Official Organ Of The Sia 'ironic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. VIENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 54 — NO. 33
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE, SP.IST, P. 0. E )3‘ 100, TEMPLE, TEXAS
FROM In her letter this week, Sister Leona Stalmach, youth leader at Lodge 48, Beyersville, exhorts the membership in her lodge to ... not forget that our SP.IST functions need to, go on . . " despite the hot August days when "we all feel like staying in air-conditioned buildings, or any place where it is cool." Good advice. Texas summer heat does have a way of slowing us all down a bit, but, like the monthly bills, SPJST activities do not take a holiday. Although we may slacken our speed a little, we must get ready to re-double our efforts with the advent of cooler weather. There can be no excuse for not attending our State Youth Achievement Day at Lodge 66, Linden Hall, Elm Mott on Aug. 28th. Linden Hall is ai • -conditioned with refrigerated air, and you'll never miss the heat outside. A couple of final thoughts about recent events in Austin: A well-known psychiatrist was asked: "Is the wave of crimes of violence and riots in the US today something new in history?" His reply was startling. `These things have occurred," said Dr. Henry A. Davidson of Columbia University, "in countries that have undergone violent revolutions . . . They occur in civilizations that are falling apart." Dr. Davidson explained that he was merely indicating ONE of the condi-
AUGUST 17, 1966
EDITORS DESK THOUGHTS . . .
When does middle age begin? When the plior,,e rings on Saturday night and you hope ,it , s a wrong number! Asked what he thought of putting lettnet, in cigarettes, the office grouch replied, "Anything to get it out of sandwiches," e • A lot of people who complain about the boss being stupid would be out of a job if he were any smarter. tions in which a wave of violence might occur, and not saying that our civilization is falling apart. Nevertheless, considering the sharp rise of crime and violence in the US, it wouldn't hurt anything for responsible Americans to begin immediately promoting the things that tend to hold civilized nations together. It's beginning to look as though we could stand a few reinforcements in this matter. There also comes this bitter truth from Houston psychiatrist, Dr. C. A. Dwyer: "Potential killers are everywhere these days. They are driving cars, going to church with you, working' with you. And you never know it until they snap." Birthrate Dropping Recent figures on the birth rate in America apparently have punctured
the theory of a ballooning US population through the remainder of the 20th Century. The statistics show that the rate has dropped by 24 per cent since 1957, and the trend is still downward. They also show that births are declining not only in rate (number per 1,000 women of child-bearing age) but actual number. In 1965 there were four million more women of child-bearing age than in 1957 but 500,000 fewer babies born, Population experts are thinking up all manner of reasons for this unexpected phenomenon, among them the idea that couples have begun to envision the problems of exploding population and want no part of it. The steadily rising cost of rearing a family may have had more than a little to do with it. This factor is underscored by some little-known figures. In 1957 the average cost of rearing a child to the age of 18 was $10,500, the cost of a college education about $1,000 a year. Now the cost of rearing the child averages $14,508 — a jump of more whan 40 per cent — and the cost of a year in college has passed $2,000 in many institutions. When, these figures get around to more young couples, there will no doubt be a further shar p drop in the birth rate.