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Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
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News Phone: 764-0552
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1973
Seeing through Tineu
FOR SOME TIME now, the Thieu gov-
ernment in South Vietnam has been
spreading rumors about an upcoming
"communist offensive." These rumors
have been given credence in the Penta-
gon and the State Department, where of-
ficials are once again pondering strate-
gies to counter the purported attack.
The White House is even studying the
possibility of renewing the bombing in
Indochina by exploiting loopholes in the
presidential war powers bill passed by
Congress last month. The U. S. com-
mander in the Pacific said recently, for
instance, that bombing could be renewed
were an offensive to begin .
Despite all of these moves, however, in-
telligence estimates of the number of
North Vietnamese in the South are no
greater now than they were just after
the cease-fire began in January.
Moreover, the Provisional Revolution-
ary Government directives Thieu says
reveal an "intent to reinvade South Viet-
nam by launching a new general offen-
sive in early 1974" in fact emphasize the
political, as opposed to the military,
struggle.
THESE ARGUMENTS amount to anoth-
er attempt to deceive the American
public into believing that "communist
aggression" must be stopped, and more
U. S. aid must be given. Yesterday's re-
ports that Saigon troops have launched
an offensive to retake a district capital
will no doubt perpetuate this deception.
As President Nixon himself probably
realizes, his political position is not firm
enough to withstand direct American re-
involvement in Vietnam. But the phan-
tom offensive conjured up by Nguyen
Van Thieu may still be used to squeeze
more aid out of the U. S. Congress.
The American people are already foot-
ing 80 per cent of Saigon's bills. This
massive aid continues to flow in while
reports indicate 40,000 soldiers in Thieu's
army have been jailed because of opposi-
tion to the war.
The tens of thousands of neutralists,
promised freedom in January's peace
agreement, still remain in prison.
It is time that the United States cease
aiding corrupt and repressive South Viet-
namese regimes. It is already more than
20 years too late.
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Crisis
By ANGUS McDONALD
and YAMAKAWA AKIO
IN 1941 the United States cut off
oil and other vital supplies to
Japan in an effort to retain that
nation's growing economic and
military strength in the P a c i f i c
Basin. Shortly thereafter, Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor and i t s
military drive for the oil fields
of Indonesia.
Today, Japan, still vitally de-
pendent on foreign oil, is facing
an energy scare from a different
quarter. The worldwide energy
crisis and cutbacks in Mideastern
oil supplies are damaging the foun-
dations of the Japanese economy.
Oil supplies 75 per cent of Ja-
pan's total energy needs. Since
1960, oil consumption has risen
more than 350 per cent and the
Japanese government estimates it
will almost triple again by 1985.
Already, this process has n o w
been threatened by the fourth
Arab-Israeli war. Deriving 85 per
cent of its crude oil from Mideast-
ern sources, Japan, more than any
other country, depends upon this
petroleum for economic survival.
The first blow to the Japanese
oil-based economy came when six
Arab oil-producing states declared
a 20 per cent price hike this fall.
With the outbreak of war came a
10 per cent cut in crude oil pro-
duction by the ten members of the
Organization of Arab Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OAPEC).
GIANT WESTERN OIL compan-
ies - among them Exxon, Mobil,
Gulf, Shell, and British Petroleum.
- sell Japan almost 60 per cent
of its petroleum products. Faced
by the same cutbacks, they in-
formed Japan that on Oct. 25 they
would raise their prices by up
to 40 per cent and cut their supply
of crude oil by 10 per cent. Union
Oil simultaneously announced price
increases and a cut in its ship-
ments of Indonesian crude oil to
Japan.
Japan has tried hard to extricate
itself from its strait jacKet de-
pendence on imported petroleum,
now a full 99.7 per cent of its oil
supply. Japanese companies have
paid record prices for guaranteed
supplies of oil from Abu Dhabi,
an oil-producing kingdom on th,
Persian Gulf.
Business and government rere-
sentatives have gone to oil-rich
Iran and Saudi Arabia attempting
to work out firm supply arrange-
ments. Applications have b e e n
made to the Hanoi government for
permission to develop oil reserves
in the Gulf of Tonkin. Other explor-
ation agreements ;re under con-
sideration with France anl Italy.
Japanese oil compaies, in co-
operation with the government, are
planning a new Asian oil resources
strategy to reduce dependence on
Western oil giants and Mideaster-t
oil. The primary components of
this plan include: s e c u r i n g
supply sources in Indonesia, es-
tablishing a unified refining sys-
tem in Singapore, Okinrwa a n d
South Korea; and completing ar-
for oil-dependent Japan
THROUGH SUCH plapn;, Japan
hopes to meet 30 per cent of its
oil needs by 1985. But maintaining
good relations with i-s oil sources
is an increasingly treacherous task
for the Japanese government.
The USSR, for example, wants
to tie its cooperation in the Tyu-
men project to Japanese participa-
tion in its proposed Asian collec-
tive security pact. While the oSi is
crucial, Japan's Prime Minister
Tanaka, observers say, wvans to
stay clear of the pact propisa.
Adding to pressure from Russia
is the powerful voice of an in-
creasingly unified Arab bloc. As
the Arab countries strengthen their
mutual ties, they are beginning to
criticize Japan's Mideastern policy
(for its exclusive focus on oil pro-
duction) and to demand the end
of Japan's relations witth Israel.
Already, the pressure is having
an effect. On Oct. 19, the ambas-
sadors of ten Arab nations request-
ed that Japanese Foreign Minister
Ohira issue a statement of support
for the Arab cause.
A week later, the Arab diplomats
were handed a statement that, "Ja-
pan fully understands the aspira-
tion of the Arab nations for the
return of their national territories."
The Arabs are now united in crifi-
cizingtJapan's close relationship
with the U.S. and the major oil
companies.
JAPAN IS NOT aout to break
off its relations with the United
States. Partners since Japan's de-
feat in World War II, the two
countries have strong ries. In
addition, the Japanese government
is well aware that ii 1972 it pur-
chased 72.2 per cent of its oil from
Western oil concerns, primarily
American, operating the Mideast-
ern producing fields.
Already, though, the Jananese
are feeling the effects of these
policies. Prices in Japan are sky-
rocketing. The wholesale price in-
dex went up a full ten per cent
between Oct. 10 and 20. At that
time, the oil price hikes had only
begun to trickle through the sys-
tem. This winter the Japanese peo-
ple will feel the impact of petrol-
eum shortages and price rises
where it hurts the most, in their
cold homes and their skyrocketing
electricity bills.
As uncomfortable as the oil
crisis will be in the short run, the
long-range prospects are even
I
i1acsayoshi Ohira
grimmer. The oil crisis could burst
the bubble of Japan's "economic
miracle".
Growth demands energy, and in
Japan this means oil. As one ex-
pert here put it, "The fantastic
growth rate of the last decade is
over and done with. It was buit
on a cheap yen, a cheap labor
force, and reasonably priced en-
ergy. The yen has been revalued
twice, the workers are striking
twice a year these days, and there
is no more cheap energy."
Angus McDonald is a visiting
professor of political science and
sociology at Sophia University in
Tokyo. Yantakawa Akio is a jour-
nalist and an expert in internation-
al relations. Copyright Pacific
News Service, 1973.
Haldeman rejoins the circus
Kakuei Tanaka
WITH THE NEWS of an 18-minute
erasure of a key Watergate tape
hardly off the front pages, a new act
has come on stage In the continuing cir-
cus of Watergate.
It seems that former Presidential Chief
of Staff H. R. Haldeman was still telling
his former aides what to do more than
six months after he had left his White
House post. During all that time, he re-
tained sole possession of the combina-
tion to the lock which kept his files se-
cure.
Just three weeks ago, Haldeman or-
dered his former deputy, Lawrence Hig-
by, to retrieve a document from Halde-
man's files in the Executive Office Bldg.
And curiously enough, the document
turned out to be Haldeman's handwritten
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Penny Blank, Jo Marcotty, Eugene
Robinson, James Schuster, Rolfe Tes-
sem
Editorial Page: Cindy Hill, Zach Schiller,
David Yalowitz
Arts Page: Sara Rimer
Sports Staff
DAN BORUS
Sports Editor
FRANK LONGO
Managing Sports Editor
BOB McGINN................Executive Sports Editor
CHUCK BLOOM .....:.......Associate Sports Editor
JOEL GREER .................Associate Sports Editor
RICH STUCK..............Contributing Sports Editor
BOB HEUER..............Contributing Sports Editor
Editorial Staff
CHRISTOPHER PARKS and EUGENE ROBINSON
Co-Editors in Chief
record of the very meeting whose tape
was partially erased.
It was during that June 20, 1972, meet-j
ing between the President and his chief
of staff that Haldeman discussed a pub-
lic relations offensive in the aftermath
of the Watergate break-in.
. S MERELY the latest in a continuing
series of Watergate revelations, these
latest disclosures are not especially sur-
prising. However, it is still more than a
bit odd that Haldeman wields the power
that he appears to more than half a year
after his retirement.
Higby said Tuesday that a copy of the
Haldeman notes was placed in the for-
mer chief of staff's files as a substitute
for the original. When the document
comes before public view, we will most
likely be told that there has been no
alteration made from the original-just
as with the nine tapes.
This latest disclosure is only a small
chapter in the Watergate affair. Halde-
man's exercise of illegitimate authority is
characteristic of Watergate.
But to make this small incident paral-
lel the case as a whole, one element is
missing: we are still waiting to be told
that Haldeman's sole knowledge of the
lock combination was "in the interests
of national security."
Correctionll
THE DAILY mistakenly misspelled the
name of University Housing Direc-
tor John Feldkamp in an article on this
page yesterday. We regret the error.
rangements for 25 to 40 million
tons of oil per year from the Sov-
iet Union's Tvumen fields in Siber-
ia.
Heir vindicates Mudgett name
By ERIC SCHOCH
and BOB BARKIN
MORNINGS IN the Student Publications
Building are pretty quiet. The phone rings
a few times, a few people sweep the floor
and empty the wastebaskets of the previous
night's remains, and those of us who for
some reason were not at The Daily until 2:00
a.m. the night before might be here in the
morning, reading the paper.
So we were sitting in the editorial office
Tuesday morning, reading about the Univer-
sity's alumnus world record murderer, accord-
ing to the Guiness Book of World Records,
Herman Webster Mudgett. A grisly, but true,
tale to be sure.
At that moment, a mysterious character ap-
proached us. With a trench coat pulled up
over his ears and a floppy brown hat pulled
down over his eyes, he thrust what appeared
to be a letter to the editor toward us.
He was adorned with a rather scraggly beard
and mustache that was obviously phony,
through which he spoke with a quivering voice.
"I could sue you for libel, you know,"
he said ominously. "But print this, -'nd I'll
let it go at that."
BUT AS we began to peruse the letter, he
screamed shrilly that we were not to read
it until he had left the building, and then
he scurried out.
After quickly scanning the astonishing con-
tents of the letter, we jumped up and went
to the window to see if we could catch a
glimpse of him. There he was, hopping into
a car in front of Mark's.
But I had been wrong. He was not wearing
a false mustache and beard. In fact, the entire
face had been false. As Martin Landau used
to do in Mission Impossible, he pulled it off
before getting into the car.
He was too far away to see his real face
clearly, and he took the mask with him,
so we shall never know who he was.
His letter follows. We do not print it out of
fear of legal action, but out of a greater fear:
That history might repeat itself.
I
Letters to The Daily
wronged
I
fight for peace
To The Daily:
IN AN UNCONSCIONABLE ac-
tion paralleling the infamous Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution of Aug. 7,
1964, (H. J. Res. 1145) which plung-
ed America into the agony of Viet-
nam, the U.S. Senate, on Oct. 18,
1973, resolved to commit American
blood and treasure to the Mideast
war.
A propaganda campaign has al-
ready begun conditioning citizens
to accept a "new treaty" which
will place America's soldier sons at
the disposal of a foreign govern-
ment "to defend Israel."
Senator Hubert Humphrey, Coun-
cil of Foreign Relations member,
and fourteen other lawmakers, on
order from their superiors, eng-
ineered passage of fatal Senate
Resolution No. 189, "A Resolutioi
to Urge the Continued Transfer of
Phantom Aircraft and Other Equip-
ment to Israel."
The other agents of "Perpetual
War for Perpetual Peace," are:
Abraham Ribicoff, Herman Tal-
madge, Walter Mondale, Gaylord
Nelson, Henry Jackson, Robert
Dole, Bill Brock, Gale McGee, Sam
Nunn, Jacob Javits, Frank Church,
Edward Gurney, Edward Brooke,
and James Buckley.
The concealed objective of the
1973 act is the same as the 1964
resolution: To secure vast oil re-
serves for the financial/industrial
cabal which rules the government.
A secret monetary power con-
The demand for individual lead-
ership has never been greater.
-Archibald Roberts,
Lt. Col., AUS, ret.
P.O. Box 986
Ft. Collins, Colo. 80521
tuition surplus
To The Daily:
BELOW IS A COPY of the letter
sent to various interested individ-
uals on November 9th. S i n c e
then, some action was taken by the
Board of Regents at the University
of Michigan. While I can under-
stand why that action was taken,
I still do not agree with it, as my
position is that the increase in
tuition to the students which result-
ed in a surplus in budget, was
gained under false information to
meet the budget as presented in
July, 1973:
It is ironic and almost unbeliev-
able that when the respect for
elected officials is at an all time
low, the elected Board of Regents
of the University of Michigan can
be so callous in their attitude :f the
over-charging of student tuition
which will result in a surplus bud-
get.
It did not take a computer to
calculate that the tuition r a i s e
announced last July would result
in a surplus of the amount r. Iuir-
ed to balance their budget.
Each and every student shouli
be refunded that portion due him
or her.
If not, then the Board of Re-
To The Daily:
NORMALLY, I AM pretty neu-
tral as concerns the Big 10, Mich-
igan, or Ohio State football. My
team, you see, is Oklahoma.
But today, reading about the un-
fairness and injustice committed
by the Big 10 athletic directors, in
denying Michigan its deserved :urn
at the Rose Bowl, aroused my an-
ger and raised my hackles consid-
erable. The game of fotball is
supposed to develop and engender
sportsmanship among itstplayers
and devotees. Viewed ;n that light
the Big 10 Directors seem grossly
guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct
and Michigan has been wronged.
-H. E. Prokesh
Ft. Worth, Texas
Nov. 27
OSU copy
To The Daily:
HAVING ATTENDED Michigan's
grad school from 1969 to 1972, I
must protest Bo's actions of Sa-
turday last. What is he trying to
do, make us into another 0 h i o
State?
Sure, we play football, and we're
good at it. But that's not our real
claim to fame. Our real signifi-
cance lies in our Nobel laureates,
our graduate and law schools, the
strenth of our denartment and
To The Daily:
AS THE SOLE surviving des-
cendant of the Mudgett name, I
must take offense at the wanton
and irresponsible attack on the
name of my grandfather in the
Dec. 4 Daily. It is true that my
grandfather was hanged after com-
mitting several murders, but tlhe
account of the history of my grand-
father's demise by Martin Porter
did not tell the true tale:
When my grandfather came to
the University Medical School he
was a brilliant and good man. He
had graduated with the highest hon-
ors from the University of Ver-
mont and was acceptedsreadily by
this prestigious university. B ii t
before he left this institution of
higher learning he was a thief
treading down the primrose path
to damnation. How could t h i s
happen?
My grandfather was an honors
student in medicine, but he was a
poor honors student. He did not
have the money to live in fancy
quarters so he let a room in
Burton Towers. Besides going to
school full-time, he also held a
job as a security guard at the
University. He had time to barely
attend class, study and then trudge
off to his job. But with his desire
to make something of himself and
to prove to his parents that he was
as good as his brother Elmo, he
was soon on his way to medical
fame. But then came the apocalyp-
se.
In the year 1889, when Herman
was entering his last year of his
studies, the Regents of tho Uni-
versity decreed that there would
be a tuition hike of 24 per cent.
This was too much for my grand-
father. He could not make ends
meet. The raise from $12 to $15
was more than he could stand. A
fine man was broken. IP was the:i
that he went on his rampage of
the house of his dear friend Dean
Palmer and stole his valuables.
From then on the fate of my grand-
father was sealed.
I hope that you have the cour-
age to print this exolanation in an
attempt to restore the name of my
revered grandfather. His honor and
prestige are a guiding light to me
any many others who have found
the University the core of their
demise.
-Malcolm Mudgett
Dec. 4
irr bow
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