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Show I c THE VOICE OF BUSINESS Go Essfl young 5 woman, go East By Richard L. Lesher, President Chamber of Commerce of the United States "It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. ..So with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal." Recognize those words? They were spoken by President Reagan during his inaugural address and they rebut the pessimistic notion, prevalent throughout our history, that America's best days are over w hether we like it or not. Way back in 1899, for example, before the advent of automobiles, oceanliners, airplanes, moonshots, pacemakers or ballpoint pens, the director of the U.S. Patent Office urged President McKinley to close that office, because "everything that can be invented in-vented has been invented." And on many occasions during the 19th and 20th centuries, economic "experts" warned we would soon run out of food, oil, natural gas, coal, tin, nickel, zinc and other vital commodities. com-modities. None of this ever happened of course. On the contrary', in the United States today, a relative handful of farmers produce enough food to feed all Americans and much of the rest of the world as well. What's more, recent estimates suggest America's untapped reserves of coal, natural gas, oil and oil shale are so huge that supplies could last for hundreds of years, even at increased rates of production and without harming our environment. What we need is a system that encourages, en-courages, to borrow the President's own words, the heroes of our society, " "...entrepreneurs with faith in themselves them-selves and an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and new opportunity." Consider the case of Wells College' a small women's school on the edge of Lake Cayuga, in Aurora, New York. When the current president of Wells, Dr. Patti McGill Peterson, assumed hex position in August, 1980, she had an important decision to make. The college was in good shape financially, but like to many other northeastern schools, it faced punitive increases In its fuel oil bills as long as OPEC controlled con-trolled the price of oil. Wells, however, had a way out The college is situated right in the Appalachian Ap-palachian basin which geologists believe .s one of the largest unexplored sources of oil and gas in the lower W states. So while people ton years ago might have laughed at the idea of nnlling for oil or gas in New York Wells had already gone ahead and conducted a feasibility study, t . dicated there was at least a v chance of not coming up with a - & hole. What to do? " Peterson, with the concurrencf i E Board of Trustees, decided tts x : ticular venture made good bcr? 1 sense. She raised almost Jioo.w ' alumnae and others, and ctt-' i: with the Aurelius Gas Co. todrlir r; on campus. In mid-Septemte , : company went to work and thesii- ' would hear the faint rhythmic db ' the drilling day and night. Nearh: weeks later, and 2.600 feet is: : ground, the driller struck natures -Immediately, the college's toweS r began pealing, and the stK;-e decided this momentous ti u deserved a truly proper cektr: 6 one that obviously required ca3 l: all classes. - As a result of the strike. We3s;i i achieve a nearly 20 percent redur: its fuel bill, and that savir.s s increase if the college opts to e:; : production. Also, both thecoCes; ?J the townspeople have watcia : drilling take place without any; j? impact on the environment-Nci c has been completed and the : u derground pipes have bees : js original well site is almost invs: L; c Most important, perhaps, ft example set by Dr. Peterson 1'- her unique success in marf Wells' revenues while minimi t costs, she joins that new breed treperneural college presider.5 " abilities go well beyor.d p s scholarship. In so doing. sfc(2 demonstrates to the women of5- that if prepared to take on all ts . challenges, thev can go fori": -really make a difference. The ? offers a course in Pe,r;;; engineering and has even funds from an energy wr.' sponsor student scholarships So while I would not advise fV. college to invest in the stock ir.i drill for oil and gas. there e fc. something terribly exciti ' 5 wonderful about people wilte; r intelligent risks when they to ' e ; might lose everything. t. It reminds us that we still ; system that can pay P"' p,5ii those with courage. It stsorem- as President Reagan himself "we are too great 8 natu 1 ; ourselves to small dreams.' f- reminds us that the fess usually wrong, for as ShaM Hamlet remarked to his cw'" Horntio: "There are nu , ' heaven and earth. ..than 8rew in your philosophy." |
