Let's Get College For Albert Lea

HELLO FOLKS! — The burning question of the day; "Should Albert Lea have a Junior College?" I answer a definite YES for many reasons, and I can think of very few reasons why not. The few I can think of don't even come close to balancing the asset side.

We need an Albert Lea Junior College because there are many area students who otherwise probably won't get a higher education.

It would keep money in local circulation that would otherwise go to other colleges and cities, and be lost to our economy.

It would go a long way toward keeping cultural standards high and raising them from what they are now.

The instructors employed would create a demand for housing which would create work, and help stimulate the economy.

The higher education attained by local people would in itself create a higher standard of living.

An industry trying to decide where to settle would take into consideration the fact of a college being here.

There will no doubt be a greater demand each year for higher educational training so if the need is here now, it will be much grater ten or twenty years from now.

Let's all get behind the drive for a Junior College and have one soon.

—o—

A YOUNG graduate of St. Olaf College married a girl from Carieton College. He confided to his older brother who had done the same thing, "there is only one thing bothering me. I simply don't know how to address Margret's mother. I don't think it's right to go around calling her motherinlaw, and I don't think it proper to call her mother, in due respect to our own mother. How did you get around this when you married Susan?"

"Simplest thing in the world," his older brother replied. "The first year I addressed her as 'hey'. After the first year we called her 'grandma.'"

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I'VE JUST made a big discovery! I am married to a poetess. It's a fact; and to prove it to you I am going to print it in this column.

I know that she doesn't have a copyright on it and if she doesn't know I am printing it until she reads it in the paper it is OK with me.

The way it all came about is because we have a good friend by the name of George Kurth.

Last fall George was telling Vera that we would have a mild winter. The reason he knew it was because of the way the muskrats were building their mounds.

When the cold weather came along Vera chided him with 'you and your muskrats'. Then when the weather warmed up real nice, George called up and asked "What do you think of my muskrats now?" Vera answered that they were probably dead from the cold they had to endure before the warmup came.

Then came this recent 20 below weather and Vera wrote him a letter that went something like this:

You better head for the hills,
I'm tired of the cold, shivers and chills;
So contact your rats and get on the run,
 I am a coming with a great big gun.
Those meadowlarks, too, were singing a wrong song.
So I suggest you take them along.
Head for the hills and don't dare stop,
cause a few warm days won't save your mop (hair).
Run real fast and don't stop to rest.
I took your word and left my flannels in the chest.
I'll never again believe those ol' beaver tales.
From now on I'm hunting the long flannel sales.

—o—

A FRIEND of mine just returned from California. I asked him what he thought about the west. He replied, "Well, take those California drivers. They figure that if you travel less than 60 miles per hour you are double parked.

—o—

I SUPPOSE that most of the farmers in the county got a county directory in the mail. Might as well throw it in the stove, fellows. It isn't worth the paper it is written on, much less the cost of advertising that the publishers got out of it. It is not a bit accurate.

—o—

I SEE THAT THE Austin Police have been arresting auto owners for leaving keys in their cars. Must be they are trying to create more delinquents. It c[er]tainly is not a good policy to leave an auto open to theft. But when we take the attitude that a car deserves to be stolen becau[s]e the keys are left in it we are really driving the nail from the wrong end.

There is one sure way to cure delinquents of theft and that is to give them one year's prison sentence at hard labor, on a well balanced diet of gruel and water, giving them only time off from the work to go to school and church, and of course a few hours sleep. After a few first offenders, the rest of the gang will think the pursuit of a legitimate career is much more fun, and then in a few years we wouldn't even think of taking our keys out of the cars. The youths of the community would be developing their talents instead of concentrating on mischief, and that diet of gruel would, in most cases, be the healthiest (though not the most interesting) food they will have had since their infancy.

Of course there will be problems arising from such a plan. The law officials will have to find other jobs.

—o—

THE DAIRY industry, which had been made sick by government neddling through price supports, is gradually mending itself back to health. While prices are still too low, they are on the ment. The numbers are going down at a rate of 4 per cent per year, and production is holding about st[eady]. This means that if dairy is [left]alone it will be on its own in [about] another year. The most serious[ly] depressed are is right here [in] Minnesota as we are in a su-- area and can't find a close ma--.

For the most part the price [of] milk is about 10 cents above support level and butterfat at one cent above. That means any raise in support prices w[ill] have to be considerable in order [to] raise the income for farmers -- would only tend to stop the [ad]justment in supply and dem[and]. Rather than appeal for an inc[rease] in supports, the dairy farmers best try to get the Govern[ment] out of the game so that the d[airy] man can again proser along [wiht] the rest of the economy.

Perhaps the supports are a[t a] place now where they might [not] do any harm, but the dange[r of] leaving them is that the ene-- of free markets will continu[e to] attempt to use them to rob [the] farmer of his just place in an -- and competitive market. 

Class Proves Enlightening

HELLO FOLKS: — A group of Freeborn County folks have been driving up to Waseca each Thursday for a course in "economics of Government," sponsored by the University of Minnesota.

The League of Women Voters has been sending different delegates each time. Some of them who have attended one of more of the classes are Mrs. Lou Gordon, Mrs. Melvin Gordon, Mrs. Lynn Stoker and Mrs. Lloyd Peterson.

Others who have been attending are Ellis Christianson, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Kuiters, B. F. Muldown, E. J. Narverud, Eldon Senske, Rev. O. A. Rust, Dr. Lynn Stokers, Al Cuppage and myself. As this column is written there are two classes yet to be held. Therefore the list of students is not complete.

These meetings are extremely informative. They present various economic and political thinking. The general rule is to have one hour or less of lecture, then one hour or more of question and answer.

One thing the lecturers have found out is that they had better know the answers to their field of discussion, because with a group such as this there are plenty of questions from many angles and it doesn't take long to find out where the weaknesses of the point of arguments are.

One thing I am sure of is that we have all come away with a greater understanding of economics and government, and with a greater respect for the other fellow's viewpoint. The instructors are the best the institute could find.

This is the second year such a class has been held. Last year the topic was "Minnesota Economics." I am quite sure that from the success of the two Institutes we have had we are apt to have another next year. What the course will be I do not know, but it might be something on the order of "Foreign Aid Programs" or "Foreign Policy."

If any of you readers are interested, please put in an advance application with our County Agent, Eldon Senske, by letting him know that you are interested.

WHEN EZRA TAFT Bensons was Secretary of Agriculture and Orville Freeman was governor of Minnesota, there was a wide diversity of Farm Policy. The then Governor Freeman was one of the then Sec. Benson's bitterest critics. He puller no punches in his criticisms of Benson's lowering of dairy supports, and freeing corn acreage. Freeman and his colleagues coined a phrase called "Bensonism", which was suppose to be a derogatory connotation. This word was the 'bad' name for the free-enterprise views of Benson, and everyone who espoused this view was something of an odd ball.

I suppose there is still plenty of difference of opinion, but for the most part Freeman has -------- his actions vindicated the policies of Benson. For instance, when the new feed - grain program was introduced, was it drawn up under the old acreage allotments? No sir! It was drawn up under the planning history of the Benson era.

When Freeman entered office he immediately set about upping the dairy supports that had been lowered by Benson. Immediately the surpluses that had disappeared under the Benson program. This year, after three years of higher supports and with the program in danger of reaching the 'smelly' stage, Freeman has followed his predessor by reducing supports, not just to the level that Benson had set but to new lows not even allowed by law. This was done by changing the formula. In the past the support price had been based on 3.5 milk. The new formula is based on 3.7 milk. This has the effect of changing the price of 3.5 milk from $3.05 cwt. to $2.95 cwt. Thus with nearly secret actions, Freeman, who had criticized Benson so unmercifully, has now admitted that Benson was right. Changing the formula for milk does not seem as drastic as dropping support prices to under $3 per cwt.

City Praised For Celebration

HELLO FOLKS — The city of Albert Lea is certainly to be congratulated for the fine July 4th celebration. The parade, the boat show and the fire-works were commendable.

The children especially enjoyed the fire-works. Linnea, who is nearly two, was frightened at first but tried to be brave and smiled. A bit later while she was sitting on my lap her mother looked at her and she had her hands over her eyes. She had been very quiet and I thought she was watching it. I think she was probably seeing some of it through her fingers; but she didn't like all the noise and flashes.

—o—

THE BIG game hunter, exhibiting some trophies to friends, pointed with pride to a picture of a prone elephant.

"See that elephant? One night I shot him in my pajamas!"

"Mercy," cooed the sweet starry-eyed, dumb young thing. "How in the world could he get in them?"

—o—

I THINK I mentioned a while back that it costs the average business man $2 to write a business letter. It doesn't seem possible that it could be that much until you break it down.

Christian Turmoil Can Bring Results

HELLO FOLKS — Man who would be man must rule the empire of himself.

—o—

SOME TIME ago I read a column of Dr. Gilroy who used to write for the Tribune. His topic was "Christians fighting with Christians." He bemoaned the bickering going on within the church groups and those who are supposed to be thinking alike religiously. The column interested me so much that I clipped it out, as I do with so many, and tonight I ran across it again.

It does seem strange that there should be such bickering among people who are supposed to set the spiritual pattern for others to follow. We must realize that we are all human and that the closer we come to answers we seek the more apt we are to want to impress our thinking on others. Perhaps that is the reason for a lot of the turmoil in church circles. At any rate it points up the imperfections we all have and that we have little call to become vindictive toward others.

We must realize that tolerance and respect for others is the fundamental virtue of Christianity. It is the lubricant that generates a society in which men can grow and prosper.

Too often we fail to appreciate the value of a minor religion. True, we may disagree with the views of that group and their beliefs may be in complete discord with the things we understand. But let us go back in history and see how a minority and supposedly radical belief can affect the history of the world and actually perform a great service.

One of the great turning points in history was in the 15th century. A man by the name of Martin Luther rebelled against the order of the day. In the turmoil that ensued he drew with him half of the people of Germany and shook the established church to it's foundation. To the view of many this was a great blow to Catholicism. But was it actually? I don't believe so. I think Martin Luther did the church he opposed as great a service as any man within the church.

At that time Christianity had stagnated and there was very little missionary work going on. With the competition that Luther created the Catholic church awoke and within the period of ten short years it had won, through proselyting, more converts that had been drawn away. All civilization benefited from the resulting competition and not the least beneficiary was Catholicism itself.

Going back further we find that in the second century of Christianity a man by the name of Marcion, in his efforts to separate Judaism from Christianity, assembled the writings of Paul the apostle. His idea was to prove that the earth was not the creation of a supreme being but of inferior Gods.

He was summarily excommunicated, but in his endeavors to prove his ideas he established the first Bible, incomplete as it was.

It was not until nearly 200 A. D., 50 years later, that the Bible with it's Gospels and Acts was finally cannonized. Had it not been for the opposition of this man whom Polycarp himself called "The first-born of Satan" we would scarcely have had a New Testament for today. Without that where would Christianity be? Makes us think, doesn't it.