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Show WASHINGTON . m SMALL J1LJ 5 .BUSINESS BsegM S ac What's a Fair Price? 32 The iden. advanced out of Washington, to impose a new Federal tax on gasoline to discourage dis-courage use of the commodity, and also to offset the loss ot revenue for foreign crude, created cre-ated quite a storm of protest By a heavy majority, according accord-ing to mail received by the National Na-tional Federation of Independent Indepen-dent Business, the independent business people who depend heavily on transportation, registered reg-istered opposition, with some expressing the feeling that this idea will be revived. Largely overlooked, apparently, appar-ently, is perhaps the matter hat is at the heart of this entire en-tire discussion. That question is briefly this. Just how much should a barrel of crude oil cost? Many nptional leadeis take the position that the oil producing pro-ducing countries are blackjack-But blackjack-But V C0,nsuming nations. But leaders of the oil produc-ng produc-ng nations claim that their r i !,n ComPatible wh the S PnC,eS they must 'i n -!X,idht 0dS f the west" be,,aWUi,r1vSer V" U m"" luf-l ,.,., D,uo in any -" -a ZT'na prob- , " f-';,-ly a mcasure-..... mcasure-..... ". ;': :""""nt of heat, 'v.- ... ',' hiit can be ! " -U-ll'" - -'l",n of !nrlr extracted from a barrel of oil. mi a ton of coal, et al. je, wi' Obviously, for example, If "1 coal can supply BTU's at half to the current price of crude oil, then in a true free market economy, coal should replace major part of the market no' he enjoyed by oil, with the resell ipjj that oil prices would fall to i: competitive level. e all It is possible that, crude o'1 be was obtained far too cheaply and an adjustment upward in. price is justified. l0T On: Not too many years ago grl 32c farmers felt that a dollar J bushel price for wheat w"11 eBa be a reasonable price. Todtf con it is around five dollars. ! Foi ' J turn In large parts of the counW especially the once heavuii forested western states, corf1 plel wood sold for four or five dol- Q lars a cord. Today, people stoke up the fireplace pay fr"", uon fifty to sixty dollars a cord. Hon ! mit There is a grave danff' . or world peace, to world if"': . Ity, in the present polllll "' aral logue of seeking to convl able the people that they re tw jfan held up on oil prices, Ml probably more politically I"1 Ible to take this line W amo than tell the people due t quai extravagant policies, we driven up the price. In words, Is it not about Grot that the public Is ,v(" Hll Whic truth about these matte" " . anyone recently priced oil which at one time i"J" It is ated the homes of Ame"" ndent Business |
