The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 4

(MIL. VMf TO VIE Opinion Page WW itiA A'. MI'KW IS. N-ii-WM-K V. II I MM i 111 '-I I 1.1 ViU lrr.t-f IfC! Vvf Senate firmness insures soine abortion law sanity Art Buchwald Santa Claus sells out Hi- put o( II.iim is inure t.

ui, il i in ran applied Id.in 0 j'fi-M 1 1 law what Ibmse w.ii tnl the l.i In nn-I ifai" In In our uw, the I'tiili-il Slate Viui pfou-d il worth, assumed il proper In taking tin li-im new of an intensely ritiolion.il Nonetheless. Ihe cJtti.it. lh itiosl biltrr ilrli.i'i oft ,1 ill Issue in decades, will 1-1 go aw. iv ll will in the Congtrss again next r.ir. in the and congressional campaigns, llif anil atHirtion organizations will 7to in on those who any ground slmr! of an absolute hin i-n atf tin for welfare mother or any woman So il courage was In- working for myself I could krrp our factory humming Hut unre I f-ld out lo a congloiiM-rate I have lo show a gmid earnings performance All they're interested in at the bead office i Ihe bottom line "We're the best toy makers in Ihe world." an rlf said "When we made os Ihey lasted for yrars Now they fall apart on Chrislmas lay Centlemen.

i out ol my hands In Ihe old days children ued lo write me and lell me Ihey wanled a raring rar. an Krcrtor set. a doll house or a bicycle Hut now Ihey want everything Ihey see on television I can't give away a toy unless a child has seen il on a TV commercial. LAST YKAIt WK g.l stuck with a million tons of putty brrause Ihe kids didn't even know it existed The bead of the conglomerate was furious and said I had to rat il You can imagine how miserable they make my life when an Hem doesn't move." "Why did you sell out in the first place?" an elf demanded "I needed capital." Santa Claus said sadly. "I was unable lo compete with Ihe major discount toy companies and when the conglomerate came lo me ihey made me an offer I couldn't resist They promised me I could run my operation just as I had in the past and they would not interfere with anything I was doing.

"I believed Ihem. Then I sent in the figures for lat year and Ihey hit Ihi? reding A yu know, we'se never N-n a profit making organization So Ihey M-nl up a'leam of Christmas ronsultanl Mho said our problem was wp were making our without (using any attention In rosl rontrol Tory rerom-mended lo Ihe head oil ire lh.il we close Ihe factory in Ihe North Pole and build one in South Korea where rlrs gel paid hQ rent a day "So lh.il leaves us out in Ihe nld''" an rll asked Santa Clau shrugged "They said if I couKIni run this operation they would find someone who could And Ihey meant it You know how I leel a Ik nit you little fellows 'e worked with you all my life Hut what Can I do when Ihe Japanese slat I dumping r'arrah Fawrctt dolts down every chimney at a quarter of Ihe price that we can make Ihem for u. HOY." SAID AN Kll. What a Christmas this is going lo be "I'm sorry." Santa Claus said, "but that's Ihe way Ihe beach ball bounces Donner. ne of Santa's reindeer, rame charging in "Is it true we're not going lo he wmking this Christmas?" Santa's fare turned red "I'm sorry you had lo hear it from somebody else.

Donner, The conglomerate wants me lo use Amalgamated Parrel Service They say it's cheaper and more efficient than reindeer. The real truth is Ihe conglomerate owns Ihe AIS company." oUrd in the bill passed by Ihone who fought (or a minimally humane abortion law had the courage List rar, the Congress did pass a law forbidding the use of public funds for welfare abortion The Supreme Court later said the states are n-'t rcijutred to spend tax money for aboitions The from the anil alpoilnnits quite drowned out the other side of the cum There is no legal prohibition, so far as the Supreme Court is concerned, that would ban such payments In th? abscm-e of federal and state law samg vi So legislative judgment must prevail And as irked as we might get with the courts, the cause of freedom has hrn more frequently protected and even advanced by courts and constitution makers than it has by legislative bodies. In addition to certain specified cases where pregnancy results from rajH or incest. Uie final bill allows a public pay abortion if two physicians certify that a woman would suffer serious, long lasting, physical health damage from a full term pregnancy. As compromises go.

this one is ridiculous. Hut the House for months would not yield even that. Americans lived" for years with absolute state laws banning abortion except that necessary to save the life of the mother. Few such abortions occurred and many women died in childbirth or immediately thereafter. Many, many women got illegal abortions.

Some of them died because of quacks and frauds or because of self-induced abortions. Never mind that. now. it's history? ll is history that many effective lobby groups would see repeated. And.

sad to" say, they may win their hollow victory. 1111, 11 I Oi sheer weariness. Iji nl jntwi nr hangr ol r.Ond i r' l.t agreement fn ii 1 1 hill liofi mu that we t-: the Issue 1 i-' in i (tin id t- i'ij- i I'ul the fi af I Ihe Is i 'n tiii Iv trstrir 1 i welfare- I I ll. titn How- sr ofl The life of .1 li in i iii.iti in dfsrtib- Iio'i i I' ttk' i "voir i i imif case in tnosi )) iJalC on itii-l crime I 1 1 1 if HU tiii tiol (tit jrii'f: Ih artmn. in i Ixtttilung rasp i'k- guilty jiriun will al h-v.

So ilrrp i nil' lii orcanircil l.i'inlv lUi i ct.il'C' i an I "-i a ,1 'r rriiti' itioti ih.il culling off ti pi o(u( rs only JT" ImhIn I I I S. 1 ri-i n- li i v.t i ir on tin slimv Mi i li may have t' I i that di lcats il ui-ntlv lo crimr- olls I VoUril rirnf i i' "i ii'v Me was in-nr" it Hung firKani7cd ii- i ilit m.iI anil lalwir in 'confidence' correct Junta Cbius a in hl office at Ihe North Pole whrn hl wife came In "Tlwre i a drlrgallin of elvr outside and ihry want to talk to you I II rt Ihrm in a moment." Sanla Claus Mid ai he puked up the phone "Operator, give me Tokyo Ilrllo, Tokyo. Ihi is Sanla Claus What happened lo that hipnM-nl of doIU I ordered Irwn you people in July? I know there a a dork tnke but I have lo have them right away. All right, but if I don't grl Ihrm in lime I'm going to mart dealing wilh the people in llong Kong Santa Claus hung up and (old his wife lo lei the rives in 0K OK THK V.lTS upoke up "We haven't made any toys for Christmas this year and we want to know why." "I know it' lough on you." Sanla Claus replied, "but I've discovered that I can get them made cheaper in the Far Kasl than have you people make Ihem here" "Hut we've been making toys for hundreds of years." an elf said. "It's the only thing we know how to do." "I'm aware of the problem, but costs have gone up.

and it's not economically feasible for me to make my own toys any more. I can get electric trains from Taiwan for half the price that it costs you people lo construct them." "Hut what are we supposed to do?" an elf asked "That's a good question. When I was George F. Will Business WASHINGTON This city tends to discount the rationality of today's stock market because the market's decline only reflects the collective judgment of people handling their own money, an activity strange and a bit repellent to Washington. And when Washington worries about the "confidence" of businessmen.

Washington's brow furrows, like the brow of an Anglican missionary who is trying to fathom the spiritual life of savages. But the decline of business confidence is not neurotic; it is rational. It is correlated with a decline in the rate of return on invested capital. The average rate was 13.4 percent in 1966, 9.2 in 1976. Profits as a percent of gross national product were 9 percent in 1966, under 5 in 1976.

FURTHERMORE, EVEN todays profits are overstated because assets and hence depreciation deductions are calculated on the basis of original costs, not what it would cost to replace them after years of high inflation. For example, in the steel industry, replacement costs may be triple historical costs. Thus many steel companies' deductions should be higher, and their real profits should be listed as lower, or non-existent. Professor Martin Feldstein of Harvard estimates that in 1976 corporations may have paid taxes on $20 billion in exaggerated profits. Inflated profit statements incite union demands for crime union link iiui ol hx cuncrcMnnal life I'roln Imn.

often purchased from of fire lii'lilm and tilicf. in the Mlvation of orgmied crime. Fear. ri-xl In liriln money. common weapon Ieath.

which may have caught Jimmy lloffa in its net. wa the common payoff to the reluctant or the yjiirah-r. And remains so today. OijNinied crime must be fought liy the Justice Department, but it "ill not be conijuered while so many Americans joyous live with its products and submit to its extortions which beRin with the helpless back-si reel merchant and rise to the board rooms of larpe corporations. National fearlessness, resistance ami rejection of organized offrrinRS will wither this disease, nothing else The week's opinions task.

Not for very long, we can't. A Constitution should not change often, nor should it change in response to fickleness or fad or passion the moment. Hut Illinois should wait until moss grows and dies sections of a constitution before undertaking the task of change. Kven thing else In nature but us people-types slows down in winter. burn more energy, through physical exertion or mental irritation.

Editorial views reviewed higher wages, and shareholder demands for generous dividends. Hut profits are shrinking, plants arc aging and the basis of American productivity is eroding. Until there are accounting practices more suited to an environment of high inflation, investors will doubt their ability to assess the assets of corporations seeking investments. No wonder investment is increasing more slowly than in any postwar recovery. And most investment in basic industry is not for more efficient capacity but for adapting to new energy forms, or acquiring government-mandated pollution controls.

Throughout American history, improved productivity generally has been achieved by enriching the mixture of labor and capital with better capital goods. But as Arthur Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, notes: "Whereas in the 1950s and 1960s the ratio of capital stock to the work force increased by more than 2 percent a year, it rose by only about 1 percent in the early part of this decade and has actually slipped somewhat in the last two years." IT IS SAID BUSINESS is reluctant to invest because of "uncertainty." Actually, business reluctance reflects the virtual certainty that inflation will remain intolerably high and that government will require corporations to devote more resources to environmental and other social purposes. This diversion of resources may solve problems, but not without causing problems. For example, it diminishes the ability of American firms to compete in international markets against firms that are not similarly burdened with social obligations. And one out of every eight Loiters to (lie Editor- manufacturing workers in the United States produces goods for export; about one-third of corporate profit derives from exports and investments.

Iick of confidence produces additional grounds for lack of confidence, including low investment, slow growth of productivity, and the increased likelihood that a strengthened recovery would be aborted by capacity and resource shortages, and inflation. 1 Not surprisingly, business is less confident after the first year of the Carter administration, which has proposed various measures to increase taxes, and other measures that will increase inflationary pressures. The Social Security and energy legislation may increase tax collections by more than $50 billion through 1981. The administration has favored a higher minimum wage, restrictions on imports of inexpensive shoes and television sets, higher prices for sugar (and hence of products that contain it) that will cost consumers $1 billion annually, higher price supports for milk, less acreage for grain production, expensive new mine safety requirements for which consumers will pay. PROPOSED NEW tanker regulations would add $1 billion a year to the nation's oil bill.

The administration's proposed welfare reform might increase federal spending five times more than the $2.8 billion the administration estimates. The point is not that all or any of these developments are indefensible, but that, cumulatively, they are incompatible with rational business confidence. So is this fact, cheerfully cited by a U.S. senator: Assuming only 5.75 percent annual wage inflation, compounded until the year 2050, the average American's income will be $630,395 a year. re any We are the odd ones.

That's why winter becomes a curse. Syria will not, probably cannot, turn to force against Israel if Egypt will not initiate hostilities. That fact makes enemies out of those who see the chance for gaining advantage through war becoming less possible. Any expansion of cable television service to unincorporated areas must go hand-in-hand with a requirement that county patrons pay true installation costs and be billed accordingly. The cities must insure that their residents do not subsidize the expansion.

South But without such a formula, their cause is lost, except for any positive effects of the publicity. And it's asking a lot of an organization with no elected leaders. Spring comes early south of Plains, Ga. JOHN R. DAWSON Farmer City .11 Selected from Pantagraph files by Norma Steele 25 Years Ago Dec.

11, 1952 'Charles L. Mallory, a June graduate of Normal Community High School, has been named an agent for the at Gardner. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. George Mallory of 214 S.

Linden Normal. He recently completed a four months training course in railroad telegraphy and operation. 50 Years Ago Dec. 11, 1927 McLean County Medical association has changed its meeting place from Fairview sanatorium due to the dismissal of Dr. Lydia Holmes, director.

The meeting will be held now Tuesday noon at the Woman's Exchange. Change in place of meeting, according to Dr. Holmes, has been made because of the criticism directed by the board of directors of the sanatorium at the present director for failure to cooperate with them. The medical society feels, Dr. Holmes says, that she has been unjustly treated.

75 Years Ago Dec. 11, 1902 The school at Stanford is a modern two story, brick building If cor put. il punishment is per-mitt'il. ti iii'isl administered l'- i r.sni'nn land not by llio In it must be used only to livMc arts, and specific putit 'i'm tit iiiut be set in advance oi 'oerific offenses. 'I he fiiteiU is under attack from inside oiiKiiie.

'I he phenomenon is not dii'' ilotu- t'i future shock, but to ytrovM-, v. hu just may be highly cx.U'fi't i'' I in the Idling. We settle for job freezes winch i.illy insuie far more employee- in a certain economic area th.m needed to perform the Farm strike I-xlitoi 'I In' Missiotuu n'S liom the American Agricultural are at work in Pan-taniph hud in the uphill task of converting Cm ti Melt farmers to go along with then strike. They do make some solid points. Things are rough out there, and it' is asking a lot ol 1 percent of the population to fight the hat lie against inflation alone for the other ifi percent.

The word "strike" most midwestern farmers 'It's the new energy department, Jimmy. Can they borrow some ii i of not on We the do the the to and on had the are are Time tricky for wrong way. hut it is the only threat that is taken seriously an industrialized society. And they're right on the timing to it before the crop is in the ground, for same reason that teachers' strikes always come in September. There are valid arguments against it like individual freedom, the free market economy, and what happens to export market.

Hut the most glaring weakness, which they seem not to have come to grips with, is what is planting time? It varies considerably from the Gulf Coast the Canadian border. Their adversaries would not give in until absolutely convinced of their sincerity muscle. The Southern boys would be fatally out a limb while those further north still options. We could have a bankrupt South and a thriving, free-market agriculture in the North if they could keep matches out of their haymows. The AAM will have to come up very soon with a formula for spreading the risks of tunneling money from the North to the Southern colleagues who to start the ball rolling, even if it started with a slowdown, like a 25 percent acreage cut to be adjusted as it worked north.

To Letter Writers We want your opinions but make your letters brief and informative. All letters subject to editing, especially those running more than 350 words. All letters must carry the written signature and complete address of the writer. SELF-SERVE jOT 0 with six rooms, two of which are not now occupied. There is a high school course, with 18 pupils.

Steam heat and city water have recently been put in the building. The grammar department under charge of Miss Mossman has thirty pupils. Miss Hester is the teacher of the intermediate department and she has fifty pupils. The primary department, Miss Hazen, teacher, has forty-five scholars. There is a graduating class of eight pupils.

The are: Beulah Wright, Ada Wright, Kathryn Linker, Stella Padgett, Ida McReynolds, Effie Dossett, Cassius Garst and Arthur Witham. For the past three years there have been no boys in the graduating class. 100 Years Ago Dec. 11, 1877 Some time ago the ladies of the Greek societies of the Wesleyan concluded to depart from the "old time customs" of that university, so they formed the Social Club. The gentlemen were to have! no voice in the matter, only to submit to be chosen by what ever lady drew the lucky slip, bearing his name to escort them to and from the party.

The first party was held at Prof. Brown's house the evening after Thanksgiving. 32 CD CO "How about that! I wouldn't light matches for a while, if I were you..