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THE DAILY TAR HEEL
Wednesday, January 4, 1967
Inn Our Opinion . . .
ubble Gum, Odds n Ends,
'And I Knitted It Mvself !'
Mike McGee
Have A Happy New Year
The eventful Christmas holidays
bowl games, ball games, parties,
hangovers, turkeys, fruit cake and
the like are behind us. And dead
ahead just 12 calendar days, nine
class days, three Tar Heel basket
ball games, one reading day, two
Sabbath days and seven more
issues of the DTH away lie final
examinations.
Of course, exams won't be the
single dominating thought in the
minds of students in the next two
weeks. No, we have to think of the
term papers and book reports we
failed to do during the vacation
period.
All in all, it makes coming back
to Chapel Hill a rather frightening
task. But we're back most of us
anyway. And, though we can't
claim to be up to the coming chal
lenge, we'll face it and, with a
little bit of luck, get through it
some way.
The office smelled a little musty
when we unlocked the door and
walked in yesterday (that's un
usual ordinarily it smells like a
just-used locker room. The desks
were piled high with exchange
newspapers, and press releases,
along with a few late Christmas
greeting cards and the little note
from the Post Office telling us we
had mail with postage due. The
typewriters were a bit dusty and
our minds and fingers a bit rusty.
The office windows were as dirty
as ever, and the wad of Bazooka
bubble gum was still sticking to
the telephone.
A few words of congratulations
are in order. First, to our own
Homecoming Queen Georgia
"Peach" Pierce who was crowned
"Maid of Cotton" over the holiday.
People all over the country had
their chance to see her on national
television two days in a row. UNC
students are more lucky we can
see her every day.
Then to a student whom we
wouldn't want for our sweetheart,
but whom we're mighty proud to
claim as one of the best collegiate
football quarterbacks in the coun
try, Danny Talbott. One sports
writer put it perfectly when he
said that Danny was the only per
son in the stadium that was sur
prised when he was named the
Most Valuable Player on offense
in the East-West game.
And of course to Dean Smith
and his basketball Tar Heels who
conquered NYU, swept the Tampa
Invitational Tourney, trounced
Furman and sent Ohio State home
crying over the vacation.
To get back to the mournful sub
ject, it is stretch time. And as we
get set to head down that back
stretch the staff of The Daily Tar
Heel extends its heartiest wishes
to every member of the University
community for a happy and pros
perous 1967.
Tax Cut Proposal Confusing
From The Chapel Hill Weekly
For the first time in memory,
and possibly in history, the Gover
nor's budget message is a full
blown controversy without ever
having been made public.
inis curious situation was,
wrought by Governor Dan Moore
himself.
The controversy was born when
the Governor announced to the
people, a good two and a half
months before the Legislature
w uld meet in solemn conclave,
that tax relief would be offered
in his budget message. Details were
withheld, pending actual delivery
of the budget message to the Legis
lature in February.
A curious situation was made
even more curious when the Gov
ernor defended his undefined tax
cut in a "Special Report to the
People" last Friday.
The reason why the Governor
chose to tip his hand in November
has never been made completely
clear. The reason why he rushed
to defend his tax cut proposal last
Friday is altogether clear: he
hoped to quiet the rising chorus
of dissent.
His defense was appropriate in
that it was just as curious as the
whole situation.
"Do not be misled by the con
fusion created by a few critics to
my announced plan for a tax cut,"
went the Governor's lament. "They
are yelling before they know what
I will recommend in proposing
some relief for you, the taxpayers.
The critics are yelling before they
know what my budget will recom
mend for education, health, wel
fare and other vital services."
The plain truth is that the con
fusion has been created by the Gov
ernor himself in his holding out a
vague, undefined promise. And the
people are being misled, by none
other than the Governor, to hope
that North Carolina's glaring needs
can be met while achieving any
thing faintly resembling a "broad
and general" tax cut.
Despite the Governor's rejoind
er, the critics of his tax cut are not
few. The criticism has been broad
and general and it has come from
some of the most conservative
members of the Legislature, in
cluding faithful Moore men.
It is true that critics have yelled
without knowledge of the Gover
nor's total budget. But it is also
true that the faint praise the pro
posal has received has come from
M.",.
those equally in the dark. If in
complete information cuts the
ground from beneath the criticism,
then it renders support equally
meaningless.
We are not so much concerned
about the possibility that Governor
Moore has committed a serious
tactical error in dealing with the
Legislature.
We are very much concerned,
however, that he is making a grave
error in weighing North Carolina's
resources against its needs.
Perhaps it is all right to say, as
the Governor did, "I am just a bit
weary of those who would down
grade our State." But this weari
ness should not rule out an honest
evaluation of the State's real needs
and an honest attempt to meet
those needs.
Even with a $200 million surplus
and without a tax cut, North Car
olina cannot satisfy its needs in
education alone. To pretend other
wise is nothing more than self-delusion.
fp iaUg Olar
74 Years of Editorial Freedom
Fred Thomas, Editor
Tom Clark, Business Manager
Scott Goodfellow, Managing Ed.
John Askew . Ad. Mgr.
John Greenbacker Assoc. Ed.
Bill Amlong News Ed.
Kerry Sipe Feature Ed.
Sandy Treadwell ;. Sports Editor
Bill Hass Asst. Sports Ed.
Jock Lauterer Photo Editor
Chuck Benner .. .. .... Night Editor
STAFF WRITERS
Don Campbell Lytt Stamps, Er
nest Robl, Steve Bennett, Steve
Knowlton, Judy Sipe, Carol Won
savage, Diane Warman, Karen
Freeman, Cindy Borden, Julie
Parker, Peter Harris, Drum
mond Bell, Owen Davis, Joey
Leigh, Dennis Sanders.
CARTOONISTS
Bruce Strauch, Jeff MacNelly
The Daily Tar Heel is the official
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North Carolina and is published by
students daily except Mondays, ex
amination periods and vacations.
Second class postage paid at the
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Christmas A Drag
ith Claus Myti
W
Christmas bugs me. It has
ever since I was a little kid.
I was happy when I found out
there was no Santa Claus.
Santa Claus was the cause
of it all. I can remember long
ago my mommy used to tell
me to go to bed or Santa
wouldn't come and I wouldn't
get any presents. So I went
up to my room and lay back
on my pillow and throught,
since it was too early to go to
sleep.
Who is this guy Santa, any
how, I thought. He must be
some kind of nut, spending
all night riding around in the
sky and climbing down peo
ple's chimneys.
And how did he get all th2
way from the North Pole in
such a short time. I learned
in school that the North Pole
was about five thousand miles
away.
That's a long trip even in a
rocket, I thought. And all he
had was a sled and eight
reindeer. And all the places
there were to go. I could pic
ture cities and towns spread
out from New York to Chicago
to Los Angeles.
What about all the o t h e r
countries. I had a vague no
tion that maybe Santa didn't
go to all the countries. The
United States is so big that it
would take aU night just to do
that.
There were so many pres
ents, too. Why, I was going to
get a bicycle and a hatchet
and some new shirts. I had
written to Santa and told him
what I wanted. It was so nice
to get it free, because my
Oh, it worried me, thinking
of that jolly old man riding
high in the sky in his sled,
and all the problems he had
to face. Gosh, he must be a
smart man.
Then they told me. I think
it was my big sister that let
it leak about how she helped
to put out the presents after 1
had gone to bed.
I was a little let down at
first. But it was better that
way. Made the world a lot
simpler. One less thing to
mess up all those facts I was
learning in school.
Christmas hasn't been the
same since. Now it's sort of
an act that you put on every
December the tree, the
stocking by'the chimney, open
ing the presents. Every home
is a stage on Christmas morn
ing, with nobody really know
ing why they go through the
motions.
In 1967
U
E
(Editor's Note The follow
ing commentary appeared in
the Dec. 3 edition of the Brit
ish journal, The Economist.)
The first part of the Viet
Nam war is over.
The November elections in
Australia and New Zealand
mark the end of the period in
which President Johnson's
main job has been to make
his Viet Nam policy stick. He
has done it.
He has cut his domestic op
position down to size, and for
the next year at any rate no
American politician of conse
qeunce is likely to challenge
the main aim of the war, even
if some of them continue to
criticise his tactics.
By Ins tour of the Pacific in
October, and now by the suc
cesses his supporters have
won in Australia and New
Zealand, he has demonstrated
that there is a great deal
more support among the Paci
fic countries for what he is do
ing than most people had,
thought.
Even in Europe there is
less outright opposition than
there was six months ago (ex
cept in France, where the vis
itor sees far more anti-American
slogans than he sees in
communist Eastern Europe).
This was the essential first
stage of the war.
The Americans had to es
tablish that they were not go
ing to let South Viet Nam
pass under communist con
trol. They have made their
point. The second part of the
war, which is now beginning,
starts from here.
If the United States and
Russia both handle this sec
ond stage right, they may be
able to end the war. Both of
them have an interest in get
ting peace in 1967. The Rus
sians certainly have.
The one rock-solid conclu
sion that can be drawn from
Russia's manoeuvres in the
past six months is that it
would love to get down to
business with America on a
variety of subjects above
all on a non - proliferation
treaty if only it could set
tle the Viet Nam war without
endangering its claim to the
leadership of the communist
world.
But Mr. Johnson could do
with a settlement too. He has
persuaded the Americans to
accept the war, but it is not a
popular one, and it could give
him a lot of trouble if it is
still going on when he runs
for re-election in 1968. And he
knows that, if it is not settled
soon, it could go on for a long
time indeed. This is because
the military power the Amer
icans have deployed in Viet
Nam has turned out to be of
limited value in two impor
tant ways.
The bombing of the North
has neither frightened the
North Vietnamese into calling
off the war nor decisively
broken their supply lines to
the South. And the American
army in the South, for all its
successes along the frontiers,
has not yet made it possible
for all the South Vietnamese
to get down to the really vital
business of clearing the Viet
Cong out of the Mekong Delta.
What this adds up to is a
powerful case for trying to get
a settlement in 1967 based on
the military situation as it
exists in 1967. The military
iLsgia Could End Viet War
balance next year will be bet
ter than it has been in 1966,
which in turn was better than
it was in the near - disaster
of 1965.
The communists have taken
a pounding, and the results be
gan to show up in the elections
the South Vietnamese felt
strong enough to hold in Sep
tember. But the military situa
tion next year will still fall a
good deal short of the clear
cut victory the purists want.
This can be accepted pro
vided North Viet. Nam in re
turn will accept the principle
of South Viet Nam's right to
stay non - communist. That is
the essential principle the
Americans have been fighting
for. If it is' accepted, any
thing else is negotiable. Mr.
Johnson's aim in the second
part of the war should be to
get a settlement that insists
on nothing more than this.
This is going to call for some
nimble diplomatic footwork.
Ho Chi Minh is being asked to
give up his life - long aim of
a united communist Viet Nam.
Getting him to give it up will
almost certainly require the
help of the Russians the Rus
sians are not going to help un
less they can go to Hanoi with
the support of most of the rest
of the communist world.
They do not have to get every
last communist party whipped
into line. They are willing to
let China go on isolating it
self. For the grand commun
ist gathering they still seem
bent on calling together this
year they can perfectly well do
without the fiddling little pro
Chinese parties that still exist
here and there.
At a pinch they could prob
ably do without Rumana. But
that is all they can do with
out. The fixed point around
which Mr. Brezhnev's and Mr.
Kosygin's foreign policy has
revolved in the last two years
is a determination not to let
the Communist convoy get
hopelessly scattered.
The only terms thaty can be
expected to urge on Hanoi are
terms that they think the ma
jority of the world's more im
portant communist parties wil
agree to.
So how can Mr. Johnson
help the Russians to help him?
There are a lot of people in
the communist part of Europe
who say that the North Viet
namese can be persuaded to
let South Viet Nam go on be
ing non-communist if two con
ditions are met.
One is that the United
States must make the first
overt concession, by stopping
the bombing of the North be
fore anything else happens.
The other is that the North
Vietnamese must at least be
given reason to think that their
"brothers in the South" will
live under a reasonably toler
ant and liberal government
even though it is not a Com
munist one.
Senator Robert Kennedy has
realised that these two things -the
bombing of the north
and the sort of government the
south will get after the war -are
the essential ingredients of
a compromise.
What neither the senator nor
his supporters have done is to
spell out how Mr. Johnson
ought to use his bargaining
nower on these two points as a
lever to extract the even big
ger concession that is needed
from the North Vietnamese.
Mr. Johnson wants the North
Vietnamese to buy an end to
the bombing by passing the
word that they will then
promptly sit down at the ne
gotiating table. It would be
fine if they did; but they have
not done it yet, and it is pret
ty unlikely that they will do it
of their own accord as soon
as Mr. Johnson would like.
Luckily, this is not the only
condition on which Mr. John
son can afford to take the risk
of calling off his bombers.
There is an alternative condi
tion, and this consists of some
thing the Russians can do. Mr.
Johnson will have sufficient
reason for calling off the bomb
ing, without any threat of re
newing it, if Mr. Kosygin lets
him know that from that point
on Russia's negotiating weight
will be applied to the task of
getting North Vietnam to drop
its present all - or - nothing
terms for peace.
This Russian assurance
could come either in public or
private, though if it came in
private it would have to be
backed up by some evidence
that the North Vietnamese
knew what was cooking.
But exactly how Mr. Kosy
gin gives his word is unim
portant. The essential thing is
that the Russians must recog
nise that they cannot expect
the Americans to lay it on the
line by stopping the bomb
ing unless they lay it on
the line too.
If the Russians do lay it on
the line, they will thereby be
committing themselves to co
operating with the Americans
in the search for apeace for
mula. They would know that if
they persuaded the Americans
to call off the bombing, and
then got nothing out of Hanoi,
they would stand convicted at
best of impotence in the face
of a small ally, and at the
worst of a confidence trick on
the Americans.
They would also know that a
halt in the bombing of the north
would intensify the fighting in
the south because the North
Vietnamese would be able to
send more men and guns down
there and that if no peace
talks followed the Americans
would come back with rage in
their hearts and twice as many
bombers.
Then the war reallly would
be out of control. For these
very good reasons, if the Rus
sians do make that undertaking
to the Americans they will
want to live up to it. And It
would be a bold Ho Chi Minh
who would guarantee that he
can stand out against a Rus
sia that really means business.
This is how Mr. Johnson
could use an end to the bomb
ing to get the peace - making
mechanism moving. The Rus
sians are quite possibly tempt
ed. But they too have their
consensus problems. They are
unwilling to set out on a ven
ture of this sort unless they
have got most of the ether im
portant communist parties lin
ed up behind them.
But some of these parties
let alone the North Vietnam
ese themselves are reluct
ant to accept a deal that
would mean washing their
hands entirely of what happens
in the south after the war.
This is where Mr. Johnson's
second possible concession can
be brought into play.
This second concession is not
the coalition government some
communists have lately been
angling for. Coalitions be
tween communists and non
communists just do not work
except in the rare places (like
Finland) where one side volun
tarily accepts a minor role in
a system basically run by the
other side.
The United States has spent
the last 18 months deploying
375,000 men in South Vietnam
to make sure it stays non
communist. It is not going to
risk everything it has fought
for by giving a communist
minister a chance to get his
hands on the army or the pol
ice. But there are a number of
assurances the allies are in a
position to offer, and should
offer, about the sort of place
this non - communist Vietnam
is intended to be.
The allies have already said
that South Vietnam will be
neutral, in the sense that it
will not be garrisoned by an
American army (though it will
need a continuing internation
al guarantee of its security).
They can, and should, add a
number of other points.
One is that the end of the
war would fairly rapidly be
followed by an amnesty for all
but the senior men in the Na
tional Liberation Front, plus
the non - southerners, who
would be free to retire to the
North.
A second is that the amnesti
ed ex-rebels who stayed in
the south would be allowed to
take part in politics, maybe by
means of a theoretically non
communist party like the EDA
party that came into existence
in Greece less than two years
after the end of the civil war
there. (Since the Vietnamese
election on September 11th it
has been pretty safe to assume
that this crypto - communist
party would stay a minority
one.)
It should also be made clear
that the post - war government
would tackle some of the out
standing social problems, land
reform above all. The aim of
all these offers would be the
same: to persuade the North
Vietnamese that their broth
ers in the south were not be
ing handed over to an intol
erable dictatorship.
It boils down to a settle
ment on the lines of the Cuba
settlement in 1962. The Amer
icans agreed in 1962 that Cuba
should go on being run by a
communist government ' pro
vided this government was not
a threat to the West's inter
ests. The communists would
now be asked to accept a non
communist government in
South Vietnam on exactly the
same terms.
It is a risk, because this non
communist South Vietnam
would for a long time contain
a minority of unassimilated
dissidents. But if the war
was ended on these terms un
der the joint auspices of the
Americans and the Russians
which is the aim of the whole
exercise the risk would be
a limited one. The makings of
an agreement exist.
It is worth repeating that
they would not exist if the
American army had not sav
ed South Vietnam from the
brink of disaster in 1965 and
1966.
Mr. Johnson has made it
clear that he is not going to
let the communists take over
by force. This is the basis from
which, in 1967, he should try
to negotiate a peace.
Time Out Called By
New York's Tribune
The New York World Journal Tribune recently in
formed its readers that "the world's most precise
public time piece" would "measure the moments to
1967 in Times Square tonight."
The WJT confidently assured New Yorkers:
"Readings from the clock will be displayed on
the Bulova "Accutron" sign overlooking the crowds
at 45th St.
"The times displayed will be pulsed by time sig
nals transmitted by telephone line from the U. S.
Naval Observatory."
Unfortunately, though, the clock wasn't accurate
enough for the WJT.
The item about measuring split seconds to the
New Year was published in the Jan. 1 issue.
Last year about this time, I wrote a column
knocking bus travel, gleefully ending my diatribe
with: "See you at the Raleigh-Durham Airport!"
Now I must eat my words.
Because of weather and holiday confusion, it took
me seven hours to get from Washington National to
Raleigh-Durham.
And just how do you suppose I reached Raleigh
Durham after the plane landed in Richmond because
of fog? .
David Rothman