Monday, December 31, 2012

Alcohol: Servant or Master?

"The most important thing to know about alcohol is that it is an anesthetic, not a stimulant. This does not mean that when you take a drink you begin to put yourself to sleep - everyone knows that is not so. The first drink may have no effect that you or anyone else can observe. But as alcohol does begin to affect you, and as you laugh and talk more easily, and feel better, and stop being concerned about things that are ordinarily a worry, what has hapened is that the higher control centers of your brain have been somewhat relieved of their authority. Nothing has been added - except for the intake of alcohol - but something has been taken away."

Good Reading Rack Service, no date


Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Year Of The Rat

"Those people who believe in statistics tell us that things really boomed in the latter half of 1959. Car loadings were up. Retail sales were up. Dow-Jones averages were up. But the thing that was really up was the production and use of rose-colored glasses. Rose-colored glasses were used in the main for gazing happily into the golden haze that came to be known as the Soaring Sixties. Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocals, for nobody reads the small print in dreams, nor are they interested in handwriting on the wall, or clouds no bigger than a man's hand on the horizon."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1960


Saturday, December 29, 2012

Who Profits Most?

"The rapid progress which Communism is making all over the earth is a matter of the gravest concern to every one of us. The only encouraging aspect of the situation, probably, is the fact that the American people are fully awake to this danger. But in our desire to save the world - and ourselves - from the Communist menace, it seems to me that we are dropping our guard against another political force which is equally dangerous to human liberty, one which has been vastly more successful than Communism in its creeping conquest of nation after nation. And that force, of course, is Socialism." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1955


Friday, December 28, 2012

The Unwanted Bundle On Your Doorstep

"This era we live in has been called the Atomic Age, the Space Age, and many similarly imaginative names. But historians of the future may call it - more correctly perhaps - the Age of Competition. For never before in history, probably, has man's ability to survive depended so directly upon his ability to compete on a national and international scale. Today the business leadership of America is being challenged by nations all over the world and on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The cold war is centering more and more upon the battlefield of industrial production. But to call it merely a war of production is to miss the point. It is primarily a war of productivity - a struggle on the part of every company, every industry and every nation to become the low-cost producer of the things which it offers for sale in world markets."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1959


Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Greatest Gift On Earth

"My car developed engine trouble on the winding highways of southern Indiana. It was late at night, the rain was pouring and I was hopeless. Not that I did not know what was wrong with my car, but there wasn't a single thing that I could have done about it. Car manufacturers here in America must be so confident about the quality of their make that they fail to include even so much as a screw driver in their equipment."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Peace We Seek

"Love of country is a great virture, and indeed it is a virtue upon which the free societies must depend. For while despotisms can command sacrifices and the response is measured by patriotism."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956


Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Tidings

"Bright as sparkling sunglight, the Holiday Spirit lights new friendships and rekindles old ones year after year. At this one season we pause to remember our friends…and to tell them that we are thinking of them. And, this Christmas especially…we want to share with you the ageless and wonderful stories of Christmas...the carols...the joys of Christmas Tide. That your Christmas might be the happiest and merriest ever is our Christmas wish for you."

no publication information


Monday, December 24, 2012

The Magic of Christmas

"A child's shining face, A stranger's smile, A perfect snowflake glistening in the air, The different dignity of the church bells, The songs, on lips both young and old, The spirit of rising above the ordinary…for this special day…This, is the magic of Christmas. These things we cherish, and these magic symbols of family and love, of good will and peace, We wish for you...to have and to hold, For many a Christmas to come. Merry Christmas to you and yours. May you have a MAGIC Christmas to remember."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1958


Sunday, December 23, 2012

Carols For Christmas

"There's a song in our hearts during this holiday season. The joys, the pleasures of Christmas are born anew. For this is the time of the year when we count our blessings…the time when we think most of our friends. And so, in the true spirit of the holiday season...we send you Carols for Christmas. May each Carol add to your holiday pleasure."

no publication information


Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Customs

"Let it stand proudly in the fairest spot…string the lights…carefully, gently hang the ornaments…here is the glittering star for the very top…where shall we put the golden angel? Surely this is the most enchanting hour of all the Christmas season. All the Yuletides of all the centuries are met in this shining Christmas tree - the evergreen - symbol of the immortality which coming of the Christ Child promised."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956


Friday, December 21, 2012

Thoughts At Christmastime

"Each of us at times feels beaten down by frustrations, overwhelmed by things that seem wrong with the world. The Russians are awful. The atom bomb may blow us up. Taxes are a burden. Public service is full of corruption. Gambling and rackets are widespread. There's crookedness in sports. Youths are drafted - for what? Schools are too crowded. There are traffic jams and floods and airplane crashes. Europe does not appreciate our aid. People are dying of cancer and heart diseases. Children are crippled by polio. Many churches are only half full. Morals are not what they used to be. The world is going to pot - so many of us say to ourselves. But take the blinders off at this holiday season. See the world as a whole, and life as a flowing stream. Look back of the present, and on to the future, to the permanent values that lie beneath the surface of the current goings on. Then you will find within yourself a deeper confidence than you knew, and a practical creed to live by." 

The Kiplinger Washington Agency, Inc., 1954


Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Story of Christmas

"Foremost among American Christmas customs is the giving of gifts. How exciting it is, to see the gaily wrapped packages with bright ribbons and colorful papers, the shiny new toys and bulging stockings by the mantlepiece on Christmas morning! Gift-giving is observed in many countries, but not always on the 25th of December. Some chose December 6th; and others the 12th day after Christmas when the Wise Men came to visit the Christ Child and brought with them gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."

The National Research Bureau, Inc., no date


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Decorations For All Year Round

"Like a touch of magic, colorful decorations can transform traditional holidays from calendar dates into happy events that will be vividly remembered. Parties, special family occasions and anniversaries can be more fun for everyone if effective decorations lend "sparkle." This booklet shows you how you can create the festive mood for special events all year round - with inexpensive materials and little effort, but with big results. Whether you plan a better-than-ever Christmas, a birthday party, or an autumn-bright table for your family's Thanksgiving dinner, you'll find inspirations by the dozen (with instructions and pictures) on the following pages."

Stevens Publications, 1954


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

How To Save 24 Hours A Week

"It pays to plan the housekeeping activities. Planning is the best way to be sure the family doesn't get bogged down by day-to-day tasks, and then find itself short on time for doing all the things it really wants to do. Perhaps that's how Grandma managed without our modern conveniences - by planning her work and being well organized. She gave one day to washing, one to baking, etc., and still had time for church activities and parties."

Birk & Co. Inc., 1953


Monday, December 17, 2012

How To Buy A Good Used Car

"The first step is to decide what you want a car for. If it is to be a "transportation" car, then all you'll be looking for is economy and dependability - appearance hardly counts. Or you may want a family car good for a number of years. You'll have to pay more for it and your first step should be to scan the used car ads in the paper to see how prices run. If you are thinking of a larger two year old car, you might more profitably settle for a smaller new car at perhaps $150-$250 more. A two year old car is generally one turned in by the two year traders and, of course, they are traded in at that time for a very good reason. For by the the end of its second year a new car is fast approaching the time when a good mechanical overhaul and ring job is needed plus a new set of tires. If you add the cost of these repairs and tires to the price of a larger two year old car, you'll often find you can buy a lighter new car for the same price and enjoy two to three years of freedom from repairs yourself."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1954


Sunday, December 16, 2012

Mr. Big Meets Mr. Small

"This everyday scene of an American family in this living room provides a remarkable measure of the diversity of American business, the interdependence of its parts, and the way they work together to give us the highest standard of living the world has seen."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1957


Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Best Friend You Have

"One Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago my friend Jack Balch went down into the village where we live and bought himself a power mower. Now there's nothing out of the ordinary about that. It happens all of the time, you say. You're right, for at precisely that same instant that Jack bought his new power mower - A freckle-faced kid in a Joplin, Mo., sporting goods store, decided that $10.95 was just too much to pay for a new baseball glove. A housewife shopping in Springfield, Mass., felt that a $19.95 dress was good enough for her - even thought it didn't have all the high-styling which brings a higher price in other dress shops....And that's how it went - in every city and hamlet throughout the United States - as similar decisions by the millions were made to buy or not to buy something that Saturday morning."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1959


Friday, December 14, 2012

Who's Breathing Down Your Neck?

"I arrived home recently to find my wife watching a vaccuum-cleaner salesman closely as he pushed his cleaner across the living-room rug. The salesman was near collapse. From the looks of the place he had been demonstrating for hours. Sales literature and cleaning parts were scattered everywhere. At last, after another fifteen minutes' cross-examination, my wife said, "Thanks for coming out, Mr. Jameson. I will let you know what I decide." the salesman found the front door wide open and his hat and coat in his hands. After his departure I was told, "That's just the beginning. The Hoover people are coming tomorrow morning, the Lewyt people in the afternoon and the Electrolux salesman Wednesday. We're going to get the best, believe me!" My wife, in her foxy feminine way, was proving that Professor Sumner Slichter of Harvard spoke truly when he called America "the most competitive country in the world."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1958


Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Fight For Decency

"No matter who you are, you can do something to raise the level of our literature and entertainment. It is taking a dangerous attitude to brand these vital fields of communication as bad, because they make mistakes. Each and all of them can exert a tremendous influence for good, if enough persons like you make it their business to improve them, rather than merely deplore these errors."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1954


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Counterattack on Juvenile Delinquency

"America is facing an emergency, a crisis which threatens the very future of our nation. It is the emergency of juvenile delinquency. The tide of youthful lawlessness is rising at a terrifying pace. By 1962 one million of our teen-agers will be arrested each year - at the present rate. My considered opinion is that we must act - and promptly. The time has come for a counterattack against juvenile delinquency. Unless this counterattack is successful no street or park in the nation will be safe. Worst of all, every child in the nation will be exposed to the vicious acts of the delinquent minority."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1959


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

What Is Astronomy All About?

"Who among us has not thrilled to the promise made by scientists that man will soon travel across the vast spaces separating him from neighboring planets and stars? And haven't we all conjured up extravagant and fantastic experiences and sights that lie before us on such trips through space and time? But why wait for the space rockets to be constructed? Without moving from that comfortable chair you can journey through the immense reaches of space on the chariots of knowledge built by the astronomers. For astronomy has made the whole concept of space travel possible. Let's have a closer look at this science which as given humanity so much in the past, but whose greatest contributions still lie ahead."

Alumni Offset Inc., 1953


Monday, December 10, 2012

Incandescent Genius

"For more than 50 years the name of Thomas Alva Edison had been known around the world as that of America's most brilliant inventor. But Edison was far more than this. Few people realize that he was one of the most extraordinary human beings America has ever produced. His life was more dramatic than any of his spectacular inventions." 

The Reader's Digest Association, 1954


Sunday, December 9, 2012

George Westinghouse

"George Westinghouse literally gave the United States the power to grow. His development of long distance transmission of alternating current electricity furnished much of the momentum for that growth. Although this may have been his crowning achievement, the footprints of his genius were to be found in many industrial fields."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1958


Saturday, December 8, 2012

John Stevens: Father of American Railroads

"In its early years the Unites States was plagued by disunity. Inadequate, uncertain transportation isolated the states and the few cities which clung to the Atlantic coast. George Washington's dearm of a network of canals was slow to materialize. Good roads scarcely existed. The relative ease of sea transportation made New York closer to Europe than to the Mississippi River. Travelers journeyed by Concord coach, horseback or, preferably by boat. Between New England towns they patronized the "Apple Tree Fleet" schooners whose skippers took bearings from orchards along the beaches. In winter a Philadelphian might travel by stagecoach to Baltimore in five days - with luck! Pack-horse trains were common in the Appalachians. Ten days were necessary for the sad news of Washington's death to reach Boston. Delegates often met difficulty and delay traveling to captials for legislative sessions. Poor transportation hobbled the nation's economy and the functioning of its government. Unity was next to impossible. During this period - considered as one of the most critical in America's history - Colonel John Stevens of New Jersey faced these challenges. Born in Manhattan and a graduate of King's College, now Columbia University, Stevens had been an officer in Washington's army. From 1777 to 1782 he had helped to finance the Revolution as Treasurer of his state."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1958


Friday, December 7, 2012

The Wright Brothers

"Wilbur, third son of Milton and Susan Wright, was born April 16, 1867, at Millville, Indiana. Two years later the family moved to Dayton, Ohio, taking a small dwelling on Hawthorne Street which was to be its home for more than four decades. In that house, Orville came into the world August 19, 1871, and on his third birthday, Katharine was born. In the same home, Susan, the mother, died when Wilbur was 22 and Orville was 18."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1958


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Historical and Biographical Album of Benjamin Franklin

"Benjamin Franklin was the first - and remains the greatest - genius born in the New World. Like Leonardo da Vinci, genius of the Old World, Franklin had an inquiring mind, truly majestic in scope, that gave the world a wealth of practical ideas which in very great measure advanced civilization. He was America's first world figure."

Herman Jaffe, 1955


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Our National Historic Shrines

"Every year Americans pay increasing heed to Winston Churchill's words displaying a striking surge or interest in America's civilization and history. With added leisure time and increased earnings, U.S. families are flocking to historic shrines." 

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1959


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Red Plush and Black Bread

"My first encounter with the Soviets was at the Viborg railway station restaurant, at the border point on the Scandinavian route to Leningrad, where we breakfasted. Even though I'd been warned about prices, they were still a shock. One hard-boiled egg and tea costs four rubles, or one American dollar at the official rate of exchange. You pay extra for butter, jam and bread. A full breakfast of (grapes), ham and eggs and coffee costs more than twenty rubles, or five dollars. The Viborg railway station must date back a long time, probably to the period when the Czars of Russia still ruled all Finland. The dining room had enormously high ceilings and the inevitable red plush curtains. I call the color "dried-blood red" because it is so dark. To me these curtains are depressingly heavy, both in texture and color. But to the Russians they seem to be the ultimate in luxury."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956


Monday, December 3, 2012

Any Means To Achieve Our Ends

"My son, Dick, had just come home on leave from the Air Force. The rest of the family had gone to bed and he and I were watching TV. I hadn't seen Dick in eleven months. He's a big, raw-boned guy - happy, full of the zest for living, and deeply curious and disturbed about many things. He was just twenty-one. We had just watched Khrushchev on the late news so we turned the TV off and started chatting about the performance we had just seen and world affairs generally. Then Dick said to me, "Dad, when you were a newspaperman you had a lot to do with this communism 'jazz'. What cooks with the commies, anyway? Why do they do the unpredictable things they do?" He went on to explain that at his base in Texas he had been indoctrinated, in a sense, as to what communism was supposed to be. He confessed that he couldn't understand either their basic philosophy or particulary why they acted in such an unaccountable way."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1960


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Our Red Rivals

"The Soviet Union has challenged America to an all-out economic competition in the years ahead. After that, it claims its communist system will gain world acclaim and will prevail. Author Harold Mansfield found that Soviet workers and citizens think of themselves as personally a part of this competition. They have a great sense of pride in their own skills, their own workmanship, their own part in their national effort. Here is a penetrating, first-hand report on America's red rivals, and the country in which they work."

Robert F. Stone & Company, 1958


Saturday, December 1, 2012

How We Can Win The Cold War

"If all the words which have been written and spoken about the Cold War with Russia could be placed end to end, they probably would match the length of an average satellite's orbit. Every newspaper you read, every newscast you hear, gives the Cold War day-to-day attention. Authors write books about it; politicians issue statements about it; and men on public platforms bring it into every presentation. The reason is simple. Here is an international conflict which everyone agrees will determine the nature of civilization and the conditions of human life for generations to come. From the standpoint of the United States, we must either win this war or witness the death of our nation."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1960


Friday, November 30, 2012

Behind the Red Mask

"These are the hard facts: economic and military strength of the Moscow-directed one-third of the globe is rising steadily…The new Soviet leaders' domestic and foreign policies are far more subtle and shrewd than those of Stalin…Most important, the new Soviet policies have been astonishingly successful...It adds up to this: right now, we and our allies are losing the battle against world communism." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1956


Thursday, November 29, 2012

What We Must Know About Communism

"The strangest, most puzzling force in all history has tnered our world. Starting in Russia in 1917, it has in just over 40 ears taken control of one-third of the world's people and one-fourth its territory. How has this amazing development happened? What is the nature of this new force which as seemed to come from nowhere and reach everywhere? For decades we Americans have looked away from the painful facts about Communism and satisfied ourselves with the half-truths and evasions that make life more pleasant. We have been drifting, emotionally and mentally, until we have reached a state that can only be called unreadiness. This unreadiness is true of almost all of us."

Alumni Publications, 1959


Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Yankee Dollar in World Trade

"For as long as most of us can remember, the Yankee dollar has been the greatest weapon in the American arsenal in hot wars, cold wars and economic competition. Songs have been written about the Yankee dollar in every melodic beat…calypso, folk verse and jazz. We have been proud of and, and some of our foreign critics say, even arrogant about our nation's wealth and the strength of our currency around the world."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1959


Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The New Battlefield

"Odd as it may seem, the threat of foreign competition for goods labeled MADE IN THE U.S.A. is coming from many of the same countries we have come to call "our best customers." It has posed a problem that must be met before many more sales are lost - because loss of jobs necessarily must follow loss of business. This growing threat of foreign competition to Americna jobs and American business leaves an increasing number of companies and their employees faced with three alternatives: let their foreign markets continue to deteriorate, shirt part of their production overseas, or reverse the rising trend of costs."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1960


Monday, November 26, 2012

The New Threat to Your Job Security

"Odd as it may seem, the new threat to your job security is not so much from our competitors here in the United States, but from companies overseas whose names you've never heard of before. This is an extremely serious problem that must be solved before many more sales are lost - because loss of more jobs has got to follow loss of more business. And our company is no exception to this rule."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1960


Sunday, November 25, 2012

Your Stake in the Middle East

"Our basic national objective in international affairs remains peace - a world peace based on justice. Such a peace must include all areas, all peoples of the world, if it is to be enduring. There is no nation, great or small, with which we would refuse to negotiate, in mutual good faith, with patience and in the determination to secure a better understanding between us. Out of such understandings must, and eventually will, grow confidence and trust, indispensable ingredients to a program of peace and to plans for lifting from us all the burdens of expensive armaments."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1957


Saturday, November 24, 2012

The Story of U.S. Foreign Policy

"The oldest of all American ideas in the field of foreign policy is the idea of non-entanglement. The American Revolution itself was an act of divorce from Europe. A strong case could have been made that the 13 colonies benefited from an association with Great Britain, but a strong case could be made that the Americans had a right to govern themselves, that they no longer needed the support of the mother country, and that they were "of right, free and independent states." This theory was reinforced by the circumstances of American life, by the great difference in the social texture of the United States from the social texture of Great Britain, by the American dream of society free from the feudal survivals of Europe and in which the career open to talents would be a practical reality. The United States started its life as a nation with a sense of its own differentness from the Old World across the seas."

Good Reading Rack Service, no date


Friday, November 23, 2012

Wages and World Markets

"There is tremendous new strength and growth in the European economy. More countries are enjoying greater national solvency than in decades. There is substantially higher employment everywhere. Living standards are climbing sharply, a great single mass market is developing and European industry is furiously mobilizing to meet it."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1959


Thursday, November 22, 2012

What Citizenship Actually Means

"Our nation is faced today with a dual menace - the communist conspiracy attacking from within and from abroad, and a criminal conspiracy made up of the lowest dregs of the lawless who are attacking our statutory and constitutional safeguards. Only be re-evaluating and assuming the full obligations of citizenship can we hope to achieve the maximum protection for our nation from these threats which crime and communism represent. Our forefathers fought to gain liberty; our struggle in this, the nuclear age, is to maintain and perpetuate it. The international conspiracy of atheistic communism threatens us with total extinction through the deadly destruction wrought by the devastating weapons of this era."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1959


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Man Who Woke Up

"Anthony Winkle slowly came back to wakefulness through curtains of white mist that dissolved one by one, until he was fully conscious. For a few minutes he lay there, staring at the rough ceiling of his little cabin in the pine woods. A suspicion was growing in his mind. Finally he moved his right hand to his chin, and the suspicion became certain knowledge. Fascinated, he followed the beard with his hand. It ended a little short of his knees. "So it really happened," he said to himself. "I always wondered if it might run in the family." He shifted one leg, and grunted. His joints were stiff, as well they might be. But there was no hurry. He'd take his time." 

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1960


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Toward a Point of No Return

"The venerable Satchel Paige, renowned for his feats on the pitcher's mound for the last half century or so, is reported once to have favored his partisans with this bit of wisdom: "Don't never look back; something may be gaining on you." Whether he was referring to the subject of this booklet is not a matter of record. But if he was talking about inflation, Mr. Paige won't have to look back any longer - it's now ahead of him. And it's ahead of the rest of us too. The author of this booklet is concerned that we may be caught in a vicious inflationary spiral. He admits that the American Golden Goose is a mighty tough bird, but he warns here what we must do about inflation before we reach a point of no return. 
king stage."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1959

Monday, November 19, 2012

The 'Guest' Who Came To Dinner!

"Perhaps many of you remember a stage show," said industrialist John J. Ryan to a Pittsburgh audience one evening, "that opened on Broadway in 1939, became one of the big hits of the season and later was made into a movie. It was 'The Man Who Came to Dinner.' It concerned a guest who was supposed to stay only one meal, but wound up spending several months - and thoroughly disorganized the entire household's life in the process. ... "The guest's name is inflation. Now some people claim he's not been such a bad fellow to have around; in fact, that on occasion he's been the life of hte party. But it is a very narrow line between the life of the party and the fellow who takes on drink too many and begins breaking up the furniture. It seems to me that this particular guest is pretty close to the furniture-breaking stage."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1959


Sunday, November 18, 2012

What You Can Do To Stop Inflation

"I remember," said grandpa, a bit grumpily, "when you could live well on 20 dollars a week. We paid 7 dollars for rent. Movies cost us 10 cents, milk 6 cents a quart, a good pair of shoes 4 dollars. And look at prices now." "Yes," father chimed in, "look what's happened just since 1939. When I bought a new car in 1939 I paid 750 dollars for it. This year I paid 2,700 dollars for the same make. "It's this inflation," said grandma. "Our dollar today isn't worth 50 cents." And everyone nodded his head in agreement."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1957


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Boom and Inflation Ahead...Says Kiplinger

"Within five years you'll see the start of the boom…our biggest boom ever. By 1962 or 1963 it will be evident. The economy will really begin to pick up steam by then. Why then? Population is one reason, one big reason. Millions more people wanting things...and producing things...and having the money with which to buy things."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1958


Friday, November 16, 2012

Capitalism...Our Children's Heritage

"The story of America is so outstanding, when viewed alongside the recorded history of mankind, it would almost seem to be a fairy tale which should begin "Once upon a time…" Significantly, it began as a new world - not only in the sense of a new territory but, even more important, a new world where oppressed mankind could come to freedom and opportunity. And come they did - from all corners of the earth. For the first time in history the spirit of man was unshackled and there developed a way of life and a standard of living hitherto unknown. Today we find our world engaged in a gigantic struggle for the minds and loyalties of men. We are told by some that our way of life is wrong and, through subtle propaganda, we are being brainwashed into rejection of the efforts of our forefathers."

Good Reading Rack Service, 1959


Thursday, November 15, 2012

We Can Keep On Growing

"When times are good, people take economic growth for granted, as natural and inevitable. But in times like the present - when the horizon is somewhat clouded - people begin to wonder just where our country is headed. Some, of course, have blind faith in the ability of the American system to prosper come hell or high water. Others become the prophets of doom. Yet the only practical thing to do is step back and take a good hard look at our economy: What progress have we made? What causes economic growth anyway? And what are our real prospects for the future?"

Good Reading Rack Service, 1958


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Myth of Federal Aid

"There's no such thing as federal aid." To make that statement flatly is to invite quick challenge, angered denial, or sheer, uncomprehending incredulity. In the face of so much evidence, such as highways, dams, public housing, and other physical things built with money from the federal government, how can anyone in his right mind make such a statement? "Of course, there is such a thing as federal aid," they say. Clearly, the national treasury has been tapped many times. Plainly, the federal government has "aided" states, regions, municipalities, individuals, corporations, and economic groups to the tune of billions."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1959


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

How Uncle Sam Spends Your Money

"Budget Hits New High"…"President Seeks Balanced Budget"…"Defense Costs Up Budget Total" - each January you see headlines like these in your newspapers. The stories, loaded with facts and figures, summarize the contents of the budget the President is proposing for the operation of the United States government in the year starting the following July 1. You try to read down through the news stories. But the figures are too huge - who can actually picture a billion dollars or even a million dollars, for that matter? And the language is too technical - expenditures, deficits, appropriations, carryovers. You soon lose the thread and move on to more interesting stuff." 

Good Reading Rack Service, 1959



Monday, November 12, 2012

How Uncle Sam Safeguards You

"You may not be aware of it, but you are one of the most carefully coddled, shielded, and protected human beings in the world today. Almost everything you eat or buy or use is pretested, insured, approved, or licensed by Uncle Sam. His protective arms are constantly safeguarding you from many things that would otherwise hurt you. These cover a very wide range and are the subject of his vigilance and continuous attention; yet they are probably things you just take for granted. Today, the government insures and protects you against fraud, forgery, harmful drugs, short weight, and hundreds of other things, including bad money, bad stocks and bad food."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1960