Newspapers / The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.) / Oct. 5, 1974, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE CAROLINIAN-SAT., OCTOBER 6, 1974-PAGE 4 BIBLE THOUGHT OF THE WEEK ONLY IN AMERICA BUT WHEN IS A CRIME A CRIME? Mr. Richard Nixon is a case in point o< God P™”* m its (inal analysis, txit the Almighty is a God of justice. His sins dug a deep hole unkered with his health front which situation which caved in ■ resignation and finally an he may not escape. Be sure "your sins won't ill-timed pardon He escaped the judicial find you out " EDITORIAL VIEWPORT POLITICIANS PLAY GAMES ON ISSUES Politics is playing games on the issues of inflation, like it has on other issues in our history. The cost of living is alarming and is increasing each month, but President Gerald Rudolph Ford refuses to catch the bull bv the horn oa inflation and politics, witn a senes of economic airing'Out conferences around the country, predominated by talk and nothing much else. Mr. Ford is caught between doing something for the consumer and easing the cost of food and energy, .^nd also checking the profits of big business * particularly the oil industry. There is a lot of talk, and American citizens know the tricks for what they are. Candidates need the large financial gifts which big business can contribute to their future campaigns, and are not about to initiate controls over labor and prices. President Ford has said price controls are off his agenda. This situation reminds us of the prohibition reform movement, where the presidents, governors and other elected officials, plaved the game of politics to the hilt, and for years. The movement to bring about temperate habits in the use of intoxicating drinks, was resumed soon after the Civil War. The appearance of saloon and breweries createa abhorrent conditions. Inns were meeting places for shabby human derelicts, Msotted by alcohol. No one wished to live near the saloons. Saloon keepers were not men who could be respected and a public sentiment unfavorable to the business, root and branch, rapidly formed, especially in rural neighborhoods, settled by homogeneous British*American stock. A social cleavage was developed between drinkers and non-drinkers, between those who apologized for the liquor interests and those i^o gave it no quarter, between churches which advocat^ the temperance cause and those whose pastors were silent in the face of the demand for reform and were, for this reason, called "whiskey churches." The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union's Anti-Saloon Lea gue, Prohibition Party, and so forth, put the pressure on government officials, and politics played the ends against the middle with the compromise of local option - let the local community vote for or against liquor. In some places, there were liquor businesses that paid high licenses. A large se^ent of citizens were pushing for proluDition, and politics were in on all of this. LET'S LOOK AT REFUSED PHONE HIKE Recently, the North Carolina State Utilities Commission denied Southern Bell Telephone Company's request for an immediate $9.5 million rate l^e, saying the firm will have to wait until its full $62.5 million rate increase is considered in February. We are glad of this deterrent to inflation. Phone consumers are paying to the hilt now. and certainly the phone company should wait until its first rate increase request is considered before asking for another. The Commission feels no emergency situation is imminent. Naturally. Southern Bell wanted this rate hike to "bring our earnings up to a satisfactory level." But in times of money crisis, business must be willing to suffer just like the customer. It cannot While the request hike might give Southern Bell a satisfactory level of GARAGES MUST GIVE BETTER SERVICE How many people have been gypped on auto repair charges? Thousands, you may be sure. It is easy, because the average car owner is like a baby when it comes to auto repairs. The situation has reached a point where there's not much reason for conUdence in either the ability or the honesty of those who repair automobiles. No wonder how such a state of affairs exists. Too often, the bill is high, and the repw cannot be checked oy the automobile owner to be found out if the job is done well. Often, it could be asked if the job needed to be done in the Rrst place. Most of us have heard stories of the 160 repair bills by scheming repairmen when the trouble could have bwn solved by replacing a fuse or wire. Most every car owner has been involved in a repair riff-off. Often, he learns how to be on the alert next time. Well, we have some encoura^ng news. There is a non-profit organizauon, within the auto industry and joined b> educators, to determine the competency of automobile mechanics. It is caUed the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (NIASE), which has been operating for 2 years. Already it has tested and awarded certificates of competency to 10,000 auto mechanics in all major phases of auto repair, plus 32,000 otha* certificate in certain parts of auto anatomy. You can spot these mechanics by the ring gear shoulder patch, with ^e name of the organization, at work in various cities across the nation. (The Kiplinger national magazine. Changing Times, says directories showing names and addresses of garages niring these repairmen can be obtained at a cost of $1.75 from the NIASE, 1625 K Street. N.W., Washinj^n, D.C. 20006). At least, this is one way of attempting to improve auto repairing services in this country. We know, however, that no one can guarantee any customer an honest and economical repair job. While a per^n may not be getting the most economical job on his car. at I^t, we hope, he would get a competent mechanic. People don’t want to be overchar^;ed, either. Somethmg must be done to ease the soreness fdt by many car owners a^r they have been ripped off. This can make you prettv sore. too. FOOLISH OUTRAGE BY HARRY GOLDEN Finally, a national prohibition amendment was enacted in 1920, but bootlegging made some men millionaires. Men in political office got their boots wet in corruption in connection with liquor pay-offs. Politics and big money brought about the repeal of the 18th Amendment in about 12 years. The liquor and brewers’ interests wqre making millions, and they contributed millions to political cam paigns. which promises certain tavors. Eve.^body knows big money talks wherever politics is concerned. The financial odds are against a poor man becoming president of the UnitM States. History is just full of the manueverings of politics - even tainted NIXON’S LETTERS President Ford has atked the Congress to appropriate more than $800,000 to help Richard Nixon. As an ex-Pre- sident. Mr Nixon is entitled to the money under the provi sions of a transfer-of-power act. Emphasizing Nixon’s need, Ford revealed that San Clemente has received 300,000 pieces of mail which not only needs reading, but answering At the minimum, this has to cost $30,000. At the maximum, there is the cost for typewrit ers. stationery, envelopes and personnel There is a ratio here that is interesting: one letter probably costs $20 to mail. Thr'.-e hundred thousand piece'* of mail means that l.S percent of the population of the United States are com municating with the ex-presi dent. If President Ford wants to cut down government spending. I suggest he make a short statement persuading those folks who write Nixon not to expect an answer. Or better, the president could read a quoted answer from Richard Nixon. Receiving mail is one of the joys or the horrors of fame, depending on how you look at it. John Steinbeck tried to answer ever>- letter. Ernest Hemingway answered none William Faulkner didn't even read the mail Men in public life, however, develop trained reflexes, like doctors or cal burglars. Every letter is a vole. Bui Richard Nixon is now out of public life, shall we say It is hard enough to worry about letters owed pals, let alone letters ow^ kindly or unkindly strangers Spiro Ag- new managed to take care of his mail without a government subsidy All he needed was free lime. The ex-president has enough burdens without imposing the burden of politeness The ex-president will have enough to do when the Smithsonian Institution sends back his official vice presidential pap ers Wanting to go on the record has been the source of all Mr. Nixon's misfortunes. If I were he, I would use the Congress ional appropriation to hire S men to bum up or destroy everything I wrote or uttered on tape immedialelv. 4 DARK POINT OF VIEW BY "BILL' file a request to increase its earnings. Poor people would feel the hike in pocketoooKs. The full rate hike being sought by Southern Bell would hurt the small business man too. It would amount to a $62.5 million • a 10 percent increase on local telephone service charges and about 20 percent on service connection charges. HIS EYES ARE ON THE SPARROW Once in a while, a traumatic incident occurs which touches a few lives and goes unnoticed by the vast majority of fellow beings Last week, the sudden accidental death of a B-year- old boy shocked not only his parents, but his classmates in the fourth grade of the public school, and his past and present teachers. By his teachers’ account, he was not only an unusuaKy bright student, but an excep tionally well liked boy. His disposition was pleasant; his demeanor was polite and considerate, he got along well in a suburban school, where black ghetto children were bussed to achieve an "inte gration ratio. ” his 3rd and 4th grade teachers were blacx women, and he was white. His parents were willing partici pants in lb* PTA activities of the schoo. and warm support ers of the idea of 'integration.' The boy's respect for his earnings, it may spell disaster for small businesses Irving to make ends meet, uld LETTER TO THE EDITOR Things could get to a point where thousands of people would be forced to do without t^pnones * because they cannot buy food and have a telephone, too. THE ONLY WAY TO HALT INFLATION To The Editor; If you’re confused by all you read about inflation, you aren't alone; our poUlicians are jjst as much at sea. Yet it should be obvious. Income tax is one tax you see and feel because it's taken from your pay before getting it; 17 or 22 cents is taken from every dollar; that's 117 or $22 from a $100 salary. A salary has to be inflated that you have enough to live on, simple aa that. But before income tax it was hard enough to make a living because of hidden taxes added to cost of goods. If 100 years ago clothing was said to be taxed 40 percent and matches 200 percent, hidden taxation must be worse today. You now have everybody’s income tax and corporation income tax saddled on You have sales tax. Would you believe wages were $5. $10 and $1S per week in the early part of this century, and actually until World War IP Rpnt was low. food was low priced and ■ UUiiai in w hig^ages c ‘Mlvlmltodav's and "lothir nX CABOLINIAN TS« C«r*aM9'’ PaMtaM ****** TsTcw&lrfoHrtiiliit^. SU B. Itoitia Stmt BaWlffc. N«rtt CanliM tmi MattM P.o. Bm trw NMtk CataSM mil Not long agu, press reports told of a major oil company considering the purchase of a business totally unrelat^ to energy. The comtemplated transaction involved $500 million from needed ener^ development to a nonenergy-re- lated enterprise. Such outrage is untimely and ill-advised. Diversification is one avenue that many companies, large and small, have followed in a search for more stable profits. Oil companies are no exception. I'he company in question, like the rest of the oil indus^, has been confronted with a punitive political atmosphere. Prudence has com{^ed its management to consider expanding into less controversial fields than energy. A Wall Street Journal art'cle, summing up some of the problems facing the oil industry, explains this company's action in a very few words: "Isn’t Congress about to peel away the depletion allowance, carve away foreign tax credits and make other changes to mske the business less profitable? Are tbore not 3,500 bills pending before Congress that would, in greater or lesser d^ree. do the same? Isn’t the government keeping explora tion closed off the Atlantic coast?...And isn’t Senator Stevenson's scheme to have the government get into explora tion a direct threat to the private oil companies? In short, there's almost nothing the politicians haven't thought of to discourage investment in the oil business." Congressional outrage over the possibmt^ of an oil company going into the retailing business or some other business is merely anoth^ demonstra tion of political hypocrisy. Mm Trr TOTAL. i Om T«M I SMwTax TOTAl I aitaM*. A44faai lar arMa paraMa U At CABOLIN- NalUaal AivarlMlaa Raprc»«alatl«a. Maaiaer af Uw L'aMM>rM» latarsatlaMl Pka4a Aartk*. TW ra>HiAir it aal ntpiaiiak lar ika raiara al aataUcMaA aawt. pKlarn ar aAaanHIaatapy aalaM aatattary paaiaft aact4PpaaWt tita capy OptaWaa aiprattaA by cataMaitli la lAlt aaaipapar Aa aat aacaatarily raprataat ifea ptey al Iblt aaatpapar. UP TO THE PEOPLE Energy self-sufficiency, as proposed by ex-President Nixon, is technologically possible. "But,” warns Commissioner William O. Doub, of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, "dealing with public fear about the safety of using nuclear power to produce electricity and public misunderstanding about the capabilities of alternate sources to meet our growing energy needs is quite another matter. This is particularly true when critics...make almost hysterical appeals to these human emotions in their efforts to stop the use of nuclear power." Commissioner Doub drew attention, as have many other knowledgeable people, to the safety record of nuclear plants and emphasized that. "The most important job of the nuclear industry is, and has to be, 'safety'." And so far as safety is concerned, the record of the nuclear industry is unsurpassed. With regard to the growing role nuclear en&^gy will play In the overall ener^ picture, the Commissioner observed. ‘The nuclear power industry is already a major economic force with approximately $74 billion in vested in or committed to nuclear power plants. In one year, the operation of a single 1000-megawatt nuclear power plant accounts for a saving of 12 million barrels of oil. As an industry, nuclear power has matured methodically over the past 20 years and with greater attention to public health and safety than any other industry. Nuclear is an abundant, controllable energy source” When energy self-sufficien cy is discuss^ as a goal for the United States, the neart of the issue is not whether it can be accomplished, but whether the public will accept the blessings of a new technology and open the way to a higher state of civilization- HE-Nim BLMEP mmSEnOflHE IS THE SIXTIES ON HHAT HE Called *the6rowis6 sense OF rERW$SlVENESS“ANP THE RELUCTANCE OF MANY 'TO TAhE THE necessary STEPS TO CONTROL CRtNE’- I /iM ' MOSES teachers retlected the respect of his parents. In short, he was an all-around boy who gained and returned the respect of his peers. One day last week, his 4th grade teacher had given out a homework assignment which he had forgotten to bring home. His mother said she would drive him back to pick it up He was playing on his front lawn near a tree, waiting for his mother to come out. when an automobile suddenly jumped the curb and crushed him against the tree. His mother witnessed the accident as she came out the front door. The youngster never knew what hit him. My wife, who was his 3rd grade teacher last year, had often said what a pleasure it was to work with a child like him. His death, to all concerned, had seemed so unnecessary, so un<alled for and unexplainable. I thought of the plaintive voice of Ethel Waters singing: "His Eyes Are Upon the Sparrow, and I know He Watches Me” IN THE POCUNEHT HE SAIO "THE ONLY- UAY TO ATTACH CRIHE IN AMERICA IS THE WAY CRIME ' ATTACKS OUR PEOPLE - UITH - OUT PITY. OUR PROGRAM IS BASED ON THIS PHILOSPHY." -'Amts 4 wtC-fSilR ■ ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS ifcople were still able to save a dollar or so a week. Today’s can't buy as much ’s high rents, food ling, income and sales taxes. What happens to the tax money? Government gets rid oi it fast as though it were poison ivy. Actually the spmding comes first. then the printing presses turn out dollar bills with no gold or silver to back them, oiuy your tax money. The only way to halt inflation would be for government to halt all waste ful spending, halt all new armament spending, take punitive taxation off the backs of wage earners and house wives. As cost of living went up. wages and prices had to rise, too. But never catching up. as a dog seldom catches up with his tail. It isn't "unnecessary spending" on the part of the public. It isn’t any group of workmen, whose income doesn't compare with that of a Congressman , even the Presi dent's income doesn’t com pare with the unearned income of land speculators. Remember the tax ghoul who rooked a woman in Evanston over a tax lien of $54? A big fuss was made that this was robbery; but other speculators squeezed out homeowners along the path of Chicago’s Crosstown expressway, and stand to gain 1000 percent when government buys to build the road. This is unearned; this is robbery.t this is more inflation. Our Presideot correctly stated Saturday, Sept. 28. that Federal expenses far exceed our taxing capacity. But again, don't consider the low paid federal employee as being the cause, when a former president threw $14 million into fixing up his two houses, when one b^ore him squandered billions <xi useless projMls like the Rama Road in Nicaragua which runs from nowhere to nowhere through jungle which ruined the pave ment three times over, and a permanent state of war the past 40 years. We are presently supposedly at peace, out we still lavishly give away armaments and supplies to warring nations, we still maintain army installations in countries around the world Instead of holding back a federal employees pay raise, instead of raising postage from 3 cents to 10 cents, instead of "plugging loop holes" in the outrageous income tax. would it be too much to ask that these army bases and giveaways be stopped immediately in inter est of saving our country from bankruptcy. Put an end to ail Rama Koaas and runaway taxation, and we'll conquer inflation. If we don't, we’ll all Amidst the onrush of new technologies and problems, those institutions which have proved their worth in the crucible of time often turn out to be most adaptable in meeting the needs of the American people. Few would deny the value of a free and independent press. Its importance in preserving end strengthening the essential relationships and institutions of a free society has been amply demonstrated. In the United Stales, there are some 9,000 daily, weekly and semiweekly newspapers, whose pages carry the record of births and deaths, community newMnd a running account of national trials and triumphs. The newspaper remains the durable written record of the nation's history The smaller newspapers of the country, many of which were once catalogue under the label of the "country press." have become the most vital and active publications to be found among the ranks of America's newspapers. New technologies have brought high-quality printing and color features. nv’.*’8 services and national columns to their pages. Business has found them to be one of Uie most effective advertising mediums in the country. Their circulations have increased as suburbs and smaller cities have grown to absorb increases in population and the exodus from metropolitan centers. Now it appears that the nation's newspapers may take on a new and unprecedented function • that of bringing the experience of college-level education to millions of their readers who otherwise would not have a chance at higher education. A pubUcatioo of EXXON Company, U.S.A.. tells the story. It seems that the idea of linking adult education with the nvss was bom with the suggestion of Mr. Caleb A. Lewis, the University of California Extension. He asked the question of why newspapers had jiever been used to teach collie courses? Subsequently, another individual in the public affairs department of the University of California at San Diego took the idea to a veteran editor working with an organization supplying special feature material to more than 1.000 newspapers worldwide. It was agreed that 20 lectures would be printed and distributed without cost to cooperating newspapers willing to provide the necessary space. With this evidence of real interest, the "Courses by Newspaper" proposal was presented to the National Endowment for the Humanities. In this rapidly-changing world, sweeping new developments. ii> practically all areas, make it imperative to inform the people by expanding *he avenues of adult education in ways that fu into the financial resources and time requirements that limit the average person's :ibility to attend traditional college classes. As Mr. Lewis pointed out. "If higher education is to be made available to all leveLs of our society on a continuing basis, costs must be reduced not only for the taxpayer, but for the student as well...Any proposal which would lake college-level instruction to a nationwide audience al little or no cost, merits close scrutiny " No one could argue with that. and. in 1972. a grant of $96,000 was made to the I'niveisily of California al San Diego Extension to begin the "Courses by Newspaper" program Substantial additumai funds were provided by the EXXON Education Founda tion A front-page story of The Wall Street Journal publicize the effort, and "Newspaper U" was on its way By the iaii of 1973. 2SU new'spapers, with a circulation of 20 million, were carrying the lectures provided and becoming involved in the program Some of the nation's most fi distinguished educators are cooperating to"^ write the material, and it is distributed to the newspapers in a form convenient for those using even the most modern electronic typesetting equipment l^ectures are published weekly bv the newspapers It is expected that there will be three categories of students <1) Those not seeking college credits, but merely reading the material as a source of interesting information. (2) Those desiring additional education in the subjects covered, but still seeking *00 college cr^il and i3) Those using the lectures as the basis for a study program in conjunction with local cooperating colleges - including supplementary reading, self-adminis tered tests and two examinations on campus. Concerning his newspaper's enthusiastic participation in the program, the editor of the Grand Forks. North Dakota. Herald, expresses his view that the donation of space ia reasonable, considering the potential benefit to the paper's readers. As he puts it, " .Our circulation of 38,000 extends acroas nearly 900 miles of rural North Dakota and Minnesota Through us, and our partner, the University of North Dakota, teachers in small farm towns can earn advanced credit, bright high school kids can try an early taste of college, and folks with poor television reception can participate in adult education” Prison inmates, pr^et- sional people who are short nf time but nee ' further academic credits, older people unabi to attend formal classes, businessmen an homemakers who nev^ had the lime or the money to attend college in their earlier years are bMefiting from "Newspaper U ' As the EXXON Company. U S A. article concludes, the day may be coming when the paper boy on his bicycle " along with the comics, sports page and editorials " • n<g to mention the history of the day's events will also be tossing a "mim-university " onto the doorsteps of the nation's newspaper readers rotes- I antf 4 RAYS OF HOPE NO TIME TO RUSH With the cloud of Watergate and the prospect of a lengthy impeachment trial in the Senate no longer a time-consuming Congressional preoc cupation. legislative business is once again underway. With election day looming mi the horizon, some of the more highly-publicized and politically-attractive proposals are on the front burner. Though passage is now unlikely this year. National Health Insurance (NHI) has been one of these. Around 79 different bills in the NHI category, involving widely different roles for the federal government in the U.S. health care svstem. are pending in Congress. Some would virtually destroy the existing system, transforming patients into numbers and doctors into civu servants, and replacing private insurance - which already amounts to a National Health Insurance system - with a federal program. Various bills would provide coverage for certain types of medical problems, such as catastrophic illness, while others would work across a wide front in using taxpayers' funds to broaden the availability of health care services in cooperation with the hign-quality. private medical system which we already possess. It is imperative that Congress take its time in designing a National Health Insurance proposal, in conducting its hearings and in consideration of the various approaches. Tie concern, at this stage, should be 100 percent toward designing a type of federal participation and NHI that will strengthen rather than strangle those who are already delivering and funding the highest quality of medical care to the American people Medical care cannot be tree any more than anvthing else in life It must be financed by the individual receivins it throush tax dollars or through a combination of both, in which federal dollars are used to make adequate medical services available to those who would not otherwise have them. Now is not the time to rush into National Health Insurance just because some think it is "the thing to do " ITie United Stales can ill afford more political misjudgmeni that drastically affects its economic life - least of all m the field ot medicine go down the Hama Road to nowhere Robert King 329 No. K E. Kensington Ave. Chicago Illinois 60628 UNIQUE FORCE The danger of an energy crisis in the United States has not disappeared As an energy industry spokesman notes. " the national imperative remains precisely what it was during the height of last winter's embargo-re lated shortages; to develop domestic enei^y sources just as fast and as fully ^4 economically practical. " m Without a higher degree of self-sufficientEm the U.S. could well find itself al the mercy JT foreign energy suppliers. That is a distasteful and economically-unsound prospect to a nation with a heritage of independence - particularly when progress has been made in conquering the energy shortage. The public's commitment to energy conservation brought an historic decline in the national year-end electricity peak load of 1973, according to the Edis<»i Electric Institute - principal trade organization of the electric utility industry If this national trend emphasizing the wise use of energy continues, it could lead to a significant drop in energy demand growth Thus, the U S stands al a turning point. We can choose to shape our own destiny by developing domestic energy options - such as nuclear power, coal and synthetic fuels, or we can take the easy way out by relying more heavily upon foreign imports Energy self-sufficiency takes time and money , but it is really the only course of action open to an independent United States which intends to stay that way llie situation was summed up by the director of the Office of Energy ('4>nservatiun. Federal Energy Administration, when he praised the nation's utilities both as innovators of energy-saving programs and as the hope of the future. In his words. "The electrical utility industry . can be a unique force for stability ^ energy supply because it reaches into eveiyT comer of the land and - can utilize almoat every imaginable energy source...ElectnofM thus expands our options to achieve anS^ maintain stable energy systems "
The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.)
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Oct. 5, 1974, edition 1
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