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Show Ts irawQirainnieinifc DESERET NEWS SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH v.'e c'i-- F d l. iCa C'7re Cg": Ho EGhORiAL ''3 E5 PAGE vcr C: 7FC unred Sires '" D SATUPDAY, i'-i- DECEMBER New -- clay Co: C3 27, 1 9S9 For Better Environment Let's Get Organized If America is to come to grips with the challenge of upgiading the quality of man's environment, a problem outlined in the aiticle on this page. President Xixon should give this matter a high piioritv in his legislative proiiosals. But as the White House prepares a package of recommendations on this vital topic for the State of the Union Message, Congress is in danger of muddying the waters. In addition to the Cabinet-leve- l Environmental Quality oum-ithat President Xixon has oidered into being, there's 1' gislation to create two new environmental watchdog agencies within the White House: A high level three-ma- n advisoiy gioi- . and an exteutive staff office. If put into effect, these measures would complicate the heady cumbersome task of organizing the federal government to deal with environmental issues. Even if the two new offices are not formed, the organizational problem confronting Mr. Xixon will be considerable. As the Center for Political Research observes, Departments and agencies throughout the federal government already are g for money and influence in the environmental field. To eliminate duplication of effort and achieve better coordination, Secretary- Walter J. Hickel has proposed that his Department of Ii terior be expanded into a Department of Environment and Natural Resources. While such a move makes sense organizationally, a single agency in charge of environmental standards shouid be kept as free of politics as possible. The Forest Service, for example, has long resisted being removed from the jurisdiction of the Agiiculture Department and absorbed bv Interior because it feared the switch would plunge it into jXflitics and those fears don't seem entirely unfounded. Other changes seem in order. Just as the Council of Economic Advisers serves the President on economic matters, there should also be a small body of impartial experts to advise the White House on environmental questions. Congress, too, should have its own means of learning more about the problems caused by advancing technology and about the ways science and technology and provide solutions to these problems. But machinery to accomplish this wont be entirely satisfaction unless Congress also straightens out its committee system, which is highly fragmented as it relates to the environment. Moreover, from such councils and committees should come a comprehensive national policy on the environment, a policy that is now largely lacking. To be sure, there are bits and pieces of such a policy such as laws to combat air and water pollution, to acquire and develop outdoor recreation areas, and the like but there is no clear statement of goals such as Congress has proclaimed in civil rights, education, and full employment. As the Conservation Foundation observes: A national policy would undoubtedly' contribute to rational decision-makin- g on specific issues. But the lack of a comprehensive national policy' ought not to become an excuse for inattion on clear and present dangers to the environment. l corn-ctin- - Keys To The Jail Third District Co'urt is to be commended for ordering four bad bondsmen to appear before Judge Aldon J. Anderson next Friday to determine whether or not they are doing their jobs properly. Such qualifying hearings for bail bondsmen have been held only infrequently in this area in recent and to be held more regularly, considering the years roleought the important bondsmen play in the judicial process. So important is the bondsman's function that it has often been said that it is he, not the court, who actually makes the effective decisions on bail. As Judge J. Skelly Wright of the L.S. Circuit Court in Washington, D.C. once put it: Professional bondsmen, in effect hold the keys to the jail in their pockets. They determine for whom they will act as who in their judgment is a good risk. The bad risks, surety in the bondsmen's judgment, and the ones who are unable to pay the bondsmens fee remain in jail. The court and the commissioner aie relegated to the relatively unimportant chore of fixing the amount of bail. Moreover, if a bondsman writes bonds on credit with little o no collateral a defendant may not be deterred from fleeing. If the bondsman demands full collateral, he may frustrate the bail setting if the judge assumed that only the payment of a small fee would be required. Or. as a studv for the American Bar Assn, notes, if "the bondsman absolutely refuses to write a bond no matter what the circumstances, the whole bail system is undermined. With so much depending on bondsmen, close supervision Is essential to make sure they do their jobs carefully and Third District Court is wisely moving to do that. Agnew As Ambassador It is only m recent veais that U.S. vice presidents have become relatively active and influential. And Vice President Agnew is becoming one of the most active. tour of 10 Asian Agnew left Fndav on a ai d Pacif.c countries as President Xixon's personal emissary. He will visit the Philippines. Taiwan. Thailand. Xepal. Afghanistan. Malaysia. Siaga)oie. Indonesia. Austialia and New Zealand. The Constitutional role of the vice president is skimpy indeed. That document prescribes that the vice president shall preside over the Senate, cast the deciding vote when that body is equally divided, receive and ojien Electoral College lists. But the demands cf modern government have dictated that vice president only a heartbeat away from the presimust have a working knowledge of the y dency decisions. Hairy S Truman, for instance, had no knowledge of the development work being done on the atomic bomb when President Roosevelt's death so suddenly thrust him into the presidency near the end of W'oild War II. The Asian tour is a valuable opportunity for Vice President Agnew not only to enhance his political reputation, but also to learn. Since one false step, however unintentional, can seriously embarrass the U.S.. let's hope that one of the first lessons Mr. Agnew learns is that the bluntness which often senes him well at home can backfire abroad. three-week-lon- By PALL CORCORAN g Ju..n Smith grunted wren the aiaim lot sounded at 7 a.m. He r.ad had only a 'n.'u: nights s.eep. He had experienced 4 many Lt.'uJ nights since an increase of i 'e:!:ner traffic at Lo Angeles International Airport brought the loud, whistling plate low over his suburban home. Lis wife. Alary, was up a half hour ahead of him to prepare breakfast. She squeezed fren orange juice a treat for John and their two children. Sally and Jack from oranges grown in a grove spraved often with a suspected of causing diseare. Mrs. Smith piobablv had no idea that . her family statistically had a chance to become one or more of the 2.000.000 America ns wire each year are stricken with S from microbiological contamination. But at least the odds were in her favor. ' She poured milk from a quart bottle that saved her the necessity' of returning it to the store. All she had to do was to toss it in the garbage can, where it v would contribute to the billions of tons of t wa-tdiscarded each year in America. Looking out the window, John could ee hazy sunshine. As usual in the Los Angeles basin there was no wina to speak of, and it as arm more than 90 degrees. A radio T 99 v A report said there would be a smog alert. T At 8:30. John got into his ' &?TV vV old W J ' coupe to drive to woic a nine-milride. His . would be one of 4.500.000 autos dMMwaUaiZiBaadA iMm rti ROM imi r contributing to air pollution that day. In fact, his car Air bathes State Capitol Building and Salt Lake City in a dirty mist. Challenge of the 70s is to clean pollution would produce more than its share; it was without emission-inhibitindevices required blight. up such man-maon all new automobiles. Mrs. Smith, after preparing lunch for Pre-ide- nt the children in which she ured meat Xixon has explained it thl the nation that does not have its environThe Lake Erie diiemma is inevitably products that also had been exposed to way : mental troubles. cited as the best or worst example of pestiThe deterioration of the environment is cides, packed Sally and Jack info a how man wastes his water resources. DeLos Angeles is notorious for its smog, deear-olstation wagon for the ride to in large measures the result of our inability scribed by the Interior Department as the spite the fact it has the nation's only conschool. She, too, complained of the smog, as to keep pace with progress. We have beeconomic lifeblood of more than 13.000.000 certed regional effort to attack air polludid the youngsters. The boy v.as paiticular-l- y come victims of our own technological tion. Water pollution is serious in the Lake persons. Lake Erie is used as a source of annoyed because he supposed tiiat the genius. Erie basin; in the Potomac River; in the water, for recreation, commercial shipping Tuere are two basic goals for those who Delaware recess softball game would be called off. estuary, where fish no longer can and fishing and for sewage. are concerned a trout the quality of life in survive the filth and waste, and in San The Los Angeles Air Pollution Control DisThe Interior Department puts it suctrict recommends no strenuous activity of America : Francisco Bay, to mention only four points. cinctly : Man Is destroying Lake Erie . . . 1. The cities must be made livable, It is as positive as if he had put all his youngsters during a smog alert. And everywhere tiere is he necessity of just as the sb earns already polluted must be disposing of solid waste 190,000,000 By 5 o'clock, after the anticipated smog tons of energies into devising and implementing alert and with a brown haze ringing the Los made clean, the mines must be made safe garbage, trash, bottles and cans, not to the means. Angeles area. Smith was ready to head for and wavs must be found to dispose of more Steps have been taken to control water mention finding ways to junk hundreds of home. He had been concerned during the than 3.5 billion tons of waste every year, to thousands of automobiles. pollution, although the time is late. In 1965 day about a new device at the laboratory mention only a few problems. Congress passed the Water Quality Act, The turning point in man's unchecked 2. There is a need to conserve the natuemploying the laser beam, which some colpollution of his environment came when providing a blueprint for control. In effect, ral environment the paries, the streams, auto smog was identified as a hazard to the states and other jurisdictions were told leagues feared might be radioactively danto prepare standards or have gerous. That in turn reminded him that the the air itself so that man may enjoy health rather than the subject of countless family's color television set. an older broader recreational opportunities without jokes by Hollywood comedians. The first the federal government do the job for them. Other things are happening in the strugmodel, needed inspection to make sure it spoiling the natural habitat while at the real awareness of air pollution as a health same time improving the quality of y was not radioactive. He had been reading menace, however, did not result from a gle to make life livable today and in the life. future: concern about auto, or photochemical, reports on seme early models that were. W 1. In Jure Interior Secretary Hickel have abured. exploited and deWhen he arrived home. Smith found that smog. Instead, it was a 1948 Donora. Pa., announced an his daughter was feeling ilL She had been stroyed . . . We have upret the balance of disaster in which 20 persons died and hunpolicy directive retsaid nature. the for National Interior Park ServHickel. new a dreds guideline ailwere more ill ting for antibiotic made Secretary because given acute'y respiratory We have filled in our bays and our marshice. with emphasis on providing Dew recreof a combination of unusual weatlier condiment But the family doctor, after a iare es where valuable sea life begins . . . The tions and fumes from factories. ation opportunities for city dwellers. Tire house visit, discontinued the medicine beAmerica of today was shaped by man. But Dr. Hartley Motley of Los Angeles, a service stresses the use of parks for recreacause of apparent adverse side effect. is it the America wv want to leave for the member of the city's environmental health tion without disturbing the wildlife environThe evening meal, consisting of prement. foods from attractively colored but generations to committee, does not rule out the possibility pared 2. Hie Health. Education and Welfare His predecessor Udall. wrote a year of a far more serious disaster in a major bulky packages, was a pleasant diversion. American Department, This through its consumer protecif is so The Smiths had invested in a small earlier that the need for a new national particuJaly city. unit and it gave them relief attitude toward our environment has grwn stops are not taken to control the release of tion and environmental health service. Is from the summer heat. After dinner, and until today it is an absolute necessity for sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide into the taking an active role in establishing policy for control and eradiction of pollutants and air. despite the noisy interruption of the jet human survival. We cant guarantee we might not have in seeking higher standards for mine workThere are genera! statements and might planes every few minutes, the Smiths ers as well as for workers in other occupaa disaster, he said, noting the almost painwatched television for a couple of hours. be passed off as typical of politicians and ful absence of knowledge about minimum tions. The service also educates the public At bedtime. Smith opened the window of officials who always v :ev with alarm, and industry to some of the major steps standards. the bedroom despite the sounds of the jets even wrhen it comes to concern over walking that must be taken to fullfill the national Under certain conditions, with a bad and the blaring of a rock 'n roll record on the grass of the courthouse lawn. But inversion purpose. to and the of blow absence wind on the stereo statistics bear them out In fact, they make played by a teenage neighbor. 3. Increased pollutants away, New York City could be It was a routine day for a family familiar them appear to be understating. expenditure of private confronted with a crisis that defies analymoney, particularly m Los Angeles and with the sights and sounds of Los Angeles. Here are some examples: sis. Fortunately for the city, however, that Dtaoit through conversion by industry to The Smiths are not flesh and blood but 1. Toxic matter is being released into natural gas. has dramatically reduced facthe air over the U.S. in the form of carbon situation has not developed. they could be. and each of the frustrations, air pollution. Hie auto industry, tory challenges and choices confronting them monoxide, sulfur dioxide and any other by Congress and state legislatures, spurred over a be sources those could the of at faced more than rate period 142,000.000 is putting millions of dollars into also of America's 200.000,000 persons. tons a year. That is by any of a ton research to further improve Each situation could happen; and for each for every American. The poisonous waste and to develop alternative power devices hypothetical situation there are a score comes from mere than 90.000,000 motor plants. or more alternatives. vehicles, many of them old autos with no Udall. one of the most active conservaBut as readily identifiable as these situadevices of any kind to inhibit pollution of tionists ever to hold the office of interior tions are. the public has been slow to recogthe air. and from municipal dumps, power secretary, believes the environmental probnize them as part of a complete landscape. plants, factories, ancient ghetto incinerators lem is so important that the nation must It is the total landscape that makes for the and furnaces. not fall back comfortably on the team 2. Drinking water, despite a 1965 federal quality or despair of their lives. approach. The conservation goal of America's control law. is either substandard or of mePerhaps the most sorely needed indithird century as a nation. said former Indiocre quality in many places in the nation. viduals today, he said, are the discrimiterior Secretary Stewart t'dall mut be Charles C. Johnson Jr., administrator of nating critics' who may be members of any the development and protection of a quality the Health, Education and Welfare Departof the myriad social groups united for this environment which serves both the ments new consumer protection and envior that social function . . . Out of these demands of nature for ecological balance ronmental health service, reported that groups, with single, selfish goals, must and the demands of man for social and there are more than 19,000 communities come individuals who can find, somehow, balance. where public water supplies serve 58.000.0fJ0 the means and the mass courage to define For the first time American govern- persons but that are not covered bv U.S. and accept humanistic as well as technologment. industry and some of her citizens are Public Health Service standard. ical goals." 3. the 2.000.000 that An of estimated Americans a grasping magnitude assignment Unless that challenge is met. Americans And it is about time: by the year 2000. the year are stricken with illness from microone day find the air of their cities immay IS. population is expected to reach a biological contamination of food. to breathe without masks; their possible 331.000.000. 4. Each year, at least 100.000 Americans staggering unfit to drink; their sidewalks water There is irony in the fact that many of are killed in accidents, with 52.000.000 others dogged with garbage, and noire so loud it the nation's mo- -t pressing problem- - air. injured. Many mishaps occur on the job in will make a rock 'n roll band sound like a wa'er and noire pollution, wa-t- e disposal a setting that cannot be Isolated from the church choir. and job hazards are direct or indirect retotal environment. A job has to be done, but so long as indisults of scientific and technological progAlthough the problems vary from region is war REALLY that bad?" viduals and tlie government remain silent, "General, ress. to region, there is hardly a single part of Cn490 Tote? little is likely to change. i & , es 1 - s a r e t de 2-- v d water-qualit- y day-to-da- GUEST CARTOON three-quarte- rs smog-inhibitin- g a! There Is A Scientific Basis For Moral Principles An eta of nonrenre may be coming to an end in America just in the nick of time. As our crime rates nxket and the level of civil drug-takin- ra rlres commotion, and g gen-- e misbehav ior like a tidal bore, a number of psy chiatrists and are p s c h o legist coming around lo a new appreciation of a very old idea M o iality makes 1 JENKiN LLOYD JONES He ha laid down the following precepts: Behavioral science which ignores moral decisions is grossly inadequate. Hie average individual only uses a tiny portion of his creative, realistic and mature potential. Man needs and approval from others', and he usually has an innate bias in favor of freedom, justice and self-respe- It also has a lot to do with mental health and happiness. day-to-da- r Clhofilleini! Fcr a long time American psychiatry and the social sciences have been preoccupied with Freudian theories of suppressed rex drives and wounded libidos. From this it was often argued that people were really not responsible for antisocial behavior and that only after exhaustive analyses of their psyches could they be straightened out. But Dr. Abraham Maslow has iecog-1ize- d tl;at the en'ort to excure the errant a.nd to comfort tire unruly paying off. j"'t achievement. There is a scientific basis for moral principles and it is rooted in human nature. Dr. Henry Link, the clinical psychologist, says that, contrary to the behaviorist theory that high moral standards meat repression, frustration, nervous illness and unhappiness, most people with high ideals are better adjusted to life than the swingers. Another psychiatrist. Dr. Edward R. Pinckney, is bluer. I hope," he has written. that the world will return to the belief in love, ideals, good taste and courtesy books that have been burned by the Feu-dia- n inquisition." Dr. O. Hobart MowTer, former president of the American Psychological Assn., writes: We have good reason to believe that psychopathology, instead of stemming from inexpressed sex and hostility, comes rather from an outraged conscience and a violated sense of human decency and responsibility. One interesting contrast is the difference in the effectiveness of the Alcoholics Anonymous program on problem drinkers as compared to psy chotherapy. AA has a highly moralistic approach that wastes little time in worrying how the alcoholic became one or in clucking sympathetically over his plights. It permits the member to cough up his guilt and concentrate on the business. the new program Synanon, for drug addicts based on AA theories, claims that more than half its members are cured by as against a 10 per cent cure rate by other methods. Tom Patton of Synanon states: We do not begin with a presumption of sickness, as has virtually all psychological orientation since Freud. Instead, we assume that people behave badly not becaure self-hel- p but becaure they they are ill, or . . . drug addicts are much more addicted to stupid ways of thinking and acting than they are to drugs. Dr. Efren E. Ramirez, who has had unusual success with addicts in Puerto Rico, says: The typical addict has a weak seme of responsibility, little commitment to anyone or anything. His life is dismally disorganized and he can't seem to learn from his failures. The addict's problem results from a fundamental but treatable character disorder. Overly permissive parents produce guilt d and in children who know they have misbehaved without punishment. Marquis James, in his great biography of Sam Houston, tells how the former congressman and governor of Tennessee became an outcast on the frontier and gradually descended into chronic drunkeness at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory. The events leading up to his sudden rehabilitation were complicated, but James put the essence in a simple sentence: There comes a time when a man must stand up. Maybe modern psychiatry is about to make that discovery, and we will quit coddling and cooing as our society slides toward chao. are stupid self-hatre- i. S |