ustxtxb_obs_1966_05_13_50_00016-00000_000.pdf

gent, sooty aura of .that smoke-blackened inferno of clashing metal. Half of the excitement of a train trip used to be the damp smoky effulgence that permeated every depot mantled in the black smoke of the old coal-burning locomotives. It lingered on your clothes for hours afterward. You got a lot of pleasure out of your nose. About the only things nowadays which smell like they ought to are small Mexican restaurants and beer joints. There’s no character in the way a modern supermarket smells. Push a wire buggy down those regimented aisles and you’ll find that the delicatessen counter smells like the bakery which smells like the produce stall. All the goodies are cellophanewrapped, foil-sealed, quick-frozen, scientifically hygienic and phony. All the smell is gone and much of the taste. Vitamins are presumably still there but the fun is gone. There is a plaintive effort being made by odorant manufacturers to replace the natural odors with synthetic sprays. Scents have been devised to make plastic shoes smell like leather, bakery products like Grandma’s kitchen, banquet halls like roast beef, and plastic buds like roses. There is even a rumor that you can make a second-hand car smell like a new one. Automated meat packers are brooding over suggestions that chemicals can be introduced to bestow fresh color, fresh smell, and even a phony sizzle upon packaged steaks. Any day now I expect to walk into a supermarket and find gaily wrapped packages, each supplied with an individual syringepink ones labeled Girl, blue ones labeled Boy, and giant economy size ones labeled Twinsfor do-it-yourself artificial insemination. AL MELINGER 16 The Texas Observer Not Needed: Mr. Pena A certain Mr. Pena [“Needed: A Marshall Plan for Mexican-Americans,” Obs. April 15, 1966] has the gall of accusing the “power structure” of exploiting the Mexican-American population of San Antonio when he himself is its greatest offender. Let me say at the outset that a certain amount of discrimination still exists in San Antonio, as is evident in certain areas of job advancement and in unfair wages, and positive measures must constantly be exerted to effectively eliminate discrimination at its source. But we cannot and should not blame anything and everything on discrimination. The Mexican-American has an obligation to himself and to society to make an honest effort to break out of the poverty cycle with the assurance that he has a chance of succeeding. Mr. Pena does not give him this assurance, and I resent it. Mr. Pena has so effectively overplayed the theme of discrimination in San Antonio, that many people have lost confidence in their own resourcefulness, thus remaining in economic and social isolation, relying solely on Mr. Pena, who promises them the shortest and easiest way out. Mr. Pena’s primary concern is Mr. Pena, who seeks to hold the Mexican-American in a state of hopelessness and despair in order to assure himself a bloc vote .. . Mr. Pena maliciously distorts facts by THE NARROW CHURCH ON SIXTEENTH STREET The narrow church on Sixteenth Street John snapped it with his Nikon. Amon Carter’s Fort Worth money Had bought John’s time, The Nikon, and gas for the car. Soft Foundation money For a Good Cause: Publish a book Legislate this narrow church And its peers throughout the State Into our Official Heritage. The famous photographer would be called in later To buy sun’s tricks, to yellow walls. The city ‘planners schemed To fill up inanition with acts and deeds, With concourse and interpenetration Of friendly and autonomous gestures. ‘Lunch time’s chapel for the office workers of the State!’ They argued. And as the neighbo’Thood tumbled down around us We fought to build the present’s Possible In yesterday’s Done. This fact accomplished This narrow church on ‘Sixteenth Street Still lively pastures me When turning right on Congress I carry home the bread From Navarro’s Federal Bakery. MIKE EISENSTADT Austin 41#4,######14~###04111#1, Dialogue M#I.~#~~~~~ saying that of 350,000 Mexican-Americans in San Antonio, 150,000 live on the edge of poverty, while failing to state that 200,000 do not. He says that the high unemployment rate among Mexican Americans clearly indicates a pattern of job discrimination, when in fact it is actually the lack _ of jobs and of necessary skills that is responsible for unemployment, and not discrimination. He complains about the economic and social isolation of the MexicanAmerican people, while at the same time objecting to the tens of thousands who have succeeded in breaking the poverty cycle and who have thus moved into other sections of the city. Mr. Pena objects to this geographic move because every person moving out of the West Side means one less vote that he can control. He says that San Antonio city councilmen are “puppets” of a political machine when he knows that [this is not true]. He says that the “power structure” is intentionally keeping heavy industry out of San Antonio, when in fact the city council has been spending $200,000 annually through the San Antonio chamber of commerce to attract tourists and industry to San Antonio. He says that the “poor Mejicanos” in San Antonio can expect little help from the “power structure” when in fact the city council, as well as the United Fund, March of Dimes, Goodwill Industries, Community ‘Welfare Council, Boy Scouts of America, and many other worthy organizations have among their membership individuals that Mr. Pena has labeled as disinterested in the Mexican-American. I believe that wages in certain areas of employment are definitely low and should be raised, but a distinction must be made between a fair wage and a living wage. The employer is obligated to pay a fair wage commensurate with the worth of the service rendered by the worker. The worker in turn has the responsibility to earn a living wage by producing a service or product that is worth a living wage. The worker who expects to get paid two dollars for one dollar’s worth of work is unrealistic. In summary, paying a fair wage is the responsibility of the employer, and earning a living wage is the responsibility of the worker. The Mexican-American people of San Antonio have the opportunity of breaking the poverty cycle if only they can regain their self-confidence with the knowledge that in spite of the discrimination that still remains, they can still elevate themselves to a better way of life with a little honest effort. I am hopeful that the MexicanAmerican people of San Antonio will continue to move forward toward a better and brighter tomorrow. It is unfortunate that as long as there is a Mr. Pena, there will always be a West Side in San Antonio. Herbert ‘Calderon, D.D.S., city councilman, City of San Antonio, Texas.