The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1946-01-31
Planned Economy
Seems q Snore and
q DeIusion
BY Charles D. Rowe

BY Charles -. hOWe
IT'S worse now than it was in
war time" That's a common re-
mark one now hears whenever a
group of Libby housewives get to-
gether l heard it just the other
day. Perplexed and eXaSperated
women were telling of the troubles
they all are having in trying to be
efficient housewives and keep their
families properly fed and clothed.
And there's much more truth
than fiction in their remarks. To-
day it is becoming increasingly dill
ficult to get many of the things
one must have to maintain a prop
erly nourished family. At first the
little pigs were plowed under and
we were short of pork. At the same
time the rows of little cotton plants
were also plowed under and soon
we were having a shortage in cot
ton clothing. Regulations were such
that dairymen could no longer make
profit from their dairy herds, so
many of them sold off their dairy
stock. A milk shortage followed
The same happened with our sup
ply of beef. That lasted for time
but even after the number of beef
cattle was the greatest in the his
tory of the nation, still one couldn't
find adequate supplies of beef on
the market. Sugar beet growers
were kept from expanding their
production at the same time that
the war cut off huge foreign sup
plies. Now we're short OF sugar.
For man, moons silk hosiery has
been an impossible luxury, so now
women fight for dwindling sup
plies of rayon and nylon. And the
poor men do not escape. Shirts
are so scarce they have long been
luxury. Nightshirts and pajamas
are a thing of the past. 1t begins
to look as though ere long the male
/ of the species will have to sleep
in rags or in the raw And so 1t
goes. Yes, the women are correct
when they say It's worse now than
during the war.
/ All of which brings us to the
thought of planned economy and we
+ wonder if all this has been plan
ned that way" as we One-time
heard from the lips of the elo-
uuent Roosevelt To one sitting on
the sidelines and watching the par
ade 90 by, it must seem that plan
ned economy means in reality a
universal scarcity We wonder II
the American people are not get
ting very we'll fed up on it. Oh
to be sure, the war has brought
great responsibilities and uneXpec-
ted demands. And we must by all
means help feed and cloth starv-
ing and shivering world. But-plan-
ned economy was bringing us
shortages even before the Japs made
their sneak attack and shot us right
into the midst of a war. PLANNED
economy is a snare and delusion
An unhampered initiative is agar
the answer. 1t will bring back tC
us an abundance again in this lane
that should by all means be a lane
flowing with milk and honey
It's worse and more of it. We
hadn't much more than flnlshec
writing our little slam at Czal
Jimmie Petrillo for last weeks col
Iumn. when additional evidence ar
rived strengthening our contention
THAT Car Jimmie ought to be slap
ped down-and permanently.
You know Car Jimmie is The
man who tells the American peopl'
what music they shall hear owe
radios. He also taxes them for thu
records they play on their phono
graphs. He refuses to let schoo
orchestras and singers appear OF
radio programs. He also says n,
music originating from foreign sour
ces shall be re-broadcast here. Blu