The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1935-04-11
Com ment
WORTHWHILE AND OTHERWISE,
ON MATTERS IMPORTANT AND
UNHdPORTANT.

lNGAk 1uCS0d{s LAPiAA Az NA@ NAAhf~NA~
will call "Play ball" and the annual
pennant race will be on. 1t is peril
nent time to give the ardent fans
little information that undoubtedly few
of them have.
Not many people realize how much
is invested in the national game. 1t Is
said that a fair estimate of the value
of parks, equipment, franchises, and
players in the American league would
run close to 20 million dollars One
club alone has spent as much as mil
lion dollars in one season tor new
players Tom Yawkey, owner of the
Boston Red Sox, is a millionaire
according to report, and has put 81
$4,000 into his team within two years
and expects to spend more. The major
leagues look for better year in 1885
than in "a as "a was considerably bet
ter than 49,
Tree-planting records throughout the
nation are being broken, according to
Charles Lathrop Pack, president of the
American Tree Association Last year
1863 million trees were set out in ma
tional and state forests, this being three
times the average for several preced-
ing years. The CCC did most of the
work, planting in 1884 1900 acres.
Just as an example of what this
means to the future lumber industry,
consider merely the consumption of one
automobile company. It is said that this
year the Ford plant will consume,
among many other tree products, liz
million feet Of lumber, mostly for pack
ing, and 5 million feet of paper board.
1t would be we'll for the copper in
dustry if the power, light and COM
munications companies could be re-
stored to condition where they would
be active buyers of copper products.
That would mean more prosperity for
Montana One report says those in
dustries bought 226,0O0 tons of copper
in normal 1926 and perhaps $1,000 tons
last year. That's big drop in con-
sumption--from 226,O00 tons to $4,000
yearly At price of cents a pound,
the difference is 80 million dollars an
nually.
A news item in the papers of the
past week disclosed some highly silly
ways in which relief money is being
squandered in New York City That is
. probably one reason why it costs 1920
per minute to operate the largest city
in America. The per capita cost is S91
every year, and it is said about two or
three men ou. of every ten really foot
the bill Including relief, it costs 667
million dollars year to govern the
worlds largest city.
If one puts too much dependence on
percentage comparisons one is apt to
be mislead Here is an item to cheer
up one who has become fearful that
Japan is going to grab all the business
Of the world. We read that Japan's ex-
ports to South America were 400 per
cent greater in 1884 than in 1882. The
fact is, Japan's exports increased in
that time by Is million dollars. Uncle
Sans exports to South America in
creased in the same two years by IS
million dollars. For every dollar Japan
gained, we gained four. No SO bad!
The federal government has added
ll7,O59 employees to its payroll during
the last two years, with the total num-
Der Of federal workers now standing at
680,546, requiring $lOO,OO0,OOO monthly,
or $1,000 100000 annually, to meet
salaries
These disclosures were made in the
latest personnel report of the Civil
Service commission, at the same time
private tabulations showed the lifting
of the per cent pay cut stepped the
outlay for government workers en-
ployed in Washington up to 5000 0O0, 900
a year-an all-time high mark. Elini-
nation Of the pay cuts was estimated to
have added 100000 month to the
federal payroll in the capital city.
Tax increases, too, are keeping steI
with the climb in the number of fed
eral workers. Treasury reports showed
tax collections in March of $500, 748, 099
compared with SAX, los, 481 in March Of
last year. But the budget remains fal
out Of balance. The deficit for the frs
nine months of the current fiscal veal
was reported as $3.50 ,698,969.