Radio Script #115
Little Talks On Common Things
September 23, 1951
We hear a lot of talk about Inflation, but I find very few people who understand much about it. I confess that I am quite Ignorant when It comes to the confusing complexities of that subject. Yet I think there are some things about I t even I can understand. I n the first p I ace, It doesn’t take an I nte I I ectua I gen I us to know that a dollar doesn’t buy as much as It did a dozen years ago. It Is true that, In many occupations wages have a Ii ttle more than kept pace wI th the cost of living.
But even In faml II es I ucky enough to get those I ncreased wages, In f I atl on has been tearing down the family’s future securl tv. A II one has to do to understand that fact is to take a look at elderly people, especially widows,.trytng to I I va on the I ncome of f I xed cap ita I. Take the case of a man who retl red In 1939, with a pension, social security benefits and savings to give him and his wife a modest, but adequate Income for the rest of their lives. What are they faced by In 19511 Inflated prices have knocked their well laid plans Into a cocked hat. They have had to gt ve up many of the comforts they had ri ghtfu Ily earned. They have had to accept a drastically reduced standard of living.
Do you own any U. S. savi ngs bonds that you bought In 19411 I n that year you paid $75 for a bond that now, In 1951, has come due for a full $100. But the purchasing power of $100 today Is only what $55 was In 1941. So In buying power your bond Is actually worth $20 less than you paid for It. This Is not an argument against government bonds. They are stt II one of the best ways of saving for a ral ny day. My pol nt I s mere Iy that i nf latl on hurts everybody, him who saves as we II as him who must pay the groce r and the I and lord.
Do you have a $5,000 I I fe I nsurance pol i cy that you took out 20 years ago? I f your estate had got that money In 1940, the $5,000 woul d have bought just about the same amount of goods as It would when you took out the polIcy. But not so in 1951. That $5,000 Is worth only $2,750 In terms of 1940 buying power.
Another fact that seems obvious to me Is that many people Ignore the dangers of inflation because there is so much money floating around. But the simplest definition of Inflation Is that It is too many dollars chasing too few goods. The money supply outstrips the goods available. The demand for goods hard to get raises the prices. Between 1939 and today industrial production In the united states has doubled, but in the meantime the money supply has trebled. How dl d that happen? There were two major causes. The lesser of these was the flood of prl vate loans made for installment credit; the greater was the borrowing by the federal government to cover deficit spending. Next week I want to tell .you some facts about th is government spendi ng.
Have annual festivals In our local communities become, like the trolley car and the “opry house” road shows, things of the past? We agree with a local c0.lumnist who some months ago lamer:lted the passing of the annual Old Home Week in local communities. In spite of our des I re for constant change and our dread of repeti ti on In pub I Ic events, there is something to be said for traditions that I Ink the pre'” sent wi th the past and pol nt toward the future. Perhaps because the tams of Europe are so much older than ours, the tradition of annual festivals has a stronger hold there than In America. Almost the sole survival of our important local festivals, annually repeated, is the Mardi Gras at New Orleans. Because so many of my listeners came from Scotland or descend from Scotch ancestry, and because we all know these Scots are such fine citizens, want to te I I you about the annua I festl va lin the Scotti sh tC*n of Peeb les, some forty mi les south of Edinburgh. Peeb les is the ancestral home of the WaterY Ille-Wlnslow family of Burgess, and it is a very ancient town. Its castle goes back to the 13th cen1″ury, and its present town government deri ves from a charter of King James I of Scotland, creating Peebles a Royal Burgh. It Is by no means a town that Is dead 1″oday, g loryl ng I n a lost and near ty forgotten glory. It is one of the most Important Industrial centers on the Scottish border, boasting several mills where some of the finest woolen goods in the world are produced. In fact the cloth called iweed derives Its name from the river on which Peebles Is situated.
NOt many (l)f the old towns of England and Scotland hold annual festivals, just as do many towns on the continent. Of those In Scotland none Is more famous than the Beltane Festival, held at Peebles In the month of June. It lasts an entire week and Includes events of great solemnity as well as sports and hilarious recreation. It Is a glorious Old Home Week, as we II as a gay time for the local citiZens. Former Peebleans come from allover the world. This year they assembled from the Unl1″ed States, Canacila, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, India, Burma, South Ameri ca, Egypt and the Stldan.
Much at1″entlon Is given to the children. The Beltans Queen is a girl chosen from what we would call the upper grades of elementary school, and her maids of honor and male courtiers are young 91 rls and boYs. After a whole week of festivities the climax Is the cr(l)wning of the queen on Saturday. The costuming is grand and decorative, with all the pomp and medieval garb of the guards at London Tower or Buckingham Palace. The town provost, whom we would call the mayor, and the bal I ie, who WQuld be our sheri ft, all appear in rich robes of of flce, and the burgh halberdlers, in thel r splck and span Uniforms, proudly carry thei r halberds, authentic rei ics of the famous Battle (l)f Bannockburn.
A feature of the week Is the ceremony known as the RI ding of the Marches. this Is headed by a man elected as comet of the year. He Is usually a man In the early twenties, who comes from one of the older local families. He exercises the privi lege of naming a young lady as comet’s lass. She is attended by the ho I de rs of the same hono r for the two pre v I ous yea rs, an d his etten dants are the two previous comets, called respectively his right hand and his left hand supporters. With a troop of followers the cornet makes the famous Ri ding of the Marches. Originally this represented riding around the marches, that is, the boundaries of the royal burgh, and it is said to represent the route once taken by a Scottish queen. In recent years the route has been changed, so that convenient roads, rather than the actua I boundaries are traversed on horse back by the c0lll>any.
Fe I iglous ceremonies, as one would expect who knOits Scotland, playa prominent part In the week’s festival. In fact they begin on Sunday with a colorful service at Cross KI rk, one of the 01 dest churches In Scotl and st! II in cont in uous use, and an appropriate sermon by its warden. On Saturday the queen is crowned on the steps of the Parish Church. Let us see how the Peeb lesh ire News descri bes the scene of the crown i ng: “The gaT Iy garbed court and their assembled elders are now all attention. A fanfare of trumpets — the Be Itane Queen app roaches. The Cornet and his supporters provi de a mounted escort, and cheer follows cheer as the Queen’s car draws forward. The Sword-Bearer, First Courtier, and Second Courtier, with courtly mien descend the steps. The sailors come to attention and present arms. The Queen is accompanied by her chief maid of honor and six bewigged and properly arrayed pages. Sedately they gather the Queen’s long, flowing robes, and very gracefully Queen I rene occupies her throne.”
Everyone of his local readers knows that the reporter is writing about young chi Idren, for the Queen herself is only 13 years old, and nany of her attendants are younger. But those readers also know the reporter is not trying to be funny. He knows that the crowning of the Beltene Queen is serious business. The origin of the name Beltane we do not know, though it Is probably associated with sane particular spot In the vicinity where in the middle ages or In late Norman times an annua I fal r was he Id. I suppose you all know that our county and state fa I rs descend from the vi II age fa irs common for centuries in the British Isles. They have been Immortalized in such writings as the drama ”Ba rthol emew Fa I rtf • Somet I mes they occurred more often than once a year, but the annual fairs were more famous. They were always markets, where all sorts of goods were exchanged, and quite natura Ily there came to cl uster about them the Jugglers, clowns, forttlne te Ilers, and games of chance or skill that have so persisted that, with pari-mutuel betting on the horse races, they have a II but submerged the ort gl na I mean I ng of the fa Irs. What a farce It is to pretend that most of our Matne fairs promote and exalt agriculture. To be sure, they keep up a pretence of exhibits, some of them worth seeing. But almost no onecares any longer who ra I ses the bl ggest sow or the best marked sheep, or even who makes the best pie.
It would be an Interesting expert~ent to try one of the old-time fairs, such as used to be held at North Waterford not far from my native town. Several times I haw pe~led and pushed my bicycle overl[ those Waterford hills to attend that fair. No horse racing, no stock cars, no.flreworks, no midway. JUst exhibits of stock and produce, and the exquls1ite work of the housewives; Just a few booths for hot dogs and lemonade, a home-made Afr~can dodger, a dart game, and plenty of Itinerant salesmen of the novelties seen at the fairs for a century. The contests too were decic:ledly home made — horse and oxen pull lng, foot races In the dusty road, wrestling matches and weight lifting, and a tug of war. The base ball game was a scrub affair, played In a nearby pasture with sawdust filled grain sacks for bases and such a mound between first and second base that the first baseman could Just see the second baseman’s head. But what a good time everybody had at what Waterford peop Ie called thel r World’s Fair. Nobody has a better time today, even at Skowhegan, with all the marva lous new entertai nment wh i ch that modern fal r provl des.
Well, let’s get back to that Beltane Festival. It has a long and honored history. In 1621 King James VI, recognizing and approving grants made by his predecessors to the Royal Burgh of Peebles, did grant to the burgh the right to hold several fairs, the best known of which was the Beltane Fair. Hence on June 23 of this year at old Mercat Cross In Peebles the Town Clerk read the festival proclamation, closing with these words:
“It is appointed by the Magistrate and Councilo.rs of this burgh that the fair be held on the day of the crowning of the Beltane Queen, Saturday, 23rd June, 1951. Therefore, In our Sovereign’s name, and by authority of the magistrates and councilors, I proclaim the said fair to Instantly begin and continue for 24 hours, with power and liberty to all His Majesty’s subjects to trade and traffic one with another without let or molestation, charging them not to trouble or molest one another for old or new quarrels, they paying the customs, use and wont. Once. Tw Ice. T hri ce • God save the Ki ng! ”
Quite a lot of fuss to make over an old time custan and over a lot of children! Well, perhaps It is, but we rather like what the editor of the Peebleshlre News says about that: “Some folks tell us that Peebles brings its childhood Into too much prominence. We do not agree. Not only are the chi Idran our citizens of tomorrow; they deserve recogn I tl on In thel r own rl ght. It was a better man than any of us who once said, ‘A little chi Id shall lead them’.”
How much I s a b I II i on dol lars? The way Congress passes the approprl atl onb I I I s nowadays, peop Ie ta I k about b I II ions as they once ta I ked about thousands. Let us see for a moment I f we can visua I I ze a bill I on dollars • Now suppose a person had a bl II i on dollars I n the year that Christ was born. Then suppose that person had gone on living and was stili alive today. Now suppose also that he was a very lavish spender, disposing of a thousand dollars a day, every day of the year. He never added to his capital, he got no interest, he Just depleted· his fortune by a thousand dollars a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Now get this: In the year of 1951, nineteen and a half centuries after he started his thousand dollars a day spending, our hypothetical bl II lonai re would sti II have 189 years to go before he disposed of all his money. That’s right – … It wou Id take 2,740 years to get rl d of a billion dollars at the rate of a thousand do liars a day.
Year: 1951