Page 4
EDITORIAL
Public Hearings?
We cannot say that we disagree completely
with Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s
recent decision to allow UGI Corporation, Luzerne
Electric Division, to increase its rate if an amended
application is filed by Dec. 24. We realize utility
firms must be allowed to make fair value and
allowable return on their properties used in the
public service.
We can’t even argue with UGI for seeking
increased rates. That is their prerogative, after all.
Certainly if a company is rendering a public utility
service, it is essential that it have sufficient
revenues to provide adequate service.
What we do object to most strenuously is that
PUC indicates it will allow the rate hike without
holding public hearings. How can they not hear the
complainants who have filed protests with the
PUC?
In its decision of Dec. 16, PUC noted complaints
had been lodged against UGI’s rate hike and added
~ public hearings will be held on these “unless they
~ are withdrawn.”
As of Dec. 20, none of the complainants had
received notice from PUC on public hearings. In
~ fact, they had received no communications of any
kind from PUC. Those who had their protests
docketed in the commission office indicated there
will be no withdrawing of their protests.
If public hearings are to be held before Dec. 24
when the amended rate hike is supposed to go into
effect, the PUC is cutting the time very close.
According to ‘‘Organization and Function of
the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission”’, the
utility’s fair value and allowable return are
“determined by the PUC following public hearings,
subject to court review.”
When are the public hearings to be held?
Giants Again
The corporate giants of industry have slapped
down the small businessman again in 1971 from
indications of most nine-month financial reports,
prompting the return of the old adage about the
rich getting richer while the poor are doing some-
thing else. And no matter whether the conservative
die-hards like to scream the old refrain about
America being the place where the individual can
get ahead, the point will not be well taken by the
small independent businessman who tried it this
year.
As an example, what bright and shining star of
the business community would like to go into the
grocery business for himself today unless he can
own a chain of supermarkets? What smalltime
merchant, retailer or not, can reach into his pocket
| and come out with the formula that exempts him
from the squeeze of the giant corporations?
Which gas station operator in this town or any
other is making more than peanuts, no matter how
much business he musters?
: During a younger America a shoestring ven-
ture could be turned into a windfall glory hole by a
man who really applied himself. Those days are
gone forever.
General Motors tells us that what’s good for the
company is good for America. And from an
economic standpoint, why not? That company,
among others, have left the market place to join
ranks with the oligopolists which virtually control
our every breath. One year they will build 10
million autos at $2500 each. The next year, with a
huge stock of the 10 million cars left, GM will build
12 million cars at $2800 each. There’s no market
place there.
And take the energy field. Look at the returns
of the giants, with El Paso Gas posting a 32.1
percent gain over last year; Getty Oil, up 34 per-
cent; and McCulloch Oil (of London Bridge fame)
up an even 40 percent. Can any of us common
mortals do that with an investment in our own
business? Hardly.
Meanwhile, government gets bigger while
exercising less and less power, except perhaps
where a gouge can be made on the consumer.
1972 may promote still more injustices, thus
leaving the independent businessman no alter-
native but to recall the adage, if you can’t beat 'em,
‘nin ’em.
®
‘
Changes
By Eric Mayer
(Continued from last week...)
His fresh-cut pine scraping along behind,
Sol headed across the concrete expanse that
should have been an orchard. A Christmas
eve snowstorm had caught him in a white,
swirling net, hauled him up out of the 19th
century and deposited him in a place where
the shops were encrusted with gaudy con-
stellations of corruscating lights; where
larger globes of light poured an equally
inexplicable but splendid raidance into the
night; where unseen choirs of angels filled the
air with carols. It might have been heaven,
except for the people who scurried about on
their mundane errands, raising a distinctly
ungodly clamor.
Disoriented, Sol’s only thought was to
cross the glaring complex in the meagre hope
that his home might still, somehow, remain in
its rightful place. Dodging several of the
horseless carriages, that roamed the concrete
like bulls in a pasture, he arrived at the walk-
way in front of the shops.
Pausing, he gaped at the legions of bright
signs and at the enormous windows filled with
strange, gleaming gadgets of unimaginable
use. As he walked through the snow that was
already being ground into a dark slush, the
crowd parted in front of him and eddied back
around his tree—a stream of humanity,
colorful packages bobbing along on its gray,
grumbling waves.
Disdainful glances tugged at the corners
of Sol’s eyes. He was vaguely aware of heads
turning with seasoned tact. A small boy
pointed excitedly at him. The mother,
features freezing, yanked him along, ‘‘No.
That’s not Santa.” Maybe his bewilderment
was showing, Sol thought, pulling nervously
at his beard. The snow was melting there,
forming droplets that glistened like stars.
He pressed on, bouyed up by visions of a
smokey stove and the candles and popcorn
strings that would decorate the Christmas
tree, if errant feet didn’t mangle it beyond
repair. “Toys” advertised a sign in eye
scaring flashes. Peering into the window Sol
could ‘see rows of what resembled the hor-
seless carriages so common to this place, and
Guest Edit
From Cervi’s Rocky Mountain Journal
Denver, Colo.
By Daniel F. Lynch
Those who complain most heatedly about
our failure to maintain law and order are
actually complaining about the small, ugly
crimes of the poor. Their complaints do not
extend to the more significant, unpunished
crimes of an entrenched financial establish-
ment.
The old populist saw had it that a lawyer
with a brief case can steal more money than a
dozen men with guns. An accountant
preparing data for submission to a regulatory
agency can perpetrate greater frauds than a
- regiment of confidence men.
An example of corporate finagling, ap-
proaching theft, may be found in the current
practices of your friendly, neighborhood
savings and loan association.
As anyone who has occasion to borrow
money knows, interest rates have gone up
sharply in recent years. This fact has caused
the S&L’s to view unhappily the many loans
made a few years ago at rates which now
THE DALLAS POST, DEC. 21, 1971
A Greenstreet News Co. Publication
Visions of A Future Christmas
also dolls, dressed grandly in a fashion that
caused him to shake his head in disbelief.
Most of the toys, carriages and dolls alike,
were equipped with switches labelled on-off.
In one corner of display a tiny locomotive
puffed around a spidery track. That at least
was familiar.
By now Sol’'s eyes ached from the
sustained brilliance of his surroundings and
the invisible singers, who had initially struck
him with awe, had become a raucous an-
noyance. He wanted silence to think. He
closed his eyes but the glaring light burned
orangely through his eye lids. He thought of
the fireplace at home, its flames casting
gentle waves of light out across the room to
lap against the dark corners.
There was a tap on his shoulder. ‘You'll
have to move along sir. Blocking the
sidewalk.” A policeman (judging from the
faint familiarity of the blue uniform) was
frowning at him, his disapproving gaze
alternating between the pine tree and the
hatchet that hung at Sol’s belt.
Sol continued down the walk, dogged by
the policemen’s ‘if this weren’t Christmas’
stare. He trudged along past stores filled with
fine china ware, elegant clothes and ex-
pensive jewelry. It hardly seemed possible.
“Merry Christmas’’ said strings of lights,
said jolly Santa Clauses and snowmen.
“Merry Christmas’’. And so it would be, if
only he could find his way back home; if only
the sparkling lights and sleek storefronts
would dissolve into quiet moonlight and
twisted apple trees; if only the strident good
cheer of the ghostly carollers would give way
to the soft, dark murmur of wind against
fresh snow.
Red faced shoppers pushed by, rushing,
laden with gifts like ants with bread crumbs,
rushing. “Only one shopping day left till
Xmas,” warned the calendar in the window.
The date was the 24th of December, 1971! Sol
moved on through the glorious trappings of
Christmas yet to come; hardly glancing at the
_ life size nativity scene with its spotlighted
manger and plaster sheep; oblivious to
“Santa’s sleigh’ were children lined up for
ten cent rides. This was 1971! Another cen-
tury.
Now he was at the extreme end of the
sidewalk. He stopped for a moment to lower
the heavy, rough barked pine from his
‘I DON'T GET NO RESPECT!
shoulder. As he did so his attention was
caught by an especially extravagent display.
Lined up in front of him were Christmas
trees—but what Christmas trees they were!
Gold and silver, their boughs were formed of
shining metal, and the trees were turning
slowly, glinting and scintillating in the
colored lights that shone up from the bases of
their steel trunks. More lights, some
elongated, others merely round, some bub-
bling or blinking in random patterns,
gleamed amid ornaments likewise of all
shapes and sizes. Cascades of thin metal
strips poured down over the sturdy limbs. Sol
thought that the branches of an ordinary tree
would snap under such a burden.
He looked from those incredible trees of
the future, back to his own rather nondescript
pine. He thought of the trouble he had each
year, first in finding a suitable tree, then in
chopping it down and dragging it home, only
to see the needles fall off in a matter of weeks.
The metal trees, according to the placards
beside them, were guaranteed for life, ‘“‘in-
destructible, fire resistant, practical, money
savers’.
Sol turned away from the gaudy display,
shouldered his tree once more, stepped out
into the drifted snow that reached cold finggg's
up over his boots. He walked, tugging We-
casionally at the pine whose branches caught
on weeds and small shrubs. The awful,
mechanical .singing was gone; a hushed
darkness semmed to seep down from between
the stars. Sol walked without turning. The
strange glaring place was gone. He could feel
it in the stillness, could hear it in the rattle of
oak leaves. Snow wraiths capered about his
ankles and the windows of his home glowed
gently ahead.
How his brief journey had happened, or
even if it had happened, he couldn’t say. Nor
could he pin down its significance. Sol stopped
before the doorway, held the tree in front
him and shook the loose snow from it®
branches. Something glimmered there in the
starlight. He pulled it out of the needles. a
papery ribbon of metal, lighter than a handf;
of snowflakes. It clung momentarily to
fingers before he cast it aside.
Close to Highway Robbery
seem low indeed. Wherever possible, savings
and loan associations like to encourage
repayment of these older loans and the ap-
plicaton for new ones at substantially greater
interest rates. That, of course, is un-
derstandable.
The tactics of the S&L’s, however, have
approached highway robbery.
In more recent deeds of trust, there ap-
pears a provision which states that a
borrower may not permit the assumption of
his loan without the approval of the savings
and loan association. The purpose of the
provision, according to the representatives of
the lenders who explain such matters at loan
closing, is to prevent the possiblity of the
owners selling to a deadbeat who cannot be
trusted regularly to make the payments. Such
representatives assure the borrower that
permission - to assume will not be
unreasonably withheld.
After the increase in interest rates,
however, the associations have used these
provisions as a blackjack to force persons to
obtain new loans. One recent example in-
volved the purchase of a $35,000 house by a
school executive who was prepared to pay
$12,000 cash down to assume a $23,000 loan.
Insights
and
by Bruce Hopkins
Vida Blue’s Christmas tree was blue. That's
so it would remind you of his last name
(clever, these baseball players). Oscar di la
Renta’s Christmas tree was constructed from
suspended crystals and mirrors. It was in-
tended to represent the sparkle and glitter of
Christmas. Germaine Greer’s Christmas tree
did not sparkle. It was dead.
The Christmas trees were on display at the
Hallmark House on Fifth Avenue. They were
Celebrity Christmas trees. Various
celebrities were asked to design a tree for the
display which would express a theme or an
idea that they were permitted to choose. Most
celebrities choose to celebrate themselves.
The trees appeared to be self-righteous
monuments to the particular designer. Most
of the trees were gawdy or grotesque or
glittery or tacky or a combination of these
things. Most evidenced about as much
creativity and thought as flowered tissue
paper.
Rod McKuen’s Christmas tree (it was re-
ferred to as a ‘‘non-tree’’) was meant to ex-
press his concern for the environment. His
concern for the environment was displayed
through a cone-shaped structure of plastic
balls held together by chicken wire. Mario
Andretti’s Christmas tree was decorated with
racing flags and automobile parts. See, it
expressed his interest in cars and speed.
Germaine Greer’s Christmas tree had no
ornaments. It was dead. It did not twinkle. It
did not blink. It did not rotate in front of
colored lights. One look at it was enough to
tell you that it was simply a dead tree. Amidst
all of the frivolity of these monuments to the
stars stood one very dead, wilted Christmas
tree. Germaine Greer’s theme was
“Christmas In Vietnam.”
For those who might not immediately grasp
the symbolism behind a dead tree and Christ-
mas in Vietnam, an explanation hung on the
Illusions
Oh,
wall beside the tree. The statement pointed
out that this tree symbolized the destruction
which chemical warfare has caused to two-
third’s of the Vietnamese countryside. The
tree had been treated with a mixture of
kerosene and soapflakes, because had the
actual chemical defoliants been used,
pregnant women might be injured if they
approached the tree. Obviously, pregnant
women in Vietnam are not extended this
courtesy. Neither are the children who drink
from the streams and eat the food raised in
that country. Miss Greer’s statement ex-
pressed her concern with the hypocrisy of
those filled with the Christmas spirit, who
send their warm wishes for peace on earth
while advocating the destruction of another
country through chemical warfare.
The tourists and other non-celebrities
gathered around this dead carcas of a tree.
They seemed puzzled. They seemed to
wonder what possible relationship this thing
could have to the spirit of Christmas.
*‘Eeeiioo,”’ or something to that effect, re-
marked a little girl.
“Ugh,” exclaimed another child. “What is
it? It’s so ugly.” ;
“Well, now let’s see what this sign says,’
replied their mother, possessing her soul in
patience. She began reading the sign aloud,
but paused when she reached the word “‘preg-
nant.” Without uttering the word aloud she
hustled her children off explaining that there
were prettier trees further on. How sad that
this woman was afraid to have her children
understand the importance of the one tree in
the celebrity display that said something—
everything—about peace on earth. Whether it
was pregnancy that she wanted to hide from
her children, or whether it was the in-
humanity of war that she felt ought to be kept
from them, she chose to give no explanation.
She simply hurried them on to the sparkle and
The S&L who had the loan refused to allow the
assumption unless the purchased agreed
to pay 8 per cent annual interest ratner than
7Y4 per cent pursuant to the original terms of
the note. The buyer, stung by the
association’s refusal, simply dug into his
reserves and paid cash out-of-pocket for the
entire balance of the loan. Why a person
capable of such a massive payment would be
a bad credit risk was unexplained by the
association. The real fact is that the
association used the leverage of the contract
provision to blackjack the buyer into
assuming on less favorable terms.
The law of virtually every American
jurisdiction is hostile to what are called
‘restraints on alienation,” meaning
restraints on a persons right to sell that which
he owns. Such provisions as are contained in
the S&L deeds of trust, are restraints on
alienation but might be upheld if reasonably
applied, that is if applied as a means of
preventing loss to the lender. But as applied
to the instance outlined above and in
thousands of other cases over recent years,
they would surely be striken down as
unreasonable. In spite of this, the associations
continue the pillage of the purses of their
glitter of Christmas present.
Doris Day’s Christmas tree was made out
of gingham, as is Doris herself. Joe Frazier’s
Christmas tree had ornaments of musical in-
struments and little bitty boxing
gloves, reminding all of his interest in both
music and punching. Germaine Greer’s
Christmas tree was dead.
The leaves on the dead tree hung limply—
some having fallen to the carpeted floor be-
neath it. The tree leaned forward, seeming to
ache for someone to support it. It was
frightening the way it appeared to be
reaching out, its scarred leaves crumbled and
shriveled. It was hoplessly desolate. It almost
suggested that Christmas itself was dead. But
no, it’s very presence among these monu-
ments to the stars indicated that somewhere
within some people, Christmas is still alive.
The suggestion that we have allowed the
holiday season to escape us was represented a
bit further ahead in the display. The tree
which was without doubt the epitome of ab-
surdity was that created by industrial
¢
borrowers because each borrower, to secure
his legal rights, has to face the costs of a law
suit. The associations know what they are
doing and know that in almost all cases the
people to whom they are doing it would rather
pay the price than face the law suits.
If there is a difference between t
policies of the modern savings and ol
these cases and the protection racket of the Al
Capone gang of yor, it lies in the fact that the
extortion in one case is legal, while in theg
other case it is frowned on by the law. In ef#
fect, the blackjack used by S&Ls is as ef-
fective as that used by the mob. In both cases,
thieves have at you because you haven’t the
courage or resources to fight back.
The amounts involved in these thefts by
the descreet and respectable members of the
financial mob far exceeds what the rougher,
cruder and dumber crooks of old took from
their victims. The amounts run into the
millions of dollars.
Is it any wonder that the young grow
cynical about a system which punishes the
the crimes of the rich as mere prudent
devices of business?
poor for the crimes of the poor and regards 4
Christmas Tree
designer Henry Dreyfus. His tree was con-
structed from telephone cable, and decorated
with telephone parts. In front of the tree were
several telephones, and when the receiver
was placed next to a listener’s ear, a tape-re-
corded voice announced that what the listener
was about to hear was ‘‘Jingle Bells’ played
on the dial of a touch-tone telephone. This was
presented with warm greetings for a happy
holiday season. Whereupon the listener’s ear
was badgered with bleeps to the tune of * °
“Jingle Bells.” It was absolutely devastating.
It was grotesque. To be caught helpless in the
Hallmark House with a telephone receiver
bleeping *‘Jingle Bells” into your ear would
* have to be a truly embarrassing moment to
any genuine believer in peace on earth and
good will toward men. If this is how we
celebrate the season, then there is no’
meaning to Christmas. Bleepbleepbleep,
bleepbleepbleep, bleepbleepbleepbleepbleep.
Germaine Greer’s Christmas tree was
dead. It did not twinkle. It did not blink. In it’s
death, it silently pleaded for peace. It is the
only real Christmas tree I've ever seen.
Editor emeritus: Mrs. T.M.B. Hicks
Editor: Doris R. Mallin
News editor: Shawn Murphy
Advertising: Carolyn Gass
Tie ALLASC0ST
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