SSir44ich gan Datj
Eighty years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Ralph Ginzberg: Not giving your Moneysworth
bydaniel zwerdling..-..
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.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1970
NIGHT EDITOR: LARRY LEMPERT1
F 1
t
Virtually every time you spend money,
whether at the supermarket, depart-
ment stort, drugstore, or gas station,
you're being ROBBED! You're being
duped, hoodwinked, and swindled out
of the full value of your money by a
combination of deceptive selling tech-
niques that include Madison Avenue
double-talk, mendacious salesmanship,
and insidious labeling and packaging
ploys.
MONEYSWORTH, the new consumer
newsletter published by Ralph Ginz-
berg, doesn't come from Madison Avenue
but its offices are nearby on West 40th
St. Ralph Ginzberg is the fellow who pub-
lished Eros and the Housewives Handbook
on Selective Promiscuity from Blue Balls
and Intercourse, Pa.
I was intrigued when I first saw the ads
back in June because Moneysworth sound-
ed hip and clever and because I wondered
whether Ginzberg was really taking a lead
in the grand consumer crusade. I knew
that he is waiting out innumerable techni-
cal appeals on an obscenity conviction
w h i c h the Supreme Court upheld in a
landmark decision, and which might even-
tually land him in jail.
From reading the one-half million dol-
lars worth of publicity which Ginzberg has
plastered since spring on the pages of ev-
ery major newspaper and magazine in the
country (the ads are s till running) I
learned that Moneysworth is a pragmatic
authoriative biweekly - created "as a
partial antidote to widespread fraud and
deception. Moneysworth, as its name im-
plies, aims to see that you get full value
for the money you spend. It rates com-
petitive products as to best buys . . . it
offers ingenious tips on how to save money
(they will astound you with their inven-
tiveness); and it counsels you on the man-
agement of your personal finances . . . in
short, Moneysworth is your own personal
consumer crusader, trusted stockbroaker,
and chancellor of the exchequer - all in
one ...."
WHAT MORE COULD ONE ask? The
ads e v e n listed 103 tantalizing articles
"the kinds of articles it prints" (including
A Consumers Guide to Marijuana, Pro-
viding your Teenager with Contraception,
and Low-Cost Psychoanalysis).
And they mentioned that "the editors
of Moneysworth are a team of hard-nosed,
experienced journalists with considerable
expertise in the fields of consumer inter-
ests and quality periodical publishing."
So I was surprised when a friend in
Washington, D.C., Dave Sanford of The
New Republic, told me in August t h a t
Ginzberg was bugging him with phone calls
and letters offering him the editorship of
Moneysworth. Sanford was a little sur-
prised himself since he had been reading
the same ads. He asked what the news-
letter is all about. Actually, Ginzberg told
him, the iewsletter didn't exist; Moneys-
worth was still waiting for enough sub-
scriptions to finance a first issue. The only
newsletter that existed was a brainy idea
in Ralph Ginzberg's mind and a v e r y
flashy ad all over the country.
Where was the team of hard-n o s e d
journalists writing this "hip, trustworthy
financial mentor?" The whole newsletter
was a two-man job, Ginzberg told Sanford;
well ,it would be if Sanford accepted the
job and if they could find 'some smart
chick out of college." Who would write and
research all those "dispatches, analyses,
and product evaluations" which the ad
promises will originate in "New Y o r k,
Washington, and any other place where
consumer news is likely to develop." The
newsletter would be a rewrite job, Ginz-
berg said. About 40 publications already do
enough research to keep any Moneysworth
staff busy cutting and condensing.
"You have to realize," says Ginzberg,
"that we are guilty of many of the mer-
chandising practices we'll be writing about.
I make no apologies for that, because the
marketplace is thoroughly corrupted.
You've got to do certain things if you want
to stay in business."
Sanford already has a cushy job at New
Republic, so he declined Ginzberg's offer
of $20,000. Then he wrote a column for
Newsday in August about his conversation
with Ginzberg, who wrote an incensed re-
ply, insisting that Moneysworth does have
a competent staff (he mentioned a Mike
Silverstein as editor); it is doing its own
research; it is going to rewrite and con-
dense other articles, but what's wrong with
that anyway? In August when Ginzberg
wrote the reply, his claims were difficult to
refute, his newsletter still didn't exist.
"The most likely explanation for San-
ford's hatchet job," Ginzberg's reply con-
cluded, "is to be found in a fact that he
craftily- omitted from his article. David
Sanford applied for the job as editor of
Moneysworth and was not accepted." All
this from the man who had written San-
ford several weeks before, "I certainly hope
you'll decide to take the job. Your doing
so could be historic."
Ginzberg finally has his editor, but it
isn't Mike Silverstein. He got the ax. In the
brief life of Moneysworth, Ginzberg has
already run through four different edi-
tors. He started with one Ted Townsend,
whom he quickly discarded as inadequate
for the job. Then he failed to entice San-
ford, ran a blind want ad in The Village
Voice, and found Silverstein. After Silver-.
stein left, Ginzberg hired as editor a re-
porter named Lee Rutherford. Rutherford
started work on Monday. On Thursday
Ginzberg told him he had never seen a
better editor. On Friday Rutherford was
fired. Now Moneysworth lists an editor
named Warren Boroson, an old c r o n y
whom Ginzberg has resurrected from his
old Fact magazine. No one knows how
long he'll last. As for the others - Ginz-
berg writes them off as "part of the tur-
moil that accompanies any magazine in
its formative stages.
"I don't like to see the word fired in
print," he told me yesterday in a phone
interview. "Why don't you just say they
quit."
He added before hanging up that all the
pre-publication flap about Moneysworth
being a rewrite job was wrong. The first
3 issues were 75 per cent original research.
He said the newsletter. pays independent
contractors to run tests on myriad pro-
ducts but added "I'd rather not say who
the contractors are."
Let's give Ginzberg credit: His new ven-
ture is doing quite nicely. He claims he has
170;000 subscribers, and there's no reason
to doubt it. Some people will buy any-
thing. Only three issues of Moneysworth
have actually come off the presses (Ginz-
berg says five are in print) four-pages each
of quicky consumer news items which you
could probably read better in something
like Consumer Reports.
Ginzberg candidly notes that after only
three issues, more than 200 subscribers
have taken advantage of Moneysworth's
unconditional guarantee that it will "in-
crease the purchasing power of your in-
come by at least 15 per cent - or we'll re-
fund your money IN FULL."
The ads have promised that, "as you can
see, a subscription to Moneysworth is an
absolutely foolproff investment." Sub-i
scribers are learning different. As the ads
say: "Stop being robbed and start getting
your Moneysworth."
'9
in the mother country
'U'f
gossip: Through a looking glass
miartin hirsehmuii- -
There are certain things
which must be said
There are many issues we deal with
each day on these pages, each of vital
concern to a segment of the University
community. But today, it is time to ad-
dress to that overriding issue, to make
ourselves clear on a matter w h i c h
transcends petty factional interest. We
must make clear what our real priori-
ties are.
It is not easy to be so frank. Yet,
there are times when even men of
established principle must march to a
higher tune than that which motivates
their day-to-day struggles. There are
times when those standards must give
way to something loftier. There are
times when we can no longer remain
silent.
So, today, we push our editorial pre-
rogatives to the outer limits, and speak
out on what is certainly the key issue
of our time, for today is not a usual
day. Today, the future of our Western
civilzation may well hang in the bal-
ance.
President Nixon himself has spoken
out on the issue many times. Only a
year ago, in the midst of the largest
anti-government demonstration in the
nation's history, the President felt it
necessary to give this issue his un-
divided attention, Hardly a week pass-
es without some news from the White
House concerning the President's in-
volvement with this matter of unvary-
ing public concern.
With a deep breath and a heartfelt
sense of confidence, we solemnly a s k
our readers to consider carefully our
tersely and unequivocally stated posi-
tion:
The Wolverines must and will beat
Ohio State.
-THE MICHIGAN DAILY
A NUMBER OF administrators
are voicing serious fears that
the faculty may begin considering
unionization as the only method of
protecting themselves against the
effects of the University's growing
budgetary problems. And the
emergency one per cent cut from
the University's appropriation an-
nounced by the state this week
isn't likely to help.
Administration fears may play
a key role in the current negotia-
tions with the local branch of the
American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employes
which represents some 3,000 non-
academic Univeristy employes
whose contracts expire this Dec.
31. The possibility that asettle-
ment favorable to the union would
promote a drive for unionization
of the faculty may well give ad-
ministrators added incentive to
hold out for a small pay increase
for AFSCME.
One indication of growing facul-
ty dissatisfaction is the emergence
of the Faculty Reform Coalition, a
large and growing group of pro-
fessors who have banded together
largely to prevent uneven hand-
ling when Vice President for Aca-
demic Affairs Allan Smith starts
subtracting funds from the bud-
gets of various University units.
The coalition is unhappy with
the series of across-the-board cuts
that Smith has instituted over the
past two years, preferring t h e
complete elimination of some pro-
grams to what they see as a gen-
eral reduction in the quality of
the University.
The administration is apparently
pegging most of its hopes on the
possibility of giving the faculty an
average 10 per cent salary in-
crease next year. But with t h i s
week's emergency cut and t h e
generally gloomy financial picture,
budgetary officers are not over-
whelmingly optimistic.
And with the faculty at Eastern
Michigan University already lead-
ing the way, unionization of the
faculty here may well be in store
for the not too distant future.
BOLSTERED BY THE results of
this week's elections, the radicals
on Student Government Council
are planning a number of moves
to aid University employes if they
go on strike in January as expect-
ed.
One method of bringing real fi-
nancial pressure against the Uni-
versity administration would be to
organize students to sue the Uni-
versity for tuition and dormitory
fee rebates.
A similar suit in New Y o r k
City by students who lost class
time during a student strike was
recently resolved in favor of the
plaintiffs.
Another likely SGC move in sup-
port of striking workers may in-
volve an organized effort to con-
vince students in the dormitories
not to cross picket lines or to
take jobs left vacant by strikers.
During the 1967 strike in which
AFSCME won recognition from
the University, students were not
generally cooperative with the un-
ion especially when the admin-
istration raised the spectre of in-
creased fees resulting from a big
pay boost. SGC will be hard at
work to avoid a repeat perform-
ance.
MODERATE-LIBERAL SGC
member Bill Thee has been :hard
at work lining up support for his
candidacy for SGC president in
the March elections.
As part of what he describes as
efforts to improve communications
with his constituents, Thee has
been a frequent speaker at dormi-
tories and fraternity houses. Con-
tacts he has made there are ex-
pected to help with his electoral'
drive.
Thee, who supported Phil Hart
in the recent Senate election, has
voted with the radical members
of council on some issues but not
on others, and there are the begin-
nings of a movement afoot to
find someone further left to op-
pose him. So far, however, the
only likely candidate, current ex-
ecutive vice president Jerry De-
Grieck, is discounting the possi-
bility that he will run.
* * *
THE ANN ARBOR office of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation is
denying reports that from 16
to 24 agents have been scouring
the campus this fall in an attempt
who charged it had been taken
from North Hall during a 33-hour
occupation of the ROTC classroom
and office building in May.
During their visit to campus
in August, the FBI agents alluded
to a massive investigation of the
building takeover, a probe tl~ey
said would probably lead to indict-
ments by a federal grand jury.
A spokesman for the Ann Ar-
bor office now says the question
of the North Hall takeover is not
completely settled. "There are still
some little things .to be resolved,"
he says.
But the lapse of time since the
existence of the investigation was
made known makes it seem un-
likely that indictments will be
forthcoming.
* * *
THE COTERIE OF middle-level
University administrators dealing
with middle-level security prob-
lems was at it again last week. The
subject this time: The prophet
Stephen and his Caravan of
faithful followers.
The security group, headed by
Associate Vice President for Busi-
ness Operations James Brinker-
hoff, had some apparent success in
dealing with the hippie threat.
Stephen and his followers were
convinced to park their 50 buses
and vans at the Pinckney Recrea-
tion Area rather than making a
full-scale vehicular invasion of
the campus area.
Allan Smith
to keep tabs on left-wing groups.
The FBI last made its pre-
sence felt on campus in August
when two agents from the Ann
Arbor office tried to bully their
way into a student office in the
Student Activities Bldg. without a
search warrant.
Material found in the office-
which was assigned to the Student
Mobilization Committee and Legal
Self-Defense - was later allowed
to be removed by the FBI agents,
I
Letters to The Daily
New Haven notes: The symbols of justice
By JIM NEUBACHER
Editorial Page Editor
NEW HAVEN, Conn.
N THIS quiet New England college town, there is
an intriguing physical symbolism surrounding the
trial of Bobby Swale and Ericka Huggins.
The two Black Panthers, accused of murdering one
of their own, are being tried in a huge, solid New Haven
County Superior Court Building, constructed in the
Greco-Roman (Washington Modern) style; six solid
marble columns grace the entranceway to a courtyard-
like interior which looks four stories up to a skylight
of translucent leaded glass.
The building is located on Elm St., facing the
New Haven "town green", a vision which brings to mind
conceptions learned in grade school of a past era,
when public gathering places were meant for that,
and towns were constructed around them, (in Boston,
they call it the Commons.)
There is still respect in New Haven for that inter-
pretation of the green as a place for the public to
gather 1nd speak out.
A recent court order which banned demonstrations,
disruptions, and picketing within five hundred yards of
the Superior Court Building carefully excludes the
green, a scant 25 yards away - right across Elm St.
THE SOLIDITY and strength of the c o u r t
hbuilding and the ehat and opnness of the green as
people. They are the corporate structures, the bank
buildings and financial institutions which have played
a key role in shaping this country so that a man like
Bobby Seale, who demands that power revert back to the
people, who pledges to defend himself against racism
and state sanctioned violence, becomes an enemy of the
state.
* * *
FOR THE PAST WEEK, attorneys for the defend-
ants have been trying to find fair and impartial
jurors to hear their client's case. What they have been
confronted with is a depressing stream of humanity, a
parade of human weaknesses, prejudices, fear and in-
competence.
The entire jury selection procedure in this trial
certainly is no different than the procedure in count-
less trials across the country each day. That is un-
fortunate, because under present conditions, the jury
system, though in concept an excellent manner of ad-
ministering justice, is fast becoming an unworkable,
unviable system.
The process of selecting the 500 persons from whom
the attorneys choose the jury is set up to exclude young
people, black people, and college educated people.
Doctors, lawyers, journalists, and other professional
persons are excluded. Young married women w i t h
children are automatically excluded. All persons who
are not registered voters are excluded.
ly seems fair that of the first 100 prospective jurors,
only 3 were black. It certainly will not be a jury of
Bobby Seale's peers.
What is needed is day care assistance for women
with young children, better pay for jury duty, (or a.
state law which requires employers to compensate their
workers who are called for jury duty) and a removal
of the restriction that bars those who wish not to vote
from serving on juries.
A speed-up in the court processes would help also,
reducing the hardship on jurors who now face trials
lasting as much as six months.
THE ATMOSPHERE surrounding the trial has been
strangely quiet and relaxed so far. During the
spring when Lonnie McLucas was on trial on charges
stemming from the same incident, there were constant
demonstrations on the green, all night vigils and a
packed courtroom.
Now it is quiet. There are always spectators, but
sometimes only half the seats are full. The press sec-
tion was packed on opening day, but now is sparsely
occupied.
There is humor occasionally in the courtroom, some-
thing that is likely to disappear when the jury selection
is down to its final stages, and the crucial examination
and interrogation of witnesses begins. Bobby a n d
Ericka seem in good spirits, giving the clenched fist
salute to the spectators each day as they enter the
Huey Newton
To the Daily:
A NOTE to those of us who walk-
ed out on Huey Tuesday night be-
cause they 'can't stand political
people who don't have !a firm
grasp of political philosophy,'
Huey could have come on as
The Black Militant, put on a good
show and left. Few would have
been disappointed. Instead, he
had something to say. When some-
one presents himself to you as a
person instead of a symbol, you
usually end up revealing your-
self for what you are as well.
Many of us did just that. We re-
vealed ourselves as true middle
class intellectual elitists with lit-
tle or no contact with reality.
What we saw Tuesday night
was a man in the process of com-
ing to grips with the real world,
maintaining and developing the
integrity of his party and mending
meaningless ideological splits. He
presented us with an ideology in
the making which he will con-
tinue to develop and which he in-
vited us implicitly and explicitly to
join in developing. Instead of tell-
ing us how bad the world is, he in-
volved us in the confusing, disor-
ganized, dialectical process of
hiilrlnc o nltinal,,- r- n-nmin
than to any ethnic group's 'right'
to predominance. 1
His replacement of internation-
alism with intercommunalism is
far more than empty rhetoric. It
denies the categories upon which
divisionist nationalists base their
arguments. It denies the pessim-
ism of communists who doubt the
likelihood of reconciling subject-
ive conflicts between people even
after the objective origin of those
conflicts - capitalism - is de-
stroyed by integrating the e n d
(a world community) into the pol-
itics that will destroy capitalism.
His distinction between s u b -
jective and objective enemies pro-
vided a firm basis for alliance with
revolutionary workers and for a
firm basis for alliance with revo-
lutionary workers and for real-
liance with the antinationalist,
working class oriented politics of
Boston based SDS.
The intellectual elitists' d i s -
dain for Huey's analysis rises out
of a plastic life with enough lei-
sure to articulately restate ideas
worked out by revolutionaries like
Huey., His political analysis rises
out of direct experiences with the
most brutalizing, dehumanizing as-
pects of the American d e a t h
culture and with organizing and
developing the vital black culture
and true revolutionary when we
saw one.
-Jim Guinter '71
Nov. 17
Pakistan
To the Daily:
WITHIN THE past week, a tidal
wave caused incomprehensible
disaster to East Pakistan. An esti-
mated three hundred thousand
died. Say that number to your-
self so that you may realize it's
magnitude! What kind of cover-
age was this tragedy given? To-
day it was given a picture on the
front page, and the other day a
one column article. What if this
death had occurred in France,
England, or some other western,
white country? This, I'm sure
would rate wider coverage.
I witnessed the same lack of
concern in the Detroit papers, and
this is probably indicative of the
way the disaster was treated na-
tionally. I'll make no conclusions
regarding racism, rather point out
how interesting it is that the Uni-
ted States continually plays down
death in the third world. People
are dying every day in numerous
small wars, and in genocidal ac-
tions which some people in power
have chosen to keep us uninform-
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