Milford chronicle., 1956-07-20
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRY is BEST

munity finds itself in deep economic trouble
"a possibility that is greatest in areas which
are heavily dependent on one industrial COM
pany or one farm crop for their wherewithal.
! Then varied courses of community action are
open. A common one is to turn to the gov
ernment for assistance, and have the town
named distressed area" But this, even
if successful, usually turns out to be only a
palliative. And, the palliative, by removing
the sense of urgency, has too often deferred
the people themselves from building their
community better
Another course of action is for the COM
munity to get down to work and solve its
problems by its own efforts. An outstanding
example of this is South Bend, Indiana. John
d. Williams, also writing in the Wall Street
Journal tells what has been done there
For a century, South Bend was pretty
much one-company town, and Studebaker
(now tudebaker-Packard) was the COM
pany. If Studebaker was doing WELL the
town did well. If Studebaker suffered hard
times and cut the payroll the town felt that
in its vitas.
Studebaker together with some other mo-
tor companies, has been undergoing financial
storms. According to Mr.. Williams, it 's
having the toughest time of its century.
South Bend naturally hopes the company will
come back and prosper. But, important as
Studebaker is to South Bend it is no longer
the dominant factor. AS an ex-mayor told
Mr.. Williams, There's not that desperate
feeling any more"
This change in attitude stems from the
| fact that South Bend is not now a one-cOm-
pany town. Some three years ago commit
| tee was established and a delegation was
sent to Birmingham Alabama, to study that
city's extremely successful booster group.
Then $385,000 was raised to promote the
South Bend area "as a good place for new
| business"
The going wasn't easy In the first year,
not even one new company was gained. A
blow was suffered when the Singer Manufac-
turing Company moved elsewhere. The COM
mittee redoubled its efforts. Person-to-per-
son sales talks were made to likely prospects.
| One factory came in. Then another. Mr..
Williams writes, "And so the parade grew,
each little bit adding up to a lot"
y All in all, about "a new companies have
come to South Bend and the neighboring
town of MiShawaka. Their products include
doors, industrial displays, furniture, sun
glasses, tools, plastic boats and so on. The
committee is still hard at work, and ambiti-
| Gus plans are in being for new and modern
| industrial areas
As a result, despite Studebaker's troubles
| and greatly reduced employment, South Bend
savings deposits, retail sales, residential con-
struction, and other standard barometers of
economic conditions are holding up and in
/ some cases showing gains South Bend peo-
pie, Mr.. Williams reports are convinced
they've weathered their worst economic
storms the town is shored up, battened
down and determined to stay prosperous"
The moral is expressed in the last line of
the Wall Street Journals editorial at re-
mains true that whatever people build for
themselves is the best built
CODE OF ETHICS
| t 1t is proposed that the American Medical
| Association reduce its code of ethics to
one-page document, which would mean a.
wordage cut of almost 90 per cent This
proposal will be up for final adoption at an
Anna meeting to be held next December.
The projected new code deals entirely
with ethical principles These are of the
highest Importance to all who ever visit
1 doctor-which, of course, means everyone
in the long run. Here are some of them:
The prime objective of the medical pro-
fession is to render service to humanity.
Doctors should try to increase their own
knowledge and share it with others.
| Doctors must expose unethical conduct of
other doctors.
They should not permit anything to in
terfere with their independent medical judg-
ment.
They should limit their professional in
come to medical services.
They should seek consultation on difficult
cases.
They should participate in any cOmmun-
ity activity that has the object of improving
the health and welfare of the people.
There is, of course, nothing new about
any of these principles except the admirably
brief and simple wording. Doctors-with
very few exceptions-have always held to the
highest standards of ethics One response
bility is paramount to all others-to do all
for the patient that skill and knowledge will
permit. There is no room in medicine for
those who will not or cannot uphold such
standards.