Milford chronicle., 1946-06-28


recognized this fact by allowing s. per ton
increase for steel. After that the public pref
ty generally accepted the idea that the m
crease in OPA prices for cars was primarily
due to the s. boost in steel.
But to show how little steel has to do
with the higher cost of automobiles, get out
your grade school arithmetic An automobile
that weighs 5000 pounds uses one and one
half tons of steel. If steel increased s. a ton,
the added cost for a car using a ton and one
half of steel would be $3.50. When the price
of a 81, POO automobile was raised 81 the
car cost 500 more. But if the steel in it ac
counts for only $3.50 of that figure, the re-
maindCr Of the increase must lie IN labor al
ter steel leaves the mills, or increased costs
of other materials. or in decreased produc-
tive capacity of labor, or in all three.
To casually blame the cost on steel as the
easy way to explain higher automobile prices
is unfair and shows lack Of intelligent
analysis of the situation.
IN THOSE NATIONS where free enter
prise has been destroyed, crippled, or subject
cd to irOn-handCd political control, Il free
press has become thing of the past. The
press in such nations is simply Il sounding
board for dictatOrShp--thC ruthless voice
of the clique in power
1t is not coincidence that this Is so.
w nCn al man or group OI lItll lNdCIl Ou( lt
seize the economic resources of Il nation the
first step must be to control that nations
sources of opinion and information. There
can be no opposition. There can be no dissent.
The death of free enterprise is inevitably
accompanied by the death of a free press.
N&~e~~
\ NEW LIGHT HAS been thrown ON the
Wagner Murray -DmgCll bill for a national
health program, which has been neglected
up to- this time. General Omar n Bradley,
Veterans Administrator, told the Scnat"
Labor Committee that amy compulsory health
insurance legislation should protect Veterans
current rights to free medical care and
disqualification.
General Bradley pointed out that the bill
under consideration does not specify means
of finance He said however, that the term
prepaid personal health service benefits
indicates that contributions are antlclpatrd
from employed persons. This, he Sud
"WOuld require the veteran to contribute to-
ward a benefit to which he is already en-
titled. without charge. under existing law, II
that he is entitled without cost to himself tc
hospital or out-paticnt treatment of service
connected disability and TO hospital treat
mcnt of non-Scrvicc connected disability
when bed is available" General Bradley die
not express any opinion as to adviSabilty OF
the legislation. He said he had studied i
purely from the veterans standpoint.
The advocates Of S0caized medicine dis
regard the idea that an American should b
entitled to choose his own method of cure. II
the case Of the veteran, the compulsory "vi
, is shown more pointly.
>&~0&~
THE SALE OF SURPLUS war propcrt,
: is a sad lesson in distribution that the nati0l
! will long remember. Politics, miSmangcment
/ cumbersome rules and general confusion hay
G nearly blocked the sale of billions of dollars
worth of material which the country dcSpcI
Y atcly needs Everything from blankets t
$ tractors is rotting away in supply dumps, i
2 spite of the fact that everyone wants it move
: quickly, including the officials in charge q
V the surrounding disposal program.
O The lesson is that an efficient rcta
f distribution system cannot be set up over
night. Moreover, it cannot be set up at all
j. it is burdcncd with red tape. The goVcrnmel
: could probably learn a few things from II
Vt retail distribution industry. This mduSh
If has been working for years to develop tt
" most efficient methods of moving goods fro
" producer to consumer. OF course, unlike II
N government private distributors are con
PEELED to seek efficiency or sacrifice a Sli
margin of profit. Some of the larger chain
have developed distribution to such a fin
r. art that they are able to operate ON pro
W margins of less than ono per cent of sale
~ ~ They do it because they have learned TO ha
10 die mountainous volumes of goods with
" minimum of waste motion. And they try,
. have what consumers want ut the right pIa
~ and at the right time
Il. ~ The job of distributors is d0ubIy difficI
~ -" at the present time, partly because they mu
= fight an uphill battle TO convince g0vCrnmC
u regulators such as the OPA that CXccSSi
~ red tape and unnecessary rules are anathcl
~ to efficient distribution, Il fact that has mean
m wrecked the governments distribution
surplus property.
IT,; u" PUBLISHING \ NEWSPAPER is fl
"a "a but it's no picnic. If we print Jokes, pco
''u at say we are silly. If we don't, they say we
-. t,' serious. If we clip things from other ncv
M VI papers, we are too lazy to write them OF
W. W. selves. If we don't, we are too fond of {
7" own stuff. If we don't print contribute
we don't appreciate true genius. If we
print them, the paper is filled with iu