Milford chronicle., 1956-06-22
WORDS TO REMEMBER

WORDS TO REMEMBERi
Whenever the Russian Communist dicta-
tors break out with their occasional smiles
and talk about disarmament, we should
remember the words of that wisest and most
experienced of world Winston
Churchill. He said:
"Of one thing am quite certain. If the
United States were, to consent, in reliance
upon any paper agreement, to destroy the
stocks of atomic bombs which they have
accumulated, they would be guilty of muir
dering human freedom, and of committing
suicide themselves
1t is wonderfully comforting that an
other great world leader for peace named
Eisenhower gives every evidence of agree
ing with Sir Winston!
A SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE TAX PROGRAM
The federal income tax law, says the for
mer Commissioner of Internal Revenue, I.
Coleman Andrews has become $50 hopeless
ly complicated" that a very few, even of
those who wrote it, understand it today.
To make the hodge-podge still worse, the
former No. tax collector of the nation says,
the rates have been made so high-ranging
up to 919o-"that they are now confiscatory
Furnishing those who manage somehow to
achieve success despite the roadblocks the
income tax law puts in the way"
BY way of contrast, the National ASsoci-
alton of Manufacturers has proposed SIM
pie five-year plan for gradual reduction of
this steeply graduated surtax rate. This
uncomplicated, realistic tax program would
allow a greater opportunity for saving and
investment and would not reduce the fed
eral revenue with the continuance of the
present trend of our national economy
6So&&
LESSON IN COMPETITION
The techniques of mass production are a
Al Il - .s.A~
Competition keeps mass production alive by
stimulating it to almost constant improve
ment. This is good thing to bear in mind
when someone proposes SoclallZlng the man.
ufacture of consumer goods.
A fine example of how competition prods
manufacturers into change for the better is
provided by the American Can Company's
recent decision to cut costs by spending 27
million dollars.
So-called tin cans, which actually are
made largely of steel, have faced increasing
competition with other types of containers
in recent years. The price of cans has about
reached the ceiling possible under these COM
petitive conditions, but the cost of steel plate
and tin plate apparently is about to rise
again.
So American Can is spending a huge
sum of money on new facilities that will en-
able it to process most of its plate from con-
tinuous strips. 1t will buy plate from the
steel companies before it has been inspected,
chemically treated or cut into sheets. Those
operations will be done in the can company's
own plants.
By doing this, the firm expects eventually
to save much more than those millions it is
investing in the changeover, and cans will
still be competitive with other forms of
packaging The key fact to remember about
all this is that the stimulus of competition
brought about the change.
S<e~S
IN so YEARS
Men and institutions are ultimately judg-
ed by results
That is true of medical research. And
the results it has produced in the last half
century or so are superlative by any stand
ard.
The head of a pharmaceutical company
tells of some of them in the current issue of
The Exchange Magazine In 1900, life ex-
pectancy at birth was about 49 years. Now
it is around II years, and some experts ex-
pect it to reach between 80 and 100 years
by the end of this century.
In 1900, the greatest killer was pneumo-
nia Now it has been all but defeated with
the death rate down from 152 per 100000 to
r. In 1900, the survivors of pneumonia
could count on paying three months wages
for hospital bills. Today the disease is often
cured at home with antiblotlcs, at a compar-
atively small cost.
Particularly noteworthy progress has
been made in saving children. Of every 1000
babies surviving birth in 1900, 1872 died with
in the first year today the figure is less than
80 At the beginning of the century, 1000
children died annually of whooping cough +;
last year the mortality was 80.
These are but few of the many facts
that could be cited as to what medicine has
accomplished on behalf of us all. In the last
80 years more progress has been made in
conquering disease and in prolonging life
than in the entire previous history of mans
existence. 1t was done by free men working
in free system.