Holbrook High School - Echo Yearbook (Holbrook, MA)

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20 THE ECHO hear some product advertised that would be helpful to us or to some member of the family. In place of the morning paper with our coffee, now we can eat a hearty breakfast and listen to the latest news over the radio. Many schools are using radios to instruct their pupils. Through it they become acquainted with popular, classical, or opera music, and also learn to identify different musical instruments. Speeches and lectures can be heard on political, historical, commercial, and scientific subjects. Radio is certainly wonderful ! Rhoda Freethy, ’37. LITTLE IN A LAND OF PLENTY In this country of ours which is so large and rich, we have plenty but yet little. The farmers are raising their corn, wheat, potatoes, and other produce as before, but we are still in want. On farms wheat, corn, barley, and vegetables can be seen growing in fields for miles. We would be astonished to see a farmer who owns this fine, productive farm. He is a pitiful case, expecting to lose his home and all he has in the world on a foreclosure. These conditions are being taken care of hy the government to some extent, but the farmers are still in a pitiful state. From all appearances the farmer is going great, raising good crops and in an abundance, but losing his house seems incredible. We read in newspapers how the farmers are losing their property by the hundreds through foreclosure. We may think, “the farmer has crops to sell, and if he sells them, he can obtain money to pay his bills.” That is where the shoe pinches. The farmer has no money. The railroad, bus, and touring agencies are doing “a land office business.” This all puts money into circulation, and it is this money that keeps the various industries both large and small going. One visiting a large city would be astonished at the way the people are running about. Everything would look all right, and one would ask: “Where is the Depression?” These conditions look plenty encouraging. At boxing and wrestling shows, movies, plays, ball games, football games, and other past-times, one finds it sometimes a task to secure a seat. People know it costs money to attend these. True, it does cost money, and these people must have it. But where they get it will be a topic much discussed. The reasons for present conditions are varied and many. The government, city and federal employees, are standing the burden as well as the already heavily burdened taxpayer. Comparatively few people are able to prevent foreclosures by paying their taxes. If a person pays $200 a year, for example, a good part of this goes for relief funds. This relief is not entirely caused by those on relief rolls. Many would much rather work and earn the money than receive it in dole. As the various city, state, and federal employees contribute to this relief out of their wages, they naturally do not receive so much

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THE ECHO 19 power be to the Italian people many of whom will be stricken by hunger and poverty ? With the breaking of the Lacarno treaty by Germany new rumors of war have been started. The Rhineland, a section of Germany bordering on France, was demilitarized by the Locarno treaty, and up to the present day it had no military forces whatsoever. Now Germany, disregarding all treaties, has moved a part of her army into this demilitarized territory. France regards this as a move toward the future war with her, and she demands that the League of Nations force Germany to withdraw her troops. The League of Nations, how- ever, never seems to do much about anything, and even if it protests, it cannot force Germany to withdraw her soldiers if Germany doesn’t want to withdraw them. So Germany will probably do as she pleases about this matter. The Japanese rebellion caused a little excitement for a while. Some young army officers, dissatisfied with certain conditions in the army, rebelled and shot three men, two of whom were noted states- men, the third being a brother of the premier having been mistaken for the premier. The Japanese army soon had the revolt under con- trol, and before long the rebels were captured. Their leader, however, sought the honorable way out, which was suicide. Discontent may tear apart even the strongest things. Although threats of war seem great, I believe that there will be no major war for years to come. The financial conditions of the European countries is very poor, so poor, in fact, that it would be impossible for them to carry on a large war. The squandering of millions of dollars and the killing of thousands of men during the World War ought to make a definite impression on men and prevent them from again making the same mistake. R. Kunan. VALUE OF RADIO In this modern day there is hardly a home or school without a radio. It is fast becoming a necessity instead of a luxury. We should all miss the radio if it were suddenly to be abolished. If you don’t believe it, just go a week without your radio. Big sister would miss her crooners and beauty talks, mother her cooking school, father his political talks and news, little sister and brother their children’s pro- gram, and big brother his sport reviews and games. In most homes there should be four or five radios to satisfy all the members of the family at once. When one stops to think of it, radio is a wonderful instrument. With a slight turn of a dial one can hear cross-country, even across the ocean to foreign countries, up in the stratosphere, or even to the bottom of the sea. On any program on the radio we can learn some helpful things. If the program is not educational, we can increase our vocabulary, or

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THE ECHO 21 money as they ordinarily did, and so they have to cut down their liv- ing costs in proportion to the wages they earn. By government em- ployees cutting down their costs of living many people are affected. The merchant and other tradesmen can’t sell so much, and thus their business gets poorer. Having plenty and yet little is a very interesting topic to con- sider. Many often wonder what is meant by this statement. It is just what it states. We live in a country, one of the richest in the entire world. We have plenty of natural resources, money, gold, metals, coal, rich soils, crops, large population; in fact, everything we have is in abundance. Well, if that is the case, it seems there should never be a depression. The trouble is that the competition between merchants and various concerns is so strong and keen, that it makes it impossible for the small merchants to compete with larger ones. The small merchant, being undersold, is forced out of business, and a s he has got to do something to live, he starts for the relief roles. The results of this serious situation have played an important part in our modern history. The Federal Government is being ap- proved of in some instances. Many people think this money being spent by the Federal Government will have to be paid back by our posterity. True, it will, but the government is spending the money rather wisely, as you will see. All the money is being used to benefit some recreational center, schools, roads, and numerous other ways of bettering a community. Before in the World War days, we here in America “got stuck.” That is, we’re not getting paid back and prob- ably never will. Instead of leaving this money idle in the treasury vaults or “throwing it away” in Europe, we are making use of it. It is being put into circulation in America where it should be put. Much could be done to prevent this situation which has such a land of plenty in its grasp. A good move to help the small merchant is to set some standard price on commodities which would give him a living chance to compete with the larger merchants. By paying the farmer a decent price for his hard earned crops he could prevent fore- closure on his property. By lending money to unreliable European countries, we paralyze our home-industries when they are in need of ready cash. The most outstanding principle for us to adopt to regain our prosperity is to “Buy American.” Instead of buying cheap, poorly made European and other foreign goods, we should not hesitate. We should buy without hesitation; we should buy well-made American commodities. G. Mullin, ’37.