the way
home (you can see how my right corner’s
crushed) and there are always those sticky
fingers. I've tasted more than one chocolate
bar in my time. But then again, they won’t set
coffee cups on you. It’s worth it really. But
where are they?”
“Where are they?’’ The question flutters
through the stillness, unanswered. The dust
begins to settle again, a protective blanket
atop the card cabinets and check-out desks.
The library sighs, a collective subliminal
sign—ashen and brittle with time.
“Maybe it was only a mouse.” “But I
heard it—.”” “Maybe the mice are feasting on
our bindings again. Maybe what we heard
was just the mice, clattering through the
gloom in search of paste. Maybe.”
“Yes, maybe—"
The dusty snow floats downward. The
book denizens, disappointed, crawl back into
their paper homes, unread, and the library
lapses back into a long winter.
‘‘Maybe next time Alice. Tell your friends
to save their stories till tomorrow. Maybe
they’ll be back then.”
Outside, a cold mist of rain makes a brief
descent from heavy, low traveling storm
clouds. Bending beneath a single umbrella,
two figures hrrry through the steely twilight.
jotlings...
where but in America?
by Jane Wildoner
Well, it’s all over now but the shouting.
Pennsylvania has a new governor-elect who
will probably be blamed for slapping an in-
come tax (or some other kind of tax on us. I
think, in Pennsylvania’s immediately past
political situation, it wasn’t a case of “Ya
pays yer money and ya takes yer choice,” but
rather, “Ya makes yer choice and ya pays
yer money”’!
Has anyone, ever, at any time in history,
tried blaming himself for the raising o’ the
tax? And held his tongue, instead of letting it
loose at both ends with a swivel in the middle,
in his demand for new andmore and better?
And been satisfied to throttle back and enjoy
the sights of what he has, instead of racing
full speed ahead in his endeavor to get there
first to get his hands on the most?
Back to the election—If I never rejoiced
in the fact that I am a citizen of a democracy
(however imperfect it may be), I did so
during this last election campaign. You've
probably heard it said, “More often than not a
man’s offspring will follow in his footsteps
when it comes to religion and politics.
Well, in these days of demonstrations for
equal rights, the offspring may find himself
on the far side of the fence from both his Ma
and Pa. Having for a long time found myself
in the same political corral with my folks and,
except for minor issues, seen eye-to-eye with
them, this time I felt like some kind of
maverick calf looking over the fence at the
whole clan only to find them looking back,
wondering what they did wrong in my up-
bringing!
Fortunately, ours was not one of those
irresistible-force-meeting-immovable-object
confrontations, and the election is water over .
the dam now; we call all go back to pulling
each others’ political legs over whose man
beat whose man. But, where else can a
situation like that happen without the threat
of dire consequences?
And how about that magnificent
mustachioed man, Dan Flood? Did you
receive a reminder of the list of publications
available for distribution by members of
Congress to homemakers and residents of
cities and towns, a short while ago, from our
honorable Congressman? Or, aren’t you on
his postal patron mailing list? If any of us had
any doubts that we’re having the wool pulled
over our eyes, we surely didn’t show that we
don’t like it at the polls Nov. 3!
Next election, I'm going to propose a
nomination changing Dan Flood’s name to
“Flash” Flood because he is just like a great
wall of water bearing down on both
Republicans and Democrats alike. For my
“money, I hope-it keeps raining in his water-
shed area for many elections yet to come!
One man’s (or woman’s) opinion, of
course. But where else can it happen except
right here in our good old imperfect
democracy, the United States of America!
One, a child, gazes up at the ghostly white
building that sits abandoned on the hilltop
across the road. A faint draft of warm, mustz
air seems to brush him, like phantom breat!
So he looks up toward the half-boarded
windows, blank, glassy eyes reflecting the
neutral grayness of the sky.
“What building is that?”
“The library,” his mother answers,
hurrying him along.
“Is that where they keep books?”’ The
mother nods, a pale figure under a pale sky.
“We had to close it’ she explains defen-
sively. “It cost too much. Taxes—"’ The child
seems puzzled.
“Well—you’ll understand someday.”
As they pass the abandoned building the
child throws one last quizzical glance over his
shoulder.
Inside, the books settle back to sleep.
Water drips noisily through some neglected
hole in the ceiling. Mildew is as bad as fire.
| the empty pew
by the Rev.
W. Jene Millgs
One of the major causes of trouble in the
churches of today is the widening rift between
the ‘pulpit’ and the ‘‘pew.”
The reason is NOT because the preachers
have changed, either. That has been the whip- -
ping boy of the reactionary forces. But, thes
real reason is simply that there i
requirements for being a pastor, but none for
being a member!
Churches have allowed people to think
they could have their names added to a
church school roll and attend less than one
time a month, and still call themselves
“members of the class.” That’s blasphemy.
You could not even call yourself a First
Grader and do that. You certainly cannot call
yourself a Church School student on the basis
of such shoddy and undisciplined disloyalty.
Churches have allowed people to think
they could have their names on a church
membership list and attend less than one time
a year, and still call themselves ‘‘Christian.”’
Except for shut-ins, who can’t go anywhere
else, either, that’s blasphemy.
You could not call yourself a member of a
civic club and do that. Jesus was not put fo
death because he made it easy for men to 4
up their cross daily and follow Him. Oh, yu
did not intend to reject God or deny His
Claim, it was just that the Church allowed you
to get by with such dishonest commitment
and vow. .
Churches have allowed people. to milf
they could give little or no time and money to
build human values and still think they could
build their own strong personalities and souls.
And suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction,
ulceration and family dissolution are ram-
pant in our culture.
You could not even call yourself a ball
player and do that.
The Right To Write
To THE POST:
We wish to thank all of Bill’s friends w.
contributed to the Back Mountain Memor¥
Library or the Trucksville Volunteer Fire Co.
as a memorial to him.
Sincerely,
Gertrude Moss and Family
Tie SDALLASC0ST
A non-partisan, liberal, and progressive newspaper published every Thursday morn-
ing by Northeastern Newspapers Inc. from 41 Lehman Ave., Dallas, Pa. 18612.
Entered as second class matter at the post office at Dallas, Pa., under the Act of
March 3, 1869. Subscription within county, $5 a year. Out-of-county subscriptions,
$5.50 a year. Call 675-5211 for subscriptions.
The officers of Northeastern Newspapers Inc. are Henry H. Null 4th, president and
publisher; J. R. Freeman, vice president.
Editor emeritus, T. M. B. Hicks; managing editor, Doris R. Mallin; editor of the
/ ~ editoral page, Shawn Murphy.
only yesterday
FORTY YEARS AGO
Uncle Peter Brong, blind storekeeper at
Evans Falls, is celebrating his 82nd birthday.
Uncle Peter can find a pound of coffee
on the shelves as well as anybody, and make
been in dificulties. Late one stormy night, a
motorist called to get gasoline. Uncle Peter
dressed, went downstairs, and started to
pump the gas. The driver slugged him and
robbed the store. Probably never knew Uncle
Peter was blind.
change without trouble. Only once has he
Jacob Huntsinger 79, pioneer North
Mountain lumberman, is buried in Orcutt
Cemetery.
Chet Culver, Dallas baseball pitcher, is at
Pittston hospital with a fractured leg, result
of a mine accident.
THIRTY YEARS AGO |
You can get a set of teeth for only a dollar
down, and pay the balance while you're
wearing them.
Charlie Smith, Beaumont, paid an
election bet promptly, depositing a four-day
old Guernsey bull calf on Doc Jeter’s desk at
the Dallas Bank. Ferdinand was securely
bound in a feed bag, only his head protruding.
The new theater of war centers about
Greece. The British fleet is assembled at
Salonika to help repel the Italian invasion.
As 2 million turkeys die in a western freeze,
prices advance locally, and Back Mountain
turkey raisers expect to do a roaring
business.
TWENTY YEARS AGO
Kiler Updyke is reported as getting along
nicely in a base hospital in Korea, able now to
walk, after being seriously injured by a
mortar shell.
Back Mountain Kennel Club elected
Austin K. Howard president, Robert Bach-
man vice president.
A.J. Sordoni Jr., was elected president of .
Commonwealth Telephone Co., succeeding
his father, Senator Sordoni.
Christmas lighting will brighten Dallas. k
“streets Dec. 1.
tr De OO
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