Editor's Page

The cost of living has gone up another dollar a quart.  A woman drove me to drink and I never even had the courtesy to thank her. We lived for days on nothing but food and water. I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake - which I also keep handy.--W. C. Fields

 

My name is Barbara (Bobit) Logue, I'm 23 now and so much has happened during the past year, it would take a book to bring you up to date. Last August I became Mrs. Patrick Joseph Logue and Pop really put on a bash; it looked like everyone from Chicago's north shore was at the bar. In tribute to that singularly outstanding occasion and Pop's favorite idol, W. C. Fields, I have selected the above quotes that every good Irishman already knows by heart.

Pop is on the convention circuit again this year with ACRA and TRALA in Florida, NADA in Vegas, AALA in San Diego and AAOS (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; yes, he now has a medical journal) in San Francisco, so he got me in the designated hitter (DH) role.

Last Christmas while the whole family was together, Pop was reviewing to find out how many of us were going to join him in attending his 16th consecutive Indy 500 race. Eventually he began his sermon, or tirade, whichever suits you best. He reminded us that all the cars at Indy use nothing but pure alcohol as fuel and that millions of vehicles here in the U.S. and around the world use a mixture of 10- percent alcohol and 90-percent gasoline. Many of today's industrial scientists firmly believe that one of the best ways to use our coal resources is to turn coal into alcohol or gasoline supplies. Needless to say, if there is anything that makes Pop heated up (besides Michigan State losing to Michigan or Notre Dame, or running out of gin and/or cigars) it's being so totally dependent on the OPEC nations for our transportation needs as well as for our national balance of trade (deficit).

Congress has seemingly awakened and approved the elimination of the 4-cent 'gasohol' tax now making it competitive with gasoline. Still, most of us ask why the federal government isn't pushing alcohol more. Some can be chalked up to ignorance; i.e., the top man at the Department of Agriculture is quoted as saying that gasohol is a myth. Some may be misled; i.e., Schlesinger as the Secretary of Energy doesn't let the word pass his lips unless he is forced into it. He is determined to get the big oil con. panies into the synthetic fuel business.

Probably the main reason gasohol has not been given more serious consideration by the administration is that the American Petroleum Institute invests $2- to $3-miillion a month lobbying. Pop feels strongly that we ought to take some of that $50-billion a year that we give the Arabs and get some of that money into gasohol promotion, research and new plants so that we could lessen our dependence on OPEC. He gets so upset he likens it to a quote by Jim Murray (the syndicated sports columnist), "Getting beat by Ohio State on a pass is like getting mugged in church by a statue or losing a spelling bee to an immigrant."

Pop tends to be impatient when we become so dependent on sources outside our boundaries and he cites our staggering deficit of payments. He feels that there is a real urgency to get the gasohol program rolling. Even Brazil has a national program to displace 20-percent of its imported fuel with home-grown alcohol by 1982. Some point out that with proper technology we can reduce the current costs of $1.50 a gallon for vodka-quality alcohol today to real competitive prices, raise the anti-knock quality and possibly find pollution-reducing characteristics by the gasohol process.

Secretly, Pop may just be hoping that with volume production of alcohol, the price of Beefeaters may be lowerer and help his budget. But I do not think so.