VESTNIK alb FRATERMILI/M,.. a family affair
Official Organ Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas, Founded 1897 HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 to: SUPREME -LODGE, SPJST, P.O. Box 100, Temple, Texas 76501 VOLUME 66, NUMBER 28 JULY 12, 1978
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK The July 4th holidays for 1978 are in the past and this time of the year brings many thoughts to many of us. In the U.S. A. it is a national holiday observed now for over 200 years annually. There are fireworks, celebrations, patriotism, and, yes_ long-winded speeches, family gatherings, picnics, etc , and regretfully, a large number of deaths. The National Safety Council predicted that between 650 and 750 persons would die on the nation's highways. This editor hopes that none of the readers of these lines had the occasion to have their holidays marred by someone related to them being in some such incident. July 4th is also a day, not only to celebrate, but to do some re fleeting on the meaning of the date. July 4th, 1776, was not a day of fighting; it was a date when a far-reaching declaration was made — a declaration of in. dependence from foreign rule and, to a great extent, tyrannical rule. As was stated in that era: "Taxation without representation is tyranny." Too many of us fail to remember what was gained by the declaration although there naturally followed much bloodshed before it became a reality. It behooves us to keep this in mind. July 4th also is associated with patriotism, and here your editor would like to spend a few thoughts with you. When the security of our
AS A MAN GROWS OLDER He values the voice of experience more and the voice of prophecy less. He finds more of life's wealth in the common pleasures — home, health, children. He thinks more about the worth of men and less about their wealth. He begins to appreciate his own father a little more. He boasts less and boosts more. He hurries less and usually makes more progress. He esteems the friendship of others a little higher. country is threatened, as in WW I and WW II, our young men are called upon to defend our freedoms and even give up their lives if necessary in doing so. We will not go into details of the other wars this nation has participated in; they were a little different. However, now we are in a different type of war — a war on inflation — and here President Carter has called on all of us to help his administration in that war by selfrestraint in demanding higher wages and higher profits. In the .face of these requests, each month we hear about the wholesale price index rising, food prices at the retail level, steadily rising, etc.
traveling around this state, your editor has found how patriotiSm in another level works. Recently, the OPEC nations (namely the Arab nations and Venezula) met and decided not to increase the price of their oil; yet we see the price of gasoline steadily climbing at the pumps, with the latest increase coming just before the 4th of July holidayS, when travel was at its peak and it no doubt will remain so until after Labor Day. One wonders about this "self restraint patriotism." Just stop and think what a 5c or 6c increase per gallon, on the millions of gallons of gasoline sold per day means to the profit-makers! On a recent trip from a district meeting we needed gasoline, so we stopped at a "chain station." We use regular gas and it was 51.9 cents per gallon; we glanced at the unleaded pump and it was 63.9 cents per gallon — a difference of 12 cents. Lead must be very inexpensive! Patriotism, oh patriotism, where art thou? One morning, while on the way to work we observed a little neighborhood girl playing on the sidewalk with a small U.S. fla g, pretending it was a baton. She was the happiest little tyke doing her prancing steps. This thought entered my mind: enjoy these carefree days, little lady, before the vicious cycle of our grown-up world encircles you in its web.