Milford chronicle., 1958-09-05
MILLIONS OF DECISIONS

MILLIONS OF DECISIONS
All manner of people, with varying quail
fications, have been forecasting what the
economy is going to do in coming months
But at least one leading indussnaliSt, Pierre
S. DUPONT, 3rd, frankly admits he doesn't
know what is going to happeC. IL his words:
II don't have the slightest idea whether the
short-term economic trend will be up, down
or even sideways. i don't believe anyone else
knows, either, including Congress and all
the economists"
Then he points to something that is cer-
tainly obvious enough but often seems to be
overlooked-that what happens to the econ
omy is determined by millions of decisions,
large and small, that are constantly being
made by American consumers. To quote him
again: "When the overwhelming sum of
these decisions is to buy now, we have a
boom, and when it is buy later, we have a
slump"
These millions of decisions, of course, are
made voluntarily. But they can be encour-
aged-and that is one of the big jobs of the
producers and distributors of goods of every
kind. This is done of the big jobs of the pro-
ducers and distributors of goods of every
kind. This is done by advertising and in
other ways. Retailers, for instance, have
kept their promotionl efforts in high gear,
recession or no recession, and the result is
that sales have held to excellent levels for
the excellent levels for the most part. And
a huge program of store modernization and
new store construction, undertaken by the
chain systems and by other distributors, has
helped too, by making shopping more con-
venient experience.
The editor of Chain Store Age, in fact,
expects most of the chains to exceed their
1857 sales fugures this year. If that hap
pens, we cannot help but have good level of
business activity generally
SIMPLE MATTER
The increased charges for the carrying
of first, second and third class mail were
spanked by the necessity of giving postal
workers a long-overdue pay boost. Had the
boost been given and the old charges re-
tanned the post office deficit would have reach
ed an intolerable point-about billion a
year.
The new rates, however, will not and are
not designed to wipe out the deficit. They
will simply hold it in check. 1t will still come
to several hundreds of millions of dollars
annually. This being the case Cat time when
the total government deficit threatens to pass
$40 bilion), it is certainly the part of wisdom
and plain common sense to take another inn
portant step in reducing post office losses.
That step lies in upward adjustment in
parcel post charges, which were not changed
by the new law. Parcel post-a purely COM
mercial service which is directly competitive
with taxpaying private carriers of goods
has long been operated at a deficit, even
though the law authorizing it specifically pro-
vided that it was to pay its own way. Vari-
GUS authoritative studies-including that of
the second Hoover Commission-have point
ed to the need for putting the service on a
self-sustaining basis.
It's simple matter Let those who use
parcel post pay for what they get-instead
of depending on the rest of us to pay part
of this postage bill.
HOW TO RAISE AN OCTOPUS
Those who are dismayed at their Federal
tax bills and angry at u. S. red tape might
find that they themselves are somewhat to
blame.
Big Government got that way because
citizens have formed the habit of asking
Washington to do things they could do for
themselves.
When the Government shares the cost
of an airport in your town, you must share
the cost of airports everywhere. This leads
to blockbuster tax bills, and also to Federal
controls. Alfred E. Driscoll, vice-chairman of
the Intergovernmental Relations Commits
sion, gives this example of how Federal con-
trolls worked in building one airport, at st.
Louis, Mo.
Washington said that sand base was
needed upon which to pour concrete. Master
minding from thousand miles away, the
Federal Government refused to believe that
the airport dredged out of the Missouri
River, was itself sand base upon which city
engineers had satisfactorily laid concrete for
years.
"An official job had to be done the official
way; four inches of river sand had to be
of <ho of~ loI
replaced with four inches of similar sand
that was purchased and hauled in.