RUSTLINGS

"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."

--General George S. Patton

(From the book SAM WALTON ... The Inside Story of the Richest Man in America.)

Sam Walton's "waste not want not" mentality, or put bluntly, Spartan frugality was the talk of the industry. On the other hand he was known for encouraging his store-front troops to be flexible and innovative. "DO IT. TRY IT. FIX IT!" Translated, that meant he'd welcome seeing a store manager take a gamble on something new, then if it didn't work, tinker around with changes that might help it to succeed.

Sam Walton...raised in Missouri, he attended Mo.Univ.; learned from JCPenney (and later any other innovative merchant...especially those in mass merchandise such as K-mart); built a retailing empire out of Northwest Arkansas after being forced out of a successful store when his lease wasn't renewed; was one of the first retailers to use an airplane (he has over 10,000 pilot hours in single or twin engine airplanes) to keep in touch with his associates over a spread-out geographic area); and worked 16 hour days to bootstrap his way towards even higher retailing goals. The above mentioned book is worth reading by all retailers and would-be entrepreneurs.

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"One of the more significant benefits of a free press in America is that it makes it possible for anyone with a typewriter, a video display tube, or a crayon to take a fair or unfair shot at anyone who would permit himself or herself to be called a `distinguished' journalist."

--Gilman Spencer

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Over 700 people attended the Friday night Cape Chamber Annual Meeting. Outgoing chairman LARRY PAYNE reminded us of the capabilities and dedicatiion of the people of this community and incoming chairman HARRY RUST pointed to the goals of the future.

90% of the communities of this nation (especially in the Midwest) would be happy with the economic balance, stability, volunteer community effort, productivity, and general friendliness of our people.

I think the 90's will be a decade to remember in the growth and achievements of the people, businesses, and industry of this area ... and 1991 has the potential to uncap that surge.

I also think our infrastructure (streets, bridges, sewers, etc.) is being properly prepared for such growth.

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My congratulations to former MAYOR HOWARD TOOKE, who was named as the third winner of the RUSH H. LIMBAUGH achievement award.

Howard thought he was there to see it presented to his deserving partner "BUD" LEMING ... and was quite surprised by the honor.

He was openly delighted to be personally presented the award by 99-year-old RUSH LIMBAUGH, after a stirring capsulized list of achievements enumerated by City Councilman DAVID LIMBAUGH. Tooke's remark that people seem to become more objective in writing about or discussing one's achievements AFTER they're out of office is humor with a point.

It IS true that we all often see, comment, try to correct, and observe about what is wrong (with our family, business, community, etc.) and fail to comment on the things that are RIGHT!

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"There is no concern to be worried about our young. There is a saying: `If you are young and not a socialist, you have no heart. But if you are a socialist when you are old, you have no brains.' All God's children will grow up. Some parents may die waiting, but eventually..."

--Kent Altschul

(Today, many young people seem to be getting their brains at a much earlier stage in life).

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Many have discussed the RELIGIOUS holiday coming up in IRAQ. It was recently asked of me... "If the planting season in Iraq is March-April (and it is the historic fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers) ... and the war delays agriculture, then who is going to feed them after the war?"

CNN has 1300 people in the Middle East covering the war. Too many, too much!

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In 1980, public television created an unlikely star: Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. For 10 weeks, the bald, diminutive Mr. Friedman captivated audiences with "Free to Choose," his handsomely produced series on the virtues of the free market. Later that year, Ronald Reagan, one of Mr. Friedman's most avid "students," was elected to the first of two terms as president.

Now Mr. Friedman has updated "Free to Choose" for the 1990s. With the help of the Palmer R. Chitester Fund of Erie, Pa., a new version of the series begins a five-week run Sunday at 8 p.m. CST on the CNBC cable channel (UNFORTUNATELY, not shown in this area at this time).

The basic thrust of both versions is the same: A society that puts equality before freedom winds up with neither. But a society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.

A definite plus for the new "Free to Choose" is a series of introductions by noted Americans on the impact of Mr. Friedman's ideas. Ronald Reagan credits "the power of the market," with having brought about the collapse of communism. Former Secretary of State George Schultz introduces the program on free trade.

But the most impressive testimonial is from a successful immigrant: movie star and producer Arnold Schwarzenegger, who studied Mr. Friedman while getting his own degree in economics and business. In simple and yet compelling words, he explains how "Free to Choose" has "changed my life."

Mr. Schwarzenegger, who stumbled across the original series one day while waiting to play tennis, says "it expressed, validated, and explained everything I ever thought or observed about the way the economy works." It soon made him a "big pain in the neck" with his friends. "I would give tapes of it to friends for Christmas," he recalls. "Then as the '80s rolled on, I would call them up and say, "See, Milton was right.'"

Mr. Schwarzenegger sees much of America's promise and its appeal to immigrants in its still somewhat rigorous reliance on market forces. "I came from a socialistic country, Austria," he tells the audience. "There you can hear 18-year-old kids already talking about their pension. But me, I wanted more. I wanted to be the best. Individualism like that is incompatible with socialism. I felt I had to come to America, where the government wasn't always breathing down your neck or standing on your shoes."

Mr. Friedman is flattered to have such big-name fans, but says he hopes the real impact of the series will be on "ordinary people who have never been told in school of in the media about the connection between political and economic freedom and the role they have jointly played in America's success story." Even at age 78, he shows no signs of fatigue in the retelling of that most important of stories.

--John H. Fund