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Page A—6 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, April 23, 2020
Léfiéhé 332;}? page‘ilé
Hot spots
should be
idenfified
Editor, the Journal
What is the common factor
among the 18 known carriers
of this nasty coronavirus? I
have not been able to get any
info from the Mason County
, Health Department and I am
certain that they have identi-
fied some common location
through which these unfortu~
nate individuals have passed.
Were they recently at a local
nursing home, the local hospi-
tal,-maybe even their doctor?
Perhaps at a gas station or a
grocery store or even a quick
stop? Any known hotspots
need to be identified.
Robert Meacham
Shelton
The danger of
big business
governing
Editor, the Journal
There are many things
Wall Street does very well.
They know how to calculate
and assess risk. They can cal-
culate'out costs benefits.-
The problem is the analysis
only Works with impersonal
commodities. The problem is
the tendency to treat every-
thing as a commodity. Fur-
thermore, they will always
undervalue any cost or risk
they do not think they will
personally have to pay.
Recent public comments
coming from very wealthy
business leaders and their
associated politicians show us
once and for all where their
hearts lie. No matter how
much they whine, none of
the large corporations are in
any danger of folding. Tliey
have all been gorging on tax
cuts and had nothing better
to do with cash than stock
buybacks. They will get the
loans they need if they need
cash. They can also sell some
of the stock they bought back.
They’ll take a hit. But they
will be just fine and I worry
about them exactly as much
as they worry about the rest
of society. Which is not at all.
The big money community
thinks they will be making
more money by opening as
quick as possible. They seem
to think that loss of life is suf-
ficiently small as to make the
risk worth it. Well, to them at
least. They’ll be nice and se-
questered away running their
financial games from home.
But the rest of us will not be
so blessed. We’ll be happily
passing around this sociable
little virus. The current num—
bers suggest that almost all of
you will make it, so why not?
The problem with busi-
nessmen is that they will
always underestimate social
costs because they are con-
vinced that they and theirs
will not pay them. Everyone
else will. It is called external-
izing costs, and corporations
play this game all the time.
COVID—19 has the poten-
tial to infect a significant
percentage of the population.
Just because it hasn’t hap—
pened yet, does not mean it
will not get around in the
next year or so. Do not be con-
tent to sit on laurels because
the fatalities are smaller than
projected. Let people mix
freely, laugh off the precau-
tions, let your hospitals get
overloaded, and you.will see
how bad bad gets.
And if we have a significant
number of people dying over
say a one-year period, you can
bet nobody is going to their
pre-COVID levels of behavior.
In fact, trying to run the exper-
iment of business as usual will
yield very unhappy economic
results. The reason is that
there will be more chaos, thus
more disruption of economic
systems. And you will get a
higher body count to go with it.
Businesspeople tend to have
a problem seeing these external
costs. Contrary to belief, mar-
kets are not rational, nor do
markets properly assess risks.
The reason is human nature.
Once business people think
they will make piles of money,
all they see are the dollar signs
from there on out. And every
other consideration; all the
lessons of business school, law
school, and ethics classes; or
whatever else they studied goes
right out the window. And that
means they will overestimate
benefits and underestimate ’
social costs. Tobacco did it.
The asbestos industry did it.
Climate denying executives do
it. And now we want to use the
general population as guinea
pigs for a new experiment. All
because of making more money
now, now, now.
Andrew Makar
Hoodsport
The new
’POTUS’
Editor, the Journal
Forget Washington, Lin—
coln and all the rest,
For we have a new “PO-
TUS” who says he is the best.
We know it is true, for he
tells us each day,
“Only listen to my wis—
dom,” he will always say.
Truth is false and Wrong is
right,
And no matter how dirty,
he will make it bright.
But cross him for anything
wrong that you know, ‘
He will denounce and be-
little you just to show,
How strong he is and weak
you are,
For truth is only allowed to
go so far.
If it interferes with his
own benefits and challenges
his control,
He will send out his lackeys,
who are on his patrol,
Who have no conscience
and will do anything he cem-
mands,
Or care for the law or wha
it demands.
He ignored all the signs of
what the virus would do,
And how to prevent it, he
hadn’t a clue.
Now thousands have died,
and he has no care,
For the pain and suffering
he leaves us to bear.
And now wants everything
open without delay,
Though wiser ones caution,
to do so may,
Increase the problem and
make it worse, ‘
Which will make us mad
and start to curse,
Of being misled and made
to think,
It is the answer, that we
are not on the brink,
Of dire results, we can’t
undo,
As our resources are lim-
ited and down to a few.
It is our duty to use our
voice,
In the next election, and
make the right choice.
We must be strong, and
keep our might, '
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And our right for, happi-
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We need a good leader,
who has our vision,
And make it happen as his/
her mission. '
_Pat Vandehey ’
Shelton
Records
from lGreat
lnflUenza’
incomplete
Editor, the Journal
On Oct. 2017, I gave
a presentation at the Mason
County Historical Society’s
monthly meeting. It was
titled “The Great Influenza
Epidemic,” with a subtitle of
“One Flu Over The Cuckoo’s
Nest.” The main focus was
on conditions and effects in
Mason County from 1917 to
1920. Part of the research for
this presentation was to read
the official records, local and
state concerning the number
of dead and sick. Another
avenue of research was to
read each issue of the Mason
County Journal from January
1917 until December 1920.
I also read the newspapers
from the surrounding towns
in Grays Harbor, Lewis and
Pacific countiesfor the same
time period.
The official records for Ma-
son County and Washington
state, as I was to discover,
were incomplete or absent
for much of the time frame
involved. Several reasons can
be inferred by the lack of re-
cords. One, the record keeper,
usually the'coroner or county
health officer, died from in-
fluenza (this frequently hap-
pened all across the United
States during this time) or
the individual didn’t inves-
tigate the deaths, for fear of
contacting influenza himself
and contributing the death
toll. There is a third reason
and it’s explained below. The
results are one and the same,
lack of a true number of the
dead.
Prior to my research I’d
been told the number of dead
in Mason County from the epi-
demic ranged from the low 30s.
to the mid-50$ depending on
who was asked. However, my
reading of the Mason County
Journal revealed 80 named
victims. The final tally ex—
ceeds that number by at least
98 and probably many more.
The local editors shared
a similar bias across all four
of the counties mentioned
above. The bias? Some vic—
tims are more valuable than
others. Hence there are
counters and then there are
counters or more accurately;
non-counters. Also, when a
story contained claim, claims,
or claimed used along with
victim or victims, these folks
were dead. Always. .
The following is verbatim l
from the Dec. 27, 1918, issue
of the Mason County Journal:
“The influenza epidemic
which took a fresh start two
weeks ago, seems to be on the
wane again although fully one
hundred victims of bad colds
and ‘near flu’ were claimed
during this time. Conditions
seem to be improving and the
school and churches may re-
sume their services after this
week, but this is not assured
until the bells are heard ring-
ing once again.”
I was able to identify only
two people of the 100. The
98 left, in my opinion, fell
into the noncounter column.
That column consisted of na-
tive Americans, and those '
with surname of Japanese,
Chinese, Italian, Greek or
Finnish origin to name a few.
They were living and working
here in logging camps, mills
and oyster beds. They weren’t
immune to influenza, they
just weren’t white enough or
valuable encugh to count as . ~
part of the toll of influenza. ' ’
Note the date of the article
— there are two years and
several differentflu surges left
to sweep across Mason Coun-
ty. The editor didn’t know it
when he wrote the article, but
the same refrain about schools
and churches being closed and
opened would play out again
' and again.
Flash forward to April.
Mark Twain is supposed to
have said; “History doesn’t
repeat itself, but it often " ,:
rhymes.” I, for one, hope his-
tOry doesn’t repeat itself or
even come close to rhyming
with the 1918 influenza epi-
demic. So should you.
Stan Graham
Shelton
cu
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