The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-07-02

| TODAY
and
TOMOR ROW
Bv DON ROBINSON
CONFUSION
Bv DON ROBINSON

nOyeQ at ClILSS OVCI IAAS CO1AA1ACC-
ing and confusing announcements
regarding how much gasoline
there is going to be and whether
or not my car will have to go
barefoot after those precious
tires are worn down to the rim.
It is natural reaction to as
sumo that those in the know
the men who have access to the
real facts-should be able to tell
us just what the situation is today
and what it will be tomorrow.
So, when we read one day that
the. gas and oil problem is about
to be solved and read something
the next day that gives us the i'm
preston that fuel will soon be
delivered to fasteners in eye
choppers, we want to know why
"they" don't give us the real low
down and stick to it.
The probable answer is that
'they' don't know the answer
either.
"They don't know how much
longer the Germans are going to
keep sinking our tankers.
"They" don't know when there
might be trouble on one of our
coasts which will call for emer-
gency transportation of things
much more important than the
gasoline needed to take the fam
lily to Uncle Joe's for Sunday din
ner
THEY baffled
That vague group of people
usually residents of Washington,
D. C.-whom we refer to as
'Ethey" when we have some crit
icizing to do, don't have any crys-
tai balls into which they can
gaze to get an insight into the fu-
ture.
"They" are just ordinary hu-
man beings, somewhat above av-
erage in intelligence, who sudden
/ ly have had problems dumped in
their laps which would BATTLE a
building full of Einsteins.
They" are being called upon
to perform major emergency op-
erations on our economic system
in an effort to keep it functioning
under conditions which it has
never faced before. They can't
look up in a book to find out
what was done in the past under
similar circumstances, for there
have been no similar Circumstance
eS.
Our economic system has been
built up over a period of many
years by the trial and error meth
cd. Today, a brand new econom-
ic system is being forced on us
overnight and each month new
unpredictable changes in the war
situation call for drastic revisions
Under the circumstances, it
would seem advisable to be pa
tient with the "they'' group who
are dealing with a lot of unknown
quantities, who are constantly be-
ing given new suggestions and j.
IDEAS and who are undoubtedly
doing the best they can to create
some kind of order our of very
difficult and fast-changing situa-
tons.
SECURITY change
1t always has been a strong
part of our nature to long for Sc
curity and for a clear set of rules
by which we can plan our lives.
We resent changes in the rules,
new restrictions, with which we
must conform, implanted for
drains on our pocketbooks and
RECOMMENDATION of our lives.
Even though we realize that
great changes are necessary to
build an efficient war machine,
many of us practically demand
that the government give us a
clear set of rules for the duration.
We say we are willing to make
sacrifices, but we want to know
ahead of time just what those
sacrifices will be so that we can
plan our lives accordingly.
Such rules, however, will not
be forthcoming. We will be Civ
en- rules and plenty of them, but
until this war is over, we can ex-
pect the rules to change con-
stantly. Just as the government
is forced by war conditions to
make daily shifts in its plans to
cope with unexpected situations,
the people in this country must,
for the present adapt their lives
to change instead of ii stability.
Security is definitely one of the
things we must sacrifice for the
time being. Until the war is O.
yer we must travel along a road
which is poorly posted and on
which the direction signs are be-
ing revised continually.
All of this doesn't mean that we
should stop criticizing inefficien-
cy in government.