And That's Culture?

HELLO FOLKS! — They call it the picture of the year; it wins four academy awards; it is hailed as the best comedy picture of the year. But it is filled with nothing but debauchery, perversion and satanical lust, picturing sick minds filled with evil intent. And those paying their money to see it are supposed to enjoy such trash?

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OF COURSE, IF we are going to have self - government we must have the freedom of enterprise. Free enterprise generates the competition and also some of the co-operation that is vital for economic progress.

It seems from here that if enterprise is to compete fairly it must do so with as little interference from government as possible.

We know that there are times when government must step in and furnish capital when business will not or cannot do so, in order for certain segments of the economy to prosper. This is why we have the REA today. There are times when government must furnish wheel chairs, crutches, or other helps to get needed industries going.

The danger therein lies in continued governmental paternalism and interference in such business when it once gets on its own feet. It would seem that if business is to compete fairly and have profits then government must also withdraw from the field when it has accomplished its avowed purpose.

This has happened in such fields as finance, where I understand that Production Credit Associations now borrow their money on the open competitive market. This same thing must come to the Rural Electric Cooperatives if they are to continue to be healthy and useful tools in the economy. Government must cease to be a crutch to them whenever they are able to fend for themselves. This point many of the utilities have reached. They only hurt themselves by wanting to rely on
cheap government financing, subsidied by the taxpayer. There must be incentives to get them off loans as soon as possible.

From free business comes the competition that generates leadership. This leadership feeds back into government, both on the local level and federal. Without this feeding we would be in dire straits for the needed government direction, much as Russia and other totalitarian nations are lacking in this area.

Businesses, to be prosperous, must also be free to fail. We see how programs in agriculture have deadened prices. So would business be hurt if profits are guaranteed. With guaranteed profits there comes the inevitable slowing up of ingenuity, care and watchfulness. As government moves in to interfere more with business, whether it be in agriculture or any other field, so goes self government. The railroads would today be in much better position financially and better able to compete with other modes of transportation were they less restricted.

If we are to grow in self government and with it the increasing standards of living we must be vigilant in seeing that there are no unnecessary restrictions anywhere.

We Should Teach 'Basic Economics

Hello, Folks! Christmas time came and went so fast for me I got very few greeting cards written. So to all my friends who read this, here is wishing you the best of all good things for 1955.

We had a lovely Christmas as usual. Spent Christmas Eve with the Petersen Clan. Then Christmas morning we opened the gifts from Vera's family. I came in from chores Christmas morning and the children were getting dressed, anxiously waiting to open the gifts. I noticed a Christmas tag tied to the baby. Inside it read, "To Mother and Daddy from Heavenly Father."

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The scoutmaster asked the four young scouts if they had done their good deed for the day. They all nodded in unison, grinning broadly. "What did you do?" he asked. "We helped an old lady across the street." "It took all four of you to help one old lady across the street?" "Yes, she did not want to go!"

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I think Albert Lea has the prettiest decorations of any town I know. Those large illuminated bells hanging over the middle of the street add the real touch to the rest of the decorations.

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Farmer — "Young man, what are you doing up in my apple grass!' "
Boy —. "I'm just obeying your sign that says, 'Keep off the grass-"

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It seems to me that the biggest failure of our educational system has been in not teaching our students the basic principles of economics. They are not, or need not, be complicated. There are a few basic facts that we all can and ought to learn. In fact, they must be learned if we are to have a stable economy and continuing prosperity.

Communism has capitalized on our failure to teach them. I think if we had learned these principles as part of our regular education we would be far less apt to be taken in by foreign philosophies. Too many people believe that it is possible to get something for nothing. This is a good basis for gambling, but it does not work out for the individual on the job, in the school, or anywhere else. You can't . spend more than you have and remain solvent. We just fool ourselves when we try otherwise.

You can't equalize ability by a control system, Competition is the dynamo for progress in our economic system. We should welcome it rather than stifle or try to get around it.

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Mother — "Jimmy, where did you get that bump on your nose?"
Jimmy — "1 bent down to smell a brose."
Mother — "Why, there isn't a 'B' in rose."
Jimmy — "There was in this one!"

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Farm Bureau insurance companies have shown a tremendous growth the past 30 years. The first one was organized in Illinois. Today Farm Bureau insurance companies have a total of $287,023,269 in assets.

On Monday, January 10, the officers of all Farm Bureau Units in the county met to work out their programs for the year. They will work out the educational, recreational, and social aspects of the Farm Bureau program.

A state training session will be held in St. Paul, January 17, 18, and 19 for County Farm Bureau presidents, secretaries or office secretaries and some of the county committee chairmen. An attendance of close to 500 is anticipated.

Headlining the "imported" instructional staff will be T. C. Petersen, midwest organization director, Kenneth lngwalson, director of leadership services, AFBF, and Herbert Alp commodities director for the AFBF.

Handel's Story An Inspiring One

HELLO FOLKS — This Christmas holiday season there were many songs sung concerning Santa Claus, Christ, the Christmas tree and winter.

Among all those sung and played there is none greater than the greatest of all great compositions, Handel's "The Messiah".

I have just finished reading the story of Handel's life, and for the benefit of many who probab1y haven't read the story of tragedy and victory of this great man, I will review it briefly here.

Handel was born in the year 1685. His father, Georg, insisted that his son would never be a musician, for in those days musicians were mostly travelers. He even went so far as to say that he would cut off his son's fingers, if he had to, to deter him from being a musician.

Upon the insistance of the Duke of Weissenfels, Georg finally changed his mind and enrolled his son under the tutorship of the great organist Zachau.

Handel learned to play the violin, oboe, bassoon, clavichord, and organ. From the inexaustible well of his creativity came 40 operas and many and varied pieces for the organ, orchestra, violin and nineteen oratorios.

People thronged to the operas to hear his renditions. He was acclaimed the world over; then the 'roof' seemed to fall in. Jealous rivals and critics turned against him and along with other happenings he found himself penniless, friendless and miserable.

In his despair he wandered the streets of London, returning to his shabby room to rest and mope.

One night when he returned he found a package waiting for him. It was from the poet Charles Jennings; with a letter urging him to write suitable music for the enclosed poem. The poetry was entitled "A Sacred Oratorio".

Handel scoffed at the idea of writing music for religious purposes.

As he went over the words they seemed to burn into his soul. He once again felt the life of music come into his being. For 22 days he wrote almost constantly. When the score was finished he fell to his bed and slept, as if in a coma, for 17 hours.

It was performed for the first time in Dublin, Ireland, (London would have nothing to do with him then.) Handel insisted that all the proceeds go to charity. He was a changed man. From then on he wrote only for religious music. "The Messiah" was presented 34 times during the life of Handel. He received the praise of kings and paupers alike.

On April the sixth, at the age of 74, he sat listening to an Easter rendition of his greatest achievement, When the chorus began to sing, "The trumpet shall sound," he slumped in his chair. He was carried to his bed, never to rise again.

His wish was to die on Good Friday. This wish was granted him, for it was on the morning of Friday, April 14, 1759, that Handel died.

Although Handel has been dead over 200 years his music lives on and brings happiness to ever increasing millions the world over.

Dropouts A Problem

HELLO FOLKS — Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil: Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, h o p e t h all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. —Corinthians, Ch. 13.

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I HAD PLANNED for the next few columns another topic. Then it occurred to me that there is a much more important subject that needs to be taken care of before I delve into this other.

The one that I am going to dwell on now is the subject of school dropouts.

In every one of our communities there are young citizens who get discouraged with school, then by quitting it doom themselves, for the most part, to a life of mediocrity and low income.

By quitting at that age they often become discouraged with themselves. They they get a poor outlook on life in general. This affects the community and eventually the nation as a whole.

We cannot afford such an attitude. The very reason we have people on relief rolls and on unemployment is because we haven't developed the attitude of continuous education and re-evaluation.

There is a lot of talk about the Gross National Product and how we can increase it. Here is the only sure way: Get every boy and girl back into school, get them to realize the value of proper attitudes and training. Get them to realize that there are millions of people depending on them to direct the future of society. There are a lot of things each of can do to contribute to solving this problem. Parents are of course most directly concerned and too often we do not give the problem the attention it deserves. As parents we should be constantly on the alert to see that our children are working up to their capacity; that their attitudes toward learning are good and that they respect their teachers and school.

For each one of us we can take an interest in the youth of our community by getting better acquainted with them, by encouraging them to better deeds and let them know that we are expecting great things from them.

We have a lot of senior citizens who could help out with loans to students at low interest rates. The satisfaction derived from such projects would give more real joy than a lot of things the money could be used for. This could give a number of young people the courage to go on to higher learning.

Next week I am going to tell you about three young fellows who could have ended with the ranks of discouraged youth but who by their own efforts practically lifted themselves out of the ruts and are on the way to being real successes.

I am inviting others of you who know of someone in your community, who has picked himself up from mediocrity and gone on to success, to tell about it in this column.