Millard County Chronicle Thursday, May 29, 1958 GIVING OUR WORLD THE Once Over . . . By Dick Morrison Grains of Wheat Take a checker board and put one grain of wheat on the first square, swo on the second, four on the third, eight on the fourth and so on, doubling the amount of wheat on each successive square until you have reached the sixty-fourth sixty-fourth square. How much wheat will be required? How much for the square, two on the second four together? Without figuring the answer, one might make a quick guess of maybe a quart, or maybe a bushel. bush-el. Very few people would guess anywhere near enough. The answer ans-wer is that the sixty-four square would have to contain 9, 223,372,-036 223,372,-036 854,775,808 grains of wheat. The total amount on the whole board would be twice that number minus one. Both figures run into the quintillions, and, having disposed dis-posed of that large number to a nicely of exactness, we shall content con-tent ourselves with round figures from here on out. They are easier to copy, and convey the idea just as well. Now, just how much wheat is that approximately nine and one-fourth one-fourth quintillion grains on the sixty-four square, and the nearly eighteen and one-half quintillion grains on the whole board? The amount of the 64th square is 12.8 trillion bushells, or more than 768 trillion pounds. This a-mounts a-mounts to 381 'billion tons. The grand total would be double these amounts. Clearly, it would take a large checkerboard to serve our purpose, and a cosmic quantity of wheat. But the little mathematical exercise illustrates a principle which can have a profound effect upon our thinking, as applied to any number of the problems of our nay. What it proves is that a trend, if projected far enough, is sure to run into trouble that no trend can possibly continue in one direction direc-tion forever, or even for very long. But to toy with our figures a bit more before drawing any conclusions. con-clusions. You can check up on these very easily if you want to. Nothing much is required but the ability to use the two-times table and the ability to add. A person adept at the use of a slide rule might figure the thing out quite fast. My method was simply to draw column lines on pieces of white paper, number the lines from one to sixty-four, and start figuring. figur-ing. It was possible to prove the total with the help of a small adding ad-ding machine, which while it couldn't possibily come close to the Vg figures, nevertheless could handle column of three figures at a time, which was all that was necessary. In the absence of a Univac in our house, it was the next best thing available. Now, there are 335 grains of wheat in one cubic inch. I counted them, using some fine seed wheat given me by Quin Shepherd, of tne Delta Valley Company. Then, there are 2,150.42 cubic inches in a bushel, or 720 390 grains per bushel, which amount weighs 60 pounds. And, of course, 2000 lbs. in a ton. With this information you may check me up to your heart's content. Some people delight de-light in finding me in error, and this is their big chance. The calculations ran on innocently in-nocently enough for a while. The number of 'grains on the eighth square was only 12S; but the figures fig-ures were getting up steam. By the sixteenth, they amounted to over 32,000, and by the 24th, which would be the end of the third row of squares on the checker board, the number was more than eight million. After that, they took off like a moon rocket. By the 39th square, there was one grain of wheat 'for each dollar dol-lar of the federal debt; while the number on the 48th was over 140 trillion. This is a bigger figure than even our government spenders spend-ers have been dealing in, thought they may reach it yet. As aforesaid the number reached reach-ed on the 64th calculation was 9U quintillion. And, being curious to find out how much bigger the figure would get, I decided to go on up to a hundred squares imagining im-agining my "check board" had ten rows of ten squares each, instead in-stead of the usual eight. This led to a figure of 659 octillion, plus. That is, 659 followed by twenty-seven twenty-seven zeros, in round figures Projecting, then, my calculations to the 100th square, I came up with a volume of wheat weighing 2.75 quadrillion tons. This, Is, indeed, in-deed, a nice surplus of wheat. It doesn't quite equal the 6,594 quintillion quin-tillion tons of the weight of the earth but you wouldn't have to carry the trend much further to reach even that. And this figure only by starting with one grain of wheat and doubling it progressiv-ly progressiv-ly for one hundred times! A variation of the theme is the old gag whereby a man went to work for another, the agreement being that he would work 64 days, and accept in wages one cent for the first day, double that amount for the second day, and so on. Did you ever wonder how much his wages would amount to? Our figures fig-ures give it here. By pointing off the necessary two decimal places, we find ' the guy collecting 184 quadrillion dollars plus a few odd cents, Tor his 64 days of work. Reuther must never have thought of this principle in bargaining with the auto companies. And so we see, by simple mathematical mathe-matical progression, starting with any very small amount and doubling doub-ling it just a relatively few times in succession, what big figures can result. And, if we were to use feeometrical progression Instead, whereby we would, instead of merely doubling each number, multiply it by itself the total would mount up almost infinitely faster: two, four, sixteen, two-hundred two-hundred fifty-six, and so on. This method might soon total all the atoms in the universe. It all makes an interesting in tellectual pastime, and it affords something in the nature of mental training which can be useful In many ways. Applications Perhaps the gravest threat to the future happiness of the peoples of the earth, like a menacing cloud even now coming over the horizon, is that of over population. The Asiatic countries have suffered from it for centuries. America is a newly settled country, as history runs, so it has not afflicted our continent in the short four or five hundred years since the first Europeans landed. But America to day is on the verge of a population problem which seems sure to be come deadly. The "population ex plosion" is a phenomenon of which social scientists are well aware. yet helpless to do anything to effectively check the impending disaster. Consider; use the principle of mathematical progression illustrated illustrat-ed above with grains of wheat Start with two people on earth; call them Adam and Eve, and let the population double once each thirty years, for example. By the end of 1920 years, the population of the earth would be 18 Ms quin tillion people. This would amount to 312 billion persons per square mile or 112,000 per square foot. Of course it can't happen. No "trend" can carry itself so far without being checked by some natural force. But the great trag edy is that in biology in life it is normally starvation that checks the upward trend in poulation. India and China have known this for centuries. In Calcutta, today, and every day, people by the do ens and hundreds die in the streets. With no possessions, no place to go, and nothing to sustain them, they eke out miserable lives and finally succumb in merciful death. The bodies are picked up and hauled haul-ed from the gutters every morning. America isn't as many generations genera-tions from that condition as some of us would like to think. In China, and some other oriental ori-ental countries, religious beliefs foster this terrible human misery. Where men are taught that they must "beget" twelve sons if they are to enjoy eternal bliss in the hereafter, the act of contributing to such conditions becomes a religious re-ligious duty. The result: large families, doomed before birth to lives of misery and starvation. 12 sons must be born any surplus of daughters can be, and frequently frequent-ly are, thrown into the rivers or sold into slavery. Nature produces a super abundance abund-ance of seeds of all kinds. One grain of wheat planted, will produce pro-duce a hundred new ones. A single man, biologically, produces enough life cells to populate the whole earth once a week, more or less, and this is no place for any crude jokes asking, if a single man can do that, what could a married one do. So great is the over pop- EnioufheBouito (jou can stetj with! .You'll prefer it on any occasion J fV CSYiAnsoiT) 0 KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY - 85 PROOF CLENMORE DISTILLERIES CO., LOUISVILLE, KY. ulation seeds of life in all species, spec-ies, both plant and animal, that if only one in a million survives, the species is maintained. But nature's na-ture's method is unbelievably cruel. Yet one need only consider the mathematics of normal increase tendencies to see that, unless steps are taken to check population growth, normal increase will outrun out-run all the sustenance of the earth, There is no use claiming that new inventions will solve the problem. Some say, "Don't worry Hydrpon-ics Hydrpon-ics will 'be developed and people will be eating moss." Obviously, such a development would be of insignificant proportions to the rea' problem. Nor will atomic power pow-er ..olve the problem of fuel and heat. The natural tendency to increase in-crease will outrun the whole earth unless checked. And checked it will be, either by nature's method some more civilized method. We some more sivilized method. We j know the problem. We have the knowledge of how to stave-off the disaster, but will we use it? In Other Fields The principle established that no "growth trend" can continue for very long, there are many pertinent per-tinent applications. Ponder a few of them yourself The city of Los Angeles grew from 11,000 population in 1880 to two million by 1950. How long can such a trend continue before the crowded., inhabitants., begin., to trample each other? The federal debt rose from 16 billion dollars in 1930 to 280 billion bil-lion in 1958. How long can such a trend continue, and what will happen when it steps? Boosters want to make Utah continuously more populous. How many people do they consider the ideal number, and what will keep the number from rising disastrously disastrous-ly after that point is reached? On the stock exchange, we have seen some stocks double and redouble, re-double, and sextuple in price. Isn't Is-n't there a danger point, somewhere, some-where, in this line of growth? In short, can't human beings figure out an answer to any problem prob-lem other than continuous expansion, expan-sion, which is sure to lead to disaster? dis-aster? In the economic field, continuous con-tinuous expanion is of benefit only to monopolists those who own something of limited supply, such as land, or enjoy the banking franchise of creating money and to politicians who hold a monopoly of power. It holds nothing for the general public. Yet the public often oft-en become the most ardent backers back-ers of expansionism. Beyond that, dream up some of your own applications of the principle prin-ciple illustrated. France The political situation in France this week is of more than ordinary ordin-ary interest. With the generals led by De Gaulle ready to take over the government, it appears that perhaps French Parliamen-tarianism Parliamen-tarianism may be on the way out, fend a new, more stable form of government about to be establish ed. The French form of government has been very weak. It has been so "democratic" that it was all but ineffectual in critical situations. situa-tions. Self-seeking opportunists have exploited it unconscionably; pressure groups have used it to their immediate advantage and the ultimate disadvantage of the nation na-tion for decades, until now, the whole rotten structure seems about to topple. Some Americans, afflicted with a blind adherence to "democracy" may view this with dismay. They need not. Where iron-bound authoritarian auth-oritarian government is an evil, on one hand, such a weak ineffective ineffec-tive and venal government as France has had is as bad an evil. Somewhere in between perhaps is a government with a stronger written constitution, administered by men dedicated to the welfare of the nation, rather than by the Explorers fo Cruise Colorado River Utah National Parks Council, Boy Scouts of America announced today, plans to conduct two Colorado Colo-rado River Expeditions for Explorers Explor-ers and Scout Leaders from the Council area. According to the announcement, boys must be at least 14 years of age and registered in Scouting. They must be able to swim and able to cook and must have had at least ten days and nights of camping camp-ing experience. John L. Cross, Assistant Scout Executive who is also guide for the expeditions, announced that the first group will leave Provo June 2 and return June 11 and the second party will leave June 14 and return June 23. The expeditions will visit eight National and State Parks and Monuments Mon-uments during the trip In addition to 130 miles of boat travel on the Colorado River itself. The expeditions will put their boats on the river at North Wash, seven miles up stream from Hite, Utah, and will spend seven days exploring such sites as the Loper Hermitage in Red Canyon, Cass Hite's Homestead in Ticaboo Canyon, Can-yon, Hall's Crossing, the Junction of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers, Forbidden Canyon, Music Temple, Hole in the Rock, Rainbow Bridge, and the Crossing of the Fathers, Mr. Cross announced that there are still several openings available in each of the two expeditions and additional details and information can be obtained by contacting the Utah National Parks Headquarters at Box 106, Provo Utah. Anyone interested is encouraged to make immediate reservations. Miss Julia Mae Bogh, attending College of Southern Utah, spent the weekend in Delta with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nels Bogh. Miss Susan Beckwith returned to Cedar City with her Sunday to visit through the week of school at CSU. Miss Linda Mae Cropper was graduated from the Instisute of Religion at University of Utah on Sunday, May 25, in rites in Salt Lake City. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cuman Cropper, of Deseret. corrupt "politics as usual" philosophy, phil-osophy, holds possibility for betterment. bet-terment. As of Monday morning, I'd say the fall of the fourth French Republic is imminent. And it will be no great loss. BATTERIES for CARS, TRUCES and TRACTORS Full LAHER Line including Mustang, Exeter, Nonstop Priced from $10.75 Guaranteed from 2 to 4 years ALL ADJUSTMENTS MADE BY US DELTA AUTO SUPPLY Delta, Utah Attention All Master M-Men, Golden Gleaners The time is drawing short to make reservations for your one special event of the year the annual banquet held in connection with June Conference. It will be held Thursday, June 12, 6:30 p. m. at the new Union Building, University Univer-sity of Utah. Your committee has been working hard to carry you on a "Flight To The Stars", and we anticipate a wonderful evening of delightful entertainment, fine food and high inspiration. Elder Spencer W. Kimball will be the speaker. .Your reservation should be made by June 6 with the Y. W. M. I. A. General Office, 40 North Main MARY WARNICK RECEIVES $100 SCHOLARSHIP Mary Warnick, University of Utah nursing student, was recently the recipient of the Utah Federation Feder-ation of Women's Scholarship for $100. During the past week Miss Warnick was tapped as a Spur for the coming school year. Fifty outstanding out-standing freshmen women are an-ually an-ually chosen to be members of this sophomore service organization. Mary is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. P. W. Warnick, Delta, Utah. She is a 1957 graduate of Delta High School where she was active in many school activities. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Paca. of Salt Lake City were in Delta Thursday for Commencement at Delta High School, when their nephew, Nick Pace was graduated. Street, Salt Lake City 16, Utah. Tickets are $2.75 per person. Your partners are invited. In a recent assembly held at LDS Business College, Deanna Jef-fe:y, Jef-fe:y, daughter o. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Jeffery of Delta, received an award for transcribing a 90 word-a-minute shorthand test with near perfect accuracy. Deanna is a graduate of Delta High School. Mrs. Althea Orton, and daughter, Merle, and son Wallie, of Salt Lake City, were Delta visitors during dur-ing the past week, and attended Commencement at Delta High School, when Mrs. Orton's son Duane was graduated. He returned with them Friday to Salt Lake, where he will be employed during the summer. Canada Geese are among the earliest nesters of the wildfowl. In a normal year broods are commonly com-monly seen by late April or early May. 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