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Show r runrtmnifr rmn ' Who Steals My Purse, After I Pay These Bills, Truly Steals Trash DESERET NEWS LETTERS TO THE EDiTOR iiiiiiiiiiiiii'iiiiiiiiiipiiuiiiii'iiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiniiii'iiiiiiii'iiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiii'i SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Turning Criminals Loose We Stand For The Constitution Of The United States As Having Been Divinely Inspired 12 A EDITORIAL PAGE MONDAY, JANUARY A man was lying semiconscious last week in a Salt Lake County hospital for the verv simple reason that our judicial system in ihis country upholds the lawless rather than the he is Had Judge Ritter upheld the supposed to represent, rather than looking for loopholes for the criminal when he released 40 convicted criminals a few weeks ago, this deputy would 5, 1970 g Funds Lav Should Be Straightened Out-F-ast now be in good health and protecting the citizens of the county as he was hiied to do. If we passed a law requiring the iudge o finish srrvng 'he sentence of any criminal he released by twisting the letter of the law to help such per. sons, rather than making the man serve his sentence as was the intent of the law, I am sure we wou.d have no more of this turning the lawbreaker loose on society again. -- GENE McKEE If Utah doesnt pul behind it once and for all the rigid, investment practices that were supposed to be orrected by the State Money Management Act of 1969, it will cost millions of dollars over the years. Yet that could happen, in the estimation of supporters of the measure designed to put idle funds to work, unless something is done about the State Supreme Courts ruling that key low-retur- n sections of the law are unconstitutional. While theres room for disputing the courts thinking m holding that the Investment Council and position of state investment officer created by the act interfere with the duties of the state treasuier, recriminations are pointless. The challenge now is to achieve the objectives of the htate Money Management Act as fully and expeditious!'' possible. If this can be accomplished bv legislative action plone, fine. If not, then the state Constitution should be amended and fast. To help determine which course is better, Governor Hampton should not only consult legal aides, but should also seriously consider reconvening his Investment Advisory Committee which made the study that ultimately resulted in the money management law. Whatever couise is decided upon, the wheels should be set in motion right away so that this singularly important item can be placed on the agenda of the budget session of the Legislature convening next week. The need for the Investment Council and a caieer investment officer providing long-terexpertise was pinpointed by the Governors Investment Advisory Committee two years ago when it observed: As noted by earlier committees, the position of state treasurer in Utah is a particularly difficult one. The limited volume of funds handled, as compared with such states as California, tends to limit the number of responsible officials in his Office, yet he must perform, to some exteat at least, all of those functions performed in a larger state. An elected official, the state treasurer often takes office without either training or experience adequate to perform efficiently all of the tasks required. With experience, each new treasurer shows narked improvement in the results he obtains, but Ins term is l'mitcd to four years and he cannot succeed himself. ,A. a result, the management of state finances is subject to a cycle of learning curves. The Little Hoover Commission sought to remedy this situation with its recommendation four years ago that the state treasurer be appointed by the governor instead of elected by the people. But that still wouldnt assure that the job would go to a man qualified to handle investments, and investment policies and procedures could still change each time Utah got a new state treasurer. That's why the governors committee recommended the creation of an advisory committee of three professional individuals from the banking, finance, and investment industries who would advise an investment officer. The investment officer was to be established in the state treasurers office as a appointee with a term longer than that of the state treasurer. This arrangement still makes sense and ought to be achieved even if it involves amending the state Constitution. As the Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants noted in endorsing the State Money Management Act nearly a yea ago: If other states can enact model legislation and thereby achieve maximum investment of public funds in maximum yield securities, then we should be able to do likewise in Utah. Tnat still goes. ; never-endin- g non-politic- al Safety On Ski Lifts Its no secret to Utah skiers Show Other Side that Solitude Ski Resort in ... On School Buses Speaking of safety, the discovery of defects in 10 new, school buses operating in the Washington D C. area has 'Maced in question that safety of 4.000 buses from the same nanufacturcr sold throughout the country. Faulty brakes, leaky gas tank necks, and poorly installed exhaust pipes are only a few of the problems encountered on the 10 buses. As science writer William Hines notes, It strains credulity past the breaking point to suppose that out of a production run of 4,000 units the only 10 lemons to get past the inspectors should all end up in the same metropolitan area Under go eminent plodding. Gcreial Motors is taking a school buses it sold throughout second loH; at the Mi del the counti during the 1969 model j car But the inquiry wont bo finished or a decision made on whether or not to recall the buses until the end of January. Meanwhile, children all over the country are riding in the vehicles during the worst driving weather of the year. The situation suggests that school districts would be well advised to run special safety tests and exercise added operating precautions until the buses are checked out. In recent months the pi ess and TV made much abuse regarding nursing homes on a national level. This past week the combined residents of the Fairview Convalescent Centers and the Bungalow Nursing Home enioved their annual gala Christmas party, complete with entertainment and songfest. The press was invited and promised to come and take pictures and do a write-uon the annual event. But, they did not show up or even have the courtesy to excuse themselves. The residents had just as good a time as if they had, but it might have been more reassuring to families who have loved ones who occupy nursing homes to know that on the whole they are well treated and enjoy occasional outings such as this. Really, don't you think both sides of any com should be shown? of an alleged Shocking Cost Of The Arms Race p THE DRUMMONDS By ROSCOE and GEOFFREY DRUMMOND WASHINGTON Sinp a second. Guess how much the whole world put out last ear on military expenditures. We missed badR. We took the 1962 figwe of $120 billion, added a large hunk and came out way under the total the nations of the world aie spending to keep safe from each other. nr Tne right answer l'- MOO billion a little less lor the nnhtaij worldwide duiing the last 12 immihs alone. And in the last eight years, the woild spent no less than $1 trillion in mounting military budgets. No wonder the United States and the Soviet Union are at last trying to do something about it. They alone account for approximately 70 per cent of the worlds cur-e- nt military spending and about 80 per cent of the increase in recent years. No wonder the U N. General Assempassed a resolution bly unanimously to woik for all for nations pleading t. They didn't do it. They all voted rs and then waited for the others to start. The big powers didn't trust each other, and they never reached agreement on inspecUon. Red China and France never even signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. The smaller rations talked virtuously but the arms competition among many of them is as fierce as among the big powers. Here, in part, is why arms reduction Is gaining wider public support: a 38 per cent increase in population rise in military expenditures from 1964 to 1967 against a 7 per cent increase in population. The relative rise in military spending from 1964 to 1967, for example, has been more rapid than the growth of the world's Gioss National Product. While military expenditures per capita tose 16 per cent, GNP per capita incieased only 9 per cent. Thus m most instances a nations economic grov th did not contribute to improve living slandauls but went instead to heaviet nulitaiy costs. aii R. Drummond G. Drummond Military spending worldwide today exceeds that of any period except the peak fighting years of World War II, Global military expenditures now take more than 7 per cent of the worlds gross product. In cash this military spending is equal to the total annual income produced by the one billion people living ir. Latin America, South Asia and the Near East. It s greater by 40 per rent than worldwide expenditures on education by all levels of government everywhere and more than three times the worldwide expenditures on public health. These comparisons come from the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency which makes these further findings: The increase in worldwide outlays for defense is considerably larger than the The figure for the 1969 world military expenditures is approximate, but the nearly completed survey by the U.S. Arms Control Agency shows it pushing very close to $200 billion. But this is not the most shocking figure. It is the constant rise in military spending which is even more shocking: Unless the increase in military expenditure is slowed, the arms race will consume $4,000 billion ($4 trillion) m less than 10 years. Tl e sum of all these facts and consequences which flow from this massive, expenditute of human resources helps explain why the two nations which are spending the most aie at last seriously exploring how to call a halt. No two nations in the world more need a reordering of priorities than the United States and the Soviet Union. We can achieve it only by mutual agreement. Can we do it? Can we afford not to? g Teach Young People How To Live - What good is an educational system that teaches young people how to make a living, but doesn't teach them how to live that shows them how to splice a cable or split an atom, but not how to understand and use the ideas by which mankind must survive and develop? I have been 1 o through oking the new book, The Oppenheim-e- r Case, by Philip M. Stern, which tells r, the tragic story of Dr. Robert often called the father of the atomic bomb, who was hounded and brought down by the Federal government in the 1950s for his earlier associatoin with Communists. Oppen-heime- At the end of the trial, this brilliant man cried out, I was an idiot! And he a scientific genius, but a political idiot. This is what can happen even to a fine mind which neglects a single broad field of knowledge. His education has channeled that mind into a narrow skill, rather than broadening it to a balanced view. was Men who are improperly, or inadequately, trained in logic, in history, in the general humanities, are easy prey for the plausible zealots of the extreme left or the extreme right. They come too late, if at all, to an understanding of political and social forces in the world outside their nairow disciplines. Scientists, lawyers, engineers, doctors these men are so busy preparing intensively for their careers, and keeping up with the newest developments, that the wider applications of life are often lost to them. If they dont get a liberal education in college, they never have a chance to make up that lost ground. When a social or political crisis confronts them, they swing sharply to the left or to the right, depending on their temperaments or their environments or their associates In the vocational community. And they use their expertise in one field illegitimately to give themselves a false authority in a field of which they are ignorant. The danger of a specialized education is only partly tat it encourages the left- wing political naivete of an Gppenheimer; it also encourages the conservative to harden his emotional arteries against any change, no matter how necessary it may be. What is needed in the world, more than anything else today, is a flexibility of temper. To be doctrinaire is to be stupid; only the man who can continually adjust his mind and emotions to the shifting needs of the times can cope with the complexity of modern life, by knowand ing which things are principles which are mere prejudices. If education does not cultivate this quality, it is merely awarding degrees to skillful and dangerous barbarians. When Irish Eyes Are Smiling - WASHINGTON The government of Ireland has made a radical proposal which I can't help but applaud. They have a bill pend-- i n g, exempting creative writers and artists from income paying taxes. If passed, this cause such unbelicv able migration to Ireland that it would make up for all the people that left the country during the potato famine. There are some dangers inherent to the plan which I think should be considered. If all the creative writers went to Ireland to avoid taxes, we might get nothing but novels, articles and stones about the Irish. While everyone admires Irish literature, theres just so much of it that the rest of the world can stand. Second, without taxes to pay, many writers could become rich, and instead of wanting to deal with the son. pioblcms of our tunc, tli might devote themselves to defending the status quo and keening the loner classes m thru- place. The third possibility is that so many wnteis would tuin up on lush shores for the put pose of avoiding taxes that the competition would be ico great and a large proport'on would be hard put to cam money not to pay taxes on. These are just a few nf the pitfalls of 'he plan. There are many advantages to the idea and I believe the United States could a n 1 er, paper and erasers and business expenses. The risks of writing are even greater than the risks of searching for oil, and I should take immediate action to prevent probably would never have had the nerve to suggest this plan had it not been for American writers from leaving the counIrelands blatant attempt to lure Ameritry for an Irish tax haven. can writers over there. But since they oil in The answer lies the depreciation started it, all I say is we have no choice alaiiow ante bill. The United States has to creative but people a tax break, give ways been concerned more about its oil no matter how unpalatable it is to me recreative reserves than it has about its serves, and theres a good reason for personally. ou In something of this Importance, this. You can always find creative people must alw first. country put ays your ail in tne country, but its getting harder the time to find oil. Therefore, the government has providGUEST ed tax incentives whicn make the oil industry go out and search for new wells. The government also makes it easy for 1 Os 1 V the oil people to write off their equipI ment for taking such big risks. Now, I have no quarrel with giving the oil industry a break, and if they can deduct 22 per cent of their income from taxes because the oil and gas they take out of the ground can't be replaced, then I say bully for them. But writers also have juct so many stories, books, novels and plavs (not to mention columns) in them, and therefore the government should give them the same depreciation allowances that it gives the oil people. If there were a writer depreciation allowance based on production, it might be a great boon to the creative talent m the United States. Every time a writer WTOte a work he would be given 22 per cent off the top of his taxes. He would also be allowed to write off his typewrit ART BUCHWALD CARTOON A u .MRS. SANDRA B1RK3 In S. 9th East Pay And Public Office It would be a fine thing if Utah, which is dominated by Mormons, were also dominated politically by traditions common in the Book of Mormon record. The tradition of particular interest to me is in connection with the pay political leaders expect or cause taxpayers to pay for their services. The event is recorded in Mosiah 2:14 where King Benjamin was discussing his service in public office during his day and said, And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not he laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne and of all those tilings wliieh I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day. Those who advocate higher pay for public service positions tend to argue that our modern complex society requires highly skilled persons in high office and that the only way of getting them there is by the lure of money. Also it may be assumed by some that a high salary will lessen the attractiveness of bribes. All men are to some extent corruptible and a raise in salary is no real guarantee of better government or better use of public funds. In some circles I suppose that King Benjamin would be considered something of a nut by todays standards, but I for one would like to meet a few as dedicated to noble public service as was hr. --MERRILL H. GLENN, JR. Brigham City By SYDNEY J. HARRIS ... Big Cottonwood Canyon has been beset with some disturbing problems in the past. Its ironic as well as tragic, then, that the accident on the Inspiration chair lift the past weekend came after the major problems had been corrected with new management and work to improve the ski lifts. Indeed, it bears repeating that the lift involved in the mishap had been rebuilt just before the ski season opened, that one official at the resort reports the lift had passed three different Forest Sc twice tests, and that another official says the lift's clamps had been checked within the past four days. (It was a snapped cable clamp on a chair that plunged five joung skiers 35 to 50 feet to the ground.) Accidents will happen. Fortunately, they don't happen to Utah ski lifts very often. The Solitude mishap is the most serious one since two passengers were thrown to their deaths from the lift at T.imp Haven in the summer of 1966, and a woman strangled when her scaif became knotted in a tow rope at Alta in 1964. If something should happen while riding a ski lift, ordinarily it's best not to jump off but to sit tight until help appears. Meanwhile, the Solitude mishap makes it clear that when it comes to ski lifts there's no such thing as too many tests or salety prccauiions. Y-- 6 Kearns Simply 'IML' The Deseret News ran a story on Dec. 23 regarding the outstanding Sub for Santa program sponsored by employes of Intermountain Motor Lines Freight Inc. It is interesting that a large local newspaper doesnt even know the correct name of what must be one of Utah's largest locally domiciled corporations. IML Freight, Inc. is a company doing in excess of 60 million dollars yearly. It has nearly 3,000 employes (most of them living in Utah), a history of 40 years of growth in the community, a reputation of greatness from the Atlantic to the Pacific where EVIL boasts of over 21,000 route miles of authority, and leads as a motor carrier in international freight movements. And yet our local press doesnt even know the name of the company. The name is simply IML Freight, Inc. No periods between the letters because it is not an abbreviation of any other name. Simply IML Freight, Inc. True, years ago the name was Interstate Motor Lines (not Intermountain Motor Lines Freight Inc.) but was changed years ago as the carrier became international in scope thus the name Interstate was no longer applicable. IML Freight, Inc. is a giant in its industry and should be known in its own home town. -F- RED S. BALL 3826 S. 2035 East Hammer And Sickle Responsible leaders have warned in the past that Russia and America are on a collision course. Nothing in recent events has allayed these fears. In many instances the Communists make peaceful proposals no doubt merely to cover artful schemes for eventual world domination. For this reason I am most anxious to know why there is a hammer and sickle on the neck of J. F. Kennedy on the 1968 half dollars (sic) minted in Denver. If chicanery is involved, the perpetrators of this misdeed should be punished. HAROLD C. CHRLSTENSF.N 307 Atlas Bldg. Watch It, U.P. My sincere sympathy to the survivors of the young mother end child killed by a Union Pacific freight train Wednesday. But for the proverbial grace of God, my own five children would be orphans today because of a U.P. engineer who drove a freight train through tha same crossing several weeks ago with no regaii for motoiisls. A vehicle in front of ours barely missed being struck, while our own was savod literally by jamming on the brakes. We stopped several feel short of a dioscl engine that was Hoveling at an inconsid-eiai- e rate of speed for londitions at that mossing. As long as ther so much as one imompelent engineer as this on ..'a U P. payroll, it seems the railroad has an obligation to put signal lights at this crossing. Mayor William Dunns offer for his city to pay part of the cost us a conscientious proposal that cannot be refused by Union Pacific. BOB KOENIG 371 L St |