Always the Easy Course

By EDWIN B. PETERSEN

HELLO FOLKS — It seems to be easier for some family heads to raise hell than it does for them to raise the rent money.

Wives who say they haven't a thing to wear usually need their husband's closets to keep it in.

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WE USUALLY think of 'big' government as the villain that takes the initiative in weakening people's character. But how about local governments that hand out so - called surplus food to people, whether they need them or not, and do not require work or repayment in return.

Seems to me that the idea of "something for nothing" is what stimulates theft and much or our crime. Handing out food without getting a guarantee of repayment is a real lesson of teaching people that the world owes them a living and lowers people's character as much as anything could. I doubt if very many of the recipients really appreciate the "gifts" anyway.

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The report on the effects of cigarette smoking are in, and the report has been accepted by the U. S. Surgeon General. So where do we go from here?

The question is up to the individual for the most part, but there are a number of things that can be done collectively. For instance, how about outlawing it in our public schools? I know that we expell the underage if they are caught smoking on the grounds. So they have learned to do it off limits.

But is it any less crime for teachers to do so? After all, aren't our schools the place where we expect our children to learn a lot of the culture, refinement and good habits?

Of course we should probably put the blame mostly on the kids. It seems that they are just too dumb to realize that there is such a thing as a double standard. They don't seem to realize that because smoking is harmful that means they can't have it but adults can. Pa can come home, pull out his favorite filter tip cancer st— I mean cigarette — and the dumb kid can't figure out why he gets a paddling for sneaking one.

Mark Twain said that he would rather see a sermon any day than hear one, but Mark Twain was a square. None of this today. It's old hat, and belongs in the garbage pail. Today it's the word that counts. If the kids can't understand plain English (even if they don't know their phonetic sounds) why let them take the consequences. After all, we adults have to prove that we are 'He men' and we'd rather fight than change. And it's mildness that counts.

I suppose the answer lies in breeding smarter kids who just naturally understand without having to have a paddling to get it through their thick hides. Now if someone will just figure out how to accomplish that we will have the problem licked. Where are all our genetic scientists?