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Show "I DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH We WEEKEND CF FEBRUARY A 2, 1974 5 stand for the Constitution of the United States wish its three departments of government, each fully indepenck.it in its own field. Why it's false economy to cut Utah reclamation The budget which President Nixon is sending to Congress on Monday already contains too much red ink and more surgery ought to be performed on it. Utah must expect to bear its share not only of any future cutting but also of the reductions in spending requests that had to be made to get the proposed new federal budget in its present shape. Even so, the deep cuts being made in reclamation in general and in the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project in beltparticular go beyond simple and false tightening represent economy. The Nixon budget is said to include just $15.2 million for reclamation work m Utah, including only $12.3 million for the less than half the $30 Bonneville Unit million sought by state officials. When inflation is taken into account, this cutback becomes even more serious than the budget figures alone would indicate. I i Unlike most other federal undertakings, reclamation projects in the long run represent a contribution to the economy rather than a drain on the taxpayer. of payments by water and power users, reclamation projects actually re Tie-cau- turn most of their construction the U.S. Treasury. costs to Consequently, when deep cuts umst be made, the cutting is best done in areas containing more flab than reclamation. The General Accounting Office, for example, keeps finding plenty of fat in defense spending. But who has ever heard of the GAO finding much waste in reclamation? "They seem to have their own rationing system." At a time when unemployment is due to the increasing markedly energy crisis, mere activity on reclamation would provide not only more jobs but also more Th 'Today and in the years ahead we need better data on every aspect of energy ' eneigy. As tor the CUP specifically, it is essential if additional water is to be made available to sustain continued along the Wasatch Front. great oil mystery growth William . Simon ; federal energy administrator The CUP already has been delayed too long, not just by the recent environmental impact study but by chronically low federal funding. Utahs congressional delegation is used to fighting to get Congress to restore some of the cuts that the White House keeps making in Utah reclamation. Another such campaign is clearly in order now. Needed: A Utah health plan When a doctor's patients increase to the point where he cant give them all the individual attention they need, its that health care delivery isnt what it should be. self-evide- I I I I I I I Such cases happen when particular classes of doctors are in short supply such as pediatricians, obstetricians, or others who deal directly with the public. The level of health care also declines when the number of doctors falls off, or when physicians dont measure up to stan- dard. Keeping the quality of medical services high is the job of health care planning agencies like the Utah State Comprehensive Health Planning Agency, which is responsible for the entire state; or the Great Salt Lake Health Planning Council, which looks at problems in Salt Lake and Tooele counties. state master health plan currently is being developed, and as part of that plan the Great Salt Lake Health Planning Council released the first draft of a primary health care planning report which shows that general practitioners and family doctors are particularly in short supply A in Salt Lake and Tooele counties. While the optimum ratio nationally is one family doctor for every 1,700 to 2,000 y area has only 80 people, the or general and family practitioners fewer than one for every 4,000 people. The council hopes to correct this by loans for suggesting more medical students who will specialize in areas where doctors are needed the most. Council aims also include encouraging University Hospital to steer more medical students into these needed fields. two-count- low-intere- st One area that is being widely discussed is the use of more paramedics in the prothose who are trained to work fession with a physician in improving the closely of health care. Just this week the quality Senate passed the Mobile Paramedics Act which specifies what medical ads may be performed by ambulance crewmen at the scene of an accident. With medical services becoming more and more costly, a comprehensive health care plan is urgent so Utah can get the most from its present resources as well as draw specific blueprints to upgrade them. Consistency and the military budget Judge Wilkins and the law When a judge steps down from the bench after long years of service, as Third District Judge D. Frank Wilkins did this week, its an occasion for examining not only his own record on the bench but the role of the judiciary itself. Wilkins resigned after seven years on the bench to join a private law firm. The resignation was effective Friday. A nations laws are no better than the quality of its judges. In fact, the success of the English common law (Britain has no written constitution) is said to stem from the high ethical standards of its judges. Judge Wilkins reverence for the law is he said The judiciary, silk. in a Its very prerecently, is jewel cious . . . more than any other entity, unspeakably precious. Fair and impartial administration of the law is the very cornerstone of a democracy. And no law can be administered refairly unless there is a deep-seate- d spect for it. Frank Wilkins presence on the bench will be missed, particularly his service as administrator of Utahs district judges. The Deseret News wishes him well in his new responsibilities. well-know- When smaller is better One of the few bright spots about the sales is that its abrupt drop in new-ca- r forcing Detroit to concentrate on smaller ears which can help save fuel. But there are bound to be serious repercussions on the economy before the auto manufacturers can tool up to meet the increased demand for small cars. Those problems will be thoroughly aired convention of the Naduring the five-dational Automobile Dealers Association in Las Vegas which opened Saturday. Auto manufacturing consumes a big chunk of the nations steel, rubber, and other materials. Sc what affects production in cans also deeply affects many other industries. In addition, the chances are dimming for any repeat of the old Detroit story: Introduce a small car, then let it grow and grow in size in succeeding years until its hardly recognizable from its more austere beginnings. At last, Detroit seems bent on competing with the foreign small-ca- r imports. y in Meanwhile, the market is booming small-ca- r sales. Last year, subcompaets accounted for 41.5 percent of all new American cars sold, up from 32 percent in 1970. Some experts expect the subcompaCv share of the market to reach 70 to 80 percent within five years. Afterthoughts . . . Technology is going to have to hurry a lot faster than it is to keep up with the of the vouneer rising expectations soon for nobody will be generation, around who wants to do the dirty work,, while there is still plenty of dirty work to be done. Listening to some arguments, its hard not to agree with the sardonic comment of Kierkegaard tnat People demand freedom of speech tu Make Up fer the freedom of thought which they avoid. President Nixon has used his authority to block billions of dollars appropnated by the Congress to clean up the air and waterways of America. The reason he gives for holding back these funds is that he believes the expenditure of such money will have an inflationary effect. Forget for the moment the constitutional question whether the President has the right to reverse decisions of the Congress. Forget also for the moment the related issue concerning the fact that the President has held back the Watergate tapes on the grounds that he wants to preserve strict lines of separation between the executive branch and the other branches of government, yet he does not hesitate to arrogate to himself the authority vested in the Congress to appropriate funds. Consider only the Presi- dents argument that he wants to keep down government spending in order to fight inflation. Then consider the Presidents request to Congress for $99 billion for the new military budget the largest peacetime military budget in the history of the United States. In asking Congress to appropriate all these billions, the President said nothing about the fact ihd military spending has represented the greatest single cause of inflation in the sky-hig- h United States. Nor did the Pres;dent refer to charges made by congressional leaders of both parties ... in criiCll Midi UJC 3tXUlll of the United States is being weakened, not strengthened, H--a by such mammoth military These critics expenditures. have pointed to overlapping in the military services; to the disproportionately large number of officers compared to enlisted men; to irregularities and maintein procurement nance; to discrepancies in bidding and spending; to unlimited stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction despite the fact that we already have the power to destroy any enemy or combination of enemies many times over The President has pouted to his trip to China and to the detente he negotiated with the Soviet Union as measures that have substantially reduced world tensions and contributed to the prospects for enduring peace. He also called atten tion to the SALT talks as setting tne stage for significant arms reductions. If all this is true, why is it necessary to increase the military budget far beyond what it was while we were at war in Vietnam? The President cant have it both ways. He cant refer to the improvement in the world climate for peace as the result of his initiatives, and then ask for more money than we have ever spent before for nulitary purposes. He can't talk about the need to combat inflation, and the support the kind of arms spending that makes inflation' inevitable. He can't talk about the need to keep America strong, and yet see no danger in the scutdo not satisfy consumer needs tling of programs designed to and that create vital shortAmerica in the ages. The fact that so many strengthen way it needs most to be billions of dollars are spent in strengthened bases by getting rid military maintaining of the slums; by improving overseas despite basic the quality of education and changes in the world condihealth care; by protecting our tions that brought these bases lakes and rivers against results in the into being poisoning and the air over flight of capital from the UnitAmerica against becoming an ed States and adds to our ecoopen sewer; by developing nomic difficulties. new sources of energy, and by making it possible for the Consistency is not the ultiAmerican people to get from mate virtue, to be sure. There one place to another sensibly are times when we have to safely, swiftly. make adjustments to new So long as we have somefacts and conditions. But when inconsistencies result in thing to show for the money we spend, we have the best departures from basic values hedge against inflation there, and principles, then it is difficult to imagine a more seriis. The main cause of inflation ous situation for a country the is of expenditure mammoth sums in ways that and its people. 76: Looks like Ford vs. Jackson By Ernest Cuneo North American Newspaper Aliance To a considerable degree, piano-wir- e WASHINGTON tension and its attendant discord has dissolved into the harmonies of normal political channels. This does not spell out peace and harmony, but it does substitute the accepted grammar of partisan politics for the wild and discordant scramble for the headlines of personality politics. That the public business is at least in part barely in the tracks is due to the advent of Gerald Ford as vice familiar with the thoroughly president, professional, practical workings of government on the hill. y relaPerhaps the fundamental truth of the confidence one the while is that, tionship party governs, and cooperation of the opposition party is necessary to two-part- govern. This, of course, describes the difficulties into which Mr. Nixons inexperienreri staff mislpd him: the White House maintained no contact with the Republican leaders, much less its opposition, the Democratic majority. This aberration is difficult to explain in a man of President Nixon's experiences on the hill, he having served in both houses. Simultaneously with the coalescence of Republican strength on the hill. Sen. Henry "Scoop Jackscn appears to be the catalyst which is bringing the divergent Democrats together. It would be more accurate, perhaps, to call him the coagulant, since the leadership is clustering around him, emerging as he has, as the principle formulant of both domestic and foreign national policies. Jackson is no novice at this role. It will be recalled that John F. Kennedy, after declaring that he would be uncompromising in his pursuit of excellence, promptly named Senator Jackson chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In this capacity, it is noteworthy that the grand master of them all, James A. Farley, pronounced Jackson as right as rain, and just as clear, high praise from a man to wnom superlatives do not come easily. Neither do they to Jackson. He said all he had to say when he said of Gerald Ford, He's a real professional and his word is good. I will vote for his confirmation. been Senator has Jackson Parenthetically, characteristically restrained in his criticism of the President, not unreminiscent of those great gentlemen of the Democratic p ny, Samuel J. Tilden and John W. Davis. In tact, like Tilden and Davis, Jacksons approach is by massive preparation and quiet persuasion. This has brought to Jackson the silent support of the Southern senators, immensely powerful and extremely world-wise- . As the pros see it. the present odds are that it will be Ford vs, Jackson in 76. Hence, the issues will be framed starting now. The fight will be hard, but it will be clean. if n |