-1
- --ALAN LENHOFF
24e SkIt-n Daih
Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
ITT
and the
US.:
A
marriage of money
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1972
NIGHT EDITOR: CHRIS PARKS
Vote HRP tomorrow
CITY ELECTIONS take place tomor-
row, and the races are tri-partisan,
with a good chance that Ann Arbor's
newest party will gain at least one
council seat.
We now repeat our endorsement, ex-
plained in Friday's paper, of the entire
Human Rights Party (HRP) slate.
HRP has a unity the other parties
lack - all candidates are bound to the
party's platform, formulated at open
meetings where all who attended were
eligible to vote. All future decisions of
the party also will be binding on its
candidates and office holders, and will
be made at open mass meetings.
The platform itself is excellent, call-
ing for community control of public
services including health care, child
care and the police department; and
the establishment of a comprehensive
mass transport system and needed low-
cost housing.
Several of HRP's programs are also
advocated by Democratic candidates.
However, we have lost confidence in
the Democrats, as we watched them
compromise and fail to move on im-
portant issues in recent years.'
Endorsing the party means endors-
ing its candidates, whose personal qua-
lifications were also explained in Fri-
day's paper: JERRY DE GRIECK -
First Ward; NANCY WECHSLER --
Second Ward; GENIE PLAMONDON --
Third Ward; DAVID BLACK - Fourth
Ward; NANCY ROMER BURGHARDT
-Fifth Ward;
THE DAILY recommends a NO vote
on the proposed Ashley-First by-
pass (formerly called Packard-Beakes).
The bypass would expand Beakes St.
into a major thoroughfare, ruining the
residential environment of that low-
income section of the city.
We urge you to vote In tomorrow's
election - against the Ashley-First
bonding proposal and for the candi-
dates of the Human Rights Party.
W HILE COLUMNIST Jack An-
derson's revelations of alleged
deals between IT and the gov-
ernment have been enlightening
to the American public, the spec-
tacular reaction to his charges-
both in the Senate and in the
press - have clouded over the
fact that these "intrigues" be-
tween big business and the gov-
ernment are commonplace.
In fact, the private meeting
conducted by ITT officials with'
deputy Atty. Gen. Richard Klein-
dienst and Atty. Gen. John Mit-
chell was "not unusual at all,"
Kleindienst says.
Kleindienst, currently awaiting
confirmation to become Mitchell's
successor as head of the Depart-
ment of Justice, adds that "it's
a very common occurrence for
members of Congress to telephone
the department on behalf of cor-
porate constituents." "We have a
responsibility to permit that to
occur," he says.
Apparently, some of America's
largest corporations have come to
count on government cooperation
and assistance as they expand
their assets and profits at an un-
precedented rate.
IT HAS BEEN the tactic of
building g i a n t conglomerates
through corporate mergers-rath-
er than investing profits into ex-
isting assets - that has allowed
these corporations to maintain a
fantastic rate of growth. In the
case of ITT, corporate assets have
Jumped from $811 million ten
years ago, to its present value of
$6.5 billion.
tionalDevelopment, which ad-
ministers foreign aid funds, cur-
rently insures 70 per cent of ITT's
investments in Latin America and
Southeast Asia (primarily in
Thailand). In the past, govern-
ment sources report, ITT has
filed claims against the federal
government for the loss of tele-
phone companies which were "na-
tionalized" by the governments of
Cuba, Ecuador, Chile and the Peo-
ple's Republic of China.
In addition, ITT takes on an
average of about $240 million an-
nually in defense contracts, while
one of its subsidiaries holds a
multi-million dollar contract from
the Department of Housing and
Urban Development for low-cost
housing units.
IN THIS context, Anderson's
charges of ITT bribes and clan-
destine efforts against the new
Chilean Socialist government, are
not only believable, but painfully
consistent with the government's
relationship with big business.
Acting Atty. Gen. Richard Kleindienst faces the music
'
The only criterion these cor-
porations have used in determin-
ing the feasibility of these mer-
gers has been "Will it make a
buck?" Indeed, ITT has gone far
beyond the bounds of its original
corporate image of telephones and
telegraphs, and now owns the
giant Sheraton Hotel chain, the
Avis Car Rental Company, Conti-
nental Baking Company and
countless other companies, includ-
ing over 200 foreign subsidiaries.
In many ways, the government
has its hands tied. The existing'
anti-trust laws were designed to
prevent corporations from domi-
nating the market supply of any
one particular commodity. The
conglomerates, however, tend to
be so diversified as to escape these
laws.
But rather than formulating
new laws which would be more
applicable to the conglomerates,
the Justice Department has chos-
en to extend the archaic anti-
trust laws, which cannot effective-
ly restrain these mammoth cor-
porations.
The Nixon administration stra-
tegy has been to challenge an oc-
casional corporate merger with
these laws in order to alleviate
public concerns about the effect
of the growing conglomerates on
the economy.
The result inevitably is that the
corporations win. In the case of
ITT, the settlement called for the
corporation to divest itself of six
of its component companies with-
in the next three years, in ex-
change for which, ITT was allow-
ed to buy the Hartford Fire Insur-
ance Company - whose profits
are three times greater than the
combined values of the divested
companies.
3UT THE MOST startling as-
pect of the growth of the conglo-
merates has been the extent to
which the government is willing
to actively protect them and cater
to their economic interests.
Much of the $2.2 billion ITT
empire in Latin America, the Mid-
die East, Europe and Asia is de-
pendent upon U.S. foreign aid
programs to bolster governments
which have maintained a favor-
able attitude toward foreign in-
vestors.
The U.S. Agency for Interna-
AFL-CIO: Who s scurrilous?
Tuning in on a tuition hike
*"T RY it-You'll LIK E it "
...~JAMES WECHSLER'
IN AN ADVERTISEMENT in Friday's
Daily the Washtenaw County AFL-CIO
launched a vicious (they called it "mili-
tant, but rational") attack on the Human
Rights Party.
The AFL-CIO implied the ad was "the'
unanswerable truth," but it is riddled
with half-truths and distortions which
prove once again that "big labor" is more
interested in maintaining its cozy rela-
tionship with the "powers that be" than
in really looking out for the interests of
workers.
The letter by Beverly Ford in the ad-
vertisement states that HRP didn't dis'
cover labor's cause until "the eve of an
eletion."
The letter lies,
Many members of what is now HRP
were active in supporting the strike of
the American Federation of State, Coun-
ty and Municipal Employes (AFSCME)
strike against the University last January.
Further, as a party, HRP helped the
workers of Buhr Machine Tool Co. stand
up to the gigantic Bendix Corp. last sum-
mer, and was active in supporting the
teachers' strike against the' Ann Arbor
schools in the fall.
FORD CHARGES that HRP "exploits the
legitimate aspirations of the workers."
None of the workers interviewed on
Editorial Staff
ALAN LENHOFF
Editor
SARA FITZGERALD ............... Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS ................. Editorial Director
CARLA RAPOPORT .................Executive Editor
ROBERT SCHREINER .................. News Editor
ROSE SUE BERSTEIN ...............Feature Editor
PAT BAUER ............. Associate Managing Editor
LINDSAY CHANEY ............ Editorial Page Editor
MARK DILLEN................ Editorial Page Editor
ARTHUR LERNER............ Editorial Page Editor
PAUL TRAVIS . ............... ........ Arts Editor
GLORIA JANE SMITH ......... Associate Arts Editor
JONATHAN MILLER ......... Special Features Editor
TERRY McCARTHY ............Photography Editor
ROBERT CONROw ..................Books Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Linda Dreeben, Chris Parks, Gene
Robinson, Zachary Schiller.
COPY EDITORS: Robert Barkin, Jan Benedetti, John
Mitchell, Tony Schwartz, Charles Stein, Ted Stein.
DAY EDITORS: Dave Burhenn, Daniel Jacobs, Mary
Kramer, Judy Ruskin, Sue Stephenson, Karen Tink-
lenberg, Rebecca Warner, Marcia Zoslaw.
picket lines either at Buhr this summer or
at the Commission on Professional and
Hospital Activities (CPHA) this winter
felt they were being exploited by the
presence of HRP people on their picket
lines.
In fact, if HRP is exploiting workers,
then one would have to guess that work-
ers prefer it to the do-nothing policies of
the "House of Labor."
It seems rather odd then for the AFL-
CIO, which has done little more than
paid lip-service to the cause of the CPHA
workers, to attack HRP.
Aside from embarrassment that HRP
has been doing the AFL-CIO's job, and
doing it better, there seems a more trans-
parent motive for the ill-conceived at-
tack.
It is HRP's consistent criticism of AFL-
CIO's "old and time-tested friends" (The
Democratic Party establishment) which
really upsets Ford.
THE AFL-CIO seems to be satisfied with
the crumbs they have received from
the Democrats' table, but a growing num-
ber of militant young working people are
coming to see things differently.
For example, AFL-CIO lauds the Demo-
crats for the passage of an "Anti-strike
breaker ordinance" which is too full of
loopholes to be enforced.
Workers at Buhr and CPHA know the
ordinance has not prevented the use of
scab labor in an attempt to break their
strikes.
While attacking HRP for being "a white
upper middle class student movement",
the AFL-CIO fails to point out that the
Democratic ; Party, their alleged ally -
is also a white middle class organization.
Of the Democrats in city hall none are
workers and only one is black.
FORD CONCLUDES, "We shall not be
derelict in our defense of old and time
tested friends against the false and scur-
rilous attack of insidious and uncreden-
tialed pretenders."
That's real working class lingo.
-CHRIS PARKS
By ROBERT BARKIN
IN THE DIZZYING world of aca-
demic budget-making, it seems
to the casual observer that it
would be impossible to make
rhyme or reason from the pro-
cess. Yet every year the Uni-
versity forges out another budget.
This is true tribute to the com-
petence and professionalism of the
administration.
In a rare opportunity for in-
sight into the actual budget pro-
cess, I was walking down a hall
in the Administration Bldg. sev-
eral weeks ago when I heard voic-
es in a conference room discuss-
ing this very subject . . .
"WELL, THE budget picture
looks really good this year. I don't
think we'll have any problems at
all," said an authoritative voice.
"What do you think, Allan?"
"Can't see any monetary prob-
lems at all, Rob, but I think there
might be an unexpected hitch in
this year's planning," Allan re-
plied.
"I agree with Allan," another
voice piped in. "Weve been talking
the problem over and there's an
unexpected contingency to t h i s
year's budget."
"What are you and Fidele talk-
ing about?" Rob said. "I thought
we were set for this year."
"Well," Allan drawled, it's not
really as much a financial problem
as a psychological one."
"You see," continued Fidele,
"we've had the Social Research
Institute do a project for us on
the unlikely subject of tuition in-
creases."
"What were the results, for
God's sake?" Rob said with un-
mistakeable glee. "You know
that's my favorite subject."
"The results indicated that stu-
dents are expecting a tuition in-
crease, and will be sorely disap-
pointed if they don't get one."
"The situation is," Fidele said,
picking up from Allan, "that
we've had increases in four of the
last five years."
"I REMEMBER that budget
well," Rob explained. "I let 'em
off that year because I was pretty
new, but I really socked it to
'em the next year."
"That's the problem here," Al-
lan lamented. "They won't take
that any more. If we let them off
one year, it'll be hard to get back
on the tuition increase track. You
read my memo on "Tuition Mo-
mentum", didn't you?"
"Yeh, but I didn't take it ser-
iously."
"You should have!" shrieked Fi-
dele. "That's what we're talking
about. We can't let them off the
hook."
"Calmyourself, Fidele," Allan
said reassuringly. "Rob, this is
the situation. Unless we give the
students a tuition increase this
year even though we don't need
it, we can't be sure that they will
accept one when it is truly neces-
sary."
"THAT'S NO problem," R o b
injected excitedly. "But let's make
this one original. I'm tired of the
usual rate increase. How about a
$10 per semester hike."
"Hey, that's nifty," Fidele and
Allan said in unison.
"And just for a kicker, we can
assess another $10 per semester
for the health service. That's a
new one."
"Gee, Rob, your mind works
like a computer," said Allan. "Just
fantastic."
J. Edgar, provocateurs
and the, Harrisburg 7
-.
Letters to The Daily
Endorsement denial
To The Daily:
AN UNFORTUNATE mistake
occurred recently when the Ann
Arbor Abortion Action Coalition's
name appeared in an advertise-
ment for the Human Rights Par-
ty. We are a coalition, whose unity
is based only on our stand for re-
peal of all anti-abortion laws, no
forced sterilization, and an end
to restrictive contraception.
Because women in our coalition
come from diverse political back-
grounds, it is impossible for us
to take a unilateral stand in favor
of one political group. Though
some of us as individuals, may
support the Human Rights Party,
we remain independent as an or-
ganization.
What we can and do support
is the HRP position in favor of
immediate repeal of anti-abortion
laws. We urge all those concerned
about this issue to become active
now.
-Ann Arbor Abortion
Action Coalition
April 1
Endorsement?
To The Daily:
IN SATURDAY'S Daily, a cor-
rection appeared which said that
the Pontiac Heights Tenants Un-
ion does not endorse any of the l
First Wardcandidates. This was
a response to a paid ad which ap-
peared the day before endorsing
Jerry DeGrieck.
This controversy reflects t h e
political divisions within the Pon-
tiac Heights Tenants Union it-
self. Basically the political fac-
tions are composed of people in
the Black Economic Development
League, the Welfare Rights Or-
ganization, the Democratic party
and the Human Rights Party.
All of these factions have not
done the same amount of work
for the tenants of Pontiac Heights.;
For example, until I entered the
Pontiac 'Heights Tenants Union,
tenants who had received eviction
summons had never won a case in
court. But last Tuesday, Judge
Arkesan threw out eviction pro-
ceedings against four Pontiac
Heights tenants because of the
defense I took a big hand in form-
ulating.
The important point here is that
this was the fifth or sixth time a
group of tenants was brought into
court. All the other times, before
I joined the union, representatives
of BEDL, WRO, and the Demo-
cratic Party were not able to halt
eviction proceedings in court.
I did the work in getting the
people to court and I worked with
legal aid to set up the defense
which got results. I think that en-
titles me to endorse Jerry De-
Grieck in the name of the Pontiac
Heights Tenants Union.
-Jim Madden
Member, Pontiac Heights
Tenants Union
April 1
Air pollution
To The Daily:
BECAUSE OF the recent in-
transigence of the Michigan Sen-
ate Health, Social Services and
Retirement Committee,rregarding
Sub. H.B. 4260-Air Pollution Act,
the Environmental Law Society,
Ecology Center and ENACT have
organized a petition drive in an
attempt to force action on the
strong House version, instead of
allowing the Senate Committee to
emasculate.
The petition drive, which began
Feb. 14, is designed to produce a
broad base of support for 4260. As
a corollary, the drive is also being
made in conjunction with other
environmental grouns in Michigan
New York Post
REGARDLESS OF what the Harrisburg jury decides in the prosecu-
tion of the Rev. Philip Berrigan and his co-defendants, J. Edgar
Hoover has growing reason to regret his deep involvement and Inwest-
ment in the case: For testimony now on the record has given new
support to the charge that FBI operatives have actively encouraged
fantasies of violence in ostensibly conducting surveillance. The ugly
word is "provocateur."
The latest documentation came during the testimony of FBI agent
Delmar Mayfield Jr. He admitted that he had provided two ROTC
explosives manuals for Boyd F. Douglas Jr., the government's key
witness who, in turn, "loaned" them to one of the defendants - the
Rev. Joseph Wenderoth.
After this embarrassing confession, Mayfield proceeded to insist
that he did not learn until many months later that Douglas had passed
on the manuals. He denied that he advised Douglas to "provoke" the
alleged conspirators into blowing up Washington tunnels. But he did
not endeavor to suggest that he had given Douglas the material
as light summer reading.
Douglas had previously testified that he sought the manuals
because, in his role as informer, he had posed as an Army demoli-
tion expert and wanted to be able to prove his erudition in that field.
Just fun and games.
THE LINE between provocation and education can only be describ-
ed as thin. When the FBI's emissaries supply the how-to-do-it texts to
those allegedly contemplating bomb-throwing, .they become at the
very least accomplices if not instigators. Reading the testimony, one
grimly wonders whether the youths who blew themselves up on W.
11th St. had misread some expertise furnished by an FBI helper dis-
guised as a comrade.
Agent Mayfield was asked whether he felt no concern about giving
the manual to Douglas, whose diverse criminal record included con-
viction for assault with a gun. He said, "I had no qualms whatever .. .
I had complete faith in him." The standards set for informers are
seemingly rather modest.
Mayfield professed total ignorance of letters Douglas wrote ap-
parently seeking recruits for illicit acts. In one of them Douglas,
describing himself as a "nonviolent revolutionary who believes in
strategic sabotage," wrote a Rochester girl that "there may be an
interesting project that would interest you after the turn of the year."
The recipient was later indicted in a draft board raid in that city.
THE HARRISBURG story remains unfinished. But these episodes
acquire special meaning in view of a recent public admission by
another FBI informer that the raid on Camden draft board files
last Aug. 22 - for which 28 defendants are still facing trial -
"couldn't have happened if I wasn't there."
In an affidavit given to defense counsel, Robert W. Hardy, a
general contractor, swore that he had told the FBI that he was
vital to the operation and was instructed to go ahead. It was he
who assertedly provided ladders, tools, instruction on how to avoid
burglar alarms, schematic drawings of the building, and other essen-
tials. In fact, he said, the accused conspirators appeared ready to
drop the idea until he revived their enthusiasm and offered his indis-
pensable services.
Hardy's affidavit included the statement that the FBI paid for
the trucks, gas and tools bought in planning the raid. In it he also
says he was later told by FBI agents that the raid was not aborted
in advance because "someone at the little White House in California,
which I took to mean someone high in the FBI or Justice Dept., then
in California, wanted it to happen."
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