CONTRIVED?

From the Rockies to the Pacific, energy is being conserved, too. The hydroelectric reservoirs of the parched Northwest are acutely short of water, and the aluminum industry, among others, may have to curtail its output in line with the most ardent hopes of the small-is- beautiful advocates.

"Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap," said Thomas Jefferson, "we should soon want bread." And since we are directed from Washington how much gas can be sold from whence to whither for how much, we are already wanting it. There is one sure way of instantly creating a shortage of itching powder or buttermilk: Decree a price ceiling below the free-market price. It never fails, and it works for natural gas, too.

And don't the apostles of government control know it? When the chips (and the gas pressure) were down, they came up with a brilliant new idea: Let government get out of the way. Decontrol gas prices (even though only partially and temporarily). Let the gas flow west through the pipelines. Let US ships carry gas from the gulf ports to the East Coast. Then they boasted how the gas started flowing within 12 hours.

They deserve applause. Like a bull deserves applause for boosting the porcelain business by getting out of the china shop.

Was the natural gas shortage contrived?

Of course it was. Not by the gas companies, but by Congress, which in late 1975 and early 1976, by thin majorities in House and Senate, refused to end the price controls, and hence the shortage, of natural gas. There was not enough gas to go round last month, but perhaps some of the victims were warmed by the thought of the votes against decontrol Abourezk, Church, Haskell, Jackson, Javits, Kennedy, McGovern, Mondale, Muskie, Stevenson. . . Was your senator or congressman among them? Send us a stamped, self-addressed envelope, and we will send you the whole roll-call.

And linking jobs to energy is an artificial argument, we are told. Two million shivering unemployed are, no doubt, yearning for more such Ford Foundation wisdom. But for those seriously interested in the deeper connection, we recommend Energy and Jobs, published by the International Institute for Economic Research ($1.45, see below).

She IIER senes is not only low-priced, but intellectually outstanding. It includes Milton Friedman's Adam Smith's Relevance for 1976 (95 cents)and A.H. Meltzer's Why Government Grows (95 cents). We all know that government causes inflation by printing money and deficit spending, that it gets a handsome inflation dividend by moving people into ever higher tax brackets, that it causes energy shortages by interfering in free markets, and that it is growing, growing, growing. But Meltzer, professor at Carnegie- Mellon, doesn't bore you with the obvious, because he tells you why: "Government grows faster than the private sector whenever the costs of government can be diffused and the benefits concentrated." More simply, if a politician opposes a porkbarrel, he faces ferocious opposition by a small number of beneficiaries,- but- enjoys - little support from the millions who pay for it with a penny each. The booklet has less than 14 pages and costs 95 cents - a gem of concentrated wisdom.

All of the IIER booklets are available firom Zen Hill Publishers, Ottawa, IL 61350.