OCR Text |
Show 'Battle Creek To be a prophet that heralds good tidings is exhilerating; but the reverse is something else again. Considerable time ago, right after the union members at Kennecott Copper had received a sizeable boost in wages and the company had retaliated with a whopping raise in 'the price of the red metal, this writer predicted that calamity was in the offing. The reason for this prediction was the simple economic fact that when any commodity is priced unreasonably un-reasonably high, the consumers do one or both of the following things: They try to get along with what they have and look around for cheaper substitutes. Electric power companies, the largest consumers of copper, have shifted in part to the use of aluminum, alum-inum, since it is much cheaper and almost as good. Other consumers con-sumers are also using substitute metals where they can. As a result the demand for copper cop-per has fallen off and employees in the Kennecott plants are losing their jobs. Five hundred were laid off in Utah recently with the prospect pros-pect of more to follow. The Kennecott episode and also al-so what is currently happening in the steel industry is just another example of the fact that most of our troubles are man-made. Avarice, Avar-ice, greed, and selfishness have been constant pitfalls of humanity ever since the Caveman first used a club to drive his neighbor out of a bigger and better cave. BCB , We sincerely hope they find it this time. Ever since the community commun-ity atop the hill to the south of Battle Creek discarded the name of "Provo Bench" and adopted the more dignified cognomen of "Or-em," "Or-em," the inhabitants thereof have been holding celebrations. Being no doubt ambitious and on the lookout for something that would really click, these celebrations have seldom been held at the same time of year or designated by the same name. The 1958 effort is slated to be held on May 30 and 31; but the Bench folks are still at a loss to know what to call it. As one loyal booster put it, "Orem is first in everything else, so we are staging the first Community celebration of the year." So hard put are they fora suitable suit-able name for the festival, that the sponsors, "Orem Boosters, Inc." are offering a cash prize of $25.00 to the person who can properly christen the affair. With the sincere desire of being helpful, this column respectfully submits the following, "We Hope This Is It, Days." BCB A good Joke, like gold, is where you find it. One of the best of the year came with our telephone bill this month. Enclosed with the "Revised Bill" was a printed slip to the effect that the revision of the rates upward was necessary because of the "increased cost of doing business." The real punch line, however, was the sly remark that the Company Com-pany keeps your phone in running order free and for nothing. In the parlance of the teen-ager, "Oh Yeah." So long 'til Thursday. |