Looking Back: Opinions from past add perspective

Looking Back reviews opinions published in The Spokesman-Review during this week in history.

Depression relief, July 1, 1936

An S-R editorial was concerned about fruit and vegetable shipments for “relief clients.”

“Coeur d’Alene city reports the arrival of a carload of oranges, shipped by the federal surplus commodity corporation for distribution to ‘relief clients.’ The district supervisor reports, too, arrival of three truckloads of fresh peas from the Lewiston district, and two truckloads of canned fruit and vegetables from Boise.

“It’s all right, if the money holds out. But if ‘relief clients’ are to continue to be fed perpetually on imported fruits and vegetables, and deficits are to continue in the federal treasury, a day of settlement will be inevitable. Back in the ‘horse and buggy days,’ millions of well-to-do American families regarded oranges as a luxury, seen upon their tables only in the Christmas holidays.”

Home prices, June 29, 1976

The soaring price of houses caught the attention of the editorial board, which noted that the median price for a home in America was $43,000.

“This is a dwelling expense out of the reach of many a middle-income American – especially a young one. The result, it seems, is that some are turning to older homes in the inner city and restoring them rather than buying new ones in the suburbs.

“The high cost of the average home, then, may be what drives Americans back to living in greater numbers in cities – a need made evident by diminishing resources and population concentrations creeping over on to valuable farm land. But the number of those rehabilitating older homes is small.”

It continued: “Medium-sized cities like Spokane and smaller ones can still make the leap to livable inner cities with relatively easier adjustments. Unfortunately, too many medium-sized cities are caught up in the flow of urban to suburban population shifts.”

It concluded: “Last year the president gave tax incentives to the purchasers of new homes. Where are the incentives for restoring older homes, for allowing residents to participate in decisions about the physical makeup of their neighborhoods?”

Abortion, June 28, 1986

An editorial was wary of a proposed initiative prohibiting state-paid abortions for welfare recipients.

“When they (voters) passed Referendum 20 in 1970, Washington became the only state in the country to make abortion legal through a statewide vote. Two years ago they rejected Initiative 471, which, like this year’s proposal, would have banned state funding for abortions.

“The real issue, of course, is not one of economics but of philosophy. Only 15 percent of abortions are underwritten by taxpayers. The other 85 percent, paid for privately, would be beyond Initiative 479.”

The editorial concluded: “The legality of abortion has been addressed at the federal level by the Supreme Court and at the state level by the ultimate source of governmental authority – the people. The threat embodied in Initiative 479 is not against abortion, but against fairness.”

Postscript: The initiative did not make it onto the ballot, falling about 9,000 signatures short.