Alfredisms
The Polk Progress was a Nebraska treasure that ceased publication in late 1989 after 82 years as a weekly newspaper. From 1955 until its last issue, the editor and publisher was the late Norris Alfred. In its last few months, the Progress had 900 subscribers in 45 states. Alfred was a remarkable Nebraskan with an uncanny eye for connecting the present with the future. Prairie Fire has collaborated with the Alfred family, the University of Nebraska School of Journalism and the Nebraska State Historical Society to locate and archive many of Norris's writings. We are capitalizing on our good fortune to present many of the Norris Alfred writings to our readership. We believe that his observations are as fresh and relevant to today's world as they were when originally written.
“Polking Around”
April 22, 1971
“In England there are 2,000 more bet shops than drug stores. We have no idea where we came across that statistic, but the oddity of the comparison is intriguing. In the hunt for new sources of revenue, national and local governments are, more and more, eyeing the citizen’s almost pathological urge to gamble with the thought that here is the next great natural revenue source.
Property taxes and income taxes are becoming confiscatory, and in many states and cities the sales tax is greater than the profit on the item sold. The financial environment necessary to support a healthy, living, breathing government is being destroyed by uncontrolled legislative exploitation. The natural balance between government, the citizen and his money is tipping perilously, with much squeaking and groaning, from the tax-paying to the tax-collecting end. The barriers built up by centuries of frugal governing are breaking down as government attempts to satisfy the “needs?” of the citizens.
Now government is attempting to both satisfy a need and collect more money by legalizing gambling and controlling race track betting, operating gambling “dens,” etc. That this will produce revenue for governments, we have no doubt, but it is also destroying one of the fascinations of gambling—the aura of illegality. Governments must always remember the citizen’s need to do something illegal and provide for it.
“Polking Around”
Feb. 2, 1973
Mad scientists are at work researching a bluer, firmer blueberry that can be mechanically picked. Undoubtedly, this is the same bunch of crazies who take pride in the firm, round, pink, tasteless commercial tomato. We don’t want to know about bluer, firmer blueberries. We also wish we didn’t know about experiments to grow a square tomato. It’s these bits of knowledge that make us nervous, upset our day, and cause us to look upon our fellowman with suspicion.
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