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Show Sljc Joseph Kraft' gait iakt Sfjlmiw Section Thursday, August Economy Needs Fallback Plan 16, 1973 American Indochina Involvement WASHINGTON The inflation raging in this country and the rest of the world derives chiefly from soaring commodity prices. So the adminis tration strategy of on the production makes sense. Doesnt End With Last Bomb has been 23 years since the first AmeriNevertheless, Americans will continue to can military mission arrived in South Viet- supply the military and economic aid to nam and 12 years after the first C,1 died South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for the fighting there. Cut, despite the fact that uncertain future. U.S. military aid to CamboAmerican bombers have dropped the last dia is budgeted for $207.7 million this fiscal bomb on Camliodia, the United States in- year, plus an additional $88.4 million in ecovolvement in Indochina persists and is likely nomic aid. Large scale aid for South Vietnam will continue, somewhat close to the $621 milto continue for some time. lion spent there in fiscal 1973. U.S. monetary American ground combat involvement involvement in Laos will be of like proporended on Jan. 27 when the Vietnam ceasefire went into effect, but the air war contin- tion. It is not unreasonable to assume that withued. It was the longest air Aar m history. a in very few years Cambodia and Laos will It began secretly the day after Christmas, be republics, possibly even South peoples 1961, when an American adviser dropped a V ietnam. But unless Americans want to risk load of bombs from a propeller driven plane with South Vietnamese markings flown by his an immediate loss of all that was accomplished by the Gls, at a cost of 40,079 battle counterpart. It ended at midnight Tuesday wounded men and $140 billion, with 43 American B32s and more ttian 200 deaths, 303,633 still high level of American involvement a fighter-bomber- s continuing their attacks until will have to continue. the last minute. virtually That involvement almost certainly will not Indications are that the American air ar- mean any further Indochina fighting. Amermada. presently based in Thailand and icans simply wont stand for it. But, a proGuam, will be slowly dismantled, the planes gram of ongoing economic aid coupled with and personnel probably being withdrawn over technical assistance is apt to be much more a period as long as a year. appealing. But even American noncombat military Economic and technical aid can be supactions will continue for some unspecified ported cither dovishlv or hawkishly. Dovish-ly- , this nation has a moral obligation to reperiod into the future. Washington has ann nounced American flyers will still fly a store a country it has decimated in fighting or so flights a day carrying cargo in an immoral war. Hawkishly, this nation has C130s and unarmed reconnaissance planes an obligation to not let the sacrifices of some will take to the air periodically. This is in millions of Gls go down the drain by failing continuing support of Cambodian ground to shore up the sagging economy of the Indochina nations. troops. w Camill How The question is: those But, either approach must recognize that long bodian troops continue to need, or more ac- the Communist forces in Indochina are still curately, derive any benefit from the little formidable and stand a very good chance of support the U.S. Air Force will continue to ultimately winning not only the land, but the provide? Considering that 80 percent of the hearts of the people. This is the risk Americountry is now held by Communist forces cans must accept as they continue their inthat need is not likely to last too much volvement, noncombative as it may be, in Indochina. longer. Il It The other day we received a letter from zation of a retarded person are almost often can be Raymond Nathan, director of communica- $400,000. Institutionalization tions for the Presidents Commission on Men- avoided by extending additional community tal Retardation in which be recommended a services. new book by Dr. Ronald V. Conley entitled, For each case of severe retardation The Economies of Mental Retardation. among males that is averted the undiscountMr. Nathan extracted some myth shatter- ed total gain to society is almost $900,000. ing information from the book that bears An estimated 690,000 retarded adults repeating here. He. and the book, point out: are economically idle. Of these, about 400,000 An estimated 87 percent of mildly recould be gainfully employed if appropriate tarded adult males are employed, a rate only sen ices were made available. 4 percent below that of males in the general What Dr. Conley, through Mr. Nathan, population. to be saying is that America has a seems A mildly retarded male who entered of productive human beings reserve the work force at age 18 in 1970 could expect huge will remain untapped so long as the nathat lifetime earnings of over $600,000. tion refuses to make the relatively small ecoEach dollar expended on vocational re- nomic committment needed to train our menhabilitation of mildly retarded tally retarded and to avert the development adult males generates an estimated increase of additional mentally retarded. Another inin future earnings of $14. stance, it would seem, of where helping the Custodial costs of lifetime institutionali handicapped doesnt cost, it pays. Another Viewpoint Shipping Nerve Gas to Utah Unnecessary From The Denver Post Watching the Army and Defense Department start to take action on the problem of the nerve gas at Rocky Mountain Arsenal adjacent to Denver is tike trying to trace the movements of a pheasant through a field of ripe wheat. Usually, you cant see the pheasant; all you can see is an occasional twitching of stalks of wheat. now at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal need be renot the nation's w hole stockpile. tained His point was that the JCS might determine that the amount of nerve gas in weapons and storage tanks at the arsenal is surplus to Defense Department needs and hence expendable. If so. that would give the Army another option for disposing of the gas. Instead of going through policy-makin- g Rocky There is no way the Army can defend keeping tons of this incredibly deadly stuff on the edge of a metropolitan area of more than a million population. One way or another, that gas has got to go. To destroy it here presumably would require the arsenal to set up a third demilitarization facility: the Army now has one at work burning up obsolete mustard gas and another scheduled to start operations in October, disposing of M:i4 nerv e gas cluster bombs. the Army wishes to minimize as quickly as possible congressional pressure to destroy the whole nerve gas stockpile, the smarten thing it could do would be to quickly authorize obstruction of the gas at the arsenal, rather than try to arrange clearances to ship the stuff to Utah. We hope that's what the obscure Army moveBut if ments and pronouncements portend. Pepsi-Colplays host to the ballet dancers from Russia, the country that used to brag that it bad the ICllM'.s that hit the spot a 4 f once-onl- y ; : The commodity based inflation is absolutely character of the pre.-en-t dear. The more traditional sources of inflation and wage-pus- domjnd-pul- l have been relative- have held ui bound. workers and teamof only about 4 increases sters this year brought ly quiet. Wages, in particular, The big settlements for rubber percent. Demand Strong Demand is strong but not overwhelming. Some parts of the economy are still not running at capacity, and unemployment, at 4.7 percent, is not all that low. By comparison the commodity figures have s combeen going through the roof. The modity index, winch covers fibers and rubber as well as foodstuffs, lias jumped by 60 percent since Dow-Jone- Better Dead Than Red? January. Corn, wheat ana soybeans have had something like threefold price rises m the past year. Livestock costs, which move in ratio to feed prices, have risen so much that there is now no incentive for farmers to market meat. The Public Forum I ail to Cosponsor Editor, Tribune: Not much time remains before the Federal Drug Administration s regulation depnving the consumer of his right to consume the type and potency of food supplements he wishes becomes a dogmatic reality. Yet. what have the two U.S. Congressmen, whom we elected to represent us, done about it? Although they have received thousands of letters from deeply concerned Utah citizens, they have nor responded by cosponsoring the Hosiner bill. The Hosmer bill (HR643). would require the FDA to reclassify food supplements as foods instead of what they took upon themselves to dussi- - Forum Rule? Public Forum letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear writer's full name, signatuie and address. Names must be printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reasons on others. Writers are limited to one letter every 10 days. Preference will be given td short, typewritten (double spaced) letters permitting use of the writers true name. All letters are subject to condensation. tv as drugs in order to control. As of July 5. 1973. this bill had been cosponsored by 153 U.S. Representatives, but more are needed. If Congressmen Owens and McKay hav e a good reason for not cosponsoring the Hosmer bill to uphold our constitutional trecdom. thousands of citizens m Utah would like to know health-minde- of socialism. The price is written m blood. 1 wish we could get it in another way but I wish we could get it. I dont see that free enterprise is so almighty unimpeachable. BILL COWERS Time to Scream Editor, Tribune: Once again I have been amazed at the liberties bestowed upon certain common carriers in the state of Utah. As my brand new vehicle was passed by a fully laden gravel truck on the freeway (I was doing 65 mph) my memory flashed back to how Bonnie and Clyde must have felt when hundreds of bullets were directed at their automobile. In my cae it was the flying gravel from my monstrous adversary. Why are trucks even allowed on the treeways without having their loads secured or covered' Apparently apathy reigns in our State Road Commission. The instance I mention does not stand alone for have dodged a board falling from on unconcerned vehicle, a wooden chair from a pickup as it headed for the dump and my luck ran out once when I hit a bright orange road marker left in the middle of the freeway by the Slate Highway DeI partment. If the FDA regulation is enforced Jan. 1. 1974. natural health foods which have not been processed nor contaminated by poisonous sprays, gases and preservatives will no longer be available. The vitamin and mineral supplements available will be synthetic, manufactured mainly from a known carcinogenic. coal tar The FDA has announced that 111 less than 60 days high potencies of v itamins A and D will be available only by doctors prescriptions. They claim that certain harmtul effects have been caused by these two vitamins. What is so unfair about this claim is that the FDA and the AMA do not recognize the wide difference betw eon natural and synthetic vitamins A and D. Synthetic vitamins have toxic potential and should be classified and recognized as drugs, because they are drugs, manufactured and synthesized just as any othe drug. Suuplements derived from harmless natural sources should be classified as food because they are foods, and should never be classified as harmful drugs WALLACE ASHBY Sunset buying more lamb Our most respectable leaders of business keep a sharp eye on buving trends, and the evidence is pretty strong right now that they tend to jack up prices on food that creates a popular demand. Not for any special reason. It's just that they're businessmen. And they are Christians with a code of righteousness. But there is an old phenomenon called and this means that you keep your values and attitudes pigeonholed in your mind. When there is a conflict, you simply shut out of your rmnd the one that promotes the least amount of personal gam. This is why the Christian codes are impotent. They are easy to forget when expedience demands America never has had a greed crisis. Then always has been plenty of it. The day of mass grumbling is near. When panic creates mobs, the government slops in First, it attempts to conirol the mob. But moie mobs tome. Desperation eieates them Then. 1! moves to control production. So muih for the cost Diverse reasons explain the rise 'in commodity prices. Bad harvests last year, and perhaps again this y ear, have made Russia into a major importer. A change in Pacific temperature cut down the catch of anchovies a major source of meal. . Economy Booms For the first time since the war. there has been a simultaneous economic boom engaging all nations the United the major States. Japan. West Germany, France. Britain nd Canada. Personal incomes have risen, and so has the disposition to buy more meat. . Additionally there has been speculation. Governments uncertain about future supplies notably Russia, China and Japan have been bidding up prices at a furious pace. The obvious remedy for this trouble is to increase production, and the Nixon administration The farm bill signed by the Presiis going dent last week removed the few legislative restrictions on output, and emphasizes incentives to grow mo-- " food and fiber. . all-ou- t. Effort Presumed , f . Presumably American farmers will respond with effort and investment. Record crops this year could well be supplemented by more next year. And that prospect should arrest the speculative fever To be sure, the present increase in farm prices would not be rolled back. But the rise would stop in late fall after a once-onlsurge. The commodinot would inflation spill over into wage dety mands. and the administration would thus have a chance to put together a general Phase 5 policy for controlling further inflation. y The smog in Salt Lake City is bad enough, but when I am faced with a barrage of solid pollution flying all over the freeways its time to scream. Mavbe the EPA will listen. DEAN A. JEDflY why. nerve the lengthy process of obtaining clearances from Joint various environmental agencies to move the stulf told was the Post that The gas. Recently, the nation's top military to, perhaps, the Tooele. Utah. Army Depot, the Chiefs of Staff (JCS) had reaffirmed its policy ot gas could then be destroyed, or rendered harmunit retaining poison gases in the nation's arsenal ot less. at the Denv or Arsenal. At this point, t's impossible to tell w hether the weapons. But that's an answer to a question that, so far reported Joint Chiefs decision was in response to Made to Ponder as we know, wasn't asked. Army Secretary How- Callaway's request, or in response to pressure Editor. Tribune: On our wav home from Yelard H. Callaway said that all he asked the Joint from a bevy of congressmen including some of to get rid of the whole lowstone National Park several days ago we enChiefs to reassess was whether the relatively the Colorado delegation nerve and poison gas stockpile. countered a sign in Rexburg. Idaho, with these small portion of the nerve gas deterrent stockpile Eat More Lamb. Ten Thousand Coyotes All we know is that it would make a lot of words: Be Can't Wrong. This lampoon at the governto from as the Army's standpoint, sense, destroy ment's ineptitude at controlling coyote aggression ol e at the stocks non the as gas possible speedily toward sheep herds made me ponder the idea of Mountain Arsenal. So it is with the question of the deadly . increase sometime this year. The big difficulty is that the administration has not developed a position against the possi bility that the present strut half-doze- Another Untapped Reserve check prices should after a Now. Take Refrigerator? Editor. Tribune: When I read the letter by Mr Pace (Forum, Aug, 9) which depicted the nation's cattlemen as the bad guys in black hats and the cattle rustler as the good guys presumably in white hats, it really ruined my whole day. I bet if Mr. Pace were in the business of selling refrigerators and he thought that he could get pernext month S25 more per refrighaps erator. he would hold off on sales this month -nor would he think so highly of the crook who broke into his store and relieved him of his stock of refrigerators. Neither woulu he be content to sell his refrigerators for $229 if he had to pay the wholesaler $249 for them For years the nation's cattlemen have had io accept whatever pnee the buyer was willing to give him. If it cost him more to raise the cattle well that was than he could get on the market just his tough luck! And for years, while wanes and the pnee of everything else have skyrocketed that the pnee of beef stayed about the same is until just recently. And that was when all the furor began As for the nation's cattlemen being "rich and powerful." how many nch and powerful cattlemen does Mr Pace know? Most of the cattlemen know (my husband included) are just getting by In faet, most of them have to subsidize their eattle employ ment. raising operation with 1 Well, maybe it is our (speaking for the nation's to keep the nation well supplied with beef, even il we have to do so at a loss (at 1970 prices'.). But I'm cattlemen) patriotic duty (as Mr. Pace implies) of this policy. Secretary of Butz. is more a master of nickel Earl Agriculture wisdom than a prophet. He and other economists in the administration have repeatedly been wrong But tie architect m the past. They could easily be wrong again It could well be that American farmers are confused by the gyrating prices. In that mood they could continue to hold stult off the market, thus goading further the speculative frenzy. So it would make sense to have a fallback position. Remedy: Restrictions The best fallback position is to restrict American exports of foodstuffs. Thai would assure some stocks for tins country at a lower price, while rationing the rest of foreign customers. The foreigners, with at least a certainty of some access to American stocks, would not go off the deep end in speculation. In this country we would be saved the tremendous food cost which, by eating so much of disposable income, could topple the boom into a recession There is no requirement lor such a policy right But it would be a good idea to begin preparations . setting up a system of export licensing The ditncuity is that Mr. Butz. in the of his nickel wisdom, has taken up a stance that seems to exclude the preliminary steps which have to be taken now just in case the President's policy fails. So while it doesn't have to lie. 1! may be that once again the administration will be caught -- bort when the inflationary crunch comes new Rill Mauldin afraid there just aren't enough cattlemen who are so we might wealthy enough to afford to do this have to sell all of our cattle for beef (brood cnvv.s. too) and pretty soon there just won t be any beet MARY DCRRANT Vernon Doesn't Buv Deal Editor. Tribune: Hie forecast for the 1973 wheat crop is highly optimistic. However, the newscaster I heard pointed out that the bountiful harvest is not likely to relieve shortages or reduce prices since 6ft percent of it has already been sold abroad He pointed out, among other reasons, that we not risk endangering our relations with dare Russia. I don't buy the wheat deal and KusMansdo 1 MIW felp 'rrrrrnr doubt that the HAL SMITH ( lose ( all |