The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-12-24
| 0 NC e A DOLLAR
WAS REAL MONEY
BUT NOW LOOK AT IT
By CARLTON MORRIS
Editor, Gates County Index


valuable. Now that is a world
shaking statement. That is almost
like stating that we celebrate
Christmas on December 25 except
for one marked difference. We will
continue to celebrate Christmas at
the same time every year, but
money is no longer valuable.
To we folks who can recall
when dollar was real money, the
present tend of high prices land
big money is something else again.
Once poor man would save for a
number of years until he could get
together four or five hundred dol
lars and go buy a new auto. Now
he drives into his dealer with the
same make car he has been using
for years, but last years model,
and makes deal. His dealer al
lows him $1,000 for his old car,
then charges a thousand differ
ence. And just notice the casual
way the dealer refers to the diff
ference. To hear him tell it, a
thousand dollars is almost too in
significant to be mentioned. And
most of the time he forgets to tell
you about the extras until just
before the deal is closed. Then
off handed he mentions seat COW
ers, and if you don't have radio,
you feel like you are pretty much
of a cheap skate, and then your
dealer tells you about the tinted
glass and white side tires, and the
bumper guards and undertaking,
and turning lights, and by that
time you owe another $500. And,
strangely enough, you leave with
your new auto feeling like you
have made the deal of your life
and will be able to pay off the
$4,000 or so in short order.
Then, when you don't have the
cash, he casually picks up the
phone and calls any one Of dozen
loan agencies and you just sign on
the dotted line and pay for the
rest of your natural life. Or may
be you are an independent opera
tor, so you tell him you will deal
with your bank. You drop around
to see your banker and he may ask
you how many years you will need
to repay your loan. This is mere
formality, as he already knows
more about your ability to pay
than you do. Then he won't refer
to the loan in dollars and cents,
as you can tell by the look on his
face that he feels that he would be
doing better to work at digging
bitches rather than wasting his
time with a loan of couple OF
thousands. By this time you are
frankly wondering what in the
world ever possessed you to give
away your nice one-year-old auto
that was working perfectly and
sign away your birthright for the
new, shiny one that will be ready
to trade IL months hence.
Now, doctors can mention their
fee in such an easy, indifferent
manner that you feel like you
want to pay them more than they
charge and most of the time you
are home before you realize just
how much you did pay. Although
1 am definitely not of the school
that feels that a doctor should
work for nothing, and l am sure
that every doctor, with the excep-
ton of one dentist, who ever per-
formed any service for me gave
value received and more. The den
fist did all right. He gave me serv-
ice, but he pulled the wrong tooth
and charged me 81 for doing it.
When you attempt to buy cloth
ing, you really learn that dollar
is insignificant. If you are OF the
age that can remember the oxford
gray that you wore during the
length and breadth of the depres-
sion, you go to buy a new suit
feeling that prices are about
doubled. You may have paid Sis
for the old blue serge so you think
you will splurge and buy some
thing nice. With a practiced hand,
the salesman lifts a suit off the
rack and slides the coat smoothly
over your shoulders. You glance at
the price tag in tiny figures on
the sleeve and you give an audible
gasp, for you hadn't planned to
paw S75. You finally decide you
don't like the color and looking
hurriedly along the racks you pick
out something at $50. Now there
is a color you like. The salesman
assumes a bored air and sings the
the coat around you and assures
YOU it doesn't fit. When you insist
that you like it, he looks off
across the store with far-away
look in his eyes. You know that ne
has looked through your well-worn
hip pocket with microscopic eyes
and knows that YOU don't have
but $40 in the world. So you leave