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Show DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH We WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1973 A 5 stand for the Const ution of the United States as having been divinely inspired. Needed: Tough new rules on campaign spending After letting election campaign financing go largely unregulated for 46 years. Congress seems poised to pass its second major reform in 18 months. Why? Because of the Watergate affair with its disclosures of the scandalous w ay money is used in American elections. The new legislation is described by Congressional Quarterly as the most comprehensive bill on campaign finance ever to reach the floor of either house." It will have to be comprehensive if it is to do the job. The magnitude of the job to be done is reflected in the shortcomings of the more modest 1971 law, which requires candidates to file detailed reports on the money they raise and spend and limits the amounts of money that can be used for political advertising. But the present limits are easily evaded. A candidate may have a dozen different committees. Though each may make full disclosure, their multiplicity makes it hard to add up all the sources and determine how much the candidate received and spent. Donors can conceal the identity of the recipient by contributing to an intermediary such as labors COPE with specific instructions on which candidate is to receive the donation. fund-raisin- g the present law provides campaign spending are to be filed in three different places and as unrelated documents. Anyone who wants to investigate political spending must check with the General Accounting Office for presidential races, with the House clerk for Congressional campaigns, and with the secretary of the Senate for Senate races. Moreover, that reports on None of the bodies responsible for collecting the reports can prosecute anyone for violations. Each body has different policies. No over-al- l findings based on the are spending reports required by law . By contrast, the new bill would limit most candidates for the Senate and the White House to spending 33 cents for every constituent of voting age. Fifteen cents per voter could be used for the primary, the other 20 for the general election. House candidates would be allowed to spend a maximum of $90,000 in the primary and another $90,000 in the general election. For contributors, it would be illegal to give more than $100,000 to all political candidates in a given year. It would be illegal to give more than $3,000 to a congressional candidate before a primary and another $3,000 afterward. It would be illegal to give a presidential candidate more than a total of $30,000. Moreover, the present three-headepolicing would be replaced with a single seven bipartisan commission, who.-- e members would be appointed by the President. Congressional leaders would, however, have a say in most of the appointments. And the commission would hae the pow er to levy fines of up to $10,000. d There are some loopholes in the pro- posed new rules. They apply separately to a husband and wife, so a contributor could legally double the size of the gift by adding a contribution from a spouse. Because it applies during a calendar year, the $100,000 ceiling on donations could be evaded by giving once before the end of the year and again after the first of the year. There isnt a law' that cant be evaded if enough people really want to. But Con- gress can certainly reduce the number of loopholes and make them harder to wriggle through. The nation's lawmakers had better make that effort if politics is not to become even more the province of the affluent and an exercise in cynicism than it already is. A sound resource policy For Americans who have seldom had to pay the monetary price for pollution, the report of the National Commission on Materials Policy may come as something of a shock. But that should not dissuade the public from viewing the report as a reasoned approach to combating the problems of pollution in a sound, meaningful way. . Basically, the report puts the cost' of on the consumer where pollution clean-u- p it rightly belongs. It recommends that all costs of production, including environmental ones, be paid for by the ultimate users of the material. - Other recommendations of the report include: In the future, environmental costs should be considered in figuring costs and benefits of any material. The quality of life should be improved without impairing the Buckle up incentive toward requiring by law that motorists use their seat belts. But before that is done, one thorny question needs answering: How far can the government properly go in protecting a person from his own negligence? Theres at least one partial answer, and that is to require manufacturers to provide safety devices like seat belts, plus warning devices when they arent being used. But if a person persists in exposing himself to unnecessary dangers after all this is done, is it right to enact laws punching him for his laxity? At least 17 state legislatures backed away from that question in sessions this year, but the issue on mandatory seat belt usage is still alive in California. Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey. A mandatory usage law would be difficult to enforce. The most optimistic surof the driving veys show only and riding public bothers to fasten belts, and only one in 20 uses his shoulder belt. one-thir- d well-bein- The ration should cut back on enerwaste gy by discouraging dumping and encouraging recycling. It should be obvious by now that the nation is passing from a long era of plenty into an era of shortages that will take cooperation and planning to overcome. The National Commission on Materials Policy has pointed the way to accomplish a sound, practical balance between economic developent and growth and the quality of life. by law? The Department of Transportation estimates that between 10,000 and 20,000 lives a year could be saved if the nations drivers and their passengers would buckle their seat belts. That is a powerful should be made of widely-helbeliefs that there is no limit to the natural resources demanded for goods g and servicts. and that the of society can be measured by production of goods, per capita use of goods, or consumption of materials and energy. The U.S. should develop a high priority research program to engineer new sources of energy to reduce U.S. dependence on imported or fuels. A insurance premiums. A significant portion of that amount could be saved by merely fastening belts. The whole question should be rendered moot, however, by the installation of air bags. The bags will be available on some 1974 model cars as optional equipment at extra cost, and will be mandatory on 1977 model cars, according to the latest timetable. Technology often is a better answer than the law. Afterthoughts . . . 'See you tomorrow Karen By Nick Thimmesch accuse any of the 95, though it cleverly included Jeb Stuart Magruder and John Caulfield, both long ago resigned. Guilt by association? The Post was sensible enough to note that since Andrew Jackson, every has rewarded administration its political allies with governThe mental appointments. Post, however, published no such list when John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson won their presidencies. The current list is a precedent. - In the WASHINGTON wake of one of Vice President Agnews heavy criticisms of the media. Sen. Edward W. once reBrooke marked that the press should criticize itself more, and then maybe it wouldnt catch so much outside criticism. Sen. Brooke was, and is, right. I hereby chastise The Washington Post for recently publishing a list of Nixon campaign workers now holding government jobs and putting the story in the context of the Watergate scandal. innuendo. By saying The Who is on the list? Indeed, some first-ratpeople that any administration, Republican or Democrat, liberal, centrist or would eagerly conservative, welcome. In fact, at least 98 percent of the people who worked in the Nixon and McGovern campaigns last fall are for highly motivated, hardworking, competent, honest people, and should be commended for helping make our political system work. e Post is Water- that, despite gate, the 95 persons cited are still in government departments and agencies. After ali, notes The Post, many who worked in the White House and in the campaign are in legal trouble now because of Watergate, and here are many more still in government. A man named Joe McCarthy used to make charges like that, and The Post went cross-eye- d Scan The Posts list and one finds Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Catholics, Jews, Protestants, young1 and old, executive, scientist and clerk. No shame at all. Theres C. who Washburn, Langhome took leave as director of the U.S. Travel Service to become deputy chairman of the Nixon finance campaign. He is now back in his old position at the Commerce Department and doing a great job, as the United States experiences a record fighting him. Maybe The Post learned some of Joes dirty tricks. Making lists is a dubious practice anyway. That "enemies list. compiled in the White House bv some flunky, was a monstrous stupidity. So were the lists of "Reds put together by superpatriots in the McCarthy era. And so is The Posts list today. year The Post is careful not to in foreign Then tourists. theres BOfTIBGCK Alexander Butterfield, honest enough to reveal the White House taping activities, who is now the respected head of the Federal Aviation Administration: John Whitaker, an ecology expert, now undersecretary of Interior; William L. Gifford, very able in legislative matters, now assistant to Treasury Secretary Shultz; Ann L. Doar, who did public relations in the Nixon campaign, doing the same work now at the Environmental Protection Agency, and Steorts, who Nancy worked in the campaign volunteer division, now a special as- sistant in consumer affairs at the Department of Agriculture. salute all of them for staying in government, which isnt the greatest place in the I nation to work anyway. And I salute another on The Posts list. Dr. Clayton Yeutter, who dealt with agricultural issues in the campaign, now an assistant secretary of agriculture, because hes an exceptionally knowledgeable man in this field. Hes worked in technical assistance for South American nations and taught at the University of Nebraska. Henry Kissinger said some weeks ago that there is the atmosphere of the "lynch mob in Washington these days over the Watergate. The Washington Post, which performed admirably in riding herd on the Watergate story, did everybody named on its list, a disservice with this stunt. Truman on Watergate By Paul Harvey - told President new strategy for divulging the degree of his complicity in Watergate. Now youre Nixon has a ago hed have been applauded respectfully, now he is cheered affectionately. There's something in Americans that inclines them to want to shoot down big guys I keep imagining how such a situation as this might have been handled by Harry S Truman. and uphold those in trouble. Witness the way they rallied to underdog Harry Truman in Martha Mitchell says Mr. all about knew President Watergate and the coverup all along, and George Gallup's surveyors report most Americans think so, too. President Nixon's forte and youve heard him say this is international affairs. It's his comparative disinterest in tedious home-fron- t administration which resulted in the delegation of those responsibilities to H. R. (Bob) Haldeman and John Ehrlich-ma- Yet when the President apas during pears in public at the Dirksen dedication so enthusiasticalPekin, 111. ly is he hoisted on the shoulders of the electorate that he plans more such personal appearances in the weeks ahead. Its fascinating to watch the public response to the person of the President. Where a 1948. n. President Nixons years alaccomplished ready have in monumental progress defusing armed international time bombs. He China, the door to secured meaningful opened DOUG SflEYD unhowever tardily tangled us from Indochina. But on the home fronts. President Nixon has been less effective in dealing with welfare misuse, street crime, inflation genwages, prices erally. the And, paradoxically, skilled political strategist got himself embarrassed by the intemperate excesses of his campaigners. I do I say embarrassed. not agree with those who say discredited. It is significant that the coals heaped on President Nixons head over this Watergate thing have not been heaped by logical political adversaries. The McGoverns and the Kennedys and such have been discreetly silent, that ventilating recognizing closed closets leaves others vulnerable. Ar.d they remember also the tendency of Americans to prefer the gadfly role until their giant is humbled; thereafter they are likely to rally to his rescue. 1 There isnt a day goes by that I dont curse my good vision, my sensitive hearing and my acute sense of smell. I am the only one in the family with all three senses vvorking and frankly it is breaking my back. When we got the new' puppy, it was generally understood his plumbing carried no guarantee. We made a pact.-Thfirst one who sees the 'dogs contribution to indoor pollution cleans it up." From that moment on. no one looked down again. The family stumbled around blindly up the stairs with heads held high. If they dropped something, they let it lay, not daring to take a chance on feeling around the floor. If they felt something under their foot, they changed directions. keep imagining how Harry S Truman might have handled todays cause celebre. At the first news conference, when the question of Watergate was raised for the first time: I was on my knees in the middle of the living room one night with my perennial bucket when I said, Has everyone in this house been struck blind? "Who is it? asked my husband squi:.,ing his eyes and looking down, Oh, its you. Wrongo. Its Cinderella, I grumbled. Is the puppy a problem? he asked innocently. When you name an dog SPOT hes a problem. Had the kids or I seen it, we would have cleaned it up, wouldnt we kids.? k Is someone here? they asked in unison. You know, Im really worried about all of you, I said. "No one sees the sugar bowl when it is empty or the bath towel on the floor when it is underfoot, or the 5,826 bottles in the garage that need returning. You cant hear the call for dinner when youre in the middle of your favorite TV show, or the dog scratch on the door when he wants out, or the phone when the school is calling. You cant smell garbage that has set in the kitchen overnight, burnt popcorn, or hamster cages that havent been cleaned. No more was said about their infirmities until the boys were mumbling over a fresh spot a few nights later. You didn't see it the last time, whispered one, now its my turn not to see it. I came in from the outside and handed both of them the bucket. How did you hear us through the walls? Hear what? I asked, Is that you boys? What are you doing here with the bucket? Mr. President, did your campaigners spy on the opposition? I can hear Harry Truman laugh and say. I dont know, but I should hope so. If they didn't, Id ought to fire em. But if they broke the law, Ill have to." r, "Who said coverup?" And that would have been that. t I squinted, HARRIS A reader who identifies himself as Chairman of something called the Cultural Resources Committee of the City of New Orleans has written to take issue with a sentence of mine. Not long ago, I had written : Culture is a word that should be used only in an anthropological sense, never in an esthetic sense; to speak of music, art, etc., as culture is to label oneself tured. He looked up the word in three dictionaries, no less; and all agreed that culture is applicable to intellectual and artistic activity, and to the enlightenment and refine-- , are all the dicment of tastes. And he wants to know tionaries wrong, and am I right? What he fails to understand is the great difference between the definition and the use of a word. The definition is what it means objectively; the use depends upon the position and perspective of the user. In denotation, culture is what the dictionary' says it is; in connotation, it is a word to be avoided, except in an anthropological sense. Let me give you a few analogies. A British wit once remarked that a gentleman is someone who never used the word. What he meant by this was that certain things are taken for granted, or not; and someone who feels called upon to describe himself or someone else as a "gentleman is per se no gentleman. Refined is another word whose use should be limited to such things as sugar or oil. To describe someone as being refined is wtiat Nancy Mitford called "distinctly non-that is. no person of refinement would ever think of using the word in that sense. Culture is a generic term, encompassing all the various institutions and mores and artifacts of a people; rock music is as much (perhaps more) a part of our American culture as Bach and Mozart ; and the comic strips as much as any oher visual art. Culture is simply the way a people express themselves on all levels. To speak of "getting culture or promoting culture implies a division between the popular and the classic, tho divisions exist lay and the learned; and such who suffer through only in the minds of the operas and trudge dutifully around art museums under the delusion that they are somehow taking part in culture. Religion is another good analogy. True religion runs like a thread through everything we do in every area of life; it is not compartmentalized, so that on Sundays or. and the rest of the time we holy days we are religious, are not. To use the word in this sense meaning that we is to isolate and deadgo to church and obey the ritual? en an essential nerve of piety. Likewise, if culture means something high, severe, cold, and remote from daily life, we are burying it morqhan praising it t hard-and-fa- semi-educate- of an international catastrophe. e SYDfiEY from Russia and year d Yet the Transportation Department estimates highway accidents now cost, roughly $46 billion a year in time lost from work, doctor and hospital care, funeral expenses, courcosts, and increased ERmfl deserves another NOBODY SOUNDS AS DUMB as the typical TV newscaster, reading his copy with the same affable monotony of intonation whether the item is a hockey score INSURANCE FIGURES reveal that there are about 50 percent more accidents cars; in rental cars than in owner-drivewhich points rot only to the risk in handling a strange vehicle, but possibly also to the indifference in damaging what belongs to somebody else. hope' One enemy list r IT IS HARDER to understand why things work smoothly than why they work badly; and we need more studies of good function than of such as in families as in to leant much order dysfunction, about health as we know about disease, mentally, physically and socially. 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