THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1973
THE LANCE
staff
Editor Marshall Gravely
Associate Editors Skip Taylor
Tim Tourtelotte
Sports Editor Bill Wilmot
Circulation Manager Cathe Lamont
Advisor ' Mr. Fowler Dugger
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unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the staff.
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No News Is Bad News
A couple of items this week--the general mood, and its
particular consequences.
You may notice in this week’s Lance that there is not much
news of what’s happening on campus. There is a very simple
reason for this. Not much is happening. It seems that this se
mester has not yet produced much news, or even much gossip.
Is this unusual, or is it the same as always? I think it is much
the same as it has been In the past, only more so. Several
of our traditions are growing weaker, and several are already
dead.
I don’t mean to be cynical, but it seems that the very co
hesiveness that has marked the S. A. community in the past is not
as strong this year. Mayl)e it’s not here anymore. I may l>e wrong
alx)ut this, and I hope I am. If not, it seems bad times are
ahead for us.
One consequence of what I'm talking about has to do with
last week’s conference for C&C 402 on Urbanization. The at
tendance at these meetings, even among seniors, was especially
poor, which is unfortunate, since two of the speakers were
quite good, and worth going to see even if urbanization is not
one of your major concerns.
Other examples come to mind rather easily. Student govern
ment, athletics, and other speaker events all suffer from a lack
of interest and participation. Career Day last week was some
what more successful than it had been last year, but the alumni
who came to help students with what should be a major area of
concern--jobs--went largely unnoticed.
I’m getting as tired of writing about apathy as you must be get
ting of reading about it. Nevertheless, the problem is there, and
If we Ignore it, It only will get worse, I don’t have any answers for
“P problem before
It destroys what community we have left.
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THE LANCE
page two
c
"I THINJK THEY CAUL IT 'PeACE WITH HONORf'"
Workers Also Seek Consumer
Comforts In Chinese Future
by Gordon White
Mr, White recently spent 15
months studying in Hong Kong
and China, as a graduate stu
dent from Cornell University.
PEKING—DNSI—China, as
anyone from Chou En-lai on
down will tell you, is stiU a
relatively poor country. How
ever, many visitors are struck
by an atmosphere of economic
well-being, particularly in the
big cities. Department stores
are well-stacked with a large
variety of goods, and they are
crowded with customers. Win
dow shopping during free time
Is a favorite pastime among
the urban Chinese, Stores are
open on Sundays, the workers’
usual day off.
Ordinary Chinese people,
like the average American,
are quite interested in ma
terial goods and are careful,
comparative shoppers. When
someone liked a Chinese-style
jacket which I wore, there was
not any hesitation in asking
where I had bought it, and how
much it cost. “That dacron
jacket will outlast two cotton
jackets,” one worker told me
approvingly.
Miners of the Fushun mines
in Liaoning province—one of
the largest mines in the
world—talked of the material
advantages of their present
life. “When the mines were
controlled by the Japanese,”
said one of the miners, “It
was an 'economic crime’ even
to eat rice. Now we eat well,
have comfortable housing and
such things as bicycles,
radios, sewing-machines and
watches.”
How does a socialist China
meet the demands of its hun
dreds of millions of consu
mers? Each year a commer
cial plan is drawn up in the
central Commerce Ministry in
Peking. The basic task of this
plan Is to balance purchasing
power with goods available.
The latter is determined from
the State’s agricultural and In
dustrial production plans.
Calculations of national
purchasing power are based
on the wages of industrial wor
kers, the salaries of govern
ment employees and the cash
income of the peasants, who
sell their agricultural pro
ducts to the state.
Even though a comprehen
sive plan is drawn up only
once every 12 months, ad
justments are made every
quarter. For example, when
commodity sources have be
come greater than purchasing
power, commerce depart
ments have three options; to
stockpile, to restrain produc
tion, or to stimulate demand
through cutting prices.
In considering a price cut,
political factors are foremost.
Take radios for example. The
Cultural Revolution brought
many more Chinese into
closer contact with the mass
media. There were obvious
political, cultural and econo
mic benefits in increasing the
supply of transistor radios.
Radio production moreover,
had recently increased quite
rapidly. The Commerce
Bureau was thus able to sti
mulate demand by cutting
prices.
However, according to Sung
K’e-ren, an official in the
Commerce Ministry’s central
office, the role of such price
changes Is limited. ‘ ‘Our main
policy,” he said, “is to keep
prices stable.”
If commodity sources are
insufficient, commerce d e -
partments cannot raise prices
at .will. They ask industrial
bureaus to increase produc
tion, or they implement ra
tioning procedures. In China
at the momant there is a
shortage of cotton, but since
cotton cloth is a daily neces
sity for the people, prices
cannot be raised. Rationing
was introduced, according to
Sung, "to prevent speculators
making profits and to make
sure that working people have
sufficient clothes.” He added;
“Living standards are not high
in China, but basic necessities
are met.
Rubber shoes are also con
sidered a basic necessity.
When I visited a rubber shoe
factory in Hunan province
which depended on imported
rubber, I was told emphati
cally that the price of shoes
would not go up even if the
price of rubber rose on the
international market.
In the case of some com
modities, putting such politi
cal considerations first means
that the state loses money.
State profits are low on daily
necessities, watches and, at
least until recently, radios.
Necessary commodities in
clude foodstuffs, clothes and
drugs.
The price of medicines was
slashed by 37 per cent in 1969
as part of a Cultural Revolu
tion movement to increase
production of medicines and
expand the medical services
available to the people, par
ticularly in the countryside.
“One injection of peaicillin
cost the equivalent of 44 cat
tles (about 66 poimds) of flour
at the time of Liberation,”
one commerce official told
me, “but now it only costs
the equivalent of one catty
(about 1 1/2 pounds).” Some
pharmaceutical products de
signed for family planning are
distributed free of charge.
Basic economic factors are
also taken Into account inset
ting prices— the cost of pro
duction, administrative costs
and the “profits” which in
dustrial and commercial de
partments are expected to
generate for the state. But,
said Sung, the main factor is
the political one; “Are prices
beneficial to the worker-pea-
sant alliance and do they con
tribute to equal exchange be
tween agriculture and indus
try.”
Relative prices of industrial
and agricultural products are
a key factor here. In an in
terview with the provincial
agricultural department of
Hupeh, we were told that
prices for industrial pro
ducts for sale in the coun
tryside had been getting lower
recently, while prices for ag
ricultural commodities have
remained stable or risen. For
example, prices of such in
dustrial products as agricul-
tural machinery, chemical
fertilizer, kerosene and in-