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Show MCa n lllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllHI 'illlllllllllllllllilllHliHIIIllill,l!,llllllli LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 4 DESERET NEWS SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Tourist View We Stand For The Constitution Of The United States As Having Been Divinely Inspired Travel Utah. Inc. Recently, Ronald McMiilin of business community hae voice-the of and other billboards. I of roadside removal to the objected as a travels who one as to would iike respond tourist in Utah and other parts of this country. , 18A EDilORIAL PAGE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1972 acknowlby the news media, no for the sign reason of the made was edgement removal-fede- ral and state legislation in response to public request to free its roadsides of the commercial graffiti currently blighting our roads. Utah, which should be commended for being the leader in this much needed social reform, is instead condemned. No mention is made of the fact that although the federal law was passed in llttiti. it has only been the past year that signs have As reported f t Drastic Steps Needed To Protect Our Parks - been removed. study, the Conservation Foundation recently-urgeNational Parks ban trailers and camper trucks and that out automobiles within their borders. eventually phase These recommendations are in line with the findings made by one national publication after it polled national park visitors several years ago and learned that most favor restricting the automobile, limiting tlu number of visitors and the length of tiled' slay, and opposed expanding visitor facilities. -- After a year-lon- g The recommendations also are in line with the practice of ifiore and more cities in banning cars from certain blocks in contested downtown areas. e r 1972 cy The Chicago This year more than 202 million visits are expected to oe made e national parks up from 172 million last year, 121 million in 1&6, and only 33 million in 19.10. Jltlf the trend continues, the parks can become almost as the cities from which park visitors are trying to escape. ;;This situation argues for the creation Investigate Dirty Tricks' s of more national parks, IKplicularly parks close to the major centers of population. 'It argues for the creation of belter information programs so t! public can learn which parks are less crowded and be encouraged to visit them. - also argues for the establishment of better mass transit systems so visitors can reach national parks without taking their cars. But, while restrictions on cars and campers are clearly in order, a total ban looks like too extreme a solution unless everything else fails. . Such a ban would, as Interior Secretary Rogers Morton has noted, 'discriminate against the elderly, the traveling families who have only a very limited time and modest budgets to visit the parks, and probably narrow the constituency of the parks to only those such as back packers and others who are able to spend the time and have the inclination to camp in the wilderness. Instead, theres a sensible middle ground between a total ban and none at all as Yosemite National Park is demonstrating. Three years ago roads through Yosemite were as crowded on summer weekends as a freeway at rush hour, and the mountain air was heavy with smog. In response to the overcrowding, the park closed some roads, and others were designated for traffic. More important, visitors were encouraged to leave their cars and ride a tram into the park. one-wa- y and As a result, there is less congestion at the campsites less haze. Yet there are as many visitors to Yosemite as before and most of them are enjoying the experience more. " In the words of the Council on Environmental Quality, Encroachments on the parks and what the nation does about them are a test of its resolve to improve the quality of all sectors of our environment, They are also a test of the nations ability to devise sensible compromises. o Tntum J 9 crowd-iJIU- This has been due to bureaucratic haggling at the federal-statinterface, with significant help from affected businesses. No mention was made of the quiet efforts of the largest sign companies, their gas, motel chain and other business patrons, and their congressional patrons for a moratorium The failure (recently achieved) in sign removal. of some tourist businesses was blamed on sign removal (off premise). Unmentioned was the possibility. as I expect, that many of these failures were marginal businesses whose existence had neither value nor justification. Finally, unacknowledged was the public's wish ERWIN CANHAM The Christian Science Monitor News Service The American people have every right, before they aie called upon to vote November 7, to know what kind of dirty tricks may have taken place during the campaigning. Not to clarify the charges which have now been published in ci- rcumstantial de- tail would be unfair to President Nixon and the Reunfair publicans. to Senator McGovern and the Democrats, and above all unfair to the bewil- dered electorate. The only possible legitimate argument against coming clean regarding the allegedly underground activities of the Committee to President Nixon Is that four individuals are under indictment and are awaiting their day in court, to which they have a right. But surely a fair adjudication of their cases need not be destroyed by fairly informing the American people in general terms before they have to make their fateful decision at the polls. Charges now widely published are that a systematic campaign was under way to confuse and sabotage the Democratic party and its candidates. Merely bugging the Watergate headquarters (if the Democratic National Committee was only a small part of the picture as it is now portrayed, allegedly based on F.I5.I. reports. The charge that the lamous letier which provoked Senator .Huskies emotional response in New Hampshire was forged by a White House aide has been denied. But it has not been substantively refuted. Many other accusations have been made in the dirty tricks department going far beyond anything known before in the American political history. These aevities, again by allegation, were financed by the secret fund admittedly in existence and under control of former Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans John and former Attorney General Mitchell. The only way to refute such charges is to produce the facts. The exact provenance and use of the huge funds kept in Mr. Stans safe should be made public. If there were on the dirty tricks Democrat ic side, they ought to be publicized. Some congressional committee ought to see its duty to the American people and call upon the key individuals to testify. If they refuse, their justification should be set forth and evaluated. It the facts are not clarified, and only came out after the election, a heavy and unnecessary cloud will hang over the victorious administration. That would be a very dreary beginning for a second term. This' is not corruption explained recently in the by Joseph sense Harsch. not to be continually badgered by advertisements, insulted by the low intelligence and charactei of the corruption of the Harding administration, or of President Grant's. It is a form of campaigning going far beyond any previously accepted standards of American politics, if the charges are true. I am not naive about dirty tricks. Abraham Lincoln's campaign managers are said to have forged gallery tickets to help prevent the nominatio;. of William H. Seward in 1860. I have witnessed the use for forged gallery tickets in more recent conventions. I heard the voice from the sewers when Franklin Roosevelt was renominated in Chicago. I suspect that some elections including John Kenhave been greatly afnedy's in 19(10 fected by and corruptly counted votes in places like Cook County. Illinois. Republicans have also controlled the ballot boxes in other districts. Campaigns are often organized these days by highly skilled professionals in the art of managing opinion. They contrive and use psychological appeals just as they do in selling deodorants or cigarettes or motor cars. This is all rather But cam- paigns. the longer a campaign drags on the more extreme political speeches tend to become as candidates seek new' ways to get attention and votes. We have done so because We have done so because the longer the campaign lasts the more expensive it becomes. The more campaign costs increase the more high office becomes restricted to the affluent or those obligated to special interests. We have done so because other countries with shorter campaigns have greater success than the U.S. in attracting voters to the- polls in large numbers. This week President Nixon indicated he has come to much the same conclusion about the advisability of short campaigns. In a talk to 34 foreign labor leaders here to observe the U.S. election, he noted that the last three weeks are the most important because that is when the people are listening, that is when the people are going to make up their minds. - . The British, he declared, have a better system than Americas, one in which campaigns last only three weeks. That position makes sense. Mr. President. Now how about also endorsing nationally televised debates, something the White House has shunned but which would make it easier to shorten campaigns by reducing the need for presidential candidates to travel all over the country in pursuit of votes? Just to indicate how badly this country needs a metric system, and how baffling our whole present system of weights and measures is, today's word-qui- z deals wholly with this mischievous subject: 1. If you asked for a of hogshead liquid, how much would you get? 2. If you ordered a cord of fuel wood, how much would it weigh? 3. How many sheets of paper make a quire? 4. How long is a chain in surveying and engineering? 5. Full fathom five thy father lies." how deep is Dad? says Shakespeare 6. If a horse stands IS hands high, how large is it? If a tailor made up an "ell of cloth for ou, how much would vou have? 7. can be countered if voters think for themseh es. And to think, they must have the most nearly accurate statement of the facts. That is what we all desperately need today. People seem very unaroused by all this: perhaps they think politicians all play dirty tricks on one anolher. This tune, the trick will be on the American people if it is not honorably and honestly clarified. seven cities report an increasing number of unhappy unmarried couples seeking counseling. So the not : Congress did so with its misguided defeat this week of a bill to set a $250 billion ceiling on federal spending for fiscal 1973. The vote against the ceding was misguided because it puts e Congress in the untenable position of saying, in effect, that every-ohAct federal the inflation government. else should fight except it is the massive and runaway spending of the federal government that is mainly responsible for inflation. ' The vote was misguided because it helps President Nixon get the hook for the huge federal deficits he designed and tars Congress with a reputation for fiscal irresponsibility less than three weeks before the election. off The vote was misguided because it was based on the demand for exemptions from the proposed spending ceiling. Yet it is just such exemptions that were responsible for the ineffectiveness of previous spending ceilings. wide-rangin- g It inflation is to be curbed, a ceiling on federal spending is needed. Whats needed even more is a real desire in the halls of Congress to restrain the impulse ts, splurge. " thats answer either. The Associated Iress interviewed marriage ", . In its rush to adjourn. Congress has bungled an opportunity to exercise some fiscal responsibility and instead has created a new campaign issue. How many "dram? "scruples" make a 9. Can you distinguish "one ounce" avoirdupois from one ounce trey, and how much is a fluid ounce? 10. When Peter Piper picked Ins peck of pickled peppers, how many quarts did he pick, and vvliat part of a bushel'. ANSWERS: A quire is 24 sheets of paper. "chain is 100 links of equal length, having a total length either of 0(i feet (as in a surveyor's chain, or the dis 3. A 4. tance between the wickets in cricket) or 100 feet, as in an engineer's chain. 5. Thy father lies 30 feet a deep fathom is six feel. 6. A A "hand is four inches. ell of cloth varies in dit'lerent countries; about 43 inches. 7. An 8. A .j large cask, containing from (i.'i to 140 gallons, depending on whether it held wine or some other liquid. 2. A cord is a unit of volume, not of weight, equal to 128 cubic feet, usually S feet long. 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high. 1 counse- lors from Boston to Beverly Hills. All an report increasing number Mr. Harvey of their troubled clients are unmarried bed partners. Several counselors said it's as if the challenge of flaunting social custom, intriguing at first, wears thin after a while. The unmarried women roommates eventually tend to feel they are being "used." And the men m such relationships who consider the marriage formality soon consider the unoffiunimportant cial commitment unimportant. Dr. David Mace, executive director of the American Assn, of Marriage Couiwe-lors- . says all evidence mdicales that Americans are "Marriage-minded- . .hat they deeply believe m marriage. For example, more Ilian 9(1 percent ol Americans marry at least once and six out of seven divorced persons remarry within two years. Prof. John Tropman, I mversilv of Michigan researcher, studied 6.000 men all PAUL HARVEY He reports a man s chance for success on the job are three times greater if he is married happier, better balanced, less increasingly motivated." a career may sometimes put Though a marriage under strain. Prof. Tropman finds the men who get ahead fastest and farthest are married, closely followed by those who have remarried. He is distracted, Penn Slate's professor emeritus Dr. research has rather established that married Jessie Bernard's conclusively men are better off physically and mentally, likely to live longer, less likely to engage in crime. file on this In my chronological subject I discovered it has been just Hi months since psychologists and marriage counselors were concluding that tiadi-tionmarriage was in trouble, that marriage was phasing out in favor of the tryout or that they were calling "the more flexible relationship. Now less than two years later the same "experts" are conceding that the unconventional hte has its own problems. and many now see the pendulum swinging the other way. The rest of this is the guesstimate of an unscientific observer. From what the tides of history say and from what my A certain portion of the public could cast aside its phony notions of being served and pampered (laziness capitalized upon by businessmen), inand crease its resourcefulness and make better use of all the information currently available. Finally, discussion with Mr. McMillm indicated that possibly the Highway Department personnel at the local level could know the laws better, and be more aggressive and responsible in their jobs and get these much needed tasks done as quickly as available resources permit. GLEN 11. SMERAGE Southfield scruple is equal to 'Write-I- n' It is timely that I should respond to the many persons and organizations expressing concern in loss and publicly thank my legislative those who in stressing my contributions to state service have urged a legislative leadership write in campaign in my behalf, for legislative office in District 63. I have served three legislative terms and while it would be a distinct privilege to continue to serve as state representative, in respect to the vote of my party in the primary election and elected candidate, it would not be appropriate for me to actively participate in the write in" cam- paign. 20 crams or of a dram. ounce is 437.2 grains or 110 pound avoirdupois; it is 4x0 grams, or 112 pound troy; a fluid ounce is 1.8047 cubic inches, or 116 of a pint. 9. One 10. A peck is a dry measure of eight quarts, equal to 537.6 cubic inches, and is the fourth part of a bushel. (I have a ream more ot such absurd examples of our illogical and outmoded measuring system, but first you have to find out how many quires are in a ream.) 'Unmarriages' Are Failing Too obviously Ceiling Unlimited S. Our experience indicates that this is sufficient roadside information. Possibly more and better pamphlets on tourist services and points of interest could be made available. Declines it By SYDNEY J. HARRIS For years this page has been calling for shorter election While condemning the state, no acknowledgement was made of the fine tourist information centers, roadside rests (both among the best in the county) which the state has built in the past free years. Unacknowledged were the many highway signs directing tourists to points of interest (very noticeable this past year). Admittedly the job is not complete. More can be done in the place of food, gas. lodging, phone signs at the interstate and primary road turn-off- chilling. How Much Is A Peck Of Peppers? A Nixon Endorsement the business class which characterizes their ads. and cheated out of a pleasing environment for the roads they paid dearly for. Irequtnt campus visits indicate. I'm of that expecting young todays people who come through this era and if they have not who land on their feet made some unerasable mistake, if they hav e not rotted their gizzards with booze or softened their brains with syphilis or become hopelessly hooked on one of theose dreadful drugs: The ones who survive this testing time reasonably intact having tasted the bitter fruits of all this "do as you are going to please permissiveness be the strictest generation of parents since Queen Victoria. GUEST CARTOON In reply to inquiries concerning an apparent misunderstanding in communication, the following information may be helpful: An announcement I made prior to the filing date, indicating that because of tentative appointments to other influential positions of public service. I may not activewas not intended to discount ly seek my legislative position, but only that a choice of service had to be made, and that my constituents were entitled to know and share in that determination. After more careful consideration supported by a citizens petition of nomination filed with the Secretary of States office in my behalf I filed for reelcction. This situation, unfortunately, ent itself to false rumors that I had persuaded my opponent to file for legislative office on the premise that I would not seek after he filed for this office. Perhaps such errors bear out that mans greatest problem is communication and that the danger of half truths is that one may get hold of the wrong half. Contributions to public service are not measured by where we serve but how well we serve. I share with the many dedicated citizens the desire and intention to continue in public service to the best of my ability. JOHN E. (JACK) SMITH State Representative U.N. Frustrates Ideals Tuesday, Oct. 24 will be United Nations Day, and each year at this time we begin hearing and seeing much about that world organ. I am writing in defense of the American peoples desires toward world peace in a global association of nations. The American people have always been a peace-lovinpeople. I believe they and most of the common people in all nations desire nothing more than to be left alone and be allowed to provide for their families and pursue their own interests without impinging on the rights of others. Also, most Americans have always been ready to at least listen to all political viewpoints consider the endless patience of the American officers in Panmunjom and to accept their errors and sometimes even strive to correct some of them. Furthermore, most Americans can see there are some problems of our times that are not confined only to our shores or even our hemisphere, but that are truly world-widThe old adage about two heads thinking better still applies even to nations. when each shares a common problem thev wish to solve. g see several needs for a world forum of ideas and wholeheartedly endorsed the plan to form a United Nations Organization. The U.N. as presently constituted, however, fiils none of those stated needs of peace promotion, peaceful exchange of political views, nor collective discussion of common problems but instead tends to frustrate all of those ideals. WAYNE BOUCHER EL: in i e |