The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1946-02-01
LOOKING
AHE4D
BY GEORGE S. BENSON
4 presideaf--Eardixg college
Searfg. Arkansas
Mud-Daubers

Down here in the Mississippi Val
ley we are all acquainted with a
species of wasps called mud-daub-
ers. They are relatively harmless,
build little adobe huts in high, pro-
tected spots and look out for their
own interests. BY instinct they are
engineers and diplomats but, like so
many insects, they know very little
about modern industry. Some of
their mistakes are costly.
An aristocratic family named
Sceliphron Cementarius Common
mud-daubers) got busy one summer
and built fort inside the vent pipe
on top of big steel tank of heating
oil. The tank had been filled in the
Spring for Fall marketing and stood
quiet for months. Finally came an
order for a barge load of heating
oil and the plant owner started
pumping it out of storage. Sudden
ly the big tank collapsed.
Too Much Authority
The oil mans motor-powered
pump silently pulled out the liquid
and built up vacuum inside the tank.
Being in a position to plug up a
vent-line and call down the forces
of nature to destroy property and
waste merchandise is too much
authority for a mud-dauber To be
perfectly frank, the more / observe
the workings of the OPA, the surer
/ am that such authority is too much
for anybody.
Right now our governmental price
fixers have the vent-line closed on
some exceptionally tight structures
and the pump has already started.
People who buy machines shall not
pay more for them," says govern
ment, but with government consenD
people who manufacture machine 5
must pay more, much more, for ev-
cry hour. of effective labor, and for
every pound of processed material.
Strong for Service
I am in favor of workers getting
high wages. The more take-home
pay Americas factory workers earn
and get, the more food and feed stuff
our farmers will SELL 1t means
prosperity. Just the same, natures
laws are memorable. If wages keep
going up, somebody'd better uncork
that price line or business is sure
to collapse. Some firms already
have folded up and more are in
jeopardy.
Americas big manufacturing con-
Germs have some strength; of course
they have. They need financial
strength to navigate economic
storms, race with competition and
meet payrolls on schedule. The
more strength they have the more
useful they are. That oil mans tank
had a great deal of strength too;
was useful because it was strong,
but it buckled because a mud-daub-
er asked it to hold vacuum.
Sublime Vandalism
Big corporations haze to be eff
ficient. If they grow extravagant,
a lot of small concerns with lower
overhead stand ready to undersell
them and take their trade. Ac-
cordingly, big firms must operate on
thin margins of profit. Figurative-
ly, they are tight. They can be
pumped down" by holding their
prices and boosting their costs.
Ford declares $27 net loss on ev-
cry new car sold at prices fixed by
government.
Nearly everybody knows that
Americas advantage over foreign
lands is based on mass production
and volume sales, things we have
that they don't have. We have moth
ing to gain and much to lose by
wrecking big industries. Theodore
Roosevelt said, ut ought to be
evident to everybody that business
has to prosper before anybody can
get any benefit from it,