OCR Text |
Show uriSflir l5S&gi imrrighhun KSpMB KMrfi.A'WJil,i'fWr" yaqgf DESERET NEWS SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH We Stand For The Constitution Of The United States As Having Been Divinely Inspired : 8A EDITORIAL PAGE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1973 Big Selling Job Ahead For The White House .It has been a long time since Americans have heard another President talk the way Richard Nixon did Friday. It has been even longer since the federal establishment has actually followed through on reforms and retrenchments as apparently sweeping as those he discussed in broad Here was the chief executive of the worlds biggest business the U.S. government saying that the organization has become overgrown and ought to be whittled down to size. This philosophy constitutes such a sharp departure from the long history of federal expansion that the Presidents central theme bears repeating for the benefit of those who may have found it hard to believe their brush-stroke- s. ' must reject the mistaken notion, he said, that ever bigger government is the answer to every problem . . . We are not spending the federal governments money, we are spending the taxpayers money and it must be spent in a way which guarantees his moneys worth and yields the fullest possible benefit to the people being helped . . . The answer to many of the domestic problems we face is not higher taxes and- more spending. It is less waste, more results, and greater freedom for the individual Ameri-- , ' can to. earn a and for rightful place in his own community own needs own their in to their localities address and ways, states v ht light ef their own priorities. ; U that philosophy is to be translated into concrete results, the ' White House must do a big selling job in the face of considerable odds. . .. :j Whatever specifics the White House outlines in subsequent messages, plenty of people in influential places will be working for their failure simply because the programs are Richard Nixons. ; .' Plenty of others can be expected to work against the programs because they have jobs and incomes to protect by preserving a big , and bleated federal bureaucracy with its special favors to special .cars. V'tVe - Trouble At The Supermarket Food Prices Sink Phase III? V k ; interests. Chief, Washington Bureau Copley News Service - ' m 1 performed at the federal level. But both presidential and public confidence can be eroded if waste and corruption are found in the use cities and states make of federal revenue sharing funds. That confidence can also be eroded unless grassroots govem-mekeeps on modernizing through such means as nt city-coun- ty consolidation. To carry out the philosophy he sketched Friday, the President will send Congress several detailed messages soon outlining specif-V- 'jc ways to hold down taxes, control inflation, promote economic 'grpwtlC preserve the environment, advance health and education, ; aid the needy, attack crime, and protect consumers, Americans must, of course, suspend judgment until we aH see j'.li V' the final blueprints. But the way the architect is talking at this 7. b point certainly makes sense. : Let's Pass Shield Bill Where does the Deseret News stand on House Bill 90, the pro-- .. posed shield law that would protect newsmen against being forced to disclose confidential sources of information? , , That question is being asked in the Legislature following the Houses passage of the bill, which has now been called back for ; reconsideration. , '. j; The question arises because HB 90 is a substitute measure that differs somewhat from the shield bill originally introduced. that there may be no room for doubts on the subject, let us this point perfectly clear : makq The Deseret News still decidedly favors the passage of HB 90. We do so not from any conviction that the bill is perfect and couldnt be improved. In fact, the substitute bill does not provide as did as much protection for the news source and the public the original measure. ,v So its passage, however, in the belief that the guidelines are those with which both the press and public can live, and if experience shows the shield law needs to be changed the Legislature can make revisions later. We favor Most importantly, we favor the bills passage to keep the public from being deprived of information essential to good government and public safety. and is never intended to The proposed shield law is not now be an absolute and unlimited privilege. No responsible newsman wants to hide behind a shield law to protect himself against a defamation suit, for example. among other exemptions, that the need to from disclosing the identity of a confidential news source keep cannot be used as a defense against a defamation suit. Since food is adWASHINGTON mittedly the Achilles heel of President-Nixon- s Phase III wage-pric- e policy, the American housewife not the giants of labor and industry may emerge as the final arbiter. History and supermarket trends suggest the President faces a tough jury. Four times in U.S. history presidents and Congress have intervened in the normal free enterprise process to halt runaway inflation. Each time the consumer price index leveled off dramatically. But on the first three occasions, once the controls were removed, the nation experienced a furious round of pent-uwage and price increases. p President Nixon appears convinced that memories of inflation in the late 1960s, the expanding domestic economy, standby control powers and the jawboning might of the White House can withstand market pressures. Americas first experience with controls came during World War L In August of 1917, four months after the United States entered the war against the central powers, President Woodrow Wilson ordered price controls on wheat and coal These were gradually extended to cover other commodities. They were lifted abruptly after the armistice in 1918 and prices soared. The World War I control program was still-fres- h selective, only marginally effective, highly controversial and roundly criticized in later years when it was learned that war profits created 22,000 new American millionaires. In Asia Aid By PHIL NEWSOM UPI Foreign News Analyst As the nations of Indochina begin the slow turn from war to reconstruction, it is noteworthy that the $7.5 billion in U.S. aid promised by President Nixon is more than the aid expended by the U.S. on the whole of Asia in the first seven years after World War II. That aid covering Asia and the Pacific came to $6.9 billion in grants and loans. It included U.S. aid in rebuilding Japanese industry, almost totally destroyed during the war, as well as to other nations such as China and the Phiwar-ravag- We pledge ourselves now to fight any Further illustrating the rising costs of war and peace are the findings of a Japanese research institute with government connections which estimates cost of reconstruction in the two Vietnams at $12 to $15 billion and twice that for the entire Indo- - Meanwhile, the Legislature should pass and the governor should sign HB 90. Groceries And Pogo Contrary to the popular notion that what goes up must come down, the likelihood of food prices falling very much seems dim. The reasons are many, complex, and some, downright bizarre. which is supposed to be the resulc Like the hike in beef prices of the icy Humboldt Current, which has shifted off the west coast of South America, which has created a falloff in fish catches, which has reduced Peruvian fish meal used to feed cattle, which has brought about a slowdown in beef production and a subsequent rise in world meat prices. Is all that clear? Other explanations involve government price supports, quotas government regulations, and on food imports, counter-productiv- e trends. general inflationary There is also the consumer who wants more than just plain food. He wants it conveniently packaged in individual amounts, measpre-cu- t, frozen, dried, dehydrated, instant, tenderized, homogenized, ured, seasoned, emulsified, texturized, stabilized, and preserved. As Pogo says, We have met the enemy and be is ns." china peninsula. Japanese Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira has declared aid to Indochina a matter of humanity and has promised it to the fullest of Japans capacity. Unofficial estimates have placed this aid at as much as $2.5 billion to $3 billion. Of promised U.S. aid, $2.5 billion is earmarked for North Vietnam. Among other prospective donors, Sweden has a standing promise of aid to North Vietnam coming to $45 million. In North' Vietnam, industry is totally under the state and aid must be channeled through the state. Included will be rebuilding of the Thai Ngiyen steel complex north of Hanoi, reconstruction of rail and harbor facilities at the port of Haiphong and electric power installations. Saigon, anticipating widespread unemployment and an economic slump, will offer special lures to foreign investors, with empnasis on seafood, lumber and rubber industries and on advantages offered by its excellent seaports and airfields. 1930s. n In 1941 the consumer price index jumped 10 points and on Jan. 30, 1942, seven weeks after Pearl Harbor, Congress passed the price control act. Ten months later, President Roosevelt froze wages. The consumer price index rose a total of only five points between April. 1943, and ceived it in September, end. got it working at years The cost of living increase slowed to 4 1951 and only one percent in 1952, but business activity also began to stagnate. Resident Dwight D. Eisenhower pledged an end to controls in his 1953 inaugural address and they expired three months later. Cost of living figures rose through the balance of 1953, but the pace was balanced to a large extent by rapid business expansion. When he decided in 1965 to escalate U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war, President Lyndon Johnson relied on his personal pow- - percent for If the American housewife finds that prices are beginning to stabilize along the grocery aisles , the Presidents gamble will pay Off . . 1946, when controls ended, says Congressional Quarterly, the authoritative Prices then Capitol Hill record-keepeshot up until, in December, 1948, the consumer price index was 70 percent higher 0 than its level in the period.. June, r. 1935-194- The nations third experience with controls came during the Korean conflict. The Communist invasion of South Korea in June, 1950, set off a rush of orders and hoarding of goods and commodities as speculators anticipated shortages. The wholesale price index jumped 12 points by December of 1950. President Harry Truman had asked Congress for wage-pric- e control authority in July that year, re- - ers of "persuasion to hold back economic pressures. When this failed he set the 5.5 percent guidepost policy, but stopped short of government controls although Congress had voted him the authority. When he came to office In 1969, President Nixon junked the guidepost policy as unworkable and expressed confidence in free market checks and balances. But on and Aug. 15, 1971, he did an about-fac- e clamped on sweeping restrictions. The ensuing 17 months have seen the rate of increase fall from 6 percent to 3.5 percent with attendant recovery in productivity and real economic growth. cost-of-livi- The President hopes the newly freed economy, buoyed by positive forces and always aware that compulsory controls can be returned, will expand in an orderly fash-,- s ion and even reduce the inflation factor to 2.5 percent by the end of 1973, . , Most business and labor leaders have hailed the Presidents decision, but consumer groups and some powerful voices in Congress are predicting a new round of inflation. ( I Treasury Secretary George Shultz admits that food prices pose the biggest problem. A 12 percent jump in wholesale food costs in December signals trouble at the supermarket. If the American housewife finds that prices are beginning to stabilize along the grocery aisles, if she winces a little less when the check-ou- t girl punches that total button on her cash register, if she can afford an occasional giance at the fancy cuts in the meat section, and if she can spare her husband his weekly lecture on the cost of living, the Presidents gam-- 1 ble will pay off. . If she doesnt, Mr. Nixon may have to resort once again to mandatory wage-pric- e .controls, expanded this time to cover the full scope of the food industry from the farmer to the check-ou- t girl. The alternative would be intolerable wage pressures from big labor unions that could trigger another round of inflation, wipe out the encouraging gain in real income and productivity in 1972, weaken the slowly reviving dollar and dash hopes for new American competitiveness in international trade. Capitalist Cure For Railroads lippines. effort to turn the shield depression-ridde- $7.5 Billion HB 90 specifies, law into a license for irresponsibility.- k d g Still others have become so used to throwing money at a prob-Iethat they find it hard to meet a challenge some other way. Moreover, the Presidents message reflects confidence in the ability of state and local governments to do some tasks now being ; Attempts by Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish voluntary wage-pricguidelines and preach restraint to big business and big labor during the countrys War II buildup failed because increased industrial activity also fed buying appetites that had been suppressed during the e ! , , By RAY McHUGH Of all the fancy cures that are being suggested for Americas steadily sickening railroad system, it is surprising that it is not more often suggested that we try capitalism. American oads are not capitalist institutions. railr- True, they were privately financed in the hope of dividends. But, net return on investment between averages 2.5 percent and 3 percent a year and dividends in 1971 averaged 2.2 percent. You could do twice as well at no risk in a savings bank. Thus, increasing numbers of railroad companies are service organizations, operated chiefly for the benefit of employees and customers. A capitalist business enterprise requires several freedoms. It needs to reward its stockholders at a rate competitive with other enterprises if it is to attract additional capital. It needs to rew'ard itself with enough operating surplus to allow for constant replacement and improvement of the physical plant. And to do these things it needs the right to apply a tourniquet wherever it is suffering from a persistent financial hemorrhage. Such a right does not exist for American railroads. Dating back to days when arrogant railroads held a monopoly on all but transportation we still persist in regulating them as though they had no farm-to-mark- et competition. The state of New Jersey, for example, holds to tax policies that have helped bankrupt every railroad in the state, and now anguished taxpayers are finding that they have to subsidize commuter trains in order e to keep suburban values alive. real-estat- Sometimes when railroads try to offer JENKIN LLOYD JONES service they are stymied because their competitors object. Recently, the Interstate Commerce Commission knocked out a coal unit train to a Sheboygan, Wis., power plant on the grounds that the specific level of the rate was too low for the water carriers to compete. Because there are now more retired railroaders than active railroaders, many retirement funds are getting insolvent. So some brotherhoods have recently proposed that railroad pensions be not only maintained but increased by imposing a tax low-co- on railroad shippers. This, of course, would help drive more of them to the truckers, barge lines and air freight. Rail management is not guiltless. Shiprates per pressure has kept the ridiculously low and many thousands of boxcars sit on sidings every day as temporary warehouses. per-die- Most coal cars wait 10 days to be unloaded, which means that they spend most of their time not as cars but as bins. All rail presidents acknowledge that vast mergers are absolutely necessary. But let one be proposed and all the lines that arent in on it spend vast sums for lawyers that ought to be going for roadbed and lo- i in the direction of preserving free enterprise, and, instead, will kowtow to every pressure group with votes, entailing so many concessions that government will be inevitable. All government-owne- d railway systems in the world lose money. Some like the Argentine State Railways have such inflat-- 1 ed payrolls that they repeatedly throw the national budget into crisis. Uncle Sam is in no position to drape another albatross I. around his neck. So maybe we ought to try capitalism for our rails. They now have enough competi--tio- n from other transport methods so that thered be little danger of their returning to monopolistic evils of the 19th century. Let them merge where and how they can. Let them tear up the 10 ; intercity track. Permit them to hire only, necessary employees. Let them make' enough profit so that rust will quit eating can up their capital plant, the stay ahead of the termites and derailments can diminish. Yea, even fire the ICC. . car-a-da- y Otherwise within 10 years we taxpayers are going to get the whole mess in our laps. GUEST CARTOON comotive overhaul. The Interstate Commerce Commission continues to set new highs in bureaucratic futility. The case involving the disposition of the Rock Island is now in its eighth year. The commission seems to be made up of people who have made lifetime careers out of reading the labels on medicine bottles while the patients gasp out of their lives. E. Spencer Miller, president of the busted Maine Central, recently ran out of patience. He said: Of two things I am certain. First, Congress will not shape a comprehensive railroad policy, but will temporize. Second, any plan it develops will shun a direct, above-the-tabl- e, straightforward approach VX iu 'Help, help, he's tying me upogain!' A f. (7 |