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Show mem 'You Go I mtd Still In A Holding Pattern Ahead-I'- m DESERET NEWS ART HOPPE One More Year... SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 'Ve Stand for The Constitution Of The United Stales As Having Been Divinelv Inspired 6 A EDITORIAL PAGE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1968 Gabriel: Resolution For 1969: Faith In America the letter began. I am writing this letter as an act of faith in the destiny of our country'. I desire to make a request which I make in full confidence tbat we shall achieve a glorious victory in the war we now are waging to preserve our democratic way of life. The President went o.i to request that Colin P. Kelly III, son of a courageous Air Force captain who lost his life sinking a Japanese battleship, be admitted to the military academy when he became old enough. At the time, young Kelly was only two years old. The letter represented supreme faith and confidence in America, an attitude that time has proved to have been fully justified. It is an attitude that all Americans need to revive if we are to meet the challenges that the coming new year brings. Now this country is being sorely tested again, only this time we are menaced from within as well as from without. Part of that menace, sadly enough, consists of Too many Americans have lost confidence in the ability of their country to overcome pressing social and economic problems. Too many of us, exhausted by the longest war this the one in Vietnam have country has ever fought reached the point of fearing that honorable peace is beyond our grasp. Too many of us, seeing crime and riots all about, walk in fear and distrust of each other. These attitudes, we believe, are contrary not only to Americas usual buoyant outlook on life, but also are contrary to the facts themselves. self-doub- t. Sure, the Paris peace talks are dragging on with little meaningful progress. But until the new administration takes over in Washington, there is bound to be some marking of time at the conference table. Moreover, at least were talking to each other whereas a year ago we were only shooting at each other. Sure, there are poverty and deprivation in America. But by just about every objective standard, seldom if ever has prosperity been as great or as widespread as it is in this country today. By those same standards, the prospects for tomorrow are even better. Sure, there are racism and discrimination in America. But where else are so many citizens of all races so actively engaged in righting wrongs and creating a better life for all? As America takes stock of itself with the advent of a new year and the opportunities it offers for making a fresh start, who will join us in renewing faith in our countrys destiny in its greatness and goodness? It's The Law theyve that requires horses to register at the town hall. There are 150 horses in town, and the registrar says very few of them have registered. They probably figure theyre saddled with enough laws as it is. Shopping In The Dark Despite more forthright labeling of consumer products Federal Fair Packaging and labeling under the still cant housewives compare prices in the supermarket. Act, So says Consumers Union, the nations hugest consumer advisory organization, which came to that conclusion this weak after repeating a shopping experiment conducted in 1962 by the California Consumer Counsel. two-vear-o- ld well-publiciz- housewives were sent to a super14 everyday items and told to buy, without regard to brand, the package in each category giving the largest amount at the lowest price. In 1962 the housewives made 34 wrong choices out of a possible 70. This year they made 3S wrong choices. To make it easier for shoppers to make sure they're getting their money's worth. Consumers Union recommends an amendment that would require stores to put unit prices on every package, along with the package price. Unit price is the price per pound, pint, or other standard unit of consumption, and is already widely used for the pricing of meat and poulFive INSIDE REPORT By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK - One of WashingWASHINGTON tons most notorious feuds, between former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and future Secretary Melvin R. Laird, was quietly composed in a secret meeting several days ago. The meeting between these ancient enemies took place in a downtown hotel and lasted well over two hours. It was requested by Laird, who wanted to pick the brains of the man who brought techniques into the Pentagon in 1961 and made the office of the civilian Secretary more powerful than it had even been in the past. computer-- management The feud between Laird and McNamara did not really get started until the when spending on the war in Vietnam started skyrocketing. Year after year, Laird, acting as senior Republican member of the House Appropriations Miliary Subcommittee, charged McNamara with deliberate undercalculation of the costs of the war to make President Johnson's budget look better. Year after year, the President was required to come for supplemental back to Congress appropriations to finance the war. Thus, McNamara came to regard Laird as his hairshirt. And Laird, speaking for his party in the House, made as much political capital as he could out of McNamara. But intimates of both Laird and McNamara say that beneath the surface both men developed a healthy respect for each others ability. Thus, McNamara intimates say that Laird war the servant mid-'60- best interests while in the House, and that those interests were political. But in the Defense Department, they say, Lairds interests will be wholly the security of the nation, different with only minor partisan implications. of his own Right or not. this view apparently carried the day in the McNamara - Laird meeting. They discussed in detail and with much agreement the major questions that Laird xvill face, starting with Vietnam. TAX REFORM JUNKED Taking the chief Chairman Ways and ping plans broadscale decade. college-educate- d market with a shopping list of try. In fact, unit pricing was considered when the packaging and labeling law was written, but was rejected on the grounds it was too costly for small, independent grocers. Rut regional offices of supermarket chains could easily include, unit prices on mas'er price lists sent to all store managers, and suppliers could provide small groceries with pi ice tables at little or no cost. The unit pricing proposal makes sense. Consumers shouldn't have to be experts in higher mathematics m order to figure out which brand otfers them the most for their money. Besides, the change might stimulate price competition, which the U.S. could use if we are to curb inflation. K easy-to-us- e his lead from the White House, congressional tax-refor- complying. With neither the old nor the new president showing the slightest interest in tax reform. Mills feels his long dream of comprehensive restructuring of the tax system must be delayed a bit longer. He may well conduct exploratory hearings later in the year. But lacking the frame HARRIS If a country like England can finally change its monetary system, it ought to be more than time for the U.S. to move our whole system of weights and measures from the Middle Ages into modern times. g Great Britain, as you know, is transforming its coinage from the old cum-berso- to the decimal system, so that all transactions can be computed more quickly, accurately and evenly. Until now. you've practically needed an abacus to make change in a British shop. We have the same problem in reverse here. Our currency system i. simplicity itself, hut our weights and measutes are complex, senseless horribly . Like Bnta.n, and all of and Europe, we ought to get on the metric system as soon as possible. Measurements like "one inch or one acre should he teplaced by meters and millimeters, all of which are divisible and nvaltipliable by los thus saving schoolchildren millions of hems of tedious and unrewarding memorization that could better in' spent on more meaningful subjects. Consider our tangled sxstem. We have linear measure feet, xards, rods, furlongs, and statute miles. We haxe square measures ar.J cubic measures, all in odd numbers and sometimes even in fracin tions. We haxe liquid measures pints, quarts, gallons, barrels and hogsheads. We haxe dry measure in quarts, peiks and bushels. error-prone- We have in fluid apothecaries' fluid measure drams fluid ounces, pints quarts and gallons. in pennyweights, We haxe Troy weight ounces and ixhiiuK in grams, e haxe axoadujiois weight drain1, ounces pounds, l.iindK and short tones. None of these computes i annually into any of the others, and all together thex make no sense destruction. Gabriel: I suppose so, sir. But they keep hoping each year will be better than the last. Despite all odds, they never give up hoping. Frankly, I think theyre a bit manic on the subject. The Landlord (softly): Look at them, Gabriel. Theyre laughing and crying at the same time. Gabriel : Yes, sir. Theyre not only destructive, disrespectful and slovenly, they're obviously not of sound mind (lifting his trumpet again). Now, sir? The Landlord: No, wait, Gabriel. Perhaps if I gave them one more year . . . Gabriel (annoyed) : Good heavens, sir! You say that every year. The Landlord (laughing and at the same time w iping away a tear) : I know, Gabriel, I know. But I keep hoping next year theyll be better. (iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiniiniiHimi LETTERS of a presidential proposal, hearings are unlikely to be fruitful. work the A footnote: The lone, dim possibility for base broadening this year might be a minimum tax on currently untaxed income municipal bonds, some foreign which income, and certain oil income could be attached to any surtax extension. Mills is definitely interested, and some Nixon aides have expressed at least preliminary interest. SCOTTS ALLY Contrary to reports. Sen. Robert Griffin of Michigan, a rising star in the Republican Senate galaxy, is not hoping to cash in on a deadlock between Sen. Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania and Sen. Roman Hruska of Nebraska in their torrid battle to succeed Sen. Thomas Kuchel as assistant Republican leader. Griffin, xx'ho sparked the successful battle against elevating Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas to Chief Justice is backing Scott and will stick with Scott to the end. The struggle between Scott, a moderate-liberal, and Hruska, an unvarnished conservative, will go down to the xvire of the Republii n Senate caucus on Jan. 3. Scott now claims a minimum 21 votes (22 needed). Hruska claims even but at least three of his sure more votes are i.i fact likely to go for Scott. A footnote: Another Scott plus is the appointment of Theodore F. Stevens as the new senator from Alaska, replacing the late E. L. Bartlett. Stevens is a moderate Republican who backed then Gov. William Scranton for the presidential nomination in 1964. VICTOR RIESEL Modernize Our J. tax-wTit- Wilbur Mills of the House is dropMeans Committee to open the year with the first hearings in a Mills had planned early hearings based on the comprehensive plan that President Johnson is required to submit to Congress under a provision of the 10 percent surtax act. Believing that Congress has no right to tell the President what kind of proposals to send to it, Mr. Johnson has no intention of Richard D.C. WASHINGTON, Nixon simply does not have to depend on his membership card in the musicians union. Any time he wishes now, he can dues-frethe plumbers, carpenters, laborers or operating engineers. They're join, all with him noxv. And theyre saying so. The labor movement's establishment, made up of leaders of building and construction trade unions, with a tightly unified membership of 3 8 million, say publicly and privately they're happy with President-elec- t Nixon, his Cabinet and his "style." Privately they noxx tell each oilier, and an occasional caller, that most of them are not at all unhappy Hubert and that the foimer Humphrey lost can go right ahead vice president rebuilding the Democratic Party, but without them. If they mean what they say, they're delecting. One of their spokesmen was hardly shy about it all the other day. He opined that the incoming President need only call in some of the construction union chiefs and talk to them about efforts to talk local unions out of demanding huge and they would coop-C- i wage increases ate m putting the ceiling in rising costs. There is just a law. or two, they sink and we are ready to work with Nixon right through 1972 and for his "The ,'pw group (M,. Nixon's Cabinet) bears a much closer resemblance to the Kennedy and Johnson secretaries they will replace tnan to the Eisenhower team from which they are theoretically descended, says the department's latest bulletin. While the Cabinet members certainly are not expected to follow the ideological beliefs of Democrats, neither apparently do they represent a wrecking crew. "Indeed, in private conversations, Mr. Nixon has stressed the need for effective administration rather than for more innovative legislation the next few in years." The powertul construction union chiefs like this, just as ibex !:ke Mr. Nixons "style and fashion of doing thing';. ' Dick Nixon is their kind of man. they say. They're upper middle class, law- suburbanites. They have little in common with the avant-gardintellectuals who have had such influence in the liberal section of the Democratic Party. e GUEST CARTOON Asks Electoral Reform I testified May 19, 1967, before the Judiciary Subcommittee which was considering a reform for the antiquated Electoral College plan. I advocated a genuine reform of the Electoral College system, which had been requested in messages of the President, directed to the legislative body. I have never heard any of my testimony challenged. The substance of my proposal was duly submitted by a U.S. senator and a congressman before the committee. Other resolutions calling for a direct vote were proposed, some of which would abolish the Electoral College completely. On Aug. 23, 1967, 1 submitted to the committee a statement giving 123 reasons why a congressional district plan was superior to the direct vote. A short paragraph was devoted to each of the 123 reasons and I have never heard of any of these statements disputed. Careful students of this vital subject can probably supply 50 other good arguments why delegated voting is superior to direct voting and I arc delighted to hear that congressional committees will accept testimony regarding the change of the Electoral College system. --H. L. HUNT Dallas, Tex. Know The Facts When Mr. F. E. Hartman in his Favors Abortion" letter of Dec. 26, states the Utah Right to Life League opposes abortions even though they may be necessary to preserve life, he doesn't know what he is talking about. The Utah Right to Life League supports the present Utah statute which makes it legal for a woman to have an abortion to save her life. It opposes the liberalization of laws which would legalize the killing of unborn children. It is not attempting to change any laws. Incidentally, I am not now a member, nor ever have been, of the church he alludes to. -- MRS. This hardly sounds like the Building Trades Dept. (AFL-CIO- ) last September, but they are fond of the president-elec- t as they roll into the New year. "He'd have been justified in telling us to go jump in the lake," say a depart-mni- t But lie didn't executive officer. Yet lies named one of the best Cahmeis I coy. ( Sacrifice? Chriiiiin Science Monitor A. SIMS Dorchseter Drive World Atrocities In man's long history of inhumanity to his fellowman. three major atrocities stand out: 1. The extermination of 3.000,000 Jews by Nazi Germany. 2. The selling into world slavery of 15,000,000 Africans by the warring kings of that continent. 3. The torturing, burning and life imprisonment of untold thousands of heretics by the medieval church. Noxv a fourth such atrocity looms on the horizon; the rape of love.v, primitive Vietnam. Left to. work out their own destiny, these people would long ago have achieved unity and a stable The interference in their internal affairs by Russia, China and the U.S. with weapons and advisors perpetuates the agony. The U.S., by sending troops, must assume the major guilt. We have already napalmed, hombed and shot to death 1,000,000 of these pathetic iittle men, women and children. They are primitive farm folk who dont know a Communist from a capitalist and care less. These are patriots fighting for their independence. They will nexer quit. Are we so far remox-efrom 1776 that xxe cannot understand this? -K- ENNETH D. TOMKINSON Vero Beach, Fla. Too ! What has happened to the reporting of high school sports? There are thousands of hoys all over the state working hard in both basektball and wrestling and I feel that they deserve some recognition when they compete. Not just the class A" city schools, either. There are a lot of us out here in the sticks who buy newspapers and xxe like to rend about the boys on our teams, too. Where are the basketball la'mgs or are your opo' ' s so hi- - grind ng their own axes they have no time for the teams in our stole? The pins are all right and (lie college games ire fine, but for exeiiemeni and unpredictability ils liard to match a good high school basketball game. -G- ERALD H. BUIILER Monroe, Utah i had." Private conversations with the union chiefs ate sonic with eat tny enthusiasm for Mr. Nixon. In public. lie tone is more delightful but hardly GEORGE 199 Were Here, and Construction xxe'xe TO THE EDITOR iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiu Unions Woo Nixon Weights System got a new law Gabriel: No, sir. They are sorry to see the old one go. The Landlord (surprised): Sorry? How odd. Gabriel: Yes, sir. They see the old year, awlu! as it was, as a piece of their lives and they love it. They treasure all of the past, their bad times and their good, their sorrows as well as their joys. The Landlord: How strange. And look now. Theyre blowing horns ana laughing and kissing each other. Are you sure they arent happy to see the old year go? Gabriel: No, sir, theyre welcoming in the new year. The Landlord: Welcoming it? But dont they know what it wall bring more war, more riots, more death, more . Laird Settles An Old Feud By SYDNEY In Marblehead. Mass., . Gabriel (briskly): Lets see, here. More holes burnt in the carpet of greenery, more scars on the mountain meadows, more garbage in the sparkling streams, more pollutants in the crystal air, more . . . The Landlord (waving his hand): Dont bother with the details, Gabriel. It's the same every year. Gabriel : By every sound rule of property management, sir, they simply have to go (raising a trumpet). Shall I sound the eviction notice? The Landlord (wearily): Yes, I suppose so. But. wait. Let me take one last look. But for some reason I was fond of them. They . . . Look. What are they doing? Gabriel: The old ear's ending, the new year beginning. Theyre celebrating. The Landlord (nodding) : I can't say I blame them for celebrating the end of the old one. What a hard one for them it Vet, Franklin Delano Roosevelt refused to be conquered by gloom as he went about his tasks in the White House, one of which was to write a letter nominating a young American to become si West Point cadet. the United States in 1956, . and two novas exploded in Galaxy is a 621. There small hole in the Milky Way and a minor dent in the Big Dipper. NothBut ing serious. now then, I have a special supplemental report on that little planet, Earth. The Landlord (with a sigh): Heavens, I was afraid of that. It was 27 years ago this month that the President of the United States, drawn and weary from the awful burdens he carried, sat in the White House one gray, bleak day and surveyed the perils confronting this country. Only a few days had passed since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Only the President and a few of his closest advisers fully appreciated how devastating that attack had been. Even the enemy didnt entirely realize that our Pacific defenses had been virtually wiped out, that if the foe had chosen to launch an attack on the American mainland we would have been hard put to stop it. It was December 1041, and America was perhaps as close as it ever has been. If ever there was a time when disaster Jo one was justified in being pessimistic about this countrys future, it was then. To the President of was wars, riots, violence, death, destruction. They must be glad to see the last of it. But why do they have tears in their eyes? Are they thinking of the horrors of the year to come? Scene: Heavenly Properties, Inc. The Landlord wears a pained ar.d worried look as his cost accountant, Gabriel, runs through his annual report on depreciation. |