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Show DESERET NEWS ART BUCHVALD Vicious Circle SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Ve Stand For The k V The Straight Story Constitution Of The United States - As Having Been Divinely Inspired 18 A EDITORIAL PAGE MONDAY, MARCH, - V,? 17, 1969 wasnt WASHINGTON It is only natural in the Johnson Adserved who that those ministration want to be assured that they have their ngntful place in history; and as time goes on, more and more Johnson officials will be leaking to the press the -oles they played in some of the' decisions that President Johnson had to Go Slow On Raiding Improvements Fund , make. Before Salt Lake City Commissioners further consider j aiding the capital improvements fund, they should consider every other alternative and talk the citys financial problems over with the citys own financial experts, some of whom havent been consulted about the proposed raid on capital improvements. .The prospect of dipping into the improvements fund with both hands was advanced after the Legislature killed a half cnt increase in the local option sales tax and refused to raise the ceiling on pioperty taxes, .Even SOi the contemplated raid on the $1 million-a-yea- r capital improvements fund looks highly questionable. For one thing, the $1 million for next years capital has already been committed. For anpther, projects that already have been outlined would take the full $1 million annually for at least the next five to eight years. After that much time has elapsed, there no doubt will be new needs for capital improvements. Then, too, its only prudent to allow for occasional emergencies in the capital improvements program. iVhen the capital improvements program was set up, it waiwith the clear understanding that $1 million a year would be Earmarked for capital improvements. Raiding the improvements fund would constitute a breach of faith with the taxincrease in the local payers, who went along with a half-cc10 on the basis that most of some tax sales ago years option for would raised it improvements. go capital themoney loreover, once Salt Lake City stopped setting aside sufficient funds for capital improvements, it would sooner or later find itself with deteriorating public facilities and no money to replace them. Raiding capital improvements funds doesnt solve problems but only postpones them. What other alternatives are there? Well, Salt Lake City should get around $250,000 from natural growth in present sales and property taxes. It doesnt impose a garbage collection tax as so many other communities do, and might consider collecting such a levy. Planned salary increases might have to be slowed down for a little whiie, and a number of present taxes might be raised selectively. Even with strict economizing, financial experts agree that Salt Lake City will still find itself in a difficult squeeze. The situation ought to provide new impetus toward achieving the efficiencies that could be realized through increased consolidation. If the capital improvements fund has to be raided, it should be dipped into as little as possible and only as a desperate last resort after all other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted. Even then, it should be done only as a temuntil the Legislature can reconsider Salt porary stbp-ga- p Lake Citys financial plight. But do we really have no other choice? " On television? who used to work in the' White House, came to see me. know I You was always a Dove on the Vietnamese War he told me. Look, do you want to hear my side of what happened in the White House or dont you? Of course I do. Upchuck and Bearwolf weie for escalating. Groundbief and Sluggard and but I decided in favor of the President had the ear of Stonedeff and Mesiterbumer. I wrote a memo to the President clearly stating the pros and cons, but the memo was stopped by Ainsley, who didnt want the President to get any bad news just when Lynda Bird that I always thought you were a Hawk. I remember meeting you at a party a few years ago, and you defended everything that Johnson was doing. That was just to throw you off, Zach said. But in my conversations with the President I always advocated accommodation with Hanoi. I did this against Rensellear and Throwback, who were the real hardliners in the White . I said. House. I thought Rensellear was for halting the bombing in Vietnam. He wanted everyone to THINK that, but in the meetings with the President, Kornbean and I were the only ones who spoke up. But werent you the one who wrote the original speech stating that we had to make Hanoi come to its knees? nt I I was misquoted. n, funny? t But Zach, I remember a speech you mad? at the University of Michigan attacking the entire press corps for its coverage of the Vietnamese War, and saying that we were misleading the American, public about the great victory wre were winning over there. the other day Zachairiah Isnt hes played that game. Just ; the first time 4 I wTote it against my better judgment. Drewhistle came up with the idea, and the President ordered me to write it up. Then Drewhistle last week in the Times said I was responsible for it. That t l was getting married. But if you didnt agree with the Presidents policies on Vietnam, why didnt you resign? Thats exactly what Upchuck and Bearwolf wanted me to do. Also, I knew Drewhistle wanted my office. I was hanged if I was going to walk out and have them sneering at me. Besides. I would have lost my White House car privileges. So you decided to stick it out. even though you didnt agree with what President Johnson was doing? Of course. But now that hes out. the least I can do is get the record straight on where I stood. Im glad you did, Zach. If you hadnt told me I would have never known. Zach said. Isnt that something? All the time you thought 1 was one of THEM, I was really one of YOU. , city-coun- ty " Rename It For Ike Congress ought to change the name of Glen Canyon Dam to Dwight D. Eisenhower Dam in commemoration of and gratitude to the former president who championed the vital Upper Colorado River Project. Thats the aim of a resolution adopted overwhelmingly by the Utah Legislature shortly before it rdjoumed. The change is being urged by former U.S. Senator Arthur V. Watkins of Utah, who makes a persuasive case. Even before he was elected, President Eisenhower promised to do everything he could to bring about projects that would aid the Upper Basin states to use their shares of the Colorado River water. In keeping with that vow, President Eisenhower in 1954 called on Congress to give early consideration to approving the Upper Colorado River Project. His statement was regarded as the first time that a President had gone to such lengths to support a western reclamation project. Ike continued to promote the project in a State of the Union message. It wasnt easy for President Eisenhower to take such a stand in the face of misguided opposition from certain womens dubs, conservation groups, and Southern California water interests. With the Presidents support, the project finally won out. In view of this background, It would seem to be highly proper, as Sen. Watkins observes, to rename Glen Canyon Dam in honor of a distinguished war hero and leader of World War II. President, and statesman, who has done so much to help harness the turbulent Colorado and put it to work for the benefit and enjoyment of mankind.' We second the motion. , ABM Plan: Silly Or Shrewd ? NEWS ANALYSIS By JAMES CARY Copley News Service - WASHINGTON President Nixons new modified missile program could be called an inadequate Just having an ABM program of any type under way could give Mr. Nixon added leverage and bargaining power in future planned missile limitation talks with the Soviet Union. If an ABM system exists he can offer to modify it or even abandon it in return for Soviet concessions. If it doesnt exist, or has never been approved, he has one less card to play at the bargaining table. The plan as now envisioned, is to move ahead slowly in phases that will be checked on every year by Mr. Nixons Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. This stretch out until som' time In the if the entire 12 s te . are completed will also provide time to incorporate improved ABM technology developed in the meantime. This, presumably, would partly meet the objections of those who fear ABMs offer no credible defense at all at this stage of development. There is more flexibility also in a phased plan. It can be held up at any point, speeded up, delayed, improved or even abandoned if developments indicate the program has lost its usefulness. Perhaps of even more importance to some is the fact that the Nixon plan softens the impact on the federal budget in any given budget year, although its total cost may be slightly higher $5.5 to $5.8 compromise or a shrewd and carefully drawn plan for moving in quite a number of directions at the same time. Protagonists of either view will find evidence to support their position. For those who wanted a strong ABM system installed as quickly as possible, the Presidents decision to provide ABM protection for two missile sites initially may look like an inadequate response to a major defense need. Similarly it is doubtful if those who were hoping for a plan to protect civilian populations will find much comfort in the change to protecting only nuclear missile sites and strategic bomber bases. But, in the complicated context of international and national affairs today, the new ABM program can be viewed as having quite a number of features to commend it in many areas of activity. For one thing it is a start on an ABM system. It does provide some protection for two highly strategic Minuteman installations one at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, the other at Grand Folks, N.D. And being a beginning it carries the possibility of becoming a much more substantial protective screen at some time in the future. mid-197- been giving a fair shake lately to the millions of Americans who invest in U.S. savings bonds. With the cost of living going up 4.6 per cent, inflation is outpacing the 4.25 per cent rate of leturn on series E and H bonds, eroding the purchasing power of the dollars salted away in them. Uncle Sam . hasnt The situation becomes evtn more untenable as the spread widehs between the yield on savings bonds and on other U.S. Treasury securities. For example, anyone putting up $1,000 fortj, Treasury note is assured of checks paying interest up to 6.42 per cent. Treasury J)f course, savings bonds are safe from the pi ice declines that can hit bonds bought m the market. Savings bonds can be Replaced easily if lost or stolen. Interest on them is exempt from state and local income tax. Moreover, the option to defer federal income tax until the bonds are redeemed offers an attractive break for persons who retire and fall into a lower tax th semi-annu- al racket Even so, interest on savings bonds just isnt competitive. In the words of Sylvia Porter, whose financial column appears none whatsoever in the Deseret News: There is no defense for promoting savings bonds to the public at 4.25 per cent in this era. The fact is that when you buy a savings bond, you are buying a negative rate of return. If this situation continues, the savings bond program could slump badly. The Treasury Department should ask Congress to raise the rate of return. : b billion under the Johnson plan, $6 billion to $7 billion under Nixons. One unconfirmed estimate is that it will cost about $1 billion less in the coming fiscal 1970 budget, a period in which the United States will be laboring under great difficulties to control inflation. The President has already stated that Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird hopes to bring in a fiscal 1970 defense budget next Wednesday that will be approximately $2.5 billion less than that submitted by the Johnson administration. Although Mr. Nixon did not sy so, the reduced cost of the new ABM system in the 1970 budget period is presumably a major reason that the reduction has become possible. The President also advanced an argument of his own that is worthy of consideration by those who have expressed conon building an ABM cern that a system of any kind would escalate the arms race. He pointed out that the previous adSentinel program was designed to protect cities while his was designed to protect missile installations and bomber bases. I think that tills (the new modified) system now, as a result of moving the city defense out of it, and the possibility of that city defense growing into a thick defense . . . makes it so clearly defensive in character that the Soviet Union cannot ministrations lhe Nixon Administration lias its first foreign aid decision. It enthusiastically supports a U.S. contribu- HENRY HAZLITT dis-do.s- tion of $180 million loan would yield a total of $4,933 billion over the next three billion in compounded interest $4,453 years to the World in return of original million 3480 plus Banks easy loan subs idiary, the principal. I n temational DeIf only the principal, without interest, velopment Assn. is returned at the end of 40 years, The decision is a of the loan will have been in effect costly and dishearta gift. The American taxpayers will have borne the loss. ening error. The IDA, with But will not the world as a whole be the aid of subsidies better off? naMr. lliuiitt from leading That is highly improbable. If governtions but of course principally from s did not the United States was set up in 1960 to ment foreign aid and would American the exist, taxpayers make loans to poor countries at no interretain this capital They would be free to terms. est and for invest it in the countries and projects that promised the highest yield, safety Even if we make the naive assumpconsidered. Thus they would invest their tion that all of these loans will be repaid, capital where it promised to be most prothey are little more than camouflaged ductive in other words, where it premgifts. ised to Increase most the worlds wealth Even the strongest American corporaand income. tions today have to pay more than 6.5 But huw about the poor country that World The long-terloans. cent for per Will Bank itself, which makes these loans, gets such foreign aid or now has to pay about 6.75 per cent for not it be very much better off because of funds it borrows from the them? the long-terThis again, as the record already f the American taxpayers, on wliom shows, is in the long run more than Banks losses will ultimately fall, doubtfuL When the government of a backward country gets foreign aid or e allowed to keep these funds, indi-jacould invest them, with the best gifts disguised as loans, it almost invarunable prospects of safety for princi-an- d iably puts the money into meretricious interest, anywhere in the world socialistic projects where it is mainly wasted. f chose, for an annual interest return veen 6 per cent and 7 per cent If a foreign government or industry .et us conservatively suppose that had no such easy source of outside funds, in-however, and had to attract private f could get only 6 per cent annual loans. Any sum lent on investment, then it would have to present 6 projects that promised to pay their own jy at compounded annual interest of cent would yield 10 times its capital way. At the very least the country would have to give assurances by its attitude, ount over 40 years. A $480 million gift-loan- its laws and its record that foreign investments would not be confiscated. Since 1945 the U.S. government has poured hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid into Peru. In return the present Peruvian government has seized a private American oil company. And President Nixon announces that he is afraid to take even the required legal action of halting further aid because of a domino effect ail over Latin America. Could there be a clearer demonstration of the futility and absurdity of our whole foreign aid program? GUEST CARTOON educatio nand at the same time keep the tax burden within reason. As a taxpayer, I can see the need for additional funds in our elementary and secondary education programs. However, I feel that money is being wasted in our higher education programs which are also supported by taxes. I read articles in the newspaper regarding admittance and activities of the SDS Chapter at the University of Utah, and also the article regarding a Mr. Garry, attorney for the Black Panther party who was recently allowed to deliver an address to the University of Utah College of Law wherein he stated, The Panthers are a revolutionary party who believe racism can't be eliminated without first eliminating capitalism, among other statements for which I think he ought to be tried for treason. As a taxpayer, I have a hard time sympathizing with the cry for more money for higher education when the administrators of our schools will allow and sometimes even invite such people as these to appear on our campuses. I think our Legislature, along with the Board of Regents, and the Administrators of the School have the responsibility to promote the ideals of the taxpayers and not just some thinks the wrorid owes them a minority group that ' ; living. LYNN C. BROADBENT Alpine, Utah Liquor Questions Governor Ramptons quiz on liquor controls and laws came rather belated to be of much help to the people of Utah. It seems that his main objectives are to organize and campaign for future elections, rather than to cooperate and assist with the complicated and difficult liquor problems. His remark that the 75 questions are not an attack upon the new laws contradicts itself as he pointed out very vividly how costly, unenforceable, unprofitable and planless this piece of legislation is. He specifically pointed out its delayed implications, also failing to repeal laws providing for a director. The loss in revenue and additional expense has been squarely placed upon the shoulders of the taxpayers as the problems were viewed mostly theoretically, in viewing the practical aspects, just like any and all opposition with the exception of a few token appearances. Future administrators will find this to be a real headache and our governor little to help, but offered plenty of criticism did-ver- afterwards. One of these days, we will adopt out of necessity a more practical solution for the liquor commission by getting it out of politics altogether and keeping an experienced administration as long as it does a good jou, rather than to change them with every election. This way our Legislature does not need to work in the dark and in uncertainty or find itself at the mercy of special interest groups or paid lobbyists. RED W. SCHWARZ 971 W. 2nd North St. Juvenile Statistics On March 8, 1 read some alarming news as reported in your paper with regards to divorces and their impact on Utahs economy. As much as I agree that divorce has a bad influence, I cannot agree with Mr. Samuel King when he says that one-haof the youngsters referred to Juvenile Court are children of divorced parents. It might interest Mr. King to know that for 1967 children whose parents were divorced or separated only accounted for 2G.3 per cent of referrals in District One; 27.4 per cent in District Two; 16.2 per Cent in District Three; 12.3 per cent in District Four and 23.4 per cent in District Five. So the Juvenile Court records would Indicate that the number rose only slightly above and not one-haas has been reported. -T- HOMAS L. JENSEN Probation Officer lf ls st K Our State Legislature frantically tried to resolve the problem of raising more money for -F- gift-loan- S Protests Against SDS interpret this as escalating the arms race. Why Foreign Aid Impoverishes nine-tent- A Shaky Investment LETTERS TO THE EDITOR iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiniiiniiiiiiiiii'iHiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniinnni one-fourt- h lf "Play more of a lullaby." Christian Sdenc Monitor f, ! T 7 !' |