Milford chronicle., 1958-05-02
OUR DECLINES IN VALUE

dent Hoover recently said that Ito reduce
taxes without corresponding reduction of
Government expenditures or balanced bud
get -. will poison you with more imitation"
At about the same time, another elder states
man. Bernard M. Baruch, expressed a COM
parable view. Indeed, Mr.. Baruch said that
he would favor an increase in taxes sufficient
to cover any increased spending undertaken
by the government, on the grounds that,
painful as this would be- it would be infinite
ly preferable to the runaway initiation that
he believes will follow If a contrary policy
is adopted. And some of the Congressional
leaders, in both parties, tend to cautious
course of action.
But it must be said that these seem to
be minority voices today. A general feeling
was expressed by j. A. Livingston, the wide
ly-syndicated financial analyst, when he said
that unless the business decline ends and
real upturn sets in :. the government must
act, Bernard M. Baruch notwithstanding.
This brings up some points and facts
emphasized by another widely-syndicated
writer on financial affairs, Sylvia Porter. In
her view, the worst threat to the country is
further debasement of the dollar.
AS we all know, that debasement has been
going on for long time. According to Miss
Porter, the value of the dollar has declined
in AZ of the past 81 years and increased in
only 25 In the past IL years the dollar has
actually lost more than half of its purchasing
pOwer-lt is now worth only 40 cents as
compared to 100 cents in 1940 This trend is
not peculiar to this country or to this age.
Arnold j. Toynbee, one of the worlds great
est historians, states he has found no in
stance g. in which the value of money of
any country in any period of history in
creased over long period of year."
Miss Porter quotes various economists
and financial people as forecasting continu-
ed erosion of the dollars purchasing power.
They are convinced .. that imitation will
emerge as our most devasting economic dam
ger in the '60s."
This belief, she goes on, explains certain
economic developments. For instance, COM
mon stock prices have been relatively stable
in the face of the business decline, because
stocks tend to rise in value as the dollar
cheapens. The same thing is true of we'll
situated land, both urban and rural And
many people of means have found it prudent
to buy paintings, old manuscripts, antiques
and other rarities, as those too tend to gain
in worth with imitation.
So much for the forecasts. The big ques-
ton, to most people, is whether initiation can
be controlled. Miss Porter has something to
say about that: "Of course, we can solve the
problem of long-term initiation in our nation
if we have the understanding, courage and
determination to tackle it.
"But our record so far has been dismal
Right now, as we move to combat the 1857
So recession, we are building upsnew forces
for future imitation. Whether We'll have
the understanding, courage and determina-
tion to lick it when initiation becomes the
dominant danger, is still to be soon."
~SSe&S
NOT SO MANY PRINCES
In the great debate about education, the
thunder of emotional involvement has tend
ed to drown out the sweet voice of reason.
Passionate defense of this or that education
al theory has often obscured the overriding
concern, which is that the young people of
America be prepared as adequately as poss-
ible to play their role in world of growing
complexity
1t is good, therefore, to listen to a calm
voice that speaks with authority and yet
without any conviction that those who dis
agree are entirely wrong. The voice We have
in mind is that of DR.. Howard L. Bevis, a dis
tinguished educator who is now chairman of
President Eisenhower's committee on scien-
fists and engineers i
Though DR.. Bevis lines up against those
who will brook no criticism of so-called pro-
gressive education, in recent talk at the
University of Cincinnati he tempered his op-
position with this remark 81 am not one of |
those who believe that the progressive in
f1uences which have altered the character of
our schools during the past 80 or 40 years
were all bad-that we should go back to the
three Rs"
Then he went on to state what is the heart
of his views: IL do suggest that we have SER
iously diluted the curriculum" He called for
more emphasis on the tough 'hard core"
studies which, he believes, exercise develop
ing intellects and provide thinking tools
which are vital to advanced study" DIR. Be
Wis also wants more rigid standards 'to
eliminate some of the fuzzy fringe courses
that weigh down high school teaching re-
sources with cooking for hovs basket waav
ing, and graduation credit for drum major
ettes."
This is a sound, moderate approach to a |
problem now being faced by almost every
community in the United States.