Camping: Society in Miniature; E. Gotz

The above is only one example of how vol untarism ceased being good when perverted by a collectivist mentality. There are others. In another city, a group of volunteers found a way to build shelters for homeless people at a cost of $40 each. Buoyed by their success, they ap proached the city with a plan to build more substantial shelters-but now at a cost of $10,000 each, to be paid for by a public grant. It is unexplained why they expect their concept of public housing to be more successful than the scores of failures of public housing in the past or why a target cost of $40 per unit seemed appropriate while using their own funds, but grew to $10,000 when other people's funds be came available. It has become a cliche for volunteer workers to decry the "Me Generation," but they fail to see that what they offer is something far worse. In the past, when asked who would undertake a volunteer effort, volunteers answered, "Me!"

Today, their answer is, "You!" Somehow, the so-called "Me Generation" seems less self-centered and arrogant-and certainly far less threatening to our free dom. D Camping: Society in Miniature by Eugene L. Gotz M y wife and I are inveterate campers. We enjoy the pleasures of traveling, outdoor living, and seeing the coun try at a relatively low cost. Campgrounds fall into two major catego ries-those operated by the state or federal gov ernment and those privately owned. Essen tially, they offer the same basic services camping sites, toilet facilities, and water. In Mr. Gotz, who is retired as Manager of Engineering at the General Electric Company, resides in Arlington, Massa chusetts. addition, some campgrounds offer such ser vices as electricity, laundries, stores, entertain ment, and recreational facilities. Each camp ground, either state or private, offers a unique mix of facilities.

A campground, in a sense, is a miniature society. Campers generally are strangers, have a wide range of ages, and come from different backgrounds. They live within sight and sound of each other. They share basic necessities such as toilets, water, and other camp facilities. Per haps even more so than in normal living, a fundamental consideration of one's fellowmen is essential if the campground is to function in a satisfactory manner. It is in this area that there is a primary dif ference between state and private campgrounds. In a private campground, reasonable behavior is generally observed. People know that if they present serious behavior problems to their neighbors and to the campground operator, the police will be called. And it is precisely this feature that attracts many people to a private campground-the prospect of enjoying camp ing without rowdiness, petty theft, and exces sive drinking in the area. The private camp ground operator realizes that to make a profit he must run a tight ship. As in any business, he must satisfy the customer.

State campgrounds, on the other hand, can and often do have local scenes of behavior ab horrent to most people. Some campers, albeit a very few, regard it as their right to behave in any manner they choose. And if you unfortu nately are their neighbor, why that's your prob lem. The staff of most state campgrounds gen erally make little effort to enforce any type of campground discipline. Complaints usually go unresolved and remain unanswered. The driv ing force to satisfy customers-the profit mo tive-is missing. The maintenance of the physical plant of campgrounds is another area of vast differ ences. In private campgrounds toilets flush, hot water faucets produce hot water, and showers work. The facilities are reasonably clean and neat. The stores have adequate supplies. Unfor tunately, in state campgrounds the same state ments cannot be made across the board. De pending on the local area and the staff, the condition of the facilities ranges from excellent to awful.

There is a vast difference in grounds mainte nance. Private campgrounds operators properly maintain the grounds and the landscape. Their campers respect the environs and generally re frain from littering and destroying the shrub bery. And, here again, in the state campgrounds the opposite is too often true, reflecting the gen erallack of camp discipline. The daily fee for the state campgrounds ranges from $6-$10, for the private camp grounds from $10-$14. The private operator has 23 all the normal business expenses such as taxes, depreciation, wages, advertising, and so on. And he still must make a profit. The state camp grounds don't have to make a profit and have few of the normal business expenses. If the value received from the private campgrounds is measured against that from state campgrounds, it is surprising the state's fee is so high. In the interests of fairness and even-handed reporting, I must point out all state camp grounds are not bad, nor are all private camp grounds good. Each campground must be eval uated in its own right. But, over the long haul and years of camping, my wife and I have found that private campgrounds offer by far the more pleasant experience.

The reasons for this are very basic. When an enterprise is not driven by the need to be prof itable, it tends to become inefficient and unpro ductive. If management does not feel the need to compete, few attempts will be made to satisfy consumers. Clearly, the public would gain if the state and federal governments were to tum campground management over to private enterprise. 0 24 Sailing the Competitive Seas by William B. Conerly I picked up my beer at the yacht club's bar, then went out on the deck to watch the last few boats come in. It had been a good day's sailing for us: we finished the race in the middle of the fleet, but we had a couple of new stories to tell. When John grabbed the chair next to me, 1 was all set to talk about the wind shift that had helped us at the end. John, though, had other interests. "Tell me, Doctor, what are we going to do about these Japanese imports?" John asked.