Milford chronicle., 1959-12-04
THE CONSUMER SPEAKS


THE CONSUMER SPEAKS
Probably no automobile has ever been in
troduced to the public with such fanfare as
that which attended the coming of the Ford
Motor Company's Edsel couple of years ago.
An astonishing amount of study was carried
on to assess the probable reaction of the pub
lie to such a car.
Even the naming of this new entry in the
automobile sweepstakes was a momentous
project. Hundreds of names were considered
before the powers that be decided to call their
new baby Edsel.
The public did not react as Ford officials
expected. The company had predicted that at
least 100000 Edsels would be sold in the first
year, but actual factory sales during 2S
months Cf production were only little more
than 100000. The public, it soon became evil
dent, was not much interested in the new
Oaby. Now Ford has discontinued produc-
ton, and Edsel will join the long list of auto
mobiles that have fallen by the wayside.
This development should occasion some
thing besides wailing and gnashing of teeth,
even in the inner circle of Ford executives.
For the pubics rejection of the Edsel, in the
face of elaborate market surveys and expen-
sive hoopla, is dramatic evidence that the con-
sumer is still king in the United States. That
is one of the best things about the American
system of free enterprise. May it ever be
thus.
PRICE OF CARELESSNESS
1t was sad and tragic thing when for
mer General Motors President Harlow Cur
tice accidentally shot and killed an old friend
in Canadian duck blind. One of the most
disturbing elements in this tragedy is that,
far from being unusual, it falls into an all
too familiar pattern. Except for the promi-
nence of those involved, this was much like
the many other accidents that mar every
hunting season.
In this case, apparently, the carelessness
was the victims. According to Curtice, he
had just taken aim at duck when his friend
excitedly stood up in the line of fire. Some
times it is that way; sometimes it is the man
welding the fatal gun who is careless. But
almost always the damage is done in one
moment of forgetting the rules of gun safety.
The rules are simple: Keep the safety
catch on until you are about to fire; never
point your gun at anything you wouldn't
want to shoot; unload the piece in between
actual hunting sessions-and keep an alert
check on the whereabouts of your hunting
companies. There are other rules, but fol-
lowing the simple ones mentioned can do
much to prevent hunting tragedies.
Scsy0&<S
l.
Like the weather, there has been much
talk about the two continuing problems of
parcel post-the gigantic losses heaped on the
general taxpayer and the obstacle of below
cost government competition faced by tax
paying citizens who operate or work in pack
age, express, local carriage and other small
shipment enterprises across the nation.
Unlike the weather, there is something
that can be done about parcel post. Traffic
World, the transportation weekly, has re-
ported that the nations No. 2 mailman, the
Deputy Postmaster General believes that the
Post Office should not continue to compete
+. with privately-owned carriers-as to hand
ling parcel post-in those areas where the
carriers can render more efficient, salts
factory service at a lower cost than the Post
Office"
The difficulty has been that parcel post
is not low cost-it is low priced. 1t doesn't
pay its way as the law authorizing it stated
it should. Neither will pending rate increases
of some $88 million come near to meeting
costs now loaded on to taxpayers.
Most of parcel post use is commercial; (;
most of it moves between large cities and
metropolitan areas adequately served by
other small shipment carriers The sensible
answer was proposed by the Hoover Com
mission and many others-raise parcel post
rates to cover the full COSTS 1t would ease
to the lower cost carriers and all taxpayers
would be spared further unnecessary taxa
tiOn.
AS the Post Office spokesman noted, the
existing parcel post situation seems unfair
to the taxpayers" whereas "the Department,
the carriers and the public all would profit
from achievement of the broad objectives of
the Deputy Postmaster Generals proposal
Back of the whole problem, it is not a
nuaStion of saving the business of anv nri-
vate carrier, it is the question of saving a
political philosophy of government that re
tains for the Individual the privilege of max
ing his living without having to compete with
government.