Monday, December 8, 1969
Letter to Editor
"My Generation"
By Spiro Agnew
Dear Editor,
On November 20, Vice-Pres
ident Spiro Agnew once again
attacked the news media. This
time it was newspapers. He al
so made an attempt to explain
some of his previous statements
on youth and on the other news
media.
He very carefully explained his
feelings on censorship of the
press: "I am opposed to cen
sorship of televison or the press
in any form. I don't care whether
censorship is imposed by
government or whether it re
sults from the management in
the choice and the presentation
of the news by a little fraternity
having similar social and po
litical views. I am against cen
sorship in all forms." Well, at
least, we can be reassured that
he is against censorship.
ATTACKS TIMES AND POST
He went on to attack THE
NET YORK TIMES and the
ASHINGTON POS"* 1 , saying
that they are monop
olies including other news media.
His call for public awareness
of this situation should be well
taken, but it must be legal for
them to exist as such. The lam
basting did not stop here. The
NEW YORK TIMES, he said,
saw fit not to print the story on
how 300 Congressmen and 59
Senators endorsed Nixon's Viet
nam policy. However, it seems
that the story did appear and
was followed up with several
other stories, but the first one
did not make the early edition
which reachs Washington, but
it did get in a later edition that
day. Agnew went on attacking
the format of the TIMES. But
here there seems to be a rem
nant of that logical fallacy,
"poisoning the well."
AGNEW DEFENDS SEIF
Agnew then continued to de
fend himself saying that it was
his generation who brought us
out of the depression, (and got
us into...). He praised the
"millions of young Americans
in this generation (who) have
shown valor and courage and
heroism in fighting..." in Viet
nam, like those of his genera
tion who invaded "Normandy and
the Philippines." Yes, our coura
geous young men have been taught
to kill, to channel their courage
through the trigger of a gun,
and to save the world's freedom.
"But whatever freedom exists
today in Western Europe and
Japan exists because hundreds
of thousands of young men in
my generation are lying in graves
in North Africa and F ranee and
Korea and a score of islands
in the Western Pacific." So, A
mericans, we can be confident to
know that our Vice-President,
who like his generation, is
courageous and is a leader of
men who is "still on the job"
of bringing Americans out of the
193(ys "Depression."
USE COURTS
AGAINST DISSENTERS
About the youth of today, Ag
new said that "they are our sons
and daughters. They contain in
their numbers many gifted,
idealistic, and courageous young
men and women, but they also
list in their numbers an arro-
gant few who march under flags
and portraits of dictators, who
intimidate and harass university
professors..." He also said that
his generation dealt with those
types with courts, now we should
do the same.
Our Vice-President is rather
insecure and not at all confident
of himself, let alone his position.
Fe Is trying to build himself up
by the merits, or demerits (de
pending upon your viewpoint) of
his generation. I f he Is so con
fident of our "millions of young
.Americans" fighting and sup
porting the war then why does he
mention the others at all, since
he does have these and the rest
of the silent majority behind him.
UNIVERSITY REFORMS
Agnew goes on to quote Ar
nold Beichman, about '"young
Jacobins' in our schools who
"have cut down university ad
ministrators, forced curriculum
changes, halted classes, closed
campuses and set a nation-wide
chill of fear through the univer
sity establishment.'" So fellow
students, we now know that we
are leading a "Reign of Terror"
in the academic world and be
yond. Realistically these curri
culum changes have probably
been long overdue, the admini
strators most likely deserved
the harassment, since a good
many administrators lack any
insight into the education (in the
true sense) of students and of
faculty and always attempt to in
terfere omnisciently into aca
demic and intellectual freedom.
Put we cannot look at the good
points of these great steps in
the advancement of education,
because it is sending a '"chill
of fear through..."' those in the
administrations of colleges who
are afraid and insecure like those
in our country's administration,
who are also afraid of progress
towards a more sane, a more
tolerant, and a more humane
world.
Just think President Nixon
chose Spiro Agnew to represent
him and the United States.
Jeff Bloom
Library
Displays Art
From Dillard
Collection
Thirty selections from The
Dillard Collection of Art Works
done on paper are on display in
the Guilford College library until
Lecember 10.
The Dillard Collection consists
of 88 original art works done
on paper by American artists,
They were purchased at annual
exhibitions of such art works
held each fall at the Weather
spoon Art Gallery at UNC-G.
This traveling show is the
second such show organized from
the Dillard Collection. The pre
vious exhibit toured six South
eastern states for two years.
THE GUILFORD IAN
O'Neill Tells of
EY TORI POTTS
AND JEANETTE EBEL
Moderates are the eternal
losers. The left wing accuses
them of being sluggish and the
right wing accuses them of being
radical extremists. Nobody loves
them.
Captain Terrence O'Neill is the
classic example of the ill
fated moderate.
A man with 21 years experience
in public life, he was forced to
resign from his post as Prime
Minister of Northern Ireland be
cause he tried to bring about
civil reform and to reconcile
the opposing factions in the re
ligious struggle in his country.
O'Neill is a low key, extremely
intelligent man. He speaks with
confidence. He handles all va
rieties of the news media with
an air of self assurance that is
enviable.
Membership in British Par
liament either makes or breaks
a man. It has definitely made
Captain O'Neill.
Last Friday in the series of
press conferences,seminars, and
speeches, Capt. Terrence O'Neill
discussed the history and nature
of the problems which face his
nation.
HISTORY
Northern Ireland is a province
of Great Britian which is about
the size of the state of Connect
icut. It has a population of 1 1/2
million people.
Northern Ireland was colon
ized by the British about the
sair.e time as the colony in Vir
ginia was started.
The Irish were traditionally
Catholic before the British plan
tation in Ulster, a province of
Ireland. The British planters and
the Scotch settlers in Northern
Ireland were Protestant.
The difference in religious
traditions has caused conflict
for almost 300 years.
Recently, the conflicts erupted
again and there were riots and
bombings in Belfast, the capital
of Northern Ireland.
The Catholics claimed that the
Protestants discriminated a
gainst them in employment and
housing because of their religion.
Protestants reacted violently
to the Catholic demonstrations,
the two factions polarized, and
virtual war broke out in the city.
Finally British troops were
called into restore peace.
CIVIL RIGHTS REFORM
O'Neill attempted to bring
about reforms in voting proce
dure, housing and employment.
He managed to push the one
man-one vote rule though Par
liament, but with each reform he
gained more and more enemies
until he no longer had the support
of his party.
Until O'Neill's voting reform
measure was passed, only land
owners and their wives could
vote in municipal elections. The
Catholics do not own property,
so they were effectively blocked
from having a voice in the
Northern Ireland government.
HOUSING
Housing in Northern Ireland
is a tremendous problem. The
Catholics and Protestants live in
segregated areas. Their cus
toms, life styles and holidays
are different, and they do not
really want to be integrated.
The Protestants own most of
the land and they are discrimi
natory in their rental practices.
Since O'Neill resigned, a Cen
tral Housing Authority for all of
-
TERRENCE O'NEILL
Ulster has been created to al
leviate the problems of housing
shortages and rent discrimi
nation.
SCHOOLS
The Irish Catholics believe
that their children should only
be educated in private Catholic
schools. Therefore, the schools
are almost completely segre
gated by religion.
The British government sub
sidizes both the public school
system and the private Catholic
school system.
BRITAIN INTERVENES
Most of the reforms which
O'Neill tried to put through
Parliament have now been made
by the London Parliament. The
people are being forced to accept
the changes which they censured
O'Neill for attempting to make.
O'Neill said that during his
administration he often referred
to the masses of people who did
not make their opinions known.
He was sure that they supported
his policies.
During the last election he was
proven wrong. His nominees for
offices only removed three ex
tremists from their positions.
This was not enough to prove
the support which he had been
claiming.
RIOTS
"The riots last May were
worse than anything Northern
Ireland has seen in many years"
he stated. "The government at
Ulster could not have controlled
the situation."
3ritish troops were called in
to maintain peace and they are
sill there. O'Neill stated that
he believes that it will many
years before they can be with
drawn.
Captain O'Neill commented on
i
Photo by Clawges
Page 3
United States Vice President
Spiro Agnew's indictment of the
press. He said that the newsmen
cannot create a situation, but
they can accentuate it.
""oilence and dissention at
tract newsmen like ground bait
thrown in a river attracts fish."
According to Captain O'Neill the
riots have not affected the gen
eral populace anymore than in
Eerkley or the Sorbonne.
EXTREMISTS
O'Neill is very critical of the
extremists on both sides of the
religious conflict. He described
Protestant ultra-conservative
lan Paisley as a "very ef
fective rabble rouser and a very
effective money making ma
chine."
According to Captain O'Neill,
everytime Paisley makes a
speech, he sends around plastic
buckets for the audience to put
money in. He even did this when
he came to the United States.
O'Neill said, "Paisley is a
demagogue of the very worst
type. He is a charlatan. He just
wants power and money."
O'Neill's criticism was not
limited to the protestant ex
tremists. He also criticized
Bernadette Devlin, a young revo
lutionary Catholic who was elec
ted to the British Parliament.
"Che wants to be a martyr.
She is a Joan of Arc type who
has publically stated that she
wants to be dead before she is
twenty-five." He added, "I don't
honestly think she has contribu
ted anything to the very, very,
difficult Irish situation."
RESIGNATION
Captain O'Neill said that the
reason he resigned after six
years is that he no longer had
the support of his party. He
wanted to get out before the
radical wing of his party could
come into power.
"I was a political outcast,"
he said. I lost the support of
the Protestants without gaining
the support of the Catholics."
Language Test
Now Given By
National Center
ihe Graduate Record Exam
inations Board has announced
thai, beginning this fall, the Grad
uate School Foreign Language
tests in French, German, Rus
sian and Spanish will be admin
istered nationally at centers es
tablished by Educational Testing
Service.
The tests, whichare construct
ed and administered by Ed
ucational Testing Service under
policies set by the Graduate Rec
ord Examinations Board,provide
a means through which graduate
schools may test foreign language
reading proficiency as a part of
their advanced degree require
ment.
Instead of the institution;:! ad
ministrations through which the
ifcscs have been given in the past,
all candidates will submit their
registration forms and fees di
rectly to Educational Test
ing Ser.ice in Princeton, N..J,,
for one of the five test adminis
trations each year.