Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.

"We Americans have a lot to be proud of," said John, "and naturally everybody living in Texas thinks he's especially blessed. But sometimes I think we concentrate on our strong points to keep from thinking too much about our weak ones.

"When you consider the attitude some of our most successful businessmen and politicians take toward us common citizens, you're likely to wind up with the conclusion that they think we're less intelligent than a bunch of frying-size chickens. The sad part of it is, they seem to be right. Otherwise, why would they be so successful?

"Take for example, the tobacco business and its indispensable partner, the advertising business. If you'll glance at any large newspaper or magazine, or turn on a radio or television set, you're liable to be overwhelmed by a cigarette advertising pitch consisting entirely of high-priced, high-pressure hogwash. It's amazing how silly some of that stuff is and how hard it is to get away from. But it's bound to work. The boys who inflict it on us make more money than we do, pardner.

"Politicians evidently feel the same way about our intelligence. Here lately, a lot of them are talking about the cow business. They're running for election, and they've just discovered there are a lot of unhappy cowboys with paid-up poll taxes. I don't know why it took 'em so long to find out about the drouth and depressed markets which started a couple of years ago, but now they're really excited.

"The things some of these hombres say about the livestock business put the tobacco advertising men to shame. They promise to raise the cowman's income through subsidies. They don't say anything about what producers of other commodities will ask the government to do for them if the government subsidizes the rancher. They sort of avoid talking about the cost of a subsidy program, and whether the subsidy could ever be stopped once the industry gets used to it.

"I see where an association of television dealers has asked the Federal Communications Commission to put off making color television available to the public until after Christmas. They claim they sell more sets at this time of year than any other, and they have a lot of black-and-white sets on hand. If stations get licenses to broadcast in color, nobody will buy the old kind and they'll lose money on the old sets they have in stock.

"Well, that's an example of how far demand for government aid has gone, but it's only a little indication of how far it might go.

"I say emergency aid to agricultural producers is okay if it has a definite stopping place at which aid to other producers could be stopped. Government financing to keep a man in business so he'll have a chance to get back on his feet, and temporary relief measures such as government-financed feed, are fine. They usually come too late to do the most good, but Washington is nearly always about six months behind the rest of the country anyway.

"It's some of the newer claims and promises being made by politicians that I think are dangerous.

"For instance, the other day I heard Senator Young of North Dakota talking about what a poor job Benson is doing. In addition to saying the majority of cowmen want a government subsidy, which I don't think he or anybody else has proved yet, he said he intends to start an investigation right away to find out who's making so much money between the beef producer and the consumer. This idea has been broached by several other politicians.

"The question I'd like to ask if I had a chance is this:

"What will Young do about it if he finds that some middleman is making more money than the producer?

"Can he set a limit on how much the driver of a packer's delivery truck makes? Will he try to restrict a butcher's profits by price ceilings? Will he tell a man who sells feed or speculates on a string of steers in Kansas how much profit he can take?

"What's the senator going to do about the wage scale of the union laborers who process and distribute beef to consumers? I haven't noticed Congress getting very far with organized labor up to date.

"Yet the politicians keep raving. They're flocking to meetings of the Farmers Union all over the country, talking about cattle prices. The cowman is being identified with the Farmers Union, which is a big outfit with a lot of votes, whether he wants to be or not.

"If we fall for the junk being dished out by such politicians as Young of North Dakota, Kerr of Oklahoma and Johnson of Texas, the first thing we know we'll have to consult a government agent on what to do about our milk pen calves.

"Maybe all this, as Harry Truman would say, is a red herring. A lot of farmers seem to like government subsidies and government controls. Some cowmen say if the farmers are going to be subsidized, they want in on it too. They don't see any harm in it.

"But here lately I notice a lot of other businessmen hollering for similar security. How far can this sort of thing go before it becomes necessary for the government to take over everything? That's what I'd like the politicians to answer." — (S.F. 11/12/53)