Milford chronicle., 1955-06-03
DEAD REATS

poses that Congress provide for the construc-
ton of a number of publicly-owned yard
stick" atomic energy electric plants.
This may seem wise to some people. But
if Congress should authorize such plants, and
if they were built and operated on the same
basis as the socialized plants using conven-
tional sources of energy, the resultant yard
stick would be about two feet long.
First of all, socialized plants are either
wholly or mainly taX-free. The privately
owned utilities, by contrast, pay well over
20 cents in taxes for every dollar of reve-
nue..
Then a socialized utility enjoys many
other subsidies, direct and hidden. To quote
Economic Intelligence, "The government
treasury may do it's financing, the attorney
general may do the legal work, general en-
gineers may do surveys and planning.
Such a pubicy-owned utility frequently
charges part of its expenses to other func-
tiOns such as recreation, mosquito control,
Identification, navigation flood control, etc.
Instead of charging off the depreciable prop
erty at the normal rate established by the
Internal Revenue Bureau for private prop
erty, a government enterprise may charge
off at half that annual rate. Thereby the
books show lower costsv'
It's certainly obvious that this phony
type of "yardstick" could make the rates
charged by private enterprise look too high.
addition to electric power-food clothing,
entertainment, newspapers, and what have
you. Economic Intelligence compared the
"yardstick" plants to "the dead beat who
owes everybody around town but boasts Of
fensively about his shiny new Cadilac!"
That's about the size of it.
NO COMPARISON
1t has been observed that "tOday's home
1oo1Tn h,1x,C Onlxy chn hIluc frpn
DOM"
If we keep that phrase in mind, we will
be much better able to accurately evaluate
the charge that there is too much spread be-
tween what the farmer gets for his products
and what the housewife pays when she goes
to the store.
There is virtually no comparison between
the foods we have available today as against
those of 20 or 80 years ago. They come froz-
en-, precooked and processed in wide va
riety of ways-with, in other words, built
in kitchen services. That involves a great
deal of labor, and the consumer must pay for
it-nO one else can. In return, she is saved
a vast amount of labor that she would other
wise have to perform herself. According to
government study, meal preparation for
family Of four can be accomplished in 1.6
hours using ready-to-serve foods-as against
55 hours with unprepared foods.
How about the profits taken by food man.
lufactarerse and retailers? The facts will
come as great surprise to many consumers.
A survey has been made of the 1854 expert
ence of 80 grocery manufacturers and 18
big distributors. 1t shows that the net profit
of professor and distributor combined
amounted to only three cents out of each
dollar spent for food by the consumer. The
ever-a..-work force of competition sees to it
that we get the best possible value for our
money.
TIMES HAVE CHANGED
Relatively few people will read the COM
plete report-prepared at the Cabinet level
by the Presidential Advisory! Committee
on Transport Policy and Organization. But
it makes certain basic points which should
be universally understood.
| First of all, transportation today is in
tenSely mpetitive-whereaS 80 years and
more ago the railroads had near monopoly.
Second, transportation policies were
drawn in the light of that long-dead mono
poly situation. Those policies have not been
changed as times changed. Indeed, the Com
mittee finds that government actually in
creased its regulation despite the emergency
of competition. In the Committees iudg-
ment, adjustment Of regulation to the COM
petitive facts of today is long overdue.
Third, it found that in many respects
government policy prevents or severely linn
its the most economical use of the nation s
transportation systems-and brings about
increased costs which necessarily are born
! by traveller, shipper and ultimate consumer.
Fourth, the cornerstone of modernized
regulatory program, the Committee feels,
should be increased reliance on competitive
factors in rate-making-with, of course,
laws which will prevent discriminatory prac-
tees.
What is needed, in a phrase, is national
transportation policy which will permit each
of the carriers to do for the public the things
it can do best, and at the lowest real cost.
GRADUATION, 1866
Thousands of young Americans, sheep
skins in their hands and armed with sublime
confidence, are ''embarking on the Sea OF
Life" as the graduation orators once dearly