page six
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May/August, 1975
Bean wins award
(continued from page one)
major sponsors of the Mechanics Award pro
gram.
Bean, who joined Piedmont in 1962, was
selected from among numerous entries submit
ted by various airlines. The southern region
carriers include those operating throughout
the eight southeastern states, the Caribbean,
the Canal Zone, Central and South America.
Winners are chosen by a highly select committee
of representatives of the aviation industry and
safety organizations.
Profit improvement task force
(continued from page one)
some fresh approaches to ensure the necessary
improved long range profitability and progress
of the Company. I trust this group can rely on
the usual fine cooperation of all employees.”
Route developments
(continued from page one)
Piedmont has not proposed specific schedules
but does plan to offer multi-frequency, nonstop
jet service in the Chicago-Louisville market.
No cash or other considerations are involved
in the transfer although there is a difference in
the mileage. Piedmont would serve a 269 mile
segment. Eastern a 194 mile distance.
Piedmont has also filed with the Board a
request for authority to provide nonstop service
between Greenville-Spartanburg, South Caro
lina and New York City. In this case the
Company proposes to offer two, nonstop, round
trip jet flights. These would be in addition to
the present one stop service pattern.
Other applications which Piedmont has re
cently filed with the C.A.B. include one to pro
vide seasonal service to Hot Springs. In this
particular case the application is actually for
certificate amendment. The Company currently
serves Hot Springs on a year-round basis. Due
to winter operational problems encountered at
Ingalls Field, through which Hot Springs is
now served. Piedmont has asked the Board to
allow service only during the period between the
first Sunday of April and the last Sunday in
November.
Piedmont’s applications still pending before
the Board include one for nonstop service be
tween Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Mary
land; another, for nonstop service between
Greensboro, North Carolina and Washington,
D.C.; and an application for the authority to
provide nonstop service between Chicago,
Illinois and Charlotte, North Carolina; plus one
for nonstop service between Louisville, Ken
tucky and Washington, D.C.
Jets and Jeans
An old friend needs support:
Despite inllation and
soaring fuel costs, an
airlme ticket remains a
1975 bargain
From 1948 to 1975 —
• the price of round steak
went up 120%
• a pair of men's shoes
went up 127%
• a pair of blue jeans
went up 226%
• the cost of a car rose
261% •
Yet the price of a
roundtrip airline ticket
from New York to San
Francisco during
those 27 years rose |ust
18% - and you get there
twice as fast During that
time the average airline
fare went up 2^^, while
the overall Consumer
Price Index rose 123%
In many cases, with
today's special fares,
travel by air is cheaper
and. ol course,
faster than by car,
bus or rail.
The U S sched
uled airline system,
with its speed, cost,
convenience and
reliability, adds up
to your best deal m
travel. That’s why the
airlines today are the
dominant form ol public
passenger transportation
between our cities, and
between this country and
the rest o( the world
THE AIRLINES OF AMERICA
Public Transportation at its best
A,r Tronspori Assor.ation ol America 1709 New York Avenue. N W Washington, DC 20006
Interesting Interlining
(continued from page three)
Thursday and Friday, October 9 and 10.
Iberia, the host airline, is offering spectators
a $99 round trip Fanfare from United States
gateways of Miami, Washington (Dulles), New
York and Boston. An interline discounted $17
fare applies from Madrid to Malaga, closest
city serving Marbella, and when the $3 U.S.
departure tax is added, the entire package
comes to $119.
Write Iberia Airlines, 97-77 Queens Blvd.,
Rego Park, N.Y. 11374 on company letterhead
specifying World Airline Golf Tournament
Spectator. Include a lettter of eligibility from
your pass authorizing supervisor. The Fanfare
is valid for spouse and children under 22 years
old. Add on 75% space available transportation
also is available. For a hotel reservation, cable
Hotel Andalucia, NUEVANDOTEL.
London for longer
British Airv/ays has extended its Super
London Weekend tours to next March 31. So
if you haven’t yet taken advantage of this
bargain, as low-priced as $21 per person plus
air fare, start making plans now.
The Super London Weekend includes double
accommodations for two nights (either Friday
and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday) at the
Royal National or Tavistock Hotel, with all hotel
service charges and value added taxes; a con
tinental breakfast each morning; a Saturday
night theater ticket; Thames River ride; free
guidebook to restaurants, pubs, night spots
and tourist sights; many discount opportunities.
All employees, spouses, parents and unmarried
children up to age 26 are eligible. British Air
ways offers its 80 percent positive space dis
count to fly you to London from New York,
Washington or Chicago. Write for a copy of
the Interliners’ Super London Weekend brochure
to British Airways, Interline Dept., Box VC-
10, New York, N.Y. 10011.
The American free enterprise
system is under attack
Editor’s note: Delta’s employee magazine, Delta Digest,
was recently honored with an award from the Freedoms
Foundation at Valley Forge. The editorial, reprinted be
low, was one of 33 editorials in the nation to receive
the coveted Valley Forge Honor Award.
Americans are today living in an era of un
precedented affluence. Yet, the very economic
system responsible for this wealth is under
attack, and there is frightfully little effort
exerted in its defense.
The American free enterprise system has
compiled an unbeatable record among the many
economic systems of the world. The material
benefits of our system are obvious; we are a
nation occupying 7 per cent of the world’s land
and representing 6 per cent of the world’s pop
ulation, but, to list only a few of our many bene
fits, we have 71 per cent of the world’s cars,
56 per cent of the telephones, 83 per cent of the
televisions and 90 per cent of the bathtubs.
The system itself is harder to measure, yet its
most important feature involves its contribution
to the dignity of many. Under no other system
is there such a favoralale climate; a climate giv
ing man the freedom to arrange his life to mesh
with his individual destiny.
Our form of government and the American
free enterprise system have worked hand-in-
hand for almost two centuries. This partner
ship has given the people of this land an abun
dance in both material wealth and individual
freedom.
Under the American economic system, any
individual or group is free to use initiative and
produce and sell any commodity or service to
the public. In return, the seller reaps the re
wards (profit) of any success. Under this
system, the nation and its people have pros
pered.
But today our economic system is under
attack, and voices in its defense are not rising
to the call. Perhaps we have lived too long under
the canopy of this fantastic system and do
not appreciate its advantages. We might cha
racterize the situation as being much like the
farmer and his well—“You don’t miss the water
until the well runs dry.”
Many of the system’s greatest critics display
the “Only government can do it syndrome.”
There seems to be little effort directed toward
recognizing what the system has already ac
complished and is capable of doing in the future.
Constructive criticism is good and desirable, but
the type of criticism we are seeing today is
destructive. If this continues we will see this
fantastic system so shackled with restraints
that it will cease to function.
Unquestionably, the system isn’t perfect; it
has its bad points, but what system doesn’t?
It has and continues to mature. No other eco
nomic system can come close to the achieve
ments already reached under the American
system.
In many countries government controls the
economic system. Our individual freedoms and
affluence readily point to the superiority of
the American free enterprise system. Look at
the government-controlled economy of Russia,
the so-called “worker’s paradise.” If we wanted
to match the Soviet’s economy it would be
necessary for us to first relinquish many of our
rights as individuals; then cut all paychecks
by 75 per cent, put 60 million people back on
the farm in order to produce needed food, tear
down about three-fourths of the houses in
America, destroy 60 per cent of our steel-mak
ing capacity, rip up fourteen out of fifteen
miles of roads and two-thirds of the railroad
tracks, junk 85 per cent of all autos, and tear
out nine of ten telephones. Even with all this
we would still have a way to go to reach their
economic level.
It would seem that many who attack our
system are misinformed. One big misconception
lies in the area of profits; and this is frightful!
No system, especially free enterprise can operate
without profits (incentive). Will Durant, writ
ing in The Lessons of History, pointed out
“Every system must sooner or later rely upon
some form of profit (incentive) to stir individ
uals and groups to produce.” Even the Russians
now do this.
Imagine, if you will, what the world would
be like if people such as Edison, Bell, the Wright
Brothers and Ford had not lived under a system
promoting individual initiative.
The attitude of many Americans toward our
economic system is demonstration in the find
ings of a poll conducted by Opinion Research,
Princeton, N.J. This poll found that 61 per cent
of those polled did not believe in profits (the
life’s blood of free enterprise), 83 per cent
estimated profits to be as high as 50 per cent
and 55 per cent advocated government owner
ship of businesses such as banks and railroads.
In another poll, this time of clergymen, the
majority consensus was that most company
profits exceeded 25 per cent on the sales dollar.
The truth about profits in this country is
that 4 to 6 cents profits on the sales dollar is
considered good. In retailing I'/o cents is con
sidered good. Thus, the real wealth of free enter
prise goes to the workers.
Now is the time to begin a counter offensive
in defense of free enterprise. Those who would
destroy the system must be challenged, and
the best challenge will come from a citizenry
well versed on how free enterprise works. Dur
ing these winter months ahead, why not spend
some time reading books on the subject? You’ll
find material both for and against the system,
but draw your own conclusions after hearing
both sides.
We can save an old friend, but it can only
happen if we make the effort. As the ancient
Chinese proverb said, “A journey of a thousand
miles begins with the first step.”