| OCR Text |
Show Editorial Page of the T Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah WEDNESDAY, A5 APRIL 18, 1973 In Indochina the bombs keep falling; isn't this where the U.S. came in? On three different occasions President Nixon has warned publicly that if the Com- munists continue to violate the cease-fir- e in Indochina the U.S. w ould have to react vigorously. By ordering U.S. bombersback over Laos this week for the first time in seven weeks, Mr. Nixon made it clear that those warnings were made of more substantial stuff than rhetoric. He also made it clear that his administration is not content to let truce violations go unpoliced by a toothless team of international watchdogs. In its sections on Laos and Cambodia, the cease-fir- e agreement called for the withdrawal of foreign troops and an end to all foreign military involvement there but it did not specify a deadline. As the administration interprets it, this means bombing can continue until a ceasefire is achieved in fact as well as on paper. More peace, fewer bases With few exceptions, military alliances , ' between nations are nothing compared to the military alliance between a defense installation and a community. All the conditions for a lastingrelationship are present: The hefty payrolls on which the community comes to depend for its economic life, the tendency for bureaucracy to spread and grow, and a Congressman somewhere s eking to nurture that growth along. Thats why it wasnt easy for the Defense Department to reach this weeks decision to close or cut back 274 military bases across the U.S. The move will eliminate 21,172 civilian and 16,640 military jobs at a savings of $275 million. that seems a paltry sum in the $80 billion defense budget, the decision shows a quality of forthrightness that augurs well for While other economies in the defense budget. To be sure, there are plenty of complaints. One is that U.S. bases must take the brunt of the cutbacks at a time when the U.S. is spending $30 billion on 3,400 overseas bases. Californias Sen. Alan Cranston put it: Were sacrificing jobs here at home so that the President can keep his bases overseas. We should be putting that money to work here at home in areas that create jobs for Americans rather than jobs for Icelanders, Germans, Spaniards, and countless other As foreigners. That kind of thinking reflects a strange set of priorities. Military installations are not built to provide jobs; theyre built to and someprovide for national security overseas done than be can this better times here at home. But lets face it. Despite the bombing in Indochina, the nation is rapidly returning to a peacetime footing. And that means its time to get rid of excess and expensive military installations. Male child only? Not for Fiebig By Jim Fiebig General Features Cnrp. Prof. Jan Tostgate of Sussex University has suggested runaway population growth could be tripped up through the development of a male child only pill. The pill would be readily accepted by would-bparents, the professor says, because there is a surprising prejudice among ordinary people m favor of male children. e This attitude is especially prevalent among men To sire a son, they believe, is proof the father is so brimming over with masculinity that he couldn't help but give some away. (Of course I had a cun. I had no choice.) Others want a son so he can carry on Thats swell if you bethe family name. lieve your departed spirit or the world will suffer if your family name is buried at the local cemetery, but neither prospect has the slightest effect on my mental health. While the name Fiebig has served me and my ancestors well, its tought to pronounce, difficult to sell over the phone and not easily remembered by newspaper editors. Even other men desire a son so they can teach him all the things there are to being a man. I feel no sense of loss at not having a little boy watch me shave in the morning. Besides all that, having a beautiful daughter has been such a delightful experience I could drop dead at the end of this column and still consider my life fulfilled. . A male child only pill? Not with my wife, you dont! In the judgement of military experts, American air power is about the only thing that preventsthe collapse of the demoralized government and army of President Lon Nol in Cambodia where U.S. planes have carried out raids for more than 40 consecutive days the Constitutions restraints on his warmaking powers out of shape. Since the level of combat in South Vietnam is at the lowest point it has been following the signing of the truce agreement, the U.S. cant very well explain away its air strikes on the basis of protecting Saigons se- Even so, most Americans would undoubtedly prefer to see the role of the U.S. air armada in Indochina taper off, and there is ample reason to be edgy about the way that role is escalating instead. curity. Indeed, since the U.S. has built up South Vietnams own air force to the point where it is now the sixth largest in the world, its hard to see why Washington doesn't let Saigon handle any bombing that must be done in Indochina. More American bombing is bound to mean more American fliers shot down and held captive in prisoner of war camps where, as recently released POWs are testifying, torture is often the order of the day. The danger in aLT this is that by escalating its attacks m Laos and Cambodia, the U.S. may be drawn against its own interests into another fiasco like Vietnam. In the past Mr. Nixon has based his authority to continue air operations in Indochina on his powers as Commander in Chief to protect American forces. But with U.S. ground forces withdrawn from South Vietnam, the President seems to be stretching of a bad dream that raises the haunting question: Wont the day ever come when the Indochinese can fight their own fights and let the U.S. get out of Its re-ru- n IN THE MIND'S EYE... Text and photo by Watergate David Bly Deseret News staff weeks ago found that 54 percent of those surveyed believed the White House had tried to prevent a full investigation of the Watergate affair. Twenty-nin- e percent said they would be less likely to vote Republican in 1074. what he should have done long ago by ordering his At last President Nixon is doing aides to appear before a congress: nal investigation of the Watergate affair. If the President had acted earlier, it ERfTlfl Footprints Tuesdays action conveys the impression of acting under pressure, of acting not because its the right thing to do but because fts politically expedient if not all but unavoidable. No doubt the slowness with which President Nixon acted is a measure of his loyalty to his subordinates. No doubt it is also a measure of the extent tc which the White House has inevitably become isolated as the proliferation of bureaucracy has put added distance between the President and the people. But much of this isolation is the result not of circumstances but of personal choice. Moreover, theres such a thing as misplaced loyalty; and no chief executive can afford to place his loyally to the staff that serves him ahead of his own loyalty to the public he serves. In making these comments, we readily admit to benefiting from hindsight. When the break-i- n at Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate building at Washington, D.C., was first disclosed last summer, few Americans took the episode as seriously as we all should have. - Joseph C. Harsch The Christian Science Monitor News Service Having tailed to find an easy reference source on the various incidents lumped together these days under the broad label of Watergate, we went to the back files and put together for future use the following: . 1970. July through September Geneen, board chairman of International Telephone & Telegraph, offered company funds to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to help prevent the election of Salvador Allende s to the presidency of Chile. After Aliendes election on Sept. Mr. 4, Geneen made a specific offer of $1 million to the CIA to support a coalition against Mr. Allende. Harold level. March 24 Dairymen contributed $25,000 to the Nixon election campaign fund. March Afterthought Secretary Hardin raised the milk price support level. The cost to the milk consumer was estimated at . . . The habitual hypocrite invariably ends up as the biggest dupe of all, by deluding g himself that everyone is basically as and insincere as he. $500 The Republican National Committee picked San Diego for its convention. 1972 was Agreement reached with the city after ITT had underwritten $400,000 of the cost. The deal later fell through. cians n Youd heard manufacturers build in obsolescence to keep you rebuying everything; competition, foreign and domestic, proves thats silly. Youd heard the military-industri- complex will not allow peace because they profit from war. Now the wars wound down and our economy is still winding up. So the extravagant indictments of the Naderites who imagine that big business is out to get you is a reflex protestation approaching paranoia. Yet you have to wonder who keeps the cork in our auxiliary power oil now is 3 production right million barrels a day and our consumption is approaching 4 million bar- -' Our oil reserves are rels. good for no more years, gas 11 which recognizes tial. better hurry. than 10 years, but, man alive, we can make enough oil from shale to last 100 years and we have coal to for 500 years. And burn we have barely begun to tap nuclear power. If disposal of nuclear waste remains insoluble, get busier developing geothermal steam. If pipelining geothermal steam is prohibitive, build windmills. Its wearying to hear that government or industry or scientists are studying the of alternative feasibility power sources year after year and producing trickles, if any. While the windmill doesnt need further research to start generating electricty yesterday. And the tides and the July poten- then undisclosed contribution of $200,000 m cash was handed to Mr. Stans in the Nixon campaign office in Washington by Harry L. Sears, Nixon fund raiser for New Jersey, and Laurence B. Richardson Jr., former president of International Controls Corp., whose principle owner, Robert L. Vesco, was a fugitive from April It) Im tending to oversimplify, its only because Ive watched for a third of a cenwhile power overcomplicated lowed our nation experts and al- to become A the United States. on hazardously dependent Middle East oil sources June Five employees of the committee were campaign caught and arrested inside the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Apartments in Washington. All have since been found guilty in court of breaking, entering, stealing, and eavesdropping. 17 Nixon which could go up in smoke overnight. By the 21st Century, if we last that long, energy requirements will be eight to sixteen times what they now are. By next summer there will be nights when city dwellers that will flip electric switch will happen; and nothing cities may brown out or go d dark. 1973. Jan. 31 Campaign funds reports showed that Nixon fund raisers had collected about $50 million during 1972. The Nixon campaign February 27 committee disclosed that it had returned to Robert Vesco the $200,000 reiceved from him in cash on April 10, and also another $50,000 received earlier. Experts keep telling me we do it all at once. We can do something at once. Start building great, graceful cant community-siz- antitrust suit against Maurice Stans, chief camfund raiser for Nixon paign. raised $10 million in secret funds to beat the April 7 disclosure deadline. If tury An 31 1972. March schoolboy any as power 23 ITT was settled out of court. currents remain the subject of academic theoreti- Wed better and wed 25 million to $700 million. July self-servin- ocean Our s 1 in n I asked. Miss Mays picked the kids to sing m the spring concert. She went up and down each row, tapping people on the shoulder saying, Youre a bluebird. Y'ou can sing. Youre a bluebird. You can sing. Youre a blue . . . i i So, are you a bluebird? I'm an albatross." What does that mean? - I asked. It means I cant sing and Im too short for the back row. , , I slumped to the bed. My worst fears had been realized. Before my husband and I were married, we were told by our choir director, You two should never marry. Y'ou will only beget tone deaf children who sing between the cracks of a piano and inflict pam on music lovers ev- . 4 V, X s v erywhere. But Gos-sen- 1971. March 12 Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin refused to raise the federal milk price support v isnt there a chance A ... s Nothing is certain, he said straightening his music. But if it were me, I wouldnt take the chance. 1 at Bruce. "There are worse things than r being an albatross, I said. Your father and I are alba- v! V trosses and we function. Then how come you don't sing in the church choir 44 ,4 anymore? the location of their rehearsals They kept moving and not telling Mommy and Daddy,- I said. Dont you ever gel to sing? I looked - Of course we do. Remember last year at the k when they played the Star Spangled Banner? Daddy and I sang then. ball-par- Admittedly, were short on gas and oil, so use something else. Whats the matter? By Lets get busy on energy By Paul Harvey L.S. Times Syndicate Ten manufacturing plants m Illinois had to shut down this last winter for lack of others curfuel. Thirty-sevetailed production. Just in Illinois! And the nation which ran out of oil this winter may run out of gas next summer despite the acknowledged fact that our country has more than power sources for a thousand adequate years ready, waiting and untapped. Cliches mousetrap the inexperienced. You'd heard the cigarette lobby was too powerful to permit a curtailment of advertising and it wasnt. Bruce came in last week, slammed the door, hit for the bedroom and was staring at the ceiling when I found him. Watergate Meanwhile, as efforts go forward to pin down personal responsibility for the Watergate affair, some responsibility must be as-- signed to the general attitude that in politics almost anything goes. Thats an attitude on which no one party has a monopoly. But as one disclosure has followed another, the break-i- n and bugging have come to be recognized for what they were : a small segment of a much larger political spy puzzle involving espionage and, sabotage, implicating White House officials, and financed with hundreds of thousands of dollars in secret campaign funds. Gradually public reaction came to the point where a Wall Street Journal poll two BOmBECK out of in, In his announcement Tuesday, President Nixon indicated there have been major developments in a new investigation he ordered. The fact that Mr. Nixon ordered a second investigation suggests he was no longer satisfied with the earlier investigating that gave the White House staff a clean bill of health. It also suggests that some members of the Presidents staff may have been involved in the Watergate episode. If so, they would serve the President and the public better by resigning before Mr. Nixon is forced to suspend them. By ordering his aides to testify before congressional investigators without claiming immunity from prosecution, the President has avoided a showdown over the right of the executive branch of government to withhold information from the legislative branch. Even so, digging out crime and criminals is still a job better done by a grand jury than by a political body such as a congressional committee. of When I was a child, I watched water rippling in the creek ; then came Progress. Now my child watches water trickle from an asphalt landscape into a storm drain. i Republicans as well as Democrats want to get to the bottom of or top the Watergate affair. would have been easier to interpret his move as a principled step in keeping with his pledge to run an open administration. tardiness like the Southeast Asia once and for all? A breakthrough on As it is now, the 1 e Power to the people! windmills. Footnote Pay to the Watergate burglars came from the same safe into which the Vesco contributions were put. Piesident Nixons brother Edward helped to arrange the Vesco I remember. You and Daddy held your hands over your hearts and people on either side put their hands over your mouths. Dont forget Daddys guitar, I said ignoring him. He sits around all evening playing ana singing. Is it true he had to register his guitar as a lethal weapon? Absolutely not, I said. Now I want you to wash up, comb your hair, come down to dinner, and tomorrow I will have a talk with Miss Mays. Last night, my husband and I sat proudly through the spring concert. In the back row stood our son, rect and attentive, holding a small triangle and waiting for his cue to strike it. Did they have to put a piece of tape over mouth? asked my husband. said. Miss Mays says they couldnt take any chances, ! i ! $ 2 J i $ J his , I - |
