Looking Back: Opinions from past add perspective

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

Atomic energy, July 28, 1946

An S-R editorial was excited about the potential for atomic energy.

“The navy’s spectacular experiments with the atomic bomb at Bikini have caused virtually all discussion of atomic energy to accent its tremendous destructive force. But an informed and authoritative source reports that atomic research is making great progress in the application of this new power to peacetime purposes.

“There is hopeful prospect that radioactive substances and the products of fission may enable medical science to solve some of the baffling problems of heretofore incurable diseases. But even more important developments are predicted in the possibilities of the atom as a source of power which may profoundly affect the pattern of our future industrial development.

“Power plants utilizing this new energy can be erected anywhere. The cost of long-distance distribution will be eliminated. Power will be virtually limitless and cheaper and can be supplied to industry wherever it is economically advantageous for it to locate.”

Buckle up, July 28, 1966

The slow adoption of seat belts by auto manufacturers and the public concerned the editorial board, which wrote:

“A survey in Oakland, Calif., indicated that only 28 percent of the automobiles operated there are equipped with seat belts. Two-thirds of the motorists having seat belts used them in highway driving, but only one-third used them in city driving.

“The 28 percent figure is bound to increase, since seat belts have been standard equipment in virtually all cars for nearly two years. But the fact that only one-third of those having seat belts used them in city driving must have come as a shock to traffic safety groups.

“There are rare cases where a person can be more seriously injured if he is using a seat belt, but these are the exceptions. The National Safety Council has estimated that 5,000 lives could be saved every year if everyone driving an automobile used seat belts.”

The editorial concluded: “There is a slogan this group (National Safety Council) uses frequently: “Buckle up for safety.” That is good advice.

Farm land, July 26, 1976

An editorial pondered the loss of agricultural land as the population keeps growing.

“According to Norman Berg of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, we are losing 1 million acres a year of agricultural land to other uses, generally urban sprawl or other types of development. This is equivalent in size to an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

“Ten years ago, it was estimated that we had some 200 million acres of land in grass and timber as agricultural reserve land. Now only a decade later, according to Berg, the figure is about half that much. Clearly, we cannot continue using up agricultural land at that rate indefinitely.”

The editorial concluded: “To those who claim that population growth is a problem for just the backward areas of Asia or some other place, these are a few points to ponder.”