THE MARION PROGRESS PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY THE Mcdowell publishing co. MARION, N. C. r TELEPHONE 64 S. E. WHITTEN, Editor and Publisher ELIZABETH WHITTEN, News Editor Entered at the Postoffice at Marion, N. C., as second class matter SUBSCRIPTION RATE One year f. $2.00 Strictly in Advance A 1 . "North Carolina : HtISS ASS0CIAT10 V©. WHO WILL PAY TO FEED THE PEOPLE The experts who look ahead and attempt to solve the problems of the world estimate that the population of the globe, now two bil lion people, will increase to three billion by the year 2000. Facing this great increase in population; and wondering if proper planning will make! available sufficient food to support the peo ple. Dr. Stephen Raushenbush, a consultant to the U. S. Department of the Interior, says that there are only three courses open: (a) To put the world's under-fed popula tion on "relief" which will cost $85,000,000, 000, by the year 2000, if we include the ex pected increase of population. If the aid is stopped, according to Dr. Raushenbush, the new population will starve. (b) Aid the new people to establish land so that they can eat as well as the world's pop ulation today at a cost of $38,000,000,000, but -with the understanding that the increased population will have no way to pay such an investment. (c) Help all nations to teed themselves on a good standard, at an investment of $37,000, 000,000 in food-producing productivity and additional dollars for industrial expansion. Under this plan, the expert says, the invest ment can be repaid and the population of the world will tend to level off at a little under I 3,000,000,000 people. ! Apparently, if the leading nations of the1 world take none of the three courses, the pop-j illation of the world will be held down by; starvation. This is a somewhat somber thought. One wonders, nevertheless, where the billions will come from to instigate a pro gram of worldwide uplift. % Moreover, it is somewhat difficult to under-: stand why the populations of certain areas j have made considerable material progress; while other peoples, in possession of compar-| able natural resources, have utterly failed to: advance it. It is impossible, in this day of; equality for everybody, to suggest that there j must be some differences in peoples. The an-; swer, however, must be found somewhere and i .somehow or all our relief efforts will repre-j sent nothing more than the "relief" which j Dr. Rauchenbush deplores. ATLANTIC PACT IN EFFECT The unanimous ratification of the North Atlantic Treaty makes it effective and brings the twelve member nations to the basic prin ciples that an armed attack on one member is to be regarded as attack upon all. In proclaiming the treaty in effect Presi dent Truman called the ratification of the treaty a momentous occasion "for all peoples who share a profound desire for stability and peaceful development." The Chief Executive said that we seek not •only to establish freedom from aggression in the North Atlantic community but to promote and preserve peace throughout the world. Moreover, he pointed out that there are sol emn international engagements binding the participating nations to settle international disputes by peaceful means and to refrain from the use of force against the territory of any country. He insisted that "no nation need fear the results" of the cooperation of the twelve nations that have ratmed the pact. We regret to chronicle the sad fact that young America shows no disposition to rush avidly into the schools of the nation to be edu cated. If we help Tito the Reds may get what we send him; if we don't help him, the Reds will probably get Tito. You have heard the story about the man who tried to borrow money from his friend. That is all there is to the story. You may live through 1949 if you continue to drive carefully and watch out for the other fellow. WHAT THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE THINK It is just as well for the people of the United States to understand how the people of Russia feel in regard to the growing tension between the two countries. When the U. S. Ambassa dor Alan Kirk called on Prime Minister Stalin in August, the conference made the front page in all Soviet papers. Edmund Stevens, Moscow correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, says that the meeting made an impression among the "Mos cow public, which is always eager to welcome any indication of lessening international ten sion." He added that the emphasis in the West on the Atlantic Pact and the arms program and notably the recent European tour of Ame rican joint chiefs of staff" have caused "deep est misgivings and suspicions." The Soviet public, Mr. Stevens reports, "sees America's rulers as engaged in a frantic armaments race, as devising as a global mili tary strategy in which the smaller Western powers are committed to subservient rules, and as goading unwilling peoples—including their own nation—toward a new world catas trophe." They do not believe that everybody can impute "to their county bellicose inten tions and consider the idea "too patently as burd to warrant even serious consideration." We call attention to this report from Mos cow because it emphasizes the necessity, more than ever, for the Voice of America and other agencies at our command to seek to give to the Russian people a true picture of tie motives of the United States. Regardless of the view point of the Soviet public, however, one can not overlook the fact that the rulers of Rus sia constitute a small group, with absolute power and the ability to plunge their country into an aggressive war regardless of what their people think. SPEAKING OF SPUDS "Thar's gold in them thar potato hills" any Maine farmer will readily admit. They've been digging undreamed of wealth out of their po tato fields in the little New England State— but it was wealth drawn from the pockets of consumers and taxpayers. A Washington Post reporter, digging in Uncle Sam's potato subsidy patch, has come up with some surprising details. Under the 90 per cent parity government guarantee for potatoes, Aroostok County, Maine, has become rich. In this county alone last year the government paid out $65,000,000 equal to $650 for every man, woman and child living in the county. One farmer in the county received a govern ment check for $495,000, another for $426, 000. Altogether 31 farmers got anywhere from $100,000 to half a million dollars for po tatoes sold to the Commodity Credit Corpora tion. Farm incomes ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 were common. Even the little man got rich, for there is the case of one farmer with 30 acres of land bought in 1930 for $3,000. All but two acres of this holding were in potatoes, for which the government paid him $20,000—seven times the cost of his land! Even the laborers struck gold in Aroostok last year, pickers' earnings averaging from $15 to $25 a day. Although the potato support program in 1948 cost the taxpayers more than a quarter billion dollars. Because the high parity price was for U. S. No. 1.— the very best of the crop —this is what the growers sold the govern ment and the government in turn sold this cream of the crop to whiskey distillers, and what was left was given back to farmers for hog feed. The consumer paid high prices for second grade spuds and was taxed to keep the price high. The potato bonanza is about over. The new support price has been fixed at 60 per cent 'of parity, but even so it is estimated that the program will cost the Treasury from 50 to 100 million dollars this year. But potatoes should be cheaper—and better. It is significant that potato growers them selves, fearful that such, excessive payments will bring about the collapse of the whole price support structure, have been cooperating with members of congress to reduce payments to more reasonable level.—Statesville Land mark. People with what they term "influence" have infested Washington for more than a hundred years. The trouble with asking an older man for advice is that he will usually take time to give you some. People who have nothing important to do will find time to attend to a number of unim portant things. You have never heard a gambler bragging about the money he lost. Never argue with friends over a non-essen tial. OUR DEMOCRACY —-by Mat "PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE!'.. In THE EARLY DAYS OF OUR. DEMOCRACY* THE PIONEER, OFTEN PUT ESSENTIAL TOOLS AND RATIONS IN A CANOE AND PROCEEDED UP