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Show DESERET NEWS SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH We Stand For The Constitution Of The United States As Having Been Divinely Inspired 12 A EDITORIAL PAGE SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1969 Meat Prices: Why So High? Where Will They Stop? OPINION roundup Cut Off Farm By JAMES R. DORSEY Subsidy Swindle United Press International No Reason To Fear Constitutional Confab If one more state legislature demands it, Congress may have to call Americas first constitutional convention since . 1787. It may, that is, unless some state legislature rescinds its petition for a constitutional convention or federal district court nullifies Utahs petition on the grounds it was adopted by a malapportioned Legislature. But if a petition to Congress is invalid because it was passed by a malapportioned legislature, so would every other piece of legislation adopted by such a legislature. Indeed, acts of Congress could be considered invalid, too, since there are states where malapportioned legislatures have set the boundaries of congressional districts. The drive to convene a constitutional convention centers n on the desire to overturn the U.S. Supreme Courts doctrine and allow one nouse of state legislatures to be apportioned on some basis other than population. Resistance to the convention is based not only on the fears of using an untried means of amending the U.S. Constitution and on a desire to preserve the Supreme Courts legislative apportionment doctrine, but also on fears that the convention might move to overhaul the Constitution from top to bottom. Such fears are exaggerated. To begin with, the drive for a constitutional convention came into being after Sen. Everett Dirksen tried to get the U.S. Senate to adopt an amendment authorizing: states to apfacportion one house of their legislatures on tors. Each time the amendment received a majority vote but vote. fell short of the renuired some differences in wording, the petitions to ConDespite seek constitutional convention specifically for the pura gress e n of the changing ruling a3 it applies to pose state legislatures. Congress could make sure the constitutional convention didnt delve into matters outside legislative apportionment. Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, has introduced a bill that would: 1. Permit Coneress to snecifv the nature of the amendment or amendments for which a constitutional convention could be called. 2. Require delegates to the convention to take an oath not to propose or vote for any amendment outside the prescribed subject matter. 3. Empower Congress to veto any amendment passed by the convention if it was found to be outside the subject set forth in calling the convention. Even if the convention delved Into other matters, any amendment it approved would not become part of the Constitution unless ratified by of the state legislatures. If Congress still fears a constitutional convention, it could easily avoid one by passing the Dirksen amendment and letting the states decide whether or not they want it. one-ma- Why are retail meat prices so high? And is there any chance theyll be coming down soon? For the second year in a row the U.S. House of Representatives succeeded in amending the agricultural appropriations bill to limit federal individual crop subsidy payments to $20,000 on an farm. This giant public swindle was first perpetrated in 1933 when surpluses were Last year 16,430 farmers were receiving payments from the Agricultur , Department through the Commodity Credit Corporation, the largest government corporation in the world, in excess of There are many answers to the first question, none very helpful to the housewife struggling to keep meat on the table for her- family. The answer to the second question is easy: No, there doesnt seetn much chance meat prices will go down soon, if they ever do. Better cuts are in the $2 a pound class, and up. Sirloin sells for around $1.50 a pound, with regional variations. Loin lamb chops cost $1.60 to more than cents a $2 a pound. Ground chuck, - t. the 75-8- 5 one-ma- one-vot- three-fourt- ing: said Mrs. Leonard A Davis of San Francisco, and housewives around the country, spotchecked by UPI, without exception said meat buying was an increasing budget problem. What are the reasons? STREET JOURNAL, New York City for the government to recognize the facts of rural change. Most present subsidy efforts could and should be phased out gradually, over a period of years. The resources thus freed could be put to far better use. Sooner or later STAR, Indianapolis, Ind. agriculture in the United States must be freed Irom the strictures and meddlings of Federal planners and controllers and permitted to move into the realities of the present. Theres no better time than now to take the first step. We hope the House sticks to its action on the $20,000 ceiling, and that the Senate will also approve it. Its terrible, WALL Its surely time Well, say the stock farmers, the processors, the store proprietors and the economists, prices are higher at every right back to the step along the way grain and the special feeds that go to make heavy steers and lean hogs. In fact, although housewives will snort at the idea, some say that meat prices have not kept pace with the rise in other costs along the line. EAQi-E- , A complete overWichi.a, Kan. haul of the farm program is what is needed. Meanwhile the consuming public should keep in mind that farmers have a very good point when farm subsidies are in reality consumer they subsidies, paying money which otherwise the farmer would have to get at the marketplace. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the retail meat bill for the first quarter, of 1969 was up 3.7 per cent over last years figures; And department or economists decline to say when whether prices will start to come down. sy The House should HERALD, Miami, Fla. have gone further. It should have junked this whole assault on the principle and practice of private enterprise and the free market, especially when the world is stalked by the specter of starvation. not At Chicagos Union Stockyards the mammoth operation they once were, but still a potent indicator of prices prime slaughter steers in recent weeks were selling for $37 per hundred pounds, the highest price for beef since the fall of 1952. Yet a USDA spokesman said, Although meat may appear to be relatively high, it has not advanced in line with other costs. During the past five years, consumer income has risen (after taxes) 37 per cent while retail meat prices are up 12 percent, according to the depart- the Southern Christian Leadership Conmeat prices for the first quarmeat wholesale ter of this year. Though ference, said: Were aware that prices Naand of meat have been going up, but meat the rose for David H. Strud, president of the period, processors prices tional Livestock and Meat Board, told retailers reduced their profit by $1.77, prices have always been too high in the UPI, Cattle prices are now no higher resulting in an increase only of $11.75 per ghetto for poor quality meat. than they were 17 years ago. How many to the consumer. The spokesman said the poor pay other products and services C"st the hundredweight at more meat and get less. Frank Mordiglia, same or less than they did in 1952? supervisor i Bohack New York Mrs. Harriet Browns, who lives in New supermarket Citys Check what you have to pay today for automobiles, medical care you chain, said rising meat prices were a Yorks Harlem, said she shops outside matter of economics. name it the ghetto because meat is so high in compared with what you would have back in 1952, Stroud said. Its a ehain reacdon, he added. the (ghetto) supermarkets. The people who produce food have Mordiglia said that meat cost less six Welfare families suffer most from the the same right to share in prosperity as months ago but added that the cost of price increase according to Paul G. Con-lainfeed and equipment to farmers has those who produce TV sets, automobiles director of the Wayne County and houses, and the same right as the creased during that period. (Detroit) Michigan Department of SoEd Stone, manager of Daitchs Shop-wel- i, cial Services. factory worker, plumber and electrician to earn a fair return on their labor. another New York store, blamed You can be sure as the meat prices the spiraling costs on lack of federal suphave gone up steadily welfare recipients Royal Holz, 54, a Grand Junction, to port the cattle industry. Iowa, farmer who runs a feed lot operaare eating less and less meat, Conlan tion for fattening up cattle for market, . For four or five years, the cattle rej . said. agreed. gions in the United States havent been . Meat prices seem up to stay. Weve been producing this stuff at getting enough support from the federal Stone Agriculture Department economists about the cost of production, with very government regarding prices, admit that future cattle prices are hard said. little profit, Holz said. Its just a matto predict, but add that they probably ter of catching up with the economy. Our In Detroit, Tom Vaughn, a meat merwill stay around current levels because prices had to come up or wed be out of chandiser for Krogers, said: We have strong consumer demand despite all business in short order." absorbed a good portion of the cost inthe protest about high prices. Nebraska cattlemen said they were crease ourselves and have reached the The economists cited as market indipoint where some costs have to be forced to ask higher livestock prices becators the high k te of employment, rison to the customer. passed cause of increased shipping rates, wages, ing income and continued consumer preffeed grain costs ana taxes. Vaughn traced the high cost of meat erence for beef over other foods. to "simply supply and demand. The plight of the nation's cattlemen But some women will carry on the does little to placate the countrys irate Ironically, the meat price rise apfight. As Mrs. Dillar Eubank of Minhousewives. Caught in the middle are the to no on have or had little effect pears neapolis says: Weve been eating a lot the buying pattern in the nations ghetsuper market chains and neighborhood of chicken lately. And many housewives butcher shops. tos. checked in the survey told UPI they had USDA statistics show that the middleIn Chicago, a spokesman for Operabegun having meatless days on their man absorbed some of the increase in tion Breadbasket, the economic arm of family menus. farm-lev- el ment. The proposal to TIMES, Kansas City, Mo. 1970. The limit the payments is for one year contracts for this year cannot be changed. The present farm program expires in 1970. The proper place to eliminate payments to large farmers would be in the new program that must be developed for 1970 and beyond. Undoubtedly this would require many basic changes in the farm laws. New concepts necessarily would have to apply. - One of the INQUIRER, Philadelphia, Pa. larger federal farm payments during ,1968 went to U.S. Sen. James O. Eastland. The Democratic lawmaker received $116,978 for farmland in Sun- flower County, Miss. In addition to being chairman of the Senate . Judiciary Committee and one of the most powerful men in the Senate, Eastland a member of that bodys Agriculture Committee. And he consistently gets big subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. n, Crisis In The Skies There can be no condoning this weeks slowdown by air traffic controllers at major eastern terminals, a ploy which was unfair to passengers and inflicted unconscionable finan- cial losses on airlines. But when a doubling of the normal 3 pet. absentee rate of the sir controllers creates wholesale cancellation of flights and delays of up to four hours, its clear that the controllers are spread dangerously thin. Moreover, when 30 planes at one airport can be backed up in double lines waiting for takeoffs because air controllers go by the book instead of bending Federal Aviation Administration safety rules, theres either something wrong with the rules or the traffic in Americas skies is ordinarily not regulated safely enough. Since air traffic controllers are often reauired to work 20 to 25 hours of overtime, without time-an- d pay, air controllers have a right to complain about being And the travelling public has a right to be concerned over the hazards that can result when an air controller gets fatigued. Indeed, there is even more room for concern when its realized that air traffic controllers who are supposed to handle no more than five or six aircraft at a time sometimes handle as many as 25 simultaneously. With Americas air traffic expected to double bv 1975, this weeks air congestion crisis should make it plain that the need is not only for more airports but also for more air traffic controllers and better working and safety conditions. over-worke- d. Victory For Diplomacy There are at least two ways of viewing the deal which the U.S. signed this week with Spain to renew the lease on Americas military bases there. One way is to regard it as another case in which Uncle Sam fell into the hands of some sharp s and came out on the short end. Here the U.S. is renewing leases on two little-useair bases at Moron and Zaragoza to get continued access to facilities at Torrejon, which is a key base in our air and naval communication system in the Mediterranean. Moreover, the U.S. is paying $85 million for two years to lease bases it previously had leased for $150 million for five years. That works out to an increase of more than $12 million a year the U.S. is paying for the privilege of helping to defend the Franco regime. Seen through Spanish eyes, however, the lease looks like less of a raw deal. Spain is committed to the American side of the cold war, one spokesman in Madrid observes, but these bases also make us a target. Spain has not received economic assistance from the U.S. since 1960, and curbs on overseas investments have brought a sharp drop in private American funds being spent in Spain. Moreover, while the bases could help the U.S. move fast in another crisis, this could create complications for Spain which, with its Moorish history, is sympathetic to the Arabs. All things considered, the bases agreement looks Ijke a triumph for nimble diomaoy on both sides. horse-trader- d Mid-Ea- U.S.-Spani- st figure. pound. one-vot- e two-thir- $20,000 Here are some interesting editorial comments on this annual raid on the public purse in order to endow wealthy farmers, absentee farm owners and corporate farming enterprises for not plant- GUEST CARTOON ry Nightmare Boston Record American Enigmatic India: Its Miracles And Its Minuses NEW DELHI good news. There is a green Lets start with the JENKIN LLOYD JONES miracle looming in India. This year, unless the monsoons misbehave, India will grow record an crop of nearly 100 million tons of grain, and the curve is beginning to steepen. The e low-yiel- d an- cient varieties which sagged beneath applications of fertilized and blew down easily m the cyclones are giving wheat, hyway to Mexican brid corns and locally adapted mutations of the marvelous new Philippine and Taiwan rices which are coming like a gift from God to all Southeast Asia. gully-washin- g short-stemme- d The Indian government has relaxed Its Idiotic restrictions on foreign investment in new fertilizer plants. Irrigation is booming, particularly in the drilling of shallow wells, and much land will now grow two crops. The effect on this primarily agricultural country where the per capita annual income stands at $45 could be spectacular as farmers become customers for things which the cities can produce. As the food production curve rises above the population trend, there will be a gap of relative prosperity ter a few precious years. But there is a limit to what even the most scientific agriculture can do. Unless India can substantially diminish its population Jise of 13 million a year, there will 4 food output come a time when leveled-of- f will cross the population line once more and the misery gap will widen. One of the troubles with India is the with socialism which has dogged the weakening but characterized always Congress Party. It is understandable. Capitalism, to the founding fathers of Indian independence, meant Lord Clive and the sharp-faceyoung Britishers who came out genteelly ragged, played footsie with the princes and parlayed small investments with labor into early retirement (if the fever didnt get them) on English country love-affa- ir d dirt-chea- p estates. Gandhi, Nehru and their followers had little idea of a free and open enterprise with rewards enough to stimulate risktaking and with a realistic tax program aimed at capturing the maximum revenues in the long view. The London School of Economics was their bible. The private sector was grudgingly tolerated, but the public sector was pampered and beloved. A tax system designed to gradually wash out the properous by gentle confiscation (80 per cent on $20,000) was eagerly enacted. But India being India, nothing much really happened. The rich learned to keep r double books. Many enterprises lost so much money that private owners were actually aided. The government, for example, keeps raising the controlled steel price in an effort to bail out its woefully lefficient furnaces, while the srnar. and public-secto- able Tatas watch their rolling mills at Jamshedpur roll out higher profits. who intellectuals The poor, young manage to struggle through the universities also feel affection for the public sector. With no hope of gathering capital to start their own enterprises, they seek prestige and power either In government itself or by fastening themselves like lampreys to the payroll of a grossly overstuffed government corporation. Thus, Air India has 840 employes for every plane it owns, a ratio about double that of other aircarriers. While India preaches tolerance to the world, it is itself a mass of bitter hatreds, held together by bailing wire and stickum. The states, carved out of language groups, seethe with secessionists and brawl over boundaries. Religious riots still erupt Yet in this very turbulent diversity, democracy and freedom draw strength, for no group in India Is strong enough or popular enough to impose a military dictatorship. WHle Indian philosophers dilate upon the difficulties of American Negroes, their live under far more own Untouchables inflexible anathemas. While Indian representatives in the United Nations are eloquent about the right of majorities in South Africa to India holds rebellious Kashmir in a grip of iron. Yet, for all the contradictions, there is a rising tide of pragmatism in the Indian gov-- , ernment. Mystical approaches have failed A x too often. American businessmen, seeking expandforeign investments, should inquire about India. Usually, they will be rebuffed, for New Delhi has a morbid, if difficult to understand, horror of companies in India. But collaborations with the government or with private Indian firms can be arranged. Phillips Petroleum runs, and has a minority interest in, a new Cochin refinery. It paid a 20 per cent dividend the first year. Dont write India off, for when the government makes a promise it generally keeps it. Theres really nothing wrong with India that 100 million fewer Indians wouldn't cure, for here is a gifted people, old in culture, high in pride and rich in individuality. But because its present problems are so great, there is the temptation to seek reed foreign-controlle- d fuge in On the plane I find that my seat companion is a gentle, bearded old man, Amar Singh Saigal, a member of the Indian parliament for the last 20 years. He waves away the wine and the elaborate lunch and describes how the appetites left him after he achieved a oneness with God. He hands me a booklet containing the sayings of Avatar Meher Baba, the great guru who left his body last January. And I read : One may ask, why is India suffering more than any other country? And I answer, it is always w'hcn suffering is intense on earth that God manifests Himself. The Redeemer lives among them who suffer s. most. Its a comforting thought. But it will never you a new wat works. 8Jf |
