The Pocono Record from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania • Page 4

The Pocono Record EDITORIAL PAGE Bill on school voting wrong Legislation is pending in the Pennsylvania Senate that would require voter approval for construction of new school buildings. On the surface this type of bill sounds good. It appears to give the people a voice in education and even in the disposition of taxes. But, really does it? At least under current stan- 'dards it doesn't The public is not geared to vote on a decision as to whether or not a school is overcrowded and in need of expansion. They not only don't know, but how many really cares? Adults without children in the given school under study would not know, nor care, if the institution of learning was overcrowded, even though they are residents of the district.

How many people make a general practice of attending school board meetings? How many would avail themselves of this privilege if they were entrusted with the task of deciding on the need of expansion? The answer undoubtedly would be few. Married couples without children, or couples who have seen their children graduate from high school, would have no interest in the school problem and thus could not vote intelligently on the subject. Most of the remaining people have no interests in schools unless their children are involved or taxes are increased. Then they sound off, loud and long, often without the slightest bit of knowledge of the subject on which they are complaining. People elect school board officials to operate their schools and this practice should be continued.

After all, only the school directors are on top of the subject. Old buildings The recent tragedy in Port Jervis, in which four people were killed when the upper two floors of a three- story building collapsed and in turn crushed a neighboring diner, should serve as a lesson. The lesson should not be for Port Jervis' consumption alone. Every locality, including Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg, should, take note as to the tremendous danger existing in old buildings. Old buildings, especially those that haven't had proper care, present a great danger, regardless of their size.

Children playing in abandoned houses, adults on the property and innocent passersby all are exposed to possible, injury. The collapse of the ancient building that was once occupied by the opera, jfiouse in Port Jervis, injured 20 people, several critically to inflicting on four individuals in the'dihe'r. The top two floors of the building, that crumbled under the weight of the snow, had been condemned but the first floor wasn't. It is difficult to understand how two stories of a. three story building can be condemned and the first floor, the one supporting the other two, not condemned.

It just doesn't seem True, one reason for being condemned is that neither floor had fire escapes. However, the age of the building, the heavy truck traffic neighboring streets and passing trains made the building doubly dangerous because of vibration. The Port Jervis tragedy should serve notice on all municipalities that now is the time for a careful inspection of old buildings and rapid action if dangers appear, in an effort to protect the public's safety. Light Side Same as hell By GENE BROWN Ottaway News Service A real estate man was using high pressure to sell some poor farmland. "All this land needs is a little water, a cool breeze and some good people to settle here," he said.

"Maybe so," replied the farmer, "but that's all hell needs too," Someone said iff Why are there so many last-minute details and so few last minutes. Had time to age Describing her first day back in grade school after a long absence, a teacher said, "It was like trying to hold 35 corks under water at the same time." The Pocono Record ESTABLISHED 1894 ALAN GOULD Publisher and General Manager ROBERT S. WIDMER, Business Manager JAMES J. R1LEY, Editor RONALD F. BOUCHARD, Managing Editor CHARLES H.

EDMONDSON, Advertising Manager KEITH M. EDINGER, CUsslfled Mmllstna JAMES A. MURPHY, Mechanical Super Intendenl CHARLES H. NAS6, Press Room Foreman W. STILES, Circulation Manager class PJllaw paid at Stroudsburg, Pa.

Published dally except Sunday Telephone (7171 421.3005 Membe? Press Inter national and Audll Bureau of Clrculairons. Mx foc 1C: Ktcard Is Published by Pocono Record, a division of Oltaway aXSSK J1- aw i Sr me Board! James H. President Vice Preildenl and Treasurer; Ellon NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE; OTTAWAY ADVERTISING SALES CAMPBELL HALL, NEW YORK AREA CODE 9H Kiln: Carrier, 75 cenn wetkly, to yuur Motof route delivery month, By mil (IM Hirough 3 monlru yetr til u.s, poilKtii miles $34 ywr OndMdtat) U.S. SpecUl wrvicenwi Md stu. on rHfittl.

Pfxnw (717) 41I-30W, In unwished cMrlor mer dtllwry raum, Updraft James Reston Political struggle NEW Keeping i (he political moods and fads of the United States these days is a puzzling business. They go up and down like women's skirts Less than a year ago, the university community and the black community were in a rebellious mood, and now, we are told, they are leaderless, divided, and apathetic. Well, maybe so, but nothing in this country is ever quite as definite, as good or as bad as the trend-seekers and headline writers make out. The atmosphere has changed, but nothing fundamental in world or national politics has really been transformed. The war goes on, with the same strategy on both sides, but with different tactics.

Washington, Moscow, arid Peking have their propaganda, but not their objectives. It is the same in world economics. Moscow more in its next five ''year plan. The Nixon Administration promises more Jobs and less inflation. The rich nations and the poor nations of the world, and the rich and poor people at home are roughly where they were a year ago, and unless there is some ghastly thunderclap in the news, the chances are that present war and economic policies will have to work themselves out on the battlefield and in the market-place.

In short, there is not likely to be any, basic differences in.the policies of Washington, Moscow, Peking, Saigon or Hanoi until there is a change of government in these capitals, and maybe not even then. The Democrats, meeting in Washington this week, have an agreement not to attack one another, but they have no foreign or domestic policy for the war or the economy, and could not define one without attacking each other. Old game So everybody is playing the old political game, organizing arguments and staffs, and waiting to see what happens on the battlefields of Indo China, Wall Street, industry and the welfare rolls, nobody quite knowing what is going to happen. In this situation, it is easy to understand the apathy of the people who feel frustrated and even defeated by the struggle of the last few years, and are now loitering down into silence and despair. There is even a kind of wisdom in their melancholy indolence, for the Don Maclean (Cl N.

Y. Times Nevis Service president's war policy and economic policy are a a i demonstrations, or challenges in the Senate over Laos or unemployment are likely to change them in the next few months. Still, if the people of all ages, who are unhappy with the old politics, really want to do something about it, now is the time. If they want to influence present policies, or future presidential candidates in both parties, it is not too early to begin. The Supreme Court has given the vote in the next presidential election to 11,500,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 21.

This could easily be decisive in the presidential election of 1972. Nixon lost the I960 election to John Kennedy by 113,000 votes, and Nixon, in a spectacular comeback, won the elec tion of 1968, but with only 43 per cent of the vote. Usual organization What is happening'now'is that the two major political parties are beginning to organize in their.usual ways, arguing with one another about who is responsible for the killing in Vietnam and the unemployment and inflation at home, but the new black voters and the new 18-21 year-old voters probably hold the decisive margin. The interesting thing about all this is that the young people who have been challenging both parties and old establishment values may very well have won, but don't know it. Because they didn't win everything in first challenge, they are now full of self-pity and despair.

This is very odd in a- generation that regards itself as superior, wiser and more compassionate than the old liberal geezers of the past, but the fact is that they now have the votes in their own age group, between 18 and 30, to influence policy and even to determine the outcome of the presidential election of 1972. They do, however, have to come alive and organize. They cannot merely complain or demonstrate, or use violence to impose their will on the rest, but if they register the 18-21 year olds, and ally themselves with the other voters who are disillusioned by both parties, they might very well influence war policy and economic policy between now and 1972, and they could be decisive in the next presidential election. Pfan could work Feb. 18, PAGEFOUR WASHINGTON The other day I met a man who has what strikes me as a marvelous way to end the upward age-price spiral that is causing inflation.

The trouble with his plan is that it might work, which means that no one in this town would be interested, I'm sure. We'll get back to that, but first let me tell you about this idea. It seems that Arthur Florman is president of a small company in New York. It employs only 200 people. Like most places, it employs union workers.

There are three unions involved, the Teamsters and two others. After the workers asked for more a with a he calls, modestly, "The Florman Plan." It Is this: The company, B-Ceco Industries, would give a six per cent cost-of-living raise and promise that there would be no employe layoffs for 52 weeks. In addition, the firm promised that if the employes accepted the terms, it would not increase the prices of Its products for one year. "A contract like that," Florman said, "would cost us moneV, of course, but it would also give us a one-year breathing period. Everyone would also get something; members would get a raise to keep them -even with inflation; they would have job would know that we 'wouldn't sign the contract and then Inbrease our prices to make more money, "That last part is the most important thing about this.

Up to now, every lime a company gives its workers a raise, It then raises 1(5 prices. When everyone does that, the cost of living goes up and the workers need more money. But, if companies could, just for a year, give a small raise in salaries and not raise prices, then we might stabilize the economy. So what happened? Two of the'unions in Florman's firm accepted the plan. But the Teamsters turned it down.

I imagine that the Teamsters did so because, from the union leaders', standpoint, it's a bad policy to They generally want to get more than just a cost-of-living raise. Florman's next step was to take a full- page ad in Variety to explain his plan. His ad was in the form of an open letter to President i The of it was a i Florman's film equipment and processing firm was a relatively small outfit, if huge 'companies used the same plan the cost-of-living might be stabilized and unemployment would (stop increasing. To date, there has been no response from the White House. Probably because it is unlikely that anyone could get all the unions in tnis country to agree to one thing.

But it's too bad I think Mr. Florman has something. Martin time Here's something we not forget. We see It happen every day, When youth has made a heavy debt, That old age Is obliged to pay. Luttwr Mirkln 1 We should be thankful Editor, The Record: One day last week I overheard a conversation that sounded like this: Number One Lady "I'm sick of this I hate the winter months.

There's just too much inconvenience, etc." Nimber Two Lady "You know our local newspaper doesn't have anything in it and that woman on WVPO is upsetting." JVell, I sort of feel sorry for these two people. To begin with winter to me is a quiet time, so peaceful and restful. My little boy and I spend hours sometimes at the kitchen window watcliing five or six squirrels and birds at the feeders. My son has flash cards with birds and there feeding and nesting habits. He is busy making a scrapbook of God's beautiful creatures.

I enjoy the winter months to read those good books didn't have time for during the summer. I catch up on some sewing and baking. We have an old wood stove in the kitchen and the oven serves a double purpose. At night we fill it with wood to dry for the morning and towards supper time corn bread tastes real good with the flavor of dried black birch bark, About the newspaper and radio. I arise at 6:30 a.m., fix the fires and take my husband to work by 7:30.

I cqme home and take my little one off to school by 8:30 them comes my morning break with the newspaper. I settle in the rocking chair by the kitchen stove, open the oven door ami stick my feet in and spend a quiet time and truly enjoyable time with my morning paper. I also very much enjoy "Sally" on the surface. One morning recently she interviewed a very wonderful young lady who went to a foreign country to help other folks. Another morning she spoke about some famous people in the music world and played, as always, some good music.

We have so very much to be thankful for, but sometimes I reckon we're jusj too busy finding fault to remember to be thankful to Almighty God, who makes all things possible. LAURA McWILLIAMS East Stroudsburg The Pennsylvania Story Governor limited Mas or Denison HARRISBURG How far can a governor go in trying to bring order out of chaos on the legislative front? The answer is "not very" or if you want to look at it an i i a a i standpoint, he can't go anywhere! This then is the rather unsavory and unfortunate position in which Pennsylvania finds itself with each passing day. This is the rather obnoxious position in which Gov. Milton J. Shapp finds himself as the Legislative plods through its second month of the 1971 season.

He may cajole, he may plead but he cannot dictate, per se. Pennsylvania's chief, executives have a a been in a i i spot on this legislative-huff score, insofar as any great "authority" goes. However, it's only been within the past three decades that the issue, question, has come to a head. Prior to 1935 there wasn't any particular problem on this score. Comfortable vein In those days and it goes back to before the turn of the century Pennsylvania mooched along in a most comfortable vein, that is, on the legislative-executive front.

Until 1935 both houses of the legislative" branch were comfortably within the same political hands as the governor's office; they were routinely and boringly solid Republican -so much so that at times in those days people began to wonder what a Democrat looked like sitting in a legislative pew, to say nothing of the gubernatorial pew which they never entered. Thus it wasn't a "question" in those pre- 1835 days of how far a governor could go in bringing order out of chaos on the legislative front. There just wasn't any per se; either the governor told the Legislature what to (if he ruled his party) or the Legislature told the governor what to do. The point is that it was all within par- The present touch-and-go dilemma of what a governor can do (or perhaps, can't do) on the legislative front first came into focus when H. a minced into the gubernatorial roundhouse in 1935 as the first Democratic chief executive anyone at the time could recall.

Split Legislature He found himself with a split Legislature a House of Representatives his Democratic hands but a Senate in opposition Republican hands. This marked the first real legislative and executive frustration of modern Uimes in the, State. As the Republican-controlled Senate sniffed, Earle found that indeed even though he was governor there was nothing he could do except sniff back. Democratic governors George 'Leader and i David Lawrence and 'j' William Scranton and Raymond Shafer of-more jsil' contemporary note peered at the tion with split legislatures and each in turnVvi'. found that there wasn't one doggone official action he could take to improve or correct the i.

cahos on the legislative front created by the n'j division. governor Shapp isn't the same legislative split but even though the House and Senate are of the same Democratic cloth, Shapp will. find that it won't mean a return to those pre- 1935 days! Roscoe Drummond ih. rrii No politics WASHINGTON The South Vietnamese ground and United States air thrust into Laos proves that President Richard M. Nixon is not playing politics with the Vietnamese war.

He is ignoring domestic political consideration in order to continue a policy which he believes will enable him to wind down the war in a way which will leave South Vietnam strong enough to survive. He is doing this at great political risk to himself because he believes this course will serve the United States far better than a quick withdrawal, that it will enhance the prospects of peace throughout Indochina and that it will prove that America is a reliable ally. There are at least a dozen reasons which caused Nixon to approve the operation against the North Vietnamese sanctuaries inside Laos and only one powerful reason which might have caused him to set back. The one argument against it was that it would be bad politics, that the Fulbrights, the McGoverns, the Halfields and the other extreme Senate Doves would jump all over him and accuse him of widening the war and of deserting his commitment to withdrawal. And he could reasonably expect new outbreaks of public protest as after Cambodia.

Political hero Nixon could be an instant political hero by choosing the politically easy course. He isn't doing so. He is rejecting the politically easy course because he is convinced that to take the time and the domestic political risks to South Vietnam able to defend itself will serve the United States far better than any get-out-quicker alternative his critics are urging, Undoubtedly many believe that it is the president who is mistaken. Be that as it may, he Is spurning political timidity. He is knowingly imperiling his reflection to dp what he believes is right and necessary; this is something which takes courage and class.

This is what a president of the United States is elected to do. The Constitution -assigning to him-and to him alone the duty of Commander in Chief requires him to do what he thinks best for the nation. He is putting conviction ahead of political expediency and even those who disdain Nixon ought to be big enough to see it. Why Is the president allowing U.S. air power to help the South Vietnamese ground 'I" troops clean out the enemy sanctuaries and arms buildup along the Ho Chi Minn Trail? Reducing flow He is doing it for the same reason he approved the intervention nine months ago.

This operation radically cut the flow of Communist troops and supplies to where they could be brought to bear against South Vietnam. It set back enemy offensives from that direction many months. The present move to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail is doubly profitable because it is the only important remaining route which Hanoi can use. If this operation is as successful as the Cambodia operation, it could well be nearly a year before the Communists could mount a major offensive. The extreme Senate Doves see this all as a great mistake.

They suggest that Nixon is trying to seize i the a of withdrawal. No. He is seeking to leave a secure South Vietnam through the process of withdrawal The evidence that he will be able to do so is increasingly promising. U.S. troops are being steadily brought home.

Successful interdiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail by South Vietnamese forces and U.S. air power will enable more American troops to withdraw sooner. President Nixon is convinced that he is ending the American role in Vietnam in the right way at the right time at the right pace I beheve the verdict of most Americans in the end will be "well done." Stories Behind Words By William Penfield WORD BUILDERS The Latin word "scribere," -meaning to write, is the basis for a number of English words. The noun "scribe," which denotes one who is derived from It. The addition of prefixes resulted In other words.

Some of the prefixes are: In (in or into); sub a or and pre (before). Adding the prefixes resulted In the following words: Inscribe (to write into); subscribe (to write beneath, hence to sign one's name to' a contract); and prescribe (to write before ncnco to set down rules to be followed)..