Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1962-11-01 / 11. szám

FRATERNITY

15

3Y8. San Jose, Calif.__ 693.87

379. Hollywood, Calif._ 396.08

380. Cleveland, O.____ 209.16

383. Rural Valley, Pa.____ 73.05

384. Renton, Pa. _________ 141.90

385. San Bernardino, Calif. _ 606.49

386. Cincinnati, O. _______ 176.13

388. Lakeland, Fla.___ 46.00

390. Hudson Valley, N. Y. _ 98.26

391. Ontario, Calif._______ —.—

392. New Orleans, La.____ 57.61

393. Peoria, 111. __________ 63.24

294. Dallas, Tex._________ 158.00

Total______________$83,173.62

Washington, D. C. Paul St. Miklossy,

Oct. 8, 1962 Treasurer

CHARLES W. CHENEY:

CONCERNING FALSE ASSUMPTIONS

With all our talk about recession, inadequate growth rates and getting the country going again, I sometimes wonder whether we aren’t aiming to circle the target instead of hitting it, as if it were Venus or the moon. Some things we do know are elementary, whether or not it pleases us to look at them. Among them is the fact that whenever and wherever you find value exceeding cost, you have economic growth; whenever and wherever you find cost exceeding value, you have economic stagnation or worse.

So how can we expect to solve our problem by aggravating the excess of cost over value where it already exists and spreading it where it does not? As A1 Smith was fond of saying, “No matter how you slice it, it’s still baloney.”

False assumptions just don’t pay off!

★ ★ ★

While we’re at it, are we relying on any other false assumptions to solve our problems? Well, too many of us assume:

2. Everybody has a right to (a) a job, (b) a profit, (c) a happy marriage — not so, each of them has to be earned.

3. Progress can be made without rewards or penalities — not so, what you want to encourage must be rewarded, what you want to discourage must be penalized.

4. A little inflation is a good thing — not so, it’s just a genteel way of stealing from our children.

5. The way to avoid a fight is to advertise that you won’t fight — not so, every 10-year-old boy knows better.

But isn’t it true that overriding and encompassing all our false assumptions is the proposition that the present outweighs the future? Not so, unless the future outweighs the present, there won’t be any worthwhile future for our children.