Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Deciding who'll do the
busing
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
News Phone: 764-0552
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1974
Congress to face Big Two
CONGRESS YESTERDAY began what
could be the most important session
in its history as the question of impeach-
ment comes to a head, conservative col-
umnists and Nixon speechwriters attack
the supposed liberal-radical-media "con-
spiracy" to impeach the President, and
the basic questions about the nature of
the energy shortage remain unanswered.
There are obviously important issues
other than Watergate and the energy
crisis that will have to be dealth with,
and no doubt Presidential apologists will
charge that Congress is irresponsibly ne-
glecting everything else in a massive ef-
fort to "get" Richard Nixon.
It seems only proper, however, that
Congress devote a considerable amount
of time to the most important issues fac-
ing the country. The worst government
scandal in this country's history and an
energy shortage that is having massive
effects on the economy are certainly
those issues.
THE QUESTION of impeachment now
lies largely with the House of Rep-
resentatives. Over the holidays, Congress-
persons no doubt heard the discontent of
their constituents that is expressed in
every major public opinion poll.
Hopefully they will ignore the attempts
by the White House to color the investi-
gation as an attempt by Democratic lib-
erals to reverse the mythical "Nixon
mandate."
Some members of Congress may argue
against impeachment on the grounds that
Americans want to avoid another major
shock. But it would seem a worse shock
to have the crippled and corrupt Nixon
administration in office until January,
1977.
Moreover, impeachment proceedings,
with or without a conviction, might just
give the American people the awareness
that the awesome and often illegally-
used power of the executive branch can
be fought, if they will only raise them-
selves out of their lethargy.
THE GENERAL MALAISE of American
citizens who believe that nothing can
be done about government policy and
misuse of its vast power is one of the
major social problems facing this coun-
try.
Editorial Staff
CHRISTOPHER PARKS and EUGENE ROBINSON
Co-Editors in Chief
TONY SCHWARTZ .................... Sunday Editor
DIANE LEVIOK...................... Arts Editor
MARTIN PORTER ..................Sunday Editor
MARILYN RILEY..........Associate Managing Editor
ZACHARY CHILLER............Editorial Director
ERIC SCHIOCH .......... Editorial Director
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Penny Blank, Ted Evanoff, Christo-
pher Parks, Sara Rimer, Ted Stein
Editorial Page: Ted Hartzell, Marnie
Heyn, Eric Schoch
Arts Page: Dione Levick
Photo Technician: John Upton
It is just such a belief that will insure
that nothing constructive is accomplish-
ed. An impeachment trial could shake
people out of their sense of impotence,
in addition to its primary purpose of de-
termining the extent of Presidential in-
volvement in criminal activities.
Congressional actiyity to deal with the
energy crisis, especially in terms of cem-
mittee investigations, is perhaps as im-
portant as investigation of Watergate
and impeachment.
The energy crisis comes at a time when
government credibility is at an all time
low, due to its handling of the shortage
as well as the Watergate scandal.
Since the crisis acquired that descrip-
tion last fall, when speaking about the
shortage President Nixon has used the
same tactics of obfuscation so well-honed
1n his Watergate speeches.
AMID GROWING numbers of reports
questioning the true extent and
causes of the shortage, the Energy Czar
and his office have been unable or un-
willing to do little other than assure us
that "there is a shortage." Moreover,
Congress has been unable to pass emer-
gency legislation to deal with symptoms
of -the crisis due to opposition from oil
state senators to an oil company excess
profits tax.
Congressional hearings on oil company
actions at home and abroad and growing
support for an excess profits tax are
hopeful signs, but Congress would do well
to begin promotion of alternative sources
of energy that are environmentally safe,
a prospect to which the White House has
given only lip service..
Those senators and representatives who
have bemoaned the growing domination
of the executive branch over Congress
now have their chance to restore some
balance by dealing effectively with the
energy issue and initiating impeachment
proceedings. It is up to the American peo-
ple to see that they do so.
Vote
COUNTY VOTERS go to the polls today
to determine whether the Washte-
naw County Intermediate School district
shall establish and operate a vocational
training center for county high school
students.
Two ballot questions will deal with
proposed funding for the center. The first
proposition would increase property
taxes one mill county wide for operations,
and the second empowers the school dis-
trict to issue $7.6 million in tax bonds for
land and construction costs.
We join other groups and individuals
endorsing the passage of these proposals.
Public schools have too long concen-
trated on the needs of college-bound stu-
dents, and neglected those who finished
their formal education with high school
graduation, and yet had no marketable
skill.
We urge you to vote in favor of Ballot
Proposals A and B in today's millage elec-
tion.
By ERIC SCHOCH
ONE OF THOSE generally un-
publicized yet important func-
tions of state government will be
coming up tomorrow that could
easily effect the lives of many
students at the University.
The state Public Service Com-
mission will be holding a hearing
to determine whether or not the
North Star bus line should be al-
lowed to carry passengers between
Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Metro-
politan Airport.
Presently, bus service between
the two sites is provided by Grey-
hound and Short Way Lines - no
other bus line is permitted to car-
ry passengers between those points.
However, North Star presently
runs several buses each day
through Ann Arbor between var-
ious points in the northern a n d
western parts of the state and
Detroit.
Anyone may take a North Star
bus from Ann Arbor to anywhere
it might go, including Detroit, ex-
cept to Ypsilanti and Metro and
back. Officials of North S t a r
argue that since they already have
buses running between Ann Arbor
to Metro, it is ludicrous to not al-
low them to pick up passengers
traveling between those points.
BUS SERVICE is regulated in
'much the same way that utilities
are regulated. The Public Service
Commission, simply put, attempts
to make sure that too much com-
petition does not make it impos-
sible for bus service to be feasible
between two particular points, bas-
In d i
By GAIL OMVEDT
MAHARASHTRA STATE, INDIA:
A crowd of housewives in saris
storms a village store whose own-
er has been charging black market
prices for grain. Angry, shout-
ing, they tell him to stick to the
government-set "fair price" or
else.
The shopkeeper gives in. Later, a
group of rich farmers visits him,
and pressures him to have the wo-
men arrested. But the shopkeeper
sticks to his bargain. Apparently,
he fears the women.more than he
does the farmers.
In the Indian version of a sit-in,
a district official is gheraoed -
surrounded in his office by a group
of peasants, and kept there until
he grants their request. The hun-
gry crowd is demanding emergency
employment.
The official explains, cajoles,
makes excuses. Finally, he agrees
to pass ,their request on up to the
next level. "Don't worry," he tells
them. "Something will be done."
The men are ready to leave. But
the women stay put. "We don't
leave without a promise in writ-
ing."
A year of famine has heaped fuel
on the smoldering discontent of
Marharashtra's poor. And in pop-
ular action all over the state, wo-
men are taking the lead.
"The women astonised us,' says
a longtime union organizer who
worked among poor peasants in
drought-struck Marharashtra this
year. "They can't read or write,
they've hardly been outside their
villages, they are slaves in their
homes and in the fields. Yet where-
ever we go, the women are the
most militant."
Before autumn rains finally end-
ed the drought, 20 million of the
state's 50 million people were left
desolate, unable to scratch a liv-
ing from their scorched fields. As
crops died up agricultural w o r k
vanished, and food prices soared.
The struggling peasant union move-
ment exploded in a series of
marches, demonstrations, geras,
and strikes. Everywhere, women
led the ranks, their long-suppressed
discontent erupting in actions men
were too cautious, or too discour-
aged to risk.
ed on the normal amount of traf-
fic.
For example, it would be ab-
surd to give permission to five bus
lines to carry passengers between
two small towns. No one would
make any money, and the result
might be no bus service at all..
Thus what the commission hear-
ing will basically attempt to deter-
mine tomorrow is whether there is
adequate bus service now between
Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and back.
Short Way Lines, which r u n s
about five buses each day between
Metro and the city says there is.
Russ Genung, Short Way general
manager, notes that Short Way in-
itiated a cutback in the number of
runs about two years ago, axing
some for the simple reason that,
according to him, hardly anybody
was riding them.
THE CRUX of the issue seems
to lie in the inability of city resi-
dents to take a bus to the airport
in the evening. The last bus out,
a Short Way; leaves around 6:30
p.m. Many flights leave the air-
port considerably later than that,
of course, so if you want to go to
Metro in the evening, you can take
the limousine for about twice the
price of bus fare.
Genung argues that the later
run was dropped because "it nev-
er was patronized," at least n o t
enough to make it remotely worth
the money.
However, three of the five Noith
Star daily runs come after that
last Short Way bus. Isn't it rather
ridiculous, asks North Star market-
ing manager Keith Weldy, that we
can't pick anyone up when rOw
more mass transit is needed?
Not really, Genung would pro-
bably answer. "Someone com-
plains now and then," he says, but
not enough to run at night. '"If
the traffic warrants it," he adds.
Short Way would be glad +o put
runs in itself.
"IF THERE are only complaints
now and then, I must get them
all," argues Larry Havard, w h o
manages the ticket desk at the Un-
ion. Havard claims that he gets
a lot of complaints about the lack
of bus service at certain times,
especially when students leave the
city in droves between semesters.
Short Way does' run extra runs
between Metro, Ypsilanti and Ann
Arbor during periods of h 3 a v y
traffic, but according to Havard
they aren't enough.
Of course, it is the profit motive
which prompts the North Star re-
quest much more than altruistic
concern for the welfare of Ann Ar-
bor residents.
It is that same concern for re-
venue that will send representa-
tives of Short Way and Greyhound
to the hearing tomorrow. It isn't
evening North Star runs that pro-
vide competition, it is those day-
time runs that might drain sone
revenue.
Whether North Star gets their
permission or not, or whether some
sort of compromise is worked out,
depends solely on the commission
decision, along with possible subse-
quent appeals. And whatever re-
sults, someone is not going to ike
it.
Daily Photo by JOHN UPTON
Feminist power from
In one district largely populated
by tribal people, a male organizer
told me what happened when his
group decided to hold a women's
conference. "We expected 25 wo-
men; 125 showed up. None of vs
organizers were women and we
really didn't know what to do --
so we let the women take over.
"One by one, every woman stood
up and told of the experiences in
her village. At the end, one gave a
summary. She said: 'We need or-
ganization. But the men won't or-
ganize. What is stopping them?
Daru!!" (Daru, bootleg liquor, is
a potent force in lower-caste village
life.)
"At that point a woman stood up
and said that in her village, 12
miles away, she knew all the stills
and liquor shops, and she knew the
village policeman was taking brib-
es to let them stayopen. 'Lets go
and destroy them,' she said.
"It was nine o'clock at night.
But the women couldn't be stop-
ped. They marched 12 miles to
that village, smashed every bottle
of liquor, and made the village
policeman apologize to every wo-
man in the group. And then, in the
early hours of the morning, they
marched back to continue their
conference."
The astonished male organizers'
memories are short: female mili-
tancy is not a new force in Indian
history. In the early, terrorist days
of the, independence movement,
women as well as men made bombs
and attempted to assassnate Brit-
ish officials. When the movement
took on a non-violent character
during the time of Gandhi, women
took to the streets in mass de-
monstrtions and helped fill t h e
jails.
The wives of nationalist leaders
like Nehru often took over major
organizing jobs when their hus-
bands were jailed. Women were ac-
tive in the peasant leagues t h a t
sprang up during the 1930''. The
movement took up the demands of
women along with those of work-
ers, peasants, and untouchables;
and women gained full legal rights,
though not social or economic
equality, when India won independ-
ence.
Today, a small feminist move-
ment is developing among educat-
ed younger women. In some cities
this year the famine provoked vio-
lent demonstrations by housewives.
But the strongest women's move-
ment at present is among the poor
peasants and landless field work-
ers.
Like poor women everywhere,
poor women in India carry a double
burden: doing all the family's work
as well as working to feed t h e
family. They are up at dawn, bring-
ing water from the well or river
in big brass pots. Morning chores
done, they work all day i.i t h e
fields - where their wage rate is
ditionally feminie women of the
millde and upper classes. Hard as
their life is, women vno worn in
the fields, accustomed to daily con-
frontations, with landlords and of-
ficials, are more "liberated" than
the secluded higher-caste house-
wife.
In a village in Dhulia District.
composed mainly of the mud and
thatch huts of landless agricultural
workers, I attended a mass meet-
ing where the women were taking
part equally with the min - and
speaking up with greater fhry. Two'
women shared the place of leader-
ship with two men on the only cot.
"The women astonished us... They can't read
or write, they've hardly been outside their vil-
lages, they are slaves in their homes and in the
fields. Yet wherever we go, the women are the
most militant."
per . "'.'}} a ,. {.vc....................
)elow,
enough to save the nation s firs
woman premier, Indira Gandhi.
"Indira Gandhi is a nypocritet
Indira Gandhi is a liar," exploded
one laborer, a tall haggard woman
of 40. She was one of a group of
workers on a government relief
project. The government was sup-
posed to pay them for breaking
rocks. They had been sitting at
the jobsite for three days waitin
to collect their wages that were
three weeks late. When the money
finally came, it was one week's
pay, not three, and for most of
the women it amounted to 5 or 6
runees a day (1 rupee equals 13c).
"I sent my three sons to school
- they have no jobs," she said. "I
had six acres of land-the govern-
ministers ate up the land. She must
give jobs to my sons, she must
give us work, she must give us
land. Then we will give credit
to Indira Gandhi."
Another woman nodded agree-
ment. "Indira Gandhi gave us
work, she gave us pay. But we had
to demonstrated to get the work,
then demonstrate again to get the
pay." s~ h
"What is the remedy?" I asked.
"We must organize," she said.
"We must have unity."
Like young girls everywhere, the
daughters of these women get to-
gether and sing. But their songs are
political. Sometimes to traditional
melodies, sometimes to tunes from
popular films, these girls and wo-
men compose songs about their
demonstrations, their times in jail,
their victories. in getting prices
lowered.
One song widely sung in famine
areas this year is called "Questions
of a Woman Agricultural Laborer'.
It begins:
"All our life is on fire,
All the prices are rising,
Answer our questions,
Oh rulers of the country'
Ms. Gin edi is Assistant Profes-
sor of Sociology at the University
of California at San biego. She has
just completed an extensive journey
with peasant organizers through
India's Maharashtra State. (Copy-
right, Pacific News Service, 1973)
half what men earn - keeping
one eye on their children left in
shelters nearby.
If there is food for an evening
meal, the women leave the fields
early to cook it. Their working day
is not over until the meal has been
cleared away and the floor of the
mud hut swept.
It is the women who meet the
famine head on, in the food shops.
Over and over again women told
me how, with each trip to the store,
the bare necessities were getting
scarcer and harder to pay for.
After one village meecing, two
women drew me into a windowless
hut. They wanted to show me the
food they had in the house: a cju-
ple of inches of murxy oil in a
bottle, a few chilies, a potful of
limp green vegetables --- notning
else.
"How can we live on this? We
need more than a few cents extra
in wages. Even when our wages
are doubled they don't keep up wih
the prices. We need more. We
need land, and revolution."
In their toughness and militancy,
these poor women provide a strik-
ing contrast to the soft-spoken, tra-
(In rural India, the issue of who
sits on a chair or cot it a meeting,
and who sits on the ground, h a s
great symbolic importance.) From
the back doors of their brick hous-
es, landlords' wives stared w it h
amazement at this invasion of the
traditionaly male realm of poli-
tics.
In another village, a group of
women in faded cotton saris poured
forth their grievances as we all sat
in one woman's hut. Attracted by
the crowd, perhaps by the rumor of
a foreign woman visitor, a higher-
caste woman in the brnght nylon
sari entered and sat quietly at the'
edge of the group.
She was a well-to-do peasant
whose family was able to hoard
grain and sell it during the fa-
mine at black market prices. Land-
lords and richer peasants from
families like hers have orofited
widely from the famine situati,,n.
The other women pointedly ig-
nored her. They knew that their
misery was paying for he:- new
clothes and her husband's new
motorcycle. "Sisterhood" was not
powerful enough to save her from
their anger, nor is it powerful
Letters: Comin
down on the IRS
f i
7o.4fl
t.
To The Daily:
I ACQUIRED a list of entities re-
cruiting this semester through the
Business School Placement Office.
Sadly, the Internal Revenue Serv-
ice was listed. For the reasons be-
low, I couldn't let this occur un-
challenged.
The IRS compels citizens to file
an annual tax return. This require-
ment violates the 4th, 5th, and 9th
Amendments to the U.S. Constitu-
tion and the Supreme Court 'Mir-
anda' decision. They guarantee a
citizens right to privacy from the
government. The coerced filing also
violates the first line of the IRS
Code of Ethics which states that
income taxes are based on "volun-
tary compliance" of citizens.
Consider the practices of the
[RS. Newspapers, magazines, and
IRS employees report that the In-
ternal Revenue Service commits
armed robbery, extortion, kidnap-
ping among other coercive crimes.
By what moral right can the IRS
:ollect taxes? Absolutely NONE!
If collected voluntarily, they would
not be taxes. In forcing people
ing anti-IRS signs outside of the
Business School between 8-9 a.m.
Friday, January 25th. Others wish-
ing to join us will be welcome.
-Patrick Heller, '74
Jan. 19, 1974
the real American
To The Daily:
AFTER HEARING Gordon Sin-
clair once too often I think it is time
to say something regarding t h e
real American, one of the strangest
and most ill-conceived of God's hu-
man creatures.
What a great nation we are is re-
flected in the way we react to
problems. It seems more likely
than not that Americans are the
most selfish people among them-
selves, the most prejudiced, and
the least cultured people in t n e
world.
When I began reading history in
school they never dealt with the
fact that my country, as a colony
of Britain, burned people as witch-
es because they were different soc-
ially; that as a newly emerging
them. Germany killed millions of
Jews and Gypsies during Word
War II and paid with millions of its
own people. Eastern European
countries regularly have experienc-
ed pogroms and seemed unable to
stop them until the complete poli-
tical repression of Communism
ended the liberty of all.
Each period of American history
brings forth a new group to he
chastised, ridiculed, and expelled
from the mainstream. It took 200
years to free the slaves the colon-
ists brought to the new shore of
America, it will probably take 200
years to give all citizens e q u a 1
treatment economically, socially,
and politically.
We do not kill the objects of
our hate quickly. No, America kills
its oppressed through the condi-
tions which breed violence, by sap-
ping inner strength with dscrimina-
tion, humiliation, and the frustrat-
ed hopes of the America we see on
the television.
In other countries political scan-
dals revolve around call girls and
past political associations. In Great
locations are lived with.
Only in America could one see
gas-guzzling cars packing gas sta-
tions from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.,
cars blocking freeways while for-
getting about the quickly buried
plans for mass transit, or people
waiting hours for fuel to power
snowmobiles so they can make the
forest into. a city of pollution and
noise. We have so much to be pa-
triotic and goose-pimply about.
-David R. Haarz, Law '76
Jan. 17
SGC chaos
ro The Daily:
THIS LETTER is written in re-
sponse to The Daily's commenda-
tion in the January 15th editornial,
"Revitalizing Student Action."
There is a need for more student
involvement and interest I'in stu-
dent government; however, not the
type of involvement displayed at
last Thursday's SGC meeting. Last
week's meeting was disrupted by
a group of students, consisting of
constituents and SGC members,,
which proceeded to lock the main
larized an already fragmented
group. Certainly, their actions will
prove more detrimental then bene-
ficial in unifying SGC and strength-
ening student power.
-Debby Zeff, '77
Jan. 15
expose
To The Daily:
I WOULD LIKE to suggest that
one of your reporters do an expose
on the cleanliness conditions in the
women's shower and bathrooms in
Barbour Gymnasium. It would be
especially effective if you chuld
call attention to the fact that there
is no hot water in the women's
showers, although there is h o t
water in the men's.
In addition, photograph the filthy
showers and bathrooms *o point up
the lack of concern over women's
physical education facilities.
I have already brought this sit-
uation to the attention of the ma-
tron and suervisor of Barbour Gym
and to the Director of Buildmg
Services, D. W. Wendel.
Thank you for your attention to