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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20,1950
Thought For The Day—
"Co-operation and not competition is the life of trade." William C. Fitch
No News Is GOOD NEWS
It seems as though the time has come again for long automobile trips and the possibility of accidents.
We could go on at length admonishing, horrifying, or pleading with our readers, but we shall refrain.
We know that college students have sense enough to read road signs, stay within the speed limits, and drive intelligently and carefully.
We shall not repeat our recital of the details of what can happen, but we shall voice the hope that when school begins again, the University Daily Kansan will not have any news stories about accidents of any sort.
Remember that the folks at home want to see you as much as you want to see them, so drive safely and give everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
-J. A. B.
The Public's Pulse
Dear Editors
Lo, the poor Socialists! Being blamed for tax supported free schools, the income tax amendment and the wage and hour laws is an indignity which should not be heaped on any political movement of an advancing nation of free people. But to even suggest that Social Security and the proposed national health program may be btained by Socialism is indeed a blow to the right wingers' whipping boy, Socialism.
Perhaps, Mr. Bannigan, we can take some of the pressure off the poor persecuted Socialists who seem to get blamed for everything short of national prohibition. We may have to yield some concessions to those who find Social Security a little left of center, for federal collection and administration of funds for those over 65 does smack of the welfare state.
But to label Our Harry's national health program as Socialism! What an affront Mr. Bannigan! Surely you can recognize that nothing proposed by the Fair Dealers can even hint of Socialism. Better to term it bureaucracy, that wonderful product of the Golden Age of 1933 to 45 and extended in these last five years. That same wonderful bureaucracy that gave us a cave full of eggs in Atchison and a mountain of bluestained potatoes in Maine. That same wonderful bureaucracy that gave us the servicemens' insurance program which would have been $400 million
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doesn't make many friends on the highway either.
FAST DRIVING
Courtesy of the National Safety Council
cheaper had they given the insurance away instead of selling it. That same wonderful bureacracy that has stored enough writing paper and paper clips for the next 150-years. That same wonderful bureacracy that has the taxpayers stumbling under a tax load weighted by a deluge of Washington bureaus and pork-barrelers.
Our bureaucracy had a close call a couple of years back when that Conservative (nasty word) Hoover checked through the snarls of our bureaucratic confusion and came up with recommendations that would eliminate the waste and duplicities of function of our bureaucracy. But Our Harry came through after a few token reforms and bureaucracy still reigns in confusion.
And now we've come up with something that promises to be even more confusing and wasteful. A national health program, the ultimate in bureaucratic disorder. What difference if health insurance is now offered to the public, and charities and clinics offer medical aid to those who cannot afford it? It will at least provide an outlet for a couple hundred thousand tons of forms (in quadruplicate) and a hundred acres of filing cabinets. And the added taxes will mean little, for of what significance is a nickel for health insurance compared to a dollar for blue-stained potatoes?
So, please, Mr. Bannigan, don't give the credit for national health insurance to the persecuted Socialists. They are blamed for so many things today. The bureaucrats deserve every whit of the credit.
Journalism Senior
Following Mr. Richards' unintelligible remarks in Monday's Kansan, you comment, "Need we say more?" You need, Mr. Bannigan, because neither you nor any other else has yet said anything in the Kansan about federal health insurance.
Here We Go!
Fred McKinnell
First, the history and policies of the A.M.A. are irrelevant to the discussion of national health insurance. A favorite method of arguing for N.H.I. seems to be to damn its unpopular opponents, which is as logical as arguing for capitalism by simply damning the Communist party.
There are several points that should be brought out with regard to the administration's plan and its treatment in the Kansan.
Secondly, the spending of money by the A.M.A. is characterized as
Courtesy of the National Safety Council
some sort of affront to the public morals. The fact is that, good or bad, lobbying and political spending have been carried on in this country for years. And the labor unions, for example, have often forced contributions from their members.
Thirdly, it has been stated that Mr. Ewing's plan is purely voluntary for the doctor. But consider the great social and economic pressure that would be brought to bear upon the non-participating doctor by his potential patients, who would already have paid may be voluntary, practically it is compulsory.
Fourthly, it is erroneously assumed that the public health depends solely upon the medical care available. Mr. Chapin flatters the medical profession by saying that all we need is a redistribution of doctors. Public health rests in considerable measure upon the living and working conditions of the people, matters largely outside the influence of doctors or N.H.I.
Fifthly, federal payment of medical care would not create more medical care. That is, if more care is to be made available it must come from a greater number of doctors. The N.H.I. bills may have provisions for increasing the number of doctors via federal aid to medical schools, but such provisions do not enter into the issue of health insurance, per se, as proposed by Oscar Ewing.
"The Ewing Plan goes altogether too far in my judgment in providing for insurance against the cost of minor ailments for which the major responsibility should fall upon the individual.
My views on the administration's health plan are pretty well summed up by these remarks of Senator Douglas:
Finally, it is assumed that there is no logical step the federal government can take other than through the Ewing plan. This is unfortunate, for N.H.I. is singularly unpopular even among Fairdealers, and at least one outstanding compromise plan has been offered—by Senator Douglas of Illinois.
Since the Blue Cross and Blue Shield merely insure against the catastrophic costs of sickness . . . This would use insurance for its real purpose, namely as a protection against heavy and foreseeable losses."
John D. King Freshman, Medicine
Read the Daily Kansan Daily
The Kansas Power and Light Company extends its best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
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