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SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1971
NIGHT EDITOR: W. E. SCHROCK
The SST debate
THOUGH THE HOUSE of Representa-
tives voted Thursday to cut off fed-
eral funding for supersonic transport de-
velopment, it did not put an end to the
SST controversy. The Senate Appropria-
tions Committee's vote yesterday to renew
full funding for SST development sets the
stage for a Senate floor fight sometime
next week.
The 215 - 204 House vote came as a
surprise to Washington observers who
expect opposition to the President to come
primarily from the more outspoken Sen-
ate. It was only massive lobbying by en-
vironmental groups, coupled with the in-
stitution of new House rules making vot-
ing records on amendments public, that
enabled SST oponents to succeed. The
SST vote had come on an amendment to
a larger appropriations bill.
Senate leaders say that the House de-
feat has significantly damaged, but not
destroyed, chances for the SST to pass
the Senate. If the SST passes the Senate,
a Senate-House conference committee
would attemt to reach a comromise and
submit its pronosals to both branches
where the fight could begin all over again.
THE CONTROVERSY over the SST
sans a broad range of contemoor-
ary issues, Backers of the giant aircraft
claim that the United States should com-
pete with the French, who along with the
Britith, have developed their own SST,
the Concorde. They contend that the Uni-
ted States would suffer a serious trade
loss if the Concorde held a monopoly on
the SST market.
But the Concorde appears to have run
Into difficulties. Costs have skyrocketed
far beyond original projections, and tech-
nical problems have put a hold on pro-
duction.
Fifteen prominent American econom-
ists, ranging from Milton Friedman to
John Kenneth Galbraith, have strongly
opposed further funding for SST de-
velopment. They argue that the super-
sonic transport will draw no more pas-
sengers than do already existing air-
craft, and therefore will offer no econom-
ic advantages. Nobel prize winner Paul
Samuelson calls the plane "a lemon." MIT
Prof. George Rathjens "calls it a "pig
in a poke."
PROPONENTS CLAIM that Boeing h a s
developed a solution to the noise
problem caused by the sonic-booming air-
planes, one of the major early charges
against the craft. However, the increas-
ed cost of the required modifications and
the changes in structural design needed
to combat the noise problem would put
the plane's operating costs beyond feas-
ibility, Rathjens and other scientists
agree.
In other SST issues decisive arguments
are absent. Opponents charge that sup-
ersonic flight could cause skin cancer,
but the charges are undocumented and
sketchy, as are the refutations.
Scientists report that excessive f u e 1
consumption by the SST would put a maj-
or drain on ' fossil fuel reserves in the
United States, causing a crisis in energy
supply. To the environmentalists' cha-
grin, backers respond that fuel will be
found when it is needed, and, that prob-
lems can be dealt with when they arise.
Thirdly, the President's Council on En-
vironmental Equality and an MIT Study
of Critical Environmental Problems agree
that SST exhaust emissions could po-
tentially change the world's climate with
the introduction of large amounts of
additional sulfur dioxide and hydrocar-
bons into the stratosphere. Too little is
known, they say, to predict the results.
Oddly enough, this is the defense that
backers of the plane offer. Since so lit-
tle is known about the plane's effects on
the climate, they are willing to go ahead
and build the proposed SST prototypes
for tests
BUT A PAUCITY of knowledge about
the exact areas and extent of dam-
age caused by the SST does not mean the
construction should begin. If even one
of the 25 odd criticisms of the aircraft
are valid, the effects on the environment
could be disastrkus.
Besides the environmental questions,
the initial expenditure of $290 million
on a project of dubious practical value Is
an unwise and blind investment of much
needed funds.
Indeed, the seemingly powerful argu-
ment that the SST will supply jobs for
hundreds of thousands of American
workers lacks substance. Prof. Samuel-
son's argument is worthy of note. "Any
way that the United States government
or anyone else spends a billion dollars on
goods will make a billion dollars worth
of jobs. It would be a return to the phil-
osophy of 'makework'-in which men are
hired to do useless things like digging
holes and filling them up again in order
to increase jobs and purchasing power."
Opponents rightfully argue that work-
ers could be employed in more construc-
tive activities if the money were spent in
education, improving hospitals, and
building better housing.
THE ACTION by the Senate Appropria-
tions Committee yesterday was not
unexpected. The Senate votes next week
on funding for the SST. But to think that
the end of United States government in-
volvement with the SST would come with
a Senate defeat is incorrect. President
Nixon has revealed that if Congress re-
fuses to support the SST, he will find al-
ternative ways of creating an American
SST. It is well known that the financially
depressed and overextended aviation in-
dustry could not afford to finance SST
development on its own. Thus, the Nixon
administration apparently has a secret
plan for emergency financing, working
around Congress, enabling the govern-
ment to fund the SST.
IN THIS MANNER, President Nixon
could prove to a still somewhat unbeliev-
ing public that this administration's poli-
cies will not only not be decided in the
streets - they won't be decided in Con-
gress either.
By MICHAEL MODELSKI
Daily Guest Writer
NOT BEING an inveterate Daily reader,
it was only the other day that I came
across a column which appeared within
these pages about three weeks ago by one
Ted Held. Credited with being a member
of the Young Americans for Freedom, Held
challenges the Conservative to "stop" the
New Left movement "which certainly
threatens him." I don't really know if
Held exists or is just an alias for an in-
ventive Daily writer; the intent of t h e
article seems to have been to discredit the
Conservative movement and at the same
time build up the sagging image of the
New Left. On the chance that Held is for
real and does actually fear an impend-
ing doom from the New Left, I hope I
can reassure him as to the possibilities of
a tomorrow.
HELD SEEMS TO have been impressed
by the 2,000 odd delegates who attended
the Student-Youth Conference on a Peo-
ple's Peace here in Ann Arbor. To him
the number of delegates was "awesome"
having come from all over the country
"during an abysmal political lull." In ac-
tuality though, it was the numbers them-
selves which were "abysmal," from a New
Left point of view. Considering the much
greater numbers which have attended New
Left rallies of the past and the supposed
strength of radicalism here in Ann Ar-
bor, the conference attendance can best
be described as meager.
Following a period of inactivity, it would
seem that the conference would have at-
tracted enormous numbers of dedicated
people just itching to get back into action.
One must also realize that many of the
delegates were of the "teeny-bopper" var-
iety who attended more to be "in" on a
national conference than out of any deep
commitment. That the proposed treaty was
arranged by the president of a former
CIA-front only further highlights the sad
state the New Left is in today.
Held asserts that "because the people
might take them [the New Left] seriously
... the establishment should be frightened
for its own existence." Whether he assoc-
iates Conservatism with the nebulous "es-
tablishment" is not clear; the point is
that the statement is based on a very
wishful Leftist assumption.
"The people" as such, and here the
workers especially, have on numerous oc-
casions exhibited their "dislike" for the
New Left and its predilections. I think
the New Left has pretty much accepted the
fact that they are but a small faction
within the American polity. As Eugene
Genovese so beautifully puts it "the
chances for a seizure of power by one or
more sections of the Left are slightly in--
ferior to the chances of a seizure of power
by a coalition of the Campfire Girls and
the Gay Liberation Front under the lead-
ership of Ti-Grace Atkinson."
IT IS for this reason that many on the
Left have resorted to acts of violence rang-
ing from arson to murder. There seems
to exist a tremendous frustration because
"the people" in no way will follow them.
Now, of course, it is true these acts are
dangerous to individuals of society, but
there exist adequate societal mechanisms
to deal with such criminal acts. The re-'
cent spate of bombings can hardly be
interpreted as effective strikes against the
present American system. Borrowing from
another Merxist intellectual, Gus H a 11:
"The power of capitalism is not in the toil-
ets of big buildings."
Genovese explains what we are seeing
from the New Left is "a cult of violence
generally manifested in blustering a n d
sporadic and self-defeating acts of nihil-
ism, which are no more than the acting
out of adolescent fantasies of revoiution
by impotent individuals or tiny sects." l
In the end, the terrorist and McCarthy-
ite wings of the New Left are both of lit-
tle consequence in the American political
system, except maybe as targets for dema-
gogues. That the liberal press is willing to
indulge its upper middle-class children
with publicity of every sort does not a
viable and effective political movement
make.
Held expresses dismay that Conservatism
is not also publicized and calls for a con-
certed publicity and "persuasion campaign"
to present the Right side. Held seems to
have been completely swallowed up in the
New Left's illusions of greatness. Held may
find it unfortunate that our proselytizing is
done in a quiet way wherein we refrain
from bombing buildings, shooting police, or
even shouting down speakers, but then this
is just one more reason why we in the end
are much more effective.
IN 1968 the New Leftists were outside of
the Democratic Convention fighting with
the police. The Conservatives, including
myself, were inside the Republican Con-
vention speaking to, and swaying the votes
of, the delegates. This last week a student
from this University, one whose namehas
never appeared in the Daily, addressed a
House Appropriations subcommittee urging
the funding of the Supersonic Transport.
The future of this country is not being de-
cided in the streets. Even if it were, the
Hardhats would be able to outnumber
the New Left in any American city on any
given day.
Held's final point has to do with a popu-
lar cliche that paints Conservatives as
tending toward "dull and repressive tac-
tics," rather than argument and reason, in
fighting the New Left. This specter of re-
pression, a favorite paranoiac preoccupa-
tion of the New Left, must be shown for
what it is.
Herbert Marcuse admits that the Left-
ist liberation of Aincr.ca would in a a n
subversion against the will and against
the prevaining inte r sts of the great ma-
jority of the people. Co.seivati m is very
much in agreement with .his majority will
and interest and is for its preservation.
Marcuse himself allows that "th-re can be
no human association without law and
ouder."
CONSERVATISM distinguishes between
coercion necessary to maintain the regular-
ity of social relationships and coercion em-
ployed to impose the will of one individual
or group upon another. The government's
most important, if not sole, function is
to set up objective measures for protect-
ing individual rights. Criminal acts can-
not be excused by a political rationaliza-
tion. Only by an objective enforcement of
laws enacted by the people's representa-
tives can justice be promoted in America.
To label law enforcement as "repression" is
to fall into an Orwellian syntax and logic.
In sum, Conservatism is faced today
with a challenge, but it is not, as Ted Held
would have us believe, one of publicity and
sensationalism. It is with the "Silent Ma-
jority" that Conservatives must be con-
cerned. It is here that the foundations
of America lie. Donald Zoll in a recent
article The Inter-Collegiate Review makes
clear that the Conservative's primary ob-
jective should be to "transmogrify the in-
articulate emotions of, the anti-revolution-
ary majority into a sensitive and bold re,-
gard for the qualitative reform of society."
Publicity will play a part in such an under-
taking, but it will be a quality of publicity
far different from that used by the New
Left.
IT WILL BE ancillary to the main thrust
of Conservatism working through the nu-
merous political channels available within
our system. The New Left can make as
much noise as they wish; it will be the
Conservatives who will provide the intel-
lectual elite which will lead America into
tomorrow, with the solid support of the
majority of "The People."
The author is a former chairman of Young
Americans for Freedom.
At
Letters to The Daily
War research
To The Daily:
SINCE 1965. 300,000 civilians
have been killed in Vietnam, 85,000
since 1968. Last fall, there were
over 500,000 refugees, three times
the number in 1968. 5,000,000 acres
of land in Vietnam have been de-
foliated. In Cambodia, one million
people out of a population of 6.7
million are refugees, most forsed
into detention camps or city hovels.
In Laos, where the US has been
conducting heavy bombing for over
a decade, 300,000 people are refu-
gees (this figure was compiled
before the invasion ofaLaos.
The University of Michigan is
conducting millions of dollars in
classified research which is being
used by the militgy in a cruelly
destructive war of counterinsur-
gency in Indochina. Such research
is not neutral scientific endeavor
when its applications result in kill-
ing and maiming of human beings
and the destruction of their coun-
try.
Three years ago, the Senate As-!
sembly set a policy on war re-
search which supposedly banned
research whose primary purpose
was detrimental to human life or
welfare. But the university's role
as the servant of the military con-
tinues essentially unchanged. John
Foster, Director of Defense Re-
search and Engineering, reported
this year that University of Michi-
gan research in radar and infra-
red technology and other aerial
surveillance techniques ". . . have
been invaluable in research leading
to systems and equipment for bat-
tlefield surveillance and target ac-
quisition . "
WE SEEK an end to all classi-
fied research and an end to re-
search requiring security clearance
of its participants. A proposal from
SGC to Senate Assembly would ban
all war related or classified re-
search. On Monday, March 22, the
Senate Assembly is voting on the
policy which its classified research
committee will follow. It is essen-
tial that all those concerned about
classified research be present. A
rally is scheduled for 2 p.m. Mon-
day on the Diag. The Senate As-
sembly meeting begins at 3:15 in
the Rackham Amphitheater.
If the faculty fails to ban classi-
fied research, it is the responsi-
bility of the students as members
of the university community to act
to eliminate classified research
from the university.
-Coalition to Stop Classified
& War Research
Error
To The Daily:
I WOULD LIKE to draw your
attention to t w o inaccuracies
made in the reporting (in last
Saturday'sdDaily) of remarks I
made Friday noon in the Fish-
that "Hanoi has released the
names of all its prisoners and is
willing etc."
-Prof. John Bailey
Department of Near
Eastern Language
and Literatures
March 17
Change
To the Daily:
NO EFFORT to transform Amer-
ican society or, for that matter,
education at the University of
Michigan, n e e d s explanation.
What is required is to justify one
course of action over another. We
choose to "create a program for
education in social transformation"
because we are, (we believe it is
possible and even necessary to be)
teachers, learners, scholar, intel-
lectuals, radicals, brothers and sis-
ters in a communal' endeavor to
change the ways we teach and
learn and live.
We are also involved in every
aspect of academic life at the Uni-
versity of Michigan. We believe
the University is a proper place to
teach and learn and work for social
transformation within and outside
it; we want to make it a more use-
ful, "more human, more . accessi-
ble, and more effective commun-
ity" as well.
WE WISH OUR knowledge to
serve people. When the University
of California provides growers with
piece-work rates for all of their
crops, whenrthe Universityof
Michigan produces infra-red sens-
ing devices that aid airplanes in
dropping phosphorus and cluster
bombs on human beings, we recog-
nize that the primary focus of so-
cial transformation must be the
larger American society and its
economic, social, political, and
military institutions, of which the
power-serving university is only a
minor and derivative part. Never-
theless the university is where we
work and live, and we have as
many rights and responsibilities in
determining how its resources are
used and whom it serves as any
other point of view.
Our goals include the following:
-To create a community and
ouen insittutions where persons of
all ages and roles within and out-
side the university can come to-
gether as equals, where they can
share, sustain, and develop an in-
tegrated intellectual, political, and
personal life.
-To provide information and as-
sistance' to undergraduate and
graduate students who wish to
study socialtransformation, to
create concentrations and gradu-
ate programs, to pursue knowledge
independently or gain understand-
ing of social transformations out-
side the university.
-To f o s t e r cooperation and
greater community among faculty
and teaching fellows engaged in
teaching and research on social
transformation, working toward
greater unity and interrelationship
among course offerings, and the
planning of new courses needed but
not in the university curriculum.
-To provide means of communi-
cating ideas and knowledge about
social transformation through inde-
pendent media, possibly including
a journal and a press to publish
pamphlets, student papers, docu-
mentary material, etc.
-To endeavor to make the re-
sources of the university more
readily accessible to persons now
excluded from it, and in particular
to seek ways of uniting our own in-
tellectual and social efforts with
those of non-university individuals
and groups.
-To utilize our intellectual and
social resources in efforts to bring
about social change in our local
and national communities.
-To apply our efforts to the
transformation of the curriculum,
the educational. environment, and
These are broad and varied
goals, and they are stated in a way
that we may not unnecessarily ex-
clude persons whom we hope to
serve, from the uncommitted stu-
dent seeking a single course to the
person who devotes his or her en-
tire life to social transformation.
To have stated them, to have or-
ganized ourselves, is an essential
and useful beginning.
-Robert Sklar
For Program for Education
in Social Change
Saul Alinshy:o Advice
By TED STEIN
SAUL DAVID ALINSKY is a professional. In his line of work the black-
board is the only prop and it is symbolic of a primary pre-requisite
for his job-a constant flow of creative organizational and tactical
thinking.
For Alinsky is by any standard an agitator. This means that he has
devoted most of his life to helping people build power bases through
community organizations from which they can control their lives.
Chicago, Rochester,'Syracuse, Detroit, and Kansas City-are cities
where Alinsky and his group, called the Industrial Area Foundation have
sought power for impoverished blacks, migrants, and Mexican-Americans.
In Butte, Mont. his movement concerned unemployed copper miners.
SO WHEN Alinsky spoke here Wednesday he had a lot to say. The
success he has enjoyed in community organizing, predicated on a wide
foundation of support, should make Ann Arbor radicals reevaluate their
positions.
Last month's takeover of the LSA and Administration Bldgs., for in-4
stance, proved ineffective in drumming up support for the six demands
which ranged from issues related to the war in Indochina to student con-
trol of Course Mart.
Tactically, the dwindling and fa-
miliar minority of radicals failed to
put pressure on the administrat-
tion to comply with the demands.
Thus they found it necessary to
limit their demands to only aboli-
tion of military research. Shortly
thereafter they made a total re-
treat from the Ad Bldg. when faced
with possible expulsion from the
University. 4
This incident is symptomatic of
a crisis of tactics and organiza-
tional thinking that has hindered
the type of broad-based, unified
support of respected members of
the academic community which is
necessary in securing substantive
change.
ALINSKY spoke to these and re-
lated points, explicating his alter-
native radical style. In the specific instance of the building takeovers for
example, Alinsky would have never allowed such a situation to mater-
ialize. He never moves until he is convinced he can win.
IN WOODLAWN, on Chicago's South Side, Alinsky has earned the
reputation of a hard-nosed radical who creates the broadly-based organiz-
ational support needed for a strong negotiating position. There Alinsky
organized, the first community-wide group to sponsor low-rent housing.
The organization was given control of contracting the project which began
in response to the University of Chicago's expansion into ghetto areas.
"The U of C has become. completely reconciled to the Woodlawn
Organization," Alinsky noted with a grin. "It means that when we get
the power and you get reconciled to it, we have reconciliation."
Alinsky's most essential point in Wednesday's lecture, concerned the
potential power of the middle-class. He called upon students in partic-
ular "to seek out, search out, and get allies that can only be found in
the large middle-class we find around us."
Alinsky's reason for "courting" the middle-class has merit. "You ca
only communicate with people in terms of their own experience," he
said. "You know the middle-class experience."
AND THIS IS borne out by the difficulty middle-class radicals have
repeatedly experienced in trying to organize workers. For the students
speak the language of affluence-and-beyond, while the workers dream
of material status.
"When Caesar Chavez launched a grape boycott it was toward the
middle-class," Alinsky is qcick to note. Yet this immensely successful
Alinsky-organized protest would not have succeeded without substantial
-ART LERNER
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