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Show "Ijmr 'Peace DESERET NEWS is ''r(ji"-iy- l I when people have to fight for wonderful-especial- ly ti Uniii w it' l 1 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: t SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIK!lllllllllll'lll,llllll,llll,,ll,,,l,ln,,ln,!,lllllmi!l'l"ll I i ; We Stand For The Constitution Of The United States Parks And Prejudice ; As Having Been Divinely Inspired Like many area residents, I am attempting to .understand the present public park situation. I have not yet agreed entirely witn one side or the other and hope that the following letter will not be interpreted as support for either camp. ; 20 A EDITORIAL PAGE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1969 I I Congress Should Look In Mirror For Inflation - However, it appears that City Commissioner E. J. Gam has obscured this issue by allowing his personal prejudices to dictate his response to the of the September situation. As quoted et Page 2nd Deseret News, he said: The solution is just the group for them (park abusers) to move out is just a parasite on society as far as Im con- i i If Congress is to fight inflation effectively, perhaps it needs to suffer a few deprivations at home, too like getting along without a greenhousa or cutting down a little on the Capitol police force. With the cost of living index showing approximately a 6 percent a year increase, the costs of running the Legislative branch of government zoomed 11.7 percent for the 1969 fiscal year. Theyre scheduled to go up another 6 percent for the 1870 fiscal year. Not the least of these inflationary pressures, of course, are salaries. Not only did members of Congress boost their own salaries by 41 percent (from $30,000 to $42,500 a year), their chief aides also received a healthy pay boost. Top emthe clerk, sergeant-at-arm- s ployes of the House, for instance and doorkeeper each receive $40,000 a year. Staff salaries went up correspondingly. Another cost was the addition of an extra clerk for each House member, a seemingly inexpensive move which the House bill indicated would cost only $2,500 annually for each new employe. That, apparently, was for home consumption because (.Tie actual salary appropriated fur each of these extra workers was $8,690 a year. Actually, $2,500 was the base pay for House office workers in .1945. There have been 14 federal pay raises since then. There are other area3 of Congressional activity, too, that cause a raising of the economic eyebrow. Congress, for instance, maintains a greenhouse near the Capitol for growing tropical and subtropical plants for view by tourists. It also maintains a Capitol police force, enough policemen to staff a city of 318,000 population, says Congressional Quarterly. Among Congress other diverse pursuits are operating studios for members to record television messages to constituents, and a school for page boys. There are other expensive incidentals in Congressional chauffeurs for operations that keep sending the budget up the speaker, majority leader and minority leader of the House (at $996 a month each), two gymnasiums for the Senate for members only, with a total of five employes, and a House gymnasium with seven employes; five subsidized House barber shops and two Senate shops; professional Internal Revenue Service help in preparing income tax returns; and a private bank for House members. If inflation and runaway government costs are to be curbed, there is no substitute for example. The budget scalpel is also useful in ones own house. ; B-1- 3 616-memb- 616-memb- er Collect The Debts cerned. They contribute nothing they demand everything. Id just like-- to see them move out and leave, . . If Jake proclaimed that or blacks contribute nothing and demand evwould he seek to ban them from the erything, parks? Would he like a curfew for all but the affluent if he personally considered lower and middle-cla- ss Americans parasites on society? Also, does Mr. Garn believe it proper to keep hippes out of other public areas such as city streets and sidewalks? Would he like to bar them from seeking an education in our public schools? Spanish-Amerira- Is A GOP Majority Possible? THE DRUMMONDS ByROSCOEand GEOFFREY DRUMMOND WASHINGTON political dividends There are powerful in President Nixon welfare and revenue-sharinprograms which have escaped notice. They have the potential to build a Republican voter coalition to match that which kept the Democrats in power for three decades. The political potency of the welfare and revenue programs has been obscured because its force has not yet come to the surface. It will, and for a very special reason: Mr. Nixons new federalism will transfer power, initiative and money from Washington to the state capitals on a large scale, and this will increase. It means that most state governments will come alive again. As they havent been for a long time, the nations governors are about to become visible, powerful instruments in dealing with the most acute problems. And here is where the political impact of the new federalism will be felt. The governors are now the choren instruments of the new federalism, and as of today: The decisive majority of the gover30 to 20 nors are Republicans. Nearly all of the most populous states Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, California and Florida have Republican governors. Most of the more talented and effective governors are Republicans. alism is capable of transforming the GOP from a minority to a majority party, giving it a national base which could keep it in power for a long time. e The special political value of the and revenue-sharinprograms is tha they are coming into being in response to events. Their time comes at a moment when the political spinoff will most aid the Republican cause. Democrats as well as Republicans were coming to see that the thicket of overlapping, failing federal welfare programs had to be cut through, and it u'as up to Mr. Nixon to do the job or neglect it. He seized it, and his party will benefit from it. There is no doubt that Richard Nixon is an alert and .shrewd politician, but partisan politics did not significantly enter into the decision or the timing of the new federalism. At the Cabinet mpeting before the welfare and revenue-sharinprograms were announced, some Nixon advisers advanced political reasons why this initiative would hurt the President and the Republican Party. There were two main that these costly programs arguments would fix a label of big spender on wel-far- g g E. Drummond G. Drummond Thus, when for the first time since political power, policy initiative and revenue resources are to flow from Washington to the states, Republican governors are in a far stronger position than Democratic governors to show how well they can do the job and to reap the benefits. 1933 The benefits can be very large. For years, national opinion polls have shown that the great majority of the voters want to decentralize the overgrown federal bureaucracy. President Nixon is now beginning to do it, and this will add to the political strength of his administration. And if the Republican governors respond aggressively to the opportunities he is putting into the hands of all the governors, this will gather new political strength to the Republican Party in most of the states. This is why the Presidents new feder g Mr. Nixon and would be bucking "conservative tide in the country. the The President vetoed not only the arguments but the discussion. He said that the problems, politics aside, had to be met, and he proposed to do it. His programs may succeed reasonably well. If so, the political rewards will be immense. Plenty To Sneeze At Ragweed, as millions of American allergy suffers know, Is "nothing to sneeze at. But they are doing it, and so excruciatingly that a special the annual National Allergy Month Public Eduprogram is being conducted through September cation Campaign aware of their plight. 15 to make Sponsored by the Allergy Foundation of America, the commemoration, moreover, emphasizes the need for continuing research into allergies, which each year cost adults and children some 25 million man work days and 36 million school and play days. One out of every 10 persons, or about 22 million people, suffer from some sort of allergy. Most are victims fever. of asthma-haAn allergy, the foundation explains, is a sensitivity which some people develop to substances which are ordinarily harmless to most individuals. It can be a mild, temporary reaction or a chronic or acute, misery. The most common listed are aside from by the Foundation as hay fever, allergies, reactions to weed pollen, grasses, trees and plants, dust in the home or industry, mold spores, feathers, hair lotions and a multitude of other agents and foods. observance is scheduled during the peak The month-lon- g for ragweed pollen, one of the most severe irritants, period and, perhaps, to help sufferers explain away some badly cheeks. Hay fever sufferers will be anguished until the first freeze ends the pollen threat. need shed no sympathetic tears Although along with victims, the least they can do is be thankful their lot wasnt to have an allergy. rs y never-endin- g tear-stain- ed non-suffere- rs Aside from being dangerous, the bigotry ex- pressed by Mr. Garn is common. Indeed, many area residents have based their opinions on such flimsy grounds and have fortified their positions with rationalizations which hopelessly cloud the picture. But because Mr. Garn occupies a position of public trust, I must demand that he give us a better justification for his vote than personal preju- -' dice. -- MIKE HILTON 1819 E. 13th South . . Irked At 'News' I am deeply concerned with the seeming incon- gruitv of the News editorial-pagmasthead, which I applaud, and the story on the opposite page Sept. 'r 5 with the headline: (Jack) Anderson to Carry on f Pearson Tradition. e How does one reconcile the masthead statement-witthat story, which was minus a which, stated categorically His (Andersons) investiga- - , tion has resulted in the disclosures that Kennedy. (Senator Edward) tried to have his cousin, Joe t Gargar., take the rap for him, and that the youthful presidential hopeful did not, as claimed, swim , across to Edgartown that tragic night. (Parenthe- - . sis mine). by-lin- e, This seems to be irresponsible journalism ' entirely out of harmony with the News policy and " masthead philosophy. No one knows who wrote the story, although it smacks of Andersons style. But' with no the reader must assume News authorship. Regardless, it is certainly the News' responsibility, particularly because of the News' stand on the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. It is this type of amateur slip-uthat causes d the Warren Court to strive to clarify human rights, many of which the News has derided thoughtlessly and, at times, mercilessly in editorials immediately below the mast-- ; -head which we all respect. Talk about generation gap. Your young readers read and know that these statements quoted about ' Senator Kennedy are not facts, as reported. Young readers will welcome the facts, when and if proved after due process under the Constitution! -T- HOMAS L. (TOM) DURHAM?, 119 N. Main Street. by-lin- p much-revile- God-give- n After years of foot dragging in one of its important functhe tions. collecting the federal governments bad debts Justice Department has at long last promised to improve its collections record. That there is need for this is obvious from the Departments average performance rate of only 42 per cent over the past eight years, except for 1965 when a congressional subcommittee investigated collections efficiency and the rate jumped to 73 per cent. Granted, collecting debts due the government is not the only task assigned the Department. (A mounting criminal caseload, for example, has made inroads on the amount of time available for such work. Criminal cases alone increased 2,779 in district courts during the past nine months to bring the total to 17,542.) But as George H. Revercomb, associate deputy attorney general, observed recently before a subcommittee, The dollar amount of uncollected judgments compels us not to permit the collection function to be neglected as it sometimes has. The Justice Department, while winning $383 million in bad debts, fines, penalties and forfeitures from court judgments in the past four years, has collected only $163.2 million. In attempting to improve its rate and reach a balanced and reasonable approach to collections, the Department plans to appoint four regional and roving assistant directors of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, whose duties will include monitoring the effectiveness of the attorneys bill collecting efforts. This should produce some positive results. But in the meantime, those responsible for collections should remember that the longer debts are allowed to ride the more difficult they are to collect, especially when the bill collector fails to knock. I believe the issue at hand to be the following the Federal Heights question: In order to relieve area of certain nuisances and hazards stemming from Reservoir Park, is it correct to close the park or to continue arresting those creating such nuisan- ces and hazards? Life's Compensation: Gift Of Memory By SYDNEY J. HARRIS ! Everybody bemoans the swift passing of time. Some of Shakespeares most mournful sonnets were written on this theme: mans life is ravenously devoured of time. by the tiger-jaw- s Most of us, however, fail to be sufficiently grateful for an almost unnoticed the great gift of memocompensation ry. We take It for granted that we should have a rich and powerful memory of the past; it never occurs to us that, of all creatures, we are the most blessed In this respect. Man has been called a which means that all human history would be impossible if the race did not possess the memory to transmit knowledge through the generations. Apart from this unique endowment time-bindin- g animal, (which has permitted us to make the earth our own), there is the deeply personal gratification of living in the past. Life passes swiftly, but it is perpetually renewed in the mind. We can conjure up memories of past delights. In a few minutes, we can live over many years, the sweet savor of triumph and or love or friendship or fun. re-tas- te Equally important, we can track backward and live in the mind of great men. For those who use reading creatively, Aristotle still walks in the groves of Academe, Dr. Johnson still sits in Mrs. Thrales parlor, Napoleon still commands the field at Austerlitz, Darwin still sails on the Beagle. In the mind of a cultivated person, life stretches back thousands of years, and his friends are not limited to the handful of living men and women around him, but extend throughout the company of heroes and saints and prophets and artists who have died only in body. There will always be a bleakness and a bitterness in the lives of people who are greedy of physical time, who are resentful of the rapid encroachments of age. They are incapable of communion with history, they lack a sense of the past, and therefore they can find no serenity in the future. Life will always be too short for the person who does not see beyond his nose. To use Gods magnificent gift of memory to its fullest is the only way to accept the ravages of time with pleasure and with grace. Patienc- e- Tax Reliefs On Way - WASHINGTON President Nixons new tax reform program, presented by Secretary of the Treasury David M. Kennedy to the Senate Finance Commit-- t e e, has been greeted with joy by taxpayers ail over the country. The Presidents tax proposals are very similar to those suggested by tax reformers, with just a few exceptions. In order to understand the measures as outlined by the Nixon Administration, I went to see Prof. Heinrich Applebaum, the economist, whose bestselling book, How to Avoid Taxes by Going to Jail, is the last word on the subject. "Professor, what does the Nixon package mean as far as the average taxpayer is concerned? I asked. "Well, were not very sure, because there are still many vested interest groups to be heard from. But from what I can gather, everyone stands to gain. If youre married and have two children and m?ke less than $3,500 a year, which means youre starving, you dont have to pay any taxes at all. What a break! If you make over $3,500, you must pay taxes. But there will be great savings. For example, if you earn $5,000, the savings on your taxes will permit you to go to one extra movie a year. "As we get into the middle class income brackets, the savings will be enor- - ART BUCHWALD mous. A married couple with two children in a lower middle-incom- e bracket will save enough money under the Nixon tax reform program to buy a tire for their car. Suppose they cant afford a car? Then the taxes saved will allow them to purchase 200 bus tokens, providing, of course, they have the correct change. "The Nixon Administration has really gone out on a limb, I said. Thats true, and you have to admire the President for it. Hes made it possible for any member of a family of four, earning $12,000 a year, to save enough to stay in a hospital for one extra day. I hope the little guy is not the only one getting the benefit of the youre a conglomerate corporation with two dependent companies, your tax savings under the new reform plan will give you enough money to buy three more companies. That should take the strain off a lot of corporations. This is the first instance in a long time that a President has taken into consideration the problems of the rich. He has made a concerted effort to remedy the inequities of our tax system, which was originally written to give people in e the bracxets all the lower-incom- breaks." GUEST CARTOON , Don't Spoil Scenery During my recent Labor Day weekend visit to Utah, I was further discouraged at the havoc creat-e-a ' in the name of progress. Parleys Canyon, a once beautiful entry to Salt Lake City, is now being ,;', further damaged by the people who call themselves I highway engineers, but who are, in fact, landscape despoilers. The symmetry of the hills is gouged into unnatural angularity; the beautiful stream - that was has been channelized, filled with debris and scarred by the dozer; steep banks that can barely sustain a blade of grass are bare and further ero-- " " sion is inevitable. Its an ugly mess. Why? Why do people who live in such a fantastic environment allow the sort of disregard shown here? Do you think you are without the power to stop this sort of thing? Are you afraid to offend the politicians you elected by asking them to think about authorizing a budget for this sort of to your landscape? Dont you think that damage highway engineers are subject to the wishes of the people? Make them justify what they are doing to Utah."' Make them prove that the changes are necessary'" in a time when scientific progress indicates that the " automobile may be a thing of the past in 20 or 30 ' years. Force them to prove that they can make the canyon drive aesthetically pleasing. (They havent yet mended the scars of the first paved road . . . , watch and see next trip). Insist on proof that the t expansion is needed on some other basis than that $ old saw, "national defense." Look at Logan Canyon and the rotten highway job there. Logan River and its natural fishery is -ruined and the canyon will never be as pretty as it i ; was simply because some speed-adic- t felt that saving a half hour was worth sacrificing the beauty of a place that almost qualified as a unqiue nation-- , al geological area. Dont let the highway engineers completely ruin ; the canyons of the Wasatch. f JOHN S. FLANNERY San Francisco ' - tax-refor- No Sensationalism bill. You have nothing to worry about on that score. The Nixon Administration people are aware that you cant just give tax relief to the little guy without getting the people in the upper brackets and the corporations mad. So, hes done all he could to make things easier for them. For example, a family of four earning $200,000 a year from municipal bonds and oil investments will be put in the same tax bracket as a family on welfare. Thats only fair, I said. If the poor dont pay taxes, the rich shouldnt be asked to carry the burden. Where Nixon really showed courage as far as Im concerned, said Applebaum, is when he decided to aid companies suffering from corporate taxes that have been siphoning away piofits. If -- In the Deseret News Blue Streak edition of Sept. headline read, Hippies Shoot Utah a front-pag- e Patrolman. If it is your policy to make cultural, racial, eth-- 1 nic or religious designations to the people in the j news, may I suggest a few for you to use in the fu- - ' tore. How about "Clean Cut dears Out Till, of Mad Middle Class Murderer On Loose, or per- haps Mormon Mugger Sought. The state prison is distinguished by a representation of every reli-gious, social and economic group. In the future such attempts as the hippy sensa- -' tionalism you used will be noted as an attempt to ' discredit what has become a major minority group in the country. It is unbecoming of a paper that represenis a church of Jesus Christ to attempt to flare class ar.d cultural hatreds. , 2, 4 "And don't you forget it!" -S- TEPHEN HOLBROOK Bountiful -- |