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Show Editorial ' SALT FLAT NEWS, APRIL, 1975 3 A NATION OF OLDSTERS From Washington comes the announcement that in a few years, the social security system will be running in the red. A few more years, and it will be bankrupt altogether. For those of us whose paychecks have long been attenuated by old age insurance,-anwho have heretofore looked forward to a government subsidized retirement, it is hot d good news.' !.- . - ..r- At the root of the problem is ZPG,or the Zero Popula- tion, Growth movement. As the birth rate drops, those of us who.1 are fallout from the baby boom. grow, The older. median steadily age of Americans shifts from and finally to old. In other words, yoiing to middle-agethe Pepsi generation loses its pep, leaving fewer working people to pay the bills. In such an event, ZPG will have a deves taring effect on the GNP. By the year 2000, one can envision an America over the Hill, the heartland of the country abandoned, with factories and farms and discotheques creaking in the wind. Everyone will be clustered on the Florida peninsula, in Arizona, and in Pasadena. The third of each month, once a day .pf national celebration,' will come and go unheralded. The pale green computerized check will qot appear in the mailbox, alas, for the 'mailman, too will be over sixty-fivFood will out and. entertainment in short once stood shoulder to shoulwho supply. Elderly hippies der at Woodstock will .hoard their leaden pennies, "saving up the admission price for Guy Lombardo's annual. New Years bash. (Oh yes, Lombardo will still be going strong, although his Royal Canadians will have moved, south to keep their glissandos limber. Theyll be known as the Tucson Troupers.) The United States of America, once the most powerful nation on earth, will be relegated to a second-rat- e position, a feeble prune republic of no consequence whatever in world politics. What can be done to turn the trend? Im not sure. George Bernard Shaw once, said, Youth is wasted on the young. In a similar vein, my grandmother used to tell me retirement is wasted on the old. She had a novel suggestion, and at the time I thought she was merely joking: she said, We should change the retirement age to twenty-onwhen were still young and can enjoy it. At sixty-fivI presume, wed have compulsory employment, and the working seniority wpuld be taxed heavily to support r3; idle youth. On the surface, .this sounds like a fairly good solution to ; the problem. . ;; left' A of us,'unfortunately those of us already over would be made martyrs to the changing one twenty times, rather like the last draftees to go to Vietnam. Haying contributed all our lives to social security, well find' out that security at age sixty-fiv- e means finding a job and buckling down to it. Retired young folks, basking in the sun on specially provided benches, will chide us as we " hobble past on our way to the factory. I dont know whats wrong with old people today, theyll say. They seem to lack spunk. This is but one modest proposal and one which, in these mixed-u- p will probably take under times, Washington ' so-call- ed d, e. be-runnin- g -- . e, e, - ; . . - advisement. . . Mery Golf Comes to Wendover Water , or the lack of if, has long been a problem facing Wendoverites. A scarcity of the precious liquid has inhibited the planting of lawns and other green things, and has presented a formidable obstacle to the development of the great American sport , golf. Since the war , a handful of dedicated linksters have kept in shape by batting golfballs chanced campus last week course situated on the old air base, on the edge of the salt flats. around a unique nine-hol- e upon a discarded copy of your The are in a fact grassless , grayish white color , so that many golfers have found 'greens' publication, read it (twice the first out of sheer enjoyment, the it necessary to paint their golfballs black in order to keep, track of them. second for purposes of cultural But today, Wendover has a full eighteen hole course, and at last a solution to the enlightenment), decided quite Dear Editor: sticky golfball problem. The new game is played not with clubs but with bows and arrows, abruptly that it was the most reAs ie of the members who and promises to become a popular pastime among Wendoverites and visitors to Wendover. to of freshing piece journalism control and own the mine at For. more on archery golf and an insight into its tricky rules, see our sports special on hit the streets since' Rolling-Ston- Mountain City, Nevada, about page nine. and that it was definitely which you wrote an article in . worth subscribing to. If you- wish to know somethe March issue of the Salt Flat necessarily of dream mine Dear Editor: All of. which leads to the fact I just read my. first issue of stockholders. Mr. C. Norman thing, it seems you should go to that I have enclosed a check for News, quoting News. I love it! Please than ratter 'the the are we that people, Pierce, proper requesting a years subscription to The Salt enter a minor the' such to statement Dear a to Editor: as, i.e., going jny subscription. Flat News. Keep up the good you publish. effect that you quoted a person stockholder in .The Kennecott The Princeton University LiProbably more than The New York Times would. And though Ill admit that I still dont give a damn about the Salt Flats, I am, at least, writing to you. Chon Mikkelson, . Salt Lake City Dear Editor: While making a quick perusal of the U. of U. - mid-afterno- on . -- . . e, - . work. who is unauthorized to provide Yours,' ' Douglas Siddoway, - Deaf Editor: Flat News, today at work. And though I Was neither on a coffee break or my lunch hour, I managed to wade through it I found it mostly inane and trivial, but Ill confess it held my interest information, and that the information was in error, and par- place. ticularly, about there being a Yours very truly,' huge ledge of silver, and open pit Wilford A. Weight, mining. There is a small vein of Salt Lake City and silver since not too rich ore, is usually close to the surface, it is not known how deep the vein Editor's Note: Mr. Weight refers to the March issue interview will go. It is for these reasons Norman C. Pierce, auwith will that we hope you publish thor of THE DREAM MINE this statement, as it may cause STORY. Mr: Pierce repreus considerable damage by sents his own views, not those reason of a delay, or even an in. of the Salt Flat News nor junction from the E.P.A.' ' . Salt Lake City- - It was .uncanny that I should chance upon a. copy of The Salt Corporation 'to know what is transpiring or going to take- ' . - brary is eager to acquire as complete a run as possible of The Salt Flat News. We now have (nine) issues in our collections. If other issues are available, we should appreciate receiving them with the appropriate in- -' voice. - Thanking you, I am. Yours sincerely, f Thanks, W. H. Wall Salt Lake City LET, YOUR COPY DO THE SELLING . Alfred L. Bush, Curator Princeton Collections of ' Western Americana Princeton, New Jersey 08540 EmmiriiM |