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PEIIKIN$, PAYNE COUNTer, ~KLAHOMA
~. o~ mmmm,, b ~ ~1, win+ c,. k,~ h.t~ ,.+ c.m-~
Mr. and Mrs. Roland Sedowsky
Editor and Publisher3
i v+++++ __+++
Perkins, Oklahoma, Post Office, under the Act of Congress, March 3,
1897.
Subscription Rates: $2.00 a year in Payne, Lincoln and Logan count-
Ira: $3.00 a year if sent 0 at of the above mentioned countieL
All | know is what I rood in the poporl--Wili RogwsTM
/
7!
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1962 . PAGE 6
Ma Joad Is Preferable
John Steinbeck's novel, "Grapes of Wrath," has been, over
'the years, condemned by more Oklahomans than any other book.
His portrayal of the "Okies" on the long road to California
pricked ,the "state ~pride" and aroused the indignation of many
who either refused to' admit the situation ever existed, or chose
to ignore that page in our history. We suspect that many of his
~ritics never read the book at all.
Steinbeck's description of "Ma Joad" in .the book is considered
to be one of the finest tributes to motherhood in modern
l~terature:
"H~r thin, steel-gray hair was gathered in a sparse wispy
knot at the back of he$ head. Strong, freckled arms were bare to
the elbow, and her hands werei chubby and delicate, |ike those of
a plump little girl. She Iool~ed out into the sunshine. Her ~full face
was not soft; it was controlled, kindly. Her ~hazel eyes seemed to
have ~xpeHenced all possible tragedy and to have mounted pain
and suffering like steps into a high calm and a ~uperhuman und.
erstanding. She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her posit.
ion, the citadel of the family, thep strong ;place that could not be
tak~en. And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt
or fear un,loss she acknowledged hurt and ,fear, she had practiced
denying them in ~erself. ~nd since, when a ,joyful thing happen-
ed, they looked to see whether joy was on her, it was her habit to
goddeu. She ae~med to know that if she ~wayed the family shook,
and if she eveJr really deeply wavered or d~spaired the family
would fall, the family will to function would be gone."
An eastern Oklahoma county judge recently decided to re-
tire, and he gave these reasons for his decision:
"1 am sick and tired of welfare abuses I Iha~e aee~ reflected
in my court. Mothers of illegitimate children ~re r~arded for
their promiscuity. These mothers were not intecested in anything
but getting ~n the relief roll . . > once someone ~ets on the relief
roll, h~ or she never gets off. My philosophy ~of life doesn't go a-
long with this 'give-away' trend of the times, so I felt it Was time
for me to leave public life."
• . Somehow, we prefer Ma Joad.
The Saturdav Drawing
The weekly Perkins Merchants drawing, held each Saturday
in front of the Journal office, mus~ seem to many people as much
a pagt of Perkins as Main street, l~olks tell us theft it has been a
weekly event for around 30 years.
The drawing seems to be taken for granted by many people;
that is, it's held a,t 3 p.m. every Saturday, the money comes from
some unknown bu~ dependable source, and ~f you're lucky, you'll
win a $1 or $5 bill•
A few folks have had the impression that we here at the
Journal office are the donors of ~,he money. Our job Is to collect
the money once each month, and call out 'the winning names each
week. We didn't ask for the job, and we don't particularly care
for the task of going around each month ,to collect ,the money,
lmt we do it. A~parently, we inherRed the job ~hen we came into
t~te Journal office.
their particular business, bu.t because they think At helps the
community.
Crying The Discount Blues
By Ben Gerdes in the Wellston News
The other day I was in a store
in Wellston when someone came
in, inquired as to the price on a
certain article and when told,
snorted, "Huh, I can buy that
same thing for a lot less in an
Oklahoma City discount store,"
and he stormed out of the store,
jumped in his car, and the last I
saw he was speeding towards the
City.
We cert,ainly hope he's happy
with his purchase. If he isn't he
might as well be; he's stuck with
it. Whenever you are tempted to
buy anything in most discount
stores, the moment you walk out
the door with it you're strictly on
your own. 1~he discount stores in
case you're not yet aware of it,
are there for only one purpose and
that purpose it to sell, Sell SELL'
Service is at the minimum in al-
most all discount stores, and in
our brief experience in them the
clerks acted as if Vhey were not
particularly interested in even
finding out how come we happen-
ed to be standing in front of them.
Maybe they have some secret
method of knowing who has mon-
ey to spend.
How many t+imes have you made
a purchase and gotten it home to
discover that it needed some min-
or part replacement or correct-
ion? If you purchased it in a local
store the merchant will generally
furnish you the needed replace-
ment part. Don't expect those dis-
count store clerks to correct it
for you. They wouldn't know a
left-handed Dingfiidget from a
right-footed Alacamzingus; and
besides they have been thoroughly
trained in the knowledge that
their one complete duty is to
SELL. The discount store operat-
ors will give you some friendly
information--call a repairman. By
the time you finish buying the
necessary repairs and paying for
their installation you would have
saved muney by buying the article
in your own home town store.
First of all, the difference bet-
ween a discount store and your
home town merchant is that t~e
merchant considers you as more
than a temporary customer, to
him, you are one of his friends
and neighbors and he will treat
you as he would like to be treated
by a friend and neighbor. In the
second place, he knows that you
live just down the street and that
he will see you every day and
probably a half a dozen times dur-
ing the d~ay, so even if he wanted
to he knows you wouldn't let him
get by with selling inferior mer-
chandise. When you buy an article
in a local store and are not satis-
fied you'll be back in that store
quicker than the merchant can
ring up the sale in his cash regist-
er.
Did you ever try to get a refund
]n a discount house?
When you ~urchase an appli-
ance from your home town mer-
chant he ahnost always installs
and sets it up for you ready to
operate before he figures the
transaotion concluded. In a dis-
count store, Buddy, its strictly
Cash & Carry; and if you happen
to drop it, and it breaks into a
hundred smithereens before you
get it to your car, about all the
satisfaction, you can get is to go
back in and buy a bottle of glue,
tlmf'hmy be so old it lost its.
stickiness Just before John Smith
divorced Pocahontas, and glue the
smithereens ,ba~k together. Be
sure and sweep up all .the broken
glass and parts; otherwise, they'll
probably bate their lawyers beat
you home with a subpena slapping
a l'aw suit a~a, inst you for littering
the premises.
Now, so far, we haven't even
considered how important the loc-
al business people are to your
home community. When you live
in a community, even if you take
absolutely no part in civic affair~,
you're stUl a cog in the commun-
ity, maybe not a very well greased
cog bu.t a cog nevertheless. In too
many discount stores, you're noth.
ing but a sueker with a green-
~;aek. The local businessman pays
practically all of the local taxes
to educate your children, fix your
streets, pay for your water and
sewage bonds; the businessman
can't apply for Homestead exem-
ption on his business property.
The taxes the discount houses pay
go to the city, Which is all fine
and good providing you live in the
C~ty.
We hope your house doesn't
burn down or that you even have
a lengthly serious illness in your
family, or that you ever have any
other occasion to need a little ex-
tra financial help; but if you do,
hope you aren't fool enough to
think you're going to get any help
from those city discount houses.
When a collection is taken up for
you, if one is ever needed, your
local business people will be the
ones who will dig down into their
billfolds and cash registers and
come up with a little money, that
is, if they have any left after
everyone gets through shopping in
the discount houses. The local
business people are the ones who
are hit to support every project
from blacl~topping the streets to
buying magazine subscriptions for
your kids school queen contests.
Now's the time to remember
that if you ever need help, finan-
cial or any other kind, unless he's
a mighty close personal friend,
that discount store manager is not
going to know you from Adam.
These are just a few of t"hT
many reasons why we should all
do as much of our shopping as
possible right here in We~ts¢offT
even if we do have to pay a rift~
more, in the long run ~mpping at
home will cost us less.
It pays to buy guod dependable
name brand merchandise, instead
of some off,brand inferior Junk,
and to buy it in a store w~ere you
are known--and where you know
the seller--and that's right here
in your own home town.
Don't be one of those people
who rush to the d~scount store to
make your purchase, and then, to
your discrmy discover the reason
why you could buy the article
cheap was because .that's exactly
wthat it was--cheap stusf. Don't
be a cryer o~ ,the "Discotmt
Blues." but if you do get stuck,
your local merchan.t will probably
loan you a shoulder to sob on.
SAFETY FACTS
The driver improvement section
of the Oklahoma Department of
Public Safety revoked the license
of a total of 131 Oklahoma dr, iv-
era during the month of May.
A total of 172 drivers had their
license suspended because of viol-
ations on their driving record dur.
ing the month of May, Ray H.
Page, state safety commissioner.
announced.
The driver improvement section
of the Oklahoma Deoartmerrt of
Public Safety reviewed the records
~f 2,446 errant drivers during
May. (If this number, corrective
action was taken agaln~ 1,638 o~
t;he drivers invesfdgated.
Getting Back To Money?
From the Christian Science Monitor
()ther Editors'
Disaster--If for a period of two
week's everyone in Newkirk made
all their retail ~p~rchases and had
all their professional services per-
formed away from home, what
would happen?
It is pretty hard to imagine the
chilling effect of a fine, friendly
little community suddenly trans-
formed into a ghost town. But
*hat's exaet]y what would happen
in Newkirk if everyone suddenly
began leaving town to do their
business. It certainly is a frighten-
ing thought and not a complete
impossibility.
Every w~ek rv.z::y Newkirk re-
sidents take their money out of
town to spend on things that could
be bought right here at home.
They fully believe they are get-
ting bargains they cannot get
here. And, until they are shown
differently, they will continue to
drive away and shop.
---Newkirk Herald Journal
Next time you pay your water
bill, there will be a small increase
for garbage and trash hauling ser-
vice. There might be a few who
will want to do a little griping
and complaining, SO, we have de-
vised this plan:
We will furnish the City clerk,
Wands Lowery, with a pair of
super insulated ear plugs, so go
ahead and gripe, (and pay the
bill)•
Then go home and spend the
same amount of time quietly con-
sidering the many services you
call upon the city to provide for
you, and how little you really pay
in taxes and fees to help pay for
these services.
Want to go back to the days of
the well beaten path behind the
house?????
--Konawa Leader
A check at the local grain
elevator showed that approxi-
m, ately 50,000 bushels of grain had
been brought in, indicating the
delay the continuous rains have
caused on the harvest.
The total c~upac~ty of the elevat-
or is around a 'half.million bushels,
so you can see the harvest has not
even started in -t2~is area•
--The Dewey County N~ws
If I told who said this I would
probably get skinned alive. But
overheard one merchant say last
week that running a store with a
bunch of women is like trying to
share-crop farm with a couple of
old mules. 1 wounldn't know, per-
sonally.
--Grandfi~ld Big Pasture News
Say, have you noticed how
distinctly your property boundary
line is located when your neighbor
mows ~is lawn?
--Thomas THbune
Everybody---including the wild
liberals--know that giving away
the nation's patrimony, paying
ottt rrmre than is warranted by
productivity and all of the devices
which provide government hand-
outs must sooner or ~ater be halt-
ed, or catastrophe will engulf
America. It is only beem~se the
many have been thrifty and sav-
ing that it can go on at all.
--Vlrginla, Minn. Mmmbi
Daily News
We suspect a good portion of the crowd which gathers at the Still another new trading stampstamps ~.ave cost him, the remain-
drawing each week isn't there for the money, but because it's a company has entered the field--ing fourth paying for the stamp
fine excuse to stop and visit with neighbors and friends. At any with an inter e2,,ing variation ~f operation.
.ra'te, tl~e tr~'aditional Saturday event seems to afford a quarter, the usual "free' premium l~lan. With this arrangement the Y~E 0~/f Y~
stamps begin to take on a li.ttle r~~-~----~
rmur oz relaxation and ,pleasure for many folks. The stamp saver will not go to a more of the characteristics of
Following is a list of the merchants and businessmen who are single premium cer=ter to pick out money. In ~avt, the slogan of this
regumr contributors to the drawing. Ne~t time you see one of a "gift" for her filled stamp books.
th~n, you might grief a pat on the back ~or keeping the drawingInstead, the stamps will be re- firm is, "They spend like money."
going: One would think that customers
deemable in merchandise or ser-might begin to come aroun¢i full
_ Redus Welding; DeNMar Food Store, Payne County bank, vice at any of the stores at which circle to the idea, that, after all,
~:vans Oil company, W.N. Raker Drygoods, Mrs. Henry's Dry. they are issued, money I tsele wa~ t such a slouch
~ar~;r~n~a~n'sdsri~r~cHr~'rdY~a~f~'r's~e+t~:nCl~ie~~n li~ware, Grimm's care ~nd Okla~ma Natural Gas co. o~ whatb°okThewillmerchantaget~Iml]arlmckWh° three'fourtlt~redeemSnumber theo! ~+t°fbe ~npastedn~>~Inve~ti°n'inan~her¢.b°°ks'I¢ d°esn't~:d canhave t°be bo3wh°"Anr~membeTimerwhenls a fell°wee'
