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Show BrooimnGWs Caireo'S diunfiis DESERET NEWS SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH . We Stand For The Constitution Of The United States Editors note: The fabulous Browning gun story was recalled by many Utahns this week with the death of Frank M. Browning, whose uncle, John M. Browning, was the inventive genius of one of the worlds most successful series of patents on As Having Been Divinely Inspired 10 A EDITORIAL PAGE SATUPDAY, MARCH 22, 1969 CiCbhovning & BRO... fitearms. 1 ' y ? Who Should Be Top Man At Airport? By A. LEE ROBERTSON' (Excerpted from the Utah Fish and Game Magazine) t More heat than light is being generated by the squabble over who ought to become manager of Salt Lake International Airport, and the controversy needs to be put in clearer perspective. The roots of the dispute go back to last summer when Murray A. Bywater was named assistant manager at the airport following his retirement from the U.S. Air Force as a brigadier general. At the time the Airport Advisory Council complained that although it is designated by law with responsibility for making recommendations on such matters, it was not consulted about BywaterB appointment. That slight, it seems, still rankles now that plans are being made to retire airport manager Joe Bergin, who is nearly four years beyond the mandatory retirement age, and promote Mr. Bywater to manager. Not only has the council gone on record that the planned promotion of Mr. Bywater does not have its blessing, but it even wants him replaced as assistant manager. The city might have been spared considerable controversy if the advisory council had been consulted before an assistant manager at the airport was appointed. Likewise, its too bad that the lesson in public relations that should have been learned from last summers episode wasnt applied regarding Mr. Bywaters contemplated promotion. But thats wkter under the bridge or at least it should be. The challenge now is to heal the wounds that have been opened so operations at Salt Lake International Airport, where an exciting expansion program has been mapped out, are not jeopardized. For one thing, the City Commission ought to take a new look at the law setting forth the powers and duties of the Airport Advisory Council. That law specifies that the council shall advise the City Commission in the supervision, manage- -' ment, planning, operation, and improvement of the airport. Does that language really authorize the council to make recommendations on appointments? If bo, doesnt it take the council beyond giving advice on policy and get it into active administration, where such boards ordinarily dont belong? For another thing, even boards which have full powers of not just recommending making appointments themselves them dont air criticisms of a man publicly the way the airport council has done with Mr. Bywater. Others have learned that such a practice can make it hard for a community to attract top public servants. J But the crux of the matter is this: As Commissioner of Parks and Public Property, Conrad Harrison has the ultimate responsibility for the airport. But Commissioner Harrison cant reasonably be held responsible for how the airport is run unless the manager there is the man he wants. The man he wants is Mr. Bywater, who has the experience and qualifications needed. That ought to settle the matter. - The year 1855 was still young and the night of January 23 was cold and clear. The frost glistened from the wagon wheel ruts along the dirt roads of the little Mormon settlement of Ogden in Utah Territory. Firewood hauled down from the mountains was scarce in this village of log cabins and adobe huts, neatly arranged at the foot of ' the rugged Wasatch Mountains. Few families could spare the fuel to keep fires burn-in- g the night long. They depended, instead, on the handmade quilts and blankets for warmth through the cold nights, and in some cases entire families slept in a common bed for warmth. The fire in the adobe home of Jonathan Browning would not go out this night. As the oil lamp burned and the smoke from the chimney moved slowly in a straight line up into the cold darkness of the early morning, Elizabeth Browning presented Jonathan Browning with her first son, John Moses Browning. Johns firearms genius would later have its effect upon the entire world. As Utah ponders how much industry is to blame for the states air pollution, theres encouraging news that ultimately the problem can be conquered. It comes from the Air Pollution Control Association, headquartered in Pittsburgh, which reports dramatic gains in the quality of the air over many major American cities. Detroit, for example, has cut its particulate emission by S3 per cent over the last 10 years. Greater Pittsburgh red duced sulfur oxide emissions by in 1968 alone use of the removal devices and through improved fuel. to Louis reduce particulate emissions by 3,000 St plans tons and sulfur oxides by 16,000 tons this year with the use of low sulfur coal and almost complete elimination of open burnone-thir- ing. Denvers visible air pollutants have diminished by 60 per cent since 1962 and pollution from incinerators has 90 cent over the past three years. per dropped And, says the pollution association, if you want a comparison with the goud old days," Chicagos particulate pollution has dropped from 394 tons per square mile per month in 1928 to 43 today. These achievements elsewhere ought to spur Utah to greater efforts to curb its air pollution. At the same time, no even those coming to grips with air pollution community can afford to become complacent. With population and production steadily growing. America can't stop struggling for cleaner air to breathe. Limit This Subsidy . t In Illinois a retired coal company executive named Dennis Gent converted his farm into a country club complete with after golf course, swimming pool, and riding academy not check for a corn. $70,117 growing pocketing I really dont need the money, said Gent. I just took the check to show how stupid the farm program is." Gent isnt the only one whos showing the stupidity of federal farm subsidies. So, inadvertently, are the 338 farms paid between $100,000 and $500,000, the 15 receiving from $500,000 to $1 million, and the five collecting more than $1 million all for not planting certain acres. do They so under a program intended to limit overproduction and help small family farms survive. But surpluses no longer exist in many controlled crops, and more than 54 per cent of the subsidy payments go to the top 10 per cent of farm operations. By contrast, 42 per cent of the farms receive only 4.5 per those with incomes below $2,500 a year cent of the subsidies. This is why Rep. Paul Findley of Illinois has introduced a bill to limit payments to individual farmers under various farm subsidies to an aggregate of $20,000 or to $10,000 for he estimates, save any single program. Such a limit would, $200 million a year. With more urgent programs crying for funds, this waste of federal farm subsidies is unconscionable, and the taxpayers should insist that Congress bring it to an abrupt halt. i K x 1 v a Ji t's UNSPISTOLS ' MOTION. &FISHP i to U a Jfc . liA ' a -- .y $. - v' , A Because of Father Jonathans mechani-- , cal ability and skilled hands, he was often called upon by the great colonizer, Brigham Young, to advise and assist in the building-o- f leather tanneries, mills, and farming equipment for the pioneer Industry. Much of this work called Jonathar to Salt Lake Gty and outlying Mormon settlements. He spent so much of his time away from home helping to build up Zion, that he had lit- - . tie time for his gun shop. It was during one of Jonathans short absences from the shop that John involved himself in an adventure that perhaps touched off his firearms genius. John was nearing his eleventh birthday and being endowed with above normal energic- and imagination, gathered from the scrap pile an old smoothbore barrel With a hatchet, he hacked at a slab of wood Until a rather respectable stock could be fitted to the barrel. A piece of tin nailed to the stock served as a flashpan alongside the flashhole of the now wired-o. barrel. - n Not having the time to fuss with trigger device, young John recruited the help of his younger brother and devoted sidekick, Matt, to serve as trigger. A small, tin bucket was punched full of air holes and partly filled with hot embers from the forge. A long stick served as a match for transferring the fire from the coals In the bucket to the flashpan of the gun. This completed his crude trigger system. John and Matt took to the hills and shallow washes just south of what is now downtown Ogden. John packed his gun, charged with his shot and powder, while Matt followed, swinging the perforated bucket around and around overhead by a long wire to keep the wind fanning the coals hot and ready. They soon located a flock of sage hens. Angling themselves close to a group of three, almost in line with one another, John took a kneeling aim over the wired-o- n barrel and whispered, Now. Matt, being so intently interested in the sage hens, shoved his lighted stick at the flashpan, missing it and nearly burning John's ear in the procd ess. Another poke of the flaming stick resulted in a smoke-filleroar, Well-arme- d, newly-create- d well-aime- d through which John could be seen rolling ovr r backward through the sagebrush. Matt ran for the flapping birds as John, uninjured, gathered up himself and his gun. All three sage hens were retrieved and proudly taken home to Mother Elizabeth. During the few years that followed, John assumed more and more of the shop work. rifle It was while repairing a single-sho- t that Jolui remarked on how poorly these new guns were being designed. He said, Why, I could design a rifle better than that. Jonathan got up from his seat on the anvil, draped his arm over John's shoulder and said. I know you can, John. Why don't you do it? He then returned to his anvil, ? , w 0 Jonathan Browning . . . father of gun genius John Moses probably cut his teeth on a gun stock in his fathers small gunsmithing shop. Even before he was old enough to enter school, he showed an unusual interest in the shop and the many guns that passed through the skilled hand3 of his Mormon pioneer father. sage-cover- ed Breath Of Fresh Air MM life; , ii"y.saT' " L , (Wffc 54CWJ John M. Browning . . made first gun at 10 A A'fe.v !'; s'' jv.a? , .. ' ' I f Original Browning factory. From left: Sam Browning, George Browning, John M. Browning, Matthew S. Browning, Ed Browning and Frank Rushton. pretendirig to tinker, while with pride he watched his genius son busy himself with his many ideas that later inspired his invention of the worlds finest sporting arms. He not only designed the world's finest sporting arms, which were manufactured by Winchester, Colt, Remington, Ithaca. Savage, Steven, Fabrique Nationale and others, but he also invented the worlds first gas operated automatic firearm. From this basic design came the Colt .45 Pistol and the Browning Automatic Rifle, famed in World War I, World War II and Korea. The BAR, even in modern warfare, has not yet been replaced. ' v ier2 , i . ' John came by his gun genius quite natu- -' rally from bis father. Much of his growing-u- p time was spent in Jonathan's gunshop doing minor repair work and complete overhaul jobs under his fathers direction. It was here that he learned the basic fundamentals of that led to the invention of his single shot, breech-loadin- g rifle at the age of 23. With the invention of this rifle in 1878, John and his brothers, and a newfound friend started a gun factory in Ogden that initiated his long career as an g arms inventor. Housed in a new gun shop, and with the help of his brothers, Matt, Sam, George, and Ed, and his new friend, the English gunsmith, Frank Rushton, John formed a partnership, and the Browning Bros. Rifle Factory became a reality. At first, only One or two guns at a time came off the benches at the Browning Bros. Gun Factory, but as techniques and skills improved and new equipment was installed, the guns were delivered to anxious customers in greater numbers. There was such a demand for good rifles in those early days that rarely more than a dozen rifles were found in the rack in tie front of the shop at any one time. Production reached a peak of three rifles a day, and over 600 of these prized rifles were manufactured and sold from the Browning Bros. Factory. In 1883, Andrew McAusland, a salesman for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company on a business trip in the West, happened upon one of the Browning rifles. The gun displayed rough frontier use, but it still worked and fired smoothly. It was marked clearly with the manufacturers name, Browning Bros., Ogden, Utah, U.S.A.," and the serial number 463 was stamped into the frame. Mr. McAusland was so impressed with the rifle that he bought it from its owner for $15.00 and sent it directly to the Winchester Factory. The rifle created such a stir in the factory that with in a week Mr. T. G. Bennett, Winchester and General Manager, was on his way to Ogden authorized by the board of directors to obtain all rights to the nt rifle. Mr. Bennett was and a large man, bearded Entering the Browning Bros. Factory, he looked over the chest-hig- h partition that separated the store from the shop. As he looked into the tiny shop, he wondered if he was really in the place described to him as the largest gun factory between Omaha and the Pacific Coast. The largest factory in the West was manned by seven young men each performing, at their benches, special jobs within the" meager production line. The shop was equipped with a miller, lathe, emery wheel, several vises, and an upright steam engine near the far wall. well-dresse- had time to do. From this point on, John was able to devote his life to the inventing of sporting arms and military weapons that are still in use today. During the 19 years that John Browning invented sporting arms for Winchester, he sold them some 44 different guns, many of which were never manufactured. Buying anything John designed seemed like good business since it kept Winchesters competitors from obtaining these new inventions and tied up the patent rights on many new ideas that someone else might try in the future. ' ' this once fine relationship with ended when T. G. Bennett of Winchester lost the Browning Automatic Shotgun because he would not accept Brownings terms. This break with Winchester opened new avenues for Johns in 1902, Winchester Matt Browning, one of the young men inventive genius. with little more than fuzz on his chin, greeted Bennett When he asked who the owner John took his automatic shotgun to the and inventor of the rifle was, Matt replied, Fabrique Nationale Arms Company in BelThats him, third vise down." John was gium. This started an excellent relationship that saw the manufacturing and marketing busily engaged at putting the finishing touches on one of his single 'shot rifles, and by Fabrique Nationale of so many of Johns in this setting hardly looked the part of j developments. This relationship lasted for firearms inventor. Matt yelled, Hey, John,V 24 years untit Johas death, the day after theres a man up here who wants ta see .Thanksgiving, November, $826. John died you," and from this Informal meeting grew while he and his son, Vail, were working on a friendship and business relationship that some production problems of his last sportwas to last for 19 years. ing arm, the Browning Superposed Shotgun, New Haven and Winchester had come to which , is considered by many shotgunners as the Ultimate in shotguns today. Ogden, and John sold his first invention to the Winchester Arms Co. for $8,000, a sum After John Browning's death, Val considerably less than Bennett was preBrowning continued in the footsteps of his pared to pay. John did not know what father and grandfather, keeping the busiroyalties were and did not receive any on ness in Ogden under a full head of steam. his first rifle or others that were later sold The Browning Arms Company was formed to Winchester. In this small, western railand the office headquarters and research road settlement of Ogden, there was little center remained in Ogden. Browning guns known about the process of doing business are manufactured in Belgium and mareastern style. In fact, John was so naive in keted throughout the world. A new research his business dealings, that the Browning center has been constructed at the mouth of Bros. Factory continued for some time to Cottonwood Canyon, some twelve miles make the little single shot rifles, until east of Ogden, where Val and other members of the Browning family, assisted by a knowledge of it reached T. G. Bennett at the Winchester plant. A letter of rather staff 01 engineering and marketing specialsharp explanation on the legal details of ists, carry on the fine Browning tradition. selling patents, addressed to John M. . Many great tributes were paid John M. Browning, ended the short life of the arms Browning by his own government and othmanufacturing in Ogden, Utah. ers around the globe. However, the tribute The Browning Brothers were now conpaid him by Belgium perhaps best extent to do repair work and operate their presses the gratitude the whole world feels toward this great inventor. In 1914, King sporting goods store in front of the shop Albert of Belgium presented The Cross of where they sold Johns single shot, of Winchester manufacture, and other sporting Knighthood of the Order of Leopold" to the tall, slim American from Ogden, Utah Tergood items. John again turned his attention to developing his firearms ideas, someritory, to be remembered hereafter as Sir John Moses Browning, Gunsmith. thing he had wished many times that he -- i Rising Menace Of The Conglomerate Trend In 1955, 49 per cent of the manufacturing assets of the United States were owned by 200 leading corporations. At the end of 1967, the figure was 59 per cent. Since then the conglomerate trend, that is the expansion by into fields utterly unrelated to the commodities or services they originally produced, has intensified. Some economists fear that 10 years of the indusfrom now nearly trial production of the nation will be in the hands of the 2C0 to say nothing of the banks, insurance companies and service institutions which will have also fallen under their conthree-quarte- trol. r, The Nixon Administrations chief Richard W. McLaren, echoes this fear of undue economic concentration. Existing antitrust laws, he points out, can trust-buste- dampen mergers toward market extension (the acquisition of firms making the same product in a different geographic area) and reciprocity (merging firms that can do important business favors for each other). JENKIN LLOYD JONES F , the courts have not tested pure conglomerates, and many legislators believe that new laws are needed. It is easy to conjure up the old Populist greedy image of the wolves of Wall Street gnomes of finance seeking to control the nation. But it might be fair to point out the culpability of government itself in producing the conglomerate rush. Take the case of railroads where both major lines, like Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Illinois Central, and minor lines, like Reading and Bangor and Aroostook, have started giabbing for companies totally unrelated to transportation. have genRailroading profits, dollar-wiserally been stagnant for 10 years. In purchasing power they have substantially declined. The national railway system shows little prospect of regaining earnings comparable to other industries without sweeping mergers among the lines, but the Interstate Commerce Commission has moved like a tortoise and the courts have hobbled the tortoise. There Is little wonder, therefore, that railroad stockholders, blocked at resentful rail mergers, would pressure managements to merge with anything that would produce a better earnings base. , Then theres inflation. The progressive cheapening of the dollar brought about by politicians who have found it pleasant to spend more than they tax has pushed mergers by causing money to take refuge in equities rather than in bonds or cash. dollar that is headed in the direction a dime is a poor thing to hold. It is better to put it into land, even if overpriced by sound-dolla- r standards, or common stocks, s ratios seem high. even if This has caused companies with large cash reserves to bid ridiculous prices for other A of price-earning- companies. Compounding this pressure is the matter of taxation. The Bureau of Internal Revenue impels mergers even while the Department of Justice resists them. Closely held companies, the stockholders of which are e tax brackets, confer already in thin favors by paying dividends. Surplus funds cannot be held indefinitely without running afoul of IRS penalties against excessive retention of earnings. So high-incom- a company do? It must reduce its surplus by acquiring another company, or sell out and give its stockholders the benefit of capital gains. ' Under Adam the company with a long losing record was a dog s and nobody wanted it But carryovers can be immensely valuable if corporations can acquire them by merger. And the gimmick of being able to redepreciate an acquired property is important in this day of super taxes. Its really pretty crazy government forcing mergers by tax policy with one hand and battling them with the other. But the menace of the conglomerate remains, even if the motives for creating conglomerates are perfectly understandable. The concentration of Americas productive capacity in the hands of a small number of mammoth corporations is not the way to run free enterprise. The basic problem, however, is not rapacity of business, but the dishonesty of a government philosophy that steadily debases its currency, imposes tax penalties on the independent who hangs on and holds out what must Smith-economi- tax-los- well-heel- tax incentives for gobbling ones neighbor or selling out. If were going to call out the fire wagons, lets quit pouring gasoline on the fire. |