Show EditorialsOpinion A Good iNewnpaper Ik The ('oiiNrienec ‘Of Iik The Unhealthy Cost Of Prescriptions Community The Herald Journal's Opinion ByJickAndenou With tos Whitten WASHINGTON The nation’s doctors collectively if not always - that has been made to the Maryland legislature would seem to exceed that limit A proposal Because very few black law school graduates pass the state’s bar examination several black lawyers and civil rights activists have proposed that these graduates be permitted to practice law without taking the qualifying exam administered by the state board of bar examiners Law schools have lowered their standards of admission to the point where today blacks have to be only as qualified as white law school applicants said Francis J two-thir- 1 individually have a dismaying Injustice To Majority Even with the best will in the world there is a limit to what the nation can do to compensate for past injuries to blacks and other minorities without beginning to do real injustice to the community at large Lonn Utah Tuesday Hrck ! 1W The Herald joumd- -l Merry-Go-Roun- free nedical drawings chaits and ana tony models to grateful doctors Eli Lily gives a free stethescope to freshnrn medical students Of course all of this is added to the price tha the patients must pay for their dngs Thus the doctors indirectly benefit from high drug prices j d tendency to put profits ahead of their patients The doctors’ lobby has joined forces with the pharmaceutical Monahan of association the state bar “Now they want to do away with the bar exam" There should be no minimizing the problems blacks face as they attempt to make up for decades of injustice and discrimination Yet if it were a question of the licensing of doctors no one would have dared make this kind of proposal No one black or white would care to place his health in the hands of a physician who was not fully qualified It should be the same with any other profession It has to be if a license or degree is to have any value at all To license black lawyers solely on the basis of their race would not only be a bizarre form of reverse discrimination it would be doing no favor either to them or their prospective clients industry for example to keep the price of drugs as high as the market will bear tower prices would make it possible for more poor patients to afford the drugs they need The price at the prescription counter you see has little to do with the cost of manufacturing drugs The pharmaceutical companies simply charge all they can squeeze out of their customers The brand-nam- e drugs which these big companies produce are usually available at far lower prices under their generic names A drug like Darvon for example can be purchased at half the price if it is identified by its chemical composition rather than its brand name Yet most doctors still go on prescribing brand-nam- e of Health Education and Welfare In late 1973 he introduced a "Maximum Allowable Costs” program which would require the government to pay the lowest possible price for drugs The program would be administered by a board which would make price lists available to doctors pharmacists and consumers across the country These price sheets would list the comparable prices of brand-nam- e drugs and their generic equivalents The companies that offered the cheapest drugs of course would get the government’s business This not only would save the taxpayers an annual $75 million but would probably bring down the price of all drugs For the price information would be available to nongovernment patients as well The doctors should be on the side of their patients particularly the poorer patients who cannot afford expensive medicines Yet the American Medical Association representing the doctors is opposed to the new program drugs Uncle Sam alone could save $75 million a year if doctors were required to prescribe drugs at the lowest possible price for their Medicare and Medicaid patients The prospect of such a huge saving impressed Caspar Weinburger the former Secretary budget-conscio- cost-cuttin- which is supposed to go into effect on April 26 The drug companies of course have also been pressuring key Senators and Congressmen to block COZY CRONIES: As a member of the Joint Committee on Defense Production Sen John Tower is supptsed to investigate the cozy rdationsaips that have grown up between defense contractors and govemmmt officials Yet Tover himself has a cozy relationship with Rockwell International's ihairman A1 Rockwell who has contributed to his campaigns Theyslso served together on the national board of the Kappa Sigma fraternty The commitee recently held hearings on fockwell's hunting lodge where he cozy military-industri- the program For example Senators Herman Talmadge and D-- Clifford Hansen have written to President Ford urging that the program be postponed until the economic effects can be studied Others like Sen Gaylord Nelson and Congressman Ben Rosenthal have been pushing for its implementation The drug companies can’t find many Members of Congress brash enough to argue against saving money on drug purchases The companies therefore are willing to settle for a series of postponements Patients with high medical bills may not easfiy understand why their doctors would help the drug producers maintain Pike's Peak prices For one thing the drug companies spend enormous sums to woo the doctors The various companies give away free drugs free medical textbooks is D-N- Y al relaticiships have been nurtured Tower mickly wound up as the defender iistead of the investigator of Rockwell Footnote: Tie Senator that he and Rockwell are personal friends Despite their friendship Tower said ie had fought against Rockwell's acknowledged (c) United Feature Syidicate ( Letters To The Editor World Press - do we come in contact with people who have it and share it Zoning To the Editin': Thank you for the excellent report in the February 27 newspaper headlined: More Hearings Expected On Master Plan I trust you will continue to give us such good coverage May I ask for one addition? Would it be possible to place a bin near such articles in a format that is easily recognized in which a very short description of the various zone categories is included ie Rl R2 R2A etc I believe that such a guide plus the helpful explanations used by Mr Findlay in the body of the text of your Friday article would be a great help to many of your readers W Whitney Smith Logan Christianity a To the Editor: I am so very grateful to you for printing the information given by the Associated Press in "The Story They Wouldn’t Touch” Is there any address where copies can be obtained of the top story of the year? My own experiences are similar and I really am interested in Church History and Qiristian History As I learn of the primitive teachings of Girist the cause if the Great the need for Apostacy restoration of truth and what we have to accept now as church doctrine I am apunat the palled christian changes I am repeatedly told I have no right to ask questions If I do not agree it is my duty to keep silent Leadership and dictatorship are extreme opposites Li my dictionary and belief am furious when I have to listen to preachers with the ideas that Mormon women are not eligible to receive wisdom and inspiration from Infinite Intelligence We are supposed to do the works of Christ in compassionate services but without anything to do with His Power I Christians would not tempt to do anything ridiculous When I at- so read missionary discussion lessons I feel that some of them are an insult to human intelligence I am not surprised at the high percentage of converts who ‘jerome unconverted Nothing can be said in or desire to improve conditions for activities and fellowship We have to accept everything and anything that is preached as bonafide gospel or we get the silent treatment self-defen- Where do we learn the everyday value of being born the reason for living the of the Birth purpose Atonement and Resurrection of Christ for all mankind? How i n Foreign Editors Are Saying courageously and generously? We cannot speak and live the truth silently Rhoda Thurston Hyde Park (Editor's note: The three Associated Press articles on LDS Church finances were published in the Idaho State Sept Journal Pocatello the Idaho Boise the Idaho Statesman Falls r His visit following so closely on President Ford’s is precisely intended as a mark of Chinese displeasure at Washington's current policy The Chinese think that Mr Nixon belongs among those Americans who look across the Pacific and see the Far East as an area of first importance rather than looking across the Atlantic toward that is the message Europe — The Times London ( independent ) and the Blackfoot News as well as other newspapers in other states If a person wanted to read the full series he would have to find back copies of one of these newspapers As far as we can are not determine they available in any Cache Valley library As we noted in our Valley Magazine article the AP series did not run in any Utah newspaper However David Briscoe and Bill Beecham the AP reporters who wrote the series reportedly have done a similar article for the current issue of Utah Holiday magazine We should note that the letter to the editor above as well as the one which follows do not comment upon the main theme of Friday's Valley Magazine article Anyone who read our magazine should have perceived that the article was not a criticism of the church it was a criticism of the Utah news media for being too timid to print a controversial news series about the church) Church Wealth To the Editor: Some people have an almost morbid curiousity about IJ)S Church financial matters Others seem reluctant to speak or even to think on the subject It may be that these two groups have something in common: an intuitive awareness that a church ought not be wealthy Our tord was not wealthy neither were His apostles God knows that there are enough people in this world who need our help A church ought to be using up its capital for them rather than for business investments God has often cautioned us singly and collectively to rely on Him rather than relying on ourselves as though He did nut exist A church needs to hear God’s World of judgment on those who accummulate vast holdings: “Shame cn you! you who add house to house and join field to field until not an acre remains and you are left to dwell alone in the land" Isaiah 5:8 NEB A church needs to be aware of the dangers from within Luther once said "Daily experience shows what a shameful accursed vice avarice is and what damage it docs especially in high offices and stations spiritual and temporal For whenever the devil of avarice possesses the heart of a minister or preacher so ihat his only concern is how he too - like the rest of the world - may gain great wealln that man has already been cast into the jaws of the devil like Judas the traitor he would even venture to sell Christ and His church for a small con- sideration" May the tord preserve all Christian churches from the dangers of wealth! Kev Bob Allen Barnes togan NIXON IN PEKING England A - Game With No Rules High-Ris- k By London Economist News The Chinese just love a loser particularly a lose face in the West you can It apparently still hang mi to it in the East makes such a pleasant change from the grim worship of success which prevails everywhere else —The Daily MaU London ( conservative) 'ad loser If you Service Genetic research is literally Scientists were pleased when they achieved the immaculate conception with frogs now they have done the same for rabbits They are making similar bounds in the war on flu Traditional vaccines are made of dead germs but the latest idea is nasal sprays of live germs that have been "genetically improved" leap-froggi- Are the geneticists properly regulated? Or will rabbits now as they used to only from conjurers' appear from hats while influenza bugs go forth and multiply at an “improved" rate mutating all the time? The National Institutes of Health in the United States met two weeks ago to discuss rules for research into genetic engineering and for the first time brought a wide range of into the debate The discussions were about draft rules agreed on by researchers two months earlier when the advocates of caution just won the day The institutes are likely to issue their revised rul-soon and a British committee should be publishing its ideas this summer The proposed rules are chiefly about how to keep genetically engineered bugs inside university laboratories This is the main concern of the researchers The institutes think there should be three standards for making bugs biologically safe 'according to the risks involved At present only the first Stan- test-tube- s s L::nJ Commentary dard can be achieved with any certainty which is worrying Who should watch businesses that want to sell genetic products? In both Britain and America various bodies share the responsibility for licensing different kinds of products It might be better to put all regulation of genetics under one roof where all the expertise could be concentrated Controls must be found too for researchers who are attached to neither a university nor a business There are going to be backroom experimenters The scientist who made the breakthrough with rabbits was not a geneticist by training and worked alone with one assistant Equipment need not be expensive Genetic research raises so many questions — about ethics as wel! as safety — which lie bevond the exclusive concerns of scientists Sooner or later genefirs will need its own legal framework and a broadly based controlling body Better now than after a grisly mishap France ' No’- Why lias Niton been accorded the honors of a head A state Bough he is only a private citizen discredited by randals? Was the idea to divert attention from tie serious crisis under way in China To welcome as a hero a man whom even American mpcrialism was forced to dismiss in an insaie and dangerous policy Yves Moreau L'Humanltc Paris By Paul Harvey of prominence has dared to say "I was wrong" That has to be refreshing I'm wondering ? ’he paramount diciincun between a politician and a statesman might not be the latter's willingness to let you change his mind President Ford has been getting little lielp from public relations professionals or you'd already have aeen what I'm about to describe in its proper perspective It was the afternoon of Dec 22 in the Oval Office of the White House when the President faced up to one of those agonizingly lonely decisions It was the “common situs” picketing bill Big labor has been trying to get this bill enacted into law ever since Truman It would allow a s'ngle union with a grievance against a single subcontractor to picket and shut down an entire construction project The potential for leverage Is obvious Hie potential for chaos is less apparent Yet if you picture a gigantic Disney World or a mammoth space project being totally shutdown because one local somewhere was having a fuss with one supplier you can see ttvit the objections to such "serondaiy boycott" are valid However Presld?"t Ford had promised his own labor d secretary John Dunlop that he would support this common situs tall And the President's promise to Dunlop and the prospect of facing the election year wrath of George Meany combined to comprise a mighty Inducement for the lresident to sign B YOU said NO! thiring the same days that this legislation was clearing Congress there poured into the White House letters and telegrams from 650000 Americans pleading with the lYrsident to veto labor-burke- J Harvey News j - vr? Putting dialectic g the service of their meandering diplomacy the Chinese pretend to forget that their guest vas the man behind the bloodiest chapters of th Indochina war They are prepared to use an) means to hit at tlie USSR without being n the least particular about the choice of guests — to Mondi Paris ( liberal ) Each of the signers of those many communications must have asked himself whether It could possibly make any difference — yet it did Meanwhile a torrent of abuse has been heaped on the White House by Big tobor : “You broke your word!" Ford out of George Meany has vowed to office Overruled Secretary Dunlop pouted The American electorate should have been reminded by somebody that the President of the United States had dared to turn his back on our nation's most powerful special in- terest group and had deferred instead to you Let this not be construed as partisan praise for a presidential candidate I don't taxe sides But it occurs to me that In every other aspect of enlightened human conduct we are expected to learn from our mistakes In the laboratory we advertise our failures so that other researchers will not waste their time on dead ends In the military the strategic retreat is an acknowledged and often advantageous tactic Only in politics and diplomacy have we been reluctant to aay we goofed when we goofed Maybe a few examples like this will help change that (c)toa Angeles Times The Chinese rehabilitation of Nixon may be the precursor of an American rehabilitation After all Ford pardoned him The Americans are engaged in a cultural revolution of their own with a relentlessness which other Westerners find it hard to comprehend In Washington instead of wall posters there are Congressional reports leaks and newspaper exposes It is this America that Mao should bow to rather than the one eptomized by Nixon — Richard IJscia to Quotidlrn de Paris (liberal) Undnibtcdly the Chinese wanted to suggest that Mr Nixon would not have tolerated the spectacdar gains which the Soviet Union has made ezpecially in Africa and to emphasize the ingratitude of the Americans toward him This is fui of dangerous implications — Rolanc Faure L’Aurore Paris (c ) The Economist of London The Day You Finally Said A politician Just what the Chinese hope to gain by is honoring a discredited mysterious plainly they care nothing for the confusion they have brought to the “progressive” consensus which long ago decrees that Richard Nixon was beyond the pale The Sunday Telegraph London (conservative) WHICH KREMUNOLOGISl DO YOU READ? Eagland For the moment Mr Brezhicv indicated that no sharp changes In Soviet poby are imminent What is leu certain Is how lag Mr Brezhnev will continue A Communist lader wh'i cannot read a four-hospeech at one y js m s of a novelty than anything In his apech The Times tondon (ndewndent - Germs sy What should be regarded a the most significant news of the first day e (lie Soviet Party Congress? Hie answer is that trezhnev is ln good health and may be expected t carry Frankfurter AllgcmrlnrYankfurt (conservative - (c) Allas Aw ) World Press Review I |