Brownwood Bulletin (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 281, Ed. 1 Monday, September 10, 1973 Page: 4 of 12
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EDITORIALS
By Bruce Biossat
Tre
President needs to be in' politics
To obey or
not to obey
RAY CROMLEY
Poison in the pot?
By RAY CROMLEY
The Postman Rings Twice
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Studies of actual
spending needed
Tapes can’t prove
Nixon innocence
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$8,111 billion
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7
BROWNWOOD BULLETIN
“Now Why Didn’t I Think of That?”
2
way a democracy can work
"We must start regarding the president as a politician
once more A president cannot and should not avoid being
openly political. A president in a democracy has to act politi-
cally if we are to have any semblance of government by the
consent of the governed - that is, he must negotiate be-
tween groups compromise differences and find acceptable
alternatives "
The last words contain a description of "politician" better
than anything m Webster and constitute a goal we had bet-
ter start working toward instead of indulging in cynicism
or despair
Home cost lead
inflation spiral
By Don Oakley
L
§
question still true
By JIMMY R ALLEN
SAN ANTONI O—In an intriguing story in the Old Testament
(2 Kings 4:38-41) the prophet Elisha discovers that the pot
containing food for his followers has poisoned herbs in it. The
cry is "Oh, man of God there is death in the pot” By a miracle
the poison is counteracted.
The serious observer of todays community finds a similar
cry wrung from his inner spirit. There is the smell of death in
the pot our nation is consuming. Something needs to be done to
counteract it.
The poison of perverted and permissive sexual food en-
dangers our communities. A group of concerned citizens
brought to my office this week the results of a survey of what to
gping on si the porno news stands and movie houses in our city.
The twisting of human sexuality into sadism, brutality, and
perversion is sickening. A petition is being circulated asking
dtizens to express their support for local community stan-
dards which reject the sale and distribution of "written or
graphic representations or recorded instances" of sexual
intercourse, sodomy, masochism, sadism, exhibitionism,
homosexualism, and lesbianism. It is worthy at support as an
expression of profound concern over the poison of pornography
in our citizen's diet.
There are other equally deadly poisons. The depicting of
brutality and violence is obscene. It portrays the wtong
solutions to problems of conflict. Violence has been a part of
the human scene from the time Abel was murdered by Cain.
However, it should not be glorified to our young as a way to
behave.
The poison of escapism is a subtle and deadly one. In a world
geared to feeling good every pain becomes the occasion for a
pill or a drink Drug abuse is becoming a way of life for an
alarming number of our citizens. Lucia Mouat warned
recently in the Christian science Monitor, that there is little to
rejoice over in the increasing signs that many young people
are turning from hard drugs to alcohol. She cites Dr. Morris
Chafetz, Director of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism, as saying that alcohol is our number one drug
problem in death,'diseased, destruction, and shattered lives
(Christian Science Monitor 71373)
The danger is that we will be so acclimated to the poison
gradually added to our community’s diet that we will have a
deadly dose before we are aware of it The answer lies in
becoming informed, interested, and involved in finding and
applying the antidotes Christ offers before it is too late This
antidote is both a new life within and a vigilance without The
time for talking is past Action is essential for health to be
restored to our society it beg ins with me-and you.
WASHINGTON (NEA)
To this reporter, the most disturbing feature of govern-
ment today is that the Congress has no way of effectively
checking on the quarter trillion dollars the federal depart-
ments and bureaus spend each year
Today for example, no one in Congress knows for certain
whether we are spending too much money for defense or too
little and whether what is being spent is used most effec -
tively
ARICS
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If the President was a participant in Watergate matters in
any way, the closest and most perceptive listening might not
produce anything conclusively damaging in the event he
spoke for the tapes in the above-suggested cautionary fash-
ion •
Furthermore, as some excitable observers appear to have
forgotten, the tapes — for all their stated purpose as a
means of recording vital history — come nowhere near cov-
ering the totality of Mr Nixon's official presidential life
Who needs a primer-lesson in the number of opportunities he
had on any given day to speak out of taping range’’
The same goes for the 380 billion a year for Health. Edu-
cation and Welfare and the millions spent by the Veterans
Administration, by Agriculture, by the Agency for Interna-
tional Development, by Interior, by the National Aeronau-
tics and Space Administration — and so on down the line
Talk to a congressional staffer and he moans. The Penta-
gon tells us they need so much equipment for so many
squadrons But we have no way of knowing whether they
need the units, whether this is the right equipment, or
whether we should hold off for awhile until some new re-
search pans out."
Monday September 10, 1973
K « BRUCE BIOSSAT
WASHINGTON 1NEA1
However the issue of the Nixon tapes is finally revolved
this central point ought to be understood
They might conceivably prove his guilt but there is no way
they could establish beyond question his innocence of the
Watergate affair, either in its coverup stage or before
- for guilt to be demonstrated the President would have
had to do the unlikely In full awareness of the taping speak
to others in blunt English that made his involvement unmis-
takable
Congress does not have the staff to adequately study even
the major multibillion-dollar proposals which come before it
to determine whether they are needed, adequately planned
and free of fat Or whether other programs aimed at the
same objectives would be more effective, or cost less to
achieve the same ends
The Library- of Congress research service and the General
Accounting Office perform some of these functions But they
are so understaffed they can only pick at the surface The
GAO does its work. in the main on programs already in ef-
fect its investigations normally do not include proposals
Yet it is obvious that the time to halt wasteful, ineffective
programs is before they start
li /
Data from the federal Office of Revenue Sharing show
that more than 38,000 units of government have received a
total of $8 131 billion since the general revenue sharing pro-
gram was instituted in 1972
One-third of all shared revenues go directly to the M state
governments. notes Commerce Clearing House, with the
remainder divided among local units of government It re-
ports that the largest amounts of money distributed to state
governments so far are New York. $301 million. California,
$288.5 million; Pennsylvania, $141.8 million. Illinois, $139.6
million, Texas. $127.7 million; Michigan, 8114 8 million, and
Ohio. 3108 5 million
On a percentage basis, 36 per cent of the total s8-plus bil-
lion has gone to cities and towns. 25 per cent to counties, 5
per cent to townships (found in only 21 states) and 1.2 per
cent to Indian tribes and Alaskan native villages
When the five-year revenue sharing program has been
completed, a grand total of 830 2 billion w have been re-
turned to state and local units of government by the Office
of Revenue Sharing
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iSi
So while the tape controversy is both interesting and im-
portant. it is not necessarily crucial to the determination of
the President s role in and knowledge of Watergate (if any)
As I noted in an earlier report, it is believed in knowledgea-
ble circles that they may be more decisive in cases affecting
some of the key White House and re-election committee sub
ordinates
As it pertains to Mr Nixon s conduct with respect to Wat-
ergate. is this, then, how matters must be left?
The answer naturally is "no " The Senate Ervin commit-
tee s report may decide to say a little or a lot about his pre-
sumed role as it wades through the reams of testimony it is
compiling on Watergate
Nor should it be forgotten that the mandate given the Jus-
tice Department s special prosecutor, Archibold Cox. reach
es beyond amassing evidence and seeking indictments and
convictions of many of the well-advertised suspected or ad-
mitted participants in Watergate
Cox is directed to prepare a final report on his inquiry
and authorized to submit interim reports As he sifts through
his own mountains of evidence, there is nothing to prevent
him from setting down his own assessment of Mr Nixon's
role in theory it might make slight impact Then again it
might be absolutely devastating and undo the President
G°?
k»
ll he was involved and waspver that rash it is difficult to
imagine courts to the contrary notwithstanding that any
prosecutor or investigator is ever going to get the chance to
hear the damaging words from Mr Nixon s own mouth
We can never forge however that in any conversation he
held in the taping areas (Oval Office, etc.). he alone in
each and EVERY instance knew the recording was being
made
Thus he could in all such instances, speak in whatever
way suited his mood or his judgment of necessity — guard
edly, with disarming casualness that might make firm or
ders sound like tentative proposals or even just rambling
comment or in the peculiar coded language that often does
not have to be carefully devised but simply develops between
a man and his close advisers
In the aftermath of the Vietnam war, the country is in the
throes of a grave constitutional question; When and to what
extent may a president as commander in chief, take the na
tion into war without a declaration from Congress?
That the question carries frightening implications is sug-
gested by an interchange between Sen Harold E Hughes, D-
lowa, and Adm Thomas H Moorer, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, during the latter’s recent testimony before
the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Noting that, by law passed by Congress and signed by
President Nixon, the bombing of Cambodia was to cease by
Aug. 15. Hughes asked:
"If the law is clear and the President gives an order to
bomb, what would you do?"
Moorer: "I would carry out that order. I do not expect
that to take place, but if I get a direct order, of course, I
would have to comply with it.”
Hughes: "At what point would you disobey?”
Moorer: "I don't see one on the horizon. I would have to
obey the commander in chief or obey someone else I hope
that nobody ever puts a military man in that position."
But military men have been put in that position, in Moor-
er's lifetime A lot of them were hanged because of it. In a
place called Nuremburg.
The government departments and bureaus have staffs of
tens of thousands to call on up and down the line in prepar
ing their proposals and millions to spend in studies by pr
rate think tanks
Congress needs equivalent resources A larger number of
research assistants for one And the House and Senate must
on a regular basis let major contracts out to research groups
independent of government for thorough studies of spending
proposals and investigations into the results of-major pro-
grams after they ve been in effect for a year or two
We are of course talking about more than a waste of mon-
ey important as that is We are speaking about whether the
objectives we have set for our government are being met
The hearings Congress holds on the spending proposals of
the various departments are often ludicrous Senators and
congressmen lacking information frequently don t know
what questions to ask They are snowed by diagrams, charts,
figures and lengthy statements of justilication and objec-
tives
Independent institutions, such as Brookings, have attempt-
ed to fill the gap in some instances, making suggestions of
what could be cut or changed, if Congress had a mind to
Though there are some exceptions these studies too are
usually somewhat thinly manned Too often they are heavy
with a variety of opinions, not hard facts Intricate formulas,
erudite statements and a variety of figures are imperative —
but quite often hide a paucity of real information
Webster defines a politician as being, among other things
"a schemer. an intriguer."
Although this definition is marked as "obsolete " it is a
fair certainty that if a poll were taken among Americans
today, a heavy majority would opt for this meaning rather
than another one listed by Webster - "one versed or experi-
enced in the science of government a statesman. "
Watergate, of course, is chiefly responsible for the fact
that the word politician has taken on such unsavory connote
lions Also, behind much of the reaction against the Senate s
inquiry into the scandal is the belief that it has degenerated
into a political smear campaign against the President, who
should be "above politics "
President Nixon is reading this popular mood accurately
when he says that it is time to leave the matter to the courts
and let him get on with the "urgent business of the nation
Yet in the opinion of one student of the presidency, what
has gone wrong with the White House is that too many presi-
dents have tried to bold themselves above politics - or at
least give that impression — rather than engage in it deeply
enough
The process of political bargaining is the only way to keep
the White House in touch with reality, argues Thomas Cro-
nin. a fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Insti-
tutions. in an interview with the editors of The Washington
Monthly
Whenever policy is being set, the president ought to con-
sider objections and arguments But the structure of his own
White House staff, says Cronin, virtually guarantees that
they will never raise the objections to him This makes it all
the more important for him to take part in political negotia-
tion
But because the president would look bad if he participat-
ed in party politics, his aides must go through grotesque con-
tortions to prove that their boss never had a political thought
in his life
Cronin offers the last campaign as an example In deciding
to do what most people lauded - keep himself "above poli-
tics" — Mr Nixon was able to ignore the local politicians
and set up his own Committee to Re-elect the President
From a management point of view, it had great advan-
tages Everything was under control, everyone obeyed or-
ders Yet CREEP did things which the national committee
would never have authorized
By agreeing that the president becomes more "presiden-
tial" when he drifts above the compromise and negotiation
of the political process, we acquiesce in a general debase
ment of the value of politics, says Cronin
"Certainly there are dishonest men in government, but we
forget that there is a clean politics. and that it is the only
geef "
Anyone who has been home shopping lately needn’t be told
that the price of homes has been climbing more steeply than
anything else
According to a fact book just issued by the United States
Savings and Loan League, residential construction costs rose
by 35 4 per cent in the five years ending in 1970, compared
with a 2.1 per cent increase in the consumer price index
The trend was accentuated hi 1972. when consumer prices
rose bv 3 3 per cent while home building costs climbed by 9.8
per cent, despite Phase II
The result was that the median sales price of a new home
in 1872 averaged 827.200. compared to 325.2M in 1871 and
818 000 in 19635 Only 2 per cent of homes had a sales price of
less than 315 000
Not only are Americans who want to buy a home in a fix.
but so are those who want to sell an existing one. The prob-
lem for the latter is finding someone who can get a mort
gage
Because of the government's decision to fight inflation
with high interest rates, the rates on various types of market
investments have risen to the point where they are diverting
substantial sums from home financing institutions and the
mortgage market Bankers call this disintermediation' —
the outflow of savings deposits into higher paying invest-
ments
We have all been through this before, comments Irving
Rose, president of Advance Mortgage Corp. "The only sub-
ject for wonder is how deep the decline in housing this tune,
how soon the recovery."
From an "unsustainable peak " in the first quarter of this
year, notes Rose. the annual rate of housing starts declined
13 per cent in the second quarter He now predicts a 20 per
cent drop in the annual rate in the second half
One way Americans are meeting the housing problem is
by moving into mobile homes in increasing numbers
During 1872. nearly 600,000 new single-family dwellings
were provided by mobile homes - nearly one out of three of
all single-family units constructed
2"-
358 3x
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Fisher, Norman. Brownwood Bulletin (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 281, Ed. 1 Monday, September 10, 1973, newspaper, September 10, 1973; Brownwood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1575357/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Brownwood Public Library.