PAGE TWO SEYMOUR DAILY TRIBUNE; SEYMOUR, INDIANA MONDAY, MAY Uft Business Mirror Freedom 'T Newspaper ESTABLISHED 1879 -from the Associated Press Issued every evening except Sunday i This newspaper is dedicated to furnishing information to our readers so. that they can better promote and preserve their own freedom and encourage others to see its blessings. For only when man understands freedom and is free to control himself and all he produces can he develop to his utmost capabilities. believe that all men are equally endowed by their Creator, and not by a government, with the right to take moral action to preserve their, life and property and secure more freedom and keep it for themselves and others. Freedom is self-control, no more, no less.
To discharge this responsibility, free men, to the best of their ability, -must understand and apply todaily living the great moral guide expressed in the Coveting Commandment. Let Peace Begin With Me! EDITORIALSr Small business essential i niij These Days No wooing the Saudis In our. daily life in the community, large businesses, by the very buildings they occupy and the scope of their operationsj-com-mand attention. Such establishments contribute greatly to success of our area but many more operations of smaller size of just as great importance to the welfare' of the community, also are essential. These will be given special rec-, ognition at a breakfast honoring small business at 7:30 a.m., Thursday, which is open to the public.
Sponsored by Greater Seymour Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council, the breakfast will feature a presentation by Victorian Rojowski Saunders, -assistant vice-president of Human Resources Division of Indiana- State Chamber of Commerce. Seymour Small Business Week is being proclaimed May 10-16 by Mayor Christopher D. Moritz. The special small business recognition breakfast will highlight the local observance. Small business is essential to the city, state and nation.
That recognition is being spotlighted this week. i John Chamberlain Butterflies in the belfry by I don't think the Saudis will ever get those AWACS electronic surveillance planes. It offends common sense that they should. To begin, if we Were to load the Saudi government with highly sophisticated military technology of use only for fighting external enemies, it would set the country up as prime coup bait. The Soviets aren't stupid; they aren't going to go head-on into air, sea and parachute-drop war for the Saudi oil.
fields. Internal subversions and palace coups are easier, and Saudi possession of F-15 and AWACS planes would only sweeten the pot. The Shah of Iran wasn't protected one bit by the military hardware we sold him. The Israelis are naturally worried lest electronic surveillance planes in the. hands of Saudi would create a spy hazard that might keep the Israeli air force from getting the jump in case of war.
They are also worried about Saudi possession of extra equipment that would extend the range of F-1S fighter-bombers. The Israelis may be anticipating trouble needlessly, for it would hardly be to the advantage of the Saudis to start a war while they are' in the midst of build-, ing a petrochemical industry. But, assuming that war is a possibility, it is not to American interest to spread super weapons around in the Middle East to make conflicts if or when they come more dreadful than they might otherwise be. A further assumption must be made: if the Israelis see any Saudi war build-up coming they will certainly speed their own capacity to make and deploy the atom bomb. In addition to their worries about Saudi armaments the Israelis fear the growing influence of Arab money spread freely around the West They keep close watch on the development of what they call pet-robanking.
While New York's Citibank has been selling off its branches in Saudi Arabia, Arab capitalists have been increasing their bank holdings in the United States: Gaith Pharaon, the man who bought Bert Lance's National Bank of Georgia stock, is now pressing for 100 percent ownership of the institution. Pharaon has many other western interests: he holds a million shares of Occidental Petroleum, and a 20 percent interest in the Main Bank of Houston. Suliman Olayam has stock in nine banks, including Chase Manhattan and Mellon and the First Chicago Corporation. He has hired Bill Simon, former secretary of the treasury, to chair bis Cresv cent Diversified, an investment company. And he has himself become a director of Mobil Oil.
With Arabs buying heavily in Wall Street (their purchases came to $1.7 billion in the third quarter of 1980), the list could be spun out indefinitely. NEW YORK (AP) brokerage firms, it appears; are losing some of their enthusiasm for one of their most success? ful money-market mutual funds. Sure, the funds earn them management fees, and have helped Introduce them to thousands of new customers. But it turns out that many of those customers aren't showing any interest in the firms' other wares. Therein lies the problem.
Individual brokers dealing with the public, whose paychecks depend on commission earnings, derive no commissions from selling money funds. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that some brokers at Merrill Lynch were actively discouraging customers who were interested only in Merrill's money funds, suggesting to them that if they were looking for a bank, they should go to a "That story could just as easily have been written about our firm," says an executive of one Merrill Lynch competitor. Indeed, many major firms are now said to be considering steps to deal with the complaints of their sales force by "repackaging" their money funds. Some of tbe possibilities: imposing fees for opening new accounts, or raising tbe minimum initial investments. If such measures are indeed taken, the small saver won't lack for other places to turn.
There are numerous money funds operated by mutual-fund organizations, with minimum investments generally of $1,000 or $2,500, and a few with even less than that. To judge by the number of their ads in the financial pages, many of these funds are just as eager, as ever for new customers. Meanwhile, banks and credit-card organizations are readying vehicles to compete with the money funds. Visa USA, for example, recently announced a plan, scheduled to begin operating later this year, that would allow cardholders to earn money-market interest So all the evidence suggests that the public will continue to have a wide range of choices. Stin, the situation points up a problem that is about as old asWatfcStreet itself the potential conflict of interest created by tbe compensation system for brokers.
The broker is supposed to be able to help decide what types of investments and strategies are best suited to each individual. But, being human, the broker has a natural inclination to want to push the products that earn him tbe biggest commissions. So tbe customers be is likely to be fondest of are the heavy traders the options and commodity speculators, the stock-market players who like to jump in and out looking for fast profits. This does not make every broker a rapacious, evil person. There are, it is reported, many honest, Godfearing brokers out there serving sman-time investors with patience and competence.
SeyiODr Publisher. L. THURMAN GILL Managing Editor STEWART HEDGER Advertising Director GEORGE N. MAIN Circulation Director JOSEPH A. JORAY (USPS 491-540) is published daily except Sundays and holidays for $40.80 per year by mail by the Seymour Tribune Company, 1215 East Tipton Street, Seymour, Indiana 47274.
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Between 3 it 4 p.m. Saturdays. I---U-yiMthaveany-questions1 call the office at 522-4871, 8 to 5 weekdays, 8 to 12 Saturdays. Tribune What's going on here? Economy's spring fever The American Jewish Congress turns up the appropriate name, of Adnan Kashoggi, an Arab billionaire who has been buying and selling interests in California banks. An Arab-owned invest-ment banking firm, Petra Capitol Corporation, is seeking membership in the New York Stock Exchange.
If Arab wealth in America has had anything to do with such things as the AWACS decision, which still must run the gauntlet of Congress, it betrays a most stupid bit of political naivete. We don't have to be obsequious to anybody. Arab investments in the West mean mat a commitment to western prosperity has been The commitment betokens a flight from gold. It puts the West in the driver's seat: every purchase by a Saudi of Wall Street stock means there is less likelihood that the Arab oil producers would seek to ruin their customers. The Russians are hardly an alternative market; they might absorb the oil, and, they might even pay for it in commodities or gold, but in a communized world where would the Saudi sheiks find investment havens for their wealth? The United States Can have its way in, the Middle East if it will only play its cards in a common-sensical way.
It doesn't have to give away its advanced technological weapons. Copyright 1961 by King Features Syndicate, Inc. 'J 5 starts are sagging and mortgage rates last month shot, up to percent. Does that sound like the economy is perking up? i You don't hear much talk about "obscene profits" dropping 2.7 per- with corporate profits dropping 2.7 percent across the board last year, and 370 of the national biggies reporting shrin- kages of more than 50 percent. Even the oil companies took massive drops, but you didn't hear, too much on the 6 o'clock news about "obscene losses." The way it all shapes up (as of this minute, at least) is that we're all going to -be driving the same old jalopy, giving up any ideas about buying a house, and thinking twice before we dash the credit card.
On the other hand if Ronnie baby thinks he needs a new yacht maybe we can stagger through another year without an embarrassing request for food stamps. Copyright, 181, United Feature Syndicate, lac. a rcTK wf by Virginia Payette before the issue gets settled. We bring all this up to illustrate again that, no matter what land development is -planned anymore, a certain segment of the public is there to stop it in the name of some insect, fish or unusual animal treasured by a small minority of people who don't own the property, live near it or have any direct interest in the land in question. We know of no one in business for the sole purpose of destroying trees, shrubs, fish, birds or animals, but when homes and businesses and even golf courses are built it may occur that some form of wildlife will be displaced.
But, at the same time, homes and new landscaping bring to the fore, other types of living things, among them varieties of birds and foliage which normally could not live in the semi desert area of Southern California. Unless someone built hdmes or businesses, none of us would have places to live, in southern California, Indiana or elsewhere. That applied to environmentalists too, none of whom protested the construction of their own homes or places of business. In short, we're not against the survival of the dime sized El Segundo blue butterfly or- the coast horned legless lizard, but environmentalists would be serving their various causes better if they stopped attempting to use the powers of government to prevent every land use they happen to We would encourage them, instead, to buy the properties "concerned, wherever located, and save the butterflies and lizards or whatever with their own money. sign instance would hardly have been newsworthy.
'he fact-that-Reagan and- Stockman chose to publicize these variances as soon as they discovered them, and make offsetting cuts in other parts of the budget, may indicate two things. They seem to be willing to talk reasonably straight to the American people, and they are serious about slowing the growth of government spending. We hope that this assessem*nt is accurate, 'and that as the administration gets further into thiTgrrnly'Twdrlroftrying ttrcon- trol government spending.it maintains this approach. Those troubled by man's treatment of least terns and snail darters, more bad news was reported, in Los Angeles, recently. The Airport Area Advisory Committee, a citizen's group weighing various plans to put golf course on the barren El Segundo Dunes just west of Los Angeles International Airport, heard that, unless 302 acre dunes parcel is untouched, another "endangered species" will go the way of the It's name? The El Sungundo blue butterfly.
Only a few hundred remain, environmentalists told the committee. If the dunes are developed in any fashion, they warned, no more El Segundo blue. What's 'worse, a 109 page study indicates that more, than the Segundo blue will vanish. Other victims will include such creatures as the ornate shrew, Beldings savannah sparrow, the broadfooted mole and the pocket mouse; Worse yet, the list of Dunes creatures includesthe coast horned legless lizard. Very few "are seen anymore.
The tunes, which are visible to air travelers during coastward takeoff patterns from LAX, once were dotted with' 1,000 homes and about 4,000 residents. The homes and people we're 'the first species to vanish, about ten years ago at a cost of $53 million as LAX attempted to create-a jet traffic free zone. The Los Angeles Department of Airports now wants to put a 250 acre privately' operated golf cour.se on the. 302 acre i leaving just 80 acres or so for the" various creatures which now call the dunes they home. Many more hearings will be held Late cuts a good The 'Reagan administration's decision to "go public" and cut more-spending-when earlier miscalculations indicated that spending might exceed the goals Reagan had announced in public, shows a commendable commits ment to fulfilling promises and keeping the process relatively open.
It would have probably been easy to keep quiet about projected overruns and accept them 'later, when their significance would be downplayed. Govef1rnTent spen'diffgTirmosT" always exceeds original estimates, and one more There's only one way to explain the goofy signals we're getting from Washington and Wall Street these days: The economy and the folks who are supposed to be controlling it are suffering from spring fever. Let's hope that's what it is, because any other explanation leads us poor peasants to the unsettling suspicion that nobody's minding the store. Consider: President Reagan is all for cutting federal spending, especially on frivolous things like welfare payments to pregnant women, strikers, teen-agers and the working poor. That's to reawaken the spirit of the "work ethic' in our society, he says.
It will also save taxpayers $1 billion on the federal level and $850 million in state costs. So far, so good. There's nothing we'd like more of right now than a few big savings like Then, in almost the very next breath, we learn that he's shopping around for a presidential yacht. It will help him recuperate from his gunshot wound, they tell us, and besides, anbody knows the best way to influence politicians (foreign and domestic) is to treat them to a moon-light cruise on the Potomac. Wen, the last time I priced yachts they were running in the high six-and-seven-digit territory.
And the question conies naturally to mind: Who's going to pay for that little presidential perk? Here's another puzzler: The economy, the headlines tell us, isn't nearly as bad off as we thought it was. In fact, with a first-quarter jump of 6.5 percent in the GNP (the biggest in three years) and with productivity up 3.9 percent (a spec tacular leap over last year's .03 percent), it's actually looking pretty good. Don't you believe It, say the experts, lot of figures upward, but everything's been sliding downhill ever since. Then along come the cynics who hint that the good news about business Is bad news at the White House, that Mr. Reagan doesn't want things to look too rosy right now because it will strengthen congressional opposition to his plan for a 30-percent tax cut over the next three years.
He's arguing that the cuts will stimulate business, but if business is already bouncing along, what Democrat is going to let Republican collect brownie points by cutting taxes? So maybe we confused peasants should look to the stock market for a clue on how tbe country's doing, right? Well, maybe that would have helped some in the old days, but right now all it does is make you dizzy. Wall Street took one squint at those happy headlines about' the GNP and took off; went up almost 15 points in a tingle week. Then word leaked out that the money supply was out of hand the big banks jacked ug interest rates a full percentage point and the market's been as steady as a yo-yo ever since. On the other hand, consumers have been out there spending it up at an annual rate of 4.7 percent more in the first quarter and that's a good sign, isn't it? Not necessarily. What they were spending was money they took out jot their savings accounts.
That's good for tbe merchants who got the business, but bad for families who are shopping on the cuff. And now, with interest rates edging even higher, most people wiU decide it costs them too much to carry all that debt. So they'rtrgoing to ease off, which retail sates will go into a which means business won't be so hotsy- Thingrwriy look better because of the oaty in the next few months. Wnich the "complexity of statistical measurement." Reagan folks have been saying all along What that means, folks, is that January is why the country needs that tax cut, -was a whoop-de-do month that bounced a Automobile sales are flat housing.
