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University Daily Kansan Thursday, April 25, 1963
"Home Rule" Inaction
What are the implications of a medical care program for the aged?
Is it a step toward providing needed care for elderly persons, and as such a justifiable humanitarian program, or is it simply submission to disaster-inviting dreams of bringing Utopia to the United States?
NO ONE CAN predict with accuracy that providing medical care for the aged is a step into the furnaces of socialism which reportedly will burn the strength of American character to a crisp.
The additional cost of administering from Washington any program that could be handled from offices at the state or county level is wasteful.
But there is evidence that many nation-wide programs administered from Washington are the seed bed for several social weeds that the country could well do without.
But once again we are forced to return to the question of alternatives. State governments have established records of unwillingness to accept responsibility to care for citizens.
SO. IF WE ARRIVE at the decision that any effective program—be it medical care for the aged or social security—is needed, the only way it is likely for such a program to be effected is through federal initiative. Of course, it is not a foregone conclusion that such programs are needed; many federally-sponsored programs now in effect could be eliminated.
But once we have decided that a broad program is needed, the state governments drive the hopeful to the doorsteps of federal administration. No other agency has displayed an inclination or ability to handle large programs.
Those who are fighting the concept of even a narrowly-based welfare state have not wiped the dust of the Dirty Thirties from their eyes. Such programs are here to stay, and more will follow.
THOSE WHO OPPOSE federal intervention would best concentrate on devising a philosophy which will determine which functions should best be left to the state and county and which functions the federal government is in a better position to administer.
But formulation of a philosophy will not be enough. If the local-rule advocates really want a stronger voice in running the country they so dearly love, they must show as much forcefulness in effecting programs as they now do in opposing federal action. If they do not do their job, the federal government must, and all the talk in the world about creeping socialism will never amount to more than plaintive cries in the night.
And what is worse, what truth there is in their viewpoint will be submerged and doomed along with their already expired dream of an unfettered free enterprise state.
THE NATION NEEDS to hear the voices which tell us the dangers of too much federal activity. But talk alone is not enough.
Before these forces will be effectual, they must offer a plan to meet some very real needs—a plan which is more realistic than deluding themselves with the hope that the United States could and will prosper as the land of Free Trade, as in the "good old days."
The voices favoring decreased federal activity must be listened to closely. But these voices will not be heard when they are nothing more than a disguise for a plan to do nothing.
Terry Murphy
BOOK REVIEWS
THE GOLDEN SERPENT, by Ciro Alegria (Signet Classics, 60 cents)—As paperback publishers gobble up all the best-known works there remains a vast body of writings that need to be called to the attention of the public. Such a book is "The Golden Serpent." Ciro Alegria is a Peruvian, and this novel is a revision and expansion of his story. "The Raft." The novel is vivid and colorful, describing the passage of the Maranon River through Peru, and the people who live along its banks. Alegria gives pictures of the mighty Andes, the rapids, flower girls and river men, fiestas and victims of natural disasters in this dramatic country.
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THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM, by William Dean Howells (Signet Classics, 75 cents)—When Howells is mentioned this is usually the novel that comes to mind. It is an important book, a pioneering venture in its realistic exploration of an American businessman and his methods. Silas Lapham himself is somewhat of a comic figure, a man of no heroic stature. He has risen to wealth in the paint business, but his rise came about in part through unscrupulous methods. His moral rise after the collapse of his enterprise is perhaps the chief "rise" Howells is dealing with.
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THE END OF IT, by Mitchell Goodman (Signet, 50 cents)—The war novels continue to pile up, though not in years has one of real depth appeared. This reprint is the story of Lt. Gil Freeman in Italy, an American soldier who finds in Italy and the Italian countryside and people a meaning which transcends the brutality and senselessness of war. Goodman is a New Yorker, who went to Harvard on a scholarship and entered the Army in 1943. He has been writing since 1948. In "The End of It" he has explored the nature of war rather than the ferocity and savagery of men at war,
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UNDERSTANDING CHEMISTRY, by Lawrence P. Lessing (Signet Science Library, 60 cents)—a work in which the writer tells about early theories of the nature of matter, about the development of laws concerning matter and energy, about the great discoveries, including such recent ones as synthetic fibers, plastics, fuels, antibiotics and vaccines. Lessing is an editorial consultant on science and technology to Architectural Forum and Fortune magazines.
Price Support and Acreage Control Interlock
By Terry Ostmeyer
The strained relations between U.S. agriculture and the federal government have tightened somewhat in recent years, but no matter what happens this spring promises to be a climactic one for the American farmer.
Already a record crop planting and harvest in 1963 is expected by the Agriculture Department. This is a distinct change from the falling trend experienced in the past three years.
ALL MAJOR crop plantings are expected to increase, with
wheat rising 4.1 million acres over last year and corn increasing by 3.8 million acres. Such increases would produce a total crop acreage of 2 per cent over 1962, when production equaled the 1960 record.
Of course a record crop production will depend on weather conditions which so far have been favorable except in the middle and southern Great Plains.
The main reason for this reversal in production, though, is the loosening of government controls in crop planting this
year, especially wheat and corn. Farmers have been induced to plant more because of higher support prices, extra payments, and, of course, increased acreage quotas.
STILL. UNFAVORABLE farm prices persist, as do high farm costs. Even though the farm income of $12.9 billion last year was the highest since 1953. price controls remain a problem in agriculture.
"Well, Back To The Old Grind"
Government controls in agriculture have become a definite concern of farmers, farm organizations, both political parties, and Congress. And this spring presents the greatest test of all the nationwide wheat referendum on May 21.
The wheat referendum concern new and strict controls by the Kennedy Administration. The program was authorized by Congress last year and is designed to reduce the wheat surplus, maintain farm income, and provide stable prices for consumers.
SECRETARY OF Agriculture Orville L. Freeman has devised this plan, which would cause a compulsory cutback in wheat production. Something new included in Freeman's proposal is that each wheat farmer's quota will be termed in bushels as well as acres.
Freeman also has set two wheat prices to be effective if the referendum carries. Market wheat will sell at an average of $2 a bushel and livestock feed and seed wheat will sell at $1.30.
All U.S. wheat farmers—including the small "15 acre" growers—will vote on the referendum in May. A two-thirds majority is needed for passage. If the plan carries it will be mandatory for all wheat farmers,
and if it fails the wheat support price will fall to $1.20, according to the Agriculture Department.
THUS, TO many the proposal set before the wheat farmers by the administration appears to be a choice between $2 wheat and $1.20 wheat. There are others, though, who feel Freeman's plan is not an issue on the choice of wheat prices, but on the question of more or less government control. Also, a group consisting mostly of farmers does not believe Congress would allow the wheat price to drop to $1.20.
The main argument against Freeman's proposal seems to center around more freedom for the farmer, whereas the supporters of the plan see new stable farm incomes and consumer prices. Supporters approving the referendum are the National Farmers Union, the National Grange, the National Farm Organization, and a number of other wheat groups.
At its recent meeting, the Farmers Union issued a statement concerning the issue, saying: "We unanimously go on record favoring a 'yes' vote, and urge every effort be made to bring about an overwhelming victory for farmer families."
THERE IS only one major organization opposing the new wheat plan, but it is the largest of the farmer organizations—the National Farm Bureau Federation. The Farm Bureau's president, Charles Shuman, repeatedly has expressed a need for farming freedom. He said Secretary Freeman has "failed to recognize that farmers want to move increasingly toward the market rather than toward greater restriction and control by government."
Another group against the
plan is the U.S. farm equipment industry, which has predicted a 5 per cent increase in sales over 1962, but also fears that a decrease in wheat plantings would hinder the all-important combine sales.
The administration recently did its best to insure passage of the wheat referendum when, in a show of togetherness by the Democrats, the House quickly approved of a feed-grain bill aimed at curbing surplus supplies.
THIS SUPPOSEDLY was done to discourage the Republicans from attacking tight wheat controls. If the bill is shoved through the Senate far enough ahead of the referendum date, the Republicans may lose a vital vehicle for enacting milder curbs on wheat.
The administration has even threatened to employ no wheat curbs at all if the referendum answer is "No."
One thing is certain. Whether the coming wheat referendum passes or not, its outcome surely will influence the future role of the U.S. government in agriculture.
Daily Hansan
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