Eighty-four years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Wednesday, September 25, 1974 News Phone: 764-0552 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104. GOP thwarts registrati on JOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME in a low, the "get out the vote" phi- losophy has been muddied by parti- san haggling and political power- mongering. the seemingly simple task of es- tablishing voter registration sites was the target of divisive and bitter de- bate at City Council Monday night when the Republicans approved a resolution allowing only one campus- area registration site. Ignoring recommendations made by City Clerk Jerome Weiss and Ad- ministrator Sylvester Murray, the six council Republicans refused to ap-: prove registration sites in the Angell Hall "Fishbowl" and the School of Public Health. At various points during the shout- ing match, the bemocratic and HRP councilmembers accused the Repub- licans with discriminating against students because they are unlikely to vote for conservative candidates. REPUBLICAN MAYOR James Ste- phenson, of 'course, denied that the new registration plan was po- litically motivated. His rationale for limiting on-campus registration sites is that "peer pressure" can result in "unintended registrations by stu- dents." Taken at face value, Stephenson's statement indicates he believes stu- dents are incapable of making their own decisions. However, the "peer pressure" remark is merely a clever- ly worded cover-up for Stephenson's fear of the student vote. Does By GORDON ATCHESON SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY'S (D- Mass.) decision not to seek the pres- idential nomination two years from now may have been in part motivate by fear of 'a jinx that has cost six former chief executives their lives. The jinx, also known as the "Fatal 20," began with the death of President William Henry Harrison back in 1840. Since then the candidate elected presi- dent every twenty years has either been assassinated or has died of natural causes while in office. It has happened without fail for al- most a century and a half and the last victim was Edward Kennedy's brother John. Of course, the Senator has not offered any indication that the jinx affected his decision not to run in 1976, and there is no reason to suspect he gave the leg- end any extensive thought before making the announcement. But consider the scenario: if Kennedy runs and wins in 1976, as the incumbent he would be expected to seek re-election. And were he to emerge victorious again -this time in 1980 - Kennedy would live in the shadow of the cutse. NOT THAT A REASONABLY intelli- gent man such as the Senator gives credence to something as flimsy as the Fatal 20, still it might cause a bit of queasiness now and then. Most people who have heard of the jinx dismiss the phenomena as coinci- dence or "something like that." Prob- Kennedy ably. Yet death has struck the nation's felled by a leaders only in this twenty-year cycle. Lee Harve November The pattern goes as follows: 1840 - William Henry Harrison is JUST C( elected. He dies in 1841, having served Political only a month of his term. The cause of toral trend death is pneumonia contracted after giv- bunk the ing his inaugural address outside during political fo a freezing drizzle. 1860 -,Abraham Lincoln wins his first Interestin term in the White House. Shortly follow- to be no p ing the end of the Civil War and his re- six preside election, he is killed by John Wilkes other than Booth while attending a play. elected. 1880 - James Garfield captures the Those in election. Less than a year later, he isparties inu gunned down waiting for a train in a anReu Washington terminal. men. Two 1900 - William McKinley gains re- they died. election. A crazed man shoots the Presi- dent as he greets people' at the Pan- Among 1 American Exposition in Buffalo, New capable p York. Although he lingers in a coma country, in for several days, McKinley finally dies Roosevelt, in September 1901. all - Har 1920 - Warren Harding, one of, the Several least likely candidates,dwins the presi very kindl dency. Making a cross-country speaking tour three years later, he becomes ill in not so kin San Francisco and dies within a week. tiv ttk ng 1940 - Franklin Roosevelt earns an tivhtyce imprecedented third term in the White ublack House from a'war-torn nation. He is dead lk in 1945 shortly after receivig another like. mandate at the polls. Still, for 1960 - John F. Kennedy, the youngest times witl man to be elected president, ekes out lv substan victory over Richard Nixon. During a could be t standard motorcade trip, Kennedy is a mouthfu ear high-powered rifle bullet from ey Oswald's gun. The date is 22, 1963. OINCIDENCE? Probably. scientists admit many elec- ds run in cycles. But they de- 20-year jinx as a legitimate irce. ngly, however, there seems articular similarity linking the ents who have died in office the dates on which they were men came from a range of eluding the Whigs, Democrats blicans. They were not all old were in their forties when the six are the greatest, most hief executives to serve, the n the persons of Lincoln and and perhaps the worst of ding. of them have been treated y by the historians, a couple dly and the rest indifferently. 'at the facts with cold objec- Fatal 20 deservesabout as dibility as other superstitions cats, broken mirrors, and the superstition to hit six straight hout a miss creates some fair- ntive food for thought. It just that Edward Kennedy has had ul. inx? Predictably, the proved plan will registration sites areas of the city - the student sector. Republican - ap- establish several in the outlying far removed from Hopefully, students will not be de- terred from exercising their fran- chise by the limited access to regis- tration sites and droves of eager, new voters will swamp the Michigan Un- ion site during the Oct. 1-7 registra- tion drive. -CHERYL PILATE Kennedy Farmworkers fight to un ionize In the'nation's best interest SENATOR TED KENNEDY bowed out of the 1976 presidential race Tuesday and thus chose to avert an extended round of domestic turmoil that post-Watergate America is ill- prepared to handle. Since 1968, a Kennedy candidacy has been standard equipment in any discussion of potential heirs to the nation's top office. Many observers had all but con- ceded him the 1976 Demnocratic nomi- nation should he have pursued it. the awesome appeal of the Ken- nedy name among Ted's country- men has always been his greatest asset; at one time it seemed a sec- ond Kennedy White House was a matter of national destiny that could transcend any obstacle, even Chap- paquiddick. After the initial shock of that in- famous 1969 incident, Ted's faith in 'tthe Grand Design was no doubt strengthened anew. by the American electorate's nonperformance of 1972. TN THAT ELECTION, emphasis on the day's major issues comprised a rather murky background for Mc- Govern's strategic blunders and His Formership's imperial smugness. TODAY'S STAFF: News: Jeff Day, Sara Rimer, Sue Stephenson, David Whiting Editorial Page: Diane Morrison, Steve Ross, Steve Stojic, Becky Warner, David Warren Food Page: Ken Fink Photo Technician: Stuart Hollander The American voter eventually de- cided that McGovern couldn't be trusted to find his way back to Washington after all he'd done to, confuse his stance; and, what the hell, Nixon could just keep holding court in the White House as long as he felt so comfortable there. The lesson of their impropriety two years ago has not been lost on most Americans. In terms of voting Wis- dom, the people have aged consider- ably in that short time. One hopes they've grown less reliant on candi- dates' personal appeal or incumbency and more aware of policy issues, in- tegrity, and accountability. The 1976 Republican presidential candidate, Gerald Ford, has never been elected to national office. More than ever before, popular debate of the issues must remain unfettered by controversies over the men. AKENNEDY CANDIDACY w o u 1 d have precluded the possibility of an issue-oriented campaign at a time when the voting public would be' most receptive to one. It is the vot- ers who stand to reap the benefits of Kennedy's decision. To formally resign himself to the role of permanent Capitol Hill fix- ture was painful for Kennedy. Ul- timately, though, he was forced to let his chance at ascendancy drift unclutched beyond his grasp, in def-x erence to the still dormant shroud of Chappaquiddick surrounding it. "My mother was extremely re- lieved," said the Senator. Once again, the Kennedy matron must claim the nation's empathy. --PAUL HASKINS By SUE WILHELM CESAR CHAVEZ, the m a n whose name is synonymous with the United Farm Workers (UFW) and the plight of the migrant workers has been hav- ing a few problems lately. No longer must the Chavistas fight solely against the growers for survival; they now have an ad- ditional foe to contend with - the Teamsters. Shrewd tactics on the part of the Teamsters have enabled them to elbow their way into UFW territory and to establish a firm base on the shaky foundation laid by Chavistas. Muscle, money, and organi- zation skills have been success- fully employed to undermine the UFW's collective bargaining power. Today, the UFW has fewer the one dozen of the 300 contracts they had with /grow- ers last year. Workers are still under contract with the gtowers, only now the workers are sign- ing contracts with the Team- sters. Why are the workers signing contracts with the Teamsters instead of the UFW? Physical necessity more than anything else. When one has a family to feed, one really can't be over- ly concerned with which unirusually against the Cha- vistas and often alongside of the growers. Local court injnc- tions, complete with sheriff's deputies to enforce them and While the immediate goals of the UFW and the Teamsters are the same, the differences between them are formidable. The main headquarters of the Teamsters is located on Louisiana Ave. in Washington D.C., across the street from the Capitol. La Paz, the UFW headquarters, is housed in what was once a tuberculosis san- itorium in the Tehachapi mountains of California. The annual in-. come of Teamsters President Frank Fitzsimmons is $125,000; Cha- vez grosses around $5,000.t "LY" YL"ir r:"r:r :: ":. !.Rm ".":.".'::.".r.Y "J r.:':14: .:t :"Y N .Lmy .:.::.rsvr::f::;.':::. ."4':":r' {":"!S{::..ti Paz (peace), the 1UFW head- quarters, is housed in what was once a tuberculosis sanitorium in the Tehachapi Mountains of California. The annual income of Team- sters President Frank Fitzsim- mons is $125,000; Chavez grosses arouid $5,000. Chavez still feels that the UFW can make it, and his re- cently acquired pledge of sup- port from Britain's largest trade union tends to lend support to this. He believes that the one thing which the UFW has, the thing which will eventually over- t"rn the Teamsters, is that the UFW is a movement of the peo- ple. The UFW, unlike the Team- sters organization in the area, was born of the sweat of the migrant workers. IN THE SIXTIES, it took Ce- sar Chavez's charisma to get the migrant workers' movement off the ground. Chances, are good that the Teamsters could not' have accomplished w h a t Chavez and his followers did. And it is almostea certainty that the Teamsters could not have gotten where they ,are to- day without having the UFW foundation to build upon. Viva Chavez? Viva T ea m- sters? Who are 'we supporting when we boycott grapes, let- tuce, and Gallo wine? Apparently we are supporting both. One milks the cow, the other skims off 'the cream. What is really more import- ant is that we are supporting the people who need our help, the migrant workers. They've come a long way in the past 10 years, but they've still got a long way to go. -Sue Wilhelm Perhaps Chavez's biggest' problem began when he and other top UFW officials irsti- gated the practice of the ,;r- ing-hall boss. The workers were to report to these men to be told where theyswould work. Lacking experience, hiring-hall' bosses generally messed ;hings up. One-car families were often split up with half of the fam- ily working at one field and the rest working at another. Both workers and growers dis- liked this practice and when the Teamsters offered n con- tract in 1972-73 wAi ;n did not ask for hiring-halls, it was ac- cepted; sometimes as much by ity of applicable field workers desired to be represented by the UFW rather than the Team- sters." The Chavistas are fighting back. The UFW's most power- ful tactic is to stop the grow- ers in the market place. The local "Goodby To Gallo" cam- paign is one part of their 'con- tinuing battle to keep themselv- es alive. For a while, with the aid of a $1.6 million contribu- tion made by the national AFL- CIO, they were able to spread their strikers into fields where the Teamsters presently have contracts. The Chavistas know these tac- paid Teamster guards "protect" the fields under contract by the Teamsters. THE STRIKE fund is gone now. Last summer many of the 1970 contracts Chavez and the UFW worked so hard for were lost to the Teamsters. While the Chavistas continue to'° fight it appears that much of their im- pact is waining. While the immediate goals of the UFW and the Teamsters are the same, the differences be- tween them are formidable. The main heidquarters of the Team- sters is located on Louisiana Ave. in Washington D.C., across the street from the Capitol. La i# } Letters to, The CLOAK AN D 3 r l 4 G'~ Levin To The Daily: ON WEDNESI)AY, in the Law. Quad, I heard a person w h o seemed to be Sander Levin: 1) claim that despite his ties to the utility companies through his chief fund raiser and his Lt. Governor nominee he would make better appointments to the Public Service Commission than Governor Milliken; 2) say that he favored more women in top government posts, but only offered the Lt. Gov- ernorship to a woman who had already retired from politics, and failed to explain why there are no women at the top of the Democratic ticket and why there never have been; 3) maintain that he was mis- quoted as favoring a Reagan- style welfare plan for Michigan, but not state what type of wel- fare plan or level of benefits he' does favor; 4) say that he did not re- member voting to delay and postpone coverage of migrant farm workers for job-related in- juries by the worker's compen- sation program in May of 1965, but that he must be a friend nesty when in 1970 he was quot- ed as opposed to any form of earned re-entry; 7) repudiate the findings of the AMA and the National Com- mission on Marijuana by saying that the jury isn't in and that the drug should still be illegal, while claiming that nuclear en- ergy posed no threat to human safety and ignoring the warning of top Atomic Energy Commis- sion scientists; 8) refuse to debate Zolton Fer- ency until he could debate Gov- ernor Milliken, despite Levin's statement that candidates have the responsibility to debate openly and honestly the issues, their differences, and t h e i r records; 9) lie openly and repeatedly when he said he had fought for the minority plank on the Viet- nam War at the 1968 Democratic National Convention when' con- fronted by an eyewitness w h o said that he did nothing of the sort; 10) say that busing and abor- tion were dead issues despite. continued 'racial segregation and abortion mills that victimize women; and 11) say that who he might support for President in 1976 was not material to the 1974 campaign. Was that Sander Milliken or Sander Levin I 'heard? -Marty Wegbreit September 19 pardon To The Daily: IN YOUR recent reporting of the Diag Rally sponsored by the Ad-Hoc Committee Against Pardon, it was stated that Con- gressman Esch was not present and that a statement by him. "was to have been-read at the rally but never arrived."f It is true that the Congress- man was not there because the House of Representatives was in session that day, but a member of the Ad-Hoc Committee did, call at his office to ask if there was a statement on the pardon and was told that she could come to the office to pick it up.' to be read at the rally. The statement, however, was never picked up. To inform those who might have wanted to know the Congressman's feelings on this most important issue, the state- ment is attached. -Mark Dremely, '76 Chairman, Students for Esch * * * IMMEDIATELY upon hearing of President Ford's pardon of former president Nixon on Aug- ust 8, I stated the following: I do not concur with Presi- dent Ford's action granting a pardon to former President Nixon. This was properly a mat- ter for the courts and the judi- cial process should have been allowed to take its course. Simn- ply stated, I still believe that sideration is being given at this time to issuance of blanket par- dons.' I have expressed explicit- ly and forcefully my conviction that .it is absurd to even con- sider additional pardons, es- pecially since so many facts about this tragic affair have not yet been made public at trials of congressional hearings. I WILL continue as I have throughout my public career to believe I have a responsibility to asure that all our citizens are treated equally. E Marvin. L. Ese Member of Congress Tapioca 'to The Daily: MR. WARREN'S revieW of Tapioca Holiday printed Sat., Sept. '14 contained two glaring factual errors. 1. I am not the man who brought you Zazzuzoo or the author of Tapioca Holiday. I wrote portions of each show, but the overall conception and production was a group effort. 2. There is no such group as "The East Quad Players." Tap- ioca Holiday was presented by Peachy Cream Productions. I would like to see a correc- Contact your reps- Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), Rm 253, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. I